Hanna on Peter Chartier
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 10:42 am
This information is from numerous sources and may contain mistakes or data that is questionable or unproven to a level that some researchers may desire. It is strongly advised that researchers only use this data as a beginning resource. Errors are unintentional. Corrections and additions would be appreciated.
ID: I2547
Name: Pierre CHARTIER
Given Name: Pierre
Surname: CHARTIER
Nickname: Wocunuckshenah or Pale Brother
Sex: M
Change Date: 29 OCT 2011
Note:
"....son, Peter Chartier became a chief among them, a hunter wise in the trading ways of whites, who led them west to escape the encroachment of civilization.....only one son, Peter Chartier, handled the estate. Peter Chartier went to live with his mother's people and learned to see the English trader from a red perspective. A man who is drunk, or in need of a drink, can more easily be taken advantage of in a financial transaction. This was an axiom in the Pennsylvania Indian trade. With George Miranda, Peter Chartier drew up a petition for a ban on all liquor trade between the English traders and the Shawnees and the entire village pledged to smash any existing kegs and spill the rum, and to remain dry for a period of four years. The names of ninety-eight Shawnees are attached to this contract, which was submitted to the Pennsylvania authorities. It does not appear to have been carried out, however. Peter Chartier, apparently disgusted at the way the white traders took advantage of the Shawnees, led them away from the English trading posts. When the Shawnees returned, Peter Chartier was not with them."
"...His son, Peter Chartier, after living a few years at his father's place, removed to the neighborhood of New Cumberland, where he had a trading post. He left Cumberland Valley and located below Pittsburgh. He was all his life an Indian trader, and finally went to reside with the Indians, and took sides with them again the English. He left descendants who reside, I believe, in Washington county, Penna."
Before 1697 - moved with Opessa Band to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
1707 - living on Pequea Creek, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
1718 - living in Dekanoagah, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and obtained title to 300 acres on the Susquehanna River where his father had died
1732 - witnessed a letter from Neucheconner & other Shawnee Chiefs to the Governor of Pennsylvania and attended Council Philadelphia with others
1734 - founded Chartiers Town in Alleghany County, Pennaylvania
1737 - became a Pekowi Chief in Pennsylvania
1738 - signed petition to Pennsylvania
1744 - left the British of Pennsylvania with about 400 Pekowi & Kishpokotha to join the French of Ohio and moved southwest to the mouth of the Scioto River, establishing Lower Shawnee Town with sons
1745 - moved on to near Winchester KY
1746 - moved to the French Lick area of Tennessee (later became Nashville)
1747 - moved to the Coosa River, Alabama area
1748 - allegedly seen with some of his band in Illinois and Detroit
1749 - met Colonel Celeron De Blainville at the forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh)
1752 - returned to Kentucky
1754 - present with his Shawnee warriors at the murder of Captain Jumonville and responsible for the French victory over George Washington at Ft . Necessity
1754 to 1759 - active in opposition to the British in the French-Indian War
1758 - in Ohio
He was last seen in a village on the Wabash River.
Birth: ABT 1690 in Tennessee, USA
Death: ABT 1759 in Indiana, USA
Father: Martin CHARTIER b: 1655 in St-Jean-de-Montierneuf, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France
Mother: Sewatha STRAIGHT-TAIL b: ABT 1660 in Ohio, USA
Marriage 1 Snow White OPESSA b: 1695 in Cecil County, Maryland, USA
* Married: ABT 1710 in Pennsylvania, USA
* Note: They were first cousins.
Children
1. Francois CHARTIER b: ABT 1712 in Pennsylvania, USA
2. Rene CHARTIER b: ABT 1720 in Pennsylvania, USA
3. Anna CHARTIER b: ABT 1730 in Pennsylvania, USA
SOURCES:
1. Abbrev: Indian Blood: Finding Your Native American Ancestor
Title: Richard L Pangburn, Indian Blood: Finding Your Native American Ancestor (Louisville, Kentucky: Butler Books, 1993), . stor. Louisville, Kentucky: Butler Books, 1993.
Page: page 127
2. Abbrev: Shawnee Heritage II
Title: Don Greene, Shawnee Heritage II: Selected Lineages of Notable Shawnee (Lulu.com: Fantasy ePublications, 2008), . ee. Lulu.com: Fantasy ePublications, 2008.
Page: p 44-45 and 70
3. Abbrev: Indians in Pennsylvania
Title: Paul A W Wallace, Indians in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1993), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1993.
Page: p 125-128
4. Abbrev: American-Canadian Genealogist
Title: American-Canadian Genealogist, Published Quarterly - website of society: http://www.acgs.org/; (New Hampshire: American Canadian Genealogical Society) http://www.acgs.org/; (New Hampshire: American Canadian Genealogical Society).
Page: Vol 19, No 2, p 61 "The Chartiers: An Indian Life"
5. Abbrev: Lancaster County, PA, History of
Title: Franklin Ellis and Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts and Peck, 1883), Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts and Peck, 1883.
Page: page 7, 15
6. Abbrev: Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania
Title: C Hale Sipe, The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Wennawoods Publishing, 1995), Pennsylvania: Wennawoods Publishing, 1995.
Page: p 109-117
7. Abbrev: Indian Wars of Pennsylvania
Title: C Hale Sipe, The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Telegraph Press, 1931), Pennsylvania: Telegraph Press, 1931.
Page: p 127-129
8. Abbrev: Cumberland Valley, PA: 1930
Title: George P Donehoo, A History of the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Susquehanna History Association, 1930), . a. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Susquehanna History Association, 1930.
Page: p 107-108, 126, 497
9. Abbrev: Memoires de la Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise
Title: Memoires de la Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise; (Montreal, Quebec: Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise). eal, Quebec: Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise).
Page: Vol XXX Nov 4, Oct-Nov-Dec 1979, p 293-296
10. Abbrev: Wilderness Trail
Title: Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: or The ventures and ad ventures of the Pennsylvania traders on the Allegheny path, 2 Volumes (New York and London: G P Putnam's Sons and Knickerbocker Press, 191 1), Adventures of the Pennsylvania traders on the Allegheny path. 2 Volumes. New York and London: G P Putnam's Sons and Knickerbocker Press, 19 11.
Page: Vol II, pg 328
11. Abbrev: Historical Register: Notes and Queries-Interior Pennsylvania
Title: [Henry Egle], Historical Register: Notes and Queries, Historical and Genealogical, relating to Interior Pennsylvania, for the year 1884 ( Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S Hart, Printer and Binder, 1884), . d Genealogical, relating to Interior Pennsylvania, for the year 1884. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S Hart, Printer and Binder, 1884.
Page: Vol II, p 250-255
12. Abbrev: Notes & Queries Pennsylvania
Title: William H Egle, compiler, Notes and queries: Historical, biographical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, 1st-2d ser., v. 1-2 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Telegraph Printing and Binding House, 1881), . al and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, 1st-2d s er., v. 1-2. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Telegraph Printing and Binding House, 1881. Page: Page 88
PETER CHARTIER
1708 POTOMAC RIVER RE-SETTLEMENTS - OLD TOWN AND ANTIETAM
OLDTOWN-BEDFORD TRAIL IS THE WARRIOR"S PATH
1729 CATAWBA ATTACK
In March, 1721, BEZAILLION had a trading post near Paxtang, "about
thirty-six miles higher up on Sasquehannah [River]" than Conestoga; and in
May, 1728, he acted with Nicholas and John Scull as interpreters at an
Indian conference in Philadelphia. He was reported, as early as 1708,
to have joined with JAMES LE TORT and MARTIN CHARTIER IN BUILDING CABINS
ON THE UPPER BRANCHES OF POTOMAC (ANTIETAM AND CONOCOCHEAGUE CREEKS,
in what is now Franklin County, Pennsylvannia) [HXXX wrong there - villages in Maryland, on the Potomac River at creek mouths), and also had a trading post near Paxtang, as we have seen. Peter Bezaillion died in 1742...
IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT BEZAILLION CAME OVER WITH LE TORT AND THE
OTHER FRENCH PROTESTANTS IN 1686. In a letter written by William
Markham, Governor of Pennsylvania, to the Governor of Maryland, June
26, 1696, Markham says: "Upon the copy of what Colonel Herman gave
into your Excellency and Council, I shall require security for Le Tort
[the father] and Basalion, though I know that will not satisfy the Colonel. He
still will be uneasy until he gets all the Indian trade to himself. I have
known Colonel Herman for a long time, and he that trades for him on
Susquehanna (Amos Nicholls) is better known than trusted. I enclose to
your Excellency what I found among castaway papers. Basalion was in
equal partnership with Petit and Salvay, though it went in only their
two names, Basalion coming in after the others had provided for the
voyage, and after the voyage was overthrown, I divided the left cargo,
and Basalion had one-third. But as to Le Tort he is a Protestant."
..........
On November 2, 1722, Charles Anderson was sent by the Maryland
Government to "the Shawan Town upon Potomack," with instructions
to make a treaty with the Shawnee chiefs there, who were named Pocka-
seta and Oneakoopa.'
...........
In 1729, Captain Civility, chief of the Conestogas, wrote to Governor Gordon
that "about two months ago, the Southern Indians [Cawtawba] killed and took nine
of the Shawaners, living on a branch of Potomac River, near the Great Mountains;
the which impute to their own fault, for settling so near their enemies."
