History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 4

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812

USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MAPACHSINNINK

QUEEN EOTHE

COMMONWEALTH 'S INDIAN PURCHASE

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

were men destitute of literary culture and unable to spell correetly the common words of their native language.

Then the names of the Indian languages are usually eon- erete and synthetic, not abstraet nor analytie. They cannot say father,* son, master separately. The noun must be limited by ineluding within itself the pronoun for the per- son to whom it relates ; so they could not say tree or house, the word must always be accompanied by prefixes defining its application. They have special terms for each kind of oak, but no generic term ineluding them all. The noun, adjective, and pronoun all are blended into one word. Henee one part of a stream or place might receive one name, and the other part a very different one.

As this territory was at different times inhabited by dif- ferent tribes speaking different languages, the same place would bear diverse names with equally diverse significations, or there might be a similarity in the sound and great di- versity of meaning. Very little dependence ean be placed on any interpretations of these Indian names, corrupted as many of them evidently are from older forms, and whose meaning must largely be inferred from imperfect analogies.

Having carefully compared the lists of names given by several authors, whose familiarity with the Indian language makes them as reliable authority on this subject as any now accessible, below is attempted a list, with the signifieation, of

INDIAN NAMES FOUND IN THE COUNTY.

CHEMUNG-corrupted from Shamunk, signifying the place of a horn.

LOYAL SOCK-corrupted from Lawi-Saquick, signifying the middle creek, i.e., a ereek flowing between two others.

SHESHEQUIN-corrupted from Schechschi' quanink (Del.), signifying the place of a rattle (Zeis.) ; Shesheequoi, the medicine-man's rattle (Catlin).

STANDING STONE-Achsin'nink (Del.), signifying where there is a large stone.

SUGAR CREEK-Oscohu (Weiser), signifying fierce ; Os- gochgo (Zeis.). This latter, evidently an Iroquois word, frequently Oscului.

SUSQUEHANNA-corrupted from a Delaware word, sig- nifying the winding river. The Iroquois call at least the upper part, if not the whole stream, Ga-wa-no-wa-ná-neh Ga-hun-da, signifying the Great Island river.t

TIOGA-corrupted from Tiaoga, or as it is often written Diahoga, an Iroquois word signifying a gate, or place of entrance, or the meeting of waters-the union of two streams.

TOWANDA-Dawantaa, probably an Iroquois word sig- nifying the fretful or tedious ( Weiser) ; Awandoe, a Nanti- coke word meaning a burial-place ; Tawanduemunk, a Delaware word signifying where there is a burying, or where we bury the dead.

WAPPASUNING-corrupted from Wapachsinning, signi- fying where there are white stones, alluding to a supposed deposit of silver ore.

WYALUSING-corrupted from M'chwihilusing, the place of the hoary veteran. Another version is from Wigalusui, the good hunting-ground.

WYSAUKIN (Wysox)-from Wisachgimi, signifying the place of grapes. Zeisberger spells the word Wisachk. Sauk, or Saucon, a canoe harbor ; Wy-sauk, where there is a canoc harbor.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AMONG THE INDIANS OF BRADFORD

COUNTY.

Pupunhank, the Monsey chief, who founded the Indian town of M'ehwihilusing (spelled Wigalusui, Machwihi- lusing, Ch'wihilusing), had learned something of the Chris- tian religion from intercourse with the white people, and especially with the Quakers about Philadelphia, where he was a frequent visitor, set himself up as a teacher of morality to the people of his town. In this teaching there was a strange mixture of truth and superstition. In early life he was addieted to the use of strong drink, but his father dying a drunkard, he was aroused to reflection. A believer in dreams and supernatural revelations, after the Indian eustom he retired into the woods, where by fasting and solitariness he sought direction from his Manitou. " At the end of five days," says the narrator of this story, " it pleased God to appear to him for his comfort, and to give him a sight of his own inward state, and also an acquaintance with the works of nature ; for he apprehended a sense given him of the virtues and nature of herbs, roots, plants, trees, ete., and the different relations they had one to another. He was made sensible that man stood in the nearest relation to God of any part of the ereation. It was also at this time he was made sensible of his duty to God, and he came home re- joieing, and endeavored to put in practice what had appeared was required of him." This occurred three years previous to his baptism.

