History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 2

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 2

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The Lenape and the Iroquois confederacy, as lias been before remarked, were almost con- stantly at war, with vietory usually upon the side of the former, according to their claim. After the advent of the French in Canada, however, the Iroquois, finding that they could not withstand an enemy upon each side of them, shrewdly sought to plaeate the Lenape tribes, and, by the use of much skilful diplomacy, in- dueed them to abandon arms and aet as media- tors between all the nations, to take up the peaceful pursuit of agriculture, and, by avoid- ing war, promote their own growth as a people, and at the same time exercise an influence toward the preservation of the entire Indian race. Into this trap, devised by the eunning Iroquois, they fell, and for a long period oecu- pied, as they themselves expressed it, the posi- tion of women instead of men. The Five Na- tions, when opportunity presented itself, re- warded with treachery the confidenee that thic Lenape had reposed in them, and the latter, then resolving to unite their forees and by one great effort destroy their perfidious northern neigh- bors, again became men. This was before the era of the English in America had really begun, and the Lenape were diverted from their pur- pose by new and strange occurrences. The English came in great numbers to their coast. They received the new-eomers kindly, as they [ had the Dateli, but in time the English, even

1 Concerning some of these settlements, or Indian towns, facts are given in chapter II, drawn from the accounts of the Moravian missionaries.

2 The Minsis, however, did not always have exclusive possession of the region of the Delaware or even the Mini- sink (which was so named because understood to be their domain). There were Shawanese upon the Delaware as early as 1698 or 1700, and not much later than the latter date they had passed northward through the Water Gap and make settlements in the Minisink region. The Shawa- nese were southern Indians, but had prior to 1700 been driven from their home by the Spaniards of Florida. They located on the lower waters of the Susquehanna, the Potomac and finally on the Delaware in the vicinity of Durham. As early as 1737 they were at Wyoming, under the protection of the Iroquois, who considered them excellent guards for that much prized locality.

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

the followers of Penn, turned from them and made friends with their enemy, the Iroquois, as the Dutch had done. They never ceased to re- vere the founder of Pennsylvania, Miquon, as they called him, but laid all of the subsequent wrong to mischievous people who got into power after their good brother had gone away, and who, not content with the land they had given them, contrived, they alleged, by every fraudulent means in their power, to rob them of all their possessions, and brought the hated Mengwe to humiliate them. They always maintained that they were insulted and treated in a degrading manner at treaties to which the English were parties, and particularly at that which took place at Philadelphia, in July, 1742, and at Easton, in November, 1756, when the Six Nations (they had become six by the incor- poration of the Tuscaroras, about 1712) were publicly called upon to compel the Lenape to give up the land taken from them by the "Walking Purchase"1 of 1737. But for this and other outrages they declared they would not have taken up the hatchet against the Eng- lish in the so-called " French and Indian War " of 1755-1763. It is possible that they would have remained neutral, notwithstanding their grievances, had they not been incited to enmity by the Iroquois.

After the close of the war, in 1763, the Lenape withdrew altogether from the proximity of the white settlements into the wilds of the Susquehanna country, and even the Christian Indians, who had been converted by the Mora- vians, removed to Wyalusing, a hundred miles from the pioneer settlers, north of the Blue Mountains, the government not feeling that they could be protected within the settlements. They did not long remain there, however, for the Iroquois sold the whole country to the English. Some of the Minsis or Munseys had gone before this to the head-waters of the Alle- gheny, and those of this tribe who were among the converts at Wyalusing joined them there. Subsequently the Lenape tribes were in Ohio, and a considerable number, chiefly of the Min-

sis, in Upper Canada, while others were upon the waters of the Wabash, in Indiana. Between the years 1780 and 1790 they began to emigrate from those regions to the territory west of the Mississippi. The remnant of the race thus- if their legend was true-retracing the steps of their ancestors made centuries before.