JOHN WRAY
Opakethwa and Opakeita, two chiefs of the Potomac Shawnees
from Ohio, visited Philadelphia in September, 1732, after they had abandoned
their town on the North Branch of the Potomac River and removed to
the Allegheny. The Governor asked them why they had gone so far
back into the woods as the Allegheny. They replied, that "formerly they
lived at Patowmack, where their king died; that, having lost him, they
knew not what to do; that they then took their wives and children and
went over the mountains [to Allegheny] to live. "*
JOHN WRAY, THE TRADER, WHO HAD FORMERLY TRADED AT WHAT WAS AFTER-
WARDS CALLED RAYSTOWN (NOW BEDFORD), came down from Allehgeny to
Philadelphia with these Shawnee chiefs in September, 1732, to serve
as interpreter. Prior to 1732, John Wray's trading was doubtless carried
on with the Shawnees at their "Old Town," on the Potomac River, and with
the Conestogas and Mingoes who had settled at THE ORIGINAL ALLEQUIPPA'S
TOWN, VERY NEAR THE SITE OF WHAT WAS AFTERWARDS RAYSTOWN. [ALLEQUIPPA WAS CONESTOGA]
Both of these Indian villages were ON THE WARRIOR'S PATH, which extended south-
wards from Frankstown to the Potomac River; and they were but little more
than thirty miles apart....
His name was John Wray; and from him Ray's Town, Ray's Hill, and Ray's Cove
have all taken their names. We first come across John Wray's name in the Minutes
of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council, under date of September 2, 1732,
when he was called upon to assist Conrad Weiser as interpreter, at a
conference held by the Governor with a number of the chiefs of the
Senecas, Cayugas, and Oneidas. Wray had therefore traded with the
Mingoes, possibly the Conestogas, and was familiar with the Iroquois
speech. After this conference, he may have started immediately
towards Allegheny; for he is reported in the records under date of
September 30, 1732, as having come down from there with two Shawnee
chiefs, who formerly had lived at Potomac, and who arrived in Philadelphia
on September 28th. John Wray acted as interpreter for these
Indians, with Edmund Cartlidge and PETER CHARTIER, at a conference
held with them by the Governor and Council, September 30th. Wray
was paid five pounds for his services. RAY'S TOWN WAS ON THE DIRECT
PATH FROM OLD SHAWNEE [OLD] TOWN ON THE POTOMAC RIVER TO THE ALLEGHENY RIVER; and it is well within the bounds of probability to say that John Wray may
have traded with the Shawnees at Opessa's Town on the Potomac River
while he was living at Ray's Town, and before they had emigrated
to the Ohio River.
......
The next station on the Path west of Ray's Town, as noted by both Harris and Patten,
was that of the Shawnee Cabins. These cabins, of course, marked the residence, for a
more or less protracted period, of Shawnees in the vicinity. If they
were standing in 1754, as to which we have no knowledge, they could
hardly have been erected so early as 1730. But the name, Alliquippa's [Conestoga]
Gap, applied to the mountain pass five miles to the east of the site
of Ray's Town, would suggest the possibility that she and some of her
tribe may have lived there prior to 1731. Her town was on the Ohio River in
that year. If there was a settlement of Alliquippa's followers on one side
and a Shawnee village on the other, Ray's Town might have been an
appropriate place for an English Trader to establish his trading-cabin; and
undoubtedly one of them did so, at this point.
......
Mayo's map in the Library of Congress (reproduced in this volume)
entitled "The Courses of the Rivers Rappahannock and Pawtomack,
as surveyed according to order in the years 1736 and 1737" shows two
Shawnee villages on the north bank of the Potomac, both marked
"deserted". One was opposite the mouth of the South Branch of the
Potomac River; the other about fifteen miles further up the main stream. The
first of these sites was on the flat now occupied in part by the village of
Oldtown, Maryland [which was formerly called Shawnee Oldtown],
and the second is shown on Fry and Jefferson's 1751 map of Virginia as
"Shawnee Fields" on the flat lands now in part occupied by the west side
of the city of Cumberland.
KITTANING REFOUNDED BY LETORT AND PETER CHARTIER
READERS of American Colonial history are more or less familiar
with the account of the destruction of Kittanning Indian Town in
September 1756, by Colonel John Armstrong's command of three hundred
troopers recruited from the Scotch-Irish of Cumberland County. Few
readers, however, are aware of the importance of this town in Indian
and frontier history some twenty-five years before that date.
Known to the French under ITS SENECA NAME OF ATTIGUE, ATIGA, OR
ADIGO, (The name appears as "Adjiego" in 1735 {Penna, Archives, i., 454) ; Conrad Weiser
wrote it "Adeeky on Ohio", Sep. 12, 1755 (Col. Rec. vi., 614). See John Trotter's De-
position, Penna. Archives, ii., 131. See also, N. Y. CoL Doc, v., 789; viL, 728, 735;
viii., 557; ix., 1035; X., 901, 956; Parkman's Montcalm and Wolf, i,, 440. Ot^o Creek
in Otsego County, New York, was called Adigo Creek on De Witt's 1790 map of the
Upper Susquehanna.) [Hanna then demonstrates that "Adigo" is Iroquian for "Fire"]
The Delaware Indian name "Kitianning" means "at the Great River," "great river"
being the equivalent of the Iroquois word "Ohio" [H.XXX]. As the "Great River" of the Senecas,
the name "Ohio" was at first applied to this river by the Iroquois from the sources of
the Allegheny River to the mouth of the Mississippi River. The secondary meaning of this,
as "grand" or "beautiful," came to be applied to the Ohio only after the discovery of
the upper Mississippi by the French.
[HXXX Alle/ghenny = allewi+ ghenny (Lenape) = "beautitful river"]
PETER CHARTIER
JAMES LE TORT was one of the earliest, if not the first of the Shamokin
Traders to follow the Delawares westward of the Alleghanies. The site
of an old Indian town near the present village of Shelocta in Indiana
County, [Pennsylvania] was known as late as 1769 as "James Letort's Town."' This
was probably the site of his trading post "at Allegheny" for some years
after 1729.
As early as 1728 LeTort made preparations for a trading trip to the
Twightwees* or Miamis' country [NOTE TWIGHTEES A CONFEDERACY INCLUDING THE MIAMIS],
which was then between the southeastem shore of Lake Michigan and the head of the
Maumee [River]. Le Tort's Rapids, Le Tort's Creek, and Le Tort's Island
(all now corrupted to "Letart's"), on the Ohio River, along the southern border
of Meigs County,[Ohio] attest his presence in those parts at a very early day, when he
traded with the Shawnees and Delawares at their towns there: one of which was at or
near the mouth of what since before 1755 has been known as Le Tort's or
Old Town Creek; and two below, Kiskiminetas Old Town, on the west
side of the Ohio River, eight miles above the mouth of the Kanawha River, and
Shawnee Old Town, on the east bank of the Ohio River, three miles north of the
Great Kanawha River. (Referred to in his Journal by George Washington, who
visited its site in 1770, as "Old Shawna Town, which is about three miles up
the Ohio (from the mouth of Kanawha], just above the mouth of a Creek."
Washington's Journal of 1754, Toner's edition, pp. 173, 192, 202, 217.)
1724 VILLAGE ON THE OHIO
...On a preceding page, it has been pointed out that Beauhamois wrote
to the French Ministry in October, 1728, calling attention to the steps
taken by his predecessor, De Vaudreuil, as early as 1724, to bring the
Shawnees nearer to Canada; and stating that the writer had permitted
his representative, CAVILLIER, to return to them in the village they had
begun on the Ohio, which already contained more than 150 men
and their families. One year later, Beauhamois reported the success
of his measures, and notes that during the past summer Cavelier had
brought four of their deputies with him to Montreal, who assured him
of their entire fidelity and attachment to the French.
FRENCH PLANS INTERCEPTED - 1726
LETORT AND PETER CHARTIER ALLY WITH SIX NATIONS AND ENGLISH
An earlier reference than this, however, to the Allegheny settlement
is to be found in the Minutes of the New York Provincial Council, under
date of September 7, 1726. On that day Governor Burnet attended an
Indian Council at Albany, where he met twelve chiefs of the Iroquois,
two from each of the Six Nations.
The Governor asked the chiefs whether they knew of a war hatchet
having been given by the French against the Six Nations. The Indians
replied, "That they had heard that the Governor of Canada, by two of
his interpreters, had given a hatchet of war to the Indians living to the
southward (Okowela's clan?), near a branch of Susquehanah, on a
branch (Conemaugh) of a river called Adiego [at Kittanning], which vents into
the Great River, Mississippi. Some of their people who were out fighting came
to their habitation, who acquainted them that two Frenchmen had
given a hatchet of war, by order of the Governor of Canada, against the
Six Nations; which those Indians refused, and said they were a joint of
the said Nations, and possessed part of their land; and if any people
made war against them, they were to assist them.
But when the French saw that those Indians would not accept the hatchet of war,
they desired them not to speak of it to the Six Nations; for it was concluded by
the French and English to cut them off; and gave them a bundle of papers
to be carried to Philadelphia, and from thence to New York, and thence
to Albany, and thence to Montreal ; and when that arrived there, and the
Fort at Niagara was built, then would be the time when the Six Nations
were to be cut off. But their warriors happened to get that packet, and
burned it."
