History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 13

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 13

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Neneshikken. 5th Mo. 14, 1683.

Pendanoughah Neshaunock. 6th Mo. 14, 1683.

Wingebouc. June 25, 1683.

× Swanpecs. June 23, 1683.

Wessapoat. June 23, 1683.

Mulebone. 5th Mo. 30,1683.

Shakukoppek. 5th Mo. 30, 1685.

Maughhoughsin. 4th Mo. 3, 1684.

King Tamanent. June 15, 1692.

Mettamicon. June 7, 1684.

King Tangourx. June 15, 1692.

about a man's length ; the bowl is made of horn, and to contain a great quantity of tobacco. They gener- ally present these pipes to their good friends when they come to visit them at their houses and wish them to stay some time longer ; then the friends can- not go away without having first smoked out of the pipe. They make them, otherwise, of red, yellow, and blue clay, of which there is a great quantity in the country ; also of white, gray, green, brown, black, and blue stones, which are so soft that they can be cut with a knife. ... Their boats are made of the bark of cedar and birch trees, bound together and lashed very strongly. They carry them along wherever they go, and when they come to some creek that they want to get over they launch them and go whither they please. They also used to make boats out of cedar trees, which they burnt inside and scraped off the coals with sharp stones, bones, or muscle shells."

Charles Thompson,1 who enjoyed the confidence of the Indians, and whose good offices in effecting pur- chases of land were often invoked, and who frequently spent days and weeks among them unattended, refers to their want of knowledge in the metallic arts. He says,-

"They were perfect strangers to the use of iron. The instruments with which they dug up the ground were of wood, or : stone fastened to a handle of wood. Their hatchets for cutting were of stone, sharpened to an edge by rubbing, and fastened to a wooden handle. Their arrows were pointed with flint or bones. What clothing they wore was of the skins of animals took in hunting, and their ornaments were principally of feathers. They all painted or daubed their face with red. The men suffered only a tuft of bair to grow on the crown of their head; the rest, whether

1 He was in fact adopted by them. He took minutes of the conference proceedings in short-hand, and these were so accurate as to be preferred by the commissioners to the official record, and so just to the Indians as to win their profound gratitude. They adopted him into the Lenape uation, and gave him the name of Wegh-won-law-ico-end, " the man who tells the truth."

Rekerappan. Sept. 20, 1683.

THE ABORIGINES.

on their head or faces, they prevented from growing by constantly plucking it out by the roots, so that they always appeared as if they were bald and beardless.

" Many were in the practice of marking their faces, arms, and breast by pricking the skin with thorns and rubbing the parts with a fine powder made of coal (charcoal), which, penetrating the punctures, left an indelible stain or mark, which remained as long as they lived. The punctures were made in figures according to their several fancies. The only part of the body which they covered was from the waist half-way down the thighs, and their feet they guarded with a kind of shoe made of hides of buffa- loes or deerskin, laced tight over the instep and up to the ankles with thongs. It was and still continues to be a common practice among the men to slit their ears, putting something into the hole to prevent its closing, and then by hanging weights to the lower part to stretch it out, so that it hangs down the cheek like a large ring. They had no knowledge of the use of silver or gold, though some of these metals were found among the Southern Indians. Instead of money they used a kind of beads made of conch-shell, manu- factured in a curious manner. These beads were ored parts of the shell. They were formed into cyl- inders about one-quarter of an inch long and a quarter of an inch in diameter. They were round and highly polished and perforated lengthwise with a small hole, by which they strung them together and wove them into belts, some of which, by a proper arrangement of the beads of different colors, were figured like carpeting with different figures, according to the vari- ous uses for which they were designed. These were made use of in their treaties and intercourse with each other, and served to assist their memory and preserve the remembrance of transactions. When different tribes or nations made peace or alliance with each other they exchanged belts of one sort; when they excited each other to war they used another sort. Hence they were distinguished by the name of peace belts or war belts. Every message sent from one tribe to another was accompanied with a string of these beads or a belt, and the string or belt was smaller or greater according to the weight and importance of the subject. These beads were their riches. They were worn as bracelets on the arms and like chains around the neck by way of orna- ments."

made, some of the white, some of the black or col- . Thompson seems to have been a close observer :

When and how the Indians acquired the art of pro- ducing fire by friction, prior to the use of flint and steel, remains a great mystery. This element was absolutely essential to their existence in the northern latitudes, and must of necessity have been in use by them. Nature may have supplied them by volcanic eruptions, and once in their possession they may have retained perpetual fires. The discovery of heat, generated by friction, may have been accidental in fallen forest trees moved or swayed by the wind.

