History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 11

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

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hended numerous distinct tribes, all speaking dialects of a common language (the Algonkin), and uniting around the same great council-fire. Their grand council-house, to nse their own expressive figure, ex- tended from the eastern bank of the Hudson on the northeast to the Potomac on the southwest. Many of the tribes were directly descended from the com- mon stock; others, having sought their sympathy and protection, had been allotted a section of their territory. The surrounding tribes not of this confed- eracy, nor acknowledging allegiance to it, agreed in awarding to them the honor of being the grandfathers; that is, the oldest residents in this region. There was an obscure tradition among the Lenni Lenape that in ages past their ancestors had emigrated east ward from the Mississippi, conquering or expelling on their route that great and apparently more civil- ized nation whose monuments, in the shape of mounds, are so profusely scattered over the great Western valley, and of which several also remain in Pennsylvania along the western slope of the Alle- ghany Mountains. The Lenni Lenape nation was divided into three principal divisions,-the Unamis, or Turtle tribes; the Unalachtgos, or Turkeys; and the Monseys, or Wolf tribes. The two former occu- pied the country along the coast between the sea and the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, their settlement extending as far east as the Hudson and as far west as the Potomac. These were generally known among the whites as the Delaware Indians. The Monseys, or Wolf tribes, the most active and warlike of the whole, occupied the mountainous country between the Kittatinny Mountain and the sources of the Sus- quehanna and Delaware Rivers, kindling their coun- eil-fire at the Minisink flats on the Delaware above the Water Gap. A part of the tribe also dwelt on the Susquehanna, and they had also a village and a peach- orchard in the Forks of the Delaware, where Naza- reth is now sitnated. These three principal divisions were divided iuto various subordinate clans, who as- sumed names suited to their character or situation.

The Shawanos, or Shawanees, a restless and fero- cious tribe, having been threatened with extermina- tion by a more powerful tribe at the South, sought protection among the friendly nations of the North, whose language was observed to bear a remarkable affinity with their own. A majority of them settled along the Ohio, from the Wabash to near Pittsburgh. A portion was received under the protection of the Lenni Lenapes, and permitted to settle near the Forks of the Delaware and on the flats below Philadelphia. Bnt they soon became troublesome neighbors, and were removed by the Delawares (or possibly by the

sends a loon to dive for mud from which he can make a new world. The loon fails to reach the bottom; the muskrat, which next attempts the feat, returns lifeless to the surface, but with a little sand in the bottom of its paw, from which the Great Hare is able to recreate the world. In other legends the otter and beaver dive in vain, but the muskrat succeeds, losing his life in the attempt. ]-Scharf's History of Philadelphia.

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Six Nations) to the Susquehanna Valley, where they had a village at the Shawnee flats, below Wilkesharre, on the west side of the river. During the Revolu- tion and the war of 1812 their name became eon- spicuous in the history of the Northern frontier. The Lenni Lenape tribes consisted, at the first settle- ment of Pennsylvania, of the Assunpink, or Stony Creek Indians; the Rankokas (Lamikas or Chiche- quaas); Andastakas, at Christiana Creek, near Wil- mington; Neshaminies, in Bueks County ; Shacka- maxons, about Kensington ; Mantas, or Frogs, near Burlington ; the Tuteloes and Nanticokes, in Mary- land and Virginia (the latter afterwards removed up the Susquehanna) ; the Monseys, or Minisinks, near the Forks of the Delaware; the Mandes and the Nar- ritieongs, near the Raritan; the Capitanasses, the Gacheos, the Monseys, and the Pomptons, in New Jersey. A few scattered clans or warlike hordes of the Mingoes were living here and there among the Lenapes. Another great Indian confederacy elaims attention, whose aets have an important bearing upon the history of Pennsylvania. This confederacy was originally known in the annals of New York as the Five Nations, and subsequently, after they had been joined by the Tusearoras, as the Six Nations. As confederates they ealled themselves Aquanuschioni, or United People. By the Lenapes they were called Mengue, or Mingoes, and by the French the Iroquois. The original Five Nations were the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Oneidas, the Senecas, and the Mohawks. In 1712 the Tuscaroras, being expelled from the in- terior of North Carolina and Virginia, were adopted as a sixth tribe. The language of all the tribes of the confederacy, except the Tuscaroras, was radically the same, and different from that of the Lenni Lenape. Their dominion stretched from the borders of Ver- mont to Lake Erie, and from Lake Ontario to the head-waters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna, and Delaware Rivers. This territory they styled their long house. The grand couneil-fire was held in the Onondaga Valley. The Senecas guarded the western door of the house, the Mohawks the eastern, and the Cayugas the southern, or that which opened upon the Susquehanna. The Mohawk nation was the first in rank, and to it appertained the office of principal war chief; to the Onondagas, who guarded the grand council-fire, appertained in like manner the office of principal eivil chief, or chief saehem. The Seneeas, in numbers and military energy, were the most pow- erful.

