The Worland Family in America and Beyond

I began my life in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, on an island filled with forests and wild rhododendrons. I was separated from my Worland family there at an early age. Recently, I was reunited with my family and learned of my heritage. And so, this journey to know my ancestors began. The Worlands, Gideons, Newtons, Conards... they were the colonists, the settlers, the pioneers. They fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War. This is their story, and the story of a nation. -Deci Worland MacKinnon

Showing posts with label Native Americans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Native Americans. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

June 1743, Connecticut

“Hooker and Company Journeying through the Wilderness from Plymouth to Hartford, in 1636”

June 17, 1743- A daughter, Mercy, is born to Benjamin Harris & Esther Cornwall in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.

June 23, 1743- Jonathan Gipson, son of Deacon Samuel Gipson & Hannah Whitmore, marries Mary Goodrich, daughter of John Goodrich & Mary Tillotson at Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.

Places: Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut

The city of Middletown, located in Middlesex County, lies along the west side of the Connecticut River in the central part of the state. Incorporated as a town in 1650 under its original Native American name of Mattabeseck. it received its present name in 1653.
At the time the first European settlers arrived in the region, the Mattabesetts were a part of the group of tribes in the Connecticut Valley, under a single chief named Sowheag.

Plans for the colonial settlement of "Mattabesett" were drawn up by the General Court in 1646; the first Europeans arrived from nearby Connecticut colonies in 1650.
It received its present name in 1653. The Name Middletown was chosen because the site was approximate halfway between Windsor and Saybrook on the Great River.

Life was not easy among these early colonial Puritans; clearing the land and building homes, and tending farms in the rocky soil of New England was a labor-intensive ordeal. Law, too, was often harsh among the Puritans; offenses legally punishable by death in the Connecticut colonies included, "witchcraft, blasphemy, cursing or smiting of parents, and incorrigible stubbornness of children."

Pequot Mohegans, at that time traditional allies of the English colonists and enemies of the Mattabesett and other local tribes, arrived in the Middletown area in the latter half of the 17th century; conflict between them and local Native American tribes ensued. The Mattabesett and other tribes referred to the Mohegan as "destroyers of men." Sowheag hoped that the colonists would intervene. They did not. Smallpox, too, afflicted the Mattabesett, significantly lessening their ability to resist and their cohesion as a tribe. Records show that, over time, Sowheag was forced to sell off most of the Mattabesett property to the local colonists; by 1676 the Puritans owned all but 300 acres (1.2 km2) of the former Mattabesett territory. Similar milieus of tragic interaction between Native Americans and colonists were common in 17th century New England.

Slavery was part of the early economy of Middletown; African slaves were brought to the town in 1661 from Barbados; by 1756 Middletown had the third largest African slave population in the state of Connecticut—218 slaves to 5,446 whites.

During the 18th century, Middletown became the largest and most prosperous settlement in Connecticut.

 In 1784, the central settlement was incorporated as a city distinct from the town, and in the early 2oth century the city and town consolidated. A busy sailing port and trading center in the 18th and 19th centuries, it later became an industrial and commercial center. Middletown is now mainly residential and is also home to Wesleyan University.

(Mercy Harris is my third cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are William Cornwall & Mary Bailey.
Jonathan Gipson is my third cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors is John Whitmore.)

Monday, December 13, 2010

March 1732, Maryland

Mattawoman Creek, off the Upper Potomac
March 29, 1732- A land transfer involving my fifth great granduncle, George Hardy:

Enrolled at request of George Hardy 29 Mar 1732:
Indenture, 29 Mar 1732; Between Ignatius Gardner, planter, and George Hardy, planter; for £70 and 2300# tobacco; a tract called Gardner's Meadow on Mattawoman main branch; bounded by land of Jeremiah Suell called Convenience and land taken up by James Gambell now belonging to Gabriel Burnham, Jr. in right of his wife; containing 266 acres; also part of a tract called Refuse on Tinker's Branch; containing 200 acres; /s/ Ignatius Gardner; wit. John Beall, Jr., Peter Dent; ack. 29 Mar 17 by Ignatius Gardner and Anne his wife
Prince George's Land Records 1730-1733 - Liber Q, Page 426.

