History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume I, Part 18

Author: Doty, Lockwood R. (Lockwood Richard), 1858- editor
Publication date: 1925
Publisher: Chicago, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 666


USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume I > Part 18


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46


Cattaraugus County was set apart from Genesee County in 1808 and the name is now applied not only to the county but to Cattaraugus Village, Cattaraugus Indian Reservation and Cat- taraugus Creek, as well as numerous manufactories and business houses. The name is both euphoneous and distinctive.


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CURRENT INDIAN PLACE NAMES.


AL-LE-GA-NY, as applied to the river and town, means "long river." See Allegany County. The Indians in their own tongue always call the river Oheeo (Ohio), meaning "beautiful river." They regarded it as a branch of the Ohio proper. The form Allegheny is used in Pennsylvania.


CAT-TA-RAU-GUS, as applied to the creek and town, means "foul smelling banks." On the map of the Frenchman, Pouchot, the creek appears as R. a la terre puante.


CON-E-WAN-GO, as applied to the town and creek, means "the- rapids-in" or freely "in the rapids"-the terminal go (goh) meaning in, on, or upon. There are a number of ancient Iro- quoian sites near the village of Conewango, and several which are pre-Iroquoian.


CON-NOIR-TO-I-RAU-LEY Creek in the town of Ashford takes its name from that given in an old survey. The definition is difficult owing to the corruption of the word. It has been interpreted "ugly stream," but it is more probably "where the lake once washed."


GO-WAN-DA, a thriving village in the town of Persia, derives its name from the Seneca word Dyo-go-wan-deh, meaning "below the cliffs" or "almost surrounded by cliffs." The town was origi- nally called Lodi but, as there was another Lodi in the state, Rev. Asher Wright, the venerable missionary to the Indians, was appealed to to suggest an Indian term and the name Gowanda was substituted. To the Senecas this spot was peopled in ancient times by sprites and fairies whose great capital was at the forks of the creek at "The Forties." There were several earth works of great antiquity up the stream and numerous relics have been found there.


KILL BUCK, though not an Indian name in itself, is named from a prominent Delaware chief who served in the Revolutionary war. The little settlement is near Salamanca.


SAN-DUS-KY, a village, derives its name from an Ohio place name which in Portier's work Racinnes Huronnes is given as Ot- sandooske. This is apparently an Iroquoian word meaning "flow- ing rock," though Beauchamp cites the interpretation "there where there is pure water."


TU-NE-GA-WANT or Tunaengwant, the name of a stream and


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post office in Carrollton, means "the eddy is not strong." This musical name has been shortened to Tuna, but the name must not be confused with fish. Such corruptions are atrocities.


TU-NE-SAS-SA, a post office at the junction of Quaker Run with the Allegany River, now the village of Quaker Bridge, means "pebbly stream." The Indians pronounced the word Diuh-ni-sá- seh.


INDIAN NAMES AND PLACE NAMES ON OLD MAPS.


CHEN-A-SHUN-GAU-TAU, also written Teushunshshungautau, was the name for the confluence of Cold Spring Creek with the Allegany. The name is given in the story of Mary Jemison, who described several Indian villages in this region.


CHIEK-A-SAW-NE, a place east of the north bend of the Alle- gany mentioned in 1795. The name is so corrupted that it is difficult of interpretation.


DA-U-DE-HOK-TO, from Dyudehakto, means "at the bend." It was a village on the Allegany at Horseshoe. It is an old Seneca village name, and it will be remembered that the great town of the Seneca people in 1687 was called Totiakton, an identical name with a different spelling.


DE-A-HEN-DA-QUA, "place of the court," is the Seneca name for Ellicottville.


DYO-NE-GA-NO, or Tionigano, is the name for the village and station of Cold Spring which is a literal interpretation for the Indian term.


DYO-NOH-SA-DA-GA or Dio-noh-se-de-ga, "place of burnt houses," was Cornplanter's town.


GA-NYES-TA-AGEH, "place of the chestnuts," is the Seneca for Perrysburg.


GA-NES-IN-GUH-TA, an Indian village near the present Elko, mentioned in the life of Mary Jemison.


GUS-TAN-GOH, the Seneca name for Versailles, means "among the rocks," or "among the cliffs." The Seneca people always speak of this village as Gustango. It is one of the trading centers of the Cattaraugus people and is near their courthouse, fair grounds and the Thomas Indian School.


