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 early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume I > Part 26
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As Shikellimy was virtuous, sober, shrewd and possessed of marked executive ability, he was recog- nized by the Six Nations as a man of much more than ordinary mind and character, and about 1745 was promoted by the Confederacy to the dignity of vicegerent, and was invested with unusual authority. He was wide-awake and earnest in his efforts to promote the interests of his people, "and was well aware that up to this time there had been little or no intercourse between the Government of Pennsylvania and the Six Nations." On account of his high standing and excellent judgment his influence was courted by the Provincial authorities, and he and Conrad Weiser became warm friends. Scarcely a treaty or a con- ference took place between the years 1728 and 1748 (and there were many treaties and conferences respect- ing the purchase of lands) but Shikellimy was present, and by his moderate counsels aided in an amicable solution of the intricate questions with which these events were concerned. Of all the Indians-of whom we have any account-who ever lived in Pennsylvania, Shikellinty was, in some respects, one of the most remarkable.
In 1747, while on a visit to Bethlehem, Penusylvania, Shikellimy was converted to Christianity. He died at Shamokin-probably of fever and ague, then prevailing in that locality-December 17, 1748, in the presence of members of his family and David Zeisberger, the Moravian missionary. A coffin was made, the Indians painted the corpse in gay colors and decked it with the choicest ornaments that had belonged to Shikellimy in life. Various implements were also placed with the corpse in the coffin, and interment was then made in the Indian burial-ground on the outskirts of Shamokin. In 1858 various Indian graves, including that of Shikellimy, in this old graveyard were opened, and of the relics then exhumed an interesting account will be found in Johnson's "Historical Record" (Wilkes-Barré), II : 179.
The wife of Shikellimuy was a Cayuga, and she bore him four sons and one daughter, who were, according to the Indian law relating to pedigrees, Cayugas. The eldest of the sons was Tachnechdorus, or Tachnechtoris ("The Wide-spreading Oak"), who was commonly known as "John Shikellimy." He
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in July, 1742. The Onondagan orator said, among other things* : "That country belongs to us in right of conquest. We have bought it with our blood, and taken it from our enemies in fair war, and we expect as owners of that land to receive such consideration for it as the land is worth."
The ancient Delawares are now about to appear upon the scene again-this time at Wyoming; but before they are introduced it is important that we should look backward for a space, and view briefly their status from the time of their subjugation by the Five Nations-as mentioned on page 113.
The Delawares were loath to admit to their white friends that they were held in subjection by the Iroquois, and Heckewelder and the other Moravian missionaries were, in general, inclined to believe the tales told them by the Delawares and to repeat some of those tales in the letters, reports and diaries which they wrote. Loskiel, whose "History of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Indians in North America" (written in Livonia in 1787 and '88) was based on the written reports and records of the Moravian missionaries-for he himself was never in this country-prints in his "History" the following interesting details concerning the Delawares.
"The Delawares lived formerly in the country about Philadelphia, extending to- wards the ocean, in the Jerseys, about Trenton, Brunswick, Amboy and other places. According to their own account they made continual inroads into the towns of the Cher- okees, who then lived on the banks of the Ohio and its branches. The wars between the Delawares and the Iroquois were more violent and of more ancient standing. According to the account of the Delawares they were always too powerful for the Iroquois, so that the latter were at length convinced that if they continued the war their total extirpation would be inevitable. They therefore sent the following message to the Delawares :
" 'It is not profitable that all the nations should be at war with each other, for this will at length be the ruin of the whole Indian race. We have, therefore, considered a remedy, by which this evil may be prevented-one nation shall be the woman ! We will place her in the midst, and the other nations who make war shall be the men, and live around the woman. No one shall touch or hurt the woman, and if any one does it we will immediately say to him, 'Why do you beat the woman?' Then all the men shall fall upon him who has beaten her. The woman shall not go to war, but endeavor to keep peace with all. Therefore, if the men that surround her beat each other, and the war be carried on with violence, the woman shall have the right of addressing them :
succeeded his father as vicegerent, and continued to reside at Shamokin ; but, as he did not possess the executive ability and the virtues of his father, he failed to command the respect of the Indians.