Mattawoman appears on Capt. John Smith’s circa-1608 map as Mataughquamend, an Algonquian compound translated as “where one goes pleasantly.”
Mattawoman Creek was named for the Mattawoman Indians who had a fort and town in this locality.They were one of many sub-tribes of the Piscataway-Conoy culture that had been predominant in what is now Southern Maryland. Hunters and fishermen for the most part, the Mattawomans and their fellow Piscataways had a similar culture to other groups in the region—the Delawares, Nanticokes and Powhatans, for instance—and they spoke a dialect of the widespread Algonquian language. Like their neighbors, they also had frequent run-ins with tribes from the north, specifically the Susquehannocks, Iroquois and Senecas. And in the late 17th-century, it was one of these conflicts that brought the Mattawomans' demise—helped along, no doubt, by the insults of the European invasion, namely smallpox.
In 1670, Governor Charles Calvert presented to the Mattawoman king, Maquata, a medal with the likeness of his father, Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, on one side and a map of Maryland on the other.
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Friday, July 2, 2010

November 1722, Maryland

November 20, 1722- Anthony Neale signs his will at the age of 63 in Charles County, Maryland. There are records also showing November 20, 1722 as the date of death of his son and namesake, Anthony. Perhaps the death of his son prompted his writing of the will.
His son Thomas had died sometime earlier, and is not mentioned in the will.
The will is probated July 12, 1723. I do not have an exact date of death for Anthony, the father.
Anthony had fought in the Nanticoke Indian War in the 1670s on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Will of Anthony Neale, Charles County, 20th Nov., 1722; 12th July, 1723.

To Thomas Mansell, William Hunter and John Bennett, priests; George Newman, James Gates and dau. Mary, personalty.
To son Raphael and hrs., "William's Folly" and personalty.
To son Henry, £12, and, in case he does not enter priesthood, 1/5 of personal estate. Shd. he take orders, or die during minority, his portion to 4 younger children, viz. Edward, Charles, Bennett and Mary.
To son Edward and hrs., ½ dwelling plantation "Aquenseek," and personalty, including silver chalice and suit of church stuff, to remain in sd. dwell, house for use of family.
To son Charles and hrs., residue of "Aquenseek," and personalty; sd. tract to be divided by sons Raphael and Roswell, Charles Diggs, Wm. Chandler and William Diggs.
To son Bennett, in case he does not enter priesthood, lease of 200 A. and 1/5 of personal estate (same condition as in bequest to son Henry).
To sons Edward and Charles, exs., and their hrs., storehouse and lot in Chandler Town bou. of Philip Hemsley and Mary, his wife.
To sons Edward and Charles and dau. Mary, residue of estate; shd. any of younger child., viz. Henry, Edward, Charles, Bennett and Mary, die during minority or without issue, survivors to divide portion of dec'd, except lands, which in sd. cases shall revert to sons Raphael and Roswell and their hrs.
Dau. Mary to receive portion at 16, son Charles immediately.

Test: John Bennet, John Sanders, Walter Pye, Margaret Pye

(Anthony Neale is my first cousin 10 times removed. Our common ancestors are Benjamin Gill & Mary Mainwaring.)

Friday, April 9, 2010

July 1717 England


July 29, 1717- William Penn dies at the age of 72 in Buckinghamshire, England.

(William Penn is my second cousin 10 times removed. Our common ancestors are Pletjes Driessen & Alet Gobels.)

In A.D. 1681, Penn received his charter, and was made Proprietary and governor of the province of Pennsylvania.

"Let every house be placed, if the person pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the breadthway of it, so that there may be ground on each side for gardens or orchards, or fields, that it may be a greene country towne, which will never be burnt & always wholesome." William Penn's Instructions to his Commissioners, William Crispin, John Bezar, & Nathaniel Allen, dated 30th of Sept., A.D. 1681

Penn instructed his three commissioners to be "just and courteous to all," and not to offend the Indians, but to let the red men "know that you are come to sit down lovingly among them."
 


The Indians were to have good and honest wares in return for their furs, and were not to be abused. Any wrongdoing to them was to be punished with the same penalty as if a white planter had been injured.

Penn died in July,1717. Besse says, "His soul, prepared for a more glorious habitation, forsook the decayed tabernacle, which was committed to the earth on the fifth of the Sixth month (August) following, at Jordan's, in Buckinghamshire, where his former wife and several of his family had been before interred." A multitude of Friends and others attended the funeral, which was a very solemn one, as Story describes it, and the family, with the widow, lamented with many tears the loss of one of the best of men. The meetings of men and women Friends in America conveyed their condolence to the bereaved widow, and their testimony was grateful to her feelings. The Pennsylvania Indians sent her a message of sympathy and a present of "materials to form a garment of skins for traveling through a thorny wilderness," expressing by a symbol their sense of the troubles which lay before her, and their wish that she might safely pass through them.

