USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 49
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Teedyuscung had a daughter who was married to a Delaware named Machmitawchchink. In 1753 this son-in-law and Teedyuscung's mother-in-law, Erdmuth, each with three children, were living in Meniolagomeka, the Indian village previously mentioned. One of Teedyuscung's grand-children was named "Johnny Swalling." Teedyuscung and his wife Elizabeth were the parents, also, of three children who in 1757 were quite young-one of them being an infant. (See Reichel's "Memorials," pages 265, 275, 356, 360 and 361.)
Chapman says in his "History of Wyoming" (page 26) : "Tadame, the chief of the Delawares at Wyoming, having been murdered, a general council was assembled, and Tadeuscund, sometimes called Tedyuscung, a chieftan residing at Gnadenhütten, was proclaimed chief sachen, who soon after removed to Wyoming." Chapman derived his information from Heckewelder, who was not living in this country at the time Teedyuscung took up his residence at Wyoming, and who, therefore, had no personal knowl- edge of these matters. Stone, Miner and other writers who followed Chapman followed him iu a double sense, and perpetuated the error into which Chapman was led by Heckewelder. We have heretofore referred to this matter, on page 202.
In Rupp's "History of Northampton County, Pennsylvania," there is a biographical sketch of Teedyns- cung written by Heckewelder, from which we have extracted the following paragraphs: "* * Before he was raised to the station of a chief he liad signalized himself as an able counselor in his nation. * * Whatever may have been Tadeuskund's disposition towards the English at that time [1755], it is certain that it was a difficult task for him, and would have been such for any other chief to govern an exasperated
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people entirely devoted to an opposite interest. * * It is said by those Indians who knew him best, and who at that time had the welfare of their own nation much at heart, that his great and sole object was to recover for the Lenni Lenâpés that dignity which the Iroquois had treacherously wrested from them. Thence flowed the bitterness of the latter against him, though he seemed to be promoting the same interest which they themselves supported.
"While Tadeuskund was at the head of his nation he was frequently distinguished by the title 'King of the Delawares.' While passing and repassing to and from the enemy with messages, many people called him the 'War Trumpet.' In his person he was a portly, well-looking man, endowed with good natural sense, quick of comprehension and very ready in answering the questions put to him. He was rather ambitious, thought much of his rank and abilities, liked to be considered as King of his country, and was fond of having a retine with him when he went to Philadelphia on business with the Govern- mient. His greatest weakness was a fondness for strong drinks, the temptation of which he could not easily resist, and would sometimes drink to excess."
Maj. William Parsons (mentioned on page 254) wrote in 1756 concerning feedyuscung : "He is a lusty, raw-boned man, haughty and very desirous of respect and command. He can drink three quarts or one gallon of rum a day without being drunk." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 724.) Stone, in his "Poetry and History of Wyoming" (pages 72 and 149), has this to say of Teedyuscung : "This chieftan was an able man, who played a distinguished but subtle part during the border troubles of the French War, particularly toward the close of his life. He was charged with treachery toward the English, and perhaps justly ; and yet candor demands the acknowledgment that he did not take up the hatchet against them without something more than a plausible reason ; while by so doing he was the means of restoring to his people something of the dignity characteristic of his race, but which had almost disap-
peared under the oppression of the Six Nations. * *
He did not long continue upon the war-path, but
became an early advocate and ambassador of peace, although his sincerity in this respect was * * questioned by the Moravian clergy and likewise by Sir William Johnson. Still, it must be recorded in his behalf that he appears never to have entirely forfeited the confidence of the Quakers. * * But in regard to the character of Teedyuscung, the sympathies of the baronet [Johnson] were with his own Indians-the Six Nations. Vet in his correspondence, while he labored to detract somewhat from the lofty pretensions of the Delaware Captain, the baronet has conceded to him enough of talent, influence and power among his people to give him a proud rank among the chieftans of his race. Certain it is, that Teedyuscung did much to restore his nation to the rank of men, of which they had been deprived by the Iroquois, and great allowances are to be made on the score of his instability of conduct, from the peculiar circumstances under which he was often placed. In regard to his religious character and pro- fessions, his memory rests beneath a cloud."
