In 1816 , known as the Year Without a Summer , severe climate abnormalities caused an abysmal harvest , and the Mississauga band at the head of Lake Ontario was disintegrating . In the preceding twenty years community leaders Head Chief Wabakinine , band spokesman Golden Eagle and Jones ' grandfather Wahbanosay had died , and no new leaders had effectively assumed their roles . Alcoholism among the band members was rising . Many members had abandoned the band , travelling west to the Thames River valley or Grand River valley which were more isolated from white settlers . Augustus Jones had learned of the band 's troubles and ventured into the interior to bring Peter and John to live with him at his farm in Saltfleet Township , with their stepmother and halfsiblings . As he knew only a few words of English , Peter was enrolled in a one-room school in Stoney Creek . With the help of the local teacher , George Hughes , Peter learned English . The next year , the family moved to Brantford , where Augustus took Peter out of school and began to instruct him in farming . Sarah Tekarihogan 's Iroquois tribe had settled in the Grand River valley in and around Brantford . Here Jones was inducted into the Iroquois tribe and given the Mohawk name " Desagondensta " , meaning " he stands people on their feet " . Jones was baptised Anglican by Reverend Ralph Leeming at the request of his father in 1820 , but internally he did not accept Christianity . Jones would later say that although the instruction he received in Christianity from his father , his stepmother and his old schoolteacher George Hughes had attracted him to the religion , the conduct of the white Christian settlers " drunk , quarreling , fighting and cheating the poor Indians , and acting as if there was no God " convinced him there could be no truth in their religion . He allowed himself to be baptised primarily to become a full member of the white society of Upper Canada , with all the privileges it entailed . Given the behaviour of others who had been baptised , Jones expected it to have no effect upon him . Jones worked with his father farming until the summer of 1822 , when he found employment as a brickmaker working for his brother-in-law Archibald Russell to raise money so he might resume his schooling . He attended school in Fairchild 's Creek during the winter of 1822 &ndash; 3 studying arithmetic and writing , hoping to obtain work as a clerk in the fur trade . In spring 1823 , Jones left the school , returning to his father 's farm that May
Year Without a Summer
Year Without a Summer
Peter Jones (missionary)