Archaeologist and Historian. Rev. Thomas Grassmann, a Conventual Franciscan friar, in 1938 founded the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha near Fonda, NY. This was in the vicinity of the Mohawk settlement Caughnawaga, where Catholic convert Kateri Tekakwitha had lived part of her life (1656-1680) and been baptized. After preliminary exploration by members of the New York State Archaeological Association in the 1940s, Grassmann identified post molds of a stockade line, pinpointing the location, and led the thorough excavation of the site of Caughnawaga from 1950 to 1956. Excavation revealed a fortified, gated wooden double stockade, called a "castle," and 12 long houses, covered with elm bark, inhabited by the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk from 1666 to 1693. Grassmann's book "The Mohawk Indians and their Valley: Being a Chronological Documentary Record to the End of 1693" (1969) is a fundamental scholarly resource on the early history of the Mohawk Nation of Colonial New York. The Caughnawaga Castle Site was declared a National Historical Place in 1973. The Fonda memorial, after the beatification of Kateri in 1980, is now the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine, whose museum houses the Mohawk Caughnawaga Collection assembled by Grassmann. Caughnawaga remains the only completely excavated Iroquois village in North America. Grassmann was honored by burial on the site he excavated.∼Conventual Franciscan priest
Father Grassmann, who died in 1970, is buried near the memorial he built in this field at the Shrine a short time before he discovered that it was the site of the Iroquois Indian village, Caughnawaga, where Catherine Tekakwitha lived and was baptized a Christian.
Father Grassmann, who died in 1970, is buried near the memorial he built in this field at the Shrine a short time before he discovered that it was the site of the Iroquois Indian village, Caughnawaga, where Catherine Tekakwitha lived and was baptized a Christian.
Archaeologist and Historian. Rev. Thomas Grassmann, a Conventual Franciscan friar, in 1938 founded the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha near Fonda, NY. This was in the vicinity of the Mohawk settlement Caughnawaga, where Catholic convert Kateri Tekakwitha had lived part of her life (1656-1680) and been baptized. After preliminary exploration by members of the New York State Archaeological Association in the 1940s, Grassmann identified post molds of a stockade line, pinpointing the location, and led the thorough excavation of the site of Caughnawaga from 1950 to 1956. Excavation revealed a fortified, gated wooden double stockade, called a "castle," and 12 long houses, covered with elm bark, inhabited by the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk from 1666 to 1693. Grassmann's book "The Mohawk Indians and their Valley: Being a Chronological Documentary Record to the End of 1693" (1969) is a fundamental scholarly resource on the early history of the Mohawk Nation of Colonial New York. The Caughnawaga Castle Site was declared a National Historical Place in 1973. The Fonda memorial, after the beatification of Kateri in 1980, is now the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine, whose museum houses the Mohawk Caughnawaga Collection assembled by Grassmann. Caughnawaga remains the only completely excavated Iroquois village in North America. Grassmann was honored by burial on the site he excavated.∼Conventual Franciscan priest
Father Grassmann, who died in 1970, is buried near the memorial he built in this field at the Shrine a short time before he discovered that it was the site of the Iroquois Indian village, Caughnawaga, where Catherine Tekakwitha lived and was baptized a Christian.
Father Grassmann, who died in 1970, is buried near the memorial he built in this field at the Shrine a short time before he discovered that it was the site of the Iroquois Indian village, Caughnawaga, where Catherine Tekakwitha lived and was baptized a Christian.
Inscription
Rev. Thomas Grassmann
Conventual Franciscan Priest, Historian and Archeologist
Born Dec. 18, 1890
Founder of Catherine Tekakwitha Memorial Shrine and
The Mohawk Caughnawaga Museum
Discoverer of the Mohawk American Village of
Caughnawaga on this site
Author of "The Mohawk Indians and Their Village"
Died Oct. 1, 1970
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