History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 3

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046

USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 3

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"In sickness, impustient to be cured, and for it give anything, especially for their children, to, whom they are extremely natural. They triuk at those times a term, or decoction of some roots in spring water; and if they eat any flesh, it minst be of the feutale of any creature. If :ley dir. they lairy them with their apparel, be they man or woman, and ine nearest of kin thn_ in something prechers with thein, as an ken of their love. Their manning is Marking of their faces, which they continue for a year. They are choice of the graves of their dead; for, lest they should be least by time, and fall to common use, they pick of the grass that grows upon them, and heap up the fallen earth with great care and

. These four people are under a dark night in things relating to reing- inn ; to besure the tradition of it : yet they believe a find and namortality, without the helpof metaphysics: for, they say, There isa Great King that mundo them, who dares in a glorious country to the southcard of them ; and that the cats of the good shall go theher, where they shall live ayun. Their worship consists of two parts, service and wanted Their sacrifice 14 the ir first fruits; the first and fattest bock they kill goeth to the fire, where he is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him that performeth the fer muny ; but with suche marvellous fervency and labor of body, that he w il even sweat to a form. The other part is their e intro, performed by pound dances, sometimes words something's souls, then shetty; two heits in the middle that beam ; mal by singing and cramming on a board, acest the chains. That postures in the dunes are very antick and differing. lent all keep med-ire El- is done with equal earnestness and Libor, but great apprentime of joy. In the fall, when the e an cometh in. they Jegin to frast myanother. There have been two mot testival already to winch all come that will. I was at une misself: then entertainment was a great sat by a spring, under some one ly trees, and twenty backs, with her makes ( new corn, butl wheat and lens, what If they make up in a square farm, in the leaves of the af m. and take them in the art's; and after that they fall to dance, But they that so must carry a satall present in their money ; it may be sixpeure ; which is maile of the bone

GENERAL HISTORY.

of a fish : the black is with them as gold; the white, silver : they call it all trumpm.

"Their government is by Kings, which they call Suchamt, and those by succession, but always of the mother's side. For instance, the chit- dren of him who is now king will not succeed, but his brother by the mother, or the children of his sister, whose sous and after them the chil- dren ot her daughters will reign ; for no woman inherits. The reason they render for this way of descent, is that their issue may not be spurious.

"Every King hath his Conneit; and that consists of all the okl and wise men of his nation ; which, perhaps, is two hundred people. Noth- ing of moment is undertaken, be it war, jorge, selling of land, or traf- fick, withont advising with them : and, width is more, with the young inen too. It is admirable to consider how powertul the Kings aro, and yet how they move by the breath of their people. I have had occas on to be in conmil with them, upon tre ities for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. The order is this: The King - its in the middle of ant half moon, and hath his couneit, the off and vise, on each band. be- hind them, or at a little di-tanice, sat the younger try, in the same figure. Having consulted and resolved their Inis ness, the King ordered oue of theni to speak to me; he stood up, came to me, and in the name of his King saluted me; then took me by the hand, and told me, .He was ordered by his King to speak to me ; and that now it way n the, but the King, that spoko; because what he als uld say was the King's min.' Ile first prayed me ' to excuse them, that they had not complied with me the last time, he frared there might be some fanit in the Interpreter, being neither Indian nor English ; be-ides. it was the Induin custoir to deliberate, and take up much time in council before they tredive; and that if the young people and owners of the land had been as ready as he, I had nut met with so much delay.' 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. During the time that this person spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or st le ; the old, grave ; the young, reverent, in their deportmient. 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 spwil of tradition; and he will deserve the name of wine that ourwits them in any treaty, almut a thing they understand. When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed between n>, '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 Judi- uns, in the name of all the Sachumulers, or King ; hrst to tell them what was done; next, to charge and command them ' to love the C'. returns, and particularly live in peace with me and the people under my gr- ernment ; that many Governors had been in the river ; but that to Gov- ernor had come hituself to live and stay here before; and having now such an one, that had treated them well, they should never do him or bis any wrong,'-ut every sentence of which they shouted and said Amen, in their way.

