History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 8

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 8
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 8
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 8

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).

iniles. The Great Swamp is forty-two miles S. from Onochgerage ; and 'tis remarkable that the situation of all these Indian towns is such as renders it highly probable that they rendezvous at the Great Swamp, as the highest part of it is but sixteen miles distant from the east branch, and 'tis not but about sixty-five miles from Shamokin to the highest part of the swamp, and almost all the way by water through the east branch. This swamp, and the Indian towns on the E. branch of the Susquehanna, should be attacked at the same time, and the parties that attack the latter should go strong, as they may possibly meet the enemy Hying from the swamp to their settlements, for their own and the safety of their wives and children."

The hostile temper and situation of the Indians in and about Wyoming began at this time to become a matter of serious alarm, and efforts were made by the Pennsylvania authorities to acquire their friendship and bring them into alliance on terms of mutual protection. On the 8th of November, 1756, the different Indian tribes, repre- sented by their chiefs and principal warriors, met Gov- ernor Dennie at Easton, where a council was opened in a dignified and friendly manner.

Teedyuscung, the Delaware chief, a lusty, raw-boned Indian, haughty and very desirous of respect and com- mand, who had been . accompanied from Wyoming by most of his principal warriors, assumed the part of chief speaker. He supported the rights and claims of the Indians, and detailed their grievances with great spirit and dignity; but assured the council that the Indians were glad to meet the English as friends, and to smoke the pipe of peace with them, and hoped that justice would be done to them for all the injuries they had re- ceived. Governor Dennie assured the Indians that he was happy to meet them as friends, and would endeavor to do them full justice for all the wrongs they had suf- fered, and prevent future injuries. This council continued in session nine days. All matters of difference were considered, and the Delawares and Shawnese, the princi- pal tribes present, became reconciled to the English, with whom they concluded a treaty of peace. This gave peace to Wyoming, which continued until the close of the French war in 1763.

No means were neglected to regain the friendship and co-operation of the Six Nations, and presents having been liberally distributed, a grand council of all the Indian tribes was held by special invitation, at Easton. in Octo- ber, 1758. The governors of Pennsylvania and New Jer- sey and Sir William Johnson were present, with other emi- nent citizens; Teedyuscung attended. On the way he fell in with the chief who had commanded the expedition against Gnadenhutten and Fort Allen. High words arose between them, when Teedyuscung raised his hatchet and laid the chief dead at his feet. At the conference Teed- yuscung took a decided lead in the debate on the side of peace. The conference last fourteen days, and all causes of misunderstanding being removed a general peace was concluded on the 26th of October.

Peace now seemed to be fully assured between the colonists and the Indians, but the Indian nature is such that it is peace with them only when peace prevails, and when there is war they must have a hand in. Scenes of blood and plunder were the delight of their souls, and when an opportunity offered for them to take part in such scenes it was quite impossible to restrain them from do-

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

ing so. They were fond of receiving presents, and were constantly seeking and bringing forward some excuse on which to demand them of the whites. The most prolific source of complaint on their part toward the whites on which to base a claim for presents was a pretended mis- understanding of the boundaries of the grants of land which they had made, though it must be confessed that their complaints were too frequently well founded. They were fond, too, of treaties and the feast that attended thein, particularly the abundant supply of intoxicating drink that was furnished at the close, which . they drank with great voracity, guzzling it down as long as they were able to stand.

About this time a new interest was awakened among the Moravians and Quakers upon the subject of religion among the Indians. Papoonhank, a Monsey chief, founder of the Indian town of Wyalusing, in his inter- course with the whites had learned something of their religion; and after a visit to Philadelphia, where he had been kindly and fairly treated by the Quakers, and been impressed strongly by their brotherly affection and kind- ness, on his return home set to work to impress his people with the importance of their becoming a Christian people, and especially that they should become sober and indus- trious if they would be prosperous and happy. His work did not bring forth rich fruits, although it laid the foun- dation for important results.

