USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 39
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 39
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"He has gone to wing with the angles, The angles that inhabit the Sky. And some day we hope to see him, When we are soaring near by."
These verbal errors are frequent, as well as lapses in grammar. There are many memorials of various wars, and one follows of a young man killed in Virginia :
"No bugle call now disturbs the weary one; Rest noble spirit in the grave unknown. We will find and know you among the good and true, When the Robe of White is given for the faded blue."
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We conclude with an old fashioned enlogy on a stone at Onondaga Valley : "Samuel Forman erects this monument to commemorate the virtues of his ex- cellent & beloved wife Sophia. who departed this life October 18th, 1826, aged 32 years. Most amiable & lovely in life, but made perfeet only through suffering by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he humbly trusts that while her ashes hallow this spot. her spirit lives in the bosom of her Savior who will assuredly reunite them at the last day."
CHAPTER XXXIL.
THE ONONDAGA RESERVATION.
The treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 was between the Six Nations and the United States, and dealt with the land question in a general way. In the winter of 1787-88 the Lessee Company was formed. Lands could not be purchased of the Indians by private persons, except the Seneca lands, which came under a New England claim. It was thought that a lease was not actually a sale, and so this company leased "'all the land commonly known as the lands of the Six Nations. in the State of New York, and at the time in the actual possession of said chiefs and sachems." for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, with an annual rent of two thousand dollars. The reservations in Onondaga county were "Reservation second .-- One-half of the falls, and convenient places for weirs. for the purpose of catching fish and eels. from Cross Lake to the Three
Rivers. Reservation third .-- Reserving the exclusive right to one of the salt. springs near Onondaga, with fifty or one hundred acres of land around the same, sufficient for fire wood and other conveniences for boiling salt, together with an equal right in common, for eeling and fishing as far as Oneida Lake." Payment of rents would begin July 4, 1791.
Many reputable men were engaged in this, and Joseph Brant and Hendrick Tekarihogea signed it for the Mohawks. Red Jacket's and Little Beard's names appear among twenty-two Senecas. Beside these twenty-three Cav- ugas, eight Onondagas, three Oneidas, and ten principal women. The scheme failed, and a law was passed, March 18, 1788. authorizing the destruction of all houses on Indian lands not built by the Indians themselves. These lands lay west of the "Line of Property." of 1768, which in New York followed the Sus- quehanna up to Owego, then due east to Delaware river and up that to a point dne south of the month of the Tianaderha or Unadilla river, and to that place; then np the west side of the west branch of that river to its source; "thence by a direct Line to Canada Creek where it emptys into the wood Creek at the West of the Carrying Place beyond Fort Stanwix." Clark mistook in saying this line crossed "the Mohawk River, near where the dividing line of the counties of Herkimer and Oneida now crosses the same." The treaty of 1784 secured the property title of lands in New York, west of this line. to the Six Nations, and title could be acquired only by the state. with the exception of the Seneca lands. Some land at Oswego and along Niagara river belonged to New York.
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The first purchase of Onondaga lands was made at Fort Stanwix. Septem- ber 12, 1788, and a definite reservation was then made, sinee much redueed. Six of the eight Onondaga clans signed this, and it was confirmed in 1790, as before mentioned. The fourth and last sale left six thousand one hundred acres in an oblong rectangular form. General Carrington prepared a good map of the reservation for the United States census of 1890, and this also appeared in Onon- daga's Centennial. Since then the resident population has greatly changed. One conspicuous hill, south of the council house, has more the character of a mountain than is usual here. From the high plateau there is a steep descent on every side.
An annuity payment of two thousand four hundred and thirty dollars to the Onondagas, calls out most of these once a year at the council house, and an- nuities are also paid to the Oneidas at the same time. Another annuity comes to all from the United States. The payment of the Kansas claims two years ago made every Indian feel rich, and generally it was well used. When the Six Nations Temperance League holds its sessions here, it is also a great time on the reservation, as there are many visiting delegates. The national pienie is also a festive occasion for all. The rarer condolence. for raising or installing chiefs, has always a large attendance. The ancient feasts have lost their im- pressiveness, a majority of the Indians taking no part. and only the Green Corn dance attracting much attention from the whites.