water conveyance, to which their territories are eon- tiguous, they were enabled in all directions to earry more distant nations. Nature had endowed them with a height, strength, and symmetry of person which distinguished them at a glance among the in- dividuals of other tribes. They were as brave as they

were strong, but ferocious and eruel when exeited in savage warfare; erafty, treacherous, and over-reach- ing when these qualities best suited their purpose. The proceedings of their grand eouneil were marked with great decorum and solemnity. In eloquenee, in dignity, and profound poliey their speakers might well bear comparison with the statesmen of civilized assemblies. By an early alliance with the Dutch on the Hudson they secured the use of fire-arms, and were thus enabled not only to repel the eneroach- ments of the French, but also to exterminate or re- duce to a state of vassalage many Indian nations. From these they exacted an annual tribute or ae- knowledgment of fealty, permitting them, however, on that condition to oeeupy their former hunting- grounds. "The humiliation of tributary nations was, however, tempered with a paternal regard for their interests in all negotiations with the whites, and eare was taken that no trespasses should be eom- mitted on their rights, and that they should be justly dealt with." To this condition of vassalage the Lenni Lenape or Delaware nation had been reduced by the Iroquois, as the latter asserted, by conquest. The Lenapes, however, smarting under the humiliation, invented for the whites a eunning tale in explanation, which they succeeded in imposing upon the worthy and venerable Mr. Heekewelder, the Moravian mis- sionary. Their story was that by treaty and by vol- untary eonsent they had agreed to aet as mediators and peace-makers among the other great nations, and to this end they had consented to lay aside en- tirely the implements of war, and to hold and to keep bright the chain of peace. This, among individual tribes, was the usual province of women. The Dela- wares therefore alleged that they were figuratively termed women on this account; but the Iroquois evidently ealled them women in quite another sense. " They always alleged that the Delawares were con- quered by their arms, and were compelled to this humiliating concession as the only means of averting impending destruetion." In the course of time, how- ever, the Delawares were enabled to throw off the galling yoke, and at Tioga, in the year 1756, Teedy- uscung extorted from the Iroquois chiefs an acknow]- edgment of their independence. This peculiar rela- tion between the Indian nation that occupied, and that which elaimed a paramount jurisdiction over, the soil of Pennsylvania tended greatly to embarrass and complieate the negotiations of the Proprietary government for the purchase of lands, and its influ- ence was seen and felt both in the eivil and military

The peculiar location of the Iroquois gave them an immense advantage. On the great channels of : history of Pennsylvania until after the close of the

Revolution.

George Alsop, in his tract called " A Character of war and devastation to the neighboring or to the | the Province of Maryland" (London, 1666), devotes a chapter to " A Relation of the Customs, Manners, Absurdities, and Religion of the Susquehannock In- dians in and near Maryland." These were the Mengwes of Campanius, and the Susquesahannoughs

THE ABORIGINES.

