John Napolean Brinton Hewitt

Bio

(1859-1937) Linguist,ethnographer. Born in Lewiston, New York, the son of part Tuscarora mother and a Scottish father he grew up to be a linguist and an ethnographer for the Department of Indian Affairs. Specializing in the study of Iroquoian dialects, he contributed to the “Handbook of the American Indians North of Mexico” by Frederick Webb Hodge. Fluent in Tuscarora, Onondaga and Mohawk, he worked to track the relationship between Cherokee and Iroquois languages. Hired by Erminie A Smith to assist in collecting Iroquois myths, the project required four years and he was called upon to finish the work after her death. William N. Fenton published Hewitt’s “The Requickening Address of the Iroquois Condolence Council” after his death. He published various papers and articles but was known for his boundless need for research–not publishing credits. Upon his death 12,000 pages of an unpublished manuscript were found.