There is increased attention to farming and market gardening, and the lat- ter would be popular and profitable under wise supervision ; a thing always here- tofore lacking in efforts to improve conditions. Many young men are employed in Syracuse, having a natural attitude for some mechanical arts. With a bet- ter and higher education, such as is now provided for them, will come business methods and advantages. Another element of progress has been increased inter- course with the better class of whites, through church. temperance, and other kinds of elevating work in which they have shared. The sad side is that the vives of the whites have influeneed them also. With every drawback, however, no one who has known them long can fail to see an advance. Pleasant homes and the higher comforts of home are now common. schools are well attended. churches have good congregations.
The Onondagas have reached their present abode by a well defined series of movements in historie times. Three centuries ago they were a little west of Cazenovia lake. They went thenee farther south, and then gradually north be- tween the branches of Limestone creek. The French found them a little south of Manlius in 1654. Thirty years later they were well established on Butter- nut creek. going thence to Onondaga creek, near Onondaga Valley. and thence to their present village. Some events at these sites have been mentioned.
Those who see the reservation merely from the public highway, are often impressed with its picturesque beauty, but one should climb the hills or traverse the byways to get a fair idea of what all is like. There is a great deal of cultivated land and many homes on which the white man's eve has seldom rested. There are waste lands and very primitive homes as well. Charming spots and delightful views are to be found, and perhaps the easy going people have more
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enjoyment of life than their neighbors in the great city, in their palatial dwell- ings Inxuriously equipped. Certainly between the poorest home on the reserva- tion and the poorest house in the city there is room for choice.
Through the reservation runs one of our finest country roads, maintained by the state for the convenience of its own citizens, not of the Onondagas. These have given the state a franchise with suitable conditions. For a long distance beside this are gravel sidewalks, and these extend along some byroads. The dif- ficulty with some roads is the washing by rains. Still the worst roads here can be surpassed in badness by some in other hilly places. A cross road goes over the ereek toward South Onondaga, intersecting another reservation road west of the ereek. Another rugged one runs southeast from the council house, with sev- eral branches, and from this one goes north through the quarries to the Castle Hotel. One very poor road ascends the great hill.
Clark said of Kawhicdota or Kahiktoton, that "he was in possession of a beautiful trumpet, which he called the council horn; by a single blast of which he could at once summon more than half a thousand warriors to his cabin. The last time it was sounded [1848] was at the funeral of [ Abram] La Fort." This brings up the number of the Onondagas. It is doubtful whether they ever had five hundred warriors in their greatest days, and Greenhalgh gave them but three hundred and fifty in 1677. For a long time after the Revolution very few lived at Onondaga, and it is this fact which discredits some of the stories told of Ephraim Webster. In 1793 some of Zeisberger's Onondaga friends told him that "they no longer live at Onondaga, where there are now only twelve or thirteen families, but over the lake at Buffalo creek." In 1807 Pursh was one day with Ephraim Webster and said: "We took a walk to the Castle or Indian Village; this tribe is but very weak. they are very genteel and well behaved people and industry begins to propagate among them."
Spafford is almost always quaint, and in his Gazetteer of 1834 said: "The Onondaga Castle, or the chief town of the remnant of the Onondagas in this State, is in the hollow. 3 miles south of the Village of Onondaga Hollow, de- seribed below, on a small reservttion of theirs, and contains about 50 Indian houses, on a street of near 7 miles in length, and contains about 150 souls -- 50 less than 10 years ago. Their houses are built of hewn logs, the spaces filled with masoned mortar-work, and are comfortable enough-quite com- fortable enough for Indians, though they would not do for our 'Christian Missionairies,' at the Sandwich Islands, in S. Africa, 'and the Lord knows where.' The present numbers of the Onondagas may be 500 ;- 150 of which are at Onondaga, 150 on Buffalo Creek. 100 on the Alleghany River, and 100 on the Ouse, or Grand River, in Upper Canada. They receive 2,000 dollars from the State of New York, being the interest on the sum for which they sold their share of the Military Lands. The Onondaga Indians, once the lords of this favored region, are reduced to about 500 souls, (if indeed Indians have souls ?)" In 1813 he noted that the Onondaga village on Buf- falo creek was seven miles from its mouth. In the light of reeent histories his remarks on this point in 1834 are interesting :
SOUTH SALINA STREET BRIDGE IN 1840.
