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 30
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learned that he had come to preach the gospel, the truths of which she had almost forgotten. Zinzendorf wrote* of "Madame" Montour and her half-breed son Andrew Montour, or Sattelihu :
"Andrew's cast of countenance is decidedly European, and had not his face been encircled with a broad band of paint, applied with bear's fat, I would certainly have taken him for one. He wore a brown broadcloth coat, a scarlet damasken lappel-waistcoat, breeches over which his shirt hung, a black Cordovan neckerchief decked with silver bugles, shoes and stockings and a hat. His ears were hung with pendants of brass and other wires plaited together like the handle of a basket. He was very cordial, but on
addressing him in French he, to my surprise, replied in English.
'Madame'
Montour brought two children to me and asked me to baptize them. She was very confidential with Anna [Nitschmann] and told her, among other things, that she was weary of Indian life. * * I was surprised at the woman's ignorance, considering she had been born and brought up a Christian."
The Count and his companions remained in their camp at French Town until October 9th, and during this time held two or three religious services which were attended by the Montours and some of the Indians. Zinzendorf thought he "observed signs of grace in Andrew." It was expected that Shikellimy would guide the missionary party through the wilderness to Wyoming, but for some reason it was finally decided that Andrew Montour-who was "proficient in various Indian lan- guages"-should go instead ; therefore, under his guidance, the mis- sionaries (Zinzendorf, Anna Nitschmann, John Martin Mack and Jean- nette, his wife) began their journey to what Zinzendorf described, later,
themselves to this effect, that whatever nation should kill him, they would at once begin war-he is held in such high esteem among them." He was with Washington at the surrender of Fort Necessity in 1754. In 1756 he acted as interpreter for the Indian Commissioners in New York, and sang war-songs before Sir William Johnson at Fort Johnson. Several times he warned the settlements of impending raids-among other services bringing word of Pontiac's outbreak. In March, 1764, he commanded an expedition of Indians and white men sent out by Sir William Johnson against the recalcitrant Delawares on the upper Susquehanna. Captain Montour's party destroyed several Indian villages-among them, Canisteo, on a branch of the Chemung River (see page 34), some forty or fifty miles north-west of Tioga Point, in what is now Steuben County, New York. This village consisted of sixty houses, and from it Montour's party took away horses, corn and implements. (See Halsey's "Old New York Frontier," page 75.) At the close of this short campaign Montour presented to Sir William Johnson at Johnson Hall a number of Indian scalps.
(IV) Henry Montour, or "Enishshera," known about 1770 as "Captain" Henry Montour, or "Moun- tare," described himself in the year mentioned as one of the deputies of the Six Nations. In February of that year he joined in executing to one Garrett Pendergrass, Sr., of Bedford, Pennsylvania, a deed for the land upon which Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now stands.
(V) Lewis Montour went to the Ohio River region probably about the time his sister "French Margaret" removed thither. He was there until 1753, in which year, as messenger of the Shawanese on the Ohio, he bore to the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania a document containing an offer from those Indians to resign all their right to land east of the Ohio in liquidation of their debts to the traders. Montour, how- ever, was reported to be a spy in the French interest. Nevertheless in 1754 he settled near Aughwick (now Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania). There were then living there, under the superintend- ence of George Croghan, quite a number of Indians who had left the Ohio and put themselves under the protection of the Pennsylvania Government. Not long after Montour had taken up his abode at this place Conrad Weiser complained to the Government that "Lewis Montour, Andrew's brother, disturbs them [the Indians at Aughwick] often by bringing strong liquor to them. They cannot help buying and drinking it, when it is so near, and Lewis sells it very dear to them and pretends that his wife, who is an ugly Indian squaw, does it." In January, 1757, Lewis was sent by George Croghan (then Deputy Indian Agent under Sir William Johnson) to bear a message to certain Indians in New York.