The third son of Shikellimy was Tahgayuta, or James Logan, especially distinguished in American annals as "Logan, the Mingo chief." (Relative to the use of the term "Mingo," generally, see page 106.) Logan was born at Shikellimy's Town, previously mentioned, probably about 1728 or '29, and as his father entertained a high regard for the Hon. James Logan-mentioned on page 179-the son was named for him. Young Logan removed with his father's family to Shamokin, where, later, he married a wife from the Shawanese tribe. Some time afterwards he settled near a large spring, now bearing his name, in the Kishicoquillas Valley, six miles from Lewistown, Pennsylvania. There he resided until 1771, when he removed to the West and located on the Ohio River, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, about thirty miles above the present city of Wheeling. Here he was joined by his relatives and some Cayugas from the locality of Shamokin, who recognized him as chief. The Iroquois on the Ohio, then and later, were . known as Mingoes.
In the Spring of 1774, just prior to what is known in history as Cresap's War, carried on against Shaw- anese, Delawares and Mingoes on the Ohio, the whole of Logan's family-his wife, his children and his sister-were murdered in cold blood in Logan's cabin during his absence on a hunting expedition. This cowardly deed was done, without provocation, by some miscreants who had stolen away from Cresap's camp. Naturally the vengeance of Logan was provoked, and in the war which soon ensued he fought fiercely as a leader and took many scalps. In the Autumn of 1774 a severe and stubbornly con- tested battle was fought with the Indians on the Scioto River, resulting in large losses on both sides. But the Indians were defeated and sued for peace, and shortly afterwards many representatives from among the Shawanese and Delawares were gathered together in Lord Dunmore's camp, and a treaty of amity was concluded.
The Mingoes, influenced by Logan, refused to attend or take part in any way in this conference. Lord Dunmore sent as an envoy to Logan John Gibson-afterwards a General in the Revolutionary War -who had been a prisoner among the Indians and knew their language. He met Logan, who sent back an answer to Lord Dunmore. Upon his return to Camp Charlotte Gibson wrote out this answer, or speech, for Lord Dunmore, and later in the year it was published in certain newspapers, and attracted much comment ; but remarkable popularity was secured for it by Thomas Jefferson, when, some years later, he published it with notes and comments in his "Notes on Virginia," as illustrating Indian character and genius. This speech has probably been translated into almost every language of the civilized world. Its opening sentence is as follows : "I appeal to any white man if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not to eat ; if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed him not." For the remainder of the speech see Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming," page 382.
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : 570.
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'Ye men ! what are ye about? Why do ye beat each other ? We are almost afraid. Consider that your wives and children must perish unless ye desist.' The men shall then obey the woman.'
"The Delawares add that, not immediately perceiving the intention of the Iroquois, they had submitted to be the woman. The Iroquois then appointed a great feast and invited the Delaware nation to it, when, in consequence of the authority given them, they made a solemn speech containing three capital points. The first was, that they declared the Delaware nation to be the woman in the following words : 'We dress you in a woman's long habit, reaching down to your feet, and adorn you with ear-rings'-meaning that they should no more take up arms. The second point was thus expressed : 'We hang a calabash filled with oil and medicines upon your arm. With the oil you shall cleanse the ears of the other nations, that they may attend to good and not to bad words ; and with the medicine you shall heal those who are walking in foolish ways, that they may return to their senses and incline their hearts to peace.' The third point, by which the Delawares were exhorted to make agriculture their future employ and means of sub- sistence, was thus worded : 'We deliver into your hands a plant of Indian corn, and a hoe.' Each of these points was confirmed by delivering a belt of wampum, and these belts have been carefully laid up, and their meaning frequently repeated.
"Ever since this singular treaty of peace the Iroquois have called the Delawares their cousins. * * The Iroquois, on the contrary, assert that they conquered the -* Delawares, and that the latter were forced to adopt the defenceless state and appellation of a woman to avoid total ruin."
I11 1712 the Delawares had long been tributary to the Five Nations, as is shown by the following incident .* In May of the year inentioned certain Delawares, including Skalitchi, their King, Sassoonan, and other chiefs, being on their way to Onondaga, called on the Governor of Penn- sylvania and showed what they bore. "They thereupon laid upon the floor thirty-two belts of wampum of various figures, and a long Indian pipe called the calumet, with a stone head, a wooden or cane shaft and feathers fixed to it like wings, with other ornaments. This pipe, they said, upon making their submission to the Five Nations (who had sub- dued them and obliged them to be their tributaries) those Nations had given to the Delawares to be kept by them, that at all times thereafter, upon showing this pipe wherever they came they might be known to be friends and subjects of the Five Nations, and be received by them when they came amongst them." They then declared that "many years ago" they had been "made tributaries to the Mingoes, or Five Nations," and following this statement they proceeded to open out the belts lying on the floor and to explain the meaning and purpose of each. "These last twenty-four," they said, "were all sent by the women, the Indians reckoning the paying of tribute becomes none but women and children."
