History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 9

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068

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Coloron's voyage over Chautauqua gave him an opportunity to observe its features. It was then a solitary lake far removed from the obscure paths of the woods, s idom visited by savage and still less by civilized men. Long had its stillness been unbroken save by the voices of the wilderness-the whistle of the hawk as he circled high above it, and at night by the solemn quaver of the lon. The nights were sometimes filled with the music of the frogs. Low mutterings from some distant margin of the lake would first break the silence and then abruptly swell in volume until a thousand voices of the deepest and profoundest base, far excelling in compass and power the feeble performance of the human voice, would seem to come up out of the very depths of the lake and in measured and solemn cadence fill the air with melody. Suddenly this grand symphony would cease and silence most pro- found would again brood over the lake. When a boy I remember to have listened to this strange minstrelsy, and have since often wondered what had nearly banished from its shores these curious choristers of the night.

Chautauqua has greatly changed since then. The forest that stood

DE CELORON.

around it has given place to green fields. A city and many villages have grown up near it. Elegant places of entertainment, handsome cottages and fine lawns adorn its shores ; farm houses with gardens blazing with peonies and bright with roses are scattered among the neighboring hills. It is now a chosen resort for wealth and culture, and a seat of learning of exceptional excellence and world-wide fame. Attractive as art has made the lake, yet it is scarcely more beautiful and interesting then when seen by Celoron and when the virgin forest unmarred by the desecrating hand of man encom- passed it.

Early on the 24th Celoron set out on his way down the lake and soon reached the "outlet." Its channel was narrower then than now and the trees that thickly bordered it spread their branches almost over it. He slowly paddled his canoes through the shadows of its dark and winding pas- sage, but found the waters too shallow to bear his fleet laden as it was with supplies. He partly unloaded his canoes, and sent a portion of their con- tents by land over a path shown to them by Sieur de Saussaye, a priest who sometimes went upon important missions for the French and seemed to have been familiar with this region." They proceeded by land about one and one half miles which finished this day's journey.

Celoron undoubtedly camped on the night of July 24, 1749, within the limits of the city of Jamestown. It would have been a striking scene to have witnessed the bivouac of so strange a retinue. French officers, here and there a priest, Canadian voyagers and swarthy Indians, some perhaps of that remarkable race of forest rangers known as Couriers de Bois " Scouts of the woods," .- a weird throng as seen by the flaring light of their camp fires,- their flitting shadows mingling in the forest around them with the deeper shades of the night.

On the 25th before proceeding on his voyage, and while on the site of Jamestown, Celoron convened a council of his officers to consider what should be done in view of the fact that Indians had been seen watching them. (U'pon being discovered they had fled to the village of " Paille Coupe "-Cut or Broken-Straw.) As decided by the council Celoron dispatched Joncaire, three Iroquois, and some Abenakis with three belts of wampum to con- ciliate and assange the fears of the fleeing Indianst and resumed his voyage over the rapids of the outlet which should rightly be called Celoron, in honor of its first explorer, and proceeded down the Cassadaga and the Cone- wango, which he described in his journal as follows : " We proceeded about a league with great difficulty. In many places I was obliged to assign forty men to each canoe to facilitate their passage. On the 26th or 27th we con- tinued our voyage without many obstacles. Notwithstanding all our pre-

*N. Y. Col. Doc. Vol. IX. page 1097. 0

+O. H. Marshall.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

cautions to guard our canoes, they often sustained great injury by reason of the shallow water. On the 29th at noon I entered "La Belle Riviere." I buried a plate of lead at the foot of a red oak, on the south bank of the river Oyo, and of the Chan-on-gon, not far from the village of Kan-a-ou-a-gon, in latitude 42° 5' 23"." (Too far north by at least 10' or more. "Chan-ou-gon " is now the Conewango. Kan-a-ou-a-gon was a Seneca village on the site of Warren. Thirty years after (1779) Col. David Brodhead found it inhabited by Senecas and Loups or Munsey Indians.)

