BRANT, Christina

  General Notes:

Please note that I am extremely doubtful of this marriage. See my notes in the marriage section.

Christina married Allen SAGE in 1780 in Prob. New York.¹ (Allen SAGE was born about 1750 in U.S.A. and died after 1812 in Ontario, Canada.)

  Marriage Notes:

I have done quite a bit of research on the Sage's in Canada and have spent a great deal of time working to prove/debunk the Allen Sage-Christina Brant marriage. I have not had much luck finding records of Allen Sage in Canada, although his descendants are clearly prominent there and anectdotal evidence from those descendants indicates a marriage between Allen Sage and an Indian woman.

The evidence:

This excerpt from a letter written by Percy Sage (direct descendant, 1903-1993?), written 9 May 1974 [posted at One World Tree by a family descendant]:

"Allen Jr. no record of date of birth as New York state where he is supposed to have been born did not keep records at that time. This Allen spent his early years with the Indians on the Grand River, married an Indian girl (probably a daughter of Chief Joseph Brant). Their family, namely their youngest son was my great grandfather. Allen Jr.'s son, a brother of Comfort, Willard is the one Georgina descended from. This information comes from records made up by a a member of the family, a Cora Holmes Beach, a direct descendent of Allen Jr. in the 1930's to 1950's. I do not think she ever got that far. All I have is a loose leaf copy and that is almost worn out."

My research shows that Percy Morris Sage, quoted above, was actually the great grandson of Comfort Sage, a son of Allen Sage and the woman believed to be Christina Brant. While the insights of an elder of the Sage family are helpful, they only lend circumstantial evidence.

In reading through the various posts at the Sage message boards at Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, I find that one descendant has a family Bible that supports the Sage/Brant marriage, and others have indicated that it is part of their family lore.

I did find record of a marriage between Allen Sage, b. 1751 CT, to Christina Brant in 1780 in the U.S. & International Marriage Records. This is the Allen Sage most often connected to David Sage of Wales and believed to be the patriarch of the Ontario Sage's. However, the records in this index were compiled from a wide variety of sources, including family group records and personal genealogies, and the exact document this record was pulled from is not listed. As such, I would not be inclined to consider this "hard" evidence without being able to review the source.

Having exhausted my resources searching for the Sage connection, I then decided to take a closer look at Christina Brant's family, particularly the man believed to be her father, Chief Joseph Brant. I learned that Chief Joseph was a colorful figure, fiercely loyal to the British, and a well-educated, highly respected spokesman for the people of the Six Nations. More important to our discussion, I found two, and only two, sources that give details of Joseph's genealogy. The first is a family tree compiled from a variety of sources by Sheila Firehair:

"Descendants of Jacob Kajingwirago [grandfather of Chief Joseph]

Generation No. 1

1. JACOB1 KAJINGWIRAGO was born Abt. 1673 in New York State. He married
JACOMINE (TAGWANAGON) Abt. 1695 in New York State.

Notes for JACOB KAJINGWIRAGO:
He was Bear Clan, with the formal name of "Swift Arrow"

More About JACOB KAJINGWIRAGO:
Bpt.: January 01, 1695/96

Notes for JACOMINE (TAGWANAGON):
No baptism recorded, she was Wolf Clan.

Children of JACOB KAJINGWIRAGO and JACOMINE (TAGWANAGON) are:
i. DEBORA2, b. Abt. 1696.

More About DEBORA:
Bpt.: December 27, 1696, "Mother a heathen but receiving instruction"

ii. ABRAAM (ABRAHAM), b. Abt. 1699, New York State.

More About ABRAAM (ABRAHAM):
Bpt.: January 05, 1699/00, spnsr: Elizabeth Wendels

iii. BRANT, b. Abt. 1703, New York State; d. Abt. 1725, New York State; m. JACOMINE.

More About BRANT:
Bpt.: July 04, 1703, spnsrs: Barent Wemp, Volkie Symonson

More About JACOMINE:
Bpt.: December 25, 1700, spnsr:Jacomine

2. iv. PETER TEHONAWAGHKWANGERAGHKWA, b. Abt. 1707; d. Abt. 1745, Ohio Territory.


Generation No. 2

2. PETER2 TEHONAWAGHKWANGERAGHKWA (JACOB1 KAJINGWIRAGO) was born Abt. 1707, and died Abt. 1745 in Ohio Territory. He married MARGARET July 06, 1735 in Fort Hunter, New York, daughter of ABRAHAM ONAGSAKEARET and MARIE BRANT.

Children of PETER TEHONAWAGHKWANGERAGHKWA and MARGARET are:
i. PETER3 BRANT, b. Abt. 1735, New York State.

Notes for PETER BRANT:
Living at Joseh Brant's house in 1774.

