At the time of settlement, the band was led by
Chief Ajetance and
John Cameron. In 1829, after the death of both men,
Nawahjegezhegwabe (Joseph Sawyer) and
Kahkewaquonaby (Peter Jones) were elected to fill their positions. In 1830, John Jones retired from the position of schoolteacher, as he was afflicted with
Tuberculosis. In an 1836 inspection of the settlement, Lieutenant Governor Francis Bond Head called it the "cleanest, neatest and most civilised of all the Indian settlements he had seen." Although the provincial government had initially been favorable to the settlement, relations darkened as the Indians of the Credit clung to the Methodist faith under pressure from the province to convert to
Anglicanism. During the 1830s, Lieutenant Governor Sir
Francis Bond Head began to plan to remove the Mississaugas of the Credit Mission to
Manitoulin Island. Chief Peter Jones travelled to
England, meeting with
Colonial Secretary Lord Glenelg and
Queen Victoria to prevent the move, as Manitoulin was too rocky to farm, and the settlers would have been forced to revert to a
hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Although the Colonial office blocked Bond Head's plan, the Credit Band did not receive the
title deeds that Victoria authorised her minister to grant them, and remained vulnerable to the encroachment of white settlers. In 1840, John Jones was elected one of the three chiefs of the Credit band. This settlement exists to this day, as the
Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. ==References==