Tonawanda Band of Seneca

About

The Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians is a federally recognized tribe in the State of New York. They have maintained the traditional form of government led by hereditary Seneca chiefs (sachems) selected by clan mothers. The Seneca are one of the original Five Nations (later six) of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy.  Their people speak the Seneca language, an Iroquoian language.

The Tonawanda Band is one of two federally recognized Seneca tribes in Western New York; the other is the Seneca Nation of Indians. The latter approved a republican constitution in 1848, electing a council and executive officials to govern their lands of the Allegany, Cattaraugus and Oil Springs reservations.

The Tonawanda Band opted out of participating in the republic (in part due to hostilities stemming from the Buffalo Creek sale), leading to the band's formation nine years later. In 1857, the Tonawanda Band signed a treaty with the United States (US) and was recognized as a tribe independent of the Seneca Nation of New York. The new treaty with the US allowed the Tonawanda Band to buy back lands from the Ogden Land Company, which had been sold out without their permission in the Treaties of Buffalo Creek. The Tonawanda retrieved the horns of authority and other artifacts from the other Seneca tribes; they re-established a continuation of the traditional Seneca government that existed prior to 1848. They have a matrilineal kinship system; hereditary chiefs are selected through the maternal line by clan mothers.

In addition, some Seneca relocated to Indian Territory in the early 19th century; their descendants now form part of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation in present-day Oklahoma. The Cayuga people are another of the Iroquois nations. In the 21st century, the majority of Seneca people live in western New York. A small number live in Canada at the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation within Ontario; they are also descendants of the Keepers of the Western Door. 

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