nydus/The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the StatePublic
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER III. THE IROQUOIS GENS.
The gens had certain distinct names or series of names, which no
other gens in the whole tribe could use, so that the name of the
individual indicated to what gens he belonged. A gentile name at the
same time bestowed gentile rights.
The gens may adopt strangers who thereby are adopted into the whole tribe. The prisoners of war who were not killed became by adoption into a gens tribal members of the Senecas and thus received full gentile and tribal rights. The adoption took place on the motion of some gentile members, of men who accepted the stranger as a brother or sister, of women who accepted him as a child. The solemn introduction into the gens was necessary to confirm the adoption. Frequently certain gentes that had shrunk exceptionally were thus strengthened by mass adoptions from another gens with the consent of the latter. Among the Iroquois the solemn introduction into the gens took place in a public meeting of the tribal council, whereby