Page 18 - Alderville First Nation
P. 18
e believe our ancestors have lived on Turtle Island since
it was created. The entire area surrounding Alderville
along with the area north to Lake Superior and south
WORDS TO KNOW
Winto the present-day United States were the traditional
ancestors: relatives that lived
long ago lands of our people. Different First Nations groups, such as
Jesuit: Society of Jesus within the Huron, had lived in this area. The ancestors of the Huron
the Catholic Church lived in this area from the 1300s until the late 1600s, and were
actively involved with the Jesuit missions of the time, including
the establishment of Ste. Marie in 1639. Around this time, the
Anishinaabeg people settled the area.
As British and French settlers moved into the area, Anishinaabeg
people also began to move. Two hundred of our Alderville
ancestors travelled to Grape Island in the Bay of Quinte. They
settled there in 1826. The Methodist Church was a major
influence, assisting with this move. The area was not large
enough to provide enough food, however, so our ancestors
chose to leave in 1837.
TURTLE ISLAND
Turtle Island is what our people
call North America. Like many
other people around the world,
Anishinaabe people carry stories
about how living things survived a
great flood. The name Turtle Island
comes from our story of how the
flood came to be and how, after
the flood, the last human and other
animals took turns diving into water
to try to grab earth to grow new
land. Only the muskrat was able to
dive deep enough to grab land, but
he died when he came back up. In
his honour, the turtle offered to
carry the new land on her back.
16 Alderville First Nation
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