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 34
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"An interesting relic was unearthed the other day on the tract of land at the lower end of the city now being laid out into lots by Major Roberts. It is a crucifix, and was found in an Indian grave by William G. Downs, who sold it to Col. William J. Harvey. In the same grave with it were perhaps a quart of beads. The crucifix is of brass, nearly two inches long. On one side is Christ on the cross ; below is a skull and cross-bones. On the other side the Virgin Mary is represented. * * * The land on which the crucifix was found was an extensive burying-ground, and many relics have been found thereabout. * * It is said that all the skeletons lie with their heads towards the west, and some have been found in a sitting posture. One skeleton was gigantic in size. * * Major Roberts found a fine string of blue beads, said to be made of Scotch stone." The crucifix mentioned above was subsequently presented by Colonel Harvey to the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and may now be seen in its collec- tions. Several duplicates of this crucifix have been found at various times within recent years on the sites of former Indian settlements along the Susquehanna, and one of them, found near Great Island, on the West Branch of the river, is pictured and described in "Pennsylvania-Colonial and Federal," II : 313.
* Between Brown's Brook and Bead Hill, Plymouth.
t See page 223 for a reference to the Chickasaw tradition concerning "a magic pole."
į Park's Island near Grand Tunnel, at the lower end of "Shawnee" Flats.
¿ In August, 1753, John Martin Mack, the missionary, visited a small Shawanese village below Muncy Creek (in what is now Lycoming County, Pennsylvania), which had been established a few years previ- ously by some families from Wyoming. Here Mack found old Chikasi living, he having been there since the previous Spring. Mack states in his diary, relative to this visit : "He [Chikasi] saluted us as brothers. We also visited John Shikellimy ['Tachnechdorus,' mentioned on page 184], who lives here and has a Shawanese wife. He furnished us with a choice piece of bear's meat. Shikellimy's family have inostly left Shamokin, as they find it very difficult to live there, owing to the large number of Indians pass- ing through the town, who have to be fed. Our Brethren make the same complaint. They have fed as high as 100 Indians per annum."
| Between Bead Hill and Brown's Brook, Plymouth.
I Notamaes, or "King Nutimus" as he was commonly known, was the Delaware chief who is referred to on pages 196, 199 and 200. According to Watson ("Annals of Philadelphia," II : 181) there were two brothers of this name (which signifies "a spear with which to strike fish"), who were well known to Heckewelder the Moravian missionary, previously mentioned. The one, Isaac-the subject of this brief sketch-"the other, Pontius [Pantes (?)], an excellent man, was born where Philadelphia now stands. He lived to 100 years of age, and died at Muskingum, Ohio, in 1780, after thirty years' residence there." Secretary James Logan, in a letter written in August, 1733, to Thomas Penn, Esq., states that Nutimus- Isaac-has lands in the Forks of the Delaware and Lehigh, above Durham ; and in a letter written a few weeks later he refers to an expected visit from Nutimus and his company, with a present, and closes by saying, "they left a bag of bullets last year." Nutimus was one of the Delaware sachems who executed August 25, 1737, the "deed of release and quit-claim" upon which was based the "Walking Purchase" referred to on page 194.
Nutimus and his followers left the "Forks" of the Delaware late in the year 1742 or early in 1743 (see page 200), and went to Shamokin. Later, in 1743, they removed to the mouth of Nescopeck Creek (men- tioned on page 201). They erected their cabins on the south or left bank of the river, opposite Nescopeck Falls, about half a mile above the mouth of the creek, within the present limits of the borough of Nesco- peck. During the next few years Nutimus spent a good deal of time at Shamokin, where he learned to work with tools and at blacksmithing. Heckewelder states : "Isaac and Pantes were both amiable men and respected by the whites. Isaac having a mechanical turn of mind soon learned the use of tools, and became a pretty good blacksmith, a trade which he followed wherever he moved to, and during his life-
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Governor's house-more spacious than any I have yet seen among the Indians-in which he and his five sons with their wives and children live together. We found, however, no one but Pantes, his brother Joe and the women at home. Seated around the fire we con- versed with them some time.