In May, 1760, Christian Frederick Post, a Polish Prus- sian by birth, and the most adventurous of Moravian mis- sionaries, when on his way to a grand council of the western Indians, with words of greeting and assurances of friend- ship from Governor Hamilton, spent a night at Papunhank's village, and, at the request of the eouneil held that day, preached from Luke ii. 8-11. This 20th of May should ever be remembered as the day on which for the first time the words of the everlasting gospel of peace were proclaimed in this county. The event proved to be one fraught with important results, both to the Moravian church and to the aborigines of this valley.

Although Papunhank's diseourses on morality led to the awakening of his people, they failed to satisfy them, and the question of the propriety of sending for a Christian teacher began to be agitated ; but owing to a diversity of sentiment they were unable to agree upon whom they would have. Papunhank, the nominal chief, and his friends, being ac- quainted with the Quakers, favored a teacher from among them. He declared, "I have heard a voice say to my soul the Quakers are right." On the other hand, Job Chillaway, a native of the country about Little Egg Harbor, who spoke

# Bancroft's History of the United States, iii., p. 258.

+ In the " Crown Inn," a monograph, by Rev. W. C. Reichel, of Bethlehem, is the following paragraph :

" Susquehanna, written in early times Sasquehanna, corrupted from Que-ni-schuch-ach-gek-han-ne,-compounded of quin, long, shach-ack- ki, straight, and hanne, stream,-the name by which the Delawares originally designated the reach of the West Branch westward from Muncy creek, then the West Branch, and finally the main stream of- the great river."

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

English fluently, had considerable intercourse with the whites, and had frequently acted as interpreter, whose wife was a sister to Nathaniel and Anthony, two native Moravian converts residing a little below Tunkhannock, and who had considerable influence in the town, favored the Moravians.

This religions awakening coming to the knowledge of the brethren at Bethlehem, they despatched Zeisberger, an emi- nently laborious and successful missionary, to the town, to learn further of the prospect of an opening for the gospel there. Accompanied by Anthony, he reached the town on the evening of May 23, 1763, and though wearied from their toilsome journey, the missionaries found no time to rest. Papunhank received them into his lodge, and hither the Indians flocked from every part of the village to hear the gospel. Their coming was most opportune. For six successive days councils had been held to conclude upon whom they would ask to be their teacher, but they had been unable to reach any conclusion. At length they resolved to accept the first one who should come to them. Thereupon Zeisberger came, and they exclaimed, " Here come the men for whom we have been in search." To this Zeisberger re- plied, " God often acts in this way, and he has brought us to you that you may learn to do his will." Zeisberger and Anthony continued here until the 27th of May, when they set out for Bethlehem, bearing to the mission board the earnest and cordial invitation from the whole town that they would speedily send a religious teacher to reside among them.

On the 10th of June, Zeisberger and Nathaniel, a brother of Anthony, again set out from Bethlehem for Wyalusing, which they reached on the evening of the 17th, and were welcomed by Papunhank and his people. Notwithstanding the whole country was ringing with the news of the Pontiac conspiracy, the intrepid missionary resumed his work with ferveney and joy. On his way to M'chwihilusing he had overtaken and passed John Woolman, a Quaker evangelist, who arrived at the town the next day after Zeisberger.

Woolman having met at Philadelphia, in the autumn of 1761, some of the Wyalusing Indians,* " felt inward draw- ings toward a visit to that place." In company with some of the Indians, he and Benjamin Parvin set out June 7, 1763, and in eleven days reached their destination. He says, " The first Indian that we saw was a woman of modest countenance, with a Bible, who first spake to our guide ; and then, with harmonious voice, expressed her gladness at seeing us, having before heard of our coming." A council being called, John Curtist and another Indian kindly in- vited them into a house near the town, where they found about sixty people waiting to receive them. " After sitting for a short time I stood, and, in some tenderness of spirit, acquainted them with the nature of my visit." For three days he and Zeisberger labored together harmoniously, when, on the 21st, being informed that the Indians continued steadfast in their preference for Zeisberger, after having spoken with great tenderness at several of their meetings, he departed, well satisfied with the decision of the council,

# Works of John Woolman, ed. 1774, p. 143, et parsim.

t John Curtis, a Nanticoke chief, had heen for a time a resident of this town.

and praying that the great work undertaken by Zeisberger might be crowned with success.

