History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 6

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158

USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I > Part 6

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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

rope with wooden forks. Thus they proceed, frightening the fishes into the opening left in the middle of the dam, where a number of Indians are placed on each side, who, standing upon two legs of the angles, drive the fishes with poles, and an hideous noise, through the opening into the above mentioned box or chest. Here they lie, the water running off through the holes in the bottom, and the other Indians stationed on each side of the chest, take them out, kill them, and fill their canoes. By this contrivance they sometimes catch above a thousand shad and other fish in half a day."

Immediately back of Lehigh Gap, emptying into the Lehigh river, is Aquashicola creek. This is a Lenape word which, translated into English, means "brush-net fishing.'

They make use in fishing at times of neat and light birch-bark canoes, with which they not only go into large rivers, but venture into broad, open waters. In the making of birch-bark canoes the Indians exercised considerable taste and skill. This material was considered best for it retained its place without warping. Boats of this class were made as follows: Having taken off a bark of the requisite length and width it was shaped in the canoe form. Rim pieces of white ash, or other elastic wood, of the width of the hand, were then run around the edge, outside and in, and stitched through and through with the bark itself. In stitching they used bark thread or twine and splints. The ribs consisted of narrow strips of ash, which were set about a foot apart along the bottom of the canoe, and having been turned up the sides, were secured under the rim. Each end of the canoe was fashioned alike, the two side pieces inclining towards each other until they united and formed a sharp and vertical prow. These boats were from twelve to forty feet long and had sufficient capacity to carry from two to thirty persons. They caulked these canoes with the resinous bark of a species of elm, which they first pounded to prepare for use.

In making their dug-outs they fell a thick, strong tree, not with their stone axes, however, but with the aid of fire. They set fire to a great quantity of wood at the roots of the tree, and make it fall by that means. But that the fire might not reach higher than they would have it, they fastened some rags to a pole, dipped them into water, and kept continually washing the tree a little above the fire. When felled the limb end of the tree was also burned away in a similar manner. Whenever they intended to hol- low out a thick tree for a canoe, they laid dry branches all along the trunk as far as it must be hollowed out. They then put fire to those dry branches, and, as soon as they were burnt, they

were replaced by others. Whilst these branches were burning, the Indians were very busy with wvet rags, and pouring water upon the tree, to prevent the fire from spreading too far on the sides and at the ends. The trunk being burnt hollow, as far as they found it sufficient, or as far as they could without damaging the boat, they took stone axes, or sharp flints and quartzes or sharp shells, and scraped off the burnt part of the wood, and smoothened the boat within. By this means they likewise gave it what shape they pleased. A dugout of this kind was commonly thirty to forty feet long.

De Bry, an early writer on the Aborigines of North America, tells his readers in the fol- lowing manner, how fish were prepared for eat- ing: "After a capture of plenty of fish, they pro- ceed to the chosen place suitable for the prepara- tion of victuals: having here fixed in the ground four forks marking a quadrangular space, they put on them four sticks and cross these others, thus forming a hurdle of sufficient height. When the fish have been placed upon the hurdle, they build a fire underneath it, in order to roast them. In the meantime, when the hurdle can not hold all the fishes, they suspend the remain- ing ones by the gills on little rods which they have stuck in the ground near the fire, and thus cook them: they also pay close attention that they are not burned. When the first are roasted, they place fresh supplies on the hurdle, and re- peat the cooking until they think they have a suf- ficiency of eatables."

Before the advent of the European, the cloth- ing of the natives consisted of dressed skins and feathers. The older women made blankets of feathers, generally those taken from the wild turkey and the wild goose, curiously interwoven with thread or twine, which were warm and durable. They showed equal skill in the making of other wearing apparel which they tatooed and painted for any occasion.

Before the Red Man came into contact with the so-called civilization of his conquerors he was constitutionally a strong man. He carried with ease the largest deer. Heckewelder men- tions an instance of strength in which an Indian named Samuel once took the flour which was ground from a bushel of wheat upon his back at sunrise within two miles from Nazareth, in Northampton county, and arrived with it in the evening of the same day at his camp at Wyoming, a distance of about 75 miles. When they built their houses they carried large logs on their shoulders from the place where the tree was felled to where the home was to be erected.

