History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 5

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 5

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are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones; their mourning a year; their customs of women, with many other things that do not now occur." He also says about them, "their eyes, little and black not unlike a straight looked Jew." "Their language is lofty yet narrow; but like the Hebrew in signification full; like shorthand writing, one word serv- eth in the place of three, and the rest are supplied by the understanding of the hearer; imperfect in their tenses, wanting in their moods, participles, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections; I know not a language spoken in Europe, that hath words of more sweetness, or greatness in accent and emphasis than theirs." From many other sources we learn that their language was as perfect in its way as taught by nature, and governed by rules and methods just as the bee builds its cells regularly without the recognition of the laws of geometry.

The religious ideas of the aborigines have been a matter of much comment, . as well as how far they possessed a knowl- edge of a Supreme Being. William Penn, in his letter, already quoted, writes thus: "They say there is a Great King that made them, who dwells in a glorious country to the southward of them, and that the souls of the good shall go thither where they live again." "Their worship, "he says, "con- sists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico. Their sacrifice is their first fruits. The first and fatted buck they kill goeth to the fire, where he is all burnt with a mournful ditty of him, that performeth the ceremony, but with such marvelous fervency and labor of body, that he will even sweat to a foam. The other part is the cantico performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; two being in the middle that begin ; and by singing and drumming on a board direct the chorus." "Their diet is maize, or Indian corn divers ways prepared; sometimes roasted in the ashes; sometimes beaten and boiled with water, which they call homine; they also make cakes, not unpleasant to eat. They have likewise several sorts of beans and pease, that are good nourishment; and the woods and rivers are their larder." "If any European comes to see them or calls for lodging at their house, or wigwam, they give him the best place and first cut. If they come to visit us, they salute us with an Itah : which is as much as to say, good be to you, and set them down; which is mostly on the ground close to their heels; their legs up- right; it may be they speak not a word, but observe all passages. If you give them any- thing to eat or drink, well; for they will not

*Brancroft's Hist. U. S. Vol. X1, Chap. 37, 38. Indians.

+ Proud's Hist, of Penna.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

ask; and be it little or much, if it be with kindness, they are well pleased, else they go away sullen but say nothing. "* " They are great concealers of their own resent- ment; brought to it by the revenge that hath been practiced among them." "But in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their friend. Give them a fine gun, coat or other thing, it may pass twenty hands before it sticks; light of heart, strong affections, but soon spent. The most merry creatures that live, feast and dance perpetually. They never have much nor want much. Wealth circulateth like blood; all parts partake, and though none shall want what another hath; yet exact ob- servers of property. Some kings have sold, others presented me with several parcels of land: the pay or presents I made them were not hoarded by the particular owners; but the neighboring kings, and their clans being present, when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned, consulted on what, and to whom, they should give them. To every king, then, by the hands of a per- son for that work appointed is a proportion sent, so sorted and folded and with that gravity that is admirable. Then that king subdivideth it in like manner; they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of their subjects." " And be it on such oc- casions as festivals, or after their common meals, the kings distribute, and to them- selves last. They care for little because they want but little, and the reason is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged on us; if they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are also free from our pains. They are not disquieted with bills of lading and exchange, nor perplexed with chancery suits, and exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to live: their pleasure feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing and fowling, and their table is spread everywhere. They eat twice a day, morning and evening, their seats and table the ground."

"In the fall, when the corn cometh in, they begin to feast one another. There have been two great festivals already; to which all come that will. I was at one myself-their entertainment was a great seat by a spring under some shady trees, and twenty bucks, with hot cakes of new corn, both wheat and beans; which they make up in a square form, in the leaves of the stem, and bake them in the ashes; and after that they fall to a dance. But they that go must carry a small present, in their money; it may be sixpence, which is made of the bone of a fish; the black is with them as gold; the white silver; they

call it all wampum." He also says : "The justice they have is pecuniary; in case of any wrong or evil fact, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts, and presents of their wam- pum, which is proportioned to the quality of the offence or person injured." "It is rare that they fall out, if sober; and if drunk, they forgive it, saying 'it was the drink and not the man that abused them.'" "Since the Europeans came into these parts, they have grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially; and for it exchange the rich- est of their skins and furs. If they are heated with liquors, they are restless till they have enough to sleep; that is their cry, 'some more, and I will go to sleep;' but when drunk one of the most wretched spec- tacles in the world." Well did William Penn say: "The worst is that they are the worse for the Christians; who have propa- gated their vices and yielded them tradition for ill and not for good things."

" It were miserable indeed for us to fall under the just censure of the poor Indian conscience, while we make profession of things so far transcending."