of Capt. Smith. Alsop says they are regarded as "the most Noble and Heroick Nation of Indians that dwell upon the confines of America ; also are so allowed and lookt upon by the rest of the Indians, by a sub- mission and tributary acknowledgment, being a people cast into the mould of a most large and warlike de- portment, the men being for the most part seven foot high in altitude and in magnitude and bulk suitable to so high a pitch; their voyce large and hollow, as ascending out of a Cave, their gate and behavior straight, steady, and majestick, treading on the Earth with as much pride, contempt, and disdain to so sordid a Centre as can be imagined from a creature derived from the same mould and Earth." They go naked summer and winter, says Alsop, "only where shame leads them by a natural instinct to be reservedly modest, there they become cover'd. The formality of Jezabel's artificial Glory is much courted and followed by these Indians, only in matter of colours (I con- ceive) they differ." They paint their faces in alter- nate streaks of different colors, and Alsop thinks, with other early writers, that their skins are naturally white but changed to red and cinnamon-brown by the use of pigments. Their hair is "black, long, and harsh," and they do not permit it to grow anywhere except upon the head. The Susquehannas tattooed their arms and breasts with their different totems, "the picture of the Devil, Bears, Tigers, and Pan- thers. They are great warriors, always at war, and keep their neighbors in subjection." Their govern- ernment is complex and hard to make out ; " all that ever I could observe in them as to this matter is, that he that is most cruelly Valorous is accounted the most Noble," which is a very good approximation of the fact that the war-chief derives his rank or influence from his deeds. Our author adds that when they determine to go upon some Design that will and doth require a consideration, some six of them get into a Corner and sit in Juneto, and if thought fit their business is made popular and immediately put in ac- tion; if not, they make a full stop to it, and are silently reserv'd. On the war-path they paint and adorn their persons, first well greased; their arms, the hatchet and fusil, or bow and arrows. Their war parties are small; they march out from their fort singing and whooping; if they take prisoners they treat them well, but dress them and anoint them so that they may be ready for the stake and torture when their captors return home. Alsop gives a full account of the process of torture, and declares that prisoners are hacked to pieces and eaten by the warriors. The religion of the Susquehannas Alsop regarded as an absurd and degrading superstition, they being devil- worshipers; but he admits that, "with a kind of wilde imaginary conjecture, they suppose from their groundless conceits that the World had a Maker." They sacrifice a child to the devil every four years, and their medicine-men have great influence among them. Their dead are buried sitting, face due west,

and all their weapons, etc., around them. The houses of the Susquehannas "are low and long, built with the bark of trees arch-wise, standing thick and con- fusedly together." The hunters go on long winter hunts ; the women are the menials and drudges, and yet they are commended for their beauty of form, and their husbands are said to be very constant to them. "Their marriages," says Alsop, in conclusion, "are short and authentique ; for after 'tis resolv'd upon by both parties, the Woman sends her intended Husband a kettle of boil'd Venison, or Bear, and he returns in lieu thereof Beaver or Otter Skins, and so their Nup- tial Rites are concluded without other Ceremony."

The Rev. John Campanius, Swedish chaplain of Governor Printz, and who resided on Tinicum Island, near the mouth of the Schuylkill, from 1642 to 1648, gives us in his "Nya Swerige" an excellent account of the Indians, which contains information we have been unable to find in any other work. What adds to the interest of his description is, that he wrote it from his own actual observations, and that, too, at a period dating back nearly to the first landing of the Europeans in this part of the country. His arrival here was forty years previous to the first landing of Penn, or two years before the founder of the colony was born. On account of the rarity of Mr. Campa- nius' work and its appropriateness, we give place to the following extract :

"Their way of living was very simple. With ar- rows, pointed with sharp stones, they killed the deer and other creatures. They made axes from stones, which they fastened to a stick, to kill the trees where they intended to plant. They cultivated the ground with a sort of hoe made from the shoulder-blade of a deer or a tortoise-shell, sharpened with stones and fastened to a stick. They made pots of clay, mixed with powdered mussel-shells burned in fire, to pre- pare their food in. By friction they made fire from two pieces of hard wood. The trees they burnt down and cut into pieces for firewood. On journeys they carried fire a great ways in spunk, or sponges tound growing on the trees. They burned down great trees, and shaped them into canoes by fire and the belp of sharp stones, Men and women were dressed in skins; the women made themselves under-garments of wild hemp, of which also they made twine to knit the feathers of turkeys, eagles, etc., into blaukets. The earth, the woods, and the rivers were the provision stores of the Indians; for they eat all kinds of wild animals and productions of the earth, fowls, birds, fishes, and fruits, which they find within their reach. They shoot deer, fowls, and birds with the bow and arrow ; they take the fishes in the same manner ; when the waters are high the fish run up the creeks and return at ebb-tide, so that the Indians can easily shoot them at low water and drag them ashore."

