Note
Manuscript location: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Source(s): Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, MS 3627, NAA MS 3627, ID ebl-1538124033000-1538124033002-0
Digital location(s): https://www.si.edu/object/archives/sova-naa-ms3627
"Long interested in his people's traditional ways, though a staunch Anglican all his life, by the early 1880s Johnson was reputed to be the only man left who knew the meaning of the entire Iroquois Book of Rites. His last years were marked by the unfortunate loss of the last manuscript of that work. In 1832 he had made a copy of the Book of Rites at the request of the elderly owner of the only extant copy. This action was fortunate, because soon afterwards the first copy was lost in a fire. In 1883 the philologist Horatio Emmons Hale published a work about the Book of Rites, using the Johnson copy. The following year, an American, Mrs Erminnie A. Smith, bought his copy from Johnson for $10 and refused to reconsider the purchase even though several of the younger Johnsons objected that the old chief had been deceived. The copy was sold at a great profit to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where it remains today." Leighton, D. "George Smoke Johnson." Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Text available: https://sova.si.edu/search/ark:/65665/nw3d879b98109164679be8a4ecc8988d6a1