Editing Cornplanter (section)

==Early life==
Cornplanter was born about 1752 at [[Canawaugus, New York|Canawaugus]] (now in the [[Caledonia (town), New York|Town of Caledonia]]) on the [[Genesee River]] in present-day [[New York State]]. He was the son of a [[Seneca nation|Seneca]] woman, Gah-hon-no-neh (She Who Goes to the River), and a [[Netherlands|Dutch]] trader, Johannes "John" Abeel II.<ref name="Abler 2007" />

The Dutch had [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|settled]] the [[Hudson Valley|Hudson River Valley]] several generations earlier, and Cornplanter's father, an [[Albany, New York|Albany]] fur trader, was part of an established family. The Abeel family name was sometimes [[Irish Gaelic|Gaelicized]] to O'Bail and O'Beale. John Abeel II (1722–1794) was connected to the [[Schuyler family]], leaders in business and politics. The grandfather after whom Cornplanter was named, [[Johannes Abeel]] I  (1667–1711), was a trader and merchant who built up links with the indigenous people along his trade routes, and who served as the second [[List of mayors of Albany, New York|mayor of Albany]]. The younger John Abeel was a gunsmith and was gladly welcomed into the Iroquois community to repair their guns.

Cornplanter was raised by his mother among the Seneca.  His Seneca name, ''Gaiänt'wakê'' (often spelled Gyantwachia), means "the planter," and another variation, ''Kaintwakon'', means "by what one plants."<ref name="sacredtexts">{{cite web|title=Glossary of Seneca Words|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/iro/parker/cohl167.htm|website=Internet Sacred Text Archive}}</ref> As the Seneca and other Iroquois nations had a [[matrilineal]] system of kinship, Cornplanter was considered a member of his mother's [[clan]], the Wolf Clan.<ref name="Abler 2007" />