JE-GA-SA-NEK, the Indian term for Burton Creek, is a per- sonal name.


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JON-E-A-DIH, said to mean "beyond the bend," was a Seneca village.


O-DAS-QUA-DOS-SA, the Seneca name for Great Valley Creek, means "around the stone." (Beauchamp.)


O-DAS-QUAW-A-TEH, corrupted to Squeaugheta, the Seneca name for Little Valley Creek, means "Small stone beside a large one."


O-DOS-A-GI, "spring water," is a location near Machias.


O-NOGH-SA-DA-GO, a Seneca town near the present Conewango, flourished in 1744. The term has been interpreted "where things are dug up." There are a number of ancient pits or caches near there.


0-HI-0, or O-hee-yuh, is the Seneca term for the Allegany. It means "beautiful stream."


0-SO-A-WENT-HA, "by the pines," is Haskett Creek.


0-SWA-YA, "pine forest," is a stream running north into the state from Pennsylvania.


SQUE-AUGH-E-TA, vide Odasquawateh, supra.


TE-CAR-NOS, from Ganos, is the oil spring.


TE-CAR-NO-WUN-DO, meaning "lime lake," is the present Lime Lake.


TE-U-SHA-NUSH-SONG is a village on the Allegany Reservation.


TIO-HA-WA-QUA-RON-TA is Zeisberger's name for an easterly Allegany town in 1766. The name is similar to Guy Johnson's Tionionga-runte, meaning perhaps "a wooded point." It was near the present site of Olean.


TIO-ZIN-OS-SUNG-ACH-TA is mentioned by Zeisberger in 1766 as a Seneca town on the Allegany. It was thirty miles west of the Olean site and may have been the present Old Town near Onoville.


TO-SQUI-A-TOS-SY was the name given Great Valley Creek in 1795.


TU-SHAN-USH-A-A-GO-TA was a village at the forks of the Alle- gany in 1789.


CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.


Few Indian place names in the state have a wider distribution or are more widely known than that of Chautauqua. It is a house- hold word because of its association with the popular lecture sys-


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tem and the summer forums at "lakeside assemblies," the original of which is at Chautauqua, Chautauqua County.


Chautauqua as a name is a contraction of the Seneca Indian word Tken-chiata-kwan, meaning "where the fish was taken out." According to a Seneca tradition, a party of fishermen caught a muskellunge in the lake and placed it in a canoe which they then carried down the Chautauqua portage to Lake Erie where they found the fish still alive. This interested the fishermen who out of regard for the fish, so bravely struggling for life, cast it into Lake Erie. The story was related at many camp fires and the lake received its name, "Where-the-fish-was-taken-out-of-the- water."


French explorers had two names for the lake, Oniasontke (from Otshataka) and Chadekoin. The first means "foggy" and the latter is a corruption of the Seneca term. There are many variations of the name and as many spellings.


CURRENT PLACE NAMES OF INDIAN ORIGIN.


CAN-A-DA-WAY Creek takes its name from Ganadawao (Ga- né-da-wey-o), meaning "flowing through hemlocks." Colonel Johnson in 1761 gave it the Mohawk name of Kanandaweron. The headwaters of this creek have their source high on the water- shed near Cassadaga Lake and with the raising of the water in the spring the lake overflows to the north and runs into the Can- adaway, though most of the flow is to the south. There was a Seneca settlement at the mouth of the creek early in the last century. It was called Canadaway.


CAT-TA-RAU-GUS, see interpretation under the county name. CHAU-TAU-QUA, see interpretation under the county name.


CO-NE-WAN-GO is derived from Ganowungo, meaning "in the rapids." DeCeleron, who went down the creek in 1749, engraved the name on a lead plate and spelled it Kanaaiagon and on Bonne- camp's map it appears as Kananouangon. There was a Seneca village of this name at the mouth of the stream.


E-RIE, as applied to the lake, is derived from an Erie Indian word, Erieh. See the name as applied to the county.


KI-AN-TONE, from Gentaieton, "planted fields," was the name of an Erie village where dwelt Catherine, an Oneida converted to the Jesuit faith. On the Prendergast flats not far from Frews-


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burg there are many evidences of an early occupation and in certain spots it is undoubtedly Erie.