"On taking leave we kept on down the Susquehanna to call upon the Governor and his other sons at their plantation, one and a-half miles lower down. We were soon met by one of their cousins with a negro, for the Governor of Nescopeck has five slaves-a negress and four children. Negroes are regarded by the Indians as despicable creatures .* On coming to Nescopeck Creek-which is about half as wide as the Lehigh at Bethlehem -and having neither horses nor canoe we were compelled to wade it. The water was rapid and leg deep. It was running high in its channel by reason of the late rains. It was the first time in my life that I waded in water. Having crossed the stream we met Isaac, one of the sons, and a short distance farther the old Governor himself, who greeted us cordially. I presented him with a pair of scarlet causches. To all that was said he would indicate his assent with the word 'Kehella !'t Going farther we came to the plan- tation, where we visited in four huts. In one was a stranger Indian (not a member of the family), in one were children, and in the third an old squaw. The fourth hut belonged to Ben, old Notamaes' fourth son. He had just returned from the hunt, and welcomed us very cordially. We sat with him a short time, and I took a great liking to a child of his. Mack gave him a pipe-tube, and then he set us over the river in a canoe, where we met David Zeisberger with the horses. After we had partaken of our noonday meal Ben came over to us and gave us a fine deer-roast, when we presented him with a silver buckle and needles and thread for his wife."
De Watteville and his companions proceeded onward to Shamokin, where the former delivered to Shikellimy (then tottering on the brink of the grave) a costly present that had been sent to him by Count Zin- zendorf.
About 1745 many of the Shawanese on the Ohio, who had long shown symptoms of disaffection to the English and subservience to the French cause, openly assumed a hostile character. They were seduced chiefly by the efforts of Peter Chartier, a noted French trader and an inhabitant of Pennsylvania at the beginning of the war with France. By his persuasions many of the Shawanese, under the leadership of Neucheconno, a shrewd and wily chieftan of the tribe, removed from their towns on the Ohio in order to be nearer the French settlements on the Mississippi. Kackawatcheky, however, seems to have remained true to the English. At all events he and his followers remained on the Ohio.
In April, 1748, a cessation of hostilities between the French and English took place, and a preliminary treaty of peace was entered into. Shortly before this became known in Pennsylvania the Provincial
time delighted in nothing more than a handsome corn-hoe, tomahawk and other instruments made out of iron and steel by his own hands. He generally settled himself a short distance from the town, where he would have his cornfield at hand and under good fence, with some fruit trees planted in it next to his house."
During the Indian depredations in Pennsylvania in the years 1755-57-to be referred to more at length hereinafter-Nescopeck became the rendezvous of those Indians-particularly from different parts of the country-who were plotting and warring against the English. At the beginning, or at least sometime dur- ing the continuance, of these Indian hostilities Nutimus and his family removed from Nescopeck to Tioga Point. In the year 1757 the old King visited Shamokin, where he complained to Capt. Jacob Arndt (of the "Forks" of the Delaware), then on military service at Fort Augusta, that the soldiers at the fort had debauched his (Nutimus') wife and daughter on a previous visit by secretly giving them whisky ; and he declared that if such things were allowed it would not be safe for a man to bring his wife and daughters to the fort. Under date of January 20, 1758, Col. Joseph Shippen at Fort Augusta (Shamokin) wrote to Maj. James Burd at Lancaster as follows (see the "Shippen Papers," page 106) : "Since January 1st several small parties of Delaware Indians have arrived here with skins to trade, at the store ; among the rest came old King Nutimus, Joseph [his son] and all their family, and we have now forty-three present, including women and children."
Under date of June 14, 1759, Timothy Horsfield, Esq., at Bethlehem, wrote to Governor Denny of Pennsylvania (see "Colonial Records," VIII : 353) that "Isaac Nutimus, a son of old King Nutimus who for many years past lived at Nescopeck, but since the war has moved up the river to Diahoga [Tioga Point], came yesterday to Bethlehem." During the Indian hostilities of 1763 (which will be referred to more fully hereinafter) Nutimus and some of his family were living on or near Great Island, in the West Branch of the Susquehanna near the present town of Lock Haven, as is evidenced by the following extract from an autograph letter (now in possession of the American Philosophical Society, Philadel- phia) written by Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania to Timothy Horsfield, under date of September 1, 1763. "I am very much afraid the old man Nutimus, who seems to have acted a friendly part by us, will fall a sacrifice to the unbridled and undistinguishing rage of the people of Cumberland in their expedition to the Great Island." At about the time of the ending of the Indian troubles in 1764 Nutimus removed to the Ohio region, where he continued to live until his death at Muskingum, "near his brother, i11 1780"-according to Watson, previously quoted.
