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The Highland King Nimhammaw and the Native Indian Proprietors of Land in Dutchess County, NY: 1712-1765
by J. Michael Smith
Archaeologists and historians studying the Native peoples of the Hudson
Valley have increasingly recognized that the many tribes, or nations, named
by early explorers to the region were in fact aggregates of two distinct Algonkian
cultural and linguistic groups: Munsee-speakers along the lower courses of the
Hudson River, and Mohican-speaking people of the upper Hudson, from around the
Kaaterskill watershed to above the City of Albany. Yet little study has been
conducted to determine the exact location of this territorial boundary or the
relationships that existed between these separate cultures. This discussion
examines references pertaining to the "Dutchess County Wappingers,"
a Munsee-speaking band living on the east side of the Hudson, and to the first
leader of the influential Nimham family known to have been associated with this
group in the eighteenth century. Primary source materials are analyzed using
ethnohistorical models to delineate the boundary separating them from the Mohican
bands to the north and to gain an understanding of the social and political
interaction across this cultural demarcation line.
Nimhammaw, the first of four Wappinger or Highland leaders to bear similar
names, was initially mentioned in Hudson Valley records as an Indian "Sachem"
or "King" living in Dutchess County between 1712 and 1744. His wider
ranging activities, and those of his successors, have become better known over
the past two decades through the biographical indexing of that name with documents
pertaining to the Munsee Cultural Region (Grumet, 1992, 1979). This research,
including references to a "nimham of Mericocke," identified in a 1675
land dispute between Matinecock people and the Town of Hempstead on western
Long Island (NYHM, 24: 235-238), suggests that he (or a possible predecessor)
was among the many coastal leaders forced to resettle among interior groups
in response to colonial encroachment around New York City (Grumet, 1996: 131-133).
Subsequent records, referring to a Raritan sachem known as Nymhimau, Nyhammow
or Numham alias Squahikkon, indicate he first moved to central New Jersey before
eventually establishing relations with "the Indians of Fishkill and Wappingers"
north of the Hudson Highlands (Grumet, 1992: 84-85; MacCracken, 1956: 279-280).
This essay focuses on his activities as a spokesman of Native people living
along the northeastern border of Munsee Country, in the region demarcated by
the English Crown as colonial Dutchess County, New York. Ethnohistorical material
from this time period, found in land deeds, administrative records and missionary
accounts, also reveals the existence of a proprietary cohort of individuals
with whom Nimhammaw was associated. Identification of these Indian proprietors,
in turn, provides direct evidence of the cultural boundary separating Munsee
and Mohican speaking bands, and enables us to address questions that are both
regional and group specific; for instance, who were and were not "Wappingers"
as defined ethnically and geographically, and how they related to their neighbors
during the final decades of Native land tenure in the Hudson Valley.
Determining corporate or ethnic group identity among the many Native people
named in Dutchess County records is not an easy task and is further complicated
by several factors. The first is the realization that the ethnic term Wappinger
was never used during Nimhammaw’s residency in the Hudson Valley, either
to identify him or any other individual during that time period. Mentioned frequently
in seventeenth-century documents, this term (including occasional references
to "Hogelanders" or a "Highland Nation") essentially referred
to one of some twenty politically autonomous groups or bands living in southern
New York and northern New Jersey (Smith, 1999a: 5, 9n. 3, 5). Speakers of the
Munsee dialect of the Delaware language, these small egalitarian groups were,
however, loosely associated through ties of kinship, and common tribal or cultural
bonds (Becker, 1993: 17, 20; Goddard, 1978: 93-95). During the first half of
the eighteenth century, when Wappingers are mentioned at all in a corporate
sense, they are identified geographically by the synonym "Highland Indians"
(NYCD, 5: 265-267). Protestant missionaries working in the region initially
recognized them as "Strangers" visiting with their Mohican neighbors
and later as "Brethren ….. From the High-lands" (Journal of John
Sergeant). In land deeds of the period they are simply listed as "proprieters
Natives o[w]ners & Indians" (NYCM-LP, 5: 124).
The other factor complicating group identification in this region concerns
the location of the boundary separating Munsee-speaking (i.e. Wappingers) and
Mohican-speaking people living in Dutchess County. That a linguistic and cultural
boundary existed between these major Algonkian groups is not in dispute here.
Contemporary research, examining regional interaction patterns, has recognized
that "the cultures of the eastern woodlands occupied large zones [territories]
within which their collective activities tended to focus around a core area
(or several continuous areas). On the periphery of each territory was an area
which served to provide foraging resources for the members of the culture and
also provided a buffer zone between them and adjacent peoples" (Becker,
1983: 3). Even though these "borders were not sharply demarcated in the
modern geopolitical sense, Native American peoples had clear pictures of the
general perimeters of their territories. For many Native American cultures the
joint use of unclaimed resource areas was common" (Becker, 1993: 17). Recognizing
the existence of buffer zones between Algonkian groups like the Munsees and
Mohicans, and viewing each as distinct cultural and geographic entities with
their own independent social histories, allows us to determine the actual boundaries
of those people who are believed to be Wappingers. Delineating the extent of
their territory in relation to that of Mohicans and identifying where Native
people appear geographically in Dutchess County land sales and other records
also helps address the question of individual ethnicity in the region.
"The Dutchess’s County," established in November of 1683, was
one of the twelve original counties making up the Royal Colony of New York.
In the resolution as passed by the provincial legislature, its dimensions were
"to be from the bounds of the County of Westchester, on the south side
of the high lands, along the east side of Hudson’s River as far (north)
as Roel of Jansen’s creeke (or Kill) and eastward into the woods twenty
miles" (BSDC, Introduction). Due to a slow rate of settlement, and the
fact that much of the land had yet to be purchased from its Native residents,
the region was initially governed as one civil unit under the jurisdiction of
Ulster County on the west side of the Hudson. Land ownership was acquired by
speculators from 1685 to 1706 through a series of patents granted by the English
Crown to both individual proprietors and partnerships and then divided for settlement
through lease or sale (fig. 1). Following a substantial increase in the population,
Dutchess County was granted its own government in 1714 and was subdivided three
years later by two east-west lines into administrative units called the North,
Middle and South Wards. Settlement in these respective wards was concentrated
along the Hudson River near the colonial hamlets of Kipsbergen (now Rhinecliff),
Poughkeepsie and Fishkill (McDermott, 1986: 1-7, 10-11).
Native land transfers of the 650,000 acres comprising this region, and on which
most of the patent grants in Dutchess County were based, began during the last
decades of the seventeenth century. Analysis of those deeds made between 1680
and 1691 where Wappinger ethnicity is more clearly defined, shows that the core
of their territory lay within areas later encompassed by the Middle and South
Wards (fig. 2). Most of the transactions associated with this core zone occurred
in a relatively small area known as the "Long Reach," a term identifying
the lands bordering a narrow channel of the Hudson River in the present Town
of Poughkeepsie (ERA, 2: 84-85, 182-183; NYCD, 13: 571; NYBP, 5: 575-580, 7:
143-145). European purchases of much larger areas below the Wappinger Creek,
embracing the Fishkill Plains and portions of the Hudson Highlands, mark the
southern limits of this zone (NYBP, 5: 72-75; PGP, P14: #59). Less informative
data from other Native transfers concerning the Pawling (1686) and Great Nine
Partners Patents (1697) may represent evidence defining the uppermost reaches
of their homeland along the boundary separating the Middle and North Wards (NYBP,
7: 80-82, 258-260). Further material delineating the extent of Wappinger territory
in the region is found in mid-eighteenth-century litigation directed by Daniel
Nimham, Stephen Cowenham and other tribal leaders against the proprietary heirs
of the Rombout, Beekman and Philipse Patents (NYCM-LP, 18: 127; PGP, P14: #56;
PWJ, 10: 493-495).
