In 1707, during "Queen Anne's War", a group of Abelaki, Catholic and pro-French indigenous people, kidnapped 3 children of English colonists from Massachusetts: John, Zachariah, and Sarah Tarbell. They took the children to the village of Kahnawake, located on the Saint Lawrence River, where the Jesuit mission of Sault Saint Louis was established. The children then followed different paths: Sarah, through the mediation of a priest, was ransomed and adopted by a French official in Montreal. She was baptized under the name Marguerite and later joined the Sisters of Notre Dame. John and Zachariah, instead, were adopted by two Mohawk families. 

The two boys underwent a process of assimilation into Mohawk culture, which began with their Catholic baptism, as Catholicism had become a fundamental aspect of the identity of the Mohawk people in Kahnawake. They learned the language, adopted the customs and traditions of the indigenous people, and changed their names: John became Karekowa, and Zachariah became Torakaron. By marrying the daughters of local tribal leaders, the brothers eventually became prominent figures in the village.

In 1739, their brother Thomas, with the help of the Governor of Massachusetts, attempted to convince them to return home, but they chose to remain in Kahnawake. In 1755, due to problems caused by overpopulation and the spread of alcohol, thirty families migrated from Kahnawake to the southwest, establishing the settlement of Akwesasne, where the Saint Regis mission was founded. It seems that, besides the Jesuit Father Billiard, one of the brothers' sons was among those leading the migration. About five years later, John and Zachariah also migrated to Akwesasne, likely due to tension with the rest of the community.

The two brothers, who had always maintained contact with their original family, were suspected of having ties with the English, with whom the Catholic indigenous people of Kahnawake, allied with the French, were at war at the time. The story of the Tarbell brothers is an example of the dynamic nature of the indigenous and missionary world in Canada, where ethnic, cultural, and religious identities were fluid and constantly changing.