On the 26th of June, in a large assembly, Papunhank was baptized and named John. This was the first time this holy ordinance was ever administered in the county. In the evening another Indian was baptized, who was called Peter. Papunhank henceforth became an efficient helper in the great work of Christian evangelization among his countrymen, and led a consistent Christian life until the day of his death. He was appointed one of the native assistants in the missionary work, in which he continued with great success until his death at Schonbrunn, ¿ May 15, 1775, at the age of seventy years.

At Tawandaemunk they were also anxious to hear the gospel. Being informed of Zeisberger's coming, a messenger was dispatched bearing an invitation to him to visit them. Accordingly, the missionaries visited this town June 27, and continued there three days, preaching constantly. Here an awakening took place, and the gospel was received with the same eagerness as at M'chwihilusing.

But the good work was forcibly interrupted. On the 30th a runner arrived with a letter from Bethlehem recalling Zeisberger. With reluctance he obeyed. It would have been folly to remain longer. Already the messengers of Pontiac were visiting the towns on the Susquehanna, urging them to join their forces with his for the extirpation of the hated pale-faces; and in a few days all was turmoil and confusion.

The inhabitants on the frontier, suffering the usual horrors of a border Indian warfare, vowed vengeance against all Indians indiscriminately. For protection, the Moravian converts were assembled about Bethlehem and Nazareth. But even here they were not safe from the exasperated frontier people. The government of Pennsylvania, aware of their innocence and of their danger, determined to disarm and remove them to Philadelphia, whence they were taken to Province island, where they were sheltered and fed at the expense of the government. Papunhank and twenty-one of his people, determining to have nothing to do with this war, in December repaired to Bethlehem, whence they were escorted by the brethren to Philadelphia, and cast in their fortune with the converts. Subsequently Job Chillaway and some others, who were disposed to be peaccable, were also invited by the governor to Philadelphia. Here they remained for fifteen months. Suffering untold hardships, insulted and reviled by mobs, decimated by disease, scorned alike by savage whites and savage Indians, " a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions," they continued steadfast in the faith of the gospel. After having borne nearly one- half of their number to the Potter's field, the remainder, eighty-three converts in all, left Philadelphia, March 20, 1765.

After the war the government required all Indians indis- criminately to remove beyond the limits of lands purchased by the white people. At the suggestion of Papunhank, who offered to intercede in their behalf personally with the Six Nations, the mission board granted permission to build at Wyalusing. This place afforded many advantages for the

# Schönbrunn, German,-beautiful well or fountain.

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

settlement. Here lay hunting-grounds in their original wildness, while sufficient land had been cleared to afford them corn-patches for immediate use. It was situated at the junction of the travel-path from Zeninge to Oston- wacken, with the great war-patlı ; while its fertile lowlands had made it a favorite location for plantations and villages. At the same time it was sufficiently removed from both white and Indian settlements to insure that seelusion and independence necessary for a Christian town. Thither, ae- companied by their beloved teachers and companions in tribulation, they set their faces, April 3, 1765, and reached their destination after a tedious and toilsome journey of thirty -six days.

Zeisberger, Schmiek (with his wife, who were henceforth to be resident missionaries in the town), and Papunhank laid out the town on the site of the old village, and staked off the plantations. In accordance with the law of Indian diplomacy, a message was sent to Togahaju, the Iroquois sachem at Cayuga, who ruled this part of the Delaware de- pendeneies of the League, announcing their arrival, and ask- ing his permission to begin the settlement.

In the freedom of their forest homes and the hunting- grounds of their fathers, hopeful for the future, guided and encouraged by their teachers, their hearts were filled with gratitude and joy. "The new town which came into exist- ence rang with the melody of praise even while it was being built.'

On the 4th of June the Indians began to ereet dwellings, and at the end of the month had completed four log cabins and thirty bark-covered huts. In September, at the close of the summer hunt, a commodious meeting-house and a mission-house, fifteen feet square, built of unhewn logs, were erected. At the elose of the year there were eon- neeted with the mission one hundred and forty-six souls, of whom thirty-three were communicants.

In May, 1767, the town was moved to higher ground near by. This was on the second, beneh of level ground on the farms of Hon. L. P. Stalford and Benjamin Brown. The plat was surveyed and regularly laid out. The main street, running nearly east and west, was eighty feet wide, in the centre of which stood the church, just east of the Stalford line. Opposite the church, on the south side of the street, was the mission-house; and on either side of the street were lots each thirty two feet wide, with an alley ten feet wide between every pair of lots. Each household bad a canoe on the river. Surrounding the town were two hun- dred and fifty acres of plantations, on which there were sev- eral miles of fenees. The village was inclosed with a post and rail fenee; and during the summer the street and alleys were swept every week by the women with wooden brooms, and the refuse carried away. Every passer-by was struck with wonder at its order, eleanliness, and beauty, so that its fame extended far and wide.