In May, 1760, Christian Frederick Post, a Polish Prussian by birth and the most adventurous of Moravian missionaries, when on his way to a grand council of the western Indians spent a night at Papoonhank's village and preached to the Indians there. This was on the 20th of May, and was probably the first sermon preached by a white man in that locality. While Papoonhank was pleased at the visit and the opportunity afforded his people for hearing the gospel, owing to a diversity of view among them as to who should bring the gospel to them, somne being Moravians, but most favoring the Quakers, the sermon served rather to unsettle than to settle their views upon the subject. While Papoonhank himself fa- vored the Quakers, Job Chilaway, a native of the country about Little Egg Harbor, an intelligent and influential Indian, whose wife was a sister to Nathaniel and Anthony, two Moravian converts residing a little below Tunkhan- nock, favored the Moravians.

This unsettled condition of affairs lasted for some tinie without being resolved, and was the subject of much earnest reflection and debate. At length the brethren at Bethlehem despatched Zeisberger, an eminent and zealous missionary, to the town to ascertain the prospect for in- troducing the gospel there. Accompanied by Anthony he reached the town on the evening of the 23d of May, 1763. Papoonhank received them in his lodge, and thither his people flocked to hear the gospel. They continued here until the 27th, when they set out for Bethlehem, bear- ing to the brethren 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 returned again, taking

Nathaniel with him, arriving at Wyalusing on the even- ing of the 17th, and was welcomed by Papoonhank and his people. On the 26th Papoonhank was baptized and named John. In the evening another Indian was baptized and named Peter. These were the first who were sub- jects of that ordinance in this region. On the 27th, by invitation, he visited Tawandamunk and preached to the Indians there. Here an awaking took place and the gos- pel was received with eagerness.

But the good work was interrupted. On the 30th a runner arrived with a letter from Bethlehem recalling Zeisberger. He obeyed with reluctance.

The war that had been prevailing for some years in other quarters began to develop itself along the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania, particularly along the Sus- quehanna; and the whites and their Indian friends were compelled to seek safety in the more populous regions and abandon their frontier homes.

About the time of Zeisberger's first visit John Wool- man, of Burlington county, N. J., a tailor by trade and a Quaker by religion, zealous for the welfare of suffering and perishing humanity, had as he says, " for many years felt a love in his heart toward the natives of this land, who dwelt far back in the wilderness;" and being at Philadelphia "in the 8th month," 1761, he fell in com- pany with some of those natives who lived on the east branch of the Susquehanna, " at an Indian town called Wehaloosing," two hundred miles from Philadelphia. In conversation with them through an interpreter, as also by observation, he believed them measurably acquainted with the divine power. At times he felt inward draw- ings toward a visit to that place. An Indian and three women from beyond that place being in Philadelphia, he visited them in the 5th month, 1763, and with concur- rence of friends in that place, agreed to join with them as companions on their return. On the 7th of 6th month they met at Samuel Foulks's, at Richland, in Bucks county.

After taking leave of his family and friends, he set out on his journey. At Burlington he was joined by Israel and John Pemberton, who accompanied him that day. Next morning Israel left him, and he and John proceeded to Foulks's. Here Benjamin Parvin joined them, and after William Lightfoot, of Pikeland, and they traveled together to Bethlehem.

On the 10th of June they set out early in the morning. They met on the way several Indians, men and women, with a cow and a horse and some household goods, who were lately come from their dwelling at Wyoming.

On the 13th they reached the Indian settlement at Wyoming. About midnight before they got there an Indian runner came down from a town about ten miles above Wehaloosing and brought news that some Indian warriors from distant parts had come to that town with two English scalps, and told the people that it was war with the English. Hearing the news brought by the In- dian warriors, and being told by the Indians where they lodged that what Indians were about Wyoming expected to move in a few days to some larger towns, he thought it dangerous traveling at that time.

1158677

INDIAN MISSIONS ON THE SUSQUEHANNA.

On the 14th he sought ont and visited all the Indians that they could meet with in Wyoming, they being chiefly in one place, about a mile from where they lodged-in all perhaps twenty. Some of theni understood English and were kind and friendly. He set out and went up the river about three miles, to the house of an Indian named Jacob January, who had killed his dog, and the wo- men were making store of bread and preparing to move up the river. Here he put his baggage in a canoe, which some of his party pushed slowly up the stream, and the rest rode on horses, which they swam across a creek called Lahawahamunk, above which they pitched their tent.

