Constellation Similarity Assertions

John Parrish (1729-1807) was a Quaker missionary who, at the time he wrote these journals, was involved in several negotiations between the United States government and the Six Nations of the Iroquois, who lived in the territories east of the Mississippi River. Because he has been poorly documented as a historical figure, very little information exists on his personal life. In his adult years, he lived with his wife and daughter in Philadelphia, although as a young man he resided in Maryland. It is also known that he suffered from a stroke in 1807 while in Philadelphia, and is thought to have died as a result. Even in his journals, Parrish writes little about personal matters, chronicling instead his travels, his observations of Native Americans, his missionary work, the issue of slavery, and the treaties in which he was involved.

The events about which Parrish writes provide tremendous insight into the political strife characteristic of the time. Following the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the newly established United States government was interested in utilizing the influence of Quakers to create peaceful relations with Native Americans, whose territories were gradually being usurped. Many tribes retaliated, and the U.S. Congress was compelled to appoint commissioners to end these hostilities. Colonel Timothy Pickering (1745-1829), one of the commissioners with whom Parrish worked closely, was appointed to assuage conflicts over land in the Ohio Valley, particularly to quell Native American hostilities and to reassure them of the government’s peaceful intentions. After several attempts to form treaties, for which Parrish was present, Pickering was finally successful in negotiating the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794.

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