FOURTH WILL, NEW CASTLE, 30 8br 1701 Newcastle on Delaware, 30 8br 1701 Because it is appointed for all men once to dye, and yt their days are in the hand of ye Almighty their Creator, I think fitt upon this present voyage to make my last will testament, which is as follows: Since my estate, both in England and Ireland, are either entailed or incumbred, my wil is, that whch is saleable, be sould for payment of my just Debts, and all my household stuff, plate, and linen, not given or disposed of to my children by their relations, and if there should be any overplus, that it goe equally to my son William and daughter Laetitia, as to my estate in Europe, be it Land, houses, or moveables, except my gold chain and meddall. sch I give to my son William; and except such estate as I had with or since I Married this wife, ffor my estate in America, it is also encumbered, but not with the tenth part of true value thereof--I mean of the Province of Pennsylvania and counties annexed--when that incumbrance is discharged, I give my son William all my sayd Province and Territorys, to him and his Heirs forever as proprietary and Govern. But out of or rather in the sayd soyle thereof, I give to my Daughter, Laetitia Penn, one hundred thousand acres, seaventy of sch out of or rather the sayd province, and ten thousand acres out of or rather in each of the Lower Countys of the territorys. I also give to my son John one hundred and fifty thousand acres, of wch one hundred thousand in the Province, and fifty thousand acres in the Lower Countys; and I also bequeath to him my tenth or Proprietary ship of Salem tenth or County in West New Jersey, to my sayd son John and his heirs forever, with all rents, Proffits, and Interests therein. I also will that the Childe my De: wife, Hannah Penn, now goes with, shall have one hundred thousand acres if a boy, a seaventy thousand if a Girle, in the Province aforesd: all which Land so given shall lye between Susquehanagh River and Delaware River, and to be taken up within twelve months after my death. If my encumbrances can be discharged in yt time, or so soon as they are: but so as that the sayd Lands be not above = 80 = miles above a due west line, to be drawn from Philadelphia to Susquehanah River, and to be layd out in ye way of townships, and to pay to my son William one silver shilling for every township of five thousand acres when taken up forever, in lieu of all demands and services, hereby requiring my sayd son William to erect all of any part of ye aforesayd Lands into mannors, with due powers over their own Tennants, according to my sayd children's respective agreements with them, when they or any for them require the same. Addendum and comments by Horace D. Satcher hsatcher@mindspring.com "..I give to my Servts, John and Mary Sach...[this is as written in the book I have taken this from] three hundred acres between them; to James Logan one thousand acres, and my blacks their freedom, as under my hand already; and to ould Sam 100 acres....." John and Mary Sach... are John SATCHER (SOTCHER or SACHAR) and wife Mary LOFTIS steward of Pennsbury Manor from 1701 until around 1710 (some variations of actual departure date.) They are mentioned in later correspondence of William and Hannah Penn as well as correspondence of James Logan. "...& my blacks their freedom, as under my hand already...." The note reads: "This is the only one of WP's extant wills that contain such a provision. Neither his will of 1705 nor his last will of 1712 repeated this resolution, and, though WP freed some slaves during his lifetime, others passed to his heirs at his death." See: The Papers of William Penn, Volume Four 1701-1718 Editors, Craig W. Horle - Alixon Duncan Hirsch - Marianne S Wobeck - Joy Wiltenburg. General Editors Richard S. Dunn - Mary Maples Dunn University of Pennsylvania Press 1987

Saturday, December 26, 2009

1740 Pennsylvania

1740- Jonathan Conard born to Anthony Conard and Sarah Hatfield in Germantown, Pennsylvania.

(Jonathan Conard is my 5th great grand uncle.)




1740- The Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania petition colonial officials to address the "Great Wrong We Receive in Our Lands" by the Walking Purchase of 1737 that had tricked them into ceding more land than they had anticipated.


The descendants of John Conard of Loudoun county, Virginia,

Sunday, December 6, 2009

1744 Words of an Onondaga Chief

You who are so wise must know that different nations have different conception of things. You will not therefore take it amiss if our ideas of the white man's kind of education happens not to be the same as yours. We have had some experience of it.

Several of our young people were brought up in your colleges. They were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were all bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger. They didn't know how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy. They spoke our language imperfectly.

They were therefore unfit to be hunters, warriors, or counsellors; they were good for nothing.
We are, however, not the less obliged for your kind offer, though we decline accepting it. To show our gratefulness, if the gentleman of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care with their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.

Canassatego - Treaty of Lancaster

Lancaster Treaty of 1744


June 1744- Native-American chiefs of the Six Nations relinquish by treaty all claims to land in Maryland colony. Assembly purchases last Indian land claims in Maryland.


