John N. B. Hewitt
John N. B. Hewitt was an influential ethnologist born in 1859 in Lewiston, New York, with a rich heritage that included French, English, Tuscarora, and Scottish ancestry. Initially aspiring to become a physician, Hewitt's journey took a different path due to health challenges, leading him to focus on scholarly research instead. He began his ethnological work in 1880 by collecting myths from Iroquoian Indian communities in Canada and the United States, with support from the Bureau of American Ethnology starting in 1886.
Hewitt was proficient in multiple Native American languages, including Tuscarora, Mohawk, and Onondaga, and he made significant contributions to the understanding of Iroquoian languages and their connections to other language families, including the Cherokee. Despite his meticulous approach resulting in limited published work during his lifetime, his extensive research yielded a substantial archive, including thousands of manuscript pages and numerous articles. His dedication to documenting and preserving Native American cultures and languages has left a lasting impact on the field of ethnology. Additionally, Hewitt participated in the 1927 Conference on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution, marking his involvement in broader scholarly discussions during his career.
John N. B. Hewitt
- Born: December 16, 1859
- Birthplace: Lewiston, New York
- Died: October 14, 1937
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Category: Anthropologist
Tribal affiliation: Tuscarora
Significance: Hewitt, who was perhaps as much as one-quarter Tuscarora, was a leading authority on the Iroquois League and the ceremonials and customs of the Six Nations
John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt was born in Lewiston, Niagara County, New York, in 1859. He was of French, English,Tuscarora, and Scottish heritage. Hewitt hoped to become a physician, but poor health prevented him from completing preparatory schooling. He continued his scholarly pursuits, however, and in 1880 was employed to collect Iroquoian Indian myths from residents of the Grand River and Onondaga reservations. In 1886, the Bureau of American Ethnology began sponsoring his work, and he continued with the same institution and line of research to the end of his life. Hewitt was fluent in the languages of the Tuscarora, Mohawk, and Onondaga; he also became well versed in several dialects from the Algonquian language family and successfully established the connection of the Cherokee language to the Iroquoian family. After 1896, although Hewitt gathered information on Chippewa, Ottawa, and Delaware languages, he concentrated primarily upon Iroquoian. He was painstakingly thorough and slow; thus only a small part of his research was printed before his death. In the bureau’s archives there are 250 entries under his name, consisting of 8,000 manuscript pages, 10,000 note-cards, more than 100 articles submitted to the Handbook of American Indians, and 25 submissions to American Anthropologist.