On the page of the manuscript volume containing this speech of the
Indians (N. Y. Council Minutes, xv., 92) there appears the following
marginal note opposite the word, "Adiego": "Called by the French
Ohio". This seems to be conclusive proof, in connection with
what has already been given, that the word, "Adiego," written by the
French, "Adigo," "Atiga," "Attique," etc., was simply another render-
ing of the Seneca word "0-hee-yo", the meaning of which is the "Great
River," the name applied by the Senecas to the Ohio.[H.XXX] It was later
localized by the Traders among the Iroquois to the town of Kittanning,
and the French erroneously applied it to two or three different tributaries
of the Ohio River, when it really meant to the Iroquois that River itself. On
Bellin's map of Louisiana, printed by Charlevoix, an Indian village on
French Creek is called "Atigua", and Kittanning, "Atiga". On Bonnecamps's
map of Ohio, Kittanning is called "Atigue". On D'Anville's 1746-55 map,
the Kiskiminetas is called the "Atigue".
CRESAP ATTACKS ca. 1730
JAMES PATTERSON located, in 1717, along the northern line of Cones-
toga Manor, about a mile east of Martin Chartier's post, and there
established a trading house. He also took up a tract of land on the op-
posite side of the Susquehanna, in Conejohda Valley (in what is now York
County), where he pastured the horses used by him to pack goods in his
trading trips to the Indians of the Potomac [River]. He was a licensed Trader
in 1722, and died in 1735. THE BOUNDARY TROUBLES WHICH BEGAN ABOUT
1730 BETWEEN THE PENNSYLVANIA SETTLERS AND THOSE OF MARYLAND, LED BY
CAPTAIN THOMAS CRESAP, ENTIRELY BROKE UP PATTERSON'S TRADE ON THE WEST
SIDE OF THE [POTOMAC] RIVER, AND ENTAILED GREAT LOSS UPON HIM.
His grandson Captain William Patterson, (whose father, James, had settled
on the Juniata, at the site of the present village of Mexico, before the French War),
married a daughter of JOHN FINLEY, ANOTHER INDIAN TRADER, WHO, LATE IN
HIS LIFE (1769) PILOTED DANIEL BOONE INTO KENTUCKY. Susanna, daughter
of James Patterson, Sr., married James Lowrey, another of the Donegal
Traders. A second daughter, Sarah, married Benjamin Chambers, one
of the founders of Chambersburg.
FRENCH APPEAL - 1730
In October, 1731, the Governor of Canada wrote again, of having sent
Sieur de Joncaire among the Senecas in a former year; and during the past summer, he
adds, he had sent that officer's son to the Senecas again, he having resided
a long time among those Indians. "He went there with his father, who
is to leave young Joncaire at the Seneca village, and to proceed himself
to the Chaouanons, whither I have dispatched him to place those Indians
in the location proper for the proposed purpose". For a number of
years the French unavailingly tried to induce the Shawnees to remove
to the upper Wabash River and the Maumee River, where they would be away from
the sphere of English trade and influence.
...French had come again, and were going to settle there. He also stated
that, in the preceding February, A TRADER NAMED JOHN KELLY, IN THE
EMPLOY OF JOHN WILLIAMS, HAD TOLD THE SHAWANESE AT ALLEGHENY THAT THE
FIVE NATIONS WERE READY TO EAT THEM ALL, AND DRIVE AWAY THE FRENCH, IF
THE ENGLISH GOVERNOR SHOULD SAY THE WORD. This information put the
Shawanese into such a state of alarm and anger that they were about to
begin war on the English Traders at once, and were only restrained by
the efforts of PETER CHARTIER AND THE FRENCH [TRADERS], who persuaded them that
the news was false...
.......
James Le Tort, in his examination, states that he "is lately come
from Allegeny, where there are several settlements of Delaware, Shaw-
anese, Asswikalus [SEWICKLEY - HaThawaghili], and Mingoe Indians, to the
number of four or five hundred; that for these three years past, a certain
French gentleman, who goes by the name of CAVALIER, has made it his practice
to come every spring amongst the Indians settled there, and deals with them
but for a very small value; that he particularly fixed his abode amongst the
Shawanese, with whom he holds frequent Councils; and, it is generally
believed, with a design to draw them off from the English interest." Le
Tort also speaks of visits made to Montreal by the Shawanese in the
early part of the years 1730 and 1731.
Davenport and Le Tort, at the time of their examination, furnished
the Governor with an estimate of the number of Indians located at the
various towns of the Allegheny settlement, and the names of their chiefs,
which was as follows:
"Conntmiach: 20 families; 60 men; Delawares.
"Kythenning River, 50 miles distant: 50 families; 150 men; mostly Delawares.
Chiefs: Capt. Hill, a Alymaepy; Kykenhammo, a Delaware; Sypous, a Mingoe.
"Senangelstown, 16 miles distant: 16 families; 50 men; Delawares.
Chief: Senangel.
"Lequeepees(H. glosses as Conestoga, ruled by Queen Aliquippa), 60 miles distant:
Mingoes, mostly, and some Delawares; 4 settled families, but a great resort of these people.
"On Connumach Creek there are three Shawanese Towns; 45 families ; 200 men.
Chief: Okowela, suspected to be a favourer of the Frenchinterest.
"Asswikales [H. glosses as Thawighile]: 50 families; lately from South Carolina to Potowmack,
and from thence thither; making 100 men. Aqueloma, their chief, true to the English.
"Ohesson upon Choniata [Juniata Ruver], distant from Sasqueh[anna River] 60 miles:
Shawanese; 20 families; 60 men. Chief: Kissikahquelas.
"Assunepachla upon Choniata [Juniata River],
distant about 100 miles by water and 50 by land from Ohesson;
Delawares; 12 families; 36 men."
SHAWNEE TSAWIGHELI (Sewekily, Hathawakhila) DIVISION
RETURNS NORTH
The name of the Asswikales Indians who came from South Carolina
has been preserved to the present day under the form of "Sewickley”, a
name now applied to two creeks, forty miles apart, one on the east and
the other on the west side of Pittsburgh. Sewickleers' Old Town is shown
on Lewis Evans's map of 1755 and also on the 1770 map of Scull,
erroneously located north of the mouth of Dick's Creek, and a short
distance below Chartier's Old Town (which stood on or near the present
village of Tarentum, Allegheny County). Croghan's deed of 1749
mentions a "Sewichly Old Town" on the Youghiogheny River. This probably
stood at the mouth of the present Big Sewickley Creek of Westmoreland
County.
Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, in an article on the "Shawnee Migrations",
written for the Historical Magazine in 1866, was of the opinion that the
Shaweygira band of Shawnees "left the South in 1730, and having come
as far north on the track of their predecessors as the region now occupied
by Clark County, Kentucky, there divided, a portion of them, known
as the Shaweygira band, thirty warriors in number, continuing north to
western Pennsylvania, where they arrived in 1731 ; while the remainder
established the town of Lulbegrud. " This opinion of Dr. Brinton does
not seem to be borne out by the facts. The identity of this band of
Indians will be discussed later...
1723 KITTANING RE-FOUNDING
It was the first and chief settlement made by the Delawares when
they began to migrate westward from the Susquehanna River in 1723-24;
and for fifteen years or more thereafter, it was the most important
Indian centre west of the Alleghany Mountains. A few years after it
came into existence, the Susquehanna and Potomac Shawnees took up
their belongings and followed the Delawares over the mountains, establishing
themselves a few miles below Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, and
along its tributary, the Conemaugh River, or Kiskiminetas.
What became known after its abandonment by them as Chartier's Old Town, at the
mouth of Bull Creek, near the present borough of Tarentum, Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania seems to have been the principal village of the Shawnees
during the decade from 1735 to 1745. This town and Kittanning, with two
or three smaller villages between, and three or more along the banks of
the Kiskiminetas River, constituted a centre of Indian population and influence
known for many years in Pennsylvania Colonial history as "Alleghenia",
or "Allegheny on the Main Road."
Just what was the "Main Road" at the time the term was applied to distinguish the
settlements thereon cannot now positively be asserted. In all probability, however,
it was the road which later was known as the Frankstown Path, leading along
the Juniata River to the Alleghany Mountain, thence across the present
counties of Cambria and Indiana; and thence, by two different branches,
to Kittanning and to the Shawnee town afterwards called Chartier's
Town. The original path to Kittanning from Shamokin by way of the
West Branch of the Susquehanna River, Bald Eagle Creek, Chinldaclamoose^
and Punxsatawney, was so difficult and barren as to be almost entirely
destitute of game for man or fodder for beast; so that it could never
have been a much travelled route.
The southern Pennsylvania, or Raystown Path, in the opinion of the writer,
was, at first, only a westward branch of the great Warriors' Path which led
south from what is now Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, up Bald Eagle Valley,
through Frankstown, along the valley to the east of Warriors' Ridge, in the present
Bedford County, thence down Old Town Run to Old Shawnee Town on
the Potomac River (Opessa's Town), where Captain Thomas Cresap had
settled, perhaps as early as 1742. Cresap's settlement is referred to in
Engineer Harry Gordon's "Journal of the Braddock Expedition", as "on
the track of Indian warriors, when going to war, either northward or
southward. " The Shawnees who emigrated from Opessa's Town on the
Potomac River to the Allegheny before 1732 were probably the first of whom
there is any record in history to use this Path westward. Christopher
Gist, who travelled from Cresap's house to the Forks of the Ohio in 1750
went over the same Path, and has left us a detailed account of the route.
