Horatio Hale

Personal life

After completing his master's degree at Harvard, Hale made a short tour of Europe. On his return, he studied law, and was admitted to the Chicago bar in 1855. In 1854, at Jersey City, New Jersey, he married Margaret Pugh, whom he met in Ontario. Her father William was formerly justice of the peace for the township of Goderich in Huron County, Canada West (now Ontario).

In 1856, the Hales moved to Clinton, Ontario, Canada, where he administered the estate of his father-in-law. He began to get involved in local real estate development and other business and educational endeavours. He continued to reside in Clinton until his death, devoting much attention to the development of the Ontario school system. He was influential in introducing co-education of the sexes in high schools and collegiate institutes, in increasing the grants to these institutions, in establishing the normal school system for training of teachers, and in improving the methods of examination.

Native American studies

In Canada Hale returned to his study of First Nations and Native Americans. He was mentored by the Iroquois chiefs George Henry Martin Johnson and John Fraser, whom he met while visiting the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation in Ontario. 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, which recounted their history. As a result of this work, he published The Iroquois Book of Rites (1883). He also studied the Iroquois languages, determining that Mohawk was the oldest. He also concluded that the Laurentian languages were Iroquoian.

Archeologists and linguists have since confirmed that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were an early people who had occupied territory in what is now considered upper New England and along the St. Lawrence River in Quebec and Ontario from about the 14th century to about 1580. They were likely destroyed by the Mohawk from central New York, who were competing for control of hunting grounds and the fur trade. Hale made many valuable contributions to the science of ethnology, attracting attention particularly by his theory of the origin of the diversities of human languages and dialects.

This was inspired by his study of child languages, or the languages invented by young children. He also emphasized the importance of languages as tests of mental capacity, and demonstrated 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 of Virginia belonged to the Siouan family, which was more commonly associated with the Dakota and Hidatsa languages and tribes located to the west of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. He was also the first to identify the Cherokee language as a member of the Iroquoian family of languages.

Honours

Hale never received a doctorate but his research was recognized through his roles in a number of academic societies. In 1872, Hale was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1884, he reorganized the section of anthropology as an independent department of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at its meeting in Montreal that year. He had already performed a like service for the American Association.

At the request of the British committee, he undertook the supervision of the anthropological section's work in the Canadian North-west and British Columbia. The reports, which are very elaborate, were published in the Association's Proceedings from 1885 to 1897. While Hale continued as a member of the committee, he was asked to accept the position of vice-president at the Association's meeting in Toronto (1896); he declined due to ill-health. Hale was also a member of the American Folklore Society, serving as its president in 1893.

Hale was an honorary fellow of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, to which he contributed a number of papers.

Selected publications

Hale's selected publications include: Ethnography and Philology (1846); Hiawatha and the Iroquois confederation: a study in anthropology (1881); 'The Tutelo Tribe and Language' (1883) in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society; Indian migrations, as evidenced by language: comprising the Huron-Cherokee stock, the Dakota stock, the Algonkins, the Chahta-Muskoki stock, the Moundbuilders, the Iberians (1883); The origin of languages, and the antiquity of speaking man. An address before the Section of anthropology of the American association for the advancement of science, at Buffalo, August, 1886 (1886); The development of language. A paper read before the Canadian Institute, Toronto, April, 1888 (1888); and Language as a test of mental capacity: being an attempt to demonstrate the true basis of anthropology (1891).

Did You Know?

• Hale was a founding member of the A.D. Club at Harvard, then known as an honorary chapter of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
• He was appointed as ethnologist and philologist for the United States Exploring Expedition while still an undergraduate.
• The Hale Passages of Puget Sound were named in recognition of his service to the expedition.
• Franz Boas wrote of Hale: 'Ethnology has lost a man who contributed more to the knowledge of human race than perhaps any student.'