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 49
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Early in April, 1754, Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania not hav- ing heard anything in a long time from the Indians on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, thought it necessary to send Conrad Weiser "to the Delawares and Shawanese at Wyomink" to inquire after their health, to sound them relative to their attitude towards the French and to apprize them of the intentions of the Connecticut people. § Weiser left his home at Heidelberg April 17th, accompanied by his son Samuel, and arrived at Shamokin the 20th. There Weiser remained while his son, "James Logan, the lame son of Shikellimy,"|| and another Indian pro- ceeded up the river in a canoe with the Governor's messages, which were addressed to "old Nutimus, the chief at Nescopeck," and to "Paxi- nosa, the chief man at Wyomink." Samuel Weiser and the two Indians returned to Shamokin April 26th, with the information that both Nuti- mus and Paxinosa were away from home. The messages, with the ac- companying strings of wampum, were well received, however, by those who were at home, and it was supposed that "the Indians would have a council together when they all came home, which would be at their planting time."
* A memorandum in the handwriting of Mr. Gray appended to the foregoing transcript states that this address was procured, "with affidavit and certificate," and was sent to England-as will be more fully shown hereinafter. It is probable that the "affidavit" referred to by Colonel Franklin, and men- tioned on page 291, ante, was a copy of the address now referred to.
+ See page 282. Į See "Colonial Records of Connecticut," X : 378.
¿ See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VI : 24, 34; VIII : 256.
| See note, page 185.
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We have referred on page 238 to the efforts being made in the Spring of 1753 to have the christianized Indians at Gnadenhütten re- move to Wyoming, and that as a result Abraham, the Mohegan, and his family had come hither. After Abraham had located in the Valley he added his persuasions to those of the Shawanese, and, says Reichel, "messenger after messenger went down from the Susquehanna to the unwilling Delawares and Mohegans of Gnadenhütten with sinister invita- tions from the Shawanese to come up to them and plant in Wyoming."
At that time the foremost Delaware Indian in Northampton County north-west of the Kittatinny Mountains was a certain Tā-de-us-kund, or Tee-dy-us-cũng .* He had been converted to Christianity and baptized some years previously by the Moravian Brethren, and was considered by them as a member of the Gnadenhütten community-although he did not spend all his time there. Reichel says ("Memorials," page 220) :
* TEEDYUSCUNG, according to his own statement, made in 1756 (see "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 724), was born about the year 1706 "among the English, somewhere near Trenton, New Jersey," in which neighborhood his ancestors of the Lenni Lenapé had been seated from time immemorial. He belonged to the Unami, or Wanamie, clan of the nation, whose totemic device was the Turtle. (See page 103.) Teedyuscung was the son of "Old Captain Harris," a noted Delaware chief, who was the father also of "Peter,""alias "Young Captain Harris," "Captain John," sometime of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, "Tom Evans," "Nicodemus," alias "Joe Evans," and""Sam Evans"-all of whom were half-brothers of Teedy- uscung. (See Reichel's "Memorials," pages 119 and 271, and Pennsylvania Magazine of History, XXI : 419.) According to a statement written by Count Zinzendorf in September, 1742 (see Reichel's "Memorials," page 92), "Old Captain Harris," having grown aged and helpless, was left by his children to starve to death. About the year 1730 a number of New Jersey Delawares, from the country along the Raritan River and from the vicinity of Trenton on the Delaware River, emigrated to the wild Indian country north- west of the Kittatinny Mountains, in what is now Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Among these emi- grants were "Old Captain Harris" and his family, including Teedyuscung, who, with a few others, estab- lished a village on the banks of Poakopohkunk (now Pocopoco) Creek, about twenty miles north-east of the locality where Gnadenhütten was later laid out, and not far from the site of the present village of Brodheadsville. The Delaware village of Meniolagomeka (mentioned in the note on page 311) came into existence about the same time on the banks of Aquanshicola Creek, a few miles distant. It is stated in Egle's "History of Pennsylvania" (page 947) that feedyuscung was born on the Pocono Mountains, and resided for a long time in what is now Monroe County. The first part of this statement is incorrect, but the latter part is true. In memory of his long residence in that section of Pennsylvania there is a small village named for him in the north corner of Pike County, and in the same county what is now known as Porter's Lake was for a long time called Lake Teedyuscung.
Teedyuscung, who was generally known among the whites as "Honest John," first heard the Moravian missionaries preach in 1742. Impressed by their teachings he later sought admission to fellow- ship with the Christian Delawares and Mohegans at Gnadenhütten. In 1749 he was admitted to their congregation, but was not baptized until the next year. Loskiel states : "His baptism was delayed some time because of his wavering disposition. But having once been present at a baptism he said to one of the Brethren, 'I am distressed that the time is not yet come that I shall be baptized and cleansed in the blood of Christ.' Being asked how he felt during the baptism he replied, 'I cannot describe it-but I wept and trembled.' He then spoke with the missionaries in a very unreserved manner, saying that he had been a very bad man all his life ; that he had no power to resist evil, and that he had never before been
so desirous to be delivered from sin. * * He evinced this fervor ever after, and was named 'Gideon.'" In the record of Indian baptisms for the year 1750 Bishop Cammerhoff made this entry : "March 12th. -To-day I baptized Tatiuskundt, the chief among sinners."
Teedyuscung was married about 1726 to a Delaware woman, who was baptized "Elizabeth," March 19, 1750, at Gnadenhütten. Reichel and others who have written about Teedyuscung say that he had three sons, as follows : i. Tachgokanhelle, born about 1727; baptized "Amos" December 14, 1749 ; mar- ried to Pingtis (baptized "Justina"), a Jersey Delaware, whose sister Agnes was the wife of Christian . Frederick Post mentioned on page 216. ii. Kesmitas. iii. Onangintolany, or "Capt. John Jacob," alias "Hans Jacob." Teedyuscung had a son, however, who was known as "Thomas Bull" and as "Captain Bull." Sir William Johnson referred to him by the latter name in 1764 (see Chapter VI, post), while Col. (later Gen.) Hugh Mercer referred to him in 1759 as "Thomas Bull." Prior to 1750 "Thomas Bull" had separated from the other members of his father's family and joined the Delawares in the Ohio region. In March, 1759, Colonel Mercer was the English military commander at Pittsburg, and he employed "Thomas Bull" as a spy in the lake region. March 2d the latter left Pittsburg for Venango, La Bœuf and Presque Isle. He returned to Pittsburg March 17th, bringing an account of the fort, garrison, etc., at Presque Isle. When he left there he said "he was going to Wyoming to see his father Teedyuscung." (See letter from Colonel Mercer in "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 310, 311.) It is possible that "ii. Kesmitas" and "Captain Bull" were one and the same person.
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 sachem, 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 in 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 Teedyus- cung written by Heckewelder, from which we have extracted the following paragraphs: "* * Before he was raised to the station of a chief he had 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 retinue with him when he went to Philadelphia on business with the Govern- ment. 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 Teedyuscung : "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. Yet 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 his 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 baptism 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 then 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 Teedyuscung 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 Allummapees, 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 resentnient 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, no 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 small creek described on page 59, and within the limits of the present Tenth Ward of Wilkes-Barré.
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.
+ 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.
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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 Gnadenhütten. 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 no 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 many callers, among others Paxinosa's young son. Mohican 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 met Abrahanı 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 Gnadenhütten 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 them 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.
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