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"There is probably no part of the United States whose Indigenal His- tory is of such importance as that of Onondaga and the region thereabout. And. strange as it may seem. the early history of that region, which, of all others, is the most interesting in tracing the progressive history of the Man in America, will only attract the attention it so imperiously demands, in the remote periods of future ages. Time, which is so rapidly destroying all the records or memorials, increases their interest in perpetual progression. In anticipation of these facts, it were much to be wished that in the present age some person would collect all that yet remains of the history of Onon- daga, with all that Indian tradition has preserved."
Adams and Clark read these words, and that very year Dr. Adams an- nouneed that he had for some time been preparing what might have been called "Annals of the Onondaga Valley." In 1847 part of this material passed into Mr. Clark's hands, and in 1849 his "Onondaga" was published. Spafford's wish was gratified.
In 1818 Jasper Parish reported that two hundred and ninety-nine Onon- dagas resided at Old Onondaga village. In July. 1821, Rev. Dr. Morse visited them and reported two hundred and seventy-two people there, thirty- four being Presbyterians; the rest pagans. "Mary Doxtater, a pious. intel- ligent. and well educated widow woman of the Stockbridge tribe, of her own accord, and without support from any society, or individuals, has kept a school among these Indians the last summer, and is probably. in the present season. in the same employment with them. The Onondagoes sustain a high and respectable rank for intelligence and improvement, among their fellow tribes of the Six Nations."
In Dr. Morse's report there is a pleasant mention of the work of Lydia Mott, of Skaneateles, among the Stockbridge Indians of Oneida: "Among this tribe. I found a pious and respectable lady. of the Society of Friends. who. after the example of Dorcas, was pionsly employed in making garments for the Indians, and gratuitously instructing the Indian girls, how to make them. Having some property. she lives, and gives her instructions, among the Indians. respectably. at her own expense. Her zeal, activity and disin- terestedness. are highly to be commended."
The Quakers were also interested in the Onondagas, and visited then in 1809. "'On reaching the settlement. which is about thirty-three miles from Oneida. we had an opportunity with them . (the Indians) : all of us sit- ting on the grass, which was thought more convenient than meeting in the house. The natives appeared better clothed than the Oneidas. They re- ceived us very courteously. and we had a satisfactory time with them. They spoke of the Great Spirit and its divine influence, with as much per- spieuity as perhaps could be conveyed in any language."
That they could speak plainly is shown by the following letter, sent by four Onondaga chiefs to the Quakers in 1811:
"Friends and Brothers. We have heard from your conneil-fire once more; we have heard that you wanted to know whether the Onondagas have
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left off the use of strong drink or not. Brothers, we have left off some time ago. You told us to leave off; the Great Spirit told us to leave off: we have listened to his voice. There are some that visit us from the Oneidas that drink; we think they will leave off by our good advice.
"Brothers, We are in want of eattle, chains, ploughs, and all kinds of farming utensils; you have told us that you would help us; we were glad to hear you were willing to help us.
"Brothers. We are in want of blacksmiths, earpenters and other me- ehanies; we want to learn our children to work; we have opened our eyes; we now see that we must work. We are willing to work; we begin to raise wheat, and will do more if we can get help.
"Brothers. A part of our tribe lives at Buffalo. They are of the same mind with us; we are agreed. We wish, if you will help us to oxen and farming utensils, that you will send them on as soon as you ean, as we are mueh in want. You will find us of the same mind as we were when you were here; we hope to hear from you soon.
"Brothers. We expect you and wish you all well; remember us at your great conneil. We look to yon as our friends."
In 1813, it was said: "The committee have recently felt much inter- ested for the Onondagoe tribe. who, having for some years past relinguished the use of ardent spirits, and become sober and industrious, requested the as- sistanee of Friends ; they have accordingly been supplied with oxen and farm- ing utensils, and their agricultural improvement and advancement have been the most rapid of any of the tribes."
The report for 1825 said: "The Committee has a Friend and his wife residing with the Onondagoe tribe, and as he is a blacksmith, and his wife a weaver, it is hoped their services will be useful. The principal men appear to be disposed to promote the views of Friends, and to dissuade their young men from habits of intemperance ; they were encouraged and advised to wait on the Great Spirit. to dwell in his fear, that he might give them wis- dom to bring up their children aright. to train them in habits of industry and the eultivation of their land. They having concluded and promised the cultivation of flax, we also encouraged them to procure sheep, and manu- facture cloth, and it was satisfactory to observe that they appeared disposed to acquire the knowledge of the most useful mechanic arts."