He further says: "Their government was by kings, which they called sachems, and those by succession always of the mother's side. For instance, the children of him who is now king will not succeed him, but his brother by his mother, or the son of his sis- ter, and after them the children of her daughter, but no woman inherits. Every king had his council, consisting of all the old and wise men of his nation. War, peace, selling of land, or traffic, were only under- taken after advising with them, and also with the young men. The king sat in the middle of a half moon, and had his council of the old and wise men on each hand; be- hind them, or at a little distance, sat the younger fry in the same figure." "Having consulted and resolved their business, the king ordered one of them to speak to me; he stood up, came to me, and, in the name of the king, saluted me; then took me by the hand, and told me he was ordered by the king to speak to me, and that now it was not he, but the king, that spoke, because what he should say was the king's mind. He first prayed me, To excuse them, that they had not complied with me the last time: he feared there might be some fault in the interpreta- tion, being neither Indian nor English; be- sides it was the Indian custom to deliberate and take up much time in council, before they resolve; and that if the young people and owners of the land, had been as ready as he, I had not met with so much delay.

THE ABORIGINES.

Having thus introduced his matter, he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed to dispose of, and the price, which now is little and dear; that which would have bought twenty miles not buying now two." "Dur- ing the time that this person spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile; the old, grave; the young, reverent in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently and with elegance. I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them without the help (I was going to say the spoil) of tradition; aud he will deserve the name of wise, that outwits them in any treaty, about a thing they understand."

"When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave light; which done, another made a speech to the Indians, in the name of all the sachamakers or kings, just to tell them what was done, next to charge and command them 'to love the Christians, and particularly to live in peace with me, and the people under my government; that many governors had been in the river; but that no governor had come himself to live and stay here before; and having now such an one, that had treat- ed them well, they should never do him or his any wrong.' At every sentence of which they shouted and said Amen, in their way."

If their personal appearance and lan- guage indicated such resemblances as tend to prove an Eastern origin, there are, on the other hand, certain things, for which the Eastern races are proverbial, and of which the American Indians knew nothing. Of all races of mankind, they alone were ignorant of the pastoral state. They kept neither sheep nor kine. They knew nothing of the use of the milk of animals for food. They had no wax, nor oil, and no iron." They had no idea of government or of trial and condemnation. Retaliation was the only law of punishment .* Everything, to their conception, was material in its character. They had some sort of a genius that was an object of veneration and fear, called the Manitou. This was represented by a bird, a buffalo, a bear, a feather, a skin; but, in no case, a man. Each Indian appears to have had his Manitou, and any evil that happened to him was attributed to its anger. They buried with the warrior his Manitou, his pipe, his tomahawk, his quiver and bow, and his apparel-placed by his side his bowl of maize and his vension for. his long journey to the country of his ancestors .* With many

manly qualities and an evident respect for each other as warriors, and admiration for powers of endurance in the midst of tortures, and delight in the eclat of success, there was no reverence for man as such, no matter what an individual's fame might be. The apothe- osis of the Aryan race had no place among them, or the Semitic reverential awe of the prophet. His fellow man was not adored, nor was homage paid to the dead .* Long before William Penn landed on the shore of this continent, Christians had been at work among the Indians, and it is difficult to say what ideas by that time had been implanted among them of a Great Spirit, or any spirit of poetic fancy, that inhabited the woods, the water, the stars or the sea.

The Indians have been described as being well formed, straight, and having no deform- ity among them. Their color, reddish brown or copper color, as distinguished from olive, with dark, straight hair and no beards; their cheek bones prominent, with projecting jaws, and an expression of indolent insensibility, and with no flexibility of feature, so that when the Indian depicted his passions, it was by strong contortions and a kindling of the eye, that seemed ready to burst from its socket. Their clothing was made of the skins of the bear, fox, and beaver, and mocca- eins of deer skin, without a sole, ornamented on the upper side. * Their wigwams were made with long poles fixed in the ground, covered with bark, having no door but a loose skin, and having an opening in the roof for a chimney, and were about the height of a man. In one of them the whole clan huddle together, men, women, and children, with weeds or grass on the ground for a floor. In traveling they would lie around great fires .*

The pipe of peace was reverenced by them. The person of him who traveled with it was sacred. Each village had its calumet, which was adorned by the chief with eagle feathers and which was consecrated by the nation. This, together with the ceremonies attend- ing its acceptance, has served to throw a charm around the savage nature, and is remembered by its figurative use in our language. "The envoys from those desiring peace or an alliance, would come within a short distance of the town, and uttering a cry, throw themselves on the ground." The great chief, bearing the peace pipe of his tribe, with its mouth pointing to the skies, goes forth to meet them, accompanied by a long procession of his clansmen, chanting the hymn of peace. The stranger rises to receive them, singing also a song to put away