Of the chiefs of the Lenni Lenape, Taman- end, or Tammany was the most celebrated and illustrious in the whole history of the nation, and yet very little is known of him. He lives principally in tradition, and his name has been perpetuated by frequent application to civic so- cieties among the people who supplanted his race. He lived in the middle of the seventeenth century.2 In 1683 he, with a lesser chief, af- fixed their hieroglyphical signatures to a deed conveying to William Penn a tract of land in Bucks County, between the Pennypack and Neshaminy Creeks.3 He is said to have lived somewhere in the territory now constituting the State of Delaware, and it is traditionally asserted that he also lived for a considerable period upon the west bank of the upper Delaware, in what is now Damascus township, Wayne County. The Connecticut settlers, the Skinners and oth- ers, who came there in 1757, and retained the Indian appelation of Cushutunk, as that of their settlement, also called the fertile bottom land " St. Tammany Flat," and in later years his name was applied in its canonized form to a local lodge of the Masonic fraternity. The tra- ditional fame of Tamanend's virtue, wisdom and greatness, became so wide spread among the whites that he was established as St. Tammany, the Patron Saint of America. His name was printed in some old-time calendars and his fes- tival celebrated on the 1st day of May every year. On that day a numerous society of his votaries walked together in procession through the streets of Philadelphia with bucktails adorn- ing their hats, and proceeded to a " wigwam," in a rural locality, where they smoked the cal- umet of peace and indulged in festivity and mirth. The original Tammany Society in the United States was a Philadelphia organization

1 See the succeeding chapter for an account of the " Walking Purchase."

2 William L. Stone.

3 Penn. Archives, vol. i., p. 64.

THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

of high repute, which had no other purpose than pleasure and quaint, but innocent, diversion. The later societies being devoted to partizan politics, have lost the charm which the old so- ciety possessed. It is interesting to note, how- ever, that one of the most widely known politi- cal associations in the country bears the name of the great chief of the Lenni Lenape who was known, and whose sway was felt, even if he did not live upon the upper Delaware.

Of the character of Tamanend Heckewelder 1 says : " He was in the highest degree endowed with wisdom, virtue, prudence, charity, affabil- ity, meekness, hospitality, in short with every good and noble qualification that a human being may possess."

Teedyuscung, Tadeuskund or Tedeuskung, as his name is variously spelled, was foremost among the chiefs of the Lenape, who were well known to the whites, and he was the last ruler of his race on the soil which they longest in- habited-the region of the river whose name they bore. His name is a conspicuous one in colonial Pennsylvania annals, particularly those pertaining to the period of the French and In- dian War.

According to his own statenient, he was born about the year 1700, in New Jersey, east of Trenton. His father was an Indian of some note, known to the English as Old Captain Harris, and he was also the father of Captain John, of Nazareth, of young Captain Harris, of Tom, of Jo, and of Sam, Evans, named after men of repute among the early settlers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These sons were feared by the whites who lived around them, for they exhibited resentment as they saw their hunting grounds converted into pastures and ploughed fields. They left the country with reluctance, and migrated northward and west- ward into Pennsylvania about 1730, passing beyond the white settlers and into the land of their kinsmen, the Minsis, for these Indians were of the Unalachtgo or Turkey tribe of the Lenape race.

All of his life, before he was raised to the station of chief, he passed within the territory

of the Minsi-he was an Indian of the Dela- ware and had become a member of one of the Moravian Indian congregation in 1749, and was baptized in 1750.2 It was not until 1754 that his nation raised him to the station of a chief and called upon him to assume military com- mand of their fighting men in the impending inter-colonial conflict. A general council of the Lenape tribes was then held, which chose Tee- dyuscung grand sachem. He was then living at Gnadenhutten, on the Lchigh (in Carbon county), but immediately repaired to Wyoming. He had before been respected as an able coun- sellor of his nation, but now as " King of the Delawares," he was placed in an exceedingly precarious position. Whatever might have been his disposition towards the English, it was an impossible task to govern his exasperated people. Yet he did much towards lessening the cruelties of the Indians by keeping up an inter- course with the Governor of Pennsylvania, and occasionally drawing many of his people from the theatre of the war to meet the colonial author- ities at Easton or Philadelphia. His frequent visits to the Governor and the Quakers, to whom he was much attached, because of their friend- ship to the Indians, excited much jealousy in his own nation, especially among the Minsis, who believed that he was carrying on some un- derhand work at Philadelphia detrimental to the nation at large. Whether this was in any measure true or not it is indisputable that Tee- dyuscung was not uniformly and consistently true, either to his own people or the whites. He fought against, as well as made treaties with the whites, never using his whole influence for peace, and he was at the same time accused by his followers with having made some secret ar- rangement with the English, whereby a benefit would accrue to himself alone.