On the 16th he fell in with Job Chilaway, an Indian from Wehaloosing. Job told him that an Indian came to their town and told them that three warriors, coming from a distance, had lodged in a town above Wehaloosing a few nights past, who were going against the English at Juniata. Job was going down the river to the province store at Shamokin. On the 17th he reached Wehaloos- ing about the middle of the afternoon. He says:

"The first Indian we saw was a woman of a modest countenance, witlı a babe. She first spoke to our guide, and then, with a harmonious voiee, expressed her gladness at seeing us ; having heard beforehand of our coming. Then by direction of our guide we sat down on a log, and he went to the town to tell the people we were eome. Sitting thus together the poor woman eame and sat near us. After a while we heard a eoneh shell blow several times, and then came John Curtis and another Indian man, who kindly invited us into a house near the town, where we found, I suppose, about sixty people sitting in silenee. After sitting a short time I stood up and in some tenderness of spirit acquainted them with the nature of my visit, and that a concern for their good had made me willing to eome thus far to see them. Then I showed them my certifi- cate, which was explained to them, and the Moravian Zeisberger, who overtook us on the way, being now here, bade me welcome."

The next morning they had another meeting, at which both Woolman and Zeisberger spoke, and Woolman says: "Our meeting ended with a degree of divine love. I observed Papunchang speak to one of the interpreters, and I was afterward told that he said, ' I love to feel where words come from'"

On the 21st, after a very interesting visit, he set out to return home. ' He thus speaks of the town: " This town, Wehaloosing, stands on the bank of the Susquehanna river, and consists, I believe, of about forty houses, mostly compact together; some about thirty feet long and eigh- teen wide, some bigger, some less; mostly built of split plank, one end set in the ground and the other pinned to a plate, on which lay rafters, and covered with bark."

Seven Indians accompanied him on his return, some in canoes and some on horseback, and at night they arrived below a branch called Tunkhannah. On the 22nd they reached Wyoming, and understood that the Indians had mostly gone from the place. The next day they loaded their baggage, etc., on their horses, and started across the mountain toward Fort Allen, and thence down the Lehigh, and arrived at Bethlehem on the 25th; on the 26th start- ed for home, which he reached on the 27th, finding all well.

Zeisberger paid his first visit to the Indians in the ca- pacity of an envoy on the part of Sir William Johnson and Governor Hamilton, specially to Teedyuscung. On the 16th of March, 1762, he left Christiansbrunn on horse-

back, and by nightfall reached the north part of the Blue Mountains, where he found a large encampment of Dela- wares and Nanticokes. His heart was strangely stirred as he sat again by a camp fire in the wilderness, with members of that race around him to convert whom was the exalted mission of his life.

The next morning he proceeded on his journey, taking with him one of the Delawares as a guide, for the whole country was covered with deep snow. After three days of hard and perilous riding in forest obstructed by great drifts, through snow banks from which it was almost im- possible to extricate the horses, and in " weather," says Zeisberger, " the severest I ever knew," he arrived at the lodge of Teedyuscung. Having delivered his letters he turned his attention to the converts of Wyoming. The most of them had not heard the gospel preached since the breaking out of the war. More than one backslider was reclaimed, among them George Rex, who, on the occasion of a subsequent visit to Nain, was readmitted to the church. On the 24th he returned to Bethlehem, and thence went to Philadelphia with the answer of Teedyus- cung.

Near the close of autumn he visited Wyoming again, accompanied by Gottlob Senseman. The dysentery was raging in the valley, and many Indians were prostrated. Among them was Abraham, the first convert. He had sent an urgent request to Bethlehem: "Brethren, let a teacher come to see me ere I die!" But the teacher came too late; the aged Mahican had finished his course. With his dying breath he had exhorted the Indians to re- main faithful to Jesus.

