Credit Indian Village

Credit Indian Village

Within Mississauga Golf & Country Club
Mississauga Rd, North of QEW

History: Credit Mission, also known as the Credit Indian Indian Village, was located on the site of what is now the Mississaugua Golf & Country Club on Mississauga Road. It was built in 1826 under the direction of Revered Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) and the Superintendant of Indian Affairs for the Government, Colonel Givens, for the Native Mississaugas. The money for the project came from the sale of lands within the Credit Indian Reserve, and the village originally consisted of some twenty to thirty government-built log houses. The village was located on the high grounds overlooking the Credit River. In 1826, some 226 Native Mississaugas called the village home.

However, time was against the Mississaugas and their prosperous village. More and more Mississaugas began to succumb to European diseases such as consumption, and to pressure from encroaching non-Native settlers. By the early 1840s it became clear that “something” had to be done. A decision regarding relocation was not reached until the winter of 1846, under the direction of Reverend Peter Jones. 266 Mississaugas moved from the Credit River in May of 1847.

The small village along the Credit River soon deteriorated and eventually vanished. The old meeting lodge and chiefs residence was the last visible structure on the site, and was pulled down in the 1950’s. Today, the village and reserve is home to the Mississauga Golf and Country Club, and an Ontario Heritage Plaque commemorates the site of the village.

However, somewhere on the property, on a high bank overlooking the river valley, likely remains the Methodist Cemetery established by Reverend Peter Jones.

Although the Mississaugas also carried traditional Anishinaabe names, census records record many of the Christian family surnames that were associated with the Native Mississaugas at the Credit Indian Village. Some of those name are: Agetonce, Beaver, Brant, Cameron, David, Fawns, Finger, Harris, Halfaday, Herkimer, Hobkins, Keshego, Jackson, Johns, Johnson, Jones, King, Laform (Laforme), McCollum, McDittougal, Mike, Ordge, Peter, Sawyer, Secord, Smith, Sterling, Summerfield, Tobeco, Towah, Wabanibe, Wahbahaosa, Wesley, Wilson, and Young, amongst others surnames.

Source: A Lost Village: The Credit Indian Village by Matthew Wilkinson, Historian, Heritage  Mississauga.