WAN-GO is a shriveled corruption of Conewango, which see.


INDIAN NAMES AND PLACE NAMES ON OLD MAPS.


AT-TON-I-AT was a location in the middle of the Chautauqua portage trail. Beauchamp thinks the word may be from Atten- tioniaton (a Huron word), which Bruyas defines "to cause to de- part."


CA-YAN-TA, from Gaiyanta, "planted fields." This was one of Cornplanter's towns in 1789. It was on the Conewango a mile north of the 195th Pennsylvania mile stone.


CON-NON-DAU-WE-GEA, the name of Canadaway Creek men- tioned in the land purchase transactions.


DYOH-GEY-JAI-EY, "grassy flats," is the Seneca name for Irv- ing. The term well describes the great meadows at the mouth of the Cattaraugus, found cleared and waving with deer grass when the settlers came.


GA-A-NUN-DA-TA, "leveled hill," is the Seneca name for Silver Creek.


GUS-DA-GO, probably from Gustaagoh, is Morgan's name for Cassadaga. It means "under the rocks."


JO-NA-SKY from Kasanotiayogo was a carrying place on Chau- tauqua Creek.


KO-SHA-NU-A-DE-A-GO was the name of a stream on the south- ern boundary of the county.


CHEMUNG COUNTY.


The name Chemung is derived from a Delaware word which Zeisberger wrote as Wschummo. It means "the big horn." There are various spellings as, Shimango (French, 1757), Shamunk (1767), Skeemonk (1777) and Shimango (1779).


The Indians applied the name because they had found a mam- moth or mastodon tusk in one of the river beds, leading to an elaborate legend of a mighty man-eating bear which the Iroquois called Ga-nyah-gwa-hey-go-wa. If the white settlers ever doubted the finding of such a tusk, they found their doubts overcome in 1799 when another tusk was washed out of the river silt to be-


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come a local seven-day wonder. It was sent to England where it was examined by eminent scientists, and so became lost to Ameri- can collections. As if to confirm the name once more by material evidence, still another tusk was discovered of which Senator Thomas Maxwell of Elmira wrote in 1855 :


"One of much the same character was found on an island in the river below Elmira, a few weeks since and it is now here. I have recently examined it. It is about 4 feet in length, of hte crescent form, perhaps three or four inches in diameter * * * "


The description makes it appear to have been a mammoth tusk and not a mastodon's, which is much thicker.


ACH-SIN-ING (Mount Achsining), south of the Chemung and opposite the mouth of Sing Sing Creek, is a Delaware name mean- ing "stone-upon-stone." It is similar to Ossining on the Hudson but from a different dialect. The hill takes its name from a Munsey village on the east side of Sing Sing Creek, variously spelled Achsinnessink, Assinissink, Asinsan and Atsinsink.


CAYUGA branch was often applied to the Chemung. Cayuga means "canoe landing."


CA-YU-TA may be from Ka-nya-ta, meaning "lake."


SING SING Creek takes its name from a Delaware word mean- ing "stone upon stone," being a variation of Achsining.


CURRENT INDIAN NAMES AND OLD MAP NAMES.


CON-ON-GUE is given by French as the Indian name for the Chemung from ganonggais, a Seneca word for horn.


EH-LA-NE-UNT is a Delaware word for the home of French Margarat Montour in 1758.


GA-HA-TO, "log in the water," is the name given by Morgan for the Chemung River, which reminds one that the Indians fre- quently had several names for places.


GAN-HO-TAK is applied to a creek in old journals (Cammer- hoff), and authorities disagree as to its location, General Clark believing it to be Newton Creek and Beauchamp, Wynkoop. It is similar to Catatonk and may mean "fallen tree."


KA-HIS-SACK-E is also from Cammerhoff's journal and applied to a "place of tall trees" between Cayuta Lake and Ganhotak Creek.


KA-NO-WA-LO-HALE (also Conewawawa and Kanawaholla), is


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translated "head on a pole," and was the name of an Indian town on the present site of Elmira. It was burned in the Sullivan raid.


KO-BUS was an Indian village on the Chemung opposite Hend- ley's Creek. Jacheabus, a noted chief, lived there, the village name being an apparent contraction.