(i) Catharine Montour, daughter of "French Margaret," became the wife of Thomas Hutson, or Hudson, called by the Indians "Telenemut." He was a Seneca, and his brother John was head-chief of Caneadea, a Seneca village on the Genesee River, in what is now Allegany County, New York. Thomas Hudson died early-certainly prior to 1760. (He may have been the son-in-law of "French Margaret" whose death occurred in 1752, as previously noted.) He left to survive him his wife Catharine and three children, viz .: (1) Roland, (2) John and (3) Belle. Some years later-say about 1760 or '61-the widow Catharine was married to an Englishman who was then, or had been, an Indian trader, with headquarters at Niagara, and had been married to a Seneca squaw, who, having born him several children, died. (See "Transactions of the Buffalo Historical Society," 1884, Vol. III.) One of these children was named Kaoundowana ("Big Tree"), who, when he had grown up, was noted as a Seneca warrior under the name of "Captain Pollard." (See Chapters XV and XXV for further references to him.)
For many years Catharine Montour was known as "Queen Catharine," and during the Indian depre- dations in 1755-'56 several white prisoners taken by the Indians were sold to her at her home in New York. She was then living at Canisteo, previously mentioned, but sometime before its destruction by her brother Andrew she removed to a village on a beautiful flat near the present town of Havana, New York, about three miles from the southern extremity of Seneca Lake. The Indian name of this village was "Sheoquaga," but it soon became known as "Catharine's Town." (See reference to it under "French Margaret," ante.) In 1779, when it was destroyed by General Sullivan's army (see Chapter XVIII), it was a village of fifty log houses, "in general, very good, and the country near it excellent." Having been driven from this locality, Catharine Montour and her family and followers removed to the vicinity of Fort Niagara, where they continued to live for some years. Subsequently to 1788-probably in 1790 or '92 -"Queen Catharine" visited Philadelphia with a delegation of Indian chiefs from New York State. She is said to have been a woman of considerable ability and intelligence and some refinement.
For interesting details concerning other members of the Montour family mentioned in this note- viz. (iv) Esther, (v) Molly, (1) Roland and (2) John-see Chapter XV, post.
* See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 95.
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"as the great Desarts of Skehantowanno, where no Christians either come or dare to come."
They traveled, without doubt, over the "Warrior Path" running along the north, or left, bank of the river to the mouth of Canaswragu (now Muncy) Creek, and thence in a straight course, almost due south, to the confluence of Warrior Run and the Susquehanna (in what is now Northumberland County). Here a lesser path branched off in a south-easterly direction through the wilderness, striking the North Branch of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Fishing Creek, near the present borough of Bloomsburg, in Columbia County, and running thence along the right bank of the river to the town of Wyoming. At that period, however, there was another Indian path, or trail (only the beginning of it is shown on Evans' map reproduced on page 191), which left the West Branch of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Muncy Creek and, running an easterly course, crossed the North Mountain range, then passed through the present township of Huntington and, at the confluence of the North Branch of the Susquehanna and Shick- shinny Creek, joined the previously-mentioned trail to Wyoming .* It was over one of these two trails that Andrew Montour guided the adventurous Moravian evangelists through the primeval forests to the little Shawanese village of Wyoming at the eastern end of "Shawnee" Flats.
In his "Recollections,"t written some twenty years later than the events recorded, missionary Mack states :
"Leaving Otstonwakin, our way lay through the forest, over rocks and frightful mountains, and across streams swollen by the recent heavy rains. This was a fatiguing and dangerous journey, and on several occasions we imperiled our lives in fording the creeks, which ran with impetuous current. On the fifth day [Sunday, October 13, 1742] we reached Wyoming, and pitched our tent not far from the Shawanese town. The Dis- ciple's [Zinzendorf] reception by the savages was unfriendly, although from the first their visits were frequent. Painted with red and black, each with a large knife in his hand, they came in crowds about the tent, again and again. He lost no time, therefore, in in- forming the Shawanese chief, through Andrew Montour, of the object of his mission. This the wily savage affected to regard as a mystery, and replied that such matters con- cerned the white man, and not the Indian. Our stock of provisions was by this time almost exhausted, and yet the Disciple [Zinzendorf] shared with the Indians what little was left. The very clothes on his own back were not spared. One shirt button after another was given away, until all were gone, and likewise his shoe-buckles, so that we were obliged to fasten his underclothes and tie his shoes with strings. For ten days we lived on boiled beans, of which we partook sparingly three times a day, as the supply was scanty."
