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PAULINE JOHNSON - NATIVE POETESS

© Mary M. Alward

Pauline Johnson was born on March 10, 1861 on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. Her mother, Emily Johnson was a white woman who had come to Canada from Ohio. Her father was George Johnson, a Mohawk Indian and a chief of the Six Nations.

When George Johnson married his wife, he built her a mansion on the reserve. Nestled in a small forest, he named it Chiefswood. The mansion was located on the north bank of the Grand River and one concession from the rural Ontario farm where I grew up.

Pauline was isolated from the other children on the reserve and at an early age spent many hours in the forest and canoeing on the Grand River. Both were only a few hundred yards from her doorstep. Here, Pauline learned to love nature and spent most of her time camping and canoeing. She could recite poetry before she could read.

Pauline spent many happy hours with her Grandfather, John "Smoke" Johnson. She sat enraptured as he told her the legends and traditions, as well as war stories of her native ancestry.

Pauline was enrolled in classes at Central School in Brantford. Though she attended only seven years, she often read works by Sir Walter Scott, John Milton and William Shakespeare.

In 1884, Pauline's father died of injuries he sustained while trying to stop illegal cutting of trees on the Six Nations Reserve. Due to financial hardship, the Johnson's could no longer maintain Chiefswood. They were forced to rent it out and move to Brantford.

Pauline had an active social life in Brantford Society and though she expected to marry one day, no man proposed. In order to make a living; Pauline used the stories her grandfather told her, plus her own experiences along the Grand River, to write poems. These she sold to the Brantford Expositor, the local newspaper. Some were also published in an anthology, Songs of the Great Dominion. Finally, Pauline began to recite her poems to small audiences to supplement her income.

In 1892, at the age of 31, Pauline began to appear in professional recitals for the purpose of paying to have her first book of poetry published. Her performances were so successful that she began to tour throughout Ontario. The audiences loved her. Her recital of poems with Native themes, such as The Song My Paddle Sings and her poems of nature of which Marshlands is the best known, assured her success.

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