A museum honoring Canada’s first nationally acclaimed female poet, Emily Pauline Johnson, is located in the original house she was born and raised.
Her father, George Johnson, was a Mohawk leader and an official government interpreter and cultural negotiator, and her mother, Emily Howells, arrived in the Six Nations reserve to assist her older sister, who lived there with her Anglican missionary husband. They met and fell in love and got married to the displeasure of their families.
George built this house in 1856 as a wedding gift to his wife. The family lived there till his death in 1884. Emily Pauline Johnson, also known by her Mohawk name Tekahionwake, was born in 1861 in this house. She was a sickly child, so she was homeschooled, did lots of independent reading, and started composing poems when she was ten years old.
When her father died, they rented out Chiefswood, and she moved with her mother and sister to a house in Brantford. She wrote poetry, published them, and performed in amateur theatre productions to support her family financially. After a successful poetry reading night, she started to tour the country with theatrical performances showcasing her poetry, presenting her European and Indigenous heritage. Her popularity grew, and she performed with her solo show all over Canada, the US, and even visited England.
She passed away of breast cancer in 1913 in Vancouver. Her burial site is at Stanley Park, Vancouver.
Her sister, Evelyn Johnson, was a First Nations poet. She left the estate to the Six-Nation people of the Grand River Territory.
In 1963 Chiefswood was opened as a museum. Over the years, it went through the restoration and preservation process to the days the Johnsons lived there. Also on view are personal items of Emily Pauline Johnson and her family, books, hand-writing letters.
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