Reichel, in his "Memorials" (page 226), says of Teedyuscung : "The concurrent testimony of his time agrees in representing him as a man of marked ability, a brave warrior, a sagacious counselor and a patriot among his people. Although he was governed by strong passions, and a slave of that degrad- ing vice which was the bane of liis race, he was not devoid of feeling, being susceptible of the gentler in- fluences of our nature. Numerous are the anecdotes extant, illustrating his love of humor, his ready wit, his quickness of apprehension and of reply, his keen penetration, and his sarcastic delight in exposing low cunning and artifice. * * His attachment to the Brethren he openly avowed, expressing his determi- nation to keep by them in preference to others of the whites. Elsewhere he exulted in being called a Moravian. Although he had broken his vows and had been unfaithful to his profession, he would frequently, when in conversation with the Brethren, revert to his baptisin and feelingly deplore the loss of the peace of mind he had once enjoyed."
Watson, in his "Annals of Philadelphia" (II : 170), says this of Teedyuscung : "He was a frequent visitor to Philadelphia during the years 1750-'60. By means of his intercourse with the whites he had acquired a competent knowledge of our language. He always regarded himself at home in the Norris family, where he was always welcomed. He generally had some retinue with him, and affected the character of something superior as a sovereign. Governor Dickinson used to relate that he attended a treaty where Teedyuscung was a negotiator. While there, at a time when the chief was making an ill- timed speech, being excited by a surplus of strong drink, his wife, who was present, was heard to speak in the most modest and silvery tones imaginable in the Indian tongue. The melody of her tones en- chanted every ear. While she spoke she looked steadfastly and with much humility to the ground. Everybody was curious to inquire of the chief what she said. He answered rudely : 'Ho ! she's nothing but a poor, weak woman ! She has just told me it was unworthy the dignity and the reputation of a great King like me to show myself drunken before the Council.' "
The following is from The Weekly Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1798. "Teedyuscung once observed to a friend that in his conference with the the Governor of Pennsylvania the words of the latter came only from the outside of his teeth, and added, 'I will talk so too.' One evening he was sober, and sitting by the fireside of his friend. Both of them were silently looking at the fire, indulging their own reflections and desiring each other's improvement. At length the silence was broken by the friend, who said : 'I will tell thee what I have been thinking of. I have been thinking of a rule delivered by the founder of the Christian religion, which, from its excellence, we call 'The Golden Rule.' 'Stop,' said Teedyuscung, 'don't praise it to me, but rather tell me what it is and let me think for myself. I do not wish you to tell me of its excellence ; tell me what it is.' 'It is for one man to do to another as he would the other should do to him.' 'That's impossible-it cannot be done,' Teedyuscung replied. Silence ensued. Teedyuscung lighted his pipe and walked about the room. In about a quarter of an hour he came up to his friend with a smiling countenance and said : 'Brother, I have been thoughtful of what you told me. If the Great Spirit that made man would give him a new heart, he could do as you say ; but not else.'
"After he had settled this difficult point Teedyuscung said : 'Now, Brother, it is no harm to tell you what I was thinking of before you spoke. I thought that the Great Spirit who made the land never intended one man should have so much of it as never to see it all, and another not to have so much as to plant corn for his children. I think the Great Spirit never meant it should be so.' At another time Teedyuscung was under the influence of liquor. His friend said to him : "There is one thing very strange and which I cannot account for. It is, why the Indians get drunk so much more than the white people.' 'Do you think strange of that ?' said Teedyuscung. 'Why it is not strange at all. The Indians think it no harm to get drunk whenever they can; but you white men say it is a sin, and get drunk notwith- standing !' "
'A careful reading of all the doings and sayings of Teedynscung recorded in the various volumes of the "Colonial Records" and "Archives" of Pennsylvania has impressed me with the belief that the Chief was a drunkard ; and, like the majority of drunkards-red, as well as white-was garrulous and gabby, untruthful and unreliable. He was a blusterer-a wind-bag-and not a fearless and forcible doer of deeds ; a politician, and not a warrior ; a crafty, cunning and crooked character, and not in any circum- stances the straightforward, noble red man described by some writers.
In April, 1763, the life of Teedyuscung came to a tragic end-which will be described in the next chapter.
