Earl Saylor (Mohawk)

Earl Saylor (1922 - ??) was a Mohawk man from Kahnawà:ke, Quebec, who studied accounting in Montreal, did wartime service in the United States Navy, and attempted to pursue a legal education after the Second World War. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in accounting at Loyola College in 1943. He was the first Indigenous Canadian to earn a BA in accounting and the first Indigenous graduate of Loyola College, an institution that later became part of Concordia University. 1, 2

Family and community background

Saylor was born in 1922 in the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke, referred to as Caughnawaga in the federal records of his lifetime. In an August 1948 letter, the local Indian Affairs superintendent, F. Brisebois, identified his parents as Mr. and Mrs. Louis Saylor, residents of the community. Brisebois also recalled Earl as a particularly diligent pupil whose local teachers had considered his ability above average. 2

His family included his older brother Norman Henry Saylor, who had a distinguished legal career in Montreal. A September 1948 letter explicitly identifies Earl as Norman’s brother and recalls that the department had helped Norman with his law studies. 3 The supplied compilation records another brother, Clarence Saylor, as a Fordham University graduate in mathematics in 1950. 1 Together, these educational paths place Earl within a family whose members pursued several fields of advanced study.

A later family record supplies additional connections. The obituary of Inez Morris, née Saylor, published in the Montreal Gazette in November 1998, names Norman, Lester, Clarence and Earl among her deceased brothers. It also commemorates Inez’s thirty-year teaching career. 4 This evidence documents a family connection to education extending beyond the brothers’ university accomplishments.

Kahnawà:ke’s location near Montreal and its relationships across the Canada–United States border provide context for Earl’s movements between the two countries. 5

Loyola College and the 1943 accounting degree

Saylor completed his BA in accounting at Loyola College in 1943. 1 Loyola was then a distinct Jesuit college in Montreal. Established separately from the English program of Collège Sainte-Marie in 1896, it had occupied its Notre-Dame-de-Grâce campus since 1916. Loyola merged with Sir George Williams University in August 1974 to form Concordia. 6

Concordia’s institutional history also explains that Loyola lacked its own university charter. From 1920 onward, its graduates received bachelor’s degrees through Université de Montréal, while Loyola retained control over its curriculum and graduation requirements. 6

Naval service and study in the United States

Brisebois’s letter of 19 August 1948 states that Saylor had served in the United States Navy during WW II and had continued studying in the United States after his discharge. At the time of the letter he was living in Brooklyn, New York. 2

His service forms part of the wider history of Indigenous participation in the Second World War. Historian R. Scott Sheffield’s comparative study emphasizes that Indigenous veterans’ experiences and understandings of service varied considerably before enlistment, during service and after demobilization. 7 Earl’s surviving correspondence offers a particular example of the postwar educational opportunities available to a veteran.

The pursuit of legal education in 1948

By August 1948, Saylor planned to continue his law studies at McGill University. Brisebois explained that the expense of living away from home was a difficulty and asked Indian Affairs to consider his request for assistance. The letter connected his educational plans with both his veteran benefits and his wish to return closer to his family. 2

On 4 September, after meeting with Earl, Brisebois reported that the GI Bill would cover the cost of his complete law course at McGill. The remaining request was for $152 from Indian Affairs, payable to the Bar of Montreal so that he could study law. The superintendent’s reference to Norman’s earlier assistance placed Earl’s application within an existing family history of legal education. 3

Bernard F. Neary, Superintendent of Education, approved the $152 on 10 September 1948. His reply stipulated that this was to be the department’s only required payment for the course. 8 The correspondence reveals how Earl’s proposed education depended on coordinating support from an American veterans’ program with a specific Canadian departmental payment.

A Caughnawaga Agency list for the 1948–49 academic year subsequently recorded Earl Saylor, aged 26, as a law student and associated him with the Bar of Montreal at the Montreal courthouse. 9 This entry supports the letters’ account of his legal studies. It does not establish that he completed a law degree, was admitted to practice, or became a lawyer.

Later life and historical significance

The available evidence leaves important parts of Saylor’s later life unresolved. The 1948–49 agency list places his birth approximately in the early 1920s, but it does not supply an exact birth date. Inez’s obituary establishes that Earl had died before her death on 9 November 1998; it does not give his date or place of death. 4, 9 The consulted sources likewise do not establish a spouse, children, later occupation or burial place.

His principal documented academic accomplishment remains the 1943 BA in accounting. 1 His naval service and postwar law studies broaden that account. They show a Mohawk graduate pursuing further education in the US and working through the financial arrangements that could make it possible. 2, 3, 8, 9 The surviving record does not yet permit a complete chronology of his life.

References

1. Indigenous Canadian Academic Milestones: A Timeline; https://indigenius-canada.wishartlab.com/pioneers/ (accessed 7 October 2026).
2. Brisebois F. Letter to the Indian Affairs Branch concerning Earl Saylor [archival correspondence on the Internet]. Caughnawaga (QC); 1948 Aug 19 [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Library and Archives Canada, RG10, vol. 6483, file 42005-2, part 12; digital PDF p. 168. Available from: https://indiandayschools.org/files/RG10_42005-2_PART_12.pdf
3. Brisebois F. Letter to the Indian Affairs Branch concerning financial assistance for Earl Saylor’s law studies [archival correspondence on the Internet]. Caughnawaga (QC); 1948 Sep 4 [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Library and Archives Canada, RG10, vol. 6483, file 42005-2, part 12; digital PDF p. 178. Available from: https://indiandayschools.org/files/RG10_42005-2_PART_12.pdf
4. Morris Saylor, Inez (née Saylor) [obituary]. Gazette (Montreal). 1998 Nov 10. Reproduced by Fédération québécoise des sociétés de généalogie [Internet] [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Available from: https://www.federationgenealogie.qc.ca/avis/577014
5. Simpson A. Mohawk Interruptus: political life across the borders of settler states. Durham (NC): Duke University Press; 2014. doi:10.1215/9780822376781. Publisher’s description and contents consulted [Internet] [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Available from: https://www.dukeupress.edu/mohawk-interruptus
6. Concordia University. Loyola College history [Internet]. Montreal: Concordia University; [date unknown] [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Available from: https://www.concordia.ca/offices/archives/stories/loyola.html
7. Sheffield RS. Exploring the meaning of Indigenous military service during the Second World War in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. J Mil Strateg Stud [Internet]. 2018 [published online 2019 Feb 1; cited 2026 Oct 7];19(2). doi:10.55016/fag78p68. Abstract consulted. Available from: https://jmss.org/article/view/62815
8. Neary BF. Letter to F. Brisebois approving assistance for Earl Saylor [archival correspondence on the Internet]. [Ottawa]; 1948 Sep 10 [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Library and Archives Canada, RG10, vol. 6483, file 42005-2, part 12; digital PDF p. 181. Available from: https://indiandayschools.org/files/RG10_42005-2_PART_12.pdf
9. Canada. Indian Affairs Branch. Caughnawaga Agency: children attending provincial schools, academic year 1948–49 [archival list on the Internet]. [1948–1949] [cited 2026 Oct 7]. Library and Archives Canada, RG10, vol. 6483, file 42005-2, part 12; digital PDF p. 314. Earl Saylor entry. Available from: https://indiandayschools.org/files/RG10_42005-2_PART_12.pdf