When this leaden plate was buried at Warren, in order to complete the ceremony of taking possession of this region in the name of France, the offi- cers and men were drawn up in battle array, and the commanding officer cried in a loud voice " Long live the king." The Royal Arms of France were affixed to a tree, and a document prepared and signed, called "Process V'erbal." It is stated in the Process Verbal that the leaden plate was buried "at the foot of a red oak, on the south bank of the Ohio river, and opposite the point of a small island at the confluence of the two rivers, Ohio and Kan- on-a-gon."* Search has been made for the leaden plate, but it has never been found. Celoron continued his journey down the Ohio as far as the mouth of the Great Miami. He then ascended that river and returned to Canada. He buried a leaden plate at each of the following places : at the famous rock below Franklin known as the " Indian God ; " at the mouth of Wheeling creek in West Virginia; at the mouth of the Muskingum (This plate was found by boys in 1798); at the mouth of the Great Kanawha (found in 1846) ; and at the mouth of the Great Miami.

One of these leaden plates contains the earliest record that we have of the name Chautauqua. This plate was obtained from Joncaire by some artifice of the Senecas before the one was buried near Warren, and when the French supposed the outlet of Lake Chautauqua was the same stream that discharged its waters there.+ The history of this plate is consequently of much interest to us. It is described as being about eleven inches long, seven and one-half inches wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. It was inscribed in French, which translated, reads :

" In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis the 15th, King of France, we Celoron commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Gallissonier, Governor General of New France to reestablish tranquility in some Indian village of these cantons, have buried this plate of lead at the confluence of the Ohio and the Chautauqua (which in the original was spelled Tehadakoin) this 29th day of July, near the river Ohio, otherwise Belle Riviere, as a monument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both sides as far as the sources of the said rivers as enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the kings of France preceding and as they have there

* O. H. Marshall.

+N. Y. Col. Doc. VI, p. 601, Letter of Gov. Clinton to the Lords of Trade, Dec. 19, 1750.

DE CELORON.

maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix la Chappelle .*

By " Ohio," as used in this leaden plate, is meant Allegany. From the first the Allegany and Ohio were regarded by the French and Indians as one stream. La Belle Riviere being the name given to it in French, Allegany in the Delaware tongue, and Ohio in the Seneca, a'l meaning it is said " fair or beautiful water:". Such was the anxiety of the Indians as to the mean- ing of the French words written upon it, and the intentions of the French in sending this expedition to the Ohio, that they sent Scan-agh-tra-dey-a, a Cayuga chief, all the way through the wilderness to Sir William Johnson at his seat on the Mohawk river to obtain an explanation of its purport. Scan- agh-tra-dey-a addressed Sir William Johnson : "Brother Corlear, I am sent here by the Five Nations with a piece of writing (which the Senecas, our brethren got by some artifice from Joncaire) to you, earnestly beseeching you will let us know what it means, and as we put all our confidence in you our brother, hope you will explain it ingeniously to us". (Here he delivered the leaden plate, and a belt of wampum.) " I am further ordered. to acquaint you, that Joncaire, the French interpreter, when on his journey to Ohio river, spoke thus to the Five Nations, and others in our alliance :

Children : Your father, (meaning the French Governor) having out of a tender regard for you, considered the great difficulties you labor under by carry- ing your goods, canoes, etc., over the great carrying place of Niagara, has desired me to acquaint you that in order to case you all of so much trouble for future he resolved to build a house at the other end of said carrying place, which he will furnish with all necessary requisites for your use.

" Brother Joncaire, also told us that he was now on his way to Ohio river, where he intended to stay three years, and desired some of us to accompany him thither, which we refused, whereupon he answered, he was much sur- prised at our not consenting to go with him, inasmuch as it was for our interest and ease he was sent thither to build a house there also, at the carry- ing place (meaning Chautauqua) between said river Ohio and Lake Erie, where all the western Indians should be supplied with whatever goods they may have occasion for, and not be at the trouble and loss of time going so far to market as usual, (meaning Oswego) after this he desired to know our opinion of the affair, and begged our consent to build in said places. He. gave us a large belt of wampum, therewith desiring our answer, which we told him we could take some time to consider of."