In the same spirit George Rex passed away, admonish- ing his people to avoid his evil example, and professing a sure hope of eternal life. Zeisberger spent several days in comforting the sick, and a new interest was awakened among all the scattered converts of the valley.

In May of the year 1763, as we have narrated, Zeis- berger again visited Wyoming to preach to the few nations who were still in the valley, now grown to be few indeed. Among them Teedyuscung no longer had a place.

On the night of the 19th of April, while lying intoxi- cated in his lodge, it was set on fire, and he perished in the flames. This was no doubt the cruel work of the Iroquois warriors, whom he had offended by his proud bearing at the colonial treaties at Easton.

Thus, by the death of their chief Abraham, the Mahi- cans, and by the death of Teedyuscung the Delawares, were bereft of their leaders and were broken up at Wyo- ming. The Nanticokes some time before had moved up into the State of New York, on the Chenango and Che- mung rivers, and the Shawanese as a body had joined their brethren in the west, and Wyoming was left with only a few wandering Indians, making no pretence to anything like an organized or even homogeneous body. Its Indian history therefore ends at this point, and a few words in reference to the Wyalusing mission, and one or two other matters, and this portion of the work is com- plete.

Notwithstanding the numerous treaties of peace and

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

the earnest efforts made to keep the Indians in friendly relations, yet murders and the usual horrors of Indian warfare were constantly occurring on the frontier, and hence the inhabitants became deeply exasperated and vowed vengeance against all Indians without discrimina- tion. They had sought out the guilty parties and de- manded them from the Indians, but their guilt was de- nied, their surrender refused, and no punishment was dealt out to them. The Moravian brethren, becoming aware of the feelings of the people, sought to protect the converts at their mission stations, particularly those at Wyalusing, from the impending wrath; and to that end as- sembled them at Bethlehem and Nazareth, whence they were removed to the neighborhood of Philadelphia for greater safety, and camped on Province island, where they were fed and sheltered at the expense of the Penn- sylvania government. " Here they remained for fifteen months, suffering untold hardships, insulted and reviled by mobs, decimated by disease, scorned alike by whites and Indians, a gazing stock both by reproaches and af- flictions, yet they continued stedfast in their faith." After having borne nearly one-half their number to the potter's field, the remainder, eighty three in all, left Philadelphia March 20th, 1765, and in pursuance of intercession and arrangements made in their behalf were permitted to loc- ate again at Wyalusing. This was a favored and favorite locality. Here lay rich hunting grounds in their original wildness, while sufficient land was cleared to afford them corn patches for immediate use. It was situated on the Susquehanna, a stream abounding in the choicest fish, and was on the great pathway between the North and South and East and West.

" In the freedom of their forest homes and the hunting grounds of their fatliers, hopeful for the future, guided and encouraged by their teachers, their hearts were filled with gratitude and joy. The new town which came into existence 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 elose of the summer hunt, a commodious meeting-house and a mission-house fifteen feet square, built of unhewn logs, were erected. At the close of the year there were connected with the mission one hundred and forty-six souls, of whom thirty-three were communicants."-Craft.

This mission increased and flourished with varied suc- cess; now disturbed by rivalry between the various Indian chiefs, and now by conflicting views as to the doctrines taught, and again by the favor or disfavor with which the various teachers sent there were received. Added to this was the stubborn fact that a life devoted to labor and the cultivation of the earth, and the restraints imposed by a settled, regulated society, were not suited to the Indian nature; and we will not be astonished to learn that in the spring of 1772 the mission of Friedenshuetten, at Wyalusing, was abandoned, and those who had remained faithful to it migrated under the directions of their spirit- ual teachers to the west, settling at Schonbrunn, in the Tuscarawas valley, on the Muskingum, in Ohio. Early on the morning of the 11th of June, 1772, they met in their chapel for the last time for religious worship, when they commended themselves to the keeping and guidance

of God, asking him to supply their wants, that they might perish not by the way.

"A few years since there was a feeble remnant of Christian Indians, ministered to by Moravians, dwelling at New Fairfield, Canada, and Westfield, Kansas. In the veins of some of these there flows the blood of the Mahi- cans and Delawares of old Friedenshuetten, the ‘ deserted village ' of the plains of Wyalusing."

