Ely Parker in Rochester
After the 1847 Senate defeat of the Tonawanda petition, Ely Parker began to think of his own future. He tried and failed to get into Harvard; he also failed to get a position with the Indian Affairs office in Washington. An offer finally came from William Angel, an attorney and sub-agent for the New York Indians in Ellicottville, NY. Angel needed an interpreter, and he offered Parker the chance to study law. Parker understood the value legal knowledge could bring to the Senecas' fight, and immersed himself in his studies. Yet, less than one year into that venture, he discovered that racist laws would prevent him from ever becoming an attorney.
"The story is told that he eventually applied to be admitted to the bar. But in New York State only natural-born or naturalized citizens could be admitted to the bar. Well, he was natural born all right, but not a citizen.
Then his thoughts turned west. He had some fascination about it: "Go west young man, go west." But when Morgan found out about it, I think he thought, "Oh no, please don't, stay here." Got him a job close by where he could still be helpful with his research."
William Armstrong
Parker Biographer
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In 1848, Lewis Henry Morgan resurfaced to steer Parker's course. Morgan planned to publish the results of his Haudenosaunee studies, and he needed Parker's assistance more than ever. In a letter, Morgan told Parker that he was "sorry indeed to notice that you had even the slightest inclination to go into the remote west. It would be out of the true path. You would nine chances to ten throw yourself away. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Pomeroy of Portageville, Wyoming County, assistant engineer upon the Genesee Valley Canal, came into my office to make a call, as we are old friends. Your case occurred to me at once and I asked him if he could not make a place for you with him in the employ of the State."
In 1849, Parker moved to Nunda, New York, to work as an axe-man, felling lumber for the expansion of the Genesee Valley Canal. Through observation, he was able to pick up basic engineering skills, and he also learned something about small town society. Parker began attending country dances in the company of "Brother George and Sister Grisilda Napier." A relative later recalled that, "Eli's (sic) first appearance on the dance floor, he was very bashful. But as soon as he learned and became accustomed to dance the (White Brothers') way, he seemed to want to dance all the time." John Napier also recalled this amazing story: "Once when a dance was held at the Napier Brother Father's Hotel in Ischua, N.Y., Eli stayed at the hotel all night, and early the next morning, Eli looked out and discovered a fresh deer track. He arose, dressed and took after the deer, and soon returned with the deer on his shoulders. Having run the deer down and killed it, and brought it back to the hotel."
Parker's environment changed dramatically in 1850 when, again, Lewis Henry Morgan used his influence to bring him to Rochester, New York. The new engineering post was on the expansion of the Erie Canal, and in a boomtown city with mills, factories, and a rich mix of social movements.
"He's not really that far away geographically, but he's far away culturally. He became a member of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Association, which had some 1200 members and a library of 5500 books. Had newspapers from all around the country. The Athenaeum brought speakers into Rochester: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, local speakers like Susan B. Anthony. Jenny Lind came and sang here.
And what fascinates me, is Parker not only belonged to the Athenaeum, but at one point ran for President, and come close to winning the election, except that he was off on an encampment of the New York militia at the time, and people circulated rumors that he wouldn't serve if elected.
He was a captain of engineers in the New York Militia. He has also joined a Masonic order. This is another step in his acculturation."
William Armstrong
Parker Biographer
"I think Rochester was a turning point for Ely Parker. It was a chance for him to live in and get to know a whole new community. And I think he became infatuated with that society. It gave him more personal and intellectual fulfillment than his duties at Tonawanda. It gave him confidence that he could blend in, to walk the streets of Rochester without anyone staring at him, and I think that is important to him. He starts imitating white society, wearing the latest clothes, he goes to the theater, joins intellectual, social and military groups. He's creating a whole new world for himself.
He's able to do this because he was so intelligent and attractive. He was well read, and so could step into any conversation. He was also a bit of a curiosity. Here was this man with copper-colored skin, an Indian who was well educated, and that is something of a surprise in white society. And he was charming; he had a real presence about him."