Lancaster, June 29, 1744

 Chief Canassatego spoke as follows:

Brethren,

YESTERDAY you spoke to us concerning the Lands on this Side Potowmack River, and as we have deliberately considered what you said to us on that Matter, we are now very ready to settle the Bounds of such Lands, and release our Right and Claim thereto.


WE are willing to renounce all Right to Lord Baltimore of all those Lands lying two Miles above the uppermost Fort of Potowmack or Cohongoruton River, near which Thomas Cressap has a hunting or trading Cabin, by a Northline, to the Bounds of Pennsylvania. But in case such Limits shall not include every Settlement or Inhabitant of Maryland, then such other Lines and Courses, from the said two Miles above the Forks, to the outermost Inhabitants or Settlements, as shall include every Settlement and Inhabitant in Maryland, and from thence, by a North-line, to the Bounds of Pennsylvania, shall be the Limits. And further, If any People already have, or shall settle beyond the Lands now described and bounded, they shall enjoy the same free from any Disturbance whatever, and we do, and shall accept these People for our Brethren, and as such always treat them.


WE earnestly desire to live with you as Brethren, and hope you will show us all Brotherly Kindness; in Token whereof, we present you with a Belt of Wampum.


In payment, the Iroquois Nation received: Four Pieces of Strowds, Two Hundred Shirts, Three Pieces Half-Thicks, Three Pieces Duffle Blankets, Forty Seven Guns, One Pound Vermillion, One Thousand Flints, Four Dozen Jews Harps, One Dozen Boxes, One Hundred Two Quarters Bar-Lead, Two Quarters Shot, and Two Half Barrels of Gun-Powder.

"We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone."
-Canassatego


The proceedings of the treaty can be read here, Lancaster Treaty. It is fascinating reading as you watch the cultures collide.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Kittockton


Catoctin Mountain is the easternmost spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a part of the Appalachian Mountain Range. Catoctin is a mountain ridge running northeast/southwest for about 50 miles from near Emmitsburg, Maryland to near Leesburg, Virginia.

The ridge has no single peak or knob called "Catoctin Mountain" and so is sometimes referred to as the "Catoctin Mountains".

The name "Catoctin" probably derives from the Kittoctons, an American Indian tribe or clan which once lived between the mountain and the Potomac River.
Catoctin is a name used for both a mountain and a stream. Smithsonian ethnologists say that the mountain range was named first and that it means "ancient wooded hill." A local tradition asserts that "Catoctin" means "place of many deer" in an Indian language. Early Loudoun spellings of the mountain and stream prefer "Kittockton," with the accent on the middle syllable.

Catoctin Mountain is best-known as the site of Camp David, a mountain retreat for Presidents of the United States. The resort is extremely well-guarded by the United States Secret Service, and only approved guests of the President are allowed into the retreat.

Friday, October 16, 2009

1754 Maryland - Taneytown Founded


1754- Taneytown, Maryland was founded in 1754 when one of the area’s first land grants took place. Nearly 7,900 acres were granted to Edward Diggs and Raphael Taney under a patent designated as the Resurvey of Brothers Agreement. Lots were laid out and the first deeds registered in 1762. Raphael Taney, whose home was in St. Mary’s County, probably never lived here. He did, however, help design the town’s layout and gave it his name. One popular misconception is that the town was named for Roger Brooke Taney, a U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice. Judge Taney, who shared a common ancestor with Raphael Taney, was not born until 1777.

The earliest known inhabitants in the Taneytown area were native Americans. The Tuscarora Indians hunted deer, otter, wolves, and wildcats in the area’s abundant woodlands. The early European settlers were Germans from Pennsylvania and Germany. Before the arrival of white settlers, however, most native Americans had already migrated west over South Mountain in the Cumberland Valley. The Treaty of Six Nations, which was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1745, offered white settlers protection from Indian attacks in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia and made the ownership of land by white men legal.

Of the town George Washington once wrote "Tan-nee town is but a small place with only the Street through which the road passes, built on. The buildings are principally of wood."

Monday, October 12, 2009

The French & Indian War (1755-1763)

Twenty years before the American Revolution, France and Britain's struggle for North America sparked the first world war. Called the French and Indian War, it would change the face of America, especially for the American Indians and the colonists.

France's influence in North America was tied to the fur trade -- they set up trading posts in Canada and around the Great Lakes, and maintained relationships with the native Indians. Meanwhile, British colonists settled along the Atlantic coast -- pushing the American Indians further inward. In the 1750's, France and Britain were both building empires, and came to blows over the land between their American settlements -- the Ohio River Valley. However, the Indians also called this land home, and they would play a valuable role in the war by tipping the balance of power in favor of one of the European empires.

