Edward Cornplanter

Edward Cornplanter or So-son-do-wa (1856–1918) was a chief of the Seneca people of the Iroquois Nation (Haudenosaunee) and a leading exponent of the Code of Handsome Lake (Gai'wiio, also known as the Longhouse Religion).

Cornplanter, the son of Moses and Sarah (Phillips) Cornplanter, was born in November 1856 on the Seneca Cattaraugus Reservation. He was the great-great-grandson of Chief Cornplanter, who led the tribe during the American Revolutionary War. His Seneca name So-son-do-wa means "Deep Night."

In 1882, he married Nancy Jack. They had three children including Jesse Cornplanter, who became renowned as an artist and author. The family was decimated by the 1918 flu pandemic, in which Edward, his wife Nancy, a daughter and grandchildren also died. The only survivors of the family were one married daughter, two grandchildren, and son Jesse, who was serving in the United States Army in Europe during the Great War.

Cornplanter was one of six iroquois authorized as "holders of the Gai'wiio"; he regularly traveled among the Iroquois reservations to pass on the teachings. In 1903 he became concerned that oral transmission of the Gai'wiio` would not keep it from being lost. He wrote it down from memory and gave the material to the archives of New York State for preservation. His son Jesse Cornplanter illustrated this manuscript.

In addition to transcribing The Code of Handsome Lake, Cornplanter assisted the New York State Museum in compiling materials about Native American life in the state. He provided information as to the Iroquois cultivation and use of "maize and other plant foods and many ... myths and tales."

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