PETER ALLEN was a Donegal Trader who settled on Chickasalunga
Creek about 1718. In 1720 he lived near the site of MARIETTA, [namesake of Marietta, Ohio]
and traded with the Indians. Some ten years later, he had a trading post
near the mouth of Fishing Creek, a few miles south of the hill which has
since then been known as Peter's Mountain. He was living there until
after 1735.
1734 - TRADERS
"Jonas Davenport, Lazarus Lowrey, James Le Tort, Frasier Stevens, James
Patterson, Edward Cartlidge, we desire, may have license to come and trade
with us; as also, Peter Cheartier, who we reckon one of us; and he is
welcome to come as long as he pleases."
1728 WAPAKONETA, OHIO?
Reference has already been made to a letter written by Beauhamois,
Governor of Canada, October 1, 1728, to the Ministry, in which he stated
that the Shawnees had begun a village on the Ohio, which then contained
more than 150 men and their families. The French Governor also wrote
in this despatch that "two families have already removed from this village
to the vicinity of Lake Erie. There is another small lake in a tongue of
land situate between Lake Erie and the River Ohio, which divides into
two branches, whereof, one falls into the River Ouabache, and the other
flows towards Lake Erie. The latter is not very navigable. It is in
this tongue of land that the Chaouanons desire to settle. This settle-
ment will not be at most over twenty-five leagues from Lake Erie,
opposite a place called Long Point. CAVALLIER is the name of the person
whom M. de Beauhamois has permitted to return to the Chaouanons.
He is understood and known by these Indians, and will probably negotiate
this affair with success."
SHAWNEE TSWIGHELI (Sewekily, Hathawakhila) DIVISION
ATTACKED, DISPERSE SOUTH
When the Six Nation chiefs reached the Allegheny, they met there a
great man of the Senecas, named Sagohandechty, who lived on that river.
He accompanied the other chiefs to the Shawnee villages, to prevail
with the Shawnees to return [to the Susquehanna River]. He was the speaker,
and pressed them so closely that they took a great dislike to him; and
some months after the other chiefs were returned, the Shaweygira Shaw-
nees seized on him and murdered him cruelly. The tribe then fled to the
southward, and it was supposed they were then "returned to the place
from whence they first came, which was below Carolina."
....When they fled south from Atiga (Kittanning)after the murder of the Mingo
chief [Sagohandechty] in 1734, it is possible the Shaweygira may have stopped on the
west bank of the Ohio River, between the mouths of the Hocking River and the
Kanawha River, and established the Shawnee Town at the mouth of what
is now known as Old Town Creek, near Le Tort's Rapids, where, in all
probability, James Le Tort, many years before 1740, carried on a trade
with the Shawnees who did settle there.
It is more probable, however, that THE SHAWEYGIRA BAND TRAVELLED AS FAR DOWN
THE RIVER AS THE MOUTH OF THE SCIOTO RIVER, and [re-] built the town there, well known
in Colonial and Revolutionary history as THE LOWER SHAWNEE TOWN. It is certain
that that town was established before 1739; for Celoron states that Longueuil held a
council with the Indians at Scioto in that year, while on his way down
the Ohio River from Montreal to join the Louisiana expedition against
the Chickasaws...
....A second letter was also read, which had been received by the Proprietor
from the Shawnees at what was later known as Chartier's Town on the
Allegheny. In this letter, the Shawnees state that they are strongly
solicited by the French, whom they call their fathers, to return to them;
that every year the French send them powder, lead, and tobacco, to
enable them to withstand their enemies, the Southern Indians, by
whom they have often suffered, and were last year attacked in one of
their towns; that they are got so far back that they can go no farther,
without falling into their enemies' hands or going over to the French,
which they say they would willingly avoid; that if they should return to
Susquehanna, as the Pennsylvania Government has often pressed, they
must starve, there being little or no game to be met with in those parts;
therefore, they request that they be furnished with some arms and
ammunition, for their defence against their enemies, and to secure their...
....
On March 20, 1738, the Shawnees at "Alegania" (Kittaning} wrote an interest-
ing letter to Thomas Penn and James Logan, which was signed by three
of their chiefs: "Loyparcowah (Opessa's Son), Newcheconner (Deputy
King), and Coycacolenne, or Coracolenne (Chief Counseller)." They
acknowledge the receipt of a present from Penn and Logan of a horse-
load of powder, lead, and tobacco, delivered to them by George Miranda;
state that they have a good understanding with the French, the Five
Nations, the Ottawas, and all the French Indians; that the tract of
land reserved for them by the Proprietary Government on the Susque-
hanna River does not suit them at present; that they desire to remain where
they are, gather together and make a strong town, and keep their young
men from going to war against other nations at a distance.
The Indians then add, that "After we heard your letter read, and all our people
being gathered together, WE HELD A COUNCIL TOGETHER, TO LEAVE OFF DRINKING FOR
THE SPACE OF FOUR YEARS... There was not many of our Traders at home
at the time of our council, but OUR FRIENDS PETER CHARTIER AND GEORGE
MIRANDA; but the proposal of stopping the rum and all strong liquors
was made to the rest in the winter, and they were all willing. As soon
as it was concluded of, all the rum that was in the Towns was all staved
and spilled, belonging both to Indians and white people, which in quantity
consisted of about forty gallons, that was thrown in the street; and we
have appointed four men to stave all the rum or strong liquors that is
brought to the Towns hereafter, either by Indians or white men, during
the four years." This letter was accompanied by a pledge, signed by
ninety-eight Shawnees and the two Traders named above, agreeing that
all rum should be spilled, and four men should be appointed for every
town, to see that no rum or strong liquor should be brought into their
towns for the term of four years.
....
1755-1787 LOCATION OF DIVISIONS OF SHAWNEE NATION
"Maguck" or "Macqueechaick", a town of Shawnee origin (occupied by ten Delaware families when Christopher Gist was there in 1750), stood on the east side of the Scioto River, some three and a half miles below the present town of Circleville, Pickaway County. What are now known as the Pickaway Plains, in this county, were formerly called by the Indians and Traders, the Great Plain of Maguck. Evans's map of 1755 locates the Delaware Town here on the west side of Scioto. A SECOND MAGUCK ("MACACHEEK") STOOD LATER NEAR THE SITE OF WEST LIBERTY [where inscribed artifacts may be located by those interested], in what is now Logan County, Ohio. Mequachake seems to be the accepted form, although Gatschet's Shawnee MS. gives it as Menekutthegi. Hewitt gives the meaning as "red earth." Other synonyms given by Mooney include Machachac, Mackichac, Machachcek, Mackacheek, Magueck, Makostrake, and Maquichees.
Colonel John Johnston, a Government Indian agent among the Ohio tribes from 1812 to 1842,
in an article contributed by him to the American Antiquarian Society's Collections in 1820
(i., 275), states that the Shawnees have four clans or totems, as follows:
1. The Piqua tribe meaning, "a man formed from ashes."
2. The Mequachake [Maguck, Maquichee, or Macqueechaick] tribe, meaning, "a fat man well filled"; the tribe of the priest-hood, or medicine men.
3. The Kiskapocoke tribe to which belonged Tecumseh.
4. The Chillicothe tribe no definite meaning; applied to a place of residence
[King's Residence].
Dr. Brinton, in his article on "The Shawnees and their Migrations," divides them into three clans or totems, namely, those of the Maquichee, Peckawee, and Chillicothe [B.XXX - there were 5 divisions]. Whatever the original meanings of the words, "Chillicothe," "Piqua," "Kiskapocoke," and "Maguck" may be, it is certain that one or another of the four, or some variation thereof, was always applied to the name of every village of the Shawnees.
On Crevecceur's 1787 map of the Scioto Plain as it was some years before, are shown the Shawnee towns of "Maqueechaick" (the Maguck of Gist), "Kispoko," "Peco-wick," and "Chillicothe"; so that each one of the four septs of the Shawnee tribe is there represented as having a separate village. The Reverand David Jones, a Baptist missionary from New Jersey, visited three of these towns in January, 1773. In his Journal he names them as, Pickaweeke, Chillicaathee, and Kiskapookee. The word "Picka-weeke" Mr. Jones explains, "signifies 'the place of the Picks': the town taking its name from a nation of [Shawnee] Indians called Picks, some of them being the first settlers." (Chillisquaque Creek, entering the West Branch of the Susquehanna River) ["Pikawi" also = "gathering"]
1744 - SIX NATIONS ALLOWED ENGLISH [VIRGINIA?] TRADERS IN WEST VIRGINIA
ENGLISH NOW CLAIM IT COVERS SETTLERS
On June 13th, the Commissioners presented to the chiefs for their
signature a written instrument, confirming and ratifying the treaty held
at Lancaster in the year 1744, and giving their consent and permission
to the English to make settlements on the south and east of the Ohio
River. This instrument was executed by the Six Nations chiefs present
at the Council, and signed by them as follows: "Conogariera [Canajachrera], Cheseago, Cownsagret, Enguisaia [Montour], Tegrendeare, Thonorison, sachems and chiefs of the said
United Nations."