British policies that came out of French and Indian War like taxation and land treaties would spark the American Revolution. Meanwhile, the war would also provide a training ground for one of the United States' greatest leaders -- George Washington.

1755 An Address of Some of the Quakers to the Pennsylvania Assembly


To the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met. The Address of some of the People called Quakers, in the said Province, on Behalf of Themselves and Others.

The Consideration of the Measures which have lately been pursued and are now Proposed having been weightily Impressed on Our Minds, We apprehend that we should fall short of Our Duty to you, to Ourselves, and to Our Brethren in Religious fellowship, If We did not in this Manner Inform you, That altho' We shall at all Times Heartily, and Freely Contribute according to Our Circumstances, either by the Payments of Taxes or in such other Manner as may be Judged necessary towards the Exigencies of Government, and sincerely Desire that due Care may be taken and proper Funds provided for Raising Money to cultivate Our Friendship with Our Indian Neighbors and to support Such of Our Fellow subjects Who are or may be 'in Distress, And for such other like Benevolent purposes, Yet as the raising sums of Money & putting them into the Hands of Committees who may Apply them to Purposes inconsistent with the Peaceable Testimony, We profess and have born to the World, appears to Us in its Consequences to bo Destructive of Our Religious Liberties.

We apprehend many among Us will be under the necessity of suffering rather than Consenting Thereto by the payment of a Tax for such Purposes, And thus the Fundamental Part of Our Constitution may be Essentially affected, and that Free enjoyment of Liberty of Conscience, For the sake of which our Forefathers left there Native Country and Settled this, Then a Wilderness by Degrees be violated.

We sincerely Assure you We have no Temporal Motives for Thus Addressing you, and could We have preserved Peace in Our own Minds and with Each other We should have Deelined it, being unwilling to give You any unnecessary Trouble and Deeply Sensible of yonr Difficulty in Discharging the Trust committed to you irreproachably in these Perilous times which hath Engaged our Fervent Desires that the immediate Instruction of Supreame Wisdom may Influence your Minds, and that being preserved in a steady attention thereto, you may be Enabled to secure Peace and Tranquility to yourselves and those you Represent by pursuing Measures Consistent with Our Peaceable Principles, and then We Trust We may Continue humbly to confide in the Protection of that -Almighty power whose Providence has heretofore been as Walls and Bulwarks round about us.
Anthony Morris, jr., Thomas Brown,
William Moode, Thos. Lightfoot,
Israel Pemberton, John Pemberton,

Sunday, August 23, 2009

1774 Treaty

September 1774- Lord Dunmore signs peace treaties with the Delaware and Six Nations of the Iroquois at Pittsburgh.

1774 Virginia

October 10, 1774- At the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, the point of land known by the Wyandotte Indians as "tu-endie-wie," or "the point between two waters," the bloody, day-long Battle of Point Pleasant was fought.
Colonel Andrew Lewis led his force of 1,100 Virginia militiamen into the Little Kanawha valley. The presence of such a large British force in native lands convinced Shawnee Cheiftain Cornstalk that he should form a large war party.
Cornstalk attacked Lewis and they engaged in a bloody battle characterized by the succession of individual hand-to-hand combats. At times Cornstalk and his braves held the upper hand, but eventually the firepower of the backwoodsmen proved superior on the then heavily forested battlefield. At the end, 230 Indians were killed or wounded and more than 50 Virginians had lost their lives, including Colonel Charles Lewis, brother of the commanding officer.
The Shawnee were forced northward to the villages across the Ohio River.

The Shawnee, Mingo and Delaware later signed the Treaty of Camp Charlotte (near present-day Chillicothe, Ohio), in which they pledged to allow free navigation on the Ohio River, to return all captives and release their claims to the lands south and east of the Ohio (the first time that the actual residents of the area had made such an agreement).
Considered a landmark in frontier history, some believed the battle to be the first of the American Revolution. This action broke the power of the ancient Americans in the Ohio Valley and quelled a general Indian war on the frontier. Significantly, it also prevented an alliance between the British and Indians, one which could very possibly have caused the Revolution to have a different outcome, altering the entire history of the U.S. In addition, the ensuing peace with the Indians enabled western Virginians to return across the Allegheny Mountains to aid Revolutionary forces.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Treaty- Ohio, 1818


On October 6, 1818, the Miami Indians agreed to relinquish much of their land in Indiana and Ohio. In exchange, the United States government agreed to provide the Miami with six reservations in Indiana. These reservations were relatively small, averaging less than ten square miles in size. The government also gave the Miami Indians a yearly annuity consisting of fifteen thousand dollars and 160 bushels of salt. In addition, the federal government agreed to construct one gristmill and one sawmill for the natives' use. This agreement became known as the Treaty with the Miami.
The Treaty with the Miami, along with several other treaties between Indian tribes and the United States government during the first decades of the nineteenth century, marked the slow but gradual removal of native people to land west of the Mississippi River.