RU-NON-VE-A was the village of Big Flats, burned in 1779, and according to Albert Cusick, Dr. Beauchamp's informant, means "place of the king," a doubtful interpretation. The name is very likely a corruption of an Indian word which may be Ho-non- wey-a, "flowing by the settlement."


SHE-AG-GEN and Theaggen is placed by Pouchot on the Susque- hanna east of Elmira and is perhaps Tioga.


SKWE-DO-WA, "great plain," is Morgan's name for Elmira.


. TU-TE-LO Town was a settlement on the Chemung near Wav- erly. It took its name from a settlement of Tutelo Indians who, as captives of the Iroquois, lived there. They were of the Siouan stock.


WIL-LE-WA-NA, or Wilewana, is Zeisberger's Delaware name for a village on the Chemung. The name means "horn."


ERIE COUNTY.


The name Erie, according to the Handbook of American In- dians, a Government publication, is derived from the Huron word yenresh, meaning "it is long tailed." The term refers to the panther and is a descriptive name. The custom of wearing pan- ther skin robes with the beast's head as a hood over the man's, or some totemic usage, caused the Erie people to be called "the Cat nation," le nation du chat, by the French. The Erie nation was broken up and destroyed by the confederated Iroquois in 1654 and about the only glimpse we have of them is in the Jesuit Relations. They are described as living in what is now northern Pennsyl- vania, northeastern Ohio and western New York, west of the Cat- taraugus Creek.


BUFFALO is not an Indian name, of course, but the name as applied has an Indian derivation. The common Seneca name for the creek and tract is Doshowey, meaning "basswood." When the first settlers came they found several Indian villages along the creek, one of them being a cluster of cabins where the head


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man, of the wolf clan, was De-gi-yah-go, or Buffalo. From Buf- falo's association with the stream the white settlers applied his name to it and, because of contiguity, to the entire region.


Much has been written concerning the name Buffalo and its origin, but the above statement is the simplest and most plausible.


CA-YU-GA as applied to the creek near Buffalo is so named be- cause of the Cayuga Indian village on its banks. Morgan gives the Seneca name of this village as Ga-da-geh, meaning "through the oak opening." The name Cayuga is from Gwe-yu-gweh, mean- ing "where boats are hauled out." This was perhaps an allusion to a settlement on Cayuga Lake where canoes were drawn up for safety or for portage.


CHEEK-TO-WA-GA, earlier Chic-ta-wau-da, is from the Seneca Jik-do-waah-geh, meaning "Crab-apple-place."


GA-AN-NA-DA-DAH Creek is the east branch of Buffalo Creek. The word means "creek with a slaty bottom." Ga-an'-na-da'dah shows the syllables as pronounced.


KEN-JOCK-ETY from Sken-dyough-gwat-ti, "beyond the multi- tude," as applied to the creek, takes its name from an old Kah- kwa or Attiwandaronk Indian who lived on its banks. He was a noted leader and wise councillor whose word was eagerly accepted by the people who adopted him.


ON-TA-RO-GO, near Akron. The name appears to be an adapta- tion of the word Ontario, q. v.


PON-TI-AC, so named from the celebrated chief of the Ottawas, a western tribe. Pontiac came into New York and landed at Os- wego. See Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac."


WAN-A-KA appears to be a fabricated name but it may be a contraction. Beauchamp suggests that the word means "to frolic."


WEST SENECA. The name Seneca is derived from Otsinaki, the Algonkian (Mahikan) equivalent of the Iroquoian Onenieu- teaka, meaning "place of the stone." This is the tribal name of the Oneida but the Dutch settlers thought all Indians west of the Mohawks were "people of the stone." Thus as each tribe in turn was identified, the most western and unknown were called "Sinne- kars." The Seneca, whose native appelation is and was Sonnon- touan or Nundawaagah, thus received the term Sinnekars which gradually became contracted to the classic Seneca.


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PRESENT INDIAN NAMES AND PLACE NAMES ON OLD MAPS.


CA-HA-QUA-RA-GHA, or "Place of the hat," was the upper part of the Niagara near Lake Erie. Here during early days there was a battle on the water between the Indians and the French, who fought from their batteaux. After the skirmish a number of French hats were found fioating serenely down the river. The locality was thereafter called "Place-of-the-hats," and the name also applied to Fort Erie.