The Iroquois or Six Nations were also very bitter against him, although, when he secined to be promoting most actively the same inter- est, they were supporting that of the English, and herein lay the secret of the peculiar situation.

1 " Manners and customs of the Indian nations."

2 In the record of Moravian baptisms for 1750, Bishop Cammerhoff made an entry which (translated) reads " March 12 To-day I baptized Tatius Kundt, the chief among Sinners."

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

The paramount object of Teedyuscung was be- yond doubt, the recovery for the Lenni Lenape, of that dignity and power as a nation, which had been treacherously wrested from them by the Iroquois. For this purpose he sought for a time to effect an advantageous alliance with the British colonial government, and with the same object iu view lie, to a considerable measure, checked his people from making such indiscrim- inate warfare upon the whites as would arouse an overwhelming hatred, and make such over- tures impossible. When he discovered that the realization of his fondest hope was impossible, that no one would examine into the controversy between the Lenape and the Iroquois, and that the latter were on the contrary supported in their unjust pretensions, he "slipt the leash and let loose the dogs of war." It was because the Iroquois recognized his strong and sincere pur- pose to build up his nation, and because they were jealous of the influence they feared he might obtain among the English, that they ex- hibited their bitterness towards him and plotted his destruction. In fact there is reason to be- lieve that they compassed, or at least connived at his death. On April 19th, 1763 he was burned to death in his cabin at Wyoming, while asleep under the influence of liquor. A num- ber of Indians were witnesses to the fact that the cabin was fired from the outside. Suspicion fell principally upon the Mingoes, some of whom were said to be concerned in bringing the fatal liquor to the place, which was instrumental to the design.

Thus died Teedynscung, " King of the Del- awares," the last sachem of his people east of the Alleghenies, after lie had met with a large measure of success in uniting his people and recovering for them their lost power. At the time of his death he was the acknowledged ruler of no less than ten considerable tribes of the Lenape, and had forced the Iroquois to acknowl- edge them through him, as their peers.

No Indian of his time was more prominently identified with the colonial history of Pennsyl- vania. He appeared on the occasion of nearly all the important councils and treaties between the whites and the Delawares from 1742 to the time of his death, and in several of them as-

sumed very important roles. Hc had much dignity and simple eloquence. In person he was " a portly, well-looking man, endowed with good natural sense, quick of comprehension and very ready in answering the questions put to him." He was ambitious and very desirous of respect and command, liked to have a retinue following him when he went to Philadelphia and to be considered as the king of his country. The doctrines of Christianity which Teedyus- cung had learned among the Moravians prior to the Indian War, seemed to have made quite a deep impression upon him. As the head chief of his nation, he was compelled to resort to craft, subtlety, barbarity and bloodshed, and after his activity was over and shortly before he lost his life, he appeared greatly to deplore the career which had by circumstances been forced upon him. " As to externals," he said mournfully, " I possess everything in plenty ; but riches are of no use to me, for I have a troubled conscience. I still remember well what it is to feel peace in the heart ; but I have now lost all."

Among the minor chiefs of some local re- nown was Tatamy, from whom Tatamy's Gap, in the Blue Mountains, derived its name. He lived many years, about the middle of the eighteenth century, on the south side of the mountain, at this Gap, where he had a grant of upwards of two hundred acres of land confirmed to him by the Proprictaries' agents, about the year 1737, for valuable services rendered. Moses Tatamy, also called Tademe and Tat- temi, was a convert to the teachings of John Brainard, the devoted Moravian missionary among the Indians, and who once visited them in the Delaware Valley. Tatamy acted as interpreter for Brainard. He attended most of the treatics hield at Easton with the Indians, when Teedyuscung was chief of the Delawares, and acted as interpreter. Tatamy also made frequent visits to Bethlehem on various mis- sions, and seems to have been treated with re- spectful consideration. In the account of the Moravian brethren with the commissioners, several entries similar to the following appear : " Nov. 18th 1756 victuals delivered Tattama ye Indian, who came from Easton, and hay

THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

and oats for his horse, by order of Mr. Hors- field. S. 2. d. 4."

