G. Tantaquidgeon, 106, Tribal Elder Helped Preserve Mohegan Traditions

Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who was, if not "the last of the Mohicans," at least the most revered elder of the Mohegan Indian tribe and its oldest living member, died Tuesday. She was 106.

Tantaquidgeon, a medicine woman who wrote several books on Native American medical practices and folklore, died at her home in the Uncasville section of Montville, Conn. The town was formed from the tribe's former eight-acre reservation.

She had devoted much of her life to keeping alive her tribe's ancient culture, and documents and material she collected helped the Mohegans regain official tribal status from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1994.

Tantaquidgeon once dismissed James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 tale of the French and Indian War, which she said she never read, as "historical fiction, of course." Cooper's novel ended with the death of the Mohicans' young chief Uncas and, because he left no heirs, signified the end of the tribe. (Cooper used the Dutch spelling of the tribe's name, "Mohican," but the English spelling of "Mohegan" has won greater acceptance, despite the 1992 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis that repopularized the novel.)

"Contrary to James Fenimore Cooper's famous book," Tantaquidgeon told The Times in 1990, "my tribe, obviously, did not die out."

Then she added with a sigh, "I let the cause down. I never married, never had any children."

The tribe is small, with about 1,600 members this year, up 700 from those recognized when the tribe regained federal recognition 11 years ago.

The Tantaquidgeons -- whose name means "going fast" -- traced their ancestry to Uncas who, unlike Cooper's fictional counterpart, lived into his 80s and left many offspring.

It was Chief Uncas who established the tribe separately from the Pequots in the 1600s, and for which the section of Montville is named.

Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon, born June 15, 1899, was a 10th generation descendant. Many of her male relatives, including her brother Harold who died in 1989, served as tribal chiefs.

In 1931, her family founded the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum near her home, and she ran it from 1947 until 1997, when her health began to decline. During those years, she welcomed thousands of schoolchildren and others to learn about ancient lifestyles by examining the museum's baskets, bowls, beadwork, jewelry, dolls, clothing and other artifacts.