* See pages 149 and 165.
+ A Delaware ejaculation of approval or pleasure.
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Council decided to send Conrad Weiser on a mission to the Ohio "to make particular inquiry into the behavior of the Shawanese since the commencement of the war, and in relation to the countenance they gave Peter Chartier." Weiser was informed by the Council that the Shaw- anese had "relented, and made acknowledgments to the Government of their error in being seduced by Chartier, and prayed that they might be permitted to return to their old towns and taken again as sincere peni- tents into the favor of the Government." They had not yet, however, sent deputies to Philadelphia to formally acknowledge their fault and. ask for restoration to favor .* But before Weiser was ready to set out on his mission news came that certain Indian deputies from the West had arrived at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and desired to treat with the Gov- ernment. Among these deputies were some chiefs of the Twightwees (mentioned in the note on page 205), "lately in the interest of the French, and now desiring to enter into an alliance with the English."
Commissioners were appointed by the Government to proceed im- mediately to Lancaster to treat with these Indians, and they were directed to be careful that the Shawanese, by their representatives at the treaty, "acknowledge their fault in plain terms, and promise never to be guilty of any behavior again that may give us reason to suspect their fidelity." The work of the treaty was begun at Lancaster July 19, 1748, fifty-five Indians being present, including Six Nations, Shaw- anese, Delawares, Nanticokes and Twightwees. Of the Indians in at- tendance only eighteen had come from the Ohio, however, the remainder being from Conestoga and other nearby villages on the Susquehanna. Of the Nanticoke Indians at the treaty Conrad Weiser wrote subse- quently to Secretary Peterst : "The Nontikook Indians have been very troublesome to us. They were like so many wolves, and I had no influence on them."
Andrew Montour acted as interpreter for the Shawanese and Twight- wees. The principal Shawanese chiefs of the Ohio were not present in person. Led by Neucheconno they had met in council at one of their villages and had prepared a message addressed "to their Grandfathers and Brethren-the Delawares and Six Nations on the Ohio," which was conveyed to Lancaster by Scarooyady, an Oneida chief residing at or near Logstown who had great influence with the Indians on the Ohio and was a firm friend of the English. This "message," or petition, delivered at the Lancaster conference by Scarooyady in behalf of the Shawanese, was couched, in part, in the following wordst :
"We the Shawanese have been misled, and have carried on a private correspond- ence with the French without letting you or our brethren the English know of it. We traveled secretly through the bushes to Canada, and the French promised us great things, but we find ourselves deceived. We are sorry that we had anything to do with them. We now find that we could not see, although the sun did shine. We earnestly desire you would intercede with our brethren the English for us who are left on the Ohio, that we may be permitted to be restored to the Chain of Friendship."
Addressing themselves to Scarooyady, the speaker, and the Six Nation and Delaware chiefs who accompanied him, the Commissioners said :
"Your intercession for the Shawanese puts us under difficulties. It is at least two years since the Governor of Pennsylvania wrote to Kackawatcheky a letter, wherein he con- descended out of regard to him and a few other Shawanese who preserved their fidelity, to
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," V : 290.
+ See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 11.
į See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," V : 311.
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offer those who broke the Chain a pardon, on their submission on their return to the towns they had deserted, and on their coming down to Philadelphia to evidence in per- son the sincerity of their repentance. This they should have immediately complied with, but did not. * *
* Some of them, it may be allowed, are weak people, who were perverted from their duty by the persuasions of others ; but this cannot be thought to be the case of Neucheconno and a few more. As, therefore, you have taken upon your- selves the office of intercessors, take this string of wampum and therewith chastise Neu- checonno and his party in such terms of severity as shall be proper for them ; and then tell the delinquent Shawanese that we will forget what is past and expect a more punc- tual regard to their engagements hereafter.