ID: I2547
Name: Pierre CHARTIER
Given Name: Pierre
Surname: CHARTIER
Nickname: Wocunuckshenah or Pale Brother
Sex: M
Change Date: 29 OCT 2011
Note:
"....son, Peter Chartier became a chief among them, a hunter wise in the trading ways of whites, who led them west to escape the encroachment of civilization.....only one son, Peter Chartier, handled the estate. Peter Chartier went to live with his mother's people and learned to see the English trader from a red perspective. A man who is drunk, or in need of a drink, can more easily be taken advantage of in a financial transaction. This was an axiom in the Pennsylvania Indian trade. With George Miranda, Peter Chartier drew up a petition for a ban on all liquor trade between the English traders and the Shawnees and the entire village pledged to smash any existing kegs and spill the rum, and to remain dry for a period of four years. The names of ninety-eight Shawnees are attached to this contract, which was submitted to the Pennsylvania authorities. It does not appear to have been carried out, however. Peter Chartier, apparently disgusted at the way the white traders took advantage of the Shawnees, led them away from the English trading posts. When the Shawnees returned, Peter Chartier was not with them."
"...His son, Peter Chartier, after living a few years at his father's place, removed to the neighborhood of New Cumberland, where he had a trading post. He left Cumberland Valley and located below Pittsburgh. He was all his life an Indian trader, and finally went to reside with the Indians, and took sides with them again the English. He left descendants who reside, I believe, in Washington county, Penna."
Before 1697 - moved with Opessa Band to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
1707 - living on Pequea Creek, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
1718 - living in Dekanoagah, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and obtained title to 300 acres on the Susquehanna River where his father had died
1732 - witnessed a letter from Neucheconner & other Shawnee Chiefs to the Governor of Pennsylvania and attended Council Philadelphia with others
1734 - founded Chartiers Town in Alleghany County, Pennaylvania
1737 - became a Pekowi Chief in Pennsylvania
1738 - signed petition to Pennsylvania
1744 - left the British of Pennsylvania with about 400 Pekowi & Kishpokotha to join the French of Ohio and moved southwest to the mouth of the Scioto River, establishing Lower Shawnee Town with sons
1745 - moved on to near Winchester KY
1746 - moved to the French Lick area of Tennessee (later became Nashville)
1747 - moved to the Coosa River, Alabama area
1748 - allegedly seen with some of his band in Illinois and Detroit
1749 - met Colonel Celeron De Blainville at the forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh)
1752 - returned to Kentucky
1754 - present with his Shawnee warriors at the murder of Captain Jumonville and responsible for the French victory over George Washington at Ft . Necessity
1754 to 1759 - active in opposition to the British in the French-Indian War
1758 - in Ohio
He was last seen in a village on the Wabash River.
Birth: ABT 1690 in Tennessee, USA
Death: ABT 1759 in Indiana, USA
Father: Martin CHARTIER b: 1655 in St-Jean-de-Montierneuf, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France
Mother: Sewatha STRAIGHT-TAIL b: ABT 1660 in Ohio, USA
Marriage 1 Snow White OPESSA b: 1695 in Cecil County, Maryland, USA
* Married: ABT 1710 in Pennsylvania, USA
* Note: They were first cousins.
Children
1. Francois CHARTIER b: ABT 1712 in Pennsylvania, USA
2. Rene CHARTIER b: ABT 1720 in Pennsylvania, USA
3. Anna CHARTIER b: ABT 1730 in Pennsylvania, USA
SOURCES:
1. Abbrev: Indian Blood: Finding Your Native American Ancestor
Title: Richard L Pangburn, Indian Blood: Finding Your Native American Ancestor (Louisville, Kentucky: Butler Books, 1993), . stor. Louisville, Kentucky: Butler Books, 1993.
Page: page 127
2. Abbrev: Shawnee Heritage II
Title: Don Greene, Shawnee Heritage II: Selected Lineages of Notable Shawnee (Lulu.com: Fantasy ePublications, 2008), . ee. Lulu.com: Fantasy ePublications, 2008.
Page: p 44-45 and 70
3. Abbrev: Indians in Pennsylvania
Title: Paul A W Wallace, Indians in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1993), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1993.
Page: p 125-128
4. Abbrev: American-Canadian Genealogist
Title: American-Canadian Genealogist, Published Quarterly - website of society: http://www.acgs.org/; (New Hampshire: American Canadian Genealogical Society) http://www.acgs.org/; (New Hampshire: American Canadian Genealogical Society).
Page: Vol 19, No 2, p 61 "The Chartiers: An Indian Life"
5. Abbrev: Lancaster County, PA, History of
Title: Franklin Ellis and Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts and Peck, 1883), Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts and Peck, 1883.
Page: page 7, 15
6. Abbrev: Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania
Title: C Hale Sipe, The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Wennawoods Publishing, 1995), Pennsylvania: Wennawoods Publishing, 1995.
Page: p 109-117
7. Abbrev: Indian Wars of Pennsylvania
Title: C Hale Sipe, The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Telegraph Press, 1931), Pennsylvania: Telegraph Press, 1931.
Page: p 127-129
8. Abbrev: Cumberland Valley, PA: 1930
Title: George P Donehoo, A History of the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Susquehanna History Association, 1930), . a. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Susquehanna History Association, 1930.
Page: p 107-108, 126, 497
9. Abbrev: Memoires de la Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise
Title: Memoires de la Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise; (Montreal, Quebec: Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise). eal, Quebec: Societe Genealogique Canadienne-Francaise).
Page: Vol XXX Nov 4, Oct-Nov-Dec 1979, p 293-296
10. Abbrev: Wilderness Trail
Title: Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: or The ventures and ad ventures of the Pennsylvania traders on the Allegheny path, 2 Volumes (New York and London: G P Putnam's Sons and Knickerbocker Press, 191 1), Adventures of the Pennsylvania traders on the Allegheny path. 2 Volumes. New York and London: G P Putnam's Sons and Knickerbocker Press, 19 11.
Page: Vol II, pg 328
11. Abbrev: Historical Register: Notes and Queries-Interior Pennsylvania
Title: [Henry Egle], Historical Register: Notes and Queries, Historical and Genealogical, relating to Interior Pennsylvania, for the year 1884 ( Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S Hart, Printer and Binder, 1884), . d Genealogical, relating to Interior Pennsylvania, for the year 1884. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S Hart, Printer and Binder, 1884.
Page: Vol II, p 250-255
12. Abbrev: Notes & Queries Pennsylvania
Title: William H Egle, compiler, Notes and queries: Historical, biographical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, 1st-2d ser., v. 1-2 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Telegraph Printing and Binding House, 1881), . al and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, 1st-2d s er., v. 1-2. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Telegraph Printing and Binding House, 1881. Page: Page 88
PETER CHARTIER
1708 POTOMAC RIVER RE-SETTLEMENTS - OLD TOWN AND ANTIETAM
OLDTOWN-BEDFORD TRAIL IS THE WARRIOR"S PATH
1729 CATAWBA ATTACK
In March, 1721, BEZAILLION had a trading post near Paxtang, "about
thirty-six miles higher up on Sasquehannah [River]" than Conestoga; and in
May, 1728, he acted with Nicholas and John Scull as interpreters at an
Indian conference in Philadelphia. He was reported, as early as 1708,
to have joined with JAMES LE TORT and MARTIN CHARTIER IN BUILDING CABINS
ON THE UPPER BRANCHES OF POTOMAC (ANTIETAM AND CONOCOCHEAGUE CREEKS,
in what is now Franklin County, Pennsylvannia) [HXXX wrong there - villages in Maryland, on the Potomac River at creek mouths), and also had a trading post near Paxtang, as we have seen. Peter Bezaillion died in 1742...
IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT BEZAILLION CAME OVER WITH LE TORT AND THE
OTHER FRENCH PROTESTANTS IN 1686. In a letter written by William
Markham, Governor of Pennsylvania, to the Governor of Maryland, June
26, 1696, Markham says: "Upon the copy of what Colonel Herman gave
into your Excellency and Council, I shall require security for Le Tort
[the father] and Basalion, though I know that will not satisfy the Colonel. He
still will be uneasy until he gets all the Indian trade to himself. I have
known Colonel Herman for a long time, and he that trades for him on
Susquehanna (Amos Nicholls) is better known than trusted. I enclose to
your Excellency what I found among castaway papers. Basalion was in
equal partnership with Petit and Salvay, though it went in only their
two names, Basalion coming in after the others had provided for the
voyage, and after the voyage was overthrown, I divided the left cargo,
and Basalion had one-third. But as to Le Tort he is a Protestant."
..........
On November 2, 1722, Charles Anderson was sent by the Maryland
Government to "the Shawan Town upon Potomack," with instructions
to make a treaty with the Shawnee chiefs there, who were named Pocka-
seta and Oneakoopa.'
...........
In 1729, Captain Civility, chief of the Conestogas, wrote to Governor Gordon
that "about two months ago, the Southern Indians [Cawtawba] killed and took nine
of the Shawaners, living on a branch of Potomac River, near the Great Mountains;
the which impute to their own fault, for settling so near their enemies."