The effects of the gospel were conspicuous in other re- spects. While the men still loved the chase, and the women continued to plant and cultivate the fields, the town began to assume the appearance of a thriving agricultural commu- nity. Several hundreds of aeres of corn, oats, and other grains were planted near the village, on the island just above the mouth of the Wyalusing, and on fertile patches

for some distance up the ereek. They had horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and fowls. After the first year they raised not only an abundance for themselves, but were able to sell to their neighbors, and to others, who in times of scarcity came from more than a hundred miles distant to Wyalusing to proeure food. Hay was cut on the meadows at Mes- chaschgunk, and brought down in eanoes for their cattle. In addition to these employments and the customary hunts, in the spring they had their sugar-eamps on the Wyalusing, the Sugar Run, and the Tuscarora; in the summer were gathering flag for mats, huckleberries on the mountains above Tunkhannock, wild hemp for carrying-bands and retieules at the Lackawanna, eranberries in the marshes of Wilmot near Stowell's pond, and ginseng and wild potatoes in the dry banks of the neighborhood. The missionary re- marks of the people at the settlement, " They are like a hive of bees,-each one busy and each one cheerful."

The Moravian store at the Rose tavern, now in Bushkill township, eleven miles northeast from Bethlehem, was the market frequented by the Wyalusing Indians for the sale of peltry, deer-skins, horns, and tallow, where they received the bounty paid on wolf-scalps, and where they purchased such things as their improving civilization made desirable.

Although the settlement was in a measure prosperous, the people happy, and the work of the mission successful beyond the most ardent anticipations, yet the uncertainty of their long continuanee here, owing to the desire of To- gahaju to remove the settlement near the head of Cayuga lake, hung over the mission like a shadow, dampening the ardor and cheeking the enterprise of the people in the per- manent improvements of the village. The chief had told the deputies who, in obedience to his summons, had visited Cayuga, that the place was not a good one for their settle- ment. "It is stained with blood" (referring to the de- struetion of Gohontoto). "I will appoint you a place near us. As to your belief, believe what you choose; no one shall interfere." The deputies promising to lay his de- eision before their people, and return him their answer when the eorn was ripe (this was in May), took their de- parture.

At first the Indians were disposed to aeeede to his de- mand, but upon further inquiry found the place would be unsuitable for them, and resolved to remain where they were if possible. Unfortunately, they failed to return their answer to Togahaju as they had agreed. At length the sachem dispatched a runner to the Susquehanna with this message : "Cousins, what kind of corn have you at M'chwi- hilusing? You promised an answer to my proposition when your eorn would be ripe. My eorn has been ripe long ago. It is nearly consumed. I think soon of plant- ing again. Why do you not fulfill your promise ?" This was in the month of April.

This caused great consternation at the mission. The authority of Togahaju was so great, and the fear which the Iroquois league inspired so general, that the Christian Indians deemed it necessary to coneiliate the sachem by every proper means within their reach. Henee they ap- plied to Newallike, a brother of Anthony, an influential chief of the Delawares, at Wechpakak, on the Tunkhan- nock, to plead their eause, but this he ungraciously refused

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Thereupon Zeisberger offered to negotiate with Togahaju, and persuaded them to elect four of their number as his assistants .* Anthony, John Papunhank, Abraham, and Jacob were chosen. The party set out from Wyalusing April 23, 1766, and on the 30th reached Cayuga town, where the sachem received them. The next day the em- bassy was received by the council. Into this august assem- blage the converts entered with awe, and delivered their message with trembling. Thereupon Zeisberger took up the discourse, and plead the cause with earnestness and success. The chief answered, " Up to this time you have only sojourned at Wihilusing. Now I take you and set you down there firmly. And we give you all the land from Wihilusing up to a short distance above Tioga, which is two full days' journey by land. There you can build, plant, fish, and use as you like. It is yours."t He told them further, that if heathen Indians resided on the tract they should leave. It was to be reserved for the Christian Indians only.

