Mabel Powers

(1872 - 1966)

The daughter of a preacher, Mabel Powers was born in Hamburg, New York; studied in Buffalo; and taught in Rochester. As a teenager she began writing newspaper and magazine articles about the Native American way of life. In 1910 she was invited to participate in a ceremony on the Tonawanda Seneca Indian Reservation and was formally adopted by the Snipe clan, who called her Yehsennohwehs, “she who carries and tells the stories.” Soon thereafter she settled near the Chautauqua Institution, where she was a frequent speaker.