" Gen. George Crook has described a fire-stick used by the Indians of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. 'The fire-stick,' he says, 'consists of two pieces. The horizontal stick is generally from one foot to a foot and a half long, a couple or three inches wide, and about one inch thick, of some soft, dry wood, frequently the sap of the juniper. The upright stick is usually some two feet long and from a quarter to half an inch in diameter, with the lower end round or elliptical, and of the hardest material they can find. In the sage-brush country it is made of " grease- wood." When they make fire they lay the first piece in a horizontal position with the flat side down, and place the round end of the upright near the edge of the other stick ; then taking the upright between the hands they give it a swift rotary motion, and as con- stant use wears a hole in the lower stick, they cut a nick in its outer edge down to a level with the bottom of the hole. The motion of the upright works the ignited powder out of this niek, and it is there caught and applied to a piece of spunk or some other highly combustible substance, and from this the fire is started.' "'

Of their tribal relations and intercourse Mr.

" Almost every nation being divided into tribes, and these tribes subdivided into families, who from relationship or friendship united together and formed towns or clans; these several tribes, families, and towns have commonly each a particular name and chief, or head man, receive messages, and hold con- ferences with strangers and foreigners, and hence they are frequently considered by strangers and for- eigners as distinct and separate nations. Notwith- standing this, it is found upon closer examination and further inquiry that the nation is composed of several of these tribes, united together under a kind of federal government, with laws and customs by which they are ruled. Their governments, it is true, are very lax, except as to peace and war, each individual having in his own hand the power of revenging inju- ries, and when murder is committed the next relation having power to take revenge, by putting to death the murderer, unless he can convince the chiefs and head men that he had just cause, and by their means can pacify the family by a present, and thereby put an end to the feud. The matters which merely regard a town or family are settled by the chiefs and head men of the town; those which regard the tribe, by a meeting of the chiefs from the several towns; and those that regard the nation, such as the making war or concluding peace with the neighboring nations, are determined on in a national council, composed of the chiefs and head warriors from every tribe. Every tribe has a chief or head man, and there is one who presides over the nation. In every town they have a council-house, where the chief assembles the old men and advises what is best. In every tribe there is a place, which is commonly the town in which the

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

chief resides, where the head men of the towns meet to consult on the business that concerns them ; and in every matter there is a grand council, or what they call a council-fire, where the heads of the tribes and chief warriors convene to determine on peace or war. In these several councils the greatest order and de- corum is observed. In a council of a town all the men of the town may attend, the chief opens the business, and either gives his opinion of what is best or takes the advice of such of the old men as are heads of families, or most remarkable for prudence and knowledge. None of the young men are allowed or presume to speak, but the whole assembly at the end of every sentence or speech, if they approve it, express their approbation by a kind of hum or noise in unison with the speaker. The same order is observed in the meetings or councils of the tribes and in the national councils."

Like all barbarous nations, the North American Indians were superstitious. Parkman says, "The sorcerer, by charms, magic songs, magic feats, and the beating of his drum, had power over the spirits and those occult influences inherent in animals and inanimate things. He could call to him the souls of his enemies. They appeared before him in the shape of stones. He chopped and bruised them with his hatchet ; blood and flesh issued forth ; and the in- tended victim, however distant, languished and died. Like the sorcerer of the Middle Ages, he made im- ages of those he wished to destroy, and muttering incantations, punctured them with an awl, whereupon the persons represented sickened and pined away."