Taking up when brought into contact with civilization its vices and then living a vicious and

INDIANS.

dissolute life, there came upon them diseases and disorders not before known. Their blood be- came corrupted, and their before strong constitu- tions were weakened by a shameful European complaint. They began to drink the fiery alco- holic liquors manufactured by the whites, which more or less brutalized them. When they lived a natural life, they attained an age reaching up to from seventy to ninety years. The females lived longer than the males.

Reflecting Indians, and there were such in their tribes, even as we have men in our com- munities who abhor the vicious tendencies of many of our own, remarked, "that it was strange that a people who professed themselves believers in a religion revealed to them by the Great Spirit himself, who say that they have in their houses the Word of God, and his laws, and command- ments, textually written, could think of making a liquor calculated to bewitch people and make them destroy one another."

Here appears the tradition as given by the In- dians, telling when and where they first drank the fiery liquor : This occurred in September of 1609, when the Dutch, under the voyager Henry Hudson, then anchored in New York Bay, met by appointment, the Mohicans, a tribe of the Le- napés, and induced them to partake of their drink. Meanwhile, a large bottle is brought by one of the servants of the white officer, from which an unknown substance is poured out into a small cup or glass and handed to the white officer. He drinks-has the glass filled again and hands it to the chief standing next to him. The chief receives it, but only smells the contents and passes it on to the next chief who does the same. The glass or cup thus passes through the circle without the liquor being tasted by anyone, and is upon the point of being returned to the red- clothed white officer, when one of the Indians, a brave man and a great warrior, suddenly jumps up and harangues the assembly on the impro- priety of returning the cup with its contents. It was handed to them, says he, by the white officer, that they should drink out of it as he himself had done. To follow his example would be pleasing to him, but to return what he had given them might provoke his wrath and bring destruc- tion on them, and since the orator believed it for the good of the nation that the contents offered them should be drunk, and as no one else would do it, he would drink it himself, let the conse- quence be what it might; it was better for one man to die than that a whole nation should be destroyed. He then took the glass and bidding the assembly a solemn farewell, at once drank up its whole contents. Every eye was fixed on the resolute chief, to see what effect the un-

known liquor would produce. He soon began to stagger and at last fell prostrate to the ground. His companions now bemoan his fate ; he falls into a sound sleep and they think he has expired. He wakes again, jumps up and declares that he has enjoyed the most delicious sensations and that he never before felt himself so happy as after he drank the cup. He asks for more, his wish is granted. The whole assembly then imitate him, and all become intoxicated. In this man- ner was introduced into this country that which has brought about such horror and sorrows im- possible to describe. The voyager Hudson's life came to an end in Hudson's Bay while seeking a western passage to China. Failing, his miser- able crew, ignorant and frightened at the arctic cold, mutinied, and put him, with his son, seven years old, and a few invalid sailors adrift in a boat, and left them to perish, a punishment, per- haps, for the unjust act done to the Indians.

Their only domestic animal was a small species of dog with pointed ears, sometimes used for food, for hunting, for protection, and, at times, for ceremonial purposes.

Their houses were not communal, as were those of their neighbors, the Iroquois. Each family lived separate in a hut made of rods or twigs woven together with a rounded top, thatched with mats made of long leaves of In- dian corn, or of tree bark. These were built in groups and surrounded with a palisade for protection. For a place of observation a mound was sometimes in the centre. Remains of these circular ramparts enclosing a central mound were seen by the early settlers at the Falls of the Delaware, and up the Lehigh Valley.

They sing and dance for different purposes, and, we are told that when intended for inno- cent amusement the action is a pleasing spectacle to look at. They sing in chorus harmonious songs, first the men, then the women; which causes one to think two parties were singing in questions and answers. This performance is upon the whole very agreeable and enlivening, and is concluded with a loud yell. One person begins the singing, others joining in until all are in action, while a drum beats to mark the time. The voices of the women are clear and full, and their intonations generally correct.