Sir William Johnson replied : " Brethren of the Five Nations : I am always glad to see you at my house, but never more so than at this juncture, as it puts it in my power now to be of the greatest service to you, and of convinc- ing you that the confidence you have always reposed in me was justly grounded, and will ever prove the greatest advantage to you while you con-

*Sce N. Y. Col. Doc. VI p. 610.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

tinue to behave as you should, and follow your brother the governor's advice, and not suffer yourselves to be wheeled or misled by the fine speeches of your greatest enemy the French, who have not, nor ever had, your welfare at heart, as you are sensible of from their many former cruelties and ill treatment to your people. But their scheme now laid against you and yours, (at a time when they are feeding you up with fine promises of serving you in several shapes) is worse than all the rest, as will appear by their own writ- ing here on this plate." (Here Sir William Johnson repeated the substance of the writing and gave a belt of wampum to confirm what he said, which belt of wampum was to be sent through all the nations to the Ohio river). Sir William further said : " Brethren, this is an affair of the greatest im- portance to you, as nothing less than all your lands, and best hunting places are aimed at, with a view of seclding you entirely from us and the rest of our brethren, to-wit : The Philadelphians, Virginians and others, who can always supply you with the necessaries of life at a much lower rate than the French ever did, or could, and under whose protection you are, and ever will be better and safer served in every respect than under the French. These and a hundred other substantial reasons I could give you, to convince von that the French are your implacable enemies. But as I told you before the very instrument you now brought me, of their own writing . is sufficient of itself to convince the world of their villanous designs, therefore I need not be at the trouble, so I shall only desire that you and all other nations in alliance with yon, seriously consider your own interest, and by no means submit to the impending danger which now threatens you, the only way to. preveut which is to turn Joncaire away immediately from the Ohio, and tell him that the French shall neither build there, or at the carrying place of Niagara, nor have a foot of land more from you. Brethren, what I now say,. I expect and insist it to be taken notice of and sent to the Indians at Ohio, that they may immediately know the vile designs of the French.".

Scan-agh-tra-dey-a replied : " Brother Corlear, I have with great attention and surprise, heard you repeat the substance of that devilish writing which I brought you, and also with pleasure, noticed your just remarks thereon, which really agree with my own sentiments on it. I return you my most hearty thanks, in the name of all the nations, for your brotherly love and cordial advice, which I promise you sincerely by this belt of wampum, shall be communicated immediately, and verbatim to the Five Nations by myself, and moreover, shall see it forwarded from the Seneca Castle with belts from each of our nations, to the Indians at Ohio, to strengthen your desire, as I am thoroughly satisfied you have our interest at heart."*

The leaden plate and an account of the conference between Sir William Johnson and the Indians were transmitted to Governor Clinton at New York,

*N. Y. Col. Doc. VI. pages tas, com), 610.

DE CELORON.

who fully informed the Lords of Trade in London of the important circun- stance.

Although the existence of Chautauqua lake had been known from the time La Salle discovered it in 1682 (sixty-seven years before Celoron visited it) its name was first recorded in the journal of Celoron, the records of his . expedition, upon a map made at the time, and upon the leaden plate pre- pared on that occasion .*

In the journal of the expedition the name is spelled " Chatakouin," and "Chatacoin." Upon the map of Father Bonnecamps who accompanied Cel- oron it is spelled "Tjadakoin." In the letters of Du Quesne to the French Government, in 1753, it is spelled " Chataconit." In the " History of the French and English wars in North America" written by Captain Pouchot in French and on the map accompanying it it is spelled " Shatacoin." In the affidavit of Stephen Coffin it is spelled " Chadakoin." Mitchell, in 1755 writes it "Chadocoin," and on Crevecoeur's map of 1758 it is " Chataconin." These are obviously different spellings of the same Indian word. The lake and its outlet were located wholly within the territories of the Iroquois. The nearest Indian villages were those of that people. They fished in its waters, hunted along its shores, and their trails threaded the forests where it lay. Its name would naturally be a word in the Iroquois tongue, one which the French would be most likely to adopt and engrave upon the leaden plate. These words pronounced according to rules of French orthepy are not unlike our word " Chautauqua." It is not strange that when the English succeeded to the domain of the lakes that this name should acquire a somewhat different pronunciation, and that in time it should be still further changed. On Lewis Evans' map of 1758 and Pownall's map of 1776 it is written " Jadaxqua ;" by Sir William Johnson in 1766 "Jadaghqua ;" by General William Irvin who visited the lake before 1788 "Jadaqua ;" and Cornplanter according to Alden pronounced it " Chaud-dauk-wa." On the map made by the Holland Land Company in 1804 it is spelled " Chautaughque." After the settlement of the county it was spelled " Chantanque" until 1859 when it was changed by a resolution of the Board of Supervisors at the suggestion of the Hon. E. T. Foote to Chautauquat. These small changes are due to the various tongues, white and Indian, in which it has been successively rendered. Even in the various dialects of the Iroquois language it was nttered differently. The Senecas called it " Cha-da-queh ;" the Cayugas Cha-da-qua ;" the Onon-

