Treaty of Big Tree

Treaty of Big Tree was a formal treaty signed in 1797 between the Seneca Nation and the United States in which the Seneca relinquished their rights to nearly all of their traditional homeland in New York State. In 1788 the Iroquois had sold rights to their land between Seneca Lake and the Genesee River in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. The Treaty of Big Tree signed away their rights to all their territory west of the Genesee River except twelve small tracts of land for $100,000 and other consideration.

The delegates for both parties met from August 20, 1797 until September 16, 1797 at the residence of William Wadsworth, an early pioneer of the area and captain of the local militia, in what is now Geneseo, New York. A meadow between Wadsworth's cabin at Big Tree and the gigantic oak by the river, which gave the place its name, was the site of the conference.

In attendance were nearly three thousand Seneca and other prominent members of the Six Nations of the Iroquois. Representing them were their hoyaneh chiefs: Cornplanter, Red Jacket, Young King, Little Billy, Farmer's Brother, Handsome Lake, Tall Chief, Little Beard and others; the clan mothers of the nation; and Mary Jemison. Those in attendance representing the United States were: Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, Commissioner, assigned by President George Washington to represent the United States government; Captain Charles Williamson and Thomas Morris, representing his father; Robert Morris; General William Shepard, representing Massachusetts; William Bayard, representing New York; Theophilus Cazenove and Paolo Busti, representatives for the Holland Land Company; Captain Israel Chapin, representing the Department of Indian Affairs; Joseph Ellicott, land surveyor; and James Rees as acting secretary. The official interpreters were Horatio Jones and Jasper Parish.

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