Sivertsen's book (pg. 7-2,) shows Peter a son of Peter , but does not credit him with Margaret as a Mother. If this is true, Peter would be half brother to Joseph Brant.

More About PETER BRANT:
Bpt.: July 06, 1735

3. ii. MARY (MOLLY) BRANT, b. 1736, New York State; d. 1776, Canada.
iii. JACOB BRANT, b. Abt. 1740.
iv. CHRISTINA BRANT, b. Abt. 1741.
4. v. JOSEPH THEYANDANEGA BRANT, b. March 1742/43; d. November 24, 1807, Upper Canada.

Generation No. 3

3. MARY (MOLLY)3 BRANT (PETER2 TEHONAWAGHKWANGERAGHKWA, JACOB1 KAJINGWIRAGO) was born 1736 in New York State, and died 1796 in Canada. She married WILLIAM JOHNSON.

More About MARY (MOLLY) BRANT:
Burial: April 16, 1796, Canada

Children of MARY BRANT and WILLIAM JOHNSON are:
i. PETER4 JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1757.
ii. ELIZABETH JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1761.
iii. MAGDALENE JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1763.
iv. GEORGE JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1767.

Notes for GEORGE JOHNSON:
Never married

v. MARY JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1769.
vi. SUSANNA` JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1771.
vii. ANNE JOHNSON, b. Abt. 1773.

4. JOSEPH THEYANDANEGA3 BRANT (PETER2 TEHONAWAGHKWANGERAGHKWA, JACOB1 KAJINGWIRAGO) was born March 1742/43, and died November 24, 1807 in Upper Canada.

He married (1) NEGGAN (PEGGIE) July 22, 1765 in Canajoharie, New York, daughter of ISAAC DEKAYENENSERE and NUGEA (SOPHIA?).

He married (2) SUSANNA Abt. 1772 in Canajoharie, New York, daughter of ISAAC DEKAYENENSERE and a different wife-(being credited with two wives.)

He married (3) CATHERINE ADONWENTISHON CROGHAN 1779 in Fort Niagara, daughter of GEORGE CROGHAN and CATHERINE.

Children of JOSEPH BRANT and NEGGAN (PEGGIE) are:

i. ISAAC KARAGUANTIER4 BRANT, b. 1766, Fort Ontario; d. 1795, Grand River; m. MARY HILL.
ii. CHRISTINA BRANT, b. 1769; m. AARON HILL.

Notes for CHRISTINA BRANT:
Second child of Joseph Brant his 1st wife, Peggie, she was christened by a German clergyman at Schoharie.


Children of JOSEPH BRANT and CATHERINE CROGHAN are:

iii. JOSEPH JR.4 BRANT, b. 1784, (Kelsey pg 528-Draper Mscrpt 13F31 says 1780;) m. MARGARET JOHN.

iv. JACOB BRANT, b. Abt. 1786, New York State - (Kelsey, pg. 528, Draper says 1782, Manuscripts 13F31;) d. December 1847.

v. MARY BRANT, b. Abt. 1786, New York State-(Draper 13F31.)

vi. MARGARET BRANT, b. 1788, New York State.

vii. CATHERINE BRANT, b. 1791, New York State; d. September 1832.

viii. JOHN BRANT, b. September 27, 1794, New York State; d. August 1832, Kelsey, pg. 528.

ix. ELIZABETH BRANT, b. 1796, (Draper 13F31;) m. WILLIAM JOHNSON KERR"

Source Info: Genealogy of Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, by Sheila Firehair: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~massasoit/brant.htm


According to all the biographies I read, Chief Joseph Brant married three times. First, he married the woman called Neggan in this report. According to other sources, Neggan also went by the names Christine, Margaret and Peggy (Peggie) (this was not an uncommon occurence in those days, when Indian and white, Christian cultures were blending). Neggan and Joseph had two children, Issac (b. 1766) and Christina (b. 1769). This is, of course, the Christina Brant commonly believed to have married Allen Sage. Neggan died of tuberculosis in 1771. Joseph's second wife, Susannah, was Neggan's sister or half-sister, and records show that Joseph had to seek out a German minister to perform the wedding as the more conservative English clergy did not approve. Susannah died shortly after their marriage without issue. Joseph's third marriage to Catherine Croghan resulted in six children, all of which outlived him.

As you can see, this descendant report indicates that Joseph's daughter, Christina, married a man named Aaron Hill. The other family tree I found also states that Christina married Aaron Hill, not Allen Sage.