1818- Treaty with the Miamis

The Treaty with the Miamis (Also known as the Treaty of St. Mary's.)

Oct. 6, 1818.

Articles of a treaty made and concluded, at St. Mary's, in the State of Ohio, between Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parke, Commissioners of the United States, and the Miame nation of Indians.

ART. 1.
The Miami nation of Indians cede to the United States the following tract of country: Beginning at the Wabash river, where the present Indian boundary line crosses the same, near the mouth of

[*172]

Raccoon creek; thence, up the Wabash river, to the reserve at its head, near Fort Wayne; thence, to the reserve at Fort Wayne; thence, with the lines thereof, to the St. Mary's river; thence, up the St. Mary's river, to the reservation at the portage; thence, with the line of the cession made by the Wyandot nation of Indians to the United States, at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie, on the 29th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, to the reservation at Loramie's store; thence, with the present Indian boundary line, to Fort Recovery; and, with the line, following the courses thereof, to the place of beginning.

ART. 2.
From the cession aforesaid the following reservations, for the use of the Miami nation of Indians, shall be made; one reservation, extending along the Wabash river, from the mouth of Salamanie river to the mouth of Eel river, and from those points, running due south, a distance equal to a direct line from the mouth of Salamanie river to the mouth of Eel river. One other reservation, of two miles square, on the river Salamanie, at the mouth of Atchepongqwawe creek. One other reservation, of six miles square, on the Wabash river, below the forks thereof. One other reservation, of ten miles square, opposite the mouth of the river A Bouette. One other reservation, of ten miles square, at the village on Sugar Tree Creek. One other reservation, of two miles square, at the mouth of a creek, called Flat Rock, where the road to White river crosses the same.

ART. 3.
The United States agree to grant, by patent, in fee simple, to Jean Bapt. Richardville, principal chief of the Miami nation of Indians, the following tracts of land: Three sections of land, beginning about twenty-five rods below his house, on the river St. Mary's, near Fort Wayne; thence, at right angles with the course of the river, one mile; and from this line, and the said river, up the stream thereof, for quantity. Two sections, upon the east side of the St. Mary's river, near Fort Wayne, running east one mile with the line of the military reservation; thence, from that line, and from the river, for quantity. Two sections, on the Twenty-seven mile creek, where the road from St. Mary's to Fort Wayne crosses it, being one section on each side of said creek.
Two sections on the left bank of the Wabash, commencing at the forks and running down the river.
The United States also agree to grant to each of the following persons, being Miami Indians by birth, and their heirs, the tracts of land herein described.
To Joseph Richardville and Joseph Richardville, jun. two sections of land, being one on each side of the St. Mary's river, and below the reservation made on that river by the treaty of Greenville, in 1795.
To Wemetche or the Crescent, one section, below and adjoining the reservation of Anthony Chesne, on the west side of the St. Mary's river, and one section immediately opposite to Macultamunqua or Black Loon.
To Keenquatakqua or Long Hair, Aronzon or Twilight, Peconbequa or a Woman striking, Aughquamauda or Difficulty, and to Miaghqua or Noon, as joint tenants, five sections of land upon the Wabash river, the centre of which shall be the Wyandot village, below the mouth of Tippecanoe river.
To François Godfroy, six sections of land, on the Salamanie river, at a place called La Petite Prairie.
To Louis Godfroy, six sections of land, upon the St. Marys river, above the reservation of Anthony Shane.
To Charley, a Miamie chief, one section of land, on the west side of the St. Mary's river, below the section granted to Pemetche or the Crescent.