Within a few days after their arrival in Wyoming the missionary party removed their tent from the place where they had first pitched it to a spot within the limits of the Shawanese village. Mack recorded (in his journal of 1744) that at this time (October, 1742) this village consisted of "thirty or forty cabins all full of Indians, whose great noise one could hear two or three iniles off." The Mohegans, who had origi- nally settled farther up the river (see page 194), were, at the time of Zinzendorf's visit, located on the right, or north, bank of the river, about halfway between a point nearly opposite the lower or western extremity of Richard's Island (mentioned on page 52) and a small stream (later known as Brown's Brook) which flowed for some distance almost due south and emptied into the river. Of this brook only the name and the channel now remain. The stream having disappeared
* With reference to the country traversed by these paths, or trails, see the maps in Chapters XI and XXIII.
t See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 100.
VIEW OF RICHARDS' ISLAND AND THE MOUTH OF SHUPP'S CREEK.
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long since, the channel (built over and concealed from view for a con- siderable distance) is now used chiefly as a sewer. The location of this village, which was midway between the head and the foot of the valley, is designated by the words "Old Shawnese T[own]" on the reduced facsimile of "A Plot of the Manor of Sunbury" shown in Chapter VII. With respect to present-day landmarks the site of this Indian village may be described as lying in the Second Ward of the borough of Ply- mouth, at a point about midway between the river-bank and the junc- tion of Cherry Street and Main Street, and about the same distance between Eno Avenue, extended riverward, and Ferry Street. The site is now almost entirely covered with piles of culm from the collieries of the Plymouth Coal Company.
The Mohegans were then few in number, and evidently there were some Shawanese and other Indians living with them in their village, which was known as the "upper town"; the older and larger village at the head of the big flats, occupied by the Shawanese, being known as the "lower town." The two villages were about a inile and a-quarter apart. Mack continuing his "Recollections," says :
"The suspicious manner which the Shawanese manifested at our first arrival remained unchanged, and at times their deportment was such as to lead us to infer that it would be their greatest delight to make way with us. Notwithstanding this the Dis- ciple remained in the town, and made repeated efforts to have the object of his visit brought before the consideration of the chiefs. They, however, evaded every approach, and in their disappointment at not receiving large presents gave unmistakable evidence of displeasure, so that we felt that the sooner we left the better it would be for us."
Thereupon the missionaries removed their tent to a slight emi- nence* farther up the river, less than a quarter of a mile east of the "upper town." About that time Jeannette Mack, returning one day from a visit to the "upper town," informed Zinzendorf that she had met there an old Mohegan woman who spoke to her of the Savior. This woman, who, according to a statement made by Zinzendorf (Reichel, page 133), was related to the Shawanese king, then became the pro- vider of the missionaries, furnishing them with beans and corn-bread, until they were able to procure other supplies. The missionaries also found living in the "upper town" a Chickasawt Indian named Chikasi, who, some years previously, had been brought a prisoner to Wyoming and left there (evidently in the custody or under the supervision of the Shawanese) by a war-party of the Six Nations on their return from a marauding expedition against their southern foes.
Turning again to Mack's "Recollections"} we find the following :
"One day, having convened the Indians in the upper town, he [Zinzendorf] laid before them his object in coming to Wyoming, and expressed the desire to send people among them that would tell them words spoken by their Creator. Most of these were Mohicans, and not as obdurately perverse as the Shawanese. Although they signified no decided opposition, they stated their inability to entertain any proposals without the con- sent of the latter, according to whose decision they were compelled to shape their own. Should these assent, they said they would not object, but be satisfied. My Jeannette acted as interpreter of what passed during this meeting. * ** **
* This hill, many years later, became known as "Bead" Hill, by reason of the fact that when excava- tions were made there in laying out streets and erecting houses many Indian bones and other relics were found, including, particularly, a large number of beads. The location of this hill-or what remains of it -is on the bank of the river just below the north end of the toll-bridge erected by the Plymouth Bridge Company in 1894. The exposed ledge of rocks lying along the margin of the river there, and known for many years as "Plymouth Rock," forms the base of the hill.
t Reichel, in a note to Mack's "Recollections" (page 105 of "Memorials of the Moravian Church"), says that Chikasi was a "Catawba." This is undoubtedly an error, for Zinzendorf, in his "Account of his Experiences," written in 1743 (see Reichel, page 133), refers to this Indian as "a Schikasi [Chickasaw] from Florida." Farther on in the present Chapter there are other references to the same Indian which prove conclusively that he was a Chickasaw.