"The justice they have is pecuniary : In case of any wrong or evil act, be it murder it-elf, they atone by frasts, and presents & their trumpum: which is proporti oned to the quality of the offence, or pel on injured, or of the sex they are of. For, in case they kill a woman, they pay double ; and the renson they render, is, ' that she breedeth children; which men cannot do.' It is rare that they fall out, if suber; and, if drunk, they forgive it, saying, 'It was the drink, and not the man, that abused then.'

"We have agreed that, in all difference between us, x's of each side shall end the matter. Do not atdise them, but let them have justice. and you win them. The worst is, that they are the worse for the 'hris- tins ; who have propagated their vi 's, and yiel led them tra litton for ill, and not for good things. But as low an ebb as these prople are at, and as inglorious as their own condition looks, the Christians have not ontlived their sight, with all their pretensions to an higher manifestation. What good, they, night not a good people graft where there is so dis- tinct a knowledge left between good and evil ? I leserch God to incline the heart of all that come into these parts ty untlive the know le lge of the retires, by a fixed obedience to their greater knowledge of the will of God ; for it were miseralde, indeed, for us to fall under the just censure of the poor ludwin conscience, while we make profession of things so far transcending.

"For their original, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish race ; I mean of the stuck of the teatrales; and thut, for the fall wing reasons: First, they were to go to a ' land not planted, nor knuin , which, to be sure, Anis and Africa were, if not Europe; and he that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them, wright make the passage not un-

easy to them, as it is not impossible in itself, from the eastermost parts of Asia to the westermost of .Imerien. In the next place; I find them of the like countenance, mul their children of so lively resemblance, that a man would think himself in Die's Pare, or Berry a cet, in Lon- don, when he seeth them. But this is not all; they agree in riter; they reckon by moons; they offer their first fruits; they have a kind of frust of tabernal's; they are said to lay their altar upon thelte atours ; their mourning a year ; customs of women, with many other things that do not low ureur."

Within the limits of our county are a number of Indian geographical names, which necessitate some allusion as to their meaning and derivation. All names derived from the language of the natives have undergone many changes in orthography.1 At first, every one spelled them to snit himself. The English, Irish, German, French, Dutch, and so on, had each their peculiar way of representing the Indian sounds. This gave rise to many variations. The dialectical differences in the Indian tongue greatly increased these variations. The ignorance and carelessness of many men in the proper use of letters in their own language and of the sound in other languages in- creased these variations still further. Hence we find such a diversity of orthography that sometimes it takes an experienced person to recognize some of the fornis.

At length these words, by common usage, have come to a settled orthography. This nsage often de- stroyed or mutilated the original word. This process of Anglicising Indian words generally consuited ease of speech, and seldom correctness of original sounds. Most of them, right or wrong, are now established. A very few still remain unsettled.

One difficulty with Indian names along the Sus- quehanna River is that the region was inhabited by tribes of both the Huron-Iroquois and Algonquin stocks of Indians; and each of these families had tribes on its banks, whose dialectical variations were so great that they hardly understood each other a word. This was the case with the Shawanese and Delawares, though both Algonquin. One afe rule may be adopted, viz., all names regniring the use of the lips ia pronunciation dul not originate from any of the tribes of the Huron-Iroquois family.

The regions of the lower Susquehanna having been overrun by so many Indian races and subdivisions of races, we may naturally look for remains of all these diver-ely speaking tribes in the geographical vestiges that have come down to us. It is this that makes in- vestigation so very difficult. To get at the meaning of a term we must first know the language or Indian nationality to which it belonged. To do this would involve a knowledge of several Indian tongues and many more almost equally difficult dialectical vari- ations.

It is an interesting fact, also, that many of the names given by the incoming tribe were translations

1 We are indebted to Professor A. T., Gues for much concerning the In- dian geographical names of this locality, to which subject he has devoted conshleralle research.

HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

into their own tongue of the same names employed by the tribe that preceded them. Many terms used by the Delawares were only translation- of Fu-que- hanna or Iroquoi- terms previously used. Even the English on their advent often translated these names into the corresponding English term -. This is apt to be the case in all such cases as Fishing. Beaver, and Stony Creeks. The historical idea remain-, clinging as with hooks of steel, even when given the new translated sound.