On the steep side of one of the heavily wooded hills which skirt the eastern bank of Wissahickon Creek, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, there juts out a huge, bare rock, which for many years has been known as "Indian" or "Council Rock." The Wissahickon is a tributary of the Schuylkill River, and at the time of the coming of William Penn, and for many years after, the Schuylkill region was Lenni Lenâpé territory. As late as 1732 Alluminapees, King of the Lenâpés, or Delawares, was styled in a deed "Sachem of the Schuylkill Indians." (See note, page 187.) According to a local tradition the Delawares frequently held their councils at the rock on the Wissahickon hillside; and there, before they took up
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"Thus Teedyuscung became a member of the Christian Church, and yet failed, as so many do, to become a Christian. * Hence he ill brooked the restraints imposed upon him in the 'Huts of Grace,' and resisted the influence of the Good Spirit that sought to dispossess him of the resentment that burned within his soul when he remembered how his countrymen were being injured by the whites, and how they had been traduced and were being oppressed by the imperious Iroquois. And once, when his untamed Brethren came down from the Minisinks to Gnadenhütten, bringing their unshod ponies and their broken flint-locks to the smithy, they opened their hearts to him wide, and took him into their councils. These intended war. Telling him that the hour was come to prepare to rise against their oppressors, they asked him to lead them and be their king. That was the evil moment in which he was dazzled by the prospect of a crown, and trafficked his peace of mind for the unrest of ambition."
Since the death of Allummapees, recorded on page 187, 110 chief of the Delawares living east of the Allegheny Mountains had been raised to the dignity of "king" of the nation, or of any part of it, although the Six Nations had given notice in 1748 that they would send a deputa- tion to treat with the Pennsylvania Government about the matter. Teedyuscung occupied the post of "counselor" in his clan at this time (1754), wielding considerable influence ; and by his persuasions sixty- five of the Mohegans and Delawares at Gnadenhütten agreed to follow him to Wyoming. They set forth on their journey, via the "Warrior Path" (described on page 237), April 24, 1754,* and were joined by a considerable number of heathen Delawares from the Minisinks. Some days later five more Delawares from Gnadenhütten followed after the main body of immigrants.
Arriving at Wyoming Teedyuscung and his followers established their village on the south bank of the Susquehanna, immediately west of the sinall creek described on page 59, and within the limits of the present Tenth Ward of Wilkes-Barré. t
In the latter part of June, 1754, the Moravian missionaries John Martin Mack (previously mentioned) and -- Roessler visited Wyoming. The following account of their journey, taken from Dr. F. C. Johnson's paper mentioned on page 204, is based on Mack's journal.
their residence in Wyoming, Teedyuscung and his followers held a final Council ! It is doubtful whether Teedyuscung ever saw "Indian Rock," and as to his having presided over a Council there, that is highly improbable. After a long interval he succeeded Allummapees as King of the eastern Delawares, but not as Sachem of the Schuylkill Delawares. Be that as it may, the tradition mentioned has held for many years, and in 1856 a large wooden figure of an Indian was erected upon the summit of "Indian Rock, " and was named "Teedyuscung." About the same time a thoroughfare in the vicinity-now known as Chest- nut Avenue-was called "Teedyuscung Avenue."
At a meeting of the Commissioners of Fairmount Park held in January, 1902, Mr. Charles W. Henry, a member of the body, said : "Indian Rock, on the Wissahickon, is a point dear to every Germantown boy. The statue of the Indian perched on the rock is now fast deteriorating and going to decay, and if it is the pleasure of the Commission Mrs. Henry and myself would like to present to this body a statue suit- able for that point. I have consulted J. Massey Rhind, the well-known sculptor of New York, who has prepared a design, sixteen feet in height, which will be sculptured in granite and placed on this rock." The design selected, and in due time executed, represents an Indian warrior "on the watch" and peering at the white stranger approaching. It is a copy-except in one or two particulars-of one of the figures adorning the Corning Fountain in Bushnell Park, Hartford, Connecticut, designed and executed by Mr. Rhind, and erected in 1900. The figure of the Corning Fountain is of bronze, is eight feet in height, and bears a bow in its left hand. The "Teedyuscung" statue on "Indian Rock" in Fairmount Park is sculptured in granite, and the figure is shown with a tomahawk instead of a bow in its left hand. It was formally unveiled and presented to the Commissioners of Fairmount Park June 14, 1902. The picture of the statue facing this page is reproduced from a photograph of the original work of the sculptor as designed for the Corning Fountain.
* See Loskiel's "History of the Mission of the United Brethren," London, 1794.
t For the site of Teedyuscung's town see the facsimile of "A Plot of the Manor of Stoke" shown in Chapter VII, and the "Map of Wilkes-Barre and Its Suburbs" reproduced in Chapter XXVIII. The loca- tion of the "ice-pond" referred to on page 59 is shown on the last-mentioned map. This pond was on land owned, or occupied, at one time by "Capt." Gilman Converse-for some years Wilkes-Barré's sole ice-purveyor-and in May, 1861, while he was plowing at this point, he turned up the skeleton of an Indian in a sitting posture. Two years previously three skeletons had been discovered in the same locality.