¿ See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 105.
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"I have the following in mind to relate. The tent was pitched on an eminence. One fine sunny day the Disciple [Zinzendorf] sat on the ground within, looking over his papers that lay scattered around him, and, as the rest of us were outside, I observed two blowers* basking at the edge of the tent. Fearing that they might crawl in, I moved toward them, intending to dispatch them. They were, however, too quick for me, slipped into the tent, and, gliding over the Disciple's thigh, disappeared among his papers. On examination, we ascertained that he had been seated near the mouth of their den. Subsequently the Indians informed me that our tent was pitched on the site of an old burying-groundt in which hundreds of Indians lay buried. They also told us that there was a deposit of silver ore in the hill, and that we were charged by the Shawanese with having come for silver and nothing else. * * * We subsequently learned that the height on which our tent had been pitched was not the locality of the precious ore."}
This episode of the "adders" has been treated of by nearly every writer of early Wyoming history, and in the course of time has taken on a variety of picturesque forms.
On or about the 22d of October there arrived at Zinzendorf's camp three Moravian Brethren from Bethlehem, who had been expected for some days-David Nitschmann,§ Anton Seyffert and Jacob Kohn. The last-named had recently arrived from Europe with letters for Zin- zendorf. These Brethren had journeyed to Shamokin, and thence to Wyoming over the Indian path running along the right bank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna. This path is shown in part on the map on page 191, and on the "Plot of the Manor of Sunbury" repro- duced in Chapter VII. On the day following the arrival of these Brethren at Wyoming the whole party moved up the river and en- camped near the present village of Forty Fort. There, a few days later, they were unexpectedly joined by Conrad Weiser, who had come up from Shamokin for a two-fold purpose. It seems that when Shikel- limy had visited Wyoming a few weeks previously King|| Kacka- watcheky was quite ill, and, believing that his end was near, desired Shikellimy to inform Weiser that he wished to see him once more before he died. Weiser, troubled by the long absence of Zinzendorf and his companions at Wyoming, and fearful that their lives might be endangered, decided to proceed to the valley-thus responding to the wish of the King, and at the same time putting himself in a position to
* A "blower" was a harmless, hissing snake of ash-gray color, locally miscalled "blowing adder" or "swelling adder." When provoked, it would blow or distend its neck to two or three times its usual circumference.
+ See note (*), page 209.
į A few rods east of "Bead" Hill is "Lance's" Hill, at the base of which, near the present No. 11 Breaker of the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, there was a very pronounced out-crop of coal in early days. This may have been considered the "deposit of silver ore" referred to. In the early days of mining, coal was taken from this exposed vein; and in time a tunnel was opened into the hill.
¿ The father of Anna Nitschmann of Zinzendorf's party, and then sixty-six years of age. He was generally called "Father" Nitschmann, and is popularly known as the founder of Bethlehem, Penn- sylvania.
| It seems that at this period not only the Shawanese themselves, but other Indians and white men as well, generally referred to the head, or principal, chief of the Shawanese tribe, and of each sub-tribe or clan, as "King." On pages 119 and 123 we have printed some statements relative to the titles of prin- cipal, or ruling, chiefs, and in this connection we will quote from two other writers.
The first extract, from Zinzendorf's "Narrative," written in 1742 (see Reichel, page 92), is as follows : "They [the Iroquois] have no kings in our acceptation of the term ; but they are governed by sachems, judges or old men. "The word king conveys to their minds an erroneous idea of a king's authority and power, as they invariably associate with it the idea of a usurper, such as occasionally wields their Parlia- ment at his pleasure, in virtue of his prowess, which no one is willing to contest. And yet, when speak- ing of the King of England at treaties and conferences they always style him Sachem ; whence I infer that the two terms are probably synonymous in their minds. The Delawares have a hereditary monarch who is called King by the English, and the Shawanese style their chief 'King'; but whether the latter is hereditary, I am unable to say. The Delawares are subjects, the Shawanese confederates, of the Six Nations."