Subjects of fear as they were under the sorcerer's arts and magic when in health, and pliant patients in the hands of the conjurer when stricken with dis- ease, yet their ruling passion seems to have been that of hate and revenge in the redress of insults and in- juries. To gratify this passion of their savage souls time, distance, suffering, peril were but food to feed upon ; disappointment and delay only served to in- crease their thirst for blood when in pursuit of ven- geance. "The stealthy blow, the reeking scalp torn from the prostrate victim, the yell of triumph when the decd was done-this was compensation for all. Nor did death suffice; the enemy, public or private, must be tortured, and nothing but his agony and his groans could satiate the wolfish thirst of the savage for blood. His warfare was conducted by stealth and strategy and surprise; he imitated the panther, not the lion, in his assaults, and he lay by his victim and mangled him like the tiger. Sometimes he ate his victim if he was renowned, that all of the valor and virtue of the slain might not be lost, but some of it pass into the slayer's own person. If conquered or wounded to death his stoicism was indomitable; his enemy might see his back in flight, but never behold him flinch under torture ; when his finger nails were plucked out one by one, and the raw skull from which his scalp was torn seared with live coals, and red-hot

gun-barrels thrust into the abdominal cavity after he had been disemboweled, he would still sing his death- song and gather breath to hurl a last yell of defiance at his encmy as he expired."

It seems, however, that limitations were imposed upon this passion, at least among themselves, by rules or customs of restraint. Offenses were chiefly against the person, as there were but few property rights to be sinned against among them. Every crime could be condoned. This was possible in case of murder. If murderer and victim belonged to the same clan, it was looked upon as a family quarrel, to be settled by the immediate kin. As a rule, public opinion compelled the acceptance of the atonement in lieu of blood- shed. If the murderer and victim were of different clans, the whole tribe went to work to prevent a feud from arising and leading to more bloodshed. Every effort was made to get the victim's clan to accept the atonement offering. Thirty presents was the price of a man's life, forty for a woman. If the victim be- longed to a foreign tribe, the danger of war led to council meetings, formal embassies, and extensive making of actual and symbolical presents.

That the Indians should place a higher estimate upon the life of a woman than the man is in strange contrast with their general character,-perhaps it was because of her greater value to them as a drudge or laborer.

A wild and singular people were the Indians who met our forefathers on the shores of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. Evidences of friendship and comity towards our race they certainly mani- fested, as also a consciousness of our superior condi-

DELAWARE INDIAN FORT. [From Campanius' " New Sweden."]

tion ; but, withal, their adult people, rulers and ruled, never yielded to the temptations of wealth, the greater power or higher enjoyments of life as seen in the line of civilization, before which they protestingly retreated, league by league, to the Ohio and Mississippi. For almost four centuries they have stolidly looked on the amazing progress and development of the continent over which they roamed as its prond possessors. Eye-witnesses to the plain and simple forms of government cstab-

EARLY VOYAGERS AND TRADERS.

lished in their very midst upon lands purchased from them, in daily contact with a number of different lan- guages, all far superior to theirs, they remained un- affected; not even war, with all its potentialities, with all its destructive agencies, and in which they were used as factors by their cunning and adroit allies, could wake them from their barbarous inertia. One hope still remains; it is for the youth of the race, who can be educated.> Through these there may be a final redemption of the tribes now on the Pacific Slope.

NOTE .- About the year 1710 a Swedish missionary preached a sermon at an Indian treaty held at Conestogoe, in Pennsylvania, iu which ser- mon he set forth original siu, the necessity of a mediator, and endeavored by certain arguments to induce the Indians to embrace the Christian religion. After he had ended his discourse one of the Indian chiefs made a speech in reply to the sermon, aud the discoursee on both sides were made known by interpreters. The missionary, upon his return to Sweden, published his sermon and the Indian's answer. Having written them ju Letin, he dedicated them to the University of Upsal, and re- quested tbem to furnish him with arguments to confute such strong reasoning of the Indians. The Indian speech, translated from the Latin, is As follows :