At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, the hostile Indians making frequent in- roads upon the frontier settlements, a change of residence was deenied necessary to secure the personal safety of Tatamy. He was removed to Frenchtown, on the Delaware. There he was permitted to occupy a small tract of land, and there he yielded up his spirit, near the close of the Revolution.1

The language of the Lenni Lenape,-" the pure Castilian of the new world,"-in the opinion of several competent judges, is the most perfect of all the Indian tongues. It is distinguished by beauty, strength and flexibil- ity. It has the power of compressing a whole sentence into a single word. This is done by taking the most important syllable of each word, and sometimes simply a single letter, combining them in slightly varying forms or with different terminations, the laws of euphony being observed, and thus forming a new word, expressing a variety of ideas. The language of the Minsi differed somewhat from that of the southern Delawares, but not sufficiently to be classed as a separate dialect. It was a little broader, more guttural and not quite so pleasant to the ear, and still it was never so harshı as some now commonly-accepted spellings would indicate. As an instance, it may be cited that the "k" which is the final letter of so many Lenape names, particularly of mountains, is not so truly indicative of the original Indian pronunciation as would be the softer "g." Nearly all of the Indian names, particularly those of the Lenape, are rich in rythmical euphony, and some which are exceptions have

1 It is erroneously stated by Ileckewelder that Tatamy was killed at the Forks settlement, in Northampton County, by a white man, prior to 1754. This usually trustworthy writer has hero confused the identity of father and son. It is true that William (or, as he was commonly called, Bill) Tatamy, a son of the old chieftain, was mor- tally wounded in July, 1757, by a young man (within the limits of Allen township), while straying from a band of Indians who were on their way from Fort Allen to Easton, to attend a treaty. He died from the effects of the gun- shot wound, about five woeks later, near Bethlehem. The unprovoked assault greatly incensed the Indians.

doubtless received their harshness through the imperfect rendering into English (or, in many cases, Dutch and German).

A small vocabulary of Lenape names applied to mountains, streams and localities in or near the field of which this work treats, and of others employed in the volume, together with their significance, is here appended.

AQUANSHICOLA Creek, (Carbon County), emptying into the Lehigh from the northeast. Corrupted from Achquoanschicola, signifying where we fish with the bush-net.

CUSHUTUNK (Wayne County) .- The name given by the Indians to the valley of the Dela- ware in the vicinity of Damascus, Wayne County, Pa., and Cochecton, Sullivan County, N. Y. Cochecton is a corruption of the original Indian appellation. The name has been trans- lated as the low lands; but from the termina- tion "unk," it is presumable the term was originally applied to the hills bordering the valley. The name is spelled on old maps Cashiegtunk.

DELAWARE RIVER .- This was called by the Delawares Lenape-wihittuck, i. e. the river of the Lenape. In the language of the Minsi Delawares it was Kit-hanne or Gicht-hanne, signifying the main stream in its region of country.

The Dutch, who were the first white people who sailed up that stream, named it in contra- distinction from the North River, Zuydt or South River. It takes its present name from Lord de la Warre, Governor of Virginia, who passed the Capes in 1610.

EASTON .- The name given by the Dela- wares to the site of Easton and afterwards to the town was Lechauwitank, i. e. the place at or within the forks.

EQUINUNK .- A creek emptying into the Del- aware from the southwest, in the northern part of Wayne County. The word is Delaware, and signifies where articles of clothing were dis- tributed.

KITTATINNY .- The Indian name for the Blue Mountains, signifying the endless mountain.

LACKAWANNOCK (Lackawanna) .- A stream emptying into the Susquehanna from the northeast, in Lackawanna (formerly Luzerne)

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

County. Corrupted from Lechauwah-hannek or Lechau-hannek, signifying the forks of a stream.

LACKAWAXEN .- A branch of the Delaware in Wayne and Pike Counties, corrupted from Lechauwesink, signifying where the roads part, at the forks of the road.

LEHIGH RIVER .- Called by the Delawares Lechauweeki, Lechwiechink or Lechauwekink, signifying where there are forks. This name was given to the river because through it struck an Indian path or thoroughfare, coming from the lower parts of the Delaware country, which thoroughfare, on the left bank of the river, forked off into various trails, leading north and west. The word Lechauwekink was shortened to Lecha, the word still in use by the Germans, of which abbreviation Lehigh is a corruption.

