His mother was known as Madame Montour and was a well-known, influential interpreter. British and German colonists considered her the leader of Otstawonkin. Although her identity is obscured in speculation and myth, she is believed to have been born in 1667 at Three Rivers, Canada. Her mother was Marie Miteoamegoukoué (Algonkin), and her father was Pierre Couc, a French colonist. The girl was taken captive in an Iroquois raid and adopted by a Mohawk family, growing up in their society in New York.