"Since the subject of his (the missionary's) errand is to persuade na to embrace a new doctrine, perhaps it may not be amiss, before we offer him the reasons why we cannot comply with his request, to acquaiut him with tho grounds and principles of that religion which he would have is abandon. Our forefathers wete under a strong persuasion, as we are, that those who act well in this life shall be rewarded in the next, according to the degree of their virtue; and, on the other hand, that those who behave wickedly here will undergo such punishments here- after as nre proportionate to the crimes they were guilty of. This hath been constantly and invariably received and acknowledged for a truth through every successive generation of our ancestors. It could not have taken its rise from fable, for human fiction, however artfully and plan- sibly contrived, can never gain credit long among any peuple where free inquiry is allowed, which was never denied by our ancestors, who, on the contrary, thought it the sacred, inviolable, natural right of every man to examine and judge for himself. Therefore we think it evident that our notion concerning future rewards and punishments was either re- vealed immediately from heaven to some of our forefathers, and from them descended to us, or that it was implanted in each of us at our creation by the Creator of all things. Whatever the methods might have been whereby God hath been pleased to make known to us His will, it is still in our sense a divine revelation. Now we desire to propose to him some few questions. Does he believe that our fore- fathers, men eminent for their piety, constant and warm in the pursuit of virtue, hoping thereby to merit everlasting happiness, were all damned? Does he think that we, who are their zealoue imitators in good works, and influenced by the same motives as they were, earnestly endeavoring with the greatest circumspection to tread the paths of in- tegrity, are in a state of damnation ? If these be his sentiments they are surely as impious as they are bold and daring. In the next place, we heg that he would explain himself more particularly concerning the revelation he talke of. If he admits no other than what is contained in his written book, the contrary is evident from what has been shown before. But if he Baye God has revealed Him- self to ue, but not sufficient for our salvation, then we ask to what purpose should he have revenled Himself to us in anywise ? It is clear that a revelation insufficient to save cannot put us iu a better condition than we should be in without any revelation at all. We can- not conceive that God should point ont to us the end we ought to aim at without opening to us the way to arrive at that end. But, supposing our understandings to be so far illuminated ns to know it to be our duty to please God, who yet hath left us under an incapacity of doing it, will this missionary, therefore, conclude that we shall be eternally damned ? Will be take upon him to pronounce damnation against us for not doing those things which be himself acknowledges were impossible by us to be done? It is our opinion that every man is possessed of sufficient knowledge for his salvation. The Almighty, for anything we know, may have communicated the knowledge of Himself to a different race of people in a different manner. Some say they have the will of God in writing: be it 80 ; their revelation has no advantage above ours, since 4

both must be equally sufficient to save, otherwise the end of the reve- lation would be frustrated. Besides, if they both be true they must be the same io substance, and the difference can only lie in the mode of communication. He tells us there are many precepts in his written reve- lution which we are entirely ignorant of. But these written commauds can only be designed for those who have the writings; they cannot pos- sibly regard ue. Had the Almighty thought so much knowledge neces- sary for our salvation His goodness would not long have deferred the communication of it to us ; and to say that in a manner so necessary he could not at one and the same time equally reveal Himself to all mankind is nothing less than an absolute denial of llis omnipotence. Without doubt He can make his will manifest without the help of any book or the assistance of any bookish man whatever. We shall in the next place consider the arguments which arise from a consideration of providence. If we are the work of God (which I presume will not be denied), it follows from thence that we are under the care and protec- tion of God ; for it cannot be supposed that the Deity should abandon his own creatures and be utterly regardless of their welfare. Then to say that the Almighty hath permitted us to remain in a fatal error through so many ages is to represent Him as a tyrant. How is it consis- tent with Ilis justice to force life upon a race of mortals without their consent and then damn them eternally, without ever opening to them the door of salvation ? Our conceptions of the gracious God are more noble, and we think that those who teach otherwise do little less than blaspheme. Again, it is through the care and goodness of the Almighty that from the beginning of time, through many generations to this day, our name has been preserved, unblotted out by enemies, unreduced to nothing By that same care we now enjoy our lives, are served with the necessary means of preserving those lives. But all these things are trifling compared with our salvation. Therefore, since God hath been so careful of us in matters of little consequence, it would be absurd to affirm that He has neglected us in cases of the greatest importance. Admit that He hath forsaken us, yet it could not have been without a just cause. Let us suppose that an henious crime was committed by one of our socestors, like to that which we are told happened among another race of people. In such case God would certainly punish the criminal, but would never involve us, who are innocent, in his guilt. Those who think otherwise must make the Almighty a very whimsical, ill-natured being. Once more, are the Christians more virtuous, or, rather, are they not more vicious than we are ? If so, how came it to pass that they are the objects of God's beneficence, while we are neg- lected? Does the Deity confer His favors without reason, and with so much partiality ? In a word, we find the Christians much more de- praved in their morals than ourselves, and we judge of their doctrine by the badness of their lives."

