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Marguerite Vincent Lawinonkie
Marguerite Vincent Lawinonkie

Marguerite Vincent Lawinonkie

1783 - 1865 (Wendat)
BirthplaceOntario, Canada
BiographyLawinonkié was born in 1783 to a Mohawk community on the Bay of Quinte.

When she was twenty-four, she married Paul Picard Hondawonhont in Jeune-Lorette. Together they would have several children, but the only one to grow past infancy was Francois-Xavier Picard Tahourenche. She supported the family through her artisan needlework, mainly creating snowshoes and moccasins embroidered with porcupine quills and moosehair. These works would become renowned in Quebec and Britain.

Her great success developed the local economy around moccasins and snowshoe production. By 1879, sixty of the seventy-six families in Lorette were employed in needlework, producing over 30,000 moccasins annually. The Wendake community became established for their numerous handcrafted products while preserving their traditional techniques and knowledge.

She died in 1865 and was buried in the chapel at the Jeune-Lorette Mission.
Person TypeIndividual

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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