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Fig. 1 Crown Patent Grants Awarded in Colonial Dutchess County, 1685-1706
(Based on map in McDermott, 1986: 2)
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By contrast, Native land sales occurring in the North Ward before the Pawling
purchase, associated with the Schuyler and Kipsbergen Patents in 1683 and 1686,
were made by Esopus Indians independent of Wappinger participation (NYCD, 13:
566; Smith, 1894: 2-3). These areas, however, were not traditionally Esopus
lands, and their appearance in deeds east of the Hudson River was part of a
wider dispersal of Indian people from the Ulster County region, an aftereffect
of the last Dutch-Munsee Wars fought some twenty years earlier and the first
decades of English settlement there. Many of these dispossessed individuals,
leaders of extended family kin-groups, also appear with increasing frequency
as participants to clearly defined Mohican land sales along the Roeliff Jansen
Kill and Catskill Creek in neighboring colonial Albany County (Dunn, 1994, 206-207,
232; Smith, 1999b: 7-8, 11-12). Esopus expatriates remained in these areas well
into the eighteenth century, where their descendents were eventually noted as
small but viable components of the Moravian mission stations established at
Shekomeko and Wechquadnach in the 1740s (MA, Box 3191, #1; Wheeler, 1999: 320-321).
In fact, evidence suggesting that much of the North Ward of Dutchess County
was itself part of the Mohican cultural realm comes from land sales made around
the settlement of Shekomeko in the Little Nine Partners Patent. Information
regarding these transactions is contained in a 1743 document compiled by Moravian
missionaries from Germany in support of Native claims in the area. Entitled:
"Indianer Land-sache (affairs) betreffendes um (concerning) Chekomeko,"
this document contains the names of signatories (grantors) conveying land in
the area before the founding of the mission from 1704 to 1714 (MA, Box 113,
5 #1). Unfortunately, the deeds themselves are not included, nor do these name
lists specifically identify individuals by ethnicity. However, several of the
grantors to these sales have clear proprietary and social ties with kin-groups
living on the Roeliff Jansen Kill and along the Housatonic River in northwestern
Connecticut where Mohican ethnicity is well defined (Dunn, 2000, in press).
Moravians, who were quick to point out group ethnicity in their records, also
identified the majority of their converts living in the North Ward and nearby
areas as "Mohicanders." Munsee converts living at Shekomeko and Wechquadnach,
including Esopus, Minnisink and "Hoogland Indians," were minorities
in these communities; most of the men identified were married to Mohican or
"Wompanosch" (Easterners / New England Indian) women and may have
been following matrilineal residence patterns (MA, Box 3191, #1).
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Fig. 2 Native Land Transfers and Associated Patent Grants in Colonial
Dutchess County, 1680-1737
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Further information determining that Wappingers ("Hooglanders") and
Mohicans were separate peoples, is revealed by comparing the name lists of signatories
(both grantors and witnesses) with land transfers made in the region as a whole
from 1680 to 1712. Native proprietors, "Mohicaners," conveying lands
in the North Ward and neighboring areas of Albany County–those individuals
selling their rights as members of socially related granting kin-groups–do
not appear as grantors to Wappinger land sales occurring in the Middle and South
Wards. Nor do Wappinger proprietors for that matter appear as grantors to land
conveyances made by Mohican Indians. This evidence, indicating a lack of marital
relations before the founding of the Moravian missions, strongly suggests that
both people were socially distinct corporate entities throughout much of the
colonial period. Data from Native land transfers in Dutchess County records
clearly resemble other models studying interregional social dynamics (Becker,
1992, 1983), which imply "that such relationships occur at a high level
within a culture but are infrequent between distinct cultural groups" (Becker,
1993: 17).
Although there is little evidence of social interaction between Wappingers
and their northern Algonkian neighbors, they did have close political ties and
there are numerous seventeenth-century accounts chronicling these associations,
from Gov. Kieft’s War to the turbulent years of the Second Mohawk-Mahican
War (Smith, 1999a: 5, 9n. 5). In proprietary matters these relationships involved
the exchanging of witnesses ("attesters") to one another’s land
sales. Crosscultural exchanges of this kind were initiated when "the Chief
who sells calls the Chiefs of the Neighbouring Tribes who are his friends but
have no right, in order to be Witnesses of the Sale & to make them remember
it he gives them a Share of the Goods. So that no Land can be sold without all
the Indians round being made acquainted with the Matter" (Weslager, 1972:
162-163). These relationships, largely reciprocal political affairs in nature,
are rarely noted in Dutchess County land records, and in Wappinger territory
occurred only in the Long Reach. Mohican sachems from Schodack (M’skatak),
the Nations council fire near the City of Albany, and at least one individual
from the "Westenhoek" (or "Housatonack") district straddling
the New York-Massachusetts border, appear here as witnesses to several transactions
in 1683 (ERA, 2: 183-185; NYCD, 13: 571). The activities of these spokesmen
in the Long Reach generated reciprocal obligations in kind and were subsequently
followed by the appearance of Wappinger leaders as "attesters" to
a sale made by "Mahikan Indians, owners of the land lying on the Roeloff
Jansen kill" (ERA, 2: 189-182; Smith, 1999a: 7).
These proprietary associations, especially those between the Long Reach and
Westenhoek districts, may have had wider social implications and in the latter
areas represent one of the few incidents found to date where Wappinger and Mohican
grantors are listed on one another’s deeds (ERA, 2: 63-64, 84-85). These
relationships also appear to have been maintained by Nimhammaw and his successors
who appear in later eighteenth-century documents as grantors to several conveyances
in southwestern Massachusetts (Grumet, 1992: 85-86, 89, 91; Wright, 1905: 116-119).
However, despite these limited examples of more interpersonal relations by Nimhams,
and possibly others, an examination of land transactions made in Dutchess County
between 1712 and 1737 (table 1) shows that, by and large, both peoples continued
to sell their territories independently. One of two documented cases in the
region during the eighteenth century where Wappinger and Mohican grantors appear
on the same deed, occurs in the area of the Great Nine Partners Patent and provides
information defining the general location of where their proprietary interests
overlap.
Incorporated in 1697 by the Nine Partners Company, this tract encompassed nearly
145,000 acres of land in northern Dutchess County, extending from the Hudson
River to the then-disputed Connecticut border. Initial settlement of the area
began two years later with the division of about 12,500 acres into nine "Water
Lotts," bounded by the Hudson and the Casper Creek in the present Town
of Hyde Park (McDermott and Buck, 1979: Introduction). Extant documentation
found in company records, though, suggests that title to the lands east of these
lots along the headwaters of the Wappinger Creek had not been obtained from
the Indians, a violation of New York law requiring that patents only be issued
after Native rights had been relinquished. These records indicate that the original
patentees had enlarged a 1697 deed stretching "from the river to the fall
kill (Creek) at 2 mils" into a tract almost 20 miles wide. Learning of
the true dimensions of the patent in 1730 after company officials attempted
to divide and settle the remaining lands, Nimhammaw, Acgans and other Highland
leaders demanded and received compensation in a "new deed" for the
approximately 130,000 plus acres not yet granted (McDermott and Buck, 1979:
5, 110-113; Grumet, 1992: 86).
Largely a Wappinger transaction successfully redressing provincial land fraud
in the region, this deed nonetheless included provisions "excepting still
the Whrits of some North Indians" represented by the Mohican "Elder"
Schawash (also spelled Shawasque) and other signatories from Shekomeko. These
same grantors were also noted seven years later in a deed amendment to the 1730
purchase where they relinquished their remaining "right and title of, in,
and to the within Tract of Land" (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 113). Unfortunately,
neither of these conveyances delineates the limits of Shekomekan claims to the
Great Nine Partners tract. Other transactions made around Wechquadnach along
the Connecticut border to the competing land interests of the Sackett Patent
do, however, provide evidence of Mohican claims in the area. Lands contained
in this reputed patent (though later nullified by provincial authorities) were
acquired through a series of purchases between 1703 and 1726 from the sachem
Metoxon and other grantors identified in neighboring sales as "Indians
of the [sic] Nation of the Mohokanders" (Binzen, 1997: 110). The boundaries
mentioned in these transactions show that their rights here included "all
ye western part of Sharon [Connecticut] within about two Mile of Qusatunnuck
[Housatonic] River," and extended to New York lands claimed by the Nine
Partners Company running "southerly through the Wassaic valley" (Binzen,
1997: 110, 114-116).
Other material delineating the westernmost point of this boundary at its juncture
with the Hudson River comes from Native testimony contained in colonial litigation.
In a border dispute between the Pawling and Rhinebeck Patents, individuals identified
as the chief Indians of these respective tracts told county officials in a 1723
deposition that the Division Lyn Bettween their fourfathers was by a Small Run of water Called
Nanotanapenen. The Land to the Southerd Should belong to proprietors [ceded?]
to the Pawlings, & to ye north to ye Beekman. Butt the Indians on the
Pawlings Syd Coming to a plain confession, they aknowledge they had land from
a stooney Point, Called Korenagkoyosink Sum 8 or [10] Chains (less than a
? mile) to ye North ward of sd Kill, which Bears East from the Point of the
Klyn Esopus fly (LP, MF: reel 28).