The only one in the old days that did posterity a great service in preserving the meaning of the In- dian geographical names was the Moravian mission- ary, Heckewelder. He lived long among the Dela- wares, and was quite familiar with their language and the dialect of the sub-tribe -. He has given u- his opinion on many of these names, and he is in gen- eral, of course, good authority : but even le. in some cases, must be received with great caution. He was a great admirer of the Delawares, and had strong prejudices against the Iroquois, which often warped hi- judgment. In his love for the Delaware- he made all the names emanate from them that he possibly could. He made some undoubted Iroquois or Andas- tie words appear with far-fetched ideas of Delaware origin. We receive his statements with caution when they tend to disparage the Iroquois and extol the Delawares. Notwithstanding this we must acknowl- edge him as having rendered a most valuable service in rescuing the origin of many words from oblivion.

We come now to notice the word susquehanna. Our first knowledge of it is from the History of Vir- ginia, by Capt. John Smith, published in London in 1629. He describes his exploration of the Chesa- peake Bay, at the head of which he found four rivers. He went up the largest one as far as his barge could pass for rocks. Here he awaited the arrival of some Susquesahanoughs, for whom he had sent a couple of interpreters. The interpreters were of the people called Toclworks, one interpreted from Powhatten language to Tockwogh and sa-que-ahanough. The chief town was "two days' journey higher than our" barge could pass for rocks." They numbered " near six hundred able men, and are palisadoed in their towns to defend them from the Ma -- awomekes, their mortal enemie -. " " Three or four day, we expected their return, then sixty of tho-e giant-like people came down." Five of the chiefs came aboard and In the " new map of Virginia and Maryland and improved parts of Pennsylvania," by John Lenex in 1719. revised in 1721, in atlas form, and printed in Lon lon, we have on the east side of the Susquehanna, from Maryland up these town- marked, Comoone. reach latitude 19 52). Chomdomerus, Value, Organ- dery, and Sour Having. The latter is no doubt our modern swatara. The map extends to latitude tu- BO'. The river forke at 10: 27. The right branch '. called the Jege. On the left branch Juniata? at top 12' is Kilofrome. These are evidently Iroquois crossed over the bay. Smith took a picture of one of them, the calf of whose leg was twenty -- even inches in circumference. They had five other towns be- longing to their nation beside Nasy makensuch, the second (outroque, about twenty miles farther up, he- yond which there are two branches, on the western one is Utelowiy, and on the eastern en Twining. Which branch is the main river cannot be told frem the map. By the scale these towns would be about sixty miles from the bay. On a western branch, en- tering the river below casquesahanough, is Aftrek, terms. The author says the native are so much di-

seemingly sixteen miles from it. Smith drew this map from the representations of the Indians. The scale would place the first town only about twenty- one miles above the month of the river. But we know he was not very acenrate, for he says he could not go two mile- up the river for the falls, yet we know the first rock- at the head of tide are four miles, and the mark on his map of the distance penetrated along the river by the -cale is some twelve miles, or more than half the distance from the bay to & squesa- hanough, to which it took the interpreters two days to travel. It is probable that at this time the chief town was at the Conestoga, Columbia, or even as high a- Marietta, that Attrack was about York, Goout toque at Middletown, Txinigh at Lebanon, and Ut hurtig about Harrisburg. The sixth town. Oporig, was on the heads of the Patapsco, probably Westminster, Md.

Capt. Smith did not get the name Sospesahanoughs from those Indian- themselves. He does not tell us what they called themselves. He got hi- name for them from a tribe called Tocky ghs who numbered only one hundred men, and were probably of the Nanticoke family. The first part, Sisquese, meant Falls; the second part, Hmongk, is the Algonquin homme, meaning sfrena. As applied to these people by their neighbors, it signifies very expre -- ively the people of the Balla River. Through time the word was gradually changed to Seguehonnork, and finally to Snequehunm. It is possible that Suggest was part of the name by which these people valled themselves. and that they appended to it the Mohawk word Hur, for people or nation, as in the case of Onoj att & Blogs. At all events Smith and his party well understood its meaning, for they translated it, as appears from the account given by his companion, who says, "The Sas- quehanoek's River we called Smith's Falles." It i- an interesting fact, that the Masques is the same word that still lingers in the creek. Niccasa-roma, Nous- into Chi kies and Chiques, and applied to the stream entering the river above Columbia and beka Mari- etta. on which there once was an Indian town of that name, and it strongly suggests that this may even have been the very location of Smith's chief town Srs- queenhanough. The latter part of the word still re- mains in such names as Rappahannock, Loyalhanna, etc.