JOHN WRAY
Opakethwa and Opakeita, two chiefs of the Potomac Shawnees
from Ohio, visited Philadelphia in September, 1732, after they had abandoned
their town on the North Branch of the Potomac River and removed to
the Allegheny. The Governor asked them why they had gone so far
back into the woods as the Allegheny. They replied, that "formerly they
lived at Patowmack, where their king died; that, having lost him, they
knew not what to do; that they then took their wives and children and
went over the mountains [to Allegheny] to live. "*
JOHN WRAY, THE TRADER, WHO HAD FORMERLY TRADED AT WHAT WAS AFTER-
WARDS CALLED RAYSTOWN (NOW BEDFORD), came down from Allehgeny to
Philadelphia with these Shawnee chiefs in September, 1732, to serve
as interpreter. Prior to 1732, John Wray's trading was doubtless carried
on with the Shawnees at their "Old Town," on the Potomac River, and with
the Conestogas and Mingoes who had settled at THE ORIGINAL ALLEQUIPPA'S
TOWN, VERY NEAR THE SITE OF WHAT WAS AFTERWARDS RAYSTOWN. [ALLEQUIPPA WAS CONESTOGA]
Both of these Indian villages were ON THE WARRIOR'S PATH, which extended south-
wards from Frankstown to the Potomac River; and they were but little more
than thirty miles apart....
His name was John Wray; and from him Ray's Town, Ray's Hill, and Ray's Cove
have all taken their names. We first come across John Wray's name in the Minutes
of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council, under date of September 2, 1732,
when he was called upon to assist Conrad Weiser as interpreter, at a
conference held by the Governor with a number of the chiefs of the
Senecas, Cayugas, and Oneidas. Wray had therefore traded with the
Mingoes, possibly the Conestogas, and was familiar with the Iroquois
speech. After this conference, he may have started immediately
towards Allegheny; for he is reported in the records under date of
September 30, 1732, as having come down from there with two Shawnee
chiefs, who formerly had lived at Potomac, and who arrived in Philadelphia
on September 28th. John Wray acted as interpreter for these
Indians, with Edmund Cartlidge and PETER CHARTIER, at a conference
held with them by the Governor and Council, September 30th. Wray
was paid five pounds for his services. RAY'S TOWN WAS ON THE DIRECT
PATH FROM OLD SHAWNEE [OLD] TOWN ON THE POTOMAC RIVER TO THE ALLEGHENY RIVER; and it is well within the bounds of probability to say that John Wray may
have traded with the Shawnees at Opessa's Town on the Potomac River
while he was living at Ray's Town, and before they had emigrated
to the Ohio River.
......
The next station on the Path west of Ray's Town, as noted by both Harris and Patten,
was that of the Shawnee Cabins. These cabins, of course, marked the residence, for a
more or less protracted period, of Shawnees in the vicinity. If they
were standing in 1754, as to which we have no knowledge, they could
hardly have been erected so early as 1730. But the name, Alliquippa's [Conestoga]
Gap, applied to the mountain pass five miles to the east of the site
of Ray's Town, would suggest the possibility that she and some of her
tribe may have lived there prior to 1731. Her town was on the Ohio River in
that year. If there was a settlement of Alliquippa's followers on one side
and a Shawnee village on the other, Ray's Town might have been an
appropriate place for an English Trader to establish his trading-cabin; and
undoubtedly one of them did so, at this point.
......
Mayo's map in the Library of Congress (reproduced in this volume)
entitled "The Courses of the Rivers Rappahannock and Pawtomack,
as surveyed according to order in the years 1736 and 1737" shows two
Shawnee villages on the north bank of the Potomac, both marked
"deserted". One was opposite the mouth of the South Branch of the
Potomac River; the other about fifteen miles further up the main stream. The
first of these sites was on the flat now occupied in part by the village of
Oldtown, Maryland [which was formerly called Shawnee Oldtown],
and the second is shown on Fry and Jefferson's 1751 map of Virginia as
"Shawnee Fields" on the flat lands now in part occupied by the west side
of the city of Cumberland.
KITTANING REFOUNDED BY LETORT AND PETER CHARTIER
READERS of American Colonial history are more or less familiar
with the account of the destruction of Kittanning Indian Town in
September 1756, by Colonel John Armstrong's command of three hundred
troopers recruited from the Scotch-Irish of Cumberland County. Few
readers, however, are aware of the importance of this town in Indian
and frontier history some twenty-five years before that date.
Known to the French under ITS SENECA NAME OF ATTIGUE, ATIGA, OR
ADIGO, (The name appears as "Adjiego" in 1735 {Penna, Archives, i., 454) ; Conrad Weiser
wrote it "Adeeky on Ohio", Sep. 12, 1755 (Col. Rec. vi., 614). See John Trotter's De-
position, Penna. Archives, ii., 131. See also, N. Y. CoL Doc, v., 789; viL, 728, 735;
viii., 557; ix., 1035; X., 901, 956; Parkman's Montcalm and Wolf, i,, 440. Ot^o Creek
in Otsego County, New York, was called Adigo Creek on De Witt's 1790 map of the
Upper Susquehanna.) [Hanna then demonstrates that "Adigo" is Iroquian for "Fire"]
The Delaware Indian name "Kitianning" means "at the Great River," "great river"
being the equivalent of the Iroquois word "Ohio" [H.XXX]. As the "Great River" of the Senecas,
the name "Ohio" was at first applied to this river by the Iroquois from the sources of
the Allegheny River to the mouth of the Mississippi River. The secondary meaning of this,
as "grand" or "beautiful," came to be applied to the Ohio only after the discovery of
the upper Mississippi by the French.
[HXXX Alle/ghenny = allewi+ ghenny (Lenape) = "beautitful river"]
PETER CHARTIER
JAMES LE TORT was one of the earliest, if not the first of the Shamokin
Traders to follow the Delawares westward of the Alleghanies. The site
of an old Indian town near the present village of Shelocta in Indiana
County, [Pennsylvania] was known as late as 1769 as "James Letort's Town."' This
was probably the site of his trading post "at Allegheny" for some years
after 1729.
As early as 1728 LeTort made preparations for a trading trip to the
Twightwees* or Miamis' country [NOTE TWIGHTEES A CONFEDERACY INCLUDING THE MIAMIS],
which was then between the southeastem shore of Lake Michigan and the head of the
Maumee [River]. Le Tort's Rapids, Le Tort's Creek, and Le Tort's Island
(all now corrupted to "Letart's"), on the Ohio River, along the southern border
of Meigs County,[Ohio] attest his presence in those parts at a very early day, when he
traded with the Shawnees and Delawares at their towns there: one of which was at or
near the mouth of what since before 1755 has been known as Le Tort's or
Old Town Creek; and two below, Kiskiminetas Old Town, on the west
side of the Ohio River, eight miles above the mouth of the Kanawha River, and
Shawnee Old Town, on the east bank of the Ohio River, three miles north of the
Great Kanawha River. (Referred to in his Journal by George Washington, who
visited its site in 1770, as "Old Shawna Town, which is about three miles up
the Ohio (from the mouth of Kanawha], just above the mouth of a Creek."
Washington's Journal of 1754, Toner's edition, pp. 173, 192, 202, 217.)
1724 VILLAGE ON THE OHIO
...On a preceding page, it has been pointed out that Beauhamois wrote
to the French Ministry in October, 1728, calling attention to the steps
taken by his predecessor, De Vaudreuil, as early as 1724, to bring the
Shawnees nearer to Canada; and stating that the writer had permitted
his representative, CAVILLIER, to return to them in the village they had
begun on the Ohio, which already contained more than 150 men
and their families. One year later, Beauhamois reported the success
of his measures, and notes that during the past summer Cavelier had
brought four of their deputies with him to Montreal, who assured him
of their entire fidelity and attachment to the French.
FRENCH PLANS INTERCEPTED - 1726
LETORT AND PETER CHARTIER ALLY WITH SIX NATIONS AND ENGLISH
An earlier reference than this, however, to the Allegheny settlement
is to be found in the Minutes of the New York Provincial Council, under
date of September 7, 1726. On that day Governor Burnet attended an
Indian Council at Albany, where he met twelve chiefs of the Iroquois,
two from each of the Six Nations.
The Governor asked the chiefs whether they knew of a war hatchet
having been given by the French against the Six Nations. The Indians
replied, "That they had heard that the Governor of Canada, by two of
his interpreters, had given a hatchet of war to the Indians living to the
southward (Okowela's clan?), near a branch of Susquehanah, on a
branch (Conemaugh) of a river called Adiego [at Kittanning], which vents into
the Great River, Mississippi. Some of their people who were out fighting came
to their habitation, who acquainted them that two Frenchmen had
given a hatchet of war, by order of the Governor of Canada, against the
Six Nations; which those Indians refused, and said they were a joint of
the said Nations, and possessed part of their land; and if any people
made war against them, they were to assist them.
But when the French saw that those Indians would not accept the hatchet of war,
they desired them not to speak of it to the Six Nations; for it was concluded by
the French and English to cut them off; and gave them a bundle of papers
to be carried to Philadelphia, and from thence to New York, and thence
to Albany, and thence to Montreal ; and when that arrived there, and the
Fort at Niagara was built, then would be the time when the Six Nations
were to be cut off. But their warriors happened to get that packet, and
burned it."
