A pilgrim’s progress
By Rob Treynor
Staff Writer
Bryan Brant, with his mule Sergeant Major Jack Houdini, enjoyed a lunch at Los Mariachis in London after feeding his horse, mule and dog at the Tractor Supply Company nearby. Brant is in the third month of his pilgrimage from the Mississippi River in Illinois to upstate New York and Ontario, Canada.
Sightings of a man riding through downtown London on horseback with a mule and dog are to be believed.
Bryan Brant, originally from Kansas, was in Madison County Thursday, riding north on U.S. Route 42. He stopped in London at the Tractor Supply Company, where he fed his animals. He then crossed the street to Los Mariachis to feed himself.
His pilgrimage will eventually lead him to family in upstate New York. “And from there, if I don’t have any problems with the paperwork involved, to the Six Nations Indian reservation in Ontario,” Brant said.
Brant began his journey in early June in Illinois, near the Mississippi River. He’s been following a path blazed by his ancestor Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant.
Bryan’s companions for the journey are a plucky dog named Pepper, a mare named Abbey Road and a mule named Sgt. Maj. Jack Houdini.
His wife, Clara, stayed at home.
According to his Facebook page, Brant’s progress has been slow going. He was in Yellow Springs a week ago, and South Charleston on Tuesday.
Brant’s short-term plan was to “head up 42 past Delaware.”
He looks to the kindness of strangers for places to stay. He has stayed in the homes and barns of people he’s met on his journey.
“The purpose of this trip for me is to see where my family originated and to raise awareness of the Mohawk tribe and the Six Nations.”
The Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, located in Ontario, is the only territory in North America where all six Iroquois tribes (Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora) live together.
The reserve is the most populous in Canada, with a population of more than 23,000.
The Six Nations, originally the Iroquois League, formed in 1142, prior to any major contact with Europeans.
Brant’s progress can be followed here: facebook.com/bryannclara.brant
