Aaron Henry Genwendeshon Hill

Mohawk/Wolf Clan
Church of England catechist and translator; chief-in-all-but-name
Also known as: KENWENDESHON / Henry Aaron Hill

http://www.davidkfaux.org/files/Hill_Brant.pdf
Generation 5

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kenwendeshon_6E.html
"On visiting the Grand River in 1792, Patrick Campbell described Hill as a young man “of very agreeable looks and mild manners,” who had been “the best scholar” at Harvard. That university, however, has no record of his presence. Nevertheless, Hill was sometimes spoken of as doctor. During the War of 1812 he took part in the ambush of American forces on 24 June 1813 at Beaver Dams (Thorold) [see William Johnson Kerr*]. In November 1814 he was one of a small party which prevented a large American force from crossing the Grand River to attack Burlington Heights (Hamilton) from the rear. Called “a faithful Warrior on all occasions,” Hill was wounded in the thigh and hand in this action.

By 1816 Hill was acting as interpreter at councils of the Six Nations and conducting services at the Mohawk chapel (which still stands in Brantford). He “touched his cheeks and forehead with a few spots of vermilion, in honour of Sunday; he wore a surplice, and preached at considerable length; but his delivery was unimpassioned, and monotonous in the extreme,” according to traveller Francis Hall. St Paul’s Church, as the chapel was named, was occasionally visited by the Church of England clergyman from Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake), and later from Ancaster. More usually an Indian catechist would read the prayers. Hill acted as reader and interpreter to Ralph Leeming* in 1821 and was described by Robert Addison the following year as catechist for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The first resident Anglican clergyman at the Grand River, William Hough, was appointed in 1826. But the use of catechists continued, and in fact it was only in 1827 that Hill was officially designated a catechist for the SPG, at an annual salary of £20. He continued in the post when the interdenominational New England Company took over the mission in 1827."