Ots-Toch

Who is Ots-Toch?

Ots-Toch is the name commonly used for a woman of the American Mohawk Nation born in 1622 near Canajoharie who married Dutch settler Cornelise Antonnisen Van Slyke and founded the Van Slyke family in New Netherland. She died in 1646.

Little is known of Ots-Toch, although she is indirectly referenced in many histories of early New York. For example, a daughter, Hillitie, chose to live with the Dutch, but served as an official Mohawk interpreter. Ots-Toch had at least three other children with Cornelise Van Slyke, and may have had more children by a Mohawk father.

Some variants of Ots-Toch's history claim that her father was French explorer Jacques Hertel, although this claim needs historical documentation. Contrary to popular belief, she was not a "princess," as the Mohawk Nation did not designate "queens," "kings," or "princesses" within their tribes, just like most other native American tribes. The designation of "Ots-Toch" as a "Mohawk Princess" was most likely done posthumously by descendants or by English settlers who misunderstood the tribes and the palisaded village in which they lived, believing it was a "castle".