"They eat, generally, but twice a day, morning and afternoon ; the earth serves them for tables and chairs. They sometimes broil their meat and their

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY

fish, other times dry them in the sun, or in the smoke, and thus eat them. They make bread out of the maize or Indian corn, which they prepare in a manner peculiar to themselves : they crush the grain between two great stones, or on a large piece of wood; they moisten it with water, and make it into small cakes, which they wrap up in corn-leaves, and thus bake them in the ashes. In this manner they make their bread. The Swedes made use of it when they first came. They can fast, when necessity compels them, for many days. When traveling, or lying in wait for their enemies, they take with them a kind of bread made of Indian corn and tobacco juice, to allay their hunger and quench their thirst in case they have nothing else at hand. The drink, before the Christians came into this country, was nothing but water, but now they are very fond of strong liquors. Both men and women smoke tobacco, which grows in their country in great abundance. They have, besides corn, beans, and pumpkins, a sort of original dogs with short pointed ears.

"The American Indians had no towns or fixed places of habitation. They mostly wandered about from one place to another, and generally went to those places where they could find the most likely means of support. In spring and summer they pre- ferred the banks of rivers, where they found plenty of fish ; but in winter they went up into the country, where they found abundance of venison. When they travel, they carry their game with them wherever they go, and fix it on poles, under which they dwell. When they want fire they strike it out of a piece of dry wood, of which they find plenty; and in that manner they are never at a loss for fire to warm themselves, or to cook their meat. Their principal articles of furniture are a kettle, in which they boil their meat, and some dishes or plates of bark and cedar-wood, ont of which they eat ; for drinking they use commonly the shell of the calabash.

"When a Christian goes to visit them in their dwellings, they immediately spread on the ground pieces of cloth and fine mats or skins; then they produce the best they have, as bread, deer, elk, or bear's meat, fresh fish and bear's fat, to serve in lieu of butter, which they generally broil upon the coals. These attentions must not be despised, but must be ! received with thankfulness, otherwise their friendship will turn to hatred. When an Indian visits his friend, a Christian, he must always uncover his table at the lower end, for the Indian will have his liberty ; and he will immediately jump npon the table, and sit on it with his legs crossed, for they are not accustomed to sit upon chairs; he then asks for whatever he would like to eat of. When the Swedes first arrived the Indians were in the habit of eating the flesh of their enemies. Once on an occasion they invited a Swede to go with them to their habitation in the woods, where they treated him with the best the house afforded. Their entertainment was sumptuous ;

there was broiled, boiled, and even hashed meat, all of which the Swede partook with them, but it seems it did not well agree with him. The Indians, how- ever, did not let him know what he had been eating ; but it was told him some time after by some other Indians, who let him know that he had fed on the flesh of an Indian of a neighboring tribe with whom they were at war."

The earliest purchase by Penn of any part of what now constitutes Montgomery County was made the 25th of June, 1683, of Wingebone, for all his right to lands lying on the west side of the Schuylkill, begin- ning at the lower falls of the same, and so on up and backwards of said stream as far as his right goes. The next purchase was made the 14th of July of the same year, from Secane and Idquoqnehan and others, for all the land lying between the Manayunk or Schuyl- kill River and Macopanackhan or Chester River, and up as far as the Conshohocken Hill, which is opposite the present borough of that name. On the same day another purchase was made of Neneshickan, Male- bore, Neshanocke, and Oscreneon for the lands lying between the Schuylkill and Pennepack streams, and extending as far northwest as Conshohocken, but now better known as Edge Hill. On the 3d of June, 1684, all the right of Manghhongsink to the land along the Perkiomen Creek was duly sold and conveyed. On the 7th of the same month and year, Mettamicont relinquished all his right to lands on both sides of the Pennepack. July 30, 1685, Shakhoppa, Secane, Malebore, and Tangoras conveyed all their right to lands situated between Chester and Pennepack Creeks, and extending up into the country, in a northwest direction from the sources of those streams, two full days' journey. This almost takes in the whole of the county, excepting only that portion lying east of the Pennepack Creek. July 5, 1697, another purchase was made from Tamany, Weheeland, Wehequeekhon, Yaqueekhon, and Quenamockquid for all their right to lands lying between the Pennepack and Neshaminy Creeks, and extending in a northwest direction from the Delaware as far as a horse could travel in two days. Thus was finally extinguished by purchase all the right and title of the Indians to any portion of the soil now embraced within the limits of Montgom- ery County.

