Gervase Macomber And His 26 Children in Kahnawake (Caughnawaga) Third Edition

Book excerpt: This Third Edition includes updated and added content tracing the life and genealogy of Gervase Macomber (c1780-1866), his 26 children and at least 120 grandchildren and hundreds of great grandchildren. In 1796, Jarvis Macomber, the son of a soldier of the American Revolution and descendant of the Mayflower, left home to seek his fortune in the fur trade among the Mohawks of the Northwest. His English name, Macomber, was instrumental in tracing a lineage within an Indian culture that otherwise did not have surnames. Jarvis Macomber left Massachusetts and lived in Canada, and there he married the daughter of a prominent Mohawk Indian. He became a Catholic and became known as Gervase (Gervais) Macomber. He was a fur trader and a merchant; he operated a trading post, ran a ferry across the St Lawrence River, he became an Agent of the Chiefs and an Interpreter for the Department of Indian Affairs; and he was a soldier in the War of 1812 against the Americans.