*Bancroft.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

all wars and bury all revenge. As they meet, each party smokes the pipe of the other, and peace is ratified."* With all this commend- able decorum, worthy of imitation in our own public councils, the imposing scene was accompanied by features that may be consid- ered inimitable. "Some had the nose tipped with blue, the eyebrows, eyes and cheeks tinged with black, and the rest of the face red; others had black, red and blue stripes drawn from the ears to the mouth; others had a broad, black band, like a ribbon, drawn from ear to ear across the eyes, with smaller bands on the cheeks. When they made visits, and when they assembled in council, they painted themselves gloriously, delighting especially in vermilion."*

Their frequent councils with the English were attended with the same ceremonies and gifts to which they had been accustomed among themselves. "Their delight was in assem- bling together and listening to messengers from abroad. Seated in a semi-circle on the ground, in double or triple rows, with the knees almost meeting the face; the painted and tattooed chiefs, adorned with skins and plumes, with the beaks of the red-bird and claws of the bear; each listener, perhaps, with a pipe in his mouth, and preserving deep silence, they would give solemn attention to the speaker, who, with great action and en- ergy of language, delivered and brought the message; and if his eloquence pleased, they esteemed him as a god. Decorum was never broken, there were never two speakers strug- gling to anticipate each other; they did not express their spleen by blows;they restrained passionate invective; the debate was never disturbed by an uproar; questions of order were unknown."*

"The art of public speaking was in high esteem among the Indians, and much studied. They were extremely fond of method, and displeased with an irregular harangue, be- cause it is difficult to be remembered. Their speeches were short, and the sense conveyed by strong metaphors; in conversation, they were sprightly,but solemn and serious in their messages relating to public affairs. Their speakers delivered themselves with surprising force and great propriety of gesture. The fierceness of their countenances, the flowing blanket, elevated tone, naked arm, and erect stature, with a half circle of auditors seated on the ground, cannot but impress on the mind a lively idea of the ancient orators of Greece and Rome."t

Wampum is described to be belts of cloth

of some kind on which are fastened beads made of pieces of shell, cut and polished, some white and some of purple color, the latter being the more valuable. Each belt was called a fathom. At every treaty belts of wampum were presented, and in this way their annals were kept. During these trea- ties, at every clause of speech ratifying or creating a covenant, a belt was given. These belts were about four inches wide and thirty in length, and were treasured and kept as records of the nation, and were had recourse to on subsequent occasions, which ceremony being omitted, all they said passed for nothing .* Belts of wampum were also used as money. The use of these beads or pieces of bone, in the nature of coin, was, probably, derived from intercourse with the Europeans, and existed among the Delawares in the locality where the scenes were enacted which Willim Penn describes.

THE CONESTOGOE INDIANS.

Between the town of Lancaster and the Susquehanna River, there was a very large town and settlement of Indians called Con- estogoe, which appears to have been a chief place of councils, and gave the name to such Indians as inhabited there and in that vicin- ity. The Conestogoe Indians were a friendly and peaceable people, long settled among the whites.

The resident Indians complained of set- tlers and traders interfering with their hunt- ing, and it was to accommodate them that Springetsbury Manor, as will hereafter be related, was laid out, though on the part of Pennsylvania, it was designed to prevent Maryland encroachments. These Indians are therefore intimately associated with the events surrounding our early settlements. Our territory was on their way to their hunt- ing grounds, and they desired that it should be free to them. The only Indian town men- tioned, on the west side of the river was a place called Conedoughela, f further south than Conestogoe. Frequent visits were made by Indians to the government at Philadelphia, and frequent councils were also held at Con- estogoe, where the governors of the province attended, and belts of wampum were given, and gifts of personal goods and skins were exchanged in testimony of confirmed friend- ship. The minutes of the provincial coun- cil will show the nature of these interviews, and the condition of the Indians and their re- lations to the whites, just previous to the time of the settlements west of the Susquehanna.

"Bancroft.

+Smith's History of New York. Proud.

*Proud.

+III Archives, p. 395. (Possibly Conedochly now.)

THE ABORIGINES.