On the page of the manuscript volume containing this speech of the
Indians (N. Y. Council Minutes, xv., 92) there appears the following
marginal note opposite the word, "Adiego": "Called by the French
Ohio". This seems to be conclusive proof, in connection with
what has already been given, that the word, "Adiego," written by the
French, "Adigo," "Atiga," "Attique," etc., was simply another render-
ing of the Seneca word "0-hee-yo", the meaning of which is the "Great
River," the name applied by the Senecas to the Ohio.[H.XXX] It was later
localized by the Traders among the Iroquois to the town of Kittanning,
and the French erroneously applied it to two or three different tributaries
of the Ohio River, when it really meant to the Iroquois that River itself. On
Bellin's map of Louisiana, printed by Charlevoix, an Indian village on
French Creek is called "Atigua", and Kittanning, "Atiga". On Bonnecamps's
map of Ohio, Kittanning is called "Atigue". On D'Anville's 1746-55 map,
the Kiskiminetas is called the "Atigue".
CRESAP ATTACKS ca. 1730
JAMES PATTERSON located, in 1717, along the northern line of Cones-
toga Manor, about a mile east of Martin Chartier's post, and there
established a trading house. He also took up a tract of land on the op-
posite side of the Susquehanna, in Conejohda Valley (in what is now York
County), where he pastured the horses used by him to pack goods in his
trading trips to the Indians of the Potomac [River]. He was a licensed Trader
in 1722, and died in 1735. THE BOUNDARY TROUBLES WHICH BEGAN ABOUT
1730 BETWEEN THE PENNSYLVANIA SETTLERS AND THOSE OF MARYLAND, LED BY
CAPTAIN THOMAS CRESAP, ENTIRELY BROKE UP PATTERSON'S TRADE ON THE WEST
SIDE OF THE [POTOMAC] RIVER, AND ENTAILED GREAT LOSS UPON HIM.
His grandson Captain William Patterson, (whose father, James, had settled
on the Juniata, at the site of the present village of Mexico, before the French War),
married a daughter of JOHN FINLEY, ANOTHER INDIAN TRADER, WHO, LATE IN
HIS LIFE (1769) PILOTED DANIEL BOONE INTO KENTUCKY. Susanna, daughter
of James Patterson, Sr., married James Lowrey, another of the Donegal
Traders. A second daughter, Sarah, married Benjamin Chambers, one
of the founders of Chambersburg.
FRENCH APPEAL - 1730
In October, 1731, the Governor of Canada wrote again, of having sent
Sieur de Joncaire among the Senecas in a former year; and during the past summer, he
adds, he had sent that officer's son to the Senecas again, he having resided
a long time among those Indians. "He went there with his father, who
is to leave young Joncaire at the Seneca village, and to proceed himself
to the Chaouanons, whither I have dispatched him to place those Indians
in the location proper for the proposed purpose". For a number of
years the French unavailingly tried to induce the Shawnees to remove
to the upper Wabash River and the Maumee River, where they would be away from
the sphere of English trade and influence.
...French had come again, and were going to settle there. He also stated
that, in the preceding February, A TRADER NAMED JOHN KELLY, IN THE
EMPLOY OF JOHN WILLIAMS, HAD TOLD THE SHAWANESE AT ALLEGHENY THAT THE
FIVE NATIONS WERE READY TO EAT THEM ALL, AND DRIVE AWAY THE FRENCH, IF
THE ENGLISH GOVERNOR SHOULD SAY THE WORD. This information put the
Shawanese into such a state of alarm and anger that they were about to
begin war on the English Traders at once, and were only restrained by
the efforts of PETER CHARTIER AND THE FRENCH [TRADERS], who persuaded them that
the news was false...
.......
James Le Tort, in his examination, states that he "is lately come
from Allegeny, where there are several settlements of Delaware, Shaw-
anese, Asswikalus [SEWICKLEY - HaThawaghili], and Mingoe Indians, to the
number of four or five hundred; that for these three years past, a certain
French gentleman, who goes by the name of CAVALIER, has made it his practice
to come every spring amongst the Indians settled there, and deals with them
but for a very small value; that he particularly fixed his abode amongst the
Shawanese, with whom he holds frequent Councils; and, it is generally
believed, with a design to draw them off from the English interest." Le
Tort also speaks of visits made to Montreal by the Shawanese in the
early part of the years 1730 and 1731.
Davenport and Le Tort, at the time of their examination, furnished
the Governor with an estimate of the number of Indians located at the
various towns of the Allegheny settlement, and the names of their chiefs,
which was as follows:
"Conntmiach: 20 families; 60 men; Delawares.
"Kythenning River, 50 miles distant: 50 families; 150 men; mostly Delawares.
Chiefs: Capt. Hill, a Alymaepy; Kykenhammo, a Delaware; Sypous, a Mingoe.
"Senangelstown, 16 miles distant: 16 families; 50 men; Delawares.
Chief: Senangel.
"Lequeepees(H. glosses as Conestoga, ruled by Queen Aliquippa), 60 miles distant:
Mingoes, mostly, and some Delawares; 4 settled families, but a great resort of these people.
"On Connumach Creek there are three Shawanese Towns; 45 families ; 200 men.
Chief: Okowela, suspected to be a favourer of the Frenchinterest.
"Asswikales [H. glosses as Thawighile]: 50 families; lately from South Carolina to Potowmack,
and from thence thither; making 100 men. Aqueloma, their chief, true to the English.
"Ohesson upon Choniata [Juniata Ruver], distant from Sasqueh[anna River] 60 miles:
Shawanese; 20 families; 60 men. Chief: Kissikahquelas.
"Assunepachla upon Choniata [Juniata River],
distant about 100 miles by water and 50 by land from Ohesson;
Delawares; 12 families; 36 men."
SHAWNEE TSAWIGHELI (Sewekily, Hathawakhila) DIVISION
RETURNS NORTH
The name of the Asswikales Indians who came from South Carolina
has been preserved to the present day under the form of "Sewickley”, a
name now applied to two creeks, forty miles apart, one on the east and
the other on the west side of Pittsburgh. Sewickleers' Old Town is shown
on Lewis Evans's map of 1755 and also on the 1770 map of Scull,
erroneously located north of the mouth of Dick's Creek, and a short
distance below Chartier's Old Town (which stood on or near the present
village of Tarentum, Allegheny County). Croghan's deed of 1749
mentions a "Sewichly Old Town" on the Youghiogheny River. This probably
stood at the mouth of the present Big Sewickley Creek of Westmoreland
County.
Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, in an article on the "Shawnee Migrations",
written for the Historical Magazine in 1866, was of the opinion that the
Shaweygira band of Shawnees "left the South in 1730, and having come
as far north on the track of their predecessors as the region now occupied
by Clark County, Kentucky, there divided, a portion of them, known
as the Shaweygira band, thirty warriors in number, continuing north to
western Pennsylvania, where they arrived in 1731 ; while the remainder
established the town of Lulbegrud. " This opinion of Dr. Brinton does
not seem to be borne out by the facts. The identity of this band of
Indians will be discussed later...
1723 KITTANING RE-FOUNDING
It was the first and chief settlement made by the Delawares when
they began to migrate westward from the Susquehanna River in 1723-24;
and for fifteen years or more thereafter, it was the most important
Indian centre west of the Alleghany Mountains. A few years after it
came into existence, the Susquehanna and Potomac Shawnees took up
their belongings and followed the Delawares over the mountains, establishing
themselves a few miles below Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, and
along its tributary, the Conemaugh River, or Kiskiminetas.
What became known after its abandonment by them as Chartier's Old Town, at the
mouth of Bull Creek, near the present borough of Tarentum, Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania seems to have been the principal village of the Shawnees
during the decade from 1735 to 1745. This town and Kittanning, with two
or three smaller villages between, and three or more along the banks of
the Kiskiminetas River, constituted a centre of Indian population and influence
known for many years in Pennsylvania Colonial history as "Alleghenia",
or "Allegheny on the Main Road."
Just what was the "Main Road" at the time the term was applied to distinguish the
settlements thereon cannot now positively be asserted. In all probability, however,
it was the road which later was known as the Frankstown Path, leading along
the Juniata River to the Alleghany Mountain, thence across the present
counties of Cambria and Indiana; and thence, by two different branches,
to Kittanning and to the Shawnee town afterwards called Chartier's
Town. The original path to Kittanning from Shamokin by way of the
West Branch of the Susquehanna River, Bald Eagle Creek, Chinldaclamoose^
and Punxsatawney, was so difficult and barren as to be almost entirely
destitute of game for man or fodder for beast; so that it could never
have been a much travelled route.
The southern Pennsylvania, or Raystown Path, in the opinion of the writer,
was, at first, only a westward branch of the great Warriors' Path which led
south from what is now Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, up Bald Eagle Valley,
through Frankstown, along the valley to the east of Warriors' Ridge, in the present
Bedford County, thence down Old Town Run to Old Shawnee Town on
the Potomac River (Opessa's Town), where Captain Thomas Cresap had
settled, perhaps as early as 1742. Cresap's settlement is referred to in
Engineer Harry Gordon's "Journal of the Braddock Expedition", as "on
the track of Indian warriors, when going to war, either northward or
southward. " The Shawnees who emigrated from Opessa's Town on the
Potomac River to the Allegheny before 1732 were probably the first of whom
there is any record in history to use this Path westward. Christopher
Gist, who travelled from Cresap's house to the Forks of the Ohio in 1750
went over the same Path, and has left us a detailed account of the route.