In June, 1728, the Pennsylvania authorities held an important con- ference in the "Great Meeting-house" at Philadelphia with Indians from the Susquehanna and Delaware regions. Shikellimy was among those who attended, as was also Sassoonan, or Allummapees, t King of the Delawares. The latter gave notice during the conference "that the Minnisinks live in the Forks of Susquehanna, above Meehayomy [Wyo- ming], and that their King's name is Kindassowa." ("Pennsylvania Colonial Records," III : 326.) The formal announcement of this fact on that important occasion may be understood as indicating that the "Min- nisinks" had removed to the locality mentioned only a short time previ- ously. At any rate, this is the earliest recorded reference (known to the writer) to that particular locality, and is the first recorded mention made of a Delaware Indian settlement in Wyoming Valley.
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," II : 546, 548.
+ ALLUMMAPEES was, apparently, the name of this sachem in the Delaware tongue, and Sassoonan in the Iroquois. The meaning of the name in English is "One who is well wrapped up." Prior to his accession to the kingship of the Delawares Allummapees had been chief of the Unami, or Wanamie, clan of the tribe.
(See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 726.) As early as 1715 he had become
.
WEST PITTSTON AND CAMPBELL'S LEDGE. Viewed from Hospital Hill, Pittston, opposite the battlefield of Wyoming.
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The "Minnisinks" were the Delawares of the Minsi, or Monsey, clan, as mentioned on page 103 ; and by "the Forks of Susquehanna" Allummapees referred to the confluence of the Lackawanna River with the Susquehanna, as described on page 34. The site of the village in question was on the left bank of the Susquehanna between Campbell's Ledge and the mouth of the Lackawanna, and opposite Scovell's Island .* This village was known during a number of years as "Asserughney," or "Assarockney," and also as "Adjouqua"; but it is noted as "Solocka" on the map on page 33, as well as on the "Map of the Province of Pensil- vania" (originally published in 1756) to be found in Chapter V.
The original name of the Lackawanna was, in the Delaware tongue, "Gachanai," and in the Maqua, or Iroquois, "Hazirok," as is shown by entries in two original, unpublished diariest relating to journeys made along the upper waters of the North Branch of the Susquehanna-the one by the Moravian Bishop Cammerhoff in 1750, and the other by the Moravian misssionary David Zeisberger in 1753. Dr. Beauchamp has informed the writer that " 'Solocka' looks like an Oneida word, but is probably either Delaware or Shawanese-most likely the former, the termination 'ocka,' or 'ohki,' meaning 'land' or 'place.' The word is not Iroquois. Names are so often corrupted or abbreviated, however, that definitions must often be conjectured. In general, any Pennsylvania name containing labials may be safely called Delaware, although the absence of these does not determine it to be Iroquois. You will observe that 'Hazirok' is a creek, not a village, although any houses there would be 'at Hazirok,' according to Indian usage. If any place near the 'Hazirok' was large enough to be called a village, it would naturally be at or very near the mouth of the creek. Dropping the final syllable of 'Asserughney,' or 'Assarockney,' as is often done, would give you a good identification : 'Assarock' ='Hazirok,' which is much closer than many forms of Indian names."
Pearce states ("Annals of Luzerne County," pages 29 and 218) that the village of Asserughney was at the mouth of Gardner's Creek, about
King, upon the death of Skalitchi. In 1718 he headed the deputation of Delaware chieftans who at Philadelphia signed an absolute release to the Proprietaries for certain lands between the Delaware and Susquehanna, previously granted to William Penn.