THE Loan's PRAYER IN THE LANOUAGE OF THE SIX NATION INDIANS.

Soīngwaūnchā, cāurounkyāugă, tēhaēētāroān, sāulwūnēyūūftă, ēsā, sāwanēyon, škėttāūhsēlă, ēhněāūwong, nā, cārounkỹanga, nūgli, wonshāūgā, nēattěwebnēsālāūgā, taūgwāunăntrònčantough- sick, toantāngwelēēwhēyoūftaung, chenēēyeut, chāquštaūtālěy whěy ouĪtāūnnā, toūghfan, taūg wāussārēnēh, · tāwautēttėnăngāloūght- šūnggā, nāsūwně, sāchēāutāngwāss, contēhsālāhůūuzāikāw, ésă, sūwaunēyon, ēsā, săsbaūtztă, ēsā, sūūngwāsūūng, chěnněănhāūngwā, auweu.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY VOYAGERS AND TRADERS-FIRST SETTLE- MENTS ON THE DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL RIVERS.

TIIE eveuts connected with and resulting from the discovery of the South and North Rivers1 by Henry Hudson, from 1609 to 1638, are so interwoven with the settlements of the Swedes on the shores of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, as to render some account of the advent of the Dutch or Netherlanders a necessary prelude to the annals of the later settlers.

1 Delaware and IJudson.

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The writer has consulted numerous anthorities upon the remarkable events of the period referred to, and has used them freely when deemed essential to a concise narrative of facts.1

There is no subject associated with the history of our ancestry more replete with continuing interest than that which relates to the experience and achievements of the carly voyagers, traders, and set- tlers who landed upon the shores of the Delaware River. The splendid bay which joins river to ocean invited them to safe anchorage after their long and adventurous passage over a trackless and compara- tively unknown "waste of waters" between two con- tinents. The Delaware River and its confluents were unexplored to them, beyond what they could learn from the savages who met them many miles south of tide-water levels. The period of these early settle- ments, about 1620, was marked by great maritime activity, induced by the discovery of the North Amer- ican continent by Christopher Columbus and the many and remarkable voyagers who subsequently crossed the Atlantic Ocean on exploring expeditions, first and ostensibly to extend the dominion of their " Gracious Sovereigns," and second to gratify their professional ambition in opening up new avenues of trade and the accumulation of wealth.2 The return of these early voyagers and their flattering reports of climate, bays and harbors, rivers, soil, surface prod- ucts, and minerals, with imaginary possibilities and the wild and savage character of the native people, all tended to increase public interest in the New World and attract adventurous spirits . its shores.3

1 Bancroft, Hist. United States ; Proud, Hist. Pennsylvania ; Colonial Archives ; Sherman Day, Hist. Pennsylvania; Davis, Hist. Bucks County; Brodhead, Hist. New York ; Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, Hist. New York ; Scharf and Westcott, Hist. of Philadelphia.

" There is oo ground for reasonable doubt that John and Sebastian Cabot, natives of Venice, probably sailors almost from birth, but doing business in Bristol, England, at the time of their commission under King Heory VII., were the first navigators, at least of historic times, to discover the actual coast-line of the North American continent, along which they sailed from Newfoundland to the parallel of Gibraltar, that is to say, to about the latitude of Cape Hatteras. John Cabot, the senior of these sailors and traders, excited by the news of the great discovery made by Christopher Columbus, and with the certainty thus warranted of reaching land by sailing westward, obtained a commission under the great seal of England from King Henry VII., dated March 5, 1496, au- thorizing the navigator and his three sons, or either of them, their heirs or their deputies, to sail into tho Eastern, Western, or Northern seas, with a fleet of five ships, nt their own expense, in search of unknown lands, islaods, or provinces; to plant the banner of England on these when fonod, and possess and occupy them as vassals of the English crown. The provision that the explorers should voyage at their own expense was characteristic of the thrifty monarch, but the commission of a king at that day was the only safeguard the navigator had to pro- tect him from suspicions of piracy, and the exclusive right of frequent- ing and trading to the new countries when found was a privilege for which nations were soon to contend.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 13

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