"'Tis but justice to distinguish the good from the bad. Kackawatcheky and his friends, who had virtue enough to resist the many fine promises made by the emissaries of the French, will ever be remembered with gratitude and challenge our best services. To testify our regard for these we present them with this belt of wampum, and have ordered our Interpreter [Weiser], who is going to the Ohio, to give them a present of goods."*
"Taming: Buck," one of the Shawanese present, then stood up and spoke as follows :
"Brethren-We the Shawanese, sensible of our ungrateful returns for the many favors we liave been all along receiving from our brethren the English ever since we first made the Chain of Friendship, came along the road with our eyes looking down to the earth, and have not taken them from thence till this morning, when you were pleased to chastise us and then pardon us. We have been a foolish people and acted wrong, though the sun shone bright and showed us clearly what was our duty. We are sorry for what we have done, and promise better behavior for the future. We produce to you a certifi- cate of the renewal of our friendship in the year 1739 by the Proprietaries and Governor.t Be pleased to sign it afresh, that it may appear to the world we are now admitted into your friendship, and all former crimes are buried and entirely forgot."
The Commissioners took the certificate but refused to grant "Tam- ing Buck's" request, stating that it was sufficient for the Shawanese to know that they had been forgiven, on condition of future good behavior. Presents were then distributed to all the Indians at the treaty excepting the Shawanese, who merely had their guns and hatchets mended. Upon closing the conference the Commissioners publicly announced that news had just arrived that there was "a cessation of arms between England and France," and there was "likely to be a peace."
In view of the treatment accorded the Shawanese at Lancaster, as just related, it will be interesting to read Governor Hamilton's opinion of the same Indians expressed a few years later. In February, 1751, in a letter to the Board of Trade (London) relative to land titles, Indian affairs, etc., in Pennsylvania, he wrote :
"What right the Shawanese in these circumstances may have to the soil must be left to be settled between themselves and the Five Nations ; but from the time they were admitted to live in tliis Province they have been his Majesty's faithful allies, and behaved as such without any instance to the contrary."
One year later, replying to a message received from certain Shaw- anese chiefs, Governor Hamilton wrote :
"I for my part shall ever retain an affectionate tenderness for the Shawanese, and at all times be ready to relieve their wants and do them my best offices."
At the very time that the Lancaster Indian conference was in pro- gress there was being held in Albany, New York, a "Grand Council," which has been described by historians as "one of the most picturesque events in the history of the Colonies." There were present the Gov- ernors of the New England Colonies, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia, with the chiefs of the Indians friendly to the English and the colonists, or who were willing to be friendly in the future. Thirty Indian chiefs of high rank, each attended by several
* In August and September, 1748, Weiser performed his mission to the Ohio, this being the first official. embassy undertaken at the instance of the English Colonies to the Indians who lived beyond the Alle- ghenies. It was then that Weiser met Kackawatcheky and presented him with the gift sent by the Gov- ernor, as mentioned in the note on page 214.
# See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 61. + See note, page 214.
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warriors of his tribe-and many of the chiefs and warriors accompanied by their wives and children-were there, representing the Six Nations, the Delaware, Shawanese, Mohegan, Wyandot and other tribes. "Per- haps," says Buell,* "the most interesting figure in this assemblage was the great war-chief of the Genesee Senecas, Hiokato,t who for years had vowed that he would never speak one word with an Englishman. * * The results of this council were more satisfactory and on a larger scale than any previously held. The Iroquois renewed all their ancient covenants with the King. The Senecas * × gave in their complete adhesion through Hiokato and Capt. Jean Montourt-both of whom had hitherto been opposed to English influence."
The well-known Canassatego-whose name appears so frequently in the preceding pages of this book-was present at this council as chief speaker of the Onondagas, and in one of his speeches accused the English of neglecting the Western Iroquois, thereby leaving the hearts of the latter open to the blandishments of the French emissaries. This speech provoked a reply from Abraham, a leading chief of the Mohawk tribe-concerning whom we shall have some further matters of interest to relate hereinafter. Abraham was present as the representative of his brother, old "King" Hendrick, the senior chief of the Mohawks, who was detained at home by an "attack of inflammatory gout"'! Chief Abraham spoke in English, and said in part§ :
"You complain that the English, the colonists, do not trust you. How can they, when you do not trust them ? There can be no confidence between two unless both share it alike. There can never be faith on one side and doubt on the other without distrust on both sides. And wherever there is distrust no real friendship can exist. You Western Iroquois listen to the silver tongues of French priests and emissaries, whose only object is to lure you to ruin that their cause may profit by it. They do not love you. They would not give you a gourdful of succotash if you were starving. But when have the English and the colonists failed to help you in distress? Put away the French ! Send them across the Lake ! Tell them to practise their bows and scrapes and grimaces upon the stupid Indians of Canada-not upon the noble Iroquois !"
