Diary of Anne Powell, 1789
This diary belonged to Anne Powell, the sister of W.D. [William Dummer] Powell (later Chief Justice of Upper Canada). It was written on her voyage from Montreal to Detroit with her brother in 1789. During the trip, she observed a Six Nations Council, describing the dress and manners of the people. She wrote a lengthy description of her impressions of Mohawk Chief David Hill (Karonghyontye) and, to a lesser extent, Seneca Chief Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha). She also mentions encounters with Peter Hunter (later Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada), Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and Mohawk leader Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea). Thomas Smith (later clerk of the Court of the District of Hesse, a member of the Michigan Militia, killed at the Battle of Fallen Timbers) is also mentioned.
The journal has been published in The Magazine of American History (July 1880): 37-47; and William Renwick Riddell’s Old Province Tales: Upper Canada (1920), pp. 64-95. Anne Powell married merchant and fellow Loyalist, Isaac Winslow Clarke (mentioned in the journal). She died in childbirth in Montreal in 1792.
The diary has been digitized and can be accessed in the Digital Repository.
