Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Deane, James (Indian missionary)

Deane, James, Indian missionary, b. in Groton, Conn., 20 Aug., 1748; d. in Westmoreland, Oneida co., N. Y., 10 Sept., 1823. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1773. In 1773–'4 he was a missionary to the Canadian Indians, and he was afterward employed by congress to pacify the northern Indians, a work for which he was peculiarly fitted, being familiar with their language, having been, when twelve years of age, associated with the Rev. Mr. Mosely, a missionary to the Six Nations. During the Revolutionary war he was commissioned as a major, and served as an Indian agent and interpreter at Fort Stanwix. He was taken prisoner by the Indians, and would have been killed but for the pleadings of their women. At the close of the war the Oneidas granted him a tract of land two miles square, near Rome, Oneida co., which he afterward exchanged for a tract in Westmoreland, whither he removed in 1786. He was for a long time a judge in Oneida county, and held other offices of trust. Judge Deane wrote an essay on Indian mythology, which is preserved in manuscript by Chancellor Anson J. Upson.