The geographic features depicted in this deposition correspond with locales
along the river and clearly refer to a dispute involving the Rhinebeck holdings
of the Beekman family, one of two patents incorporated in the region by Henry
Beekman Sr. originally of Ulster County. Unfortunately, the Native informants
named in this document were not identified ethnically. One of the individuals
mentioned, Sekomeck (not to be confused with the place name, Shekomeko), a signatory
to the 1730 Nine Partners conveyance and an associate of Nimhammaw in a controversial
1712 transaction in the Long Reach (NYCM-LP, 5: 124; Reynolds, 1924: 20-21 50n.49),
might have been a Highland sachem. His appearance here as the "Chieef Indian
of Pawlings" helps support the earlier assertion that the uppermost reaches
of Wappinger territory lay along the border straddling the Middle and North
Wards.
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Fig. 3 Land Transactions Involving Nimhams: 1677-1758, and Known Eighteenth-Century
Relocations of Munsee and Mohican Individuals from the Dutchess County Region
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Final evidence defining a cultural boundary in the general areas embracing
the Pawling, Rhinebeck and Great Nine Partners Patents is contained in later
testimony made in 1762 by the then Wappinger sachem, Daniel Nimham. In a deposition
"laying Claim to Lands near the Fish Kill in Dutchess County" (NYECM,
25: 454), Daniel informed New York’s Attorney General that he was "a
River Indian of the Tribe of the Wappingers, which tribe were the ancient inhabitants
of the east shore of Hudson’s River, from the city of New York to about
the middle of Beekman’s [Rhinebeck] Patent; that another [Tribe] of River
Indians, called Mahiccondas, were the ancient inhabitants of the remaining east
shore of said river …" (Dunn, 1994: 52).
The above ethnohistorical data compiled from Dutchess County sources, especially
land-sale records, provide crucial information about the territorial boundary
separating Munsee and Mohican bands living in colonial New York. Identifying
the grantors and witnesses associated with specific transactions enables comparisons
with other names lists, and produces a framework for studying the sociopolitical
relationships that existed between differing cultures. These data show that
while some limited social merging (i.e. intermarriage) occurred between Wappingers
and their Mohican neighbors, both peoples continued to sell their territories
as distinct corporate entities and acted independently under their own leaders
in political dealings with colonist and other Native groups. Reconstructing
Nimhammaw’s activities and those of his associates in the region, as depicted
in land records and other miscellaneous documents, reveals evidence demonstrating
the persistence of cultural continuity through time.
The biographical profiles that follow cover the time period from 1712 to 1765
and provide a historical record, however imperfect, documenting the activities
of Munsee and Mohican individuals in the Hudson Valley. Although primarily concerned
with events occurring in Dutchess County, an account is included of Nimhammaw’s
earlier activities and those of his immediate successor, in order to show the
wide range of proprietary activities engaged in by the leaders of this extended
family kin-group. Mapping of these deed data in conjunction with known relocations
of Native peoples from the Dutchess County Region (fig. 3), chronicles the dispossession
of their homeland and their dispersal to the New York-Pennsylvania frontier
in the mid-eighteenth century.
Individuals identified here as proprietors are classified according to their
participation in a given deed event. Granting signatories, individuals placing
their marks at the end of a deed document, represent those who were selling
their rights based on familial and band associations. Attesting witnesses, as
already briefly described, represent signatories fulfilling largely political
roles that may or may not have rights to the tract being sold. These individuals
can also appear as "attesters" within corporate territorial boundaries
as the leading sachems or chiefs presiding over the land affairs of their own
constituencies. Nimhammaw and Acgans fulfilled these responsibilities for Highland
grantors in the 1730 Nine Partners purchase, when they were recognized as the
"Principal Sachemache and Proprietors, in behalf of all the rest."
The Mohican leader Metoxon also assumes a similar role in land sales around
Wechquadnach where he "is allowed by all to be ye Chiefe Sachem of the
Indians in these parts."
Participating witnesses identified here are individuals mentioned in the document
body of the deed but are absent from the list of signatories. As non-signatories
to deed events their role in Native land transfers is not entirely understood.
They may represent individuals visiting or socializing with the grantors, or
even married to members of the band, although neither their marriage nor residence
with members of the granting kin-group, in the short term, appears to have entitled
them to any rights to the parcel being sold. Regardless of their exact proprietary
roles, these individuals were nonetheless witnesses by their participation.
References are also included here regarding bounties collected on the Red Wolf
(a smaller cousin of the Grey Wolf, now largely extinct; both were once common
in the eastern woodlands) by Nimhammaw and others in Dutchess County. Evidence
of these activities, the results of provincial acts "to encourage the destroying
of Woulfs and Panthers," are found in the assessment lists recording the
yearly expenditures of "Mony Desbursed for the County." Analysis of
these records shows that most bounties paid to Indians occurred in the Middle
and South Wards and may represent individuals living in those areas that were
ethnically Wappingers. Although there is no way to be sure of corporate identity
in all of these events, comparisons with other county assessment lists could
help confirm this notion, as well as providing demographic data about the general
locations of Native occupation.
Table 1. Native Land Transfers in Dutchess County, 1712-1737
8 October 1712
Sale to George Clark and Leonard Lewis of New York City (NYCM-LP,
5: 124).
Location: "All that a Certaine Track or persell of Land
Seticated Lieng and beieng in Dutches County afore sd to the Noort of the
Land of Franses Rombout, Stavanes Van Cortland &c [Rombout Patent], att
a place Coled Matapan, to the South Side thereof, and Soo with a West Line
to John Casperses Creeck on the bounds of Coll Pieter Schuyler [Schuyler’s
Lower Patent] And Soo along Noorderly sd Creeck tell it comes with an East
Line oposeit the East Sid of Cuyler Vlakte [flat or plain; Cuyler Patent],
and Soo East Runneng tell it Comes About a Mile to the Easterd of the Matapan
[Wappinger] Creeck and then Suderly along the Sd Matapan Creeck, keeping a
Mile to the East Side tell it Comes with a westerly Line Opossiet the fore
Mentioned Matapan [falls], from where it first begins."
(Not patented by purchasers. Incorporated earlier as part of
the Rombout Patent in 1685, in the present Towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger.)
Native Proprietors:
Granting Signatories
-Nemham -Acgand -Agtapyhout
-Sekomeck -Alotam
1714
Unidentified purchasers (MA, Box, 113, 5: #1).
Location: Unsold lands within the bounds of the Little (or Second)
Nine Partners Patent, incorporated earlier in 1706 in the present Towns of
Milan, Pine Plains and part of the Town of Northeast.
Native Proprietors:
Granting Signatories Attesting Witnesses
-Mamsknok (W) -Penywantomink -Mangeghisrt
-Mangeghisrt (W) -Praymingim -Praymingin
-Namerokoren -Hahangement
-Mangwaesogh -Pomeherant
-Qwaktownor
1726
Confirmation conveyance to Richard Sackett and Company (Binzen,
1997: 110) validating the boundaries of earlier purchases made in 1703 and
1704 (Huntting, 1897: 17-18; Dunn, 1994: 304-305).
Location: "The east line commenced at a place [apparently
near present South Amenia, New York] which the Indians called Wimpeting, at
the western base of a range of mountains, [and from there to a place] about
seven miles south of Sharon Village [Connecticut], and from that point it
followed the western base of the mountain range, north[east]erly, to a point
in Salisbury [Conn.], a little east of Town Hill, so called. From that point
the line ran northwesterly to the base of the mountain north of the Ore Hill,
which in the Indian deed is called Ponsumpsie [Bird Peak], thence south southwesterly
to the foot of the mountain west of Spencer’s Corner [in New York], then
following that range south[east]erly through the Wassaic valley, to Sackett’s
other possessions."
(This conveyance straddled the present New York and Connecticut
border in Dutchess and Litchfield Counties: the western portions of this tract
were incorporated earlier as part of the Great Nine Partners Patent in 1697.)
Native Proprietors: Participants
-Metoxon*
* A Mohican sachem (fl.1704-1743) listed under the variants
Metoksin / Metoxson / Mataksin / Matauckson or under the alias Corler / Corlear
in land sales around Wechquadnach and Weatuak, and along the Catskill Creek
(Dunn, 1994; Binzen, 1997). His expansive career is presently under consideration
(Dunn, 2000).