MAP

SHOWING THE VARIOUS PURCHASES MADE FROM THE INDIANS &C.

Pastaal

WARRES

Mª KEAN

POTIER

TIOGA

BRADFORD

SUSQUEHANNA

WAYNE

ELA

SULLANAN 768

CLINTON

LYCOMING

MERCER

J FEFERSON

CLEARFIELD

MONRO!

UNION

BUTIER

AMPTON

CAMBRIA

BLAIR

BERKS r

PRIO

PERRY

OF 1736

MONTGOMERY

SOMERSET

PAYMAUERIN

S CHEF STER

LANCASTER

FAYETTE

BEDFORD

FULTON

PURCHASE

PHILAD

GREENE

DELAWARE

YORK

ADAMS

PURCHASE

ALLEGHENY

WESTMORELAND

NOOON

PUR. 1683

WASHINGTON

PURCHASES TOP

1760

TAWRESCH

CENTRE

MONTUD

CARBO3

PIKE

IJZERNE

WYOMING

FOREST

1784.

JCXIAIA.

TRAGTS OF LAND PURCHASED FROM THE INDIANS.

GENERAL HISTORY.

minished by civil wars that they have not over five hundred men, mostly on the eastern shore and em- ployed by the English to hunt deer. "Atlas Noveam," by Covens & Mortier, Amsterdam :no date), Lou- don, 1733, on back, gives No. 69 part of a large Popple, has on the Susquehanna River, from Mary- land up. Conestogo, Indian Fort, Sicasarongo, Cone- waga, Swahadowri. Ganadaguhet, Enwaga-Aratum- quat, Chemegaide, Conalago. Codocoraren, Siona-i, and Seawondaona (Towanda. " De Annville's Amer- ique Septentrionale" French atlas), smaller map, 1746, gives from Maryland up, Indian Fort, State- dowri, Chemegaide, Canahoga, Juragen, Codozoraren, sionas-a, Juragen, Fraw ondaona.

It is said William Penn made two visit- to the Sus- quehanna River, and was up as far as the Swatara Creek, and contemplated founding a city somewhere on the river. His last visit was in the spring of 1701, and it is believed the towns on the Popple map were all inhabited about this time and later. They differ from those given in the Colonial Records, probably be- cause the French map-makers got their names from the Iroquois, who often gave their own names rather than that of the residents.

The Swahadowri will be recognized as Swatara; Ganadaguhet as Conedoguinet, and Chemegaide, we think, should be Cheniegaide, and means the Juniata. We have found the word spelled Sogneijadie, Chuch- niada, Choniata, Chinniotta, Joniady, Scokoonidy, and many other ways. The root of the word is the Iroquois term Queijo or Oni, meaning a stone. The first part, now written with a j, is only a breathing of some of the Iroquois dialect-, which the English often designated by letters such as the above. but which the French -eldom expressed. as, for example, the French made the Iroquois call the Governor of Canada "On- nontio," while the English mostly wrote it " Younon- dio." The Onojutta-Haga. or Juniata nation, were the people of the Standing Stone. There can be no loubt but that Indian towns were located on Duncan's Island. at the mouth of that river, at the different epochs in Indian history. Rev. Davil Brainerd visited the " pagans" on "Juneauta I-land" in September of 1745. It may also have been the site of Atra kouaer in 1654.

In the purchase of lands from the Iroquois in 1736, it is said that it was to extend westward as far as the mountains called in the Delaware language Kekkach- turin, and in the Six Nation language, Tyannunta- suchta, both of which words it is stated mean The Endless Hills. In the deed of 1749 the mountains are again referred to, and the name - spelled Ke kuchbiny and Tyamentasachta. In the deed of 1754 the Iroquois term is omitted, and the Delaware word is spelled Kittochtinny. While scholars seem to regard this as the proper orthography, the word has been corrupted into Kittatiany. The name show- the Delaware, or Leni Lenape idea of our geography, when they termed thein the Endless FIills. In the deed of 1754 they

are already termed the Blue Mountains, a common name to this day. In the early days the settlers in the Cumberland Valley called that portion adjoining them the North Mountain ; and the one on the other side of the valley South Mountain. So we have Kit- tochtinny, Blue, and North, all meaning the same chain. The Indian name alone should be used ; any mountain may be blue at a distance, and any one is north of some place. So we write it Kittochtinny.