*The identity of " Tchadakoin" with " Chautauqua" was first observed by the writer, and before Mr. O. IT. Marshall discovered the journal kept by De Celoron and the manuscript diary of Father Bonnecamps in the French archives of Paris. Attention was afterwards called by the writer to this fact, and also to the changes that the word Chautauqua has undergone in pronunciation and orthography in 175 in Young's " History of Chautauqua County." See pages 35, 36, 37. See also August 22, 1%; number of "The Continent" page 229. and " Biographical Cyclopedia of Chautauqua County." page (4.

tJudge Foote was prominently identified with this county during its earlier years, and consequently familiar with its carlier settlers and its history. No one has contributed so much in time and money, or has been more solicitous for an accurate preservation of the facts connected with its history.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

dagas "Cha-da-qua ;" the Tuscaroras "Cha-ta-qua ;" and the Mohawks "Ja-dá-quá." O. H. Marshall says : " It is a Seneca name, and in the ortho- graphy of that nation, according to the system of the late Rev. Asher Wright, long a missionary among them and a fluent speaker of their language, it would be written . Jah-dah-gwah,' the first two vowels being long and the last short."

Various significations have been aseribed to " Chautauqua." It has been said to mean " foggy place " also " high up" but without much authority. Horatio Jones and Jasper Parish, early Indian interpreters well versed in the Iroquois language, it is said gave its meaning to be "a pack tied in the middle "or " two moccasins fastened together " in allusion to the form of the lake. According to Dr. Peter Wilson, an educated Seneca and graduate of Geneva Medical College, it is a compound word formed from two Indian words. We give an Indian tradition upon his authority. "A party of Sene- cas were returning from the Ohio to Lake Erie. While paddling through Chantauqua lake one of them caught a strange fish and tossed it into his canoe. After passing the portage into Lake Erie, they found the fish still alive and threw it in the water. The new species became abundant in Lake Erie where it was never known before. Hence they called the place where it was caught, Jah-dah-gwah, the elements of which are Ga-joh " fish," and Ga-dah-gwah, " taken out." By dropping the prefixes according to Seneca custom the compound name " Jah-dah-gwah " was formed."* The name of an object aniong a primitive people is usually derived from some peculiarity. Aside from the tradition given by Dr. Wilson the elements of this Indian word would indicate that it meant the place where fish are taken out, or more comprehensively " Fish Lake;" an appropriate name, for it has been long and widely celebrated for the excellence and the quantity of its fish.

The following legend of the lake has been related : Some Indians once . camped upon its shore. . A young maiden of the party having caten of a root growing upon its banks which created great thirst stooped to drink of its waters when she disappeared forever. Hence the name, which according to the legend signified " the place of easy death " or " where one vanishes away." Cornplanter, in his famous speech against the title of the Phelps and Gorham tract alluding to the tradition, says : " In this case one chief has said he could ask you to put him out of pain ; another, who will not think of dying by the hand of his father or his brother, has said, he will retire to Chau-dauk-wa, eat of the fatal root, and sleep with his fathers in peace."

* O. H. Marshall.

DE CELORON.

The following lines are from the pen of Col. Win. H. C. Hosmer :

" Famous in the days of yore, Bright Ja-da-qua ! was thy shore, And the stranger treasures yet Pebbles that thy waves have wet ; For they catch an added glow From a tale of long ago. Ere the settler's flashing steel Rang the greenwood's funeral peal, Or the plow-share in the vale Blotted out the red man's trail.