13 October 1730
Sale to David Jamison, and "the heirs, Exec’s, &
assignee or assignees" of the Great Nine Partners Company (McDermott
and Buck, 1979: 5, 110-112).
Location: "a certain tract of vacant land, situate and
being on Hudson’s river, between the creek called by the natives Aquasing,
and by the Christians by Fish Creek [Crum Elbow Creek], at the markt trees
of Pawling [including the said Creek] and the land of Meyndert Harmense and
Company; then bounded southerly by said Land of Harmense & Company [Poughkeepsie
Patent] so farr as their bounds runns; then westerly by said land of Harmense
and Company until a southerly line run so farr south until it comes to the
southside of a certain meadow wherein there is a white oak tree marked with
the letters HT; then bounded southerly by an east and west line to the division
line between this province of Newyork and Colony of Connecticuts, and so bounded
easterly by the said division line & northerly by said Fish creek as farr
as it goes & from the head thereof by a paralell line to the south bounds,
running east and west to the said division line, with ith hereditaments &
appurtenances."
(Incorporated earlier as the Great Nine Partners Patent in 1697,
in the present Towns of Hyde Park (east of Crum Elbow Creek), Clinton, Pleasant
Valley, Stanford, Washington, Northeast and Amenia.)
Native Proprietors:
Granting Signatories Attesting Witnesses
-Perpuwas -Taguahams -Acgans
-Sasaragua (W) -Seeck -Nimham
-Makerin -Cocewyn
-Memram -Mamany Participating Witnesses
-Shawanachko -A rye -Wasanamonrg
-Shawasquo -Wappenas -Arichapeckt
-Tounis -Tintgeme (W) -Narcarindt
-Acgans -Ayawatask -Sacayawa
-Nimham -Nonnaparee -Cekounamow
-Ouracgacguis -Kindtquaw -Naghcharent
4 November 1737
Deed amendment to the 1730 Great Nine Partners purchase (McDermott
and Buck, 1979: 15, 112-113).
Location: Unsold lands within the bounds of the Great Nine Partners
Patent associated with "the Whrits of some North [Shekomekan] Indians"
excluded from the 1730 purchase.
Native Proprietors: Participants
-Shawanachko -Shawasquo -young Shawash (Tounis?)
Proprietary Cohort
Nimham I (fl.1667–1703)
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22 March 1667
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Nimhan/ Nimhai
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Identified in a boundary dispute between the Towns of Hempstead
and Oyster Bay in colonial Queens County NY. His mark appears on a document
along side of Pomwaukon (fl.1643-1681) sachem of Merrick, and Waumetompack
(fl.1655-1684) sachem of Canarsee and Rockaway, validating the Massapequa
sachem Tackpousha’s (fl.1643-1697) statement that Hempstead settlers
had unjustly claimed lands in Oyster Bay township, and the Indian lands
near Hempstead Harbor on Long Island Sound, established by deeds in 1643
and 1658 (Grumet, 1992: 83; 1996: 125-126).
|
|
1675
|
nimham of Mericocke
|
"Tackepawis off Marcepeake" (Massapequa) and "nimham
of Mericocke" (Matinecock), presently "plant[ing] upon rockaway,"
appear before the NEW YORK Colonial Council claiming not to have been
paid for 3 necks of land (Cow Neck, Great Madnans Neck and Little Madnans
Neck) adjoining the Town of Hempstead and "A Small Island Called
Hoggs island at the Sou[th side] of Long Island" Sound (NYHM, 24:
235-238).
|
|
14 April 1684
|
Numham
|
One of seven "chiefs, styling themselves the true owners
and proprietors" including the Matinecock sachem Suscaneman (fl.1653-1703),
endorsing a deed in which Tackapousha relinquishes all Indian claims to
lands in the Queens County township of Flushing on the East River. The
chiefs reserve "to themselves and their heirs for ever, the right
of cutting bulrushes in any part of the said territory" (Thompson
1918, 3: 27-28).
|
|
25 March
|
Wamhan
|
The principal grantor and "Sachim" conveying 3
of 4 1703 necks of land in Queens County along the south shore of Long
Island Sound to satisfy debts owed to Stephanus van Cortlandt’s widow
and their son Oloff (NYCM-LP, 3: 117).
|
Nimhammaw (fl.1677-1744/63)
|
10 June 1677
|
Quahiccon and Shenotope
|
(fl.1674-1689), "Sachems of Changaroras,"
sell land in Monmouth County for an unspecified amount of trade goods
to Jonathan Holmes of Middletown, East Jersey (Grumet, 1979: 217; 1992:
85).
|
|
12 August 1677
|
Quahick
|
One of five "Chief Sachems of Wramanung" (Peropay
fl.1648-1684, Shenotope, Waymutton, and Sehoppy) selling
land to Jonathan Holmes between the branches of the Hop River in Monmouth
County, East Jersey, for the "Consideration of Sundry trading goods"
(Grumet, 1979: 217).
|
|
8 October 1679
|
Quahicke
|
The principal grantor, one of five "cheife Sachems
of Wickatong," (Jonathan, Peropay, Shenotope,
and Pandam) selling land at "Wickatunk" near the Changaroras
River to John Brown of Middletown, East Jersey (Grumet, 1992: 85, 94n.13).
|
|
5 June 1703
|
Nimhammaw/
Numham alias Squahikkon
|
The principal grantor, one of five Indian proprietors and
sachems (Noammishanaman,Pokohawas, Taulman fl.1699-1744,
and Wawaluasoo), selling land to West Jersey Proprietors along the Raritan
River’s South Branch. The sachems reserve hunting and fishing rights
to any unimproved alienated lands. The deed also states that Nimhammaw
lived at "Noshaning" on the Neshanic River near the Somerset/Hunterdon
county border (Grumet, 1979: 237-238; 1992: 85, 94n.14).
|
|
25 June 1703
|
Numhammau
|
The 5 June 1703 land sale is registered with West Jersey
Proprietary authorities (Grumet,1992: 85, 94n.14).
|
|
11 November 1703
|
Nymhimau alias Squahikkona
|
One of four Indian sachems (Caponokonickon fl.1687-1703,
Taulman, and another) selling land to West Jersey Proprietors, except
for hunting and fishing rights, west of the 5 June 1703 purchase, between
the South Branch of the Raritan River and the Delaware River (Grumet,
1979: 164, 238; 1992: 85, 94n.15).
|
|
14 February
|
Nyhammow/
|
Identified as "Ye Raritan Indian Sachima" meeting
with
|
|
1704
|
Nymhamnow
|
John Reading to discuss the efforts of West Jersey Proprietors
at securing land sales along the Delaware River (Grumet, 1979: 164, 239;
1992: 85, 94n.16).
|
|
October 1704
|
Nemaheyhon
|
Listed in trader James le Tort’s account book as an
Indian trading with him at the Shawnee town of Pachoqualmah
(Pechoquealin) near the Delaware Water Gap, or at the refugee Indian town
of Canishtoga (Conestoga) on the Lower Susquehanna River in southeastern
Pennsylvania (Grumet, 1991: 215).
|
|
7 October 1705
|
Squahikkon
|
The principal grantor conveying 300 acres of land (excluded
from the 5 June 1703 sale) the west side of the Raritan River’s south
branch to proprietary agent John Reading for goods and currency totaling:
"one Gunn, three white Blankets, 4 matchcoats, 6 lb. of Gunpowder,
20 lb. of Lead, 20 quarts of rum, 6 Tomahikons, 10 knives, & 5 pound
in silver money." The sale also included the lands containing his
home at or near the place occupied by Sekoppies Plantation (Grumet, 1979:
176-177, 240; 1992: 85, 94n.17).
|
|
8 October 1712
|
Nemham/
Nimham
|
The principal grantor, one of five "proprieters Natives
oners & Indians," conveying land fr "a
place Coled Matapan [Falls] ….. to John Casperses Creeck" near
the colonial township of Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County New York, "for
the Consederation of twelve guns fourtien blanketts - fourtien fadem of
Duffels [cloth] - twelve fadem Strouts [cloth] - tenn kettels - one set
pouder - thirty pp. of Eight in [silver] money - sexty fadem wampen half
black - one Anker Rum - two Rolls of tobacko - twenty Axes - one hunderid
pyps - one barell Sider - three made koots [coats] - twenty kneifs - one
hundered flints - sexty baers Lad [lead] - twenty hoos [hose; stockings]
and twelve Sherts [shirts]" (NYCM-LP 5: 124).