Before going to war they perform, bedaubed all over with paint, either in the open air or in an enclosure around a painted post the war dance. They paint themselves as hideous as possible so as to cause terror to those looking at them. Armed with murderous weapons they imitate in their dance such attitudes as are usual in a fight with the enemy. They strive to excel each other by their terrific looks and gestures. Re-

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

turning from a successful expedition they per- form the thanksgiving dance, which partakes of the character of a religious ceremony. Singing, in which the women join, also takes place.

The Delaware warriors sing the following song before going against the enemy. They sing it in short lines or sentences as time permits or as the occasion or their feelings prompt them. Their manner of singing it is pathetic, and con- siderable feeling is produced.

"O poor me!

Whom am going out to fight the enemy.

And know not whether I shall return again. To enjoy the embraces of my children

And my wife.

O poor creature !

Whose life is not in his own hands.

Who has no power over his own body.

But tries to do his duty

For the welfare of his nation.

O then Great Spirit above!

Take pity on my children

And on my wife!

Prevent their mourning on my account!

Grant that I may be successful in this attempt

That I may slay my enemy.

And bring home the trophies of war

To my dear family and friends.

That we may rejoice together.

O take pity on me!

Give me courage and strength to meet my enemy.

Suffer me to return again to my children To my wife,

And to my relations!

Take pity on me and preserve my life

And I will make to thee a sacrifice."

This is Heckewelder's translation, who spoke the language of the Lenapés fluently.

The coming home of the victorious Indians from a successful foray with their prisoners and scalps, is, so we are told, an awful spectacle. While they are kind and generous to strangers, those taken in war are sometimes doomed to horrible torture. Happily this does not often occur. The prisoners are generally adopted by the families of their conquerors in the place of lost or deceased relations or friends, where they soon become domesticated, and are so kindly treated that they never wish themselves away again.

The Lenni Lenape people believed that their primitive age was one of peace and happiness. A golden age in which the killing of man was un- known. None died until their eyes became dim, the teeth worn away and their hair turned white. This happy time was brought to a close by the advent of certain evil beings who taught men

how to kill each other by sorcery. They were very proud of the memory of their ancient heroes and of their ancestral traditions. The mission- ary Brainerd mentions this as one of the great difficulties in converting them to the Christian religion.

Loskiel writes that the Delawares "love to relate what great warriors their ancestors had been, and how many heroic deeds they had per- formed. It is a pleasure to them to rehearse their genealogies. They are so skilled at it that they can repeat the chief and collateral lines with the utmost readiness. At the same time they characterize their ancestors by describing them in their different great characters.

The mild mannered Lenapé had a well de- veloped creation myth, and their legends were found in more or less completeness. Their early traditional history is contained in their Walam Olum, a book of chants accompanied by picto- graphs, sixty in number, which was brought be- fore the scientific public by a person named Rafinesque about 1833. He claimed to have copied these pictures or signs from wooden tab- lets procured in Kentucky in 1822. The pro- duction is, however, considered by some to be a forgery. The Rev. Albert Anthony, a well edu- cated native Delaware, who speaks English flu- ently, was called to consider the subject. After a scientific examination of the matter he ex- pressed the positive opinion that the text as given was a genuine oral composition of a Dela- ware Indian, not exactly in the true native tongue, but in a clipped language, an admixture of the language of the Indian and European.

Their Creator, who made the earth and all that is on it, who taught them the arts of war and the chase and gave them the Indian corn, beans and squashes, was generally called Mich- abo-The Great Light.

This Light myth, says the late learned anti- quarian, Dr. Brinton, "is one of noble propor- tion and circumstance quite worthy of compari- son with those of the Oriental world. The Great Light was the son of a maiden who de- scended from heaven, conceiving, without the knowledge of man, and having given birth to twins she disappeared. One of these twins was the Great Light, who, after having created all things, disappeared toward the east where he still dwells beyond the sunrise." This interest- ing traditional story may be explained in the fol- lowing manner, the virgin is the Dawn, who brings forth the Day, which assures safety and knowledge, and the Night, which departs with her. The Day leaves us, and in its personified form never returns, though always expected. The Lenape told the missionary Ettwein that

INDIANS.

they directed their children to turn their faces toward the east when praying to the spirits; and that amongst them it was an ancient belief that from that quarter some one would come to bene- fit them. Therefore when their ancestors saw the first white men, they looked upon them as divine and adored them.