In speaking of Abram La Fort Mr. Clark mentions the last Quaker effort at Onondaga. La Fort returned there in 1826, and "opened a school. which was continued about three years. He was paid eight dollars a month for his serviees, by a Quaker, who resided among the Onondagas with his family. The efforts of this Quaker family were unremitting for a period of eight years, during which time several Indian girls were instructed in household anties, the benefits of which we see, even at this late day. exemplified in some of their habitations. The most strenuous exertions were used by this family to bring about a reformation in the morals and habits of the nation, and to hasten a knowledge of civilization and Christianity. Although ineffectual in their
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efforts. traces of their labors still remain. and the services of Adin T. Corcy and family will be long and affectionately remembered."
The old "Quaker House" on the main road, was remodeled not long since. The writer well remembers Mr. Corey, and his funeral at Skaneateles in March, 1845, when a delegation of Onondagas came to see him buried. That he used "strenuous exertions" will not be doubted by those who knew him. One of his former hearers said :
"He was a very energetic preacher, and used a good deal of bodily exer- cise in the discharge of his duty. After he had preached a few minutes he would take off his hat and wipe his forehead. Then, after a few minutes more. his neckeloth would be loosened. and then laid on his hat. As he waxed warmer in his eloquence, the coat took its place beside the neck-tie; and finally the waist coat was taken off, and the man stood in his shirt sleeves, de- claiming with a vigor that made the perspiration stream down his face."
Just before Dr. Morse was at the reservation in 1821. Rev. Mr. Mills cele- brated an Indian marriage at his house. and it was thought future marriages would follow Presbyterian forms, but there are no farther records of the kind. The Presbyterians mentioned may have been some of Rev. Samuel Kirkland's Oneida converts. That eminent missionary had visited Onondaga. but there seem no distinet records of his officiating there. In speaking of Rev. Sampson Oceum, Mr. Clark said: "Both he and the Res. Samuel Kirkland, were well acquainted at Onondaga, often visited and occasionally officiated there among the Indians." This is quite probable but hardly certain.
In 1816 Bishop Hobart sent Eleazar Williams to Oneida as a catechist and lay reader. March 31 the latter visited Onondaga by request of some of the chiefs, remaining several days. Ile said in his journal : "Reached this village about ten o'clock this morning, and came thither by the special invitation of the principal chiefs and people, by whom I was received with much kindness. They gave me no time to refresh myself. but hurried me to their council house. 'to hear,' as they said, 'the words of Him who dwells in the Heavens.'" He often visited them that year and afterward.
In 1816 the Rev. Timothy Clowes. rector of St. Peter's church. Albany. visited the Indians. with Mr. Williams as interpreter. July 18 he preached, and baptized eleven Onondaga children. In July, 1817, Rev. Messrs. Clark and Gear were there, preaching, and baptizing about twenty persons. Mr. Gear afterward married several couples at Onondaga hill, in his church, and bap- tized many children there. It was through him that Mary Doxtater opened her school.
A Methodist Episcopal church was organized on the reservation in 1814. services being held there onee a month. A school building was used till a new schoolhouse was built in 1846, and that was occupied till the erection of the present church. This was remodeled in 1885. The Wesleyan Methodists reorganized in 1893, and built a church in 1895, in which Rev. Thomas La Fort officiates. He has the advantage of speaking in the Indian tongue.
