The Three Villages
Three villages. One promise. A line that never ends.
Canajoharie, Tikondarago and Aughgugo, from a promise to the posterity today · From Book III of the National Books, Lands and the Tract
1775 · The promise
At a council at Montreal, Sir Guy Carleton asks the nations to take up the hatchet, and promises that any losses in the war will be replaced.
1775–1779 · The loss
The Mohawks of the Valley withdraw north, to safety and to fight beside the King’s forces. Their villages are occupied or burned: in the Pledge’s words, “Ruined by the Rebels”.
1779 · The ask, and the Pledge
On 7 April the Mohawks of the three villages tell Haldimand of Carleton’s promise and ask that it stand. He ratifies it: the villages are to be restored “to the state they were in before”.
1783 · The peace
On 3 September the Treaty of Paris gives the Mohawk Valley to the United States and says nothing of the villages. The promise can no longer be kept where it was made.
1784 · The Grand River
On 25 October Haldimand sets apart six miles each side of the Grand River for “the Mohawk Nation and such others of the Six Nation Indians as wish to settle in that quarter”. A census in 1785 counts 548 Mohawks there.
1789 · The Mark of Honour
On 9 November Lord Dorchester marks those who “adhered to the Unity of the Empire”, and their descendants by either sex, with the letters U.E. The Loyalist Mohawks of the three villages are United Empire Loyalists.
1796 · The oath
On 6 April, Simcoe’s Register Proclamation: the mark is ascertained on oath before a magistrate. The Nation’s position is that this was never done for the class, and its Register records each line for it now.
From many villages to three
Rebuilt south of the river after 1693; by 1775 the Lower and Upper castles remained, Tarajorees having merged into Canajoharie after 1755. The Pledge names “Canojaharie, Tikondarago and Aughuago”.
The villages, and the road
The Tract, from the Nation’s own land map
Layer by layer
The river
The riparian zone (61 m)
A Corroborated by a surveyed limit: 85 km
B Measured from the mapped water: 313 km
C Through a reservoir: 20 km
D Interpreted: the Lake Erie end and beyond the head: 47 km
Municipal limits that stay about six miles out
Other municipal boundaries
Land map of the Register. Produced using information under licence with the Grand River Conservation Authority. © Grand River Conservation Authority, 2026. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. © King’s Printer for Ontario, 2026.
Why it is confused
One sentence, two groups. The Proclamation names “the Mohawk Nation”, then “such others of the Six Nation Indians as wish to settle in that quarter”.
A grant that widened. In 1805 the Grand River Council recalled that it was first meant for those who had lost their lands on the Mohawk and Susquehanna Rivers, then “extended to such others of the Six Nations as wished to settle there”.
One reserve, one name. What remains is Six Nations of the Grand River, six nations in one community, so “Grand River Mohawk” and “Six Nations” are used as if they were one.
Many Mohawks, many places. Kahnawake, Kanesatake, Akwesasne, Wahta and Tyendinaga each have their own history. The Pledge’s Mohawks are those of three named villages who adhered to the Crown.
Who they are today
Generations on, the posterity are anywhere, in any life, born in marriage or out of it. Most do not know. Each is still joined by a line to a Loyalist ancestor.
The posterity has no edge
Marrying out, having no clan, having no status: none of these ends the line. A descendant, by either sex, born in marriage or out of it, in any place and any life, who can link to one Loyalist ancestor is the posterity. Most do not know. A band counts those on its list; a clan follows the mother; the posterity follows the line, and passes beyond both.
The Register organizes; it does not control. It records each line back to a Loyalist ancestor, and the person keeps the right. The mark, UE, is the Crown’s (1789); the magistrate’s oath ascertains it (1796).
The land today
5 of every 100 acres. The Tract of 1784: about 950,000 acres; the Six Nations reserve: about 45,580. About 30,000 registered members; 13,000 on the reserve (2026).
The census of 1785, on the Grand River
Mohawk 548 · Cayuga 281 · Oneida 262 · Onondaga 145 · Tuscarora 109 · Seneca 98 · others 400: 1,843 in all. Kelsay, Joseph Brant (1984).
The printed poster
Download the poster as printed, A3, full quality: the-three-villages.pdf