MARIANTANGO i- corrupted from Mokautanga, sig- nifying where we had plenty of meat to eat.

WICONIsco is corrupted from Wikentniskeu, signi- fying a wet and muddy camp. Probably some Indians encamped along the creek where the bank was wet and muddy.

SWATARA is written in old deeds Esutara and Sun- taro ; in Susquehanna, Sinhadowry, corrupted from Schuhe-durru, i.e., where we jed on eels.

CONEWAGO or Conewangha, in Iroquois, means ut the place of the rapide. From this fact there are sev- eral streams emptying into the Susquehanna so named.

MANADA, or Monody's, is corrupted from Menutey, signifying an ishnul.

STONY CREEK. In Delaware it is Sinne-hanne, or Achain-hanne, i.e., story stream.

FISHING CREEK in Delaware is Namees-hanne, i.e., fish stream. There are six or seven streams of this name in Pennsylvania.

PAXTANG is a Delaware word, and is Peckstunk, or T'eshtunk, signifying where the waters stand,-the place of dead water, whether in a stream, or pool, or lake. We use the term Paxtang, and not Paxton, which is an English surname, and should never be employed. It is not correct.

BEAVER CREEK in Delaware is Singumochke, i.e., little bearer stream.

RACCOON CREEK in Delaware is Nacheman-hanne, i.e., raccoon stream.

CHAPTER II.

The Proprietary's Concessions-Who were the Scotch-Irish ?- Their Let- ter to Governor shute, of Massachusetts-Penn's Proposed settlement on the Susquehanna.

DISCOVERY was soon followed by the advent of the whites in America, drawn thither at the first by search for gold, and then for colonization. As it is entirely out of place to treat of the early history of America, or even of Pennsylvania, save when some allusion to either may be deemed necessary, we -ball proceed to give an account of the settlement of the pioneers on the susquehanna within the limits of our own county domain. The Founder of Pennsylvania is certainly deserving of grateful remembrance for his efforts to settle his Province, to protect the pioneers, and to foster their industry. He was a remarkable

HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

man in many respects, and his " Frame of Govern- ment" is a model, unequaled by the laws of any of the colonies or provinces. Not that alone, but the " concessions" agreed upon in England for the en- couragement of emigrants to his Province, is an im- portant factor in that great movement which so ma- terially assisted in building up this Western Empire, and gave to the world the great State " founded in peace." The "Certain Conditions or Concessions agreed upon by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, and those the Adventurers and Purchasers in the same Province the eleventh of Italy, one thousand six hundred and eighty-one," are a- fol- lows :

"I. That so soon as it pleaseth God that the abovesaid persons arrive there, a certain quantity of land, or ground plat, shall be laid out, for a large town or city, in the most convenient place, upon the river, for berith and navigation ; and every purchaser ami adventurer shall, by Tot. have so much land therein as will answer to the proportion, which he hath bought, or taken up, upon reut ; but it is to be noted, that the surveyors shall consider what rouds or lagh ways will be necessary to the cities, towns, or through the lands. Great i ils fremi city to cits not to contain less than forty feet, in breadth. shall be first laid out and declared to be for high-ways, before the dividend of acres be laid out for the purchaser, and the like observation to be had for the streets in the towns and cities, that there may be convenient roads and streets pre- served, not to be encroached upon by any plauter or Inabler, that none may build irregularly to the damage of another. In this, custom governs,

"II. That the land in the town be laul ont together after the propor- tion of ten thousand acres of the whole country, that is, tiro hundred acres, if the place will bear it : however, that the proportion be by lot, and eu- tire, so as those that desire to be together, especially thuer that are, by the catalogue, laid together may be so land together both in the town and country.

"Il[. That, when the country lots are laid ont, every purchaser, from one thousand, to ten thousand acres, or more, not to have above one thou- Sund acres together, unless iu three years they plant a family mpon every thousand acres; but that all such as purchase together, lic together; and, if as many as comply with this condition, that the whoir be laid out together.

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History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 3

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1046

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046