In January, 1859, Dilton Yarington, a native of Wilkes-Barré, but then residing at Carbondale, Penn- sylvania, wrote : "About the year 1811 Philip Arndt and I took a stroll down the river shore to the bend. [This was near the ice-pond of later years.] Under the bank we found where the action of the high water had laid bare the skeleton of what we supposed to be an Indian. Upon digging with wooden sticks we found a stone pestle, a stone ax, or hatchet, about two dozen arrow-heads and half a dozen stone beads. Philip took the beads and I took the arrow-heads, ax and pestle. The arrows and ax I sold to an agent of Peale's Museum [Philadelphia], in 1822. The pestle I kept, and in 1846 it was acci- · dentally broken at my house in Carbondale. Later I disposed of it to Mr. Chambers." This pestle- which is one of large size-may now be seen in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, into whose possession it passed from Mr. Chambers many years ago.
THE "TEEDYUSCUNG" STATUE, ON "INDIAN ROCK." Near the banks of the Wissahickon, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. From photographs made in 1903.
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"June 24 .- Set out from Gnadenhiitten. All the creeks were much swollen, and hence they did not enter the Valley till the 28th. The Susquehanna had overflowed its banks, so that where people usually dwelt and planted was now swept by a tearing stream. For a time they saw 110 living being, but afterwards saw a canoe and hailed it ; where- upon an Indian came to the shore and set Mack and his companion over. They had miany callers, among others Paxinosa's young son. Moltican Abraham was at this time living in the Shawanese town [within the present limits of the Second Ward of Plymouth -as described on page 209, ante]. There they inet Abraham and his wife Sarah. At the son's request Mack held a meeting in old Paxinosa's cabin. He was not at home. Abraham interpreted. Meanwhile the Delawares and Mohicans assembled and Mack preached to them. Then he had a conversation with the old Gnadenhutten converts. Although Paxinosa was absent, many Indians from up and down the Susquehanna had assembled at his town to take counsel with him in reference to a message to the Five Nations, who had sent thein a belt of wampum. This crowd Mack also addressed, on request, after which he was invited to dine in Paxinosa's cabin. Meanwhile, more and more Indians arrived, and at last came Paxinosa.
"Mack thus observes in his journal : 'Wyoming is in a critical condition. The New Englanders, in right of a royal Charter, lay claim to Wyoming. The Pennsyl- vanians hold it is within the Proprietary grant, and wish the Indians to sell it to them. Thus the Indians are in a dilemma, for if they yield to the solicitations of the Pennsyl- vanians and oppose the New Englanders who desire to settle here, and threaten to shoot their horses and cows (and the Pennsylvanians urge them to oppose them), they know there will be a war, as the New Englanders are a people who refuse to regard the Indians as lords of the soil, and will subjugate them if they refuse to evacuate the Valley. *
* * Our convert Delawares and Mohicans have received a message from the Five Nations to send a deputation up to Onondaga to ask of them a district of their own somewhere on the river, and for permission to have religious teachers of their own. There is a general interest in religion among the Indians of the Valley. They desire the Moravians to send teachers to tell them the word of the true God. * * The recent floods have ruined * all the plantations and destroyed the corn and beans.' "
In July, 1754, the Rev. Bernhard Adamn Grubé,* a Moravian inis- sionary, visited Wyoming, accompanied by Carl Gottfried Rundt, a Moravian Brother. Grubé's diary of the journey has been preserved, and extracts front it are printed in Dr. Johnson's paper, previously referred to. They are, in part, as follows :
"July 22, [1754] .- Brother Rundt and I left our beloved Gnadenhütten at noon to go to WVajomick. John Martin Mack and Sensemann accompanied us for a mile, and then, after they had sung a few verses for us, took an affectionate leave. It was very warmı, and the mountains were very high. Traveled eighteen miles, and camped for the night at the foot of the mountain where Nutimus' hunting-cabin formerly stood. Muschgetters [mosquitoes] tormented us all night. July 23 .- Started early and reached Waphallobank [Wapwallopen]. It rained hard and we were drenched, so we passed by Waphallobank and spent the night near the Susquehanna.
