Horatio Hale
Encyclopedia

Horatio Emmons Hale was an American-Canadian ethnologist, philologist and businessman who studied language as a key for classifying ancient peoples and being able to trace their migrations. He was the first to discover that the Tutelo language
Tutelo language
The Tutelo language is a member of the Virginian branch of Siouan languages that was originally spoken in what is now Virginia and West Virginia, as well as in the later travels of the speakers through North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, and finally, Ontario...

 of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 belonged to the Siouan
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 family, and to identify the Cherokee language
Cherokee language
Cherokee is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. It is the only Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Cherokee is a polysynthetic language.-North American etymology:...

 as a member of the Iroquoian
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 family of languages. In addition, he published a work Iroquois Book of Rites (1883), based on interpreting the Iroquois wampum belts, as well as his studies with tribal leaders.

After his marriage to a Canadian woman in 1855, Hale moved to Ontario. He continued to publish articles in American scholarly journals, while living in Canada for the rest of his life.

Early life and education

Horatio E. Hale was born in Newport, New Hampshire
Newport, New Hampshire
Newport is a town in and the county seat of Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. It is west-northwest of Concord. The population was 6,507 at the 2010 census. A covered bridge is in the northwest...

, the son of David Hale, a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, and of Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Buell Hale was an American writer and an influential editor. She is the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb"...

 (1790–1879), a popular poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

. Besides editing Godey's Ladies' Magazine
Ladies' Magazine
The Ladies' Magazine was an early magazine for women published in Boston, Massachusetts. Also known as Ladies Magazine and Literary Gazette and , later as American Ladies Magazine, it was designed to be American, and named to separate itself from the Lady's Magazine of London...

for many years and publishing some ephemeral
Ephemeral
Ephemeral things are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things....

 books, she is said to have written the verses of "Mary had a little lamb," and to have been the first to suggest the national observance of Thanksgiving Day.

Hale attended common schools in his town. With an early interest in American Indian
American Indian
American Indian may refer to:*Native Americans in the United States*Indigenous people of the Americas, the inhabitants of North and South America prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus*Indian American, an American with ancestors from India...

 languages, he studied Oriental languages and graduated in 1837 from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

.

Career

He served as the philologist for the United States Exploring Expedition
United States Exploring Expedition
The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...

 (1838-1842), which was led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes
Charles Wilkes
Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...

. The Hale Passage
Hale Passage
Hale Passage is the name of two different bodies of water in Puget Sound, Washington. In the north sound, Hale Passage separates Lummi Island from the mainland near Bellingham. In the south sound, another Hale Passage separates Fox Island from the Kitsap Peninsula, near Gig Harbor.In both cases,...

s of Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 were named in recognition of his service to the expedition. The expedition went on to Polynesia. Of the reports of that expedition, Hale prepared the sixth volume, Ethnography and Philology (1846), which is said to have laid the foundations of the ethnography of Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

. He continued to travel and study abroad.

Marriage and family

After marrying the Canadian Margaret Pugh of Goderich Township, Hale was admitted to the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 bar in 1855. The following year the Hales moved to Clinton, Ontario
Clinton, Ontario
Clinton is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the municipality of Central Huron. Established in 1831, Clinton first began when Jonas Gibbings, Peter and Stephen Vanderburg cleared out a small area to start. Clinton started to grow in 1844 when William Rattenbury laid out...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, where he administered the estate of his father-in-law. He began to involve himself locally in real estate development
Real estate development
Real estate development, or Property Development, is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others...

 and other business and educational endeavours.

Native American studies

Hale returned to his study of First Nations and Native Americans. He was mentored by the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 chiefs George Henry Martin Johnson
George Henry Martin Johnson
George Henry Martin Johnson was a chief of the Mohawk of the Six Nations in Canada and an interpreter.-Early life:...

 and John Fraser, whom he met while visiting the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation. In addition he traveled to the United States to consult with other native informants. Hale documented the oral history and rituals of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was assisted in interpreting the group's wampum belts
Wampum
Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic...

, which recounted their history. His work resulted in his publishing Iroquois Book of Rites (1883). He also studied the Iroquois languages, determining that Mohawk was the oldest and that the Laurentian
Laurentian
Laurentian may refer to:*Anything related to Saint Lawrence or the Saint Lawrence River*Laurentia, the craton at the heart of the North American continent...

 languages were also Iroquoian.

Hale made many valuable contributions to the science of ethnology, attracting attention particularly by his theory of the origin of the diversities of human language
Human language
A human language is a language primarily intended for communication among humans. The two major categories of human languages are natural languages and constructed languages...

s and dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

s—a theory suggested by his study of child-languages, or the languages invented by little children. He also emphasized the importance of languages as tests of mental capacity, demonstrating that Native American languages were complex and had a high capacity for classification.

He used language as a criterion for the classification of human groups. He was the first to discover that the Tutelo language
Tutelo language
The Tutelo language is a member of the Virginian branch of Siouan languages that was originally spoken in what is now Virginia and West Virginia, as well as in the later travels of the speakers through North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, and finally, Ontario...

 of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 belonged to the Siouan
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 family, as well as the first to identify the Cherokee language
Cherokee language
Cherokee is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. It is the only Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Cherokee is a polysynthetic language.-North American etymology:...

 as a member of the Iroquoian
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 family of languages.

Besides writing numerous magazine articles, Hale read a number of valuable papers before learned societies. These include:
  • Hiawatha and the Iroquois Confederacy (1881) (available at Project Gutenberg)
  • Indian Migrations as Evidenced by Language (1882)
  • The Origin of Languages and the Antiquity of Speaking Man (1886)
  • The Development of Language (1888)
  • Language as a Test of Mental Capacity: Being an Attempt to Demonstrate the True Basis of Anthropology (1891)

External links

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