|
|
27 January 1721
|
Shuhekan/
Shukokan
|
One of four attesting witnesses to a sale conveying "Land
Lying on the west side of Qussatunuck or Stratford [Housatonic] River
…. southwards of Weatauk" in present Salisbury, Connecticut,
made by "Indians of the [sic] Nation of Mohokanders" to Johannes
Dickemann of Livingston Manor, Albany County, and Laurence Knickerbacker
(North Ward Assessor 1720-1721) of Dutchess County, NY (Binzen, 1997:
109-110).
|
|
9 August 1722
|
Nemham
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound, 15 shillings, made to Fishkill Justice of the Peace and former
South Ward Supervisor (1720) "Major Johannes Terboss for four Wouleves
heads That he has Payed [as per dated certificates] one to Johannes Schut
[on 2 Feb.], [two to Jurian Springsteen and John Montros on 19 April]
& another [on 18 March] to Nemham the Indian" (BSDC, Book 1:
52).
|
|
25 April 1724
|
Naunhamiss
|
A granting signatory selling land to Massachusetts authorities
"lying upon Housatonack River, allias Westonook" along the disputed
borders with New York and Connecticut for "Four Hundred and Sixty
Pounds [currency] Three Barrels of Sider & thirty quarts of Rum."(Wright,
1905: 116-119; "Naun-ha-miss" in later Ashley deposition, Mandell,
1982: 57n.13).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Nimham
|
One of two attesting witnesses, the "Principal Sachemache
and Proprietors, in behalf of all the rest," receiving 150 pounds
in New York currency including "certain goods and merchandize"
for endorsing a new "Indian Deed" relinquishing their rights
("only excepting still the Whrits of some North Indians") to
"all the land in full formerly granted by Patent" in 1697 to
the Great Nine Partners of Dutchess County. Land agent, Henry Filkin,
previously reported on 1 Sept. 1730 to the Nine Partners Company (1697-1754)
"that the Indians [claimed they] was paid for no more land than from
the [Hudson] river to the fall [or Val] kill [Creek] at 2 mils [in the
present Town of Hyde Park]: and that they insisted to be paid for the
bulck of the land according to the [1697] Pattent" (McDermott and
Buck, 1979: 5, 109-113).
|
|
1 February 1743
|
Nimham
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 5 shillings, 9 pence, for "rum Expended to Nimham a Sachem &
other Indians" (BSDC, Book 3: 257).
|
|
21 May 1744
|
King Nimham
|
Gottlob Buttner, a Moravian missionary working at the Mohican
settlement of Shekomeko in northern Dutchess County, wrote in his diary
that: "There came 6 Indians from ye Highlands here, & stayed
all night, they went to ye Maahacks [Mohawks], who [had] sent for them
to treat about some Matters, we heard that they ridiculed our Brothers
much, also that their King Nimham, who is a sorceror [shaman] speaks much
against us, & forbids all his People to come into our Meetings"
(MA, Box 112, 2: #3).
|
Post-Mortem References
|
25 August 1762
|
Old Nimham
|
Identified in Catharyna (Rombout) Brett’s written complaint
to British Indian agent (Northern Dept.) Sir William Johnson about claims
to her lands made the previous year by a "Capt. Nimham" (Daniel
Nimham fl.1745-1778). Brett alleged that "Old Nimham" had died
about 12 years ago. He was permitted to live on land set aside for him
near the Town of Fishkill. He had two sons, the eldest known by the nickname
"One Shake" Nimham II, fl.1745-1762. Brett also claimed that
the reserved lands of Old Nimham (at Wickapee / Weekepe / Weakepey / Wiccopee
/ Wikapy) were sold after he died to Capt. Swartwout for 20 pounds by
One Shake and "Seven or Eight more Indians," after they received
her permission "to Sell ye Emprovement" (Papers of Sir William
Johnson, 10: 493-495).
|
|
20 September 1763
|
old Capt. Nimham
|
Mentioned in a personal complaint made by Hendrick Wamash
(fl.1758-1763) and some of his people to Sir William Johnson, that "Mrs.
Brett ….. Coll. Beekman, Verplank, Cortland, & Phillips …..
had not paid his Ancestors vizt. old Capt. Nimham &ca. For a Tract
of Land near to ye. Fish Kills." Hendrick receives a pass to travel
to New York City and address their complaints to Lt. Governor Cadwallader
Colden (1760-1765) "who they hoped & expected would do them Justice
in the Affair, as they imagined that He must, [from his Surveying the
Same] be well acquainted with the State of the Case" (Papers of Sir
William Johnson, 10: 853-854).
|
|
8 October
|
Nimham the Grandfather
|
Hendrick Wamash appears before Lt. Governor Colden 1763
claiming "that several people at Fishkill and Poughkepsey owe him
for some pieces of Land in several places," and is told "that
near 40 years since the Indians of Fishkill and Wappingers were heard
by Governor Burnet on a like complaint at the House of Mr. Haskol near
the place since called New Windsor [in Orange County New York], that then
everything was settled to the content of Nimham the Grandfather of this
Man [Hendrick] & of the other Indians" (Colden Papers, in MacCracken,
1956: 279-280).
|
Nimham II (fl.1745-1762)
|
21 December 1745
|
Unnamed Reference
|
New York agents, Colonel de Kay and Major Swartwout, visit
with Indians from Orange County who had fled to their "Hunting Houses"
at Cochecton on the upper Delaware River, after the murders of kinfolk
near Wilemtown (Walden) during King George’s War (1744-1748). The
agents reported to the New York Council that "the Cashigtonk Indians
[said] They had [also] lost their Sachem, and as they Consist of two Tribes
[Lineage’s] Vizt the Wolves and Turkeys, they were then debating
of which Tribe a Sachim should be chosen to govern the Whole" (Grumet,
1990: 22; 1992: 86-87, 95n.26-27).
|
|
17 January 1746
|
Unnamed Reference
|
12 chief men with their new Sachem come to the Orange County
seat of Goshen "with a Belt of Wampum to settle and renew their Friendship
and Brotherhood" with the English. Teedyuscung (fl.1734-1763), the
Delaware Diplomat, later reported at the Easton Treaty of 1758 that "Nimham
the Eldest principall Chief of the Wappingers or Opings" had received
a wampum belt at Goshen from the government of New York with two reddish
hearts and the date 1745 that "represented their union, which was
to last as long as the sun should continue in the firmament" (Grumet,
1992: 86-87, 95n.28).
|
|
9 May 1751
|
Nuntian
|
Moravian missionaries working in northwestern Connecticut
identify Nuntian as the head of an Indian family wishing to move to the
Gnadenhutten mission in Pennsylvania (Grumet, 1992: 96n.29).
|
|
3 July 1758
|
Nimham
|
Wappinger Indians Hendrick Wauman, Arie Sawck, Out Quamos,
and John Backto, grant Nimham power of attorney over their land interests
in Dutchess County New York (Kempe Papers, in MacCracken, 1956: 274).
|
|
8-26 October 1758
|
Nimham/
Nimhaon
|
"…. the principal Warriors of Four Tribes [or
bands] of the Minisink [or Munsee] Indians …."
arrive for the treaty conference at Easton, Pennsylvania, on 12 October
1758 to sue for peace with the English during the Seven Years War (1755-1762),
and to claim unsold territory in northern New Jersey and the disputed
borderlands with New York. Egohohowen (fl.1758-1762; alias Neccochoon
the Munsey Chief) Chief of the Minisinks, Nimham Chief of the Wapping,
Auquawaton (Qualaghquainyou fl.1729-1768) Chief of the Opings or Pomptons,
and Cockalalaman (Hendrick Hekan fl.1699-1758 an Esopus Chief noted as
a Munsie) endorse a deed relinquishing all their land interests to NJ,
except for hunting and fishing rights, "from the Raritan [River]
to Lamington Falls to the [Delaware] Water Gap to Cushytunk [Cochecton]
to the Hudson River" for 1000 Spanish pieces of eight. Nimham, reported
to be "living near Aesopus" on the Ulster/Orange county border
in New York, was noted as being too sick to attend the deed-signing ceremony
on 23 October, and signed the document acknowledging his share of payment
two days later on the 25th. Teedyuscung reported to treaty commissioners
on 21 October that the Wappinger chief was old and infirm and on the 26th
"requested the favour of a horse to carry him home; which was readily
granted" (Grumet, 1979: 83; 1991: 235-236; 1992: 87, 96n.31).