Shortly after the conference held at Philadelphia in June, 1728, Allummapees and a number of his Indians removed from the Delaware River to Shamokin-presumably by direction, or desire, of the Six Nations. In August, 1731, Lieutenant Governor Gordon reported to the Provincial Assembly that King Allummapees had, "in a fit of drunkenness, killed his cousin Shackatawlin." Sam Shackatawlin, who occasionally acted as interpreter at Philadelphia-where he was looked upon by some as an oracle-was the presumptive successor of Allummapees, being his nephew. (The words "cousin" and "nephew" were used interchangeably by the Indians, just as they were used by Shakspeare, and by civilized people generally at a later period.) Allummapees was jealous of his nephew, and stabbed him to the heart with a knife. In a deed of 1732 Allummapees is described as "Sachem of the Schuylkill Indians."
In June, 1747, Conrad Weiser wrote that the Delaware Indians at Shamokin had intended to visit Philadelphia in 1746, but had been prevented by the sickness of Allummapees, who was still alive but unable to stir. "He has no successor among his relatives," wrote Weiser, "and he will hear of none so long as he is alive ; and none of the Indians care to meddle in the affair. Shikellimy advises that the Govern- ment should hame Allummapees' successor, and set him up by their authority, that at this critical time there might be a man to apply to, since Allummapees has lost his senses and is incapable of doing any- thing." Later Weiser wrote to Richard Peters that the King "would have resigned his crown before now ; but as he has the keeping of the public treasure (that is to say, of the Council-bag) consisting of belts of wampum, with which he buys liquor and has been drunk for this two or three years almost constantly, it is thought he won't die so long as there is a single wampum left in the bag."
Allummapees having, evidently, disposed of the last wampum in the Council-bag, died at Shamokin in October, 1747. His death was due chiefly to fever and ague, then prevailing to an alarming extent in the locality of Shamokin, and it is said that the old king "actually shook himself to death with the ague." In announcing to the Government the death of Allummapees Weiser said : "Lapaghuitton is allowed to be fittest to succeed him, but he declines. He is afraid he will be envied, and consequently bewitched by some of the Indians." In April, 1748, the Onondaga Council notified Shikellimy that they would send some of their old men to Philadelphia to treat about "a proper person to succeed King Allummapees." In September, 1748, Weiser being at Logstown, on the Ohio River in Western Pennsylvania, condoled with Delaware Indians from Beaver Creek (eight miles distant) over the loss of their "good king and our good friend and brother Olomipies."
* See pages 47 and 50.
+ Translations (likewise unpublished) of these diaries are in possession of the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, S. T. D., of Syracuse, New York, who has kindly furnished the present writer with various extracts therefrom.
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Die Grantzga you fensylvamen
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find Lauter miner fortwährend Montium juga contimia
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Die man nicht passieren, houn.
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PART OF A MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK. BY TOB. CONR. LOTTER.
Reduced photo-engraving made for this history from a copy of the original map (in the Library of Congress) published in the latter part of 1748 or early in 1749. The Lotter family were book publishers in Augsburg, Bavaria, 1710-'85.
four miles up the river from the mouth of the Lackawanna, in what is now Ransom Township. This is undoubtedly an error. Some years later there was an Indian village on that spot, but it was not Asserugh- ney. It was named "Candowsa," and is noted on the map in Chapter V. This is a Delaware word, and may have been derived from the name of the "king" of Asserughney. Hollister says ("History of the Lacka- wanna Valley," fifth edition, page 25) : "This village [Asserughney] stood between the bold precipice famed as Campbell's Ledge and the mouth of the Lackawanna River. While Asserughney was the Indian name of the town 'Adjouqua' was applied to the lower portion of the Lackawanna Valley." In February, 1756, Tachnechdorus, "Chief of Shamokin" (see foot-note, page 184), informed the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania that certain Delawares had fled to "Assarockney," hav- ing there "a big hill on one side and the Sasquehannah on the other side of the present town."* At a conference held in June, 1756,t by Colonel Clapham of the Provincial forces with a chief of the Six Nations, the latter stated that the Iroquois "agree to your building a fort at Shamokin, but are desirous that you should also build a fort three days journey in a canoe higher up the North Branch in their country, at a place called Adjouquay, * * where there is a good situation and fine soil at the entrance of a deep creek, on a level plain five miles extending and clear of woods. Adjouqua is fourteen miles above Wyo-
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VI : 66 and VII : 52.
+ See ibid., VII : 157-159.
Eluds's Bar' orientalis, fuzzi
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ming, and old women may carry a heavy pack of skins from thence to the Minisink,* and return to Adjouqua in two nights."