A monument to mark the site of this Indian mission, bearing fitting inscriptions, was erected under the auspices of the Moravian Historical Society, and dedicated with appropriate services on the site of the mission and at the Presbyterian church at Wyalusing, June 14th and 15th, 1871. This monument is thirteen feet high, and bears the following inscriptions:

On the northern face-

" To mark the site of Friedenshuetten (M'chwihilu- sing), a settlement of Moravian Indians between 1765 and 1772."

On the eastern face-

" This stone was erected on the 15th June, in the year of Redemption 1871, by members of the Moravian His- torical Society."

While this mission at Wyalusing was more than ordin- arily successful, it was not that complete success which its founders had hoped and anticipated. It was all, how- ever, that a careful study of the Indian character would have led them to expect. The Indian, by nature, by habits and by his native education and habit of thought, was not calculated for a quiet, industrious and religious life. His wild nature, his love of the chase and his de- light in predatory excursions made him uneasy and un- settled; while labor was more irksome to him than to the whites, and even they resort to every possible expedient to eke out a subsistence rather than to labor. Labor is the last resort, the extreme service which they pay to their necessities, and with them hunting and fishing and tramping around yield delights that successful labor fails to bring.

And then the Indian religion was so different from the Christian, so much easier understood and practiced, and called upon them for so many less labors and sacrifices, that it is not wonderful that they received the latter slowly-conformed to it more slowly and yielded obe- dience to its requirements only at the last extremity. In consequence of these hindrances to the enjoyment of a Christian life the Indians, one by one or in parties, were constantly withdrawing from the missions, and seek- ing their native freedom of action and thought with the wild tribes who were free from the shackles which a Chris- tian life imposed. Even white men have done the same. Zeisberger said: "Sorcerers abound among the aborigines of our country. The majority of them are cunning jug- glers, or self-deluded victims of superstition." Some ex- isted by whom Satan himself worked "with all powers and signs and lying wonders." He disbelieved the stories he heard of what they could do until several of them were converted. These unfolded to him things from their own past experience which forced him to acknowledge the

THE SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY-THE MASSACRE OF 1763.

reality of Indian sorcery, and to adopt the opinion which was universal among the early church fathers that the Gods of heathenism were not visionary beings represented by idols, but Satanic powers and principalities, to wor- ship whom was to worship demons and be under deinon- iacal influences. He refers to three kinds of native magic, namely: the art of producing sudden death without the use of poison; the mattapassigan, a deadly charm by which epidemics could be brought upon entire villages, and persons at a distance sent to their graves; and the witchcraft of the kimochwe, who passed through the air by night, visiting towns, casting the inhabitants into an unnatural sleep and then stealing what they wanted.

The story of the Wyalusing mission has now been briefly told, and in its telling the history of the Indians at and in the territory of old Wyoming has drawn to a close. The suffering of the New England pioneers at the hands of the savages belongs to the early settlement of the valley, and as such will be narrated in another con- nection.

CHAPTER III.

OPERATIONS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY-THE "PENNAMITE AND YANKEE" CONTEST.

N 1753 an association called the Susquehanna Company was formed in Connecticut for the purpose of settling the lands in the Wyoming valley, and during the same year its agents were sent to make explorations in the region. During the next year an Indian council assembled at Albany, and the agents of the company attended this council for the purpose of extinguishing the Indian title to these lands.

The proprietary government also sent agents to this council to thwart, if possible, the designs of the Susque- hanna Company; and James Hamilton, then governor of Pennsylvania, wrote to Sir William Johnson soliciting him to interpose his influence with the Six Nations (who claimed the land, though the Delawares occupied it), and prevent the sale.

Notwithstanding these efforts on the part of the gov- ernor and his agents, the company's agents succeeded in effecting a purchase, which included this valley. A pur- chase had been made from the Indians by the proprietary government in 1736 which it was claimed included this territory; but this claim was disputed by the Connecticut claimants.

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History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 8

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York Publication date: 1880 Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co. Number of Pages: 900

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900