An Indian council was held by previous appoint- ment at the house of Edward Farmer, where is now the village of White Marsh, on the 19th of May, 1712. The Governor, Charles Gookin, was present, with the sheriff, John Budd, Conrad Richard Walker, and others. A delegation of eleven Delaware Indians was present, Sassunan being the principal chief, ac- companied by Ealochelan and Scholichy, the latter being speaker. Edward Farmer, who was quite fa- miliar with the Indian language, performed the duties of interpreter. Scholichy, in his address to the Gov- ernor, mentioned that as the Delawares had been made tributary to the Mingoes, or Five Nations, many

THE ABORIGINES.

years ago, they had thought proper to call on him previous to their seeing those tribes, and that they had brought their tribute along, which was duly pre- sented to the Governor, and consisted of thirty-two belts of wampum,1 of various figures, and a long In- dian pipe called the calumet, made of stone, the shaft of which was adorned with feathers resembling wings, besides other ornaments. Their business was amicably adjusted to the entire satisfaction of all parties. On this occasion the Governor and his friends, thirteen in number, came from Philadelphia on horseback.

Of their true character, tribal relations, habits of daily life and customs, William Penn has given us graphic pictures. His colonial enterprise necessarily comprehended contact with the race possessing the

1 Wampum passed as current money between the early whites and Indians. There were two kinds of it, the white and purple. They wers hoth worked into the form of beads, generally each about half nn inch long, and one-eighth broad, with a hole drilled through them so ns to be struog on leather or bempen strings. The white was made out of the great conch or sen-shell, and the purple out of the inside of the mnssel-shell. These beads, we shall call them, after being strung, were next woven by the Indian women into belts, sometimes broader than a person's hand, and about two feet long. It was these that were given and received at their various treaties os seals of friendship; in matters of less importance only a single string was given. Two pieces of white wampum were considered to equal in valne one of the purple. The enlumet was a large smoking-pipe, made out of some soft stone, com- monly of a dark-red color, well polished, aud shaped somewhat in the form of a hatchet, and ornameoted with large feathers of several colors. It was used in all their treaties with the whites, and it was considered by them as a flag of trnce between contending parties, which it would be a high crime to violate. In fact, the calumet by them was consid- ered as sacred and as serions an obligation as an oath among the Chris- tians.

The value of Indian lands at that time to the savages may be gath- ered from the price paid in 1677 for twenty miles square on the Delt- ware between Timberand Oldman's Creeks, to wit. : 30 match-coats (maile of hairy wool with the rough side ont), 20 guns, 30 kettlea, 1 great kettle, 30 pair of hose, 20 fathoms of duffels ( Duffield blanket cloth, of which mntchi-coats were made), 30 petticoats, 30 narrow hoes, 30 bars of lead, 15 sinall barrels of powder, 70 knives, 30 Indian axes, 70 combs, 60 pair of tobacco tongs, 60 pair of scissors, 60 tinshaw looking-glasses, 120 aw]-blades, 120 fish-hooks, 2 grasps of red paint, 120 needles, 60 tobacco- boxes, 120 pipes, 200 bells, 100 jews-barps, and 6 anchors of rom. The value of these articles probably did not exceed three hundred pounds sterling. But, on the other hand, the Indian titles were really worth nothing, except so far as they served as a security against Imlian hos- tility. It has been said that there is not nn acre of land in the eastern part of Pennsylvania the deeds of which cannot be traced up to an Indian title, but that in effect would be oo title at all. Mr. Lawrence Lewis, in his lenrned and luminons " Essay on Original Land Titles io l'hiladelphia," denies this absolutely, and says that it is " impossible to trace with any accuracy" the titles to land in Philadelphia derived from the Indians. Nor ia it necessary to trace a title which is of no value. The Indians could not sell land to individuals and give valid title for it in any of the colonies; they could sell if they chose, but only to the goverument. Upon this subject the lawyers are explicit. All good titles in the thirteen original coloniea are derived from land-grants, made or accepted not by the Indians, but by the British crown. Thus Chalmers (Political Annals, 677) says, "The law of nations sternly disregarded the possession of the aborigines, because they had not been admitted into the society of nations." At the Declaration of Independ- ence (see Dallas' Reports, ii. 470) every acre of land in this country was held, mediately or immediately, by grants from the crown. All our institutions (Wheaton, viii. 588) recognize the absolute title of the crown, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy, and recognize the absolute title of the crown to extinguish that right. An Indian conveyance alone could give no title to an individual. (The references here given are quoted from the accurate Frotbingham's "Rise of the Republic.")

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 11

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534