The Msadoques Family House, Odanak, Québec
The Sadoques family home was photographed at Odanak, an Abenaki village on the Alsigontekw (St. Francis River)near the St. Lawrence, in Québec, Canada. The house is most likely one of those rebuilt in the 1760s, after Roger's Raid in 1759, which burned all of the wood frame houses at Odanak. The inhabitants of this village are commonly identified as "St. Francis Abenaki" Indians. The St. Francis Abenaki, or Wobanakiak, include many different Native communities, including Sokoki, Missisquoi, Cowass, Pennacook, Pequawket, Pocumtuck, and others who took refuge in the Abenaki village on the Alsigontekw between 1676-1754. In 1865, this was the home of Margaret Nagazoa and her husband Thomas Msadoques, who was one of the founders of the Anglican Church at Odanak. Their son, Israel Msadoques, married Mary Watso, an Abenaki woman who was a direct descendant of Eunice (Kanenstenhawi) Williams and her husband Arosen. Eunice was an English girl taken captive during the 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, but she elected to live with her Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) family at Kahnawake in Canada. Abenaki oral traditions reveal that Eunice and Arosen (whom the Abenaki call Amrusus) had a number of descendants among the Abenaki, two of whom are said to have died in Roger's Raid. Israel Msadoques was a very successful hunter for Hudson's Bay Company. He and his wife, Mary Watso, eventually moved to Keene, New Hampshire, where they changed the family name to Sadoques to make it easier for Americans to pronounce.
Date: circa 1865
Topic: Portraits
Materials: Photograph
Dimensions: n.a.
Accession #: n.a.