|
|
11 October 1761
|
Nimeham/
Nuntian
|
"Nimeham, Chief of the Opies," announces his people’s
plans to move with some Mohicans to Wyomink on the
Upper Susquehanna River during a treaty conference held at Bush-hill (Bushkill)
Pennsylvania from October 1-11, 1761. Nimeham shows his authority as chief
by displaying the 1745 Goshen wampum belt. Two since-lost certificates
attesting to Wappinger loyalty and their covenant alliance with New York,
signed by provincial governors George Clinton (1743-1753) in 1745 and
Charles Hardy (1755-1757) in 1756, were also displayed at this meeting
and the earlier Easton conference on 21 October 1758 (Grumet, 1992: 87,
95-96n.29).
|
|
22 June 1762
|
Nemeham
|
One of several Delaware leaders living in the Wyoming Valley
who were listed on Teedyuscung’s petition to Sir William Johnson,
demanding the appointment of a scribe to make an Indian record of ongoing
discussions regarding the Walking Purchase dispute at Easton, Pennsylvania,
from June 18-28, 1762 (Grumet, 1992: 96n.29).
|
Acgans (fl.1712-1744)
|
8 October 1712
|
Agand
|
One of five granting signatories, "proprieters Natives
oners & Indians," conveying land along the
Wappinger Creek from "a place Coled Matapan ….. to John Casperses
Creeck," in the present Towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger (NYCM-LP
5: 124).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Acgans
|
One of two attesting witnesses, the "Principal Sachemache
and Proprietors," endorsing a new Indian deed confirming the boundaries
of the Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
7 February 1744
|
Adiaan
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound made to John Tappen 1744 for the bounty paid on one wolf’s
head "Killed by an Indian Adiaan" in the "New Act"
of 1742 "to encourage the destroying of [Red] Wolves and Panthers
[Mountain Lions] in the Counties of Ulster Dutches and Orange: the inhabitants
of these counties finding the former [provincial] Acts insufficient"
(BSDC, Book 3: 281; NYCD, 6: 221).
|
Arichapeckt (fl.1730-1758)
|
13 October 1730
|
Arichapeckt
|
A participating witness to the land sale confirming the
boundaries of the Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979:
110).
|
|
3 July 1758
|
Arie Sawck
|
One of four Wappinger Indians granting Nimham II power of
attorney over their land interests in Dutchess County (Kempe Papers, in
MacCracken, 1956: 274).
|
Mangwaesogh (fl.1714-1720)
|
1714
|
Mangwaesogh
|
Identified in a 1743 Moravian names list as one of nine
granting signatories conveying land around the settlement of Shekomeko
in the Little (or second) Nine Partners Patent (MA, Box 113, 5: #1).
|
|
3 June 1720
|
Minguasag
|
Dutchess County assessment lists (20 January 1724) record
the expenditure of 15 shillings made to South Ward Supervisor Major Johannes
Terboss for the bounties paid (under the old provincial acts) on "a
Woulfs head from Frans De Lange 10 Shillings [on 9 May 1720] Dito To a
Nother Wolfshead [on 3 June 1720] from an Indian Minguasag 5 Shillings"
(BSDC, Book 1: 33).
|
Mekeran (fl.1705-1730)
|
1705
|
Mekeran
|
A Siwanoy or Stamford Indian, claiming ownership of land
sold in the Westchester county township of Rye (Bolton, 1920: 101).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Makerin
|
One of 20 granting signatories, "native Indian proprietors
of land in Dutche County," confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
Nackerin (fl.1729-1732)
|
10 August 1729
|
Nackerin
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 10 shillings made to Poughkeepsie Justice "Peter Van Kleeck Esqr
for a Woulfs head paid to Nackerin an Indian" (BSDC, Book 3: 21).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Narcarindt
|
A participating witness to the land sale confirming the
boundaries of the Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979:
110-112).
|
|
2 February 1731
|
Nakarint
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound made to Tryntie Van Cleeck for the bounty "paid to an
Indian Nakarint [for]Tow Wolfes heads" (BSDC, Book 3:24).
|
|
28 March 1732
|
Nockkerin
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound, 10 shillings, made "To the Hears of the Widdow Trynty
Van Kleeck Deceased for Three Woulf heads paid to Indians-Two to Nockkerin
& one to nennquin" (BSDC, Book 3: 38).
|
Naunauquin (fl.1724-1732)
|
25 April 1724
|
Naunauquin/ Naurnauquin/ (or squan)
|
A granting signatory selling land to Massachusetts authorities
"lying upon Housatonack River, allias Westonook"
along the disputed borders with New York and Connecticut for "Four
Hundred and Sixty Pounds [currency] Three Barrels of Sider & thirty
quarts of Rum." Also Identified as "Nau-nau-quin [or squan]"
in a later deposition by Capt. John Ashley, a member of the settlement
committee overseeing the purchase (Wright, 1905: 116-119; Mandell, 1982:
57n.13).
|
|
10 August 1729
|
Nannequeen
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 10 shillings made to Poughkeepsie Justice "Peter Van Kleeck Esqr
for a Woulfs head paid to an Indian Named Nannequeen" (BSDC, Book
3: 21).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Nonnaparee
|
One of 20 granting signatories, "native Indian proprietors
of land in Dutche County," confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
2 February 1731
|
Nanniquit
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 10 shillings made to Tryntie Van Cleeck "for a Woulfs head paid
to an Indian Nanniquit" (BSDC, Book 3: 24).
|
|
28 March 1732
|
nennquin
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound, 10 shillings, made "To the Hears of the Widdow Trynty
Van Kleeck Deceased for Three Woulf heads paid to Indians-Two to Nockkerin
& one to nennquin" (BSDC, Book 3: 38).
|
Papecunnow (fl.1705-1747)
|
1705
|
Papecunnow alias Thomas
|
Identified in a 1743 Moravian names list as one of nine
granting signatories conveying land within the bounds of the Little Nine
Partners Patent (MA, Box 113, 5: #1).
|
|
1706
|
Tom Papecanoo
|
Identified in a 1743 Moravian names list as one of seven
granting signatories conveying land within the bounds of the Little Nine
Partners Patent (MA, Box 113, 5: #1).
|
|
1743-1747
|
Thomas
|
Appears in Moravian records under his given baptismal name
Thomas, a "Sopus Ind" baptized at Shekomeko on 31 July 1743.
Son of Jeptha (alias Shawwonock) and named as "official worker among
the heathen." Married to Esther, a "Wompanosch" (Eastern
New England Indian) woman, from Potatik in Connecticut. Died 1747 at Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania (MA, Box 3191, #1; Wheeler, 1999: 321).
|
Perpuwas (fl.1680-1730)
|
15 June
|
Pillipuwas/
|
One of three granting signatories, "Highland Indians,"
|
|
1680
|
Pillippuwas
|
conveying land along the Casper Creek in the Town of Poughkeepsie
(ERA, 2: 84-85).
|
|
13 August to 1702
|
Perapouwes
|
A participating witness to the land sale confirming
Adolph Philipse’s Highland extension to the Connecticut
border (PGP, P14: #56, deed facsimile in Pelletreau,1886: 15-18).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Perpuwas
|
The principal grantor to the new Indian deed confirming
the boundaries of the Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck,
1979: 110).
|
Pesewein (fl.1720-1730)
|
3 June 1720
|
Pesewein
|
Dutchess County assessment lists (20 January 1724) record
the expenditure of 15 shillings made "To Coll Leonard Lewis [Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas, Poughkeepsie] for Mony Desbursed for the
County - To a Woulfs head Payd to an Indian Named Pesewein 5 Shill - To
a Woulfs head Payd to John Schoute 10 Shillings" (BSDC, Book 1: 33).
|
|
16 January 1724
|
Pesiewein
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 5 shillings made to Poughkeepsie Justice and former Middle Ward Supervisor
(1722-1723) "Capt Barent Van Kleeck for a Wolf Killed by pesiewein"
(BSDC, Book 2: 7).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Cocewyn/ Pecewyn
|
One of 20 granting signatories, "native Indian proprietors
of land in Dutche County," confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
Schawash (fl.1702-1762/65)
|
13 August
|
Shawiss/
|
One of eight granting signatories, "native Indians
and
|
|
in 1702
|
Souwess
|
Proprietors of sundry Tracts of land Dutchess County,"
confirming Adolph Philipse’s Highland extension to the Connecticut
border (PGP, P14: #56, deed facsimile in Pelletreau, 1886: 15-18, "Shawess"
in 1765 trial).