PETER ALLEN was a Donegal Trader who settled on Chickasalunga
Creek about 1718. In 1720 he lived near the site of MARIETTA, [namesake of Marietta, Ohio]
and traded with the Indians. Some ten years later, he had a trading post
near the mouth of Fishing Creek, a few miles south of the hill which has
since then been known as Peter's Mountain. He was living there until
after 1735.
1734 - TRADERS
"Jonas Davenport, Lazarus Lowrey, James Le Tort, Frasier Stevens, James
Patterson, Edward Cartlidge, we desire, may have license to come and trade
with us; as also, Peter Cheartier, who we reckon one of us; and he is
welcome to come as long as he pleases."
1728 WAPAKONETA, OHIO?
Reference has already been made to a letter written by Beauhamois,
Governor of Canada, October 1, 1728, to the Ministry, in which he stated
that the Shawnees had begun a village on the Ohio, which then contained
more than 150 men and their families. The French Governor also wrote
in this despatch that "two families have already removed from this village
to the vicinity of Lake Erie. There is another small lake in a tongue of
land situate between Lake Erie and the River Ohio, which divides into
two branches, whereof, one falls into the River Ouabache, and the other
flows towards Lake Erie. The latter is not very navigable. It is in
this tongue of land that the Chaouanons desire to settle. This settle-
ment will not be at most over twenty-five leagues from Lake Erie,
opposite a place called Long Point. CAVALLIER is the name of the person
whom M. de Beauhamois has permitted to return to the Chaouanons.
He is understood and known by these Indians, and will probably negotiate
this affair with success."
SHAWNEE TSWIGHELI (Sewekily, Hathawakhila) DIVISION
ATTACKED, DISPERSE SOUTH
When the Six Nation chiefs reached the Allegheny, they met there a
great man of the Senecas, named Sagohandechty, who lived on that river.
He accompanied the other chiefs to the Shawnee villages, to prevail
with the Shawnees to return [to the Susquehanna River]. He was the speaker,
and pressed them so closely that they took a great dislike to him; and
some months after the other chiefs were returned, the Shaweygira Shaw-
nees seized on him and murdered him cruelly. The tribe then fled to the
southward, and it was supposed they were then "returned to the place
from whence they first came, which was below Carolina."
....When they fled south from Atiga (Kittanning)after the murder of the Mingo
chief [Sagohandechty] in 1734, it is possible the Shaweygira may have stopped on the
west bank of the Ohio River, between the mouths of the Hocking River and the
Kanawha River, and established the Shawnee Town at the mouth of what
is now known as Old Town Creek, near Le Tort's Rapids, where, in all
probability, James Le Tort, many years before 1740, carried on a trade
with the Shawnees who did settle there.
It is more probable, however, that THE SHAWEYGIRA BAND TRAVELLED AS FAR DOWN
THE RIVER AS THE MOUTH OF THE SCIOTO RIVER, and [re-] built the town there, well known
in Colonial and Revolutionary history as THE LOWER SHAWNEE TOWN. It is certain
that that town was established before 1739; for Celoron states that Longueuil held a
council with the Indians at Scioto in that year, while on his way down
the Ohio River from Montreal to join the Louisiana expedition against
the Chickasaws...
....A second letter was also read, which had been received by the Proprietor
from the Shawnees at what was later known as Chartier's Town on the
Allegheny. In this letter, the Shawnees state that they are strongly
solicited by the French, whom they call their fathers, to return to them;
that every year the French send them powder, lead, and tobacco, to
enable them to withstand their enemies, the Southern Indians, by
whom they have often suffered, and were last year attacked in one of
their towns; that they are got so far back that they can go no farther,
without falling into their enemies' hands or going over to the French,
which they say they would willingly avoid; that if they should return to
Susquehanna, as the Pennsylvania Government has often pressed, they
must starve, there being little or no game to be met with in those parts;
therefore, they request that they be furnished with some arms and
ammunition, for their defence against their enemies, and to secure their...
....
On March 20, 1738, the Shawnees at "Alegania" (Kittaning} wrote an interest-
ing letter to Thomas Penn and James Logan, which was signed by three
of their chiefs: "Loyparcowah (Opessa's Son), Newcheconner (Deputy
King), and Coycacolenne, or Coracolenne (Chief Counseller)." They
acknowledge the receipt of a present from Penn and Logan of a horse-
load of powder, lead, and tobacco, delivered to them by George Miranda;
state that they have a good understanding with the French, the Five
Nations, the Ottawas, and all the French Indians; that the tract of
land reserved for them by the Proprietary Government on the Susque-
hanna River does not suit them at present; that they desire to remain where
they are, gather together and make a strong town, and keep their young
men from going to war against other nations at a distance.
The Indians then add, that "After we heard your letter read, and all our people
being gathered together, WE HELD A COUNCIL TOGETHER, TO LEAVE OFF DRINKING FOR
THE SPACE OF FOUR YEARS... There was not many of our Traders at home
at the time of our council, but OUR FRIENDS PETER CHARTIER AND GEORGE
MIRANDA; but the proposal of stopping the rum and all strong liquors
was made to the rest in the winter, and they were all willing. As soon
as it was concluded of, all the rum that was in the Towns was all staved
and spilled, belonging both to Indians and white people, which in quantity
consisted of about forty gallons, that was thrown in the street; and we
have appointed four men to stave all the rum or strong liquors that is
brought to the Towns hereafter, either by Indians or white men, during
the four years." This letter was accompanied by a pledge, signed by
ninety-eight Shawnees and the two Traders named above, agreeing that
all rum should be spilled, and four men should be appointed for every
town, to see that no rum or strong liquor should be brought into their
towns for the term of four years.
....
1755-1787 LOCATION OF DIVISIONS OF SHAWNEE NATION
"Maguck" or "Macqueechaick", a town of Shawnee origin (occupied by ten Delaware families when Christopher Gist was there in 1750), stood on the east side of the Scioto River, some three and a half miles below the present town of Circleville, Pickaway County. What are now known as the Pickaway Plains, in this county, were formerly called by the Indians and Traders, the Great Plain of Maguck. Evans's map of 1755 locates the Delaware Town here on the west side of Scioto. A SECOND MAGUCK ("MACACHEEK") STOOD LATER NEAR THE SITE OF WEST LIBERTY [where inscribed artifacts may be located by those interested], in what is now Logan County, Ohio. Mequachake seems to be the accepted form, although Gatschet's Shawnee MS. gives it as Menekutthegi. Hewitt gives the meaning as "red earth." Other synonyms given by Mooney include Machachac, Mackichac, Machachcek, Mackacheek, Magueck, Makostrake, and Maquichees.
Colonel John Johnston, a Government Indian agent among the Ohio tribes from 1812 to 1842,
in an article contributed by him to the American Antiquarian Society's Collections in 1820
(i., 275), states that the Shawnees have four clans or totems, as follows:
1. The Piqua tribe meaning, "a man formed from ashes."
2. The Mequachake [Maguck, Maquichee, or Macqueechaick] tribe, meaning, "a fat man well filled"; the tribe of the priest-hood, or medicine men.
3. The Kiskapocoke tribe to which belonged Tecumseh.
4. The Chillicothe tribe no definite meaning; applied to a place of residence
[King's Residence].
Dr. Brinton, in his article on "The Shawnees and their Migrations," divides them into three clans or totems, namely, those of the Maquichee, Peckawee, and Chillicothe [B.XXX - there were 5 divisions]. Whatever the original meanings of the words, "Chillicothe," "Piqua," "Kiskapocoke," and "Maguck" may be, it is certain that one or another of the four, or some variation thereof, was always applied to the name of every village of the Shawnees.
On Crevecceur's 1787 map of the Scioto Plain as it was some years before, are shown the Shawnee towns of "Maqueechaick" (the Maguck of Gist), "Kispoko," "Peco-wick," and "Chillicothe"; so that each one of the four septs of the Shawnee tribe is there represented as having a separate village. The Reverand David Jones, a Baptist missionary from New Jersey, visited three of these towns in January, 1773. In his Journal he names them as, Pickaweeke, Chillicaathee, and Kiskapookee. The word "Picka-weeke" Mr. Jones explains, "signifies 'the place of the Picks': the town taking its name from a nation of [Shawnee] Indians called Picks, some of them being the first settlers." (Chillisquaque Creek, entering the West Branch of the Susquehanna River) ["Pikawi" also = "gathering"]
1744 - SIX NATIONS ALLOWED ENGLISH [VIRGINIA?] TRADERS IN WEST VIRGINIA
ENGLISH NOW CLAIM IT COVERS SETTLERS
On June 13th, the Commissioners presented to the chiefs for their
signature a written instrument, confirming and ratifying the treaty held
at Lancaster in the year 1744, and giving their consent and permission
to the English to make settlements on the south and east of the Ohio
River. This instrument was executed by the Six Nations chiefs present
at the Council, and signed by them as follows: "Conogariera [Canajachrera], Cheseago, Cownsagret, Enguisaia [Montour], Tegrendeare, Thonorison, sachems and chiefs of the said
United Nations."