"July 24 .- We went up the Susquehanna to Thomas Lehmann, an Indian acquaint- ance. He gave us milk and was very friendly. He told us of a nearer route to Wyoming, this [the east] side of the Susquehanna, which led over the mountains. It consisted of a narrow foot-path, which disappeared after awhile. We had to determine our course by notched trees ; but these became scarce, and soon none remained. We turned to the left towards a mountain, from which, to our great surprise, we could overlook the plain [of Wyoming. ]t We pushed our way through the forest with much difficulty. Came
* BERNHARD ADAM GRUBÉ was born in Germany in 1715. He was educated at the University of Jena, and came to Pennsylvania in 1746 to join the Moravian Brotherhood. He was first employed in the schools at Bethlehem. In 1752 he was stationed at Meniolagomeka, an Indian town about eight miles west of the Wind Gap, in the present Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Here he studied the Delaware language, and acquired a good working knowledge of it. Some months after his return from Wyoming in 1754 he was sent to Shamokin, where he spent fifteen months in mission work. Then he was dispatched to North Carolina with a colony of Moravians to settle on the tract of 100,000 acres purchased of Earl Gran- ville. In 1758 he was sent to the Indian mission in Connecticut; and in 1760 he removed to Wechque- tance, on Hoeth's Creek, in what is now Monroe County, Pennsylvania. While here he translated into the Delaware tongue a hymn-book and a Harmony of the Gospels, which for many years were in use at the Moravian missions among the Delawares. In 1765 he retired from missionary work among the Indians, and, after serving as pastor of several rural congregations during a number of years, he died at Bethlehem March 20, 1808. For a more complete sketch of his life, and his portrait, see Pennsylvania Magazine of History, XXV : 14 (April, 1901).
t The path here referred to started in at the Susquehanna, near the mouth of Little Wapwallopen Creek, about two miles north of Wapwallopen mentioned in the note on page 214. Thence it ran in a north-easterly direction through the present townships of Conyngham, Hollenback, Slocum and New- port-crossing over Penobscot Mountain into the last-named township at its south-eastern corner. Thence continuing on through a gap in Wilkes-Barre Mountain (through which the main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad now passes), it ran near the present village of Alden and entered Hanover Township not far from the present borough of Nanticoke. A public highway was laid out along the line of this path about the year 1795. The missionaries Grube and Rundt lost their way, it would seem, when they at- tempted to follow this path in July, 1754. They bent their course west of north, and thus struck Honey Pot Mountain (described on page 48), whence they obtained their first view of Wyoming, as recorded in Grubé's diary. See the illustration facing the next page.
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to the Susquehanna, where we had to cross a swampy creek* ; and then traversing a plain this side of the river, we arrived at a former Nanticoke town. We followed a foot-path to the right, and were soon met by Joachim, Simon and another Indian, who greeted us in a friendly manner, and showed us a fallen tree on which to cross the creek.t Towards evening we arrived at several plantationsį along the Susquehanna, where we found the aged Moses and his wife and several sisters hoeing corn .¿ They came and shook hands and greeted us. Then Moses took us across the Susquehanna to a Shawanese town. | We greeted the Brethren and Sisters, who were glad to see us-especially Brother Abra- ham, who kissed us and gave us a place in the center of his hut. Our Brethren and Sisters [the Mohegans, formerly of Gnadenhütten] were about the only ones in town, as the Shawanese had gone hunting. After an hour the aged Nathaniel returned from hunt- ing, and with him Joshua, the Delaware from Gnadenhütten ; likewise Marcus, Jacob's son, Elias, Andrew's son, and Appowagenant. They all took up their quarters in our hut. About twenty-two of us were assembled.
"July 25 .- Gideon [Teedyuscung] and his son came from across the Susquehanna and said the visit of the Brethren pleased him very much, and he wished that we might live amongst them. Towards evening the wife of the old Shawanese chief Paxinosa returned home with her children. She greeted us very cordially. We also crossed the river and visited two Delaware huts. Isaac of Nescopeck, " who was there, said he had been baptized by Mack at Gnadenhütten. I told him more about the Savior, and then recrossed the river and entered the Shawanese town. Abraham had in the meantime called a meeting, and the hut was quite full. Brother Nathaniel acted as interpreter. At the close of my address I asked them if they would like to hear more about the Savior each night, and they all signified assent with 'Gohanna ! Gohanna !'
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