1. Oronhyatekha was the first known aboriginal scholar at Oxford University; a successful CEO of a multinational financial institution; a native statesman; an athlete of international standing; and an outspoken champion of the rights of women, children, and minorities.
The fact that Oronhyatekha achieved these results during the Victorian era, when racism and pressure for First Nations peoples to assimilate were commonplace, has made him a figure approaching legend in some aboriginal circles.
Oronhyatekha first attended the Mohawk Institute residential school, where he was taught the shoemaker trade.
Oronhyatekha was selected at the age of twenty by the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy to give the welcoming address to the Prince of Wales during his visit to Canada and the US.
Legend has it that Prince Edward was sufficiently impressed that he urged the young Oronhyatekha to attend the University of Oxford, which he had attended.
Oronhyatekha matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in May 1862, and was befriended by Outram Marshall, who took him under his wing.
Oronhyatekha enrolled in the Toronto School of Medicine in 1863.
In 1878, while living in London, Oronhyatekha applied to become a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal and financial institution.
The Foresters' statutes explicitly limited its membership to white men and Orangemen, but Oronhyatekha was an Orangeman.
Oronhyatekha was an active Orangeman and served as County Grand Master of Middlesex Country Orange Lodge.
Oronhyatekha belonged to the International Order of Good Templars, several branches of the Masonic Order, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of the Maccabees, and the Orange Order.
Oronhyatekha was the Worshipful Master of Richardson Masonic Lodge in Stouffville, Ontario in 1894.
Oronhyatekha was most proud of an orphanage he established in 1904 on the Bay of Quinte, Ontario.