" Deadly was the plant that grew Near thy sheet of glimmering blue, But the mystic leaves were known To our wandering tribe alone. Sweeter far than honeyed fruit Of the wild plum was its root ; But the smallest morsel cursed Those who tasted, with a thirst That impelled them to leap down In thy cooling depth, and drown.

" On thy banks, in other hours, Sat O-WA-NA wreathing flowers, And, with whortleberries sweet, Filled were baskets at her feet. Nature to a form of grace Had allied a faultless face ;

But the riusic of her tread Made the prophet shake his head, For the mark of early doom He had seen through beauty bloom.

" When a fragrant wreath was made, Round her brow she clasped the braid When her roving eye, alas ! Flowering in the summer grass, Did the fatal plant behold. And she plucked it from the mould ; Of the honeyed root she ate, And her peril learned to late. Flying fast her thirst to slake From thy wave, enchanting lake.

'" Then was gained the treacherous brink Stooped O-WA-NA down to drink ; Then the waters, cahn before, Waking, burst upon the shore ; And the maid was seen no more. Azure glass ! in emeralds framed, Since that hour Ja-da-qua named, Or 'the place of easy death,' When I pant with failing breath, I will eat the root that grows On thy banks, and find repose With the loveliest of our daughters In thy blue engulfing waters."

Whatever may be the meaning of this word, it is of undoubted Indian origin, and has become the lasting name of the lake.

" Ye say they all have passed away, That noble race and brave ; That their light canoes have vanished From off the crested wave ; That 'mid the forest where they roamed There rings no hunter shout. But their name is on your waters- Ye may not wash it out."

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.'

T HE voyage of Celoron and the building of the French road from the site of Erie to that of Waterford, Pa., and the building of the Portage Road from the site of Barcelona to that of Mayville are important events in the history of the county. The Portage road was cut by the French twenty years before the battle of Lexington. It was the first work performed by civilized bands within the limits of Chautauqua county of which we are cognizant.

Coloron's voyage and the burial of the leaden plate constituted a definite, official and aggressive assertion by the French of their claim to all the terri- tories watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries. It was at the time regarded by those in authority in America and England as of great signifi- cance and importance. Governor Clinton, besides informing the Lords of Trade in London of these acts of the French immediately sent copies of the leaden plate to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, within whose jurisdic- tion Celoron journeyed.

The Marquis du Quesne, who succeeded Galissonire as governor general of Canada in 1752, proceeded in a still more decisive manner to establish the dominion of France over the disputed territory. He made preparations to construct the long line of frontier forts to unite Canada with Louisiana. In the fall of 1752 he rendered an account of the arrangements that he had made to carry out the designs of the French in a letter to the French Minis- ter of the marine and colonies in Paris, in which he stated that he would begin his posts at a point near the month of Chautauqua creek which he called the Chataconit. It is evident from this letter that Du Quesne fully believed, from the information that he had, that the carrying place between this point and the head of Chautauqua lake was the shortest and most practicable that could be found between the waters of the lakes and the Ohio. His informa- tion was undoubtedly derived from De Celoron and his associates, and the reports of their journeyings four years before over this same route. The carrying place between Erie and Le Boeuf was discovered after the portage in Chautauqua county. The importance that Du Quesne attached to the

+Dr. H. C. Taylor, in a paper read in isgo before the Chautauqua Society of History and Natural Science, gave a detailed account of the old Portage Road. The writer also gave a full history of it in Young's " History of Chautauqua County, " page> 37 10 15.

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.

selection of the best carrying place between these waters is evident from the language used in his communications to the French government.

Du Quesne during the winter completed his preparations which were hastended by false reports received by Joncaire that the English had actually settled upon French creek, and at the junction of the Conewango with the Allegany where Warren is situated, which the French and Indians then called Chinengue. In early spring he dispatched from Montreal an advanced force of 250 men under Barbeer for Chautauqua. with orders to fell and pre- pare timber for the building of a fort there. They marched to Fort Niagara where they remained until Lake Erie was free from ice, then pursued their way by water along the shore of the lake, arriving at the mouth of Chan- tauqua creek in April, 1753.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 9

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068