They also had a myth in which the tortoise played a principal part. From it came all things. It brought forth the world, and from the middle of its back grew a tree, upon the branches of which grew men. The tortoise, however, could only perform this work when directed to do so by the primal divinity, the eternally active, hid- den spirit of the Universe, which was the first and great beginning of all things.

The creation story as told by the Delawares is of interest because of its similarity to the Del- uge of the Bible, as well as to those of other oriental lands. "The whole earth was submerged and but a few persons survived. They took refuge on the back of a turtle, who had reached so great an age that his shell was mossy, like the bank of a stream. In this forlorn condition a loon flew that way, which they asked to dive and bring up land. He complied, but found no bottom. Then he flew far away and returned with a small quantity of earth in his bill. Guided by him, the turtle swam to the place where a spot of dry land was found. There the sur- vivors settled and repeopled the land."

A very curious legend of the Delawares was that of the Great Naked or Hairless Bear. It was said to be of enormous size and a most fero- cious animal. Its skin was bare, except a tuft of white hair on its back. Although defective in sight, its sense of smell was keen. It attacked and ate the natives. Having a very small heart it was difficult to kill.

Fortunately there were but few of these ter- rible beasts. The last in the east was killed somewhere on the left bank of the now Hudson river. The Indian women often frightened their children into obedience when told that "The Naked Bear" would eat them.

The Envy of Manitou. This legend, because of its nearness to our vicinity, may be interesting to those reading my essay, "Behind the mountains that gloom around the romantic town of Mauch Chunk, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding loops and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its prettiest bits of shore stood a village of the Lenni Lenapé, and the largest of its wigwams, most richly pictured without, most luxurious in its couching of furs within, was that of the young chief Onoko. This Indian was a man of great size, strength and daring. Single handed he had slain the bear on

Mauch Chunk-Bear mountain-and it was no wonder that Wenonah, the fairest of her tribe was flattered when he sued for her hand, and promptly consented to be his wife. It was On- oko's fortune in war, the chase and love that roused the envy of Mitche Manitou.

"One day as the couple were floating in their shallop of bark on the calm lake, idly enjoying the sunshine and saying pretty things to each other the Manitou rose among the mountains. Terrible was his aspect, for the scowl of hatred was upon his face. Thunder crashed about his head and fire snapped from his eyes. Covering his right hand with his .invincible magic mitten, he dealt a blow on the hills that made the earth shake, and rived them to a depth of a thousand feet. Through the chasm thus created the lake poured a foaming deluge, and born with it was the canoe of Onoko and Wenonah. One glance at the wrathful face in the clouds above them and they knew that escape was hopeless, so, clasping each other in a close embrace, they were whirled away to death. Manitou strode away moodily among the hills, and ever since that time the Lehigh has rolled through the chasm that he made. Onoko's memory is preserved in the name of a glen and cascade a short distance above Mauch Chunk on the Lehigh river."

Funeral Customs. The Missionary Hecke- welder tells us that it is well known that the Indians committed their dead to the earth with becoming ceremonies. Mourners, generally women, were hired for the purpose and paid for. Those who could afford it hired many, while others not so well off in this world's goods en- gaged but few. If the deceased was without property the duty was performed by near rela- tives and friends. The loud lamentations of the female mourners resounded from one end of the village to the other, and continued day and night until the body was buried. When the deceased was placed in its coffin articles owned by the person while living were given it, so that the occupant could have them when wanted. Even a bottle of whiskey was placed at the coffin head so that it could take some when fatigued on its journey to the world of spirits. They never, when they can help it, allow their dead to be eaten by wild beasts.

"They never mention the name of a deceased person fearing they would renew the grief of the family or friends. This remarkable deli- cacy certainly does honor to their hearts, and shows that they are naturally accessible to the most tender feelings of humanity."