"The Life of Captain Joseph Brant" by Ke-che-ah-ga-me-qua (no publishing date: http://66.207.114.162/genealogy/pdfs/Brantlife.pdf) gives a detailed account of Joseph's life and another report of Joseph's descendancy. Of the two children of Joseph and his first wife, Neggan, this author states, "The son referred to in the above letter was Issac, who died at Burlington Heights, near the city of Hamilton, in the year 1795; the daughter, Christina, married Aaron Hill, a catechist in the English Church" (p. 7). Most importantly, the author includes the following:

"JOSEPH BRANT'S GENEALOGICAL TREE

1st Wife - Margaret [Neggan]. Issue

[1] Issac. Issue: Issac, Margaret, Ellen. Issac [Jr.] and Margaret's descendants have passed away. Ellen married Lottridge. Issue: 3 girls, 1 boy, all living.

[2] Christine. Issue: 3 girls, 4 boys. Mary only living, a very kind and intelligent old lady, widow of the late Joseph Sawyer, Chief of the New Credit or Mississaugas Band of Chippeways" (p. 24). [Note: I did find a Mary B. Sawyer of Indian ethnicity, b. abt. 1805, listed as the head of household in Tuscarora, Brant County, on the 1871 Canadian Census Index. She does not appear on the 1881 Canadian Census. Assuming this is the same Mary Sawyer mentioned above, we can surmise that this article on Joseph Brant was written between 1871-1880.]

Both of these genealogies indicate that Joseph's daughter, Christina Brant, married a man named Aaron Hill, not Allen Sage, having seven children by him. Furthermore, Joseph's daughter would have only been 12 years old in 1780 when this marriage is believed to have taken place, and although it was not uncommon for girls to marry in their early teens at that time, I think it's a bit of a stretch.

None of this, in my opinion, supports a union between Allen Sage and Joseph Brant's daughter, Christina, but seems instead to debunk the notion that this marriage ever took place. How then, do we account for all the anecdotal evidence and family lore that seems to point to a connection between these two families? Most family lore, after all, has some basis in fact. Allen Sage was, according to his family, living "among the Indians." Joseph Brant encouraged intermarriage. His sister, Molly, married [some accounts state that this union was never sanctioned by a Christian marriage ceremony] a white clergyman and lifelong friend of Joseph's, William Johnson. Chief Joseph seemed to feel that such marriages helped to cement the relationship between the white and Indian communities. Allen Sage lived in Brant's territory and his family associations are with some well-known Tories. Looking at the photograph of his son, Comfort Sage, one cannot help but see the sharply chisled features so common to early North American Indians. Where, then, is the connection?

I got looking more closely at the Sheila Firehair family tree, and realized that Joseph Brant not only had a daughter named Christina, but he also had a sister named Christina, b. abt. 1741. Of these siblings of Joseph, Firehair says:

"A minister, Mr. Barclay, was quite agreeable to baptising the babies in his area. On occasion, he performed the ceremonies for the babies, and managed
to marry the parents at the same time. Among the records is note of Peter Tehonwaghkwangeraghka and his wife, Margaret [Joseph's parents]. Their son, Jacob, was baptised on 18 July 1741, and the next year, a daughter, Christina was duly baptised 6 February 1741 (date corrected due to Gregorian calendar). Of these children, nothing further has ever been learned---they probably died in childhood."

Unfortunately, this was the only reference I found to Joseph's sister, Christina. Is it possible that Allen Sage of the Western Canadian Sage's, if he did marry an Indian "princess" as so many descendants believe, married Joseph Brant's sister, not his daughter? Sibling Christina is older than Allen Sage, if his birthdate of 1751 is assumed to be correct (this is a rather large assumption, as I have found no reliable record of his birth), but I would not use that as a reason to discount a marriage between them. Some authors attribute Joseph's title of Chief of the Mohawks to his father, some to his mother. In either case, his parents were clearly notable in terms of hereditary title(s) and, therefore, his sister, Christina, could be considered an "Indian princess" as far as the term applies.

The difficulty, obviously, is in demonstrating that Joseph's sister did not die "in childhood," as Firehair postulates, and I interpret this as an assumption on her part. The recording of family lineages among Native Americans was in its infancy during this period, so it is not outside the realm of possibility that the family lines of less notable tribe members would not be remembered or noted.

In conclusion, I am fairly convinced that Allen Sage, patriarch of the Ontario Sage family (whose lineage to David Sage is, in my opinion, possible but questionable) did not marry Christina, the daughter of Chief Joseph Brant. I believe that there is ample anectdotal evidence that he did marry an Indian woman and had at least six children with her before her death. There is also evidence that he remarried a woman named Elizabeth Westbrook (probably a widow herself), and had at least five more children. I would encourage descendants of this family to continue searching for documents related to this family, particularly in Brant and Oxford counties. Until such documents are found, the identity of the Indian woman and the lineage of Allen Sage will likely remain a mystery.