At a meeting of the Provincial Council held at Philadelphia, June 6, 1706, James Logan, Secretary, gave an account of his visit, with others of the council, to the In- dians at Conestogoe the preceding October, when he told them, " That he was come from the Governor of Pennsylvania, who had al- ways been a friend to all the Indians within the bounds of it. That Gov. William Penn, since first he came into this country. with all those under him, had always inviola- bly maintained a perfect friendship with all the natives of this country that he_found possessed of it at his first arrival. ( That when he was last in the country he visited those at that place, and his son upon his arrival did the same, in order to cultivate the ancient friendship between them, that he and his posterity might, after his father's example, maintain peace and good understanding with them and theirs. That they should take great care in giving ear to malicious reports spread aud carried by ill men, for that we heard they had been alarmed at the Chris- tians putting themselves in arms in all these parts and mustering; the reason of this was the war with the French, and was designed rather to help them than to hurt them, but as they and we are brethren, each must be assistant to the other, and therefore the English took up arms to defend themselves, and the Indians also, against both their enemies." The Secretary further added, that "among the Shawanois, with whom their chief abode was, he had also held a treaty to the same purpose with that at Conestogoe." "That he had made a journey among the Ganawese, settled some miles above Cones- togoe, at a place called Connejaghera, above the fort, and had conferences with them, which seemed wholly to compose all their apprehensions, and that he had reason to believe he left all these three nations in a perfect good understanding with us."" There were present at this conference chiefs of the Conestogoe, Shawanese, and Ganawese Indi- ans upon Susquehanna, being come to town, in order to confer with the Government, about public affairs relating to them, and were all seated in the council chamber. An- daggyjunquagh, the chief of those of Con- estogoe, (whose name appears in the deeds for the lands upon the Susquehanna,) laid before the Governor a very large wampum belt of twenty-one rows, with three hands wrought in it in black, the rest white, which belt he said was a pledge of peace, formerly delivered by the Onondagoe Indians, one of the Five Nations, to the Nantikokes, when

they made them tributaries; that the Nanti- kokes, being lately under some apprehensions of danger from the Five Nations, some of them had this spring come up, and brought this belt with them, and that they had another of the same also at Conestogoe to show to those of the Five Nations that were expected shortly to come down to receive the Nantikokes' tribute." This belt had been taken to Philadelphia, that it might be shown to those of the Five Nations who might come down that way, as evidence that there was peace with them and that the English were at peace with the neighboring Indians. The Shawanese also owned themselves under some apprehensions from the Five Nations. The Nantikokes were a Maryland tribe or nation. Gov. Evans, with several persons, visited the Indians, and among others met the Nan- tikokes, and while among them, one of them took into his hands a belt of wampum from a line whereon there hung nineteen others, and several strings of beads, and said, " they had been given to understand the Queen had sent orders that the Indians should live in peace with one another, and that they were sent to give some of these belts in behalf of the Governor of Maryland, and themselves, to the Five Nations. Governor. - How long have you been at peace with these nations ? Nantikoke .- Twenty seven years. Governor. What is the reason then of so many belts of wampum and strings of beads ? Nantikoke. - We send them as tribute."

At a meeting of the Council, June 16, 1706, the Indians were informed that a law had been enacted that no person should trade with them, but such as should first have a license from the Governor. They desired that only two persons should be allowed to trade with them; but it was answered that they would be the more subject to be imposed on, the fewer should trade with them. They further desired that none might be suffered to go up into the country beyond their towns to meet the Indians returning from hunting, for they sustain great damage by that prac- tice, by being made drunk at their return before they got home to their wives, and so were imposed on and cheated by the traders of the fruits of all their labors. Upon this they were desired to take care among them- selves that uone of their people should sell anything to the traders till they came home to their own towns. And in licenses that should be given for the future, the Governor would take care to oblige them not to go any higher into the country than the noted Indian towns, and to trade nowhere else. * On the

* II Col. Rec. 244.

*II Col. Rec. 248.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

23d of July, 1712, several Indians being arrived from Conestogoe on business of im- portance, met the Council. Tagodrancy or Civility, a war captain and chief with Tan- yahtickahungh, the old speaker, Knawonhunt and Soachkoat, two brothers, and some others being sate, they first presented a bundle of deerskins, and by Indian Harry, their inter- preter, said : "That the Proprietor, Gov. Penn, had, at his first coming amongst them, made an agreement with them that they should always live as friends and brothers, and be as one body, one heart, one mind, and as one eye and ear, and that what one saw the other should see, and what the one heard, the other should hear, and that there should be nothing but love and friendship between them and us forever." They presented a small bundle of furs and said, that on their part they had always kept up to this agree- ment, and should constantly observe it in all respects; that if anything came to their knowledge relating to us they would always, like brothers and friends, acquaint us with it, and if, at any time, any foreigners or strangers came among them they would give notice of it immediately at Philadelphia, and in all things would acquit themselves accord- ing to what they had promised and engaged. They presented two bundles of skins together, and said that on our part we had promised them to regulate the trade that was carried on with them at Conestogoe and had spoken of licenses to be given to the traders, by which means all abuses were to be rectified. But that since licenses were granted they found themselves worse dealt by than ever; they received less for the goods they sold the traders; were worse treated and suffered more injuries, which they desired the Council to inquire into and know why it was so and cause it to be redressed. They presented a fifth bundle, and said that the cattle the traders kept, hurt and destroyed their corn. The Council having taken into consideration the complaints of the Indians, ordered that the traders whose cattle had done damage should be forthwith obliged to make compen- sation, and that they should remove to a greater distance and not be allowed on any terms to keep any cattle or horses than what are for their immediate service, unless they should live on purchased land .*

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 5

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104