Pennsylvania Indian Tribes
In early times this tribe
occupied the eastern parts of Pennsylvania along Delaware River; later they
were, for a time, on the Susquehanna and the headwaters of the Ohio. (See
New Jersey.)
The Erie extended over the
extreme northwestern corner of the State. (See
Ohio.)
An Iroquois term meaning "Wearing something round the
neck."
Also called:
Black Minqua, the word "black" said to refer to "a black badge
on their breast," while "Minqua" indicated their relationship to the White
Minqua, or Susquehanna (q. v.).
Connections. The
Honniasont belonged to the Iroquoian linguistic family.
Location. On the upper
Ohio and its branches in western Pennsylvania and the neighboring parts of
Wet Virginia and Ohio. (See also
Ohio.)
History. The Honniasont
appear first as a tribe which assisted the Susquehanna in war and traded
with the Dutch, but a little later fey are reported to have been destroyed
by the Susquehanna and Seneca. The remnant seems to have settled among the
Seneca, and a Minqua town, probably occupied by their descendants, is
mentioned from time to time among the latter and in the neighborhood of
their former country.
Population. This is
unknown, but as late as 1662 the Honniasont must have been fairly numerous
if the testimony of five Susquehanna chiefs taken in that year is to be
relied upon, which was to the effect that they were then expecting 800
Honniasont warriors to join them.
In very early times these Indians entered Pennsylvania only as hunters and
warriors, but at a later period they made numerous settlements in the
State. (See
New
York.)
A band of "Saluda" Indians from
South Carolina moved to Conestoga in the eighteenth century. They may have been
Shawnee. (See
South Carolina.)
The majority of the Saponi lived
at Shamokin for a few years some time after 1740 but then continued on to join
the Iroquois. (See Virginia.)
Bands of Shawnee were temporarily
located at Conestoga, Sewickley, and other points in Pennsylvania. (See
Tennessee.)
A shortened form of Susquehannock, meaning unknown.
Connections. The
Susquehanna belonged to the Iroquoian linguistic stock.
Location. On the
Susquehanna River in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
Villages
Akhrakouaehronon, given in Jesuit Relations, from a town
name. See Atra'kwae'ronnons' below.
Andaste or Conestoga, from Kanastoge, "at the place of the immersed pole."
Atra'kwae'ronnons, from the name of a town, and probably signifying "at
the place of the sun," or "at the south."
Minqua, from an Algonquian word meaning "stealthy," "treacherous."
White Minqua, to distinguish them from the Black Minqua. (See Honniasont
above.)
Smith (1884) mentions several, but Hewitt (in Hodge, 1910) is of
the opinion that the names really belong to independent tribes. Champlain says
that there were more than 20 villages, though the only one named is Carantouan,
thought to have been on the site of the present Waverly, N. Y.
Subdivisions. Originally Susquehanna may have been the name of a
confederacy of tribes rather than a single tribe. Hewitt (in Hodge, 1910)
suggests that the Wyoming (in the territory about the present Wyoming) may
have been such a subtribe. The barely mentioned Wysox, on a small creek
flowing into the Susquehanna at the present Wysox, was perhaps another.
Mention is made of the Turtle, Fox, and Wolf "families," evidently clans,
and of the Ohongeeoquena, Unquehiett, Kaiquariegahaga, Usququhaga, and
Seconondihago "nations," also perhaps clans.
History. When encountered
by the English, French, and Dutch early in the seventeenth century, the
Susquehanna were a numerous people, but even then they were at war with
the Iroquois by whom they were conquered in 1676 and forced to settle near
the Oneida in New York. Later they were allowed to return to the
Susquehanna River and reoccupy their ancient country, but they wasted away
steadily and in 1763 the remnant, consisting of 20 persons, was massacred
by Whites inflamed with accounts of Indian atrocities on the far frontier
Population. Mooney (1928)
estimates that the Susquehanna numbered 5,000 in 1600. In 1648 they are
said to have had 550 warriors.
Connection in which they have
become noted. The name Susquehanna is perpetuated in that of the
Susquehanna River and in the names of a county and a town. Conestoga is
the designation of two places in Lancaster County, Pa., and one in Chester
County, and was given to a widely used type of wagon.
These
Indians on their way to join the Iroquois bands of New
York stopped from time to time in the Susquehanna
Valley. (See
North Carolina.)
Most of
these Indians lived at Shamokin with the Saponi and
accompanied them to the Iroquois Nation. (See
Virginia.)
This tribe occupied some parts of
the State along the northwestern border. (See
New York.)
Additional Oregon Indian Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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