MEECH-HÁNNE signified the main stream; a name applied to the largest of several affluent streams prior to their confluence. This was the name given by the Delawares to the main branch of the Lehigh, between Lackawanna and Monroe Counties, because it was larger than the Tobyhanna or Tunk-hanna.

MASGEEK-HANNE (Monroe County). - A name given by the Delawares to a run flowing through the swamp of the Broad Mountain.

MAUCH CHUNK .- Corrupted from machk- tschunk, signifying Bear mountain, or strictly where there is a mountain the resort of bears.

MINISINK. - Corrupted from Mins-ink or Minissink, signifying where there are Minsies,- the home or country of the Minsies.

POCONO. - A stream in Monroe County, emptying into McMichael's Creek, corrupted from Pocohanne, signifying a stream between mountains. Broad Mountain received the name Pocono from this creek.

POHOPOCO or Big Creek .- Emptying into the Lehigh from the north-east, in Carbon County, rising in Monroe, corrupted from Pochkapochka, signifying two mountains bearing down upon each other, with a stream intervening.

POHOQUALINE .- The original name of the Delaware Water Gap, which was called also at different times Pahaqualong and Pahaqualia, meaning a river passing between two mountains. Pahaquarra is a corruption of the original name.

POPONOMING. - A pond or small lake in Hamilton township, Monroe County, corrupted from Papennámink, signifying where we are gazing.

SHOHOLA. - A stream emptying into the Delaware from the southwest in Pike County. Corrupted from Schauwihilla, signifying weak, faint, depressed. The township of Shohola, in Pike County, was named after this creek.

SHOHOKIN .- A stream emptying into the Delaware from the southwest, in Wayne County, corrupted from Schohúcan, signifying glue. Schohacannik, where there is glue-where glue is made.

TOBYHANNA .- A stream of Monroe County, emptying into the Lehigh. Corrupted from Topi-hanne, signifying alder stream-a stream whose banks are fringed with alder.

TUNKHANNA, or Tunkhannock .- A branch of the Tobyhanna, Monroe County. Corrupted from Tank-hanne, the small stream. The small- est of two or more confluents of a river was always called tank-hanne by the Delawares.

WALPACK (New Jersey) .- Corrupted from Wahlpeek, signifying a turn-hole or eddy in a stream-here meaning in the Delaware.

WALLENPAUPACK, or Paupack .- A branch of the Lackawaxen dividing Wayne and Pike Counties. Corrupted from Walinkpapeek, sig- nifying deep and dead water. By some author- ities the name of this stream is said to mean swift and slow water, which better characterizes its alternating quiet pools and dashing falls and rapids than does the signification first given.

WYOMING .- Corrupted from M'cheuomi or M'cheuwami, signifying extensive flats.

CHAPTER II.

Settlement of the Lower Minisink by the Dutch.

IT is requisite for a proper understanding of the early settlement of the Minisink that some preliminaries should be briefly recited and some explanations be made. First of all, let us de- fine the meaning of Minisink and describe the territory to which the term has been and is still applied. The word is unquestionably de- rived from the name of the Lenape or Delaware

SETTLEMENT OF LOWER MINISINK BY THE DUTCH.

tribe, the Minsi, the seat of whose residence was the region on both sides of the river Del- aware, from a point below the famous Water Gap, nearly to its head waters. The signifi- cance of the name is : where there are Minsis, or the home of the Minsis. In its most com- prehensive meaning, the Minisink was and is the Valley of the Delaware, from the Water Gap to Calicoou, N. Y .; 1 but in the more com- monly accepted and accurate meaning, the term can only be considered as applying to the valley from the Gap to Port Jervis, or at furthest to the mouth of the Lackawaxen.2 Under either of these definitions of its territory, the Minisiuk includes a narrow, irregular strip of territory following the meanderings of the Delaware, and embracing portions of the three States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Of the soil of the latter, it includes much less than of either of the other two; but it was within the New York Minisink that the first recorded visits of white men were made; it was there that the name was earliest applied, and it is there that the name has found seeurest and most permanent lodgment, in its application first to a great land patent, and afterwards to a township of Orange county-a matter to which we shall have occasiou to revert.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 2

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438