Rev. Dr. George Morgan Hills, with Rev. Dr. Breek, held a service at the
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reservation in September, 1867, and Bishop Coxe, aecompanied by nine clergy- men of whom the writer was one, held another December 19, 1867. Out of this came the following letter to Dr. Hills, just before Christmas:
"Rev. George Morgan Hills
"I want you come down Christmas Day I want you baptize to little children Philip Jones her son and her girls four he got baptize that day and Another Wilson Reuben her girl and My little girl that be six children he wants you baptize Christmas day from Yours Truly
DANIEL LA FORTE, Onondaga Castle"
This is a characteristic Indian letter. May 20. 1868. some principal Indians eame to Dr. Hills for services, which began that year, and September 27, 1870, the Church of the Good Shepherd was consecrated. with continuous serviees sinee. A Chippewa Indian preached. In this ehurch a native Ononda- ga. Rev. Albert Cusick. was ordained October 1. 1891. For the writer he trans- lated the Lord's Prayer into the Onondaga dialect. as follows:
Squa-ne, kar-hea-ke tshe-tah, wa-kwa-seh-na-to-ker-tish-ta; oonk-ta-weh na to-neh o-when-jaeh-ke-cha-ne-kucht na kar-he-ute-ke. Toon-da-kyoh toon-neh woehn-tah-te na oon-kwa-ha-kwa; o-ne toon-ta-kwae-ye-wah-sah-goos na cha nate-ho-ne-yut ta-ya-kwa-yuchs na sa-ya-neh-sa cha nate-ho ne-yut ta-sha-ke-e- wah-seh-kwa-neek na cha kah-ve na ta-ha-te-yuchs na oon-kwa-yca-nah-sa : o-ne a-kwe na-to osk-was-si-ni-tah cha non-we na ah-yoon-kwa-ne-gon-ha-tah-kwa na ki-e-wha-na-ahr-kwa-sa-toon-ta-kwa-yea-toont-ka teh-sa noon-wa-ne-ka-yeh na ka-yeh-na-ki-whin-o-gwas-seh. A-seh-keh is o-we-ho-gwa-ke is-how-wah o- ne na cha kah-yeh na gueh-hah-tshe-sa o-ne na we-ah-neh cha ta-weh cha ta-weh. Na-to-ni-ya-wa-ha.
In this "Forgive us our trespasses," ete .. has been paraphrased as "For- give us for breaking Thy laws, as we forgive those who break human laws."
After the early schools mentioned. a few Indian children went to neighbor- ing distriet schools, but in 1845 Miss Mary Hitchcock opened a school on the reservation for them alone. In April, 1846, the Legislature appropriated three hundred dollars for a schoolhouse, and two hundred and fifty dollars annually for expenses for five years. For quite a time a school was also maintained in connection with the Episcopal mission. A new public schoolhouse has good buildings and ample grounds, and has three teachers, with a fair attendance. This is to be replaced with a two-story house, with better accommodations and an assembly hall. A number of young people have been at Hampton and Carlisle, and one in Syracuse University.
Commendable efforts have been made to promote temperanee. A lodge of Sons of Temperance existed some years ago, and Ka-no-si-o-ni Lodge, No. 277, I. O. G. T .. was organized November 2, 1877. At one time it had a junior branch. Beside this the Onondaga Temperance Society is connected with the Six
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Nations Temperance league, which annually meets on different reservations in turn. These annual sessions are of great interest.
The Onondaga Indian band was formed in 1862. and soon became famous, It played at the Centennial celebrations in Syracuse and Baldwinsville in 1894, and at the Madison County Centennial in 1906. For two years past it has been in New York for a few weeks at a time, and has had many changes. David Ilill is now leader, and it is a large organization. Another band is led by Albert Cusick, and is called the Reservation Band, though not confined to Indians. Mr. Cusiek has been a successful teacher of bands, and has aided many students in Indian philology, customs, folk lore, etc., as Horatio Hale, Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith, Mrs. Converse, J. N. B. Hewitt, and Rev. Dr. Beauchamp. By mother right he is an Onondaga, but the Tuscarora Cusicks, his paternal ancestors. have long been a noted family, and he himself has been influential for good. His Indian name is Sa-go-na-qua-te, "he who makes every body mad."
Many prominent Onondagas have died since 1900, leaving no sueeessors of the same standing, and the rising generation has new ideas. Most distinctive features will soon disappear. The writer has seen this progressive change for seventy years, but at no time has it been as rapid as now. The Indian problem will solve itself.
The frame houses on the reservation were fifteen in 1860, and are five times that number now; the twelve frame barns have trebled, to say nothing of schools, stores and churches built within that time. Mr. Cusick said that when he came there in 1860, "Very few of the Indians could express themselves in the English language, and when an Indian was discovered in the act of talking to a white man in the white man's tongue, he was made a subject of laughter and jest. It was a disgrace." This was on the reservation, where all councils with white men required an interpreter. The writer has several times stood with one at his side.
In the census of 1890 are the names of sixteen Onondagas on this reserva- tion who served in the civil war. Many New York Indians shared in this and in the war of 1812, with an honorable record.
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