|
|
13 October
|
Shawasquo/
|
One of 20 granting signatories confirming the bound-
|
|
1730
|
Shawasco/
|
aries of the Great Nine Partners Patent in a new Indian
|
| |
Shawask
|
deed presented to the Nine Partners Company, "Sealed
and Delivered by Shawanachko and Shawasco, and Tounis his Son." Also
identified in the document body as "Tounis son of the said Shawask"
(McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
4 November
|
Shawash
|
At a meeting of the Nine Partners Company in New
|
|
1737
|
|
York City, treasurer Jacob Goelet reports the arrival of
"two Indians being come to town Shawash & Shawenah with letters
from the Partners on the premises [of the Great Nine Partners Patent]
showing they were real owners. Shawash owning the greatest part of ye
[unsold] land & not yett paid. We met them at Cap A. Rutgers agreed
& gave them for their right and to execute ye Indian deed which was
executed accordingly upon delivery of ye following goods [to] Shawash,
his son and Shawenah; the goods were delivered to ye Indians 7 hatchets,
2 guns, 10 streched & 10 duffel blankets, 2 strouds streched, 9th
led 24 lb Powder, linnen, knives, paper & Cash and provisions 32/
per mile (totaling) L 24:15:4 ….. & to J. Marschalk [for] a gun
[given] to young Shawash [Tounis] 3:00." (McDermott and Buck, 1979:
15).
|
|
4 November 1737
|
Shawasquo
|
One of two Indians appearing before Phillip Cortlandt of
the Colonial Council attesting to ownership of lands in the Great Nine
Partners Patent (excluded from the 1730 sale), and that he had respectively
received as his share the payment of "seven striped Blanketts, seven
Duffills Blankets, eight Dozen of pipes, twenty knives, five hatchets,
one Strouds Blankett, eighteen pounds of powder, eighteen pounds of Lead,
and one good gun, four white shirts, and one half barrel of strong beer,
in full satisfaction of and for consideration of their Respective shares,
right and title of, in, and to the within Tract of Land" (McDermott
and Buck, 1979: 112-113).
|
|
1740- 1762/63
|
Schawash
|
Appears in Moravian records under the variants Schawash
/ Shawas / Shaweous / Shabash / Shebosh, or under his given baptismal
name Abraham, a "Mohican" sachem, "Elder of the congregation
at Shekomeko," and a claimant to lands in the Little (or Second)
Nine Partners Patent. Husband of Sarah, a "Mahikan" woman. Moved
to Wechquadnach in northwestern Connecticut in 1747. Relocated to Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania in 1749, and then moved to the nearby Gnadenhutten mission
on the Mahoning River. Died sometime in 1762 at Wyomink (Wyoming) on the
upper Susquehanna River. Identified after his death as "Old Abraham
a Mohicander" in a 1763 complaint to Sir William Johnson about the
Nine Partner Lands (MA, Box 3191, #1;Wheeler, 1999: 313; Westmeier, 1994;
Papers of Sir William Johnson, 10: 853-854).
|
Sekomeck (fl.1712-1730)
|
8 October 1712
|
Sekomeck
|
One of five granting signatories, "proprieters Natives
oners & Indians," conveying land along the
Wappinger Creek from "a place Coled Matapan ….. to John Casperses
Creeck," in the present Towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger (NYCM-LP
5: 124).
|
|
5 May 1723
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Seekoremaw
|
The "Chieef Indian of Pawlings" (Patent) "&
ye Chieef of ye Land of Beekmans [Rhinebeck Patent]
\Sjawanegkie," are noted in a deposition which reports that "Both
parties of Indians [have] mett in Dutchess County, to Shew the Land [purchased]
by Pawlings, And what purchased by Beekman[s,] ….. & They agreed
the Division Lyn bettween their fourfathers was by a Small Run of water
Called nanotanapenen. The Land to the Southerd Should belong to proprietors
[ceded?] to the Pawlings, & to ye north to ye Beekman. Butt the Indians
on the Pawlings Syd Coming to a plain confession, they aknowledge they
had land from a stooney Point, Called Korenagkoyosink Sum 8: or : [10]
Chains to ye North ward of sd Kill, which Bears East from the Point of
the Klyn [little] Esopus fly [or vly, present Esopus Meadows Point on
the west side of the Hudson] which we Took to be the place Intended which
if ever ther has been a marked tree must have been there about and to
Run from that place of Hudsons River East onye Strik near to ye midle
of the meadow Called Pawlings fly" (LP, NYSL: MF, reel #28).
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|
13 October 1730
|
Seeck
|
One of 20 granting signatories, "native Indian proprietors
of land in Dutche County," confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
Shawwonock (fl.1730-1754)
|
13 October 1730
|
Shawanachko
|
One of 20 granting signatories confirming the boundaries
of the Great Nine Partners Patent in a new Indian deed presented to the
Nine Partners Company, "Sealed and Delivered by Shawanachko and Shawasco"
(McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
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|
4 November 1737
|
Shawenah
|
One of two Indians negotiating with the Nine Partners Company
"for their right and to execute ye Indian deed" for unsold lands
in the Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 15).
|
|
4 November 1737
|
Shawanachko
|
One of two Indians appearing before Phillip Cortlandt of
the Colonial Council attesting to received ownership of lands in the Great
Nine Partners Patent and that he "had respectively (for his rights)
the goods following, to witt ….. three striped Blanketts, three Dufills
Blankets, four Dozen of pipes, ten knives, two Hatchets, one Strouds Blankett,
six pounds of powder, ten pounds of lead, two white shirts, and One Gunn"
(McDermott and Buck, 1979: 112-113).
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|
17 October 1743
|
Shawwonock now Jeptha
|
One of six signatories to a petition claiming that the sachem
Shawas had not been paid for his rights to the "Second [or Little]
Nine partners land" (MA, Box 113, #10).
|
|
1743-1754
|
Jephthah
|
Appears in Moravian records under his given baptismal name
Jephthah / Jeptha, a "Sopus Ind" baptized at Shekomeko on 31
July 1743. A widower, wife (unnamed) died of alcoholism in April 1744.
Relocated to Bethlehem in 1745 to be with his son Thomas alias Papecunnow).
Moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1747, and traveled to Wechquadnach
several times in 1749. Died April 1754 at Gnadenhutten (MA, Box 3191,
#1; Wheeler, 1999: 320-321).
|
Stephen Cowenham (fl.1727-1765)
|
10 August 1727
|
Couenham
|
Dutchess County assessment lists (23 January 1728) record
the expenditure of 6 shillings made to Fishkill Justice "Jacobus
Terbos Esq for a Woulfs head paid to Couenham ye Indian" (BSDC, book
2: 77).
|
|
31 January 1735
|
Counham
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 10 shillings made "To (South Ward Supervisor) Mathewes De Booys
to one Woulfs had [head] paid to Counham the Indian" (BSDC, book
3: 90).
|
|
March 1756
|
Stephen of
|
Identified in Margery West’s deposition before Lt.
the Fishkill Governor Cadwallader Colden on 25 September 1756, regarding
her captivity earlier that year among pro-French Munsee and Delaware Indians
during the Seven Years War. Margery stated that while at the Munsee town
of "Diaoga [Tioga]" on the Upper Susquehanna River she encountered
a "Number of Indians, among whom were many that Talked English and
Dutch; in perticular she saw one Stephen of the Fishkill [Indians] who
first knew her & then made himself known to her by mentioning a certain
time that he had been at Captn Hartles" (Colden Papers, 5: 95).
|
|
21 July 1764
|
Stephen Cowenhum
|
Leading Fishkill Indians "One pound Pactone" (fl.1764-1765)
and Stephen Cowenhun grant Daniel Nimham power of attorney as sachem "to
dispose of the land of them or either of them" in Dutchess County
(Kempe Papers, in MacCracken, 1956: 274-275, 302).