DA-DEO-DA-NA-SUK-TO is the Seneca name given by Morgan for Smoke's Creek. The word is a variation of a common Seneca place name and means "at the bend."


DE-AS-GWAH-DA-GA-NEH, "place of the lamper eel," is the name for Lancaster, according to Marshall, but Morgan gives it as


GA-SQUEN-DA-GEH, "place of the lizard." The lizard is a char- acter in many old place-myths.


DE-DYO-NA-WAH'H, "the ripple," is Middle Ebenezer.


DE-DYO-WE-NO-GUH-DO, "divided island," is Squaw Island, once owned by old Chief Kenjockety. The name is descriptive of the island from its division by Smuggler's Run.


DE-ON-GOTE, "place of hearing," is the name of Murder Creek near Falkirk. It refers to the sound of the waters.


DE-YEH-HO-GA-DA-SES, "diagonal ford," is Marshall's name for the Buffalo Creek ford.


DE-YOH-HO-GAH, "forks of the river," is sometimes spelled Tai- yah-ho-gah, and is the original for Tioga. The place is at the junction of Cayuga and Cazenovia creeks.


DYO-A-HIS-TA, "depot place," is the Seneca name for Angola. DYO-E-O-GWES, "tall flags," is the name for Rattlesnake Island. DYOS-HOH was the name for a sulphur spring near Buffalo.


DYO-NAH-DA-EES, "hemlock elevation," was Jack Berry's town, near the present site of Upper Ebenezer.


DYOS-GAA-GA-EH was Black Rock, with the meaning of Rocky bank. A more correct form is given by Morgan as De-o-steh-ga-a.


DYO-NE-GA-NOH is the literal Seneca for Cold Spring.


DYOS-DA-O-DOH, "rocky island," is Bird island, now obliterated.


DYOS-GE-OH-DJAI-EY, "grassy meadow," or "wet grass" is the Seneca name for Red Bridge.


GA-AN-NA-DA-DAH, interpreted "slate bottomed creek," is the Seneca name for East Buffalo Creek. After Sullivan's destruc-


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tive campaign of 1779 the Cayuga, Seneca and Onondaga nations sent many refugees to Buffalo Creek by way of Niagara. At least eight Indian villages were situated in the general region.


GA-DA-O-YA-DEH, the Seneca name for Ellicott, is interpreted "level heavens." The first "a" has the sound of "a" in "can."


GAH-DA-YAH-DEH is cited by O. H. Marshall as the Seneca name for Williamsville, with the interpretation of "place of mis- ery." This translation is doubtful. Old Chief Bracksmith of Tonawanda said it meant "open sky." The word for sky is gă-o-yah.


GA-GAH-DOH-GA, "white oak," is applied to the north branch of Buffalo Creek by the Seneca people.


GA-NAH-GWAHT-GEH, "saw grass," is the name applied to Ken- jockety Creek.


GA-NOH-HO-GEH, "flooded basin," is a traditional name for Lake Erie. It alludes to the legend of the giant beaver who dammed the lake. Presque Island and Long Point in Canada are the abutments of the dam.


GA-NUN-DA-SEY, "a new town," is the present Seneca name for their village near Lawton. Here they have their Long House.


GA-NUS-SUS-GEH, "the place of the long house," is the council house square just at the top of the hill on the Cattaraugus Reser- vation near Lawton. It is here that the tribal games are played.


GA-SKO-SA-DA, "waterfall," was the Seneca village at Akron. GA-SKA-SA-DA-NE-0, interpreted "many falls," is the site of Williamsville.


GA-WA-NO-GEH, "on the island," is given by Morgan as the name for Grand Island. It has also been called Ga-we-no-do- wan-neh, "great island," and Marshall records it with this same interpretation but under the name of Ga-we-not.


GA-YEH-GWA-DOH is Smoke's Creek, the name meaning smoke. The place name is from "Old Smoke," the noted Seneca chief who lived at Kanundasaga, near the present site of Geneva, Seneca County.


HA-DO-NEH-GEH, "June berry place," is the south fork of Buf- falo Creek.


HEY-YAH-A-DOH, "Intersecting Roads," is the Seneca name for North Collins.


HE-YONT-GAT-HWAT-HA, "the picturesque spot," is Cazenovia Bluff near lower Ebenezer.