Although the name "Wyoming" had been, undoubtedly, originally applied by the Indians to the valley still thus entitled, yet in 1728, and during a number of years later, the name was restricted to the Shaw- anese town on the right bank of the river, within the present limits of Plymouth. Not only is this evident from the words quoted in the pre- ceding paragraph and from the language used by Allummapees in refer- ring to the Monsey town at the "Forks," but the fact is also indicated on the several early maps reproduced on the preceding page, on page 191 and in Chapter V.
Asserughney was not "fourteen miles above" the town of Wyoming, however, but was only about nine and a-half miles in a bee-line, or about eleven miles by way of the river. It was spoken of by different Indians, upon various occasions, as being ten, twelve and fourteen miles above Wyoming. The town was well placed. The summit of Campbell's Ledge, towering above, afforded an uninterrupted lookout over the valley below, and was used by the Indians not only in watching over their wigwams nestled along the river, but as a place whereon to kindle their beacon or signal fires. The great Warrior Path from the North, and the trail down the Lackawanna from the Minisink homes on the Delaware, passed through it.
At a Council held in Philadelphia May 20, 1728, the Governor reported that two traders "from Pechoquealin, near Durham Iron Works" (see page 178) had just delivered to him a verbal message "from Ka-kow- watchy, the Chief of the Shawanese there, to this effect: That he hav- ing heard that the Flat-head Indians (so called) were come into this Province with a design to make war upon our Indians, he had sent eleven of his men armed to inquire into the truth of it, with orders to assist our Indians. That their provisions failed them and they were obliged to get from the inhabitants; but they offered no rudeness till our people [the whites] used them ill and fired upon them." Having made inquiry into this matter the Governor reported to the Council some days later that about the 15th of May "some Shawanese came from Pechoquealin armed with guns, pistols and swords and painted for war ; they fell in amongst some of our inhabitants and beliaved themselves foolishly. 'Our people thought them strange Indians and enemies, and, believing there were much greater numbers behind in the woods, met together with arms to defend themselves." In the skirmish that fol-
lowed several Indians and white men were wounded.t
In the latter part of August, 1728, the Six Nations, through Shikel- limy, directed the Shawanese at the town of Wyoming to remove to the
*"The Minisink" and "the Minisinks" were terms derived from the name of the Lenni Lenape clan -the Minsi, or Monsey-who, as stated on page 103, dwelt along the Delaware from the "Forks" of the river northward. The flats along both sides of the Delaware, extending northward from the Water Gap (mentioned on page 45) a distance of forty miles and more, were at an early day referred to indiscrimi- nately as lying "at the Minisink," or as being "the Minisink flats" or "the Minisinks." When, in 1730, Nicholas Scull and John Lukens visited that region they found settlers-descendants of the early Dutch emigrants from Holland-scattered along the flats for a long distance, and they could not tell when the first settlers had arrived there. Apple trees were growing, larger than any about Philadelphia, and it was Scull's opinion that the settlement ante-dated the granting of Penn's charter. (See Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," pages 947, 1050 and 1148.) For the location of the "Indian . Orchard," see "Map of Luzerne County" in Chapter XXIII.
At a later period (say 1774-'79) the country lying along the rivers Delaware and Neversink, in the vicinity of what is now Port Jervis, Orange County, New York, was indiscriminately called "the Mini- sink region" and "the Minisinks," and at Port Jervis was a village named "Minisink." On the Map of Luzerne County, in Chapter XXIII, what is now Neversink River is noted as "Mahock Creek," and on the map in Chapter V it is "Mahocamac." The town of Matamoras, in Pike County, Pennsylvania, shown on the map in Chapter XI, lies on the opposite side of the Delaware from Port Jervis.
¡ See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," III : 309, 317.
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Ohio, and the Shawanese at Pechoquealin to remove to Wyoming. The latter, under their chief Kackawatcheky, obeyed this order with such promptness that they departed for Wyoming without gathering their green corn, which was ready to be plucked. This unexpected and erratic exodus was very puzzling to the Provincial authorities, and it was not until four years later that Governor Gordon was able to obtain from the Shawanese any kind of an explanation as to the reason for the sudden departure from Pechoquealin. The explanation came from cer- tain chiefs on the Ohio, and was in these words* :
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