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To the two eldest children of Peter Langlois, two sections of land, at a place formerly called Village du Puant, at the mouth of the river called Pauceaupichoux.
To the children of Antoine Bondie, two sections of land, on the border of the Wabash river, opposite a place called l'Esle a l'Aille.
To François Lafontaine and his son, two sections of land, adjoining and above the two sections granted to Jean Bapt. Richardville, near Fort Wayne, and on the same side of the St. Mary's river.
To the children of Antoine Rivarre, two sections of land, at the mouth of the Twenty-seven mile creek, and below the same.
To Peter Langlois' youngest child, one section of land, opposite the Chipaille, at the Shawnese village.
To Peter Labadie, one section of land, on the river St. Mary's, below the section granted to Charley.
To the son of George Hunt, one section of land, on the west side of the St. Mary's river, adjoining the two sections granted to François Lafontaine and his son.
To Meshenoqua or the Little Turtle, one section of land, on the south side of the Wabash, where the portage path strikes the same.
To Josette Beaubien, one section of land on the left bank of the St. Mary's, above and adjoining the three sections granted to Jean Bapt. Richardville.
To Ann Turner, a half-blooded Miami, one section of land on the northwest side of the Wabash river, to commence at the mouth of Fork creek, on the west bank of the said creek, and running up said creek one mile in a direct line, thence at right angles with this line for quantity.
To Rebecca Hackley, a half-blooded Miami, one section of land, to be located at the Munsey town, on White river, so that it shall extend on both sides to include three hundred and twenty acres of the prairie, in the bend of the river, where the bend assumes the shape of a horse shoe.
To William Wayne Wells, a half-blooded Miami, one section of land, at the mouth of the Fork creek, where the reservation for Ann Turner commences, running down the Wabash river on the northwest bank one mile; thence, back one mile; thence, east one mile, to the boundary line of the grant to Ann Turner.
To Mary Wells, a half-blooded Miami, one section of land, at the mouth of Stoney creek, on the southeast side of the Wabash river, the centre of which shall be at the mouth of said creek, running with the meanders thereof, up and down the Wabash river, one half mile, and thence back for quantity.
To Jane Turner Wells, a half-blooded Miami, one section of land, on the northwest side of the Wabash river, to commence on the west bank of said river, opposite the old lime kiln; thence, down the said river one mile and back for quantity.

ART. 4.
The Miami nation of Indians assent to the cession made by the Kickapoos to the United States, by the treaty concluded at Vincennes, on the ninth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and nine.

ART. 5.
In consideration of the cession and recognition aforesaid, the United States agree to pay to the Miami nation of Indians, a perpetual annuity of fifteen thousand dollars, which, together with all annuities which, by any former treaty, the United States have engaged to pay to the said Miami nation of Indians, shall be paid in silver.
The United States will cause to be built for the Miamis one gristmill and one saw-mill, at such proper sites as the chiefs of the nation may select, and will provide and support one blacksmith and one gunsmith for them, and provide them with such implements of agriculture as the proper agent may think necessary.

[*174]

The United States will also cause to be delivered, annually, to the Miami nation, one hundred and sixty bushels of salt.

ART. 6.
The several tracts of land which, by the third article of this treaty, the United States have engaged to grant to the persons therein mentioned, except the tracts to be granted to Jean Bapt. Richardville, shall never be transferred by the said persons or their heirs, without the approbation of the President of the United States.

ART. 7.
This treaty shall be obligatory on the contracting parties after the same shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof.
In testimony whereof, the said Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parke, commissioners as aforesaid, and the chiefs and warriors of the Miami nation of Indians, have hereunto set their hands, at St. Mary's, the sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

Jonathan Jennings,
Lewis Cass,
B. Parke,
Peshawa, or Richardville, his x mark,
Osas, his x mark,
Ketauga, or Charley, his x mark,
Metche Keteta, or Big Body, his x mark,
Notawas, his x mark,
Wapapeslea, his x mark,
Tathtenouga, his x mark,
Papskeecha, or Flat Belly, his x mark,
Metosma, his x mark,
Sasakuthka, or Sun, his x mark,
Keosakunga, his x mark,
Koehenna, his x mark,
Sinamahon, or Stone Eater, his x mark,
Cabma, his x mark,
Ameghqua, his x mark,
Nawaushea, his x mark.

In presence of --
James Dill, secretary to the commissioners,
William Turner, secretary,
John Johnson, Indian agent,
B. F. Stickney, S. I. A.
John Kenzie, sub-agent,
G. Godfroy, sub-agent,
John Conner,
John F. Swan, major Third U. S. Infantry,
Wm. Brunot, lieutenant Third Infantry,
Wm. P. Rathbone, army contractor,
Wm. Oliver,
Joseph Benson, sworn interpreter,
Wm. Conner, interpreter,
Antoine Pride, interpreter.

Friday, July 3, 2009

1818 New Purchase- Indiana


October 3, 1818- The Delaware and other tribes sign The Treaty of St. Mary's, ceding the large territory known as the New Purchase to the United States.