Religion. Little was done in the way of in- troducing the religion of the European to the Lenapé. The whites liked better to degrade

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

them, and steal from them their belongings. Little wonder then that so very few embraced the Christian religion. What little was done can here be told in a very few words. The Rev. Thomas Companius, of Stockholm, a Lutheran clergyman, attached to the Swedish settlement from 1642 to 1649, made a creditable effort to acquire the native tongue and preach Christian- ity to the savages around him. So very religious a body as the early Quakers or Friends did noth- ing. William Penn offered in 1699 to provide interpreters for the Friends' Meeting, at Phila -- delphia to convey religious instruction to them, but without avail. For nearly half a century nothing was done, and when young David Brain- erd began his mission in 1742 he distinctly states that there was not another missionary in the province of New Jersey. The little society of Christian Indians which he gathered in Burling- ton county, New Jersey, was even reported as a congregation of rioters and enemies of the state. Penn's province was inclined to no greater favors toward the Christianized natives. Brainerd, how- ever, knew nothing of the seeds of a Christian harvest which the ardent Moravian leader, Count Nicholas Lewis Zinzendorf, had in 1742 sown in the wilderness of Pennsylvania. The pious Rauch had gathered a small but earnest congre- gation of Mohicans at Shekomego, who soon re- moved to the valley of the Lehigh to Gnaden- hütten, now Lehighton, Carbon county. Zeis- berger had registered himself an appointed mis- sionary to the natives in 1744, but when in 1808, after 62 years of missionary labor, he closed his eyes in death, the huts of barely a score of con- verted Indians clustered around his little chapel. After the murder for revenge of the Conestoga Indians in 1755, in Lancaster county, by the men of Paxton, led by a man named Matthew Smith, the Lenni Lenape first withdrew into the Sus- quehanna wilderness and settled at Wyalusing, about 100 miles from the frontier settlers beyond or south of the Blue mountains. After living at this place about five years they moved away in a body directly for the Muskingum river in Ohio. From there part of them emigrated to Upper Louisiana in 1789. Others went to Canada, while a few remained in Ohio. These attempted to live a peaceful and agricultural life. Some of them lived a few years in Indiana. These afterward moved to near the mouth of the Kan- sas river. In 1850 they were reported as own- ing 375,000 acres of land and numbering 1,500 souls. Four years later they "ceded"? their land and most of them were moved to various reservations in Indian Territory. In 1885 there lived in Kansas about 60 of these unfortunate people, and in Ontario, Canada, 300.

The Stone Tools of the Indian. The ground which is now embraced in the limits of our county of Lehigh was an attractive section to the Aborigine. Forests in which game was plentiful covered it for miles. Large and small streams flowed through it in every direction, and copious springs dotted the surface every- where. The remains of their encampments and work-shops are found in every section.

With few exceptions the materials out of which they fashioned their stone tools were found in places in this county. Jasper of many colors, which played so important a part in the manufacture of their flaked implements was taken in great quantities from the quarries near Macungie and Vera Cruz. In company with Mr. H. C. Mercer, of Doylestown, Pa., a learned archæological writer, the author of this essay, who had for some time known of the 60 depressions at Vera Cruz, and the 138 at Ma- cungie, made a scientific examination of a num- ber of them. An old stump of a tree, with 195 rings at the side of a pit at Vera Cruz, and a tree nearly four feet in diameter in a depression at Macungie indicate that work in these two shafts was abandoned about 1680-90. In ex- cavating one of the depressions so plentiful at Macungie, Mr. Mercer found lying on the un- worked clay, at a depth of 181/2 feet a large disc- shaped implement of limestone, a foot in diam- eter, and well worn along its cutting edge. At the fourteenth foot, mixed with refuse, a smaller tool of quartzite, similarly worn, and a rude limestone arrow point were found. At the bot- tom, along one of the sides of the pit in the clay two holes were discovered. Into these was poured plaster of paris. When solidified the plaster was dug out and proved to be the facsimiles of two sharpened wooden billets, which had long since rotted away and left only their mould. One of the pieces was about six inches in diam- eter and of unknown length. The other with a diameter of about two inches was about three feet long. They were sharpened with the aid of fire and sharp stones. These casts of unique digging implements are now to be seen in the Museum of Archæology belonging to the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania.

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History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 6

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1158

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158