1 Rev. Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby)

Methodist minister Peter Jones (1802-56) – called Kahkewaquonaby in Ojibwa – was the son of surveyor Augustus Jones and Tuhbenahneequay, the daughter of a Mississauga chief. Jones’ early years were spent with his mother’s Mississauga community at Burlington Heights. When he was 14, Jones was sent by his father to an English school in Saltfleet Township (Stoney Creek). Jones converted to Methodism in 1821 and began to preach in the Grand River area. In 1826, he moved to the Mississauga settlement on the Credit River, and was elected chief in 1829. Jones made several journeys to England to raise funds for the Credit River mission, where he was introduced to both King William IV (1765-1837) and Queen Victoria (1819-1901). He petitioned Queen Victoria for titles to the land occupied by the Mississauga along the Credit, but these were later withheld by the Indian Department in Upper Canada. Jones later facilitated the band’s relocation to New Credit (Brantford), where the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation exist to this day. Jones died at his home, Echo Villa, in Brantford in 1856.

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