The results of the Albany and Lancaster treaties, as well as the news that hostilities between France and England had been suspended, soon became generally known throughout the Indian tribes east of the Mississippi, and with few exceptions those who had forsaken the English, or had been inclined to forsake them, or were wavering in their allegiance, hastened to assume more friendly relations with the authorities of the various English Colonies. October 7, 1748, a definitive treaty of peace and friendship between France and England was concluded at Aix La Chapelle, which fact became known in this country about the close of the year.
We have shown by the extracts from the diaries of Mack and De Watteville that, from the time of the departure of King Kackawatcheky and his band from Wyoming in the Spring of 1744 (see page 213), until the Autumn of 1748, the Shawanese at Wyoming numbered but very few. It is quite probable that those few continued here because they were either too old and feeble to make the long and tedious journey to the Ohio, or they were Shawanese women who were married to Chick- asaw or Mohegan husbands. However, late in April or early in May, 1749, a numerous band of Shawanese immigrated to the valley-presum- ably from the region of the Ohio River-and erected their wigwams in
* In "Sir William Johnson."
Į See foot-note, page 206.
+ See foot-note, page 164.
¿ See Augustus C. Buell's "Sir William Johnson," page 66.
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the "upper town" (described on page 209) in Plymouth. About this time, or very shortly afterwards, the "lower town," on "Shawnee" Flats, seems to have been abandoned by the Indians as a place of abode.
The chief of these new-comers was Pack-sha-nos, or Paxinosa, a man concerning whom, prior to this time, we can learn but little. He said he was born on "the Ohio"; in 1755 he called himself "an old man"; in 1757 his eye-sight was so defective-either on account of old age or disease-that he wore spectacles ! He is the only Indian who lived in the valley at that period who is known to have worn spectacles. Others may have worn them, but the information has not been preserved
-as in this instance. Paxinosa was married, had a son named Kola- peeka, or "Samuel," and a daughter who was married.
In May, 1749, shortly after Paxinosa and his people arrived at Plymouth, a message was sent from Wyoming to Gnadenhütten on the Lehigh to this effect* :
"That a conjurer who was dying in Wajomick had disappeared in the night, and two days after returned from Heaven, where God had told him that He had appointed sacrifices for the Indians, to atone for their sins ; but had given the Bible to the white people only, and though it contained many excellent things yet He considered it an abomination that the Indians should walk in the same way. He added that the white people were wise and cunning, and if the Indians meddled with them they would all be devoured, especially their children. The messenger added that the man who had been with God had summoned all the Indians to meet on the river Susquehannah to hear him."
Early in April, 1749, at a meeting of the Grand Council of the Six Nations held at Onondaga Castle, it was decided to send deputies from each of the nations to Philadelphia, to shake hands with the new Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania (the Hon. James Hamilton, ; who had assumed office in the previous November), to answer a proposal for peace with the southern Catawbas (made by the former Governor of Pennsylvania) and to consider other matters. It was agreed that all the deputies should meet together at Wyoming, and proceed thence in a body to Philadelphia. About the middle of May the deputies of the Senecas, four in number, accompanied by other members of their nation, arrived at Wyoming. Here they waited a month for the arrival of the deputies from the other nations, who, however, failed to appear. The Senecas thereupon continued their journey to Philadelphia, where they arrived June 26th accompanied by some "Tuteloes and others, Nanticokes and Conoys."¿ These Indians were received by the Governor and Council on July 1st, when Ogashtash, the Seneca speaker, stated that the Grand Council at Onondaga had heard that the white people had begun to settle on the Indians' side of the Blue Mountains. Continuing, Ogash- tash said§ :
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