Joseph Onasakenrat
Mohawk chief (1845-1881)
Joseph Onasakenrat (also, Onesakenrat) (September 4, 1845 – February 8, 1881), also known as Sosé Onasakenrat, was a Mohawk chief of Kanesatake, one of the Seven Nations of Canada in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Onasakenrat (meaning Swan or White Feather) was born to a Mohawk family near Oka, Quebec. He was baptized Catholic and named Joseph, and was fluent in Mohawk and French. In 1860, he entered the Petit Séminaire de Montréal where he studied for the priesthood for about three years. Louis Riel was notably one of his classmates. He returned to Oka and was appointed as secretary of the Sulpician mission.
On July 25, 1868, Onasakenrat was elected chief of the Mohawk community. A photograph of him estimated from that time shows him wearing the Two Dog Wampum, as wampums were proof of title to Mohawk territory. Almost immediately, he travelled to Ottawa to meet with the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Onasakenrat petitioned the government to return land to the Mohawks which was, at the time, held by the Sulpicians.
The public source identifies “Joseph Onasakenrat” as mohawk chief (1845-1881). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joseph, Onasakenrat and Mohawk.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3185430. VIAF identifies the subject as 12007543. The Library of Congress control number is no2003122508. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1845, 1881, 1860 and 1868.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Onasakenrat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.