Madame Montour

MADAME MONTOUR THE INTERPRETESS WHO BRIDGED NATIONS

The Atlantic was a world of cultural encounters and it is in this setting that interpreters enabled interaction

and negotiation between nations. Madame Montour (1685-1753) was an “Interpretess” in the early 1700s remembered for the extent of her skills to bridge nations. She took over her brother’s work as an interpreter when he was murdered by the French in 1709. Her fluency in several Indigenous languages, including

Algonquian and Iroquoian linguistic groups, French, and English, enabled her to facilitate three-way interpretation between Ojibway-speaking Mississauga, Iroquois, and the English. 11 This made her a valuable cultural interlocutor for whose service both the British and French vied. Yet, her skills extended beyond linguistics to understanding cultural customs and protocol: she was able to provide informed interaction between people groups. Even so, Madame Montour’s biography remains a mystery for scholars. She spun different narratives about her past to different people as she travelled, and because she was illiterate, she never documented her personal history. Even the major sources on her life contradict each other. Nevertheless, whether she was French-born and kidnapped at the age of ten and raised by the Iroquois, or whether she was born to a French father and Indigenous mother, the significance of her life is unaffected. Her diplomatic career as an interpreter and cultural broker between native leaders and colonial governments specifically in New York and Pennsylvania was vital to facilitating interaction and negotiations of starkly contrasting cultures and customs with different interests and concerns. From serving Iroquois leaders to New York governors, interpreters such as Madame Montour were the thread that tied the myriad of Atlantic nations together.