Newallike, envious of the prosperity of the mission, and the influence of its teachers, set in circulation the report that the great council of Six Nations had repudiated the grant made by Togahaju. What doubts soever there might be of the truth of this report, the issnes now at stake were deemed of sufficient importance to justify the use of every necessary precaution.

Zeisberger, accompanied by Gottlob Sensemann, a Mora- vian minister, set out for Onondaga, October 14, in order to ascertain the truth of the report. He addressed the council at some length, recounting the negotiations with Togahaju, the opposition of Newallike, the history, charac- ter, and purpose of the mission. To this speech the coun- cil returned the following answer: "The grant of land made last spring by Togahaju is approved by the council. The Aquanoschioni have a fire at Wibilusing; let their Christian cousins and the teachers of their Christian cousins guard it well. Newallike, the Delaware, has no authority in the town; let him not venture to usurp authority. Their Christian cousins are to consult directly with the council, or with Togahaju, its accredited deputy."

This question being settled, the mission began to evince even greater prosperity than before. In 1767, the meeting- house being found too small to contain the crowds that flocked to hear the gospel, a new one was built. This was twenty-four by thirty-two feet in size, constructed of squared white pine timber, with shingled roof and glazed windows, surmounted with a neat cupola, which contained a bell " that henceforth rung out on Lord's day and holy day over the meadows and corn-lands of the sequestered valley," call- ing both savage and Christian to the sacred services of the sanctuary. This chapel was adorned with two paintings in oil, representing respectively the Nativity and Christ's Agony in the Garden. By the contemplation of these, we read in the mission diary, many a savage sojourner at Wyalusing was moved to ask, in amazement, who it was that thus humbled himself and then suffered for the children of men. A spinnet, constructed by Joshua, a Mohican In- dian, assisted by Schmick, contributed to the interest of the

# Life of Zeisberger, p. 315.

f Wialusing Diary.

chapel services, and was used as an accompaniment to the singing of the Delaware hymns. It was set up on Christ- mas-eve, 1767.

Public religious worship was regularly maintained, morn- ing and evening of each day; the Sabbath was spent in quiet, with religious services and devout meditation. The various holy days of the church were duly observed with appropriate services. The Lord's Supper was frequently administered. The children were carefully taught both secular and religious knowledge, and every year witnessed considerable accessions to the church. Induced by curiosity, the well-known hospitality of the Christian Indians, the abundant supply of provisions in the town, and its pecu- liarly accessible situation, the mission was continually thronged with visitors. Many of these heard here the great words of eternal life, and many a dusky chieftain, it is believed, learned the great lesson of faith in the Son of God, whose name was never enrolled on the catalogue of the mission. The influence which went forth from this one bright spot in these vast fields of heathen darkness can never be represented by statistics nor reckoned in figures.

Soon after the negotiations were completed which secured to the mission the site it occupied, a code of municipal laws was adopted. The police duty was committed entirely to those who were chosen to this office by the inhabitants of the town ; ardent spirits were prohibited from being brought into the place; traders were forbidden to stay more than two or three days at a time; and such heathen Indians as came merely to enjoy the outward advantages of the settlement, and not to hear the gospel, were no longer allowed to build lodges.

The name of Friedenshitten (or huts of peacet) was given to the town in accordance with an act of the Provin- cial synod held at Bethlehem, in June, 1766.

" A pitch-pine in the hedge that forms the dividing line between the lands of Mr. Wm. H. Brown and Mr. G. W. Lung, marks the only ridge or knoll on the lowland near the site of old Friedenshutten. This was the burial-place selected for the mission ; and here, between May of 1765 and May of 1772, there were laid into their graves unto the resurrection from the dead the mortal remains of forty-one Indians, viz., six male and six female adults, three youths, one maiden, twelve boys, and thirteen girls. The ground was laid out after the manner of Moravian grave-yards, with distinct plots for the burial of the dead of different age and sex, and was surrounded by a post and rail fence in the spring of 1768. Like the hallowed repositories elsewhere, it was carefully kept free from briars and weeds, and each sleeper's resting-place marked by a plain slab of stone. Fragments of these slabs are occasionally still found in plowing on the flat. It was on this knoll that, ' very early in the morning' of the 19th of April, 1767, 'as it began to dawn,' the congregation of Christian Indians met with their missionary and his wife, for the first time at Friedenshütten, to join in the prayers of the service appointed by the Mora- vian church to be read on the great festival of Easter, and in part near the abodes of the dead who died in the Lord."§

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 4

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 812

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812