|
|
24 July 1764
|
Stephen Kounham
|
Daniel Nimham issues a 999-year lease, on behalf of "one
pound. Poktone and Stephen Kounham," to the Quaker, Nathaniel Worden
Cordwainer for lands within the Beekman Precinct of Dutchess County. The
terms of the lease are made for an initial investment of 30 pounds and
an annual quitrent of "two Pepper Corns in and upon the feast of
St. Michael, the Arch Angel, if demanded, as a yearly Rent and Reservation
for the premises" (Kempe Papers, in MacCracken, 1956: 275-276).
|
|
17 November 1764
|
Stephen Kounhum
|
One of six tribesmen electing Samuel Monroe as "their
Attorney, and Guardian of their Persons and Estates"
in Dutchess County (Kemp Papers, in Pelletreau, 1886: 71).
|
|
1 March 1765
|
Stephen Kounham/ Stephen Cowenham
|
One of four "Native Indians of the Tribe of Wappinger,"
presenting a petition to Lt. Governor Colden, claiming lands in the South
Precinct of Dutchess County. Colden orders the Indian
petitioners to appear before the Colonial Council on 6 March to present
heir claims against the proprietary heirs of Philipse’s Upper Patent
(NYCM-LP, 18: 127).
|
|
6 March 1765
|
Stephen Cowenham
|
Appears with Daniel Nimham, Jacobus Nimham, and One Pound
Poctone, as plaintiffs before the New York Colonial Council, challenging
the claims of Roger Morris and Beverly Robinson as defendants of the Philipse
land titles in southern Dutchess County. Lt. Governor Colden and the Council
uphold a previously unknown deed to the tract made in 1702 and dismiss
the Wappingers claim stating, "that their ancestors had fairly sold
their Right to the Lands in Question …. and that they should give
the Proprietors or their Tenants no further Trouble" (PGP, P13: #45,
in Pelletreau, 1886: 75-76).
|
|
19 December 1765
|
Stephen Kounhoun
|
"Daniel Nimham, Indian of Dutchess County, New York,
and Stephen Kounhoun of the same," sell 400 acres of disputed lands
in the South Precinct to Benjamin Palmer, an innholder from Pelham Manor
in Westchester County, New York (Palmer Papers, in MacCracken, 1956: 276).
|
Taguahams (fl.1729-1730
|
3-4 January 1729
|
tacquahamaes
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
made to former South Ward Supervisor (1722- 1724, 1727) "Jacobus
Swartwout for a Woulfs head Which he has received of an Indian tacquahamaes
which note is without date when ye Woulf was Shott So allow Six Shilling"
(BSDC, Book 2: 122).
|
|
13 October 1730
|
Taguahams/ Taquahamas
|
One of 20 granting signatories, "native Indian proprietors
of land in Dutche County," confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
Other Named Individuals
|
1743-1760
|
Abel
|
A "Hoogl. Ind." Baptized at "Shecomeco under
the open sky" on 2 November 1743. A widower, "now has Elizabeth’s
sister [a "Mahikan" woman] as his wife." Died ca. 1760
at "Anohochjnugo" (Otsiningo /Chenango) an Iroquois-controlled
town (or district) along the upper branches of the Susquehanna River (MA,
Box 3191, #1).
|
|
8 Oct. 1712
|
Agtapyhout
|
A granting signatory conveying land from "Matapan…..
to John Casperses Creeck" in the Towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger
(NYCM-LP, 5:124).
|
|
8 Oct. 1712
|
Alotam
|
A granting signatory conveying land from "Matapan…..
to John Casperses Creeck" in the Towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger
(NYCM-LP, 5:124).
|
|
28 Mar. 1732
|
Amekoonet
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 10 shillings made to Poughkeepsie Justice Peter van Kleeck "for
a Woulf head paid to an Indian Named Amekoonet" (BSDC, Book 3: 38).
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|
1749-1754
|
Anna Rosina
|
(W) A "hoogl." Indian baptized on 3 December 1749
at Gnadenhutten, Pennsylvania. Child of Adolph and Tabea, died sometime
in 1754 (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Arye/Arye
|
"Seeck’s Son" and a granting signatory confirming
the boundaries of the Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck,
1979: 110-112).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Ayawatask/
|
A granting signatory confirming the boundaries of the Ayawatack
Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979:110-112).
|
|
9 April 1747
|
Benjamin
|
A "Mennisunk Ind." son of Michael, baptized at
Gnadenhutten, Pennsylvania (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Cekounamow
|
A participating witness confirming the boundaries of the
Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
24 July 1746
|
Christiana
|
(W) A "Sopus Ind." baptized at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
"Peter’s widow. [Second?] wife of Bro.[ther] Shebosh" (MA,
Box 3191, #1).
|
|
31 Jan. 1734
|
Cochanis
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 10 shillings made to former South Ward Supervisor (1730-1731) Jacobus
Depiester for "one wholfs had [head] paid to the Indian Called Cochanis"
(BSDC, Book 3: 90).
|
|
7 Feb. 1740
|
Cooper
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound 3 pence made "To James Wilson for Apprehending an Indian
Man Named Cooper" (BSDC, Book 3: 211).
|
|
1748
|
Daniel
|
A "Sopus Ind." 11-year-old son of Thomas, baptized
18 Feb. 1748 at Friedenshutten, Pennsylvania. Died 11 May 1748 at Friedenshutten
(MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
1746-1747
|
David
|
A "Sopus Ind." 6-year-old son of Thomas, baptized
28 August 1746 at the mission station of "Friedrichstown" (Friedenshutten),
Pennsylvania. Died 20 January 1747 at Friedenshutten (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
7 Oct. 1743
|
Eva
|
(W) A "Hoogl. Ind." Baptized at Shekomeko, "widow
of Nicodemus" a Wompanosch (Easterner/New England) Indian (MA, Box
3191, #1).
|
|
1749-1768
|
Gabriel
|
A "Hoogl. Ind." baptized on 15 March 1749, at
the Mohican town of Wechquadnach in northwestern Connecticut, "child
of Caritas," a Delaware or Shawnee woman. Died 18 April 1768 at the
Paugusset town of Scaticook, Connecticut (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
1714
|
Hahangement
|
A granting signatory conveying land within the bounds of
the Little Nine Partners Patent (MA, Box 113, 5: #1).
|
|
4 Feb. 1746
|
Isaac
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 1 pound 10 shillings made to Johannis Wiltsie "for 3 young Wolves
killed - 2 by Isaac An Indian" (BSDC, Book 3: 336).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Kindtquaw
|
A granting signatory confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
16 Jan. 1724
|
Krickes
|
Dutchess County assessment lists record the expenditure
of 5 shillings made "To Krickes the Indian for a wollf head"
(BSDC, Book 2: 7).
|
|
1749
|
Lazara
|
(W) A "Sopus Ind." Baptized on 16 March 1749 at
Wechquadnach, "daughter of Jephtha" died 19 November 1749 at
Wechquadnach (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
12 Dec. 1742
|
Lydia
|
(W) A "Sopus Ind." baptized at Shekomeko, "wife
of Philip, of Shecomeco" (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Mamany
|
A granting signatory confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
1714
|
Mamsknok
|
(W) The principal grantor and one of two women conveying
land within the bounds of the Little Nine Partners Patent (MA, Box 113,
5: #1).
|
|
1714
|
Mangeghisrt
|
(W) An attesting witness and one of two women conveying
land within the bounds of the Little Nine Partners Patent (MA, Box 113,
5: #1).
|
|
1746-1748
|
Maria Spangenberg
|
(W) A "Hoogl. Ind." baptized at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
on 13 May 1746. 9-year-old daughter of Ruth. Died 7 April 1748 at Nazareth,
Pennsylvania (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
13 May 1746
|
Martha
|
(W) A "Sopus Ind." 9-year-old daughter of Thomas
and Esther, baptized at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (MA, Box 113, 5: #1).
|
|
10 Aug. 1727
|
Mawareno
|
Dutchess County assessment lists (23 Jan. 1728) record the
expenditure of 6 shillings made to South Ward Supervisor Jacobus Swartwout
"for a Woulfs head payd to an Indian Named Mawareno" (BSDC,
Book 3: 77).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Memram
|
A granting signatory confirming the boundaries of the Great
Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
12 Dec. 1742
|
Michael
|
A "Mennisung Ind." baptized at Shekomeko. A "widower
of Shecomeco" (MA, Box 3191, #1).
|
|
13 Oct. 1730
|
Naghcharent
|
A participating witness confirming the boundaries of the
Great Nine Partners Patent (McDermott and Buck, 1979: 110-112).
|
|
1714
|
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