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I-O-SI-O-HA, a variation of the Seneca name for Buffalo, is men- tioned in the Pennsylvania Archives as an Onondaga town on Buffalo Creek.


KAH-GWA-GE-GAAH, "Place of the Kah-Kwas," is spelled Ka- e-oua-ge-gein on Pouchout's map. It is the name of Eighteen Mile Creek. There is a persistent tradition that the Kah-Kwas, a branch of the Eries, lived along the southwestern side of the creek.


KA-OH-DOT, "standing pole," is the Seneca name of Brant Center. This alludes to the liberty pole once in the village square.


KAN-HA-I-TA-NEEK-GE, "place of many streams," is David Cu- sick's name for a spot near the Onondaga village on the Buffalo.


KEN-JOCK-E-TY, or Skendyuhgwadih, as applied to the creek near Buffalo, is named from Chief Kenjockety, the descendant of the Kah-kwa tribe. The word means "one just outside a crowd," though it is popularly interpreted "beyond the multitude."


NIAGARA, "the neck," is mentioned further under the county name.


NI-DYOH-NYAH-A-AH, "narrow point," is Farmers Brother point.


NI-GA-WE-NAH-A-AH, "the small island," is Tonawanda Island.


O-GAH-GWAAH-GEH, "sunfish place," is at the mouth of Cor- nelius Creek and so named from "Captain" Sunfish, a negro who lived there after the Revolution.


ON-ON-DAH-GE-GAH-GEH, "Onondaga place," was at Lower Ebenezer. There was an Onondaga settlement here after the Revolution.


SEE-UN-GUT, "roar of waters," is given in French's Gazetteer as the name for Murderers' Creek, but this name is doubtful.


SHA-GA-NAH-GAH-GEH, "Mahikan place," is given as the name for the lower end of Lower Ebenezer where the Stockbridge peo- ple once dwelt.


TA-NUN-NO-GA-O, "full of hickory bark," is a name for a strip on Eighteen Mile Creek and also Clarence Hollow.


TE-KAH-NA-GA-GEH, "black water," is Two Sister Creek.


TE-CHA-RON-KI-ON is given as the name for Lake Erie in a document dated 1671.


TGA-DES, "long prairie," was applied to the flat land meadows east of Upper Ebenezer.


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TGA-NOH-SO-DOH, "where houses stand," was the name of a village at the forks of Smoke's Creek about 1800.


TGA-NON-DA-GA-YOS-HAH, "blanket village," was an early vil- lage of mixed refugees who fled from Sullivan's raiders. It was located on Buffalo Creek.


TGA-SKOH-SA-DEH, "falls place," was the waterfall above Jack Berry town on the Buffalo.


TGA-IS-DA-NI-YONT, "place of the hanging bell," was the name for the Seneca mission house in South Buffalo.


TGA-SI-YAH-DEH, "rope ferry," was the old ferry over Buffalo Creek.


YO-DA-NYAH-GWAH has been interpreted "fishing place with hook and line," but though this may be implied in the word the translation is not literal. It was a certain place above Black Rock.


YU-A-GAH, "hollow," was the name for Taylor's Hollow near Collins.


GENESEE COUNTY.


Widespread and far-famed is the name of Genesee. This mus- ical word, so descriptive of a fair country, was adopted as a name for all of western New York beyond the preemption line running south from Sodus bay and through the northern lobe of Seneca Lake. The name means "good valley" or "pleasant banks." The word was originally spelled by the first settlers "Geneseo," but there were many variations.


Strangely, Genesee County has few Indian names and of the several that do appear there are at least four derived from extra-limital sources, namely : Alabama, Canada, Kentucky and Roanoke. This is odd enough since the settlers might easily have applied ordinary English names or have taken over existing Sen- eca names; but, when it comes to the rhyme and reason for names, the wise historian and cautious philosopher will turn his head and observe the virtue of silence. The county can at least be happy in the possession of the finest of all Indian place names.


ALABAMA is a modification of Alibamu, derived from the Choc- taw alba ayamule, and meaning "I clear the thicket." Perhaps, as some wag has said, "It's not to be wondered at that a white mule could clear a thicket. The name Alabama is applied to the town and post office in the northwestern corner of the county.


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CANADA, literally meaning "a hill-village," is a settlement in Bethany Township.




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