Delaware Women- Indiana


Isaac Wilson once told of how he remembered two families of Indians that had camped near his family’s home around the winter of 1819-1820. They often dined together. Isaac also remembered one of the Indian women that had camped near his home bringing a pair of moccasins for one of the Wilson babies. The day before, she had measured the child’s foot with her thumb and forefinger. When she slipped the moccasins on the child’s foot, they fit perfectly.
There were others that told stories of Indians in the area. The descendants of Dr. Sylvan Morris passed on the story of an Indian woman that brought her sick child in for treatment. After the child was treated, the woman left without saying a word. Several months later, the woman returned. She brought to his cabin a beautifully woven blanket that she had made for him to thank him. The Delaware Indians were pushed further west, as time passed, leaving behind only memories and a few remnants.

Friday, June 26, 2009

1830 Indiana

During the 1830s tensions increased among Indians, the United States government, and white settlers in Indiana. The U.S. government’s policy toward Indians during this period began in the 1820s with the appointment of Thomas L. McKenney as the first commissioner of the Office of Indian Affairs under the War Department. The 1830 Indian Removal Act set the tone for native-white relations for the next two decades. The forced migration of the Five Civilized Tribes is the most famous case of removal but this pattern repeated itself throughout the nation, including Indiana.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Trail of Death 1838 - Indiana


The removal of the Potawatomi Indians from northern Indiana to Kansas took place September - November 1838. Leader Menominee resisted, but Indian Agent John Tipton captured him and 850 others, sending them west under heavy guard. The Indians walked most of the way, and typhoid, dysentery, and malnutrition killed 42 while another 50 escaped. They were marched at gun point for 61 days. So many died on the way and were buried by the roadside that it is called the Trail of Death.

Friday, June 19, 2009

History of Shelby, Indiana

Shelby County was part of a huge territory, known as the "New Purchase", which the Delaware and Native American tribes ceded by treaty to the United States, October 3, 1818, at St. Mary's, Ohio. The area was not opened for settlement until 1820, the Indians having agreed to vacate the ceded lands by that date.
Jacob Whetzel, (brother of the famous Indian-hater, Lewis Whetzel, one of Shelby County's pioneer settlers--who lies buried in the City Cemetary) had obtained from his Indian friend, Chief Anderson of the Delawares, permission to mark a wagon path through the forest from Franklin County in eastern Indiana to the "Bluffs" on White River, south of present day Indianapolis. Within a week after the treaty had been concluded, Whetzel and a few friends began to blaze this wilderness "road", since known as the "Whetzel Trace." The route selected by Whetzel crossed Shelby County in a northwesterly direction a short distance north of present Shelbyville.
It was by way of the Whetzel Trace that many of Shelby County's first settlers came to make new homes. One of them, a squatter by the name of James Wilson, with the help of three of his older sons, erected the county's first cabin near "little" Marion in late 1818. Early in January, 1819, the Wilson family---eleven in all---moved from Franklin to this new one-room, 16' by 16' cabin, and become the county's first settlers.
In 1820 the "New Purchase" was formally opened for settlement and most of the rich farm land which now comprises Shelby County was speedily claimed by purchasers at the Brookville Government Land Office.
The next year, late in December, the State Legislature at Corydon-then the state capital-authorized the organization of Shelby County and the establishment of a county "capital." The name Shelby was assigned to the new county in honor of Isaac Shelby, twice governor of Kentucky and a famous Indian Wars soldier under whose leadership many of the pioneer settlers had served before emigrating to Indiana. The State considered four sites for the county seat, finally deciding on the present location in the center of the county. A donation of 70 acres of land--40 acres by John Hendricks, 20 by James Davison and 10 acres by John Walker-- was a deciding factor. The decision as to the county seat's location was revealed on July 4, 1822, at a giant barbecue northeast of the present Fairgrounds, and was made official the next day.
The county was first divided into four civil townships, but since has been made into its present fourteen townships. Shelbyville is in Addison, the central township.
The first house in present Shelbyville was built by Francis Walker on the lot at the northwest corner of Washington and Tompkins Streets.
On July 4, 1834, Judge William J. Peasley, local railroad enthusiast, built and put into operation at Shelbyville the first "railroad" this side of the Allegheny Mountains. It was an experimental road, horse drawn, ran on wooden tracks, and extended only one and one-fourth miles east from the town to a picnic area on Lewis Creek. Soon it was abandoned. Today the Penn Central Railroad serves Shelbyville.
Shelbyville was incorporated January 21, 1850, by a special act of the Legislature, according to county histories.