The following extract is from "Sayenqueraghta, King of the Senecas," a pamphlet written and pub- lished by George S. Conover ("Hy-we-saus") of Geneva, New York, in 1885 : "The title of King was first applied by the white people to those chiefs or sachems who were prominent in authority, and in time the title became accepted and used by the Indians themselves. The title is interchangeable with that of 'head chief' and 'chief sachem,' and it cannot be found in the history of any tribe or clan that the appel- lation of 'King' was applied to any individual who was not a sachen or the head of the tribe or of the detached clan. The title of 'King' was constantly used among the dependent tribes of Pennsylvania and Ohio, in all cases as the head of the particular clan and clans of the Delawares, Shawanese, Mohicans and others, for the time being."
VIEW OF UPPER HANOVER FLATS AND PLYMOUTH BOROUGH FROM BUTTONWOOD HILL, HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
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render protection to the missionaries should it be needed. Mack says that Weiser manifested decided impatience at the prolonged stay of the party and told them that their lives were not secure, for the Shawanese were plotting inischief. Under Weiser's direction the party removed their encampment to the spot they had previously occupied in the Shaw- anese village, and there, says Mack, the Count "formally laid his propo- sition" before King Kackawatcheky, who, it seems, had recovered his health. The latter, however, turned a deaf ear, and grew vehement. Upon this Zinzendorf produced the string of wampum that the sachems of the Six Nations had given him at Conrad Weiser's house (see page 204), but even it failed to influence the Shawanese. From this time on the missionaries had no rest. By day and by night the savages hung around their tent. Finally, on the 30th of October, Mack and his wife, David Nitschmann and Andrew Montour set out for Bethlehem via the Great Swamp and Dansbury (now Stroudsburg)- reaching their destina- tion after three days of hard traveling. Zinzendorf having spent twenty days in the valley, set out for Bethlehem via Shamokin on November 1st, accompanied by Conrad Weiser, Anna Nitschmann, Seyffert and Kohn. The weather was cold and rainy and the path was rough and difficult and the travelers did not arrive at Bethlehem until November 8th.
Zinzendorf's experiences with the Shawanese at Wyoming were such as to cause him to look upon them as a very savage and soulless people. The Moravian Bishop Spangenberg has recorded that in June, 1753, Zinzendorf communicated to him "that the Lord had intimated to him to let them [the Shawanese] alone; that they were a perfidious race and desired no knowledge of God and the Savior. * As to
* those of the tribe who were residing at Skehandowana [Wyoming] at the time of his sojourn there, he stated that the Savior had told him it would be useless for us to attempt to effect anything with them, as they were treacherous and cruel and totally averse to the reception of Chris- tianity. As to the rest of the tribe, he stated that from an intimation the Savior had given him at the time of his stay at Wyoming, he was inclined to believe that they would become an admirable people on their conversion, and that our efforts in their behalf would not be in vain."
The following paragraphs relating to Zinzendorf's visit to Wyo- ming are from Loskiel's "History" (II : 32) referred to on page 185.
"The Brethren encamped in the midst of this savage tribe and staid twenty days with them. The Shawanose thought that, as Europeans, they came either to trade or to buy land, and, though the Count endeavored to explain the true aim of his coming, yet some suspicion remained. However, he did not omit any opportunity to speak both with the chiefs and the people concerning the way to salvation ; but upon the whole their hearts seemed shut against the truth, and the principal chief, or king, betrayed a particular enmity on all occasions.
"Yet the abode of the Brethren in this place led to a better acquaintance with the Indians, and the more the Count saw their great blindness and depravity, the more fervently he offered up prayers in their behalf. Whenever he withdrew into his own tent for this purpose he only fastened the entrance with a pin, and not one of the savages ventured to enter. It appeared afterwards that the savages had conspired to murder him and his whole company. But God in His mercy prevented it, for Conrad Weiser, who could not possibly know anything of their design, * * became so uneasy that he hastened to Wajomick and arrived just in time to discover and prevent the execution of this murderous plot."
During his stay at Wyoming Zinzendorf was engaged in revising certain Supplements to the "Collection of German Hymns" at that time in use among the Moravians; and he also, in order to commemorate his experience among the Indians, composed two hymns to be added to this
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