Jare Cardinal
Rochester Museum & Science Center
Rochester was indeed the setting for some of Parker's more astounding achievements. He was just 23 years old when his talents were recognized in three distinct areas of his life. In 1851, Parker was promoted to first assistant engineer on the canals. Then he celebrated the publication of The League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois with Lewis Henry Morgan. It was a landmark study, still considered the most comprehensive of all early descriptive reports on Native cultures. And it would contribute to Morgan's standing as a father of American anthropology.
Much of the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee featured primary writings and documentation that Parker had gathered during the previous six years. His work was acknowledged in the dedication:
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"To Ha-sa-no-an-da, (Ely S. Parker), a Seneca Indian, this work, the materials of which are the fruit of our joint researches, is inscribed: "In acknowledgement of the obligations, and in testimony of the friendship of the author."
Lewis Henry Morgan
But a higher honor soon followed. In the fall of 1851, Ely Parker was named one of the fifty Sachems of the Haudenosaunee, succeeding former Chief John Blacksmith. As a Clan Mother, Ely's mother Elizabeth was involved in his selection. His new title fitting the responsibilities he had shouldered as a cultural bridge for the Tonawanda Senecas. Parker was given the name, Do-ne-ho-ga-wa, translated to "Open Door." He was the new "Keeper of the Western Door" of the Haudenosaunee long house, the one who mediates all interactions with the outside world.
An 1851 newspaper reporter filed the following account of the condolence ceremony, which officially sanctioned himself as a Sachem:
INDIAN COUNCIL OF THE SIX NATIONS - A Grand Council of the Confederacy of Six Nations of Indians, to wit: - The Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras, was held at Tonawanda on Friday last, for the purpose of celebrating the funeral rites of their last Grand Sachem, John Blacksmith, deceased, and of electing a Grand Sachem in his place, electing Chiefs, & c.
After the council fire was kindled, the Oneidas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras advanced in double file, as chief mourners, the leaders singing the Death Song. Having performed some ancient ceremonies, the whole Band moved to the Council ground, where all the old rules and customs of the Confederacy were repeated in song. This occupied a long time - after which, the Chiefs previously selected, were installed, and instructed in their duties.
Ely S. Parker (Do-ne-ha-ga-wa) was proclaimed the Grand Sachem * of the Six Nations. The Speaker invested him with the silver medal presented by Washington to the celebrated War Chief Red Jacket, and worn by him until his death. (Mr. Parker now in official dignity and honor at the head of the Six Nations, is an educated man, of fine talents and exemplary habits, and is one of the Assistant State Engineers.)
Spencer C. Parker, brother of the Grand Sachem, together with eight others, were installed as War Chiefs, to fill vacancies occasioned by death, and the whole proceedings were conducted with great harmony and good feeling.
Buffalo Courier
October 1851
Do-ne-ho-ga-wa would continue to live in Rochester, balancing his new duties with his increasing immersion in Rochester society; and in 1857, he would put an end to the Tonawanda Senecas' 20-year battle for their homelands. Parker, along with Attorney John Martindale, led two successive efforts in Washington.
"Supreme Court decision on trespass inspired a Senate Treaty, which permitted the Tonawanda Senecas to use a significant part of the resources set aside for their removal to Kansas to buy back over 7-thousand acres of the Tonawanda reserve. And to establish a permanent home for themselves, as it turned out, a permanent home for that tradition that everyone thought was going to die. This is Ely Parker's legacy."
Stephen Saunders Webb, Ph.D.
Maxwell School, Syracuse University
In gratitude for his services, the Tonawanda Senecas gave Parker 50 acres of land on the reservation. Although proud of the success, he wrote a letter to an acquaintance that hints at his desire to break free from his duties. Parker said he "bought back for the Indians the homes in which they had always lived. They are now comfortably settled, fear nothing and have money in the bank. I am also relieved of a great responsibility, which was shouldered upon me when yet a mere youth, the weight of which, I fear, has made me prematurely old."