Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1873-05-10
iron THE suNBURY AMERIoAN.1
EARLY EYisfOrY Of SunburY.

| Entity AhfSbOry OA DOhpuFys
propose to gather up every thing of an his
torcal character relative 10 5unbury, while am
here, and with your kind permission, publish It
in your paper, with the nope that some one will
take hold of the history Of sunbury In an annal
form. have enough to do in completing my
annals of Buffalo Valley.
Heckwelders manuscripts are being edited by
Rev. VIM. G. Rclchel, of Bethlehem, and printed
for private circulation at the expense of my
friend John Jordan, Jr., Esq.,, OF Philadelphia,
and have been favored with copy from which
make extracts lu references TO the namos which
tho Dola ~Src Indians gave to Bunbury and It's
localities. ,&@sF sENf sg re
Cattn,rissd, from Gattawlsi, s,gnifying grown
fat. Wi-salicen to fattcu. Probably the Indians
who named the place had shot deer along the
season when deer fattcn.
ChtlliS9aG9us, from Chllhisuagc, sigutying the
| place ofsnoe b!rds. ~
Naiaaoy, corrupted from Mshoni, a slck. zin-
zen6orf, on bis way to Shamokin, In l149, Sep
| tember, named the Mshanoy, leinbachs creek.
for Henry Lcinsach, one of his fellow travellers
! Mahantongo froa Mohantango, Mgnifyng
aohere IRE had plenty # merit 20 cat. InEcndorf
named this creek "Bcnigna's Greek IN honor of
J his daughter.
| Shamokin (Sunbury) written Schanok by the
| Della Eares. In very carly times she place was
callel SchachnroNi, ihr place Of GELS, aud the
| creek Schachlmskhau, cr gtrrrrn. IL was next
called Schuckh honumendi, stgnigng The p'Gcs
whers qup bcrrcts C'6 siruicdtchs0, IN miustou To
| the siuithy built gt Sunbury, III July, l74f, BY
Joseph Powell and John Hagen Of Bcthiehem,
( where the blackemiths Schmid. Wesa and kef-
| fer, wrought In Iron until October iT55.
| Loskiel's indian mission, translated by Rev. G..
| j. Latrobe uncle of Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq,
the noted engineer of Baltimore, edition, 1904,
is very full of notices of Sunbury. He says that
| in l745, Martin Shack, Moravian missionary,
| went to Shamokin, town belonging to the lro.
| quois (SiX Natous,) and, With his wife, said
| there two months, and were eye witnesses to the
| mos, horrid and diaboca. abuminators praciic-
| ed by The Indians, more In this place than in any
other, aud severa. times were In danger OF being
murdered by drunken Indians But they en-
p!oyed their time In assisting the Indians on
| their plantations, and though Indian corn was
their only food they were perfectly corteuted
From shanokin they wert on II visit once up tc
Long Island, large island in the Susquehanna,
below Lock Haven, but here drunkenness was
the great obstacle TO religion. and even the chie
got SO drunk one night that he fell into the fire
4 aud burned the flesh off one Of his hands.
The account given Ivy Mack after lis return
made the elders Mt Bethlehem wish TO send &
missionary to reside at Shamokin. In l746, the
Iroquois sent word by shickccmy, their agen
or deputy at shainokin, TO Conrad Neiser, re-
questing him to represent to the Governor o
| Pennsylvania. that for want Of blacksmith
they were frequently upon the slightest occasion
obliged to travel above hundred miles to Inl
pehockCn, or even to Philadelphia, to get wOrl
done they therefore wished Il blacksmith mig hi
be sent to reside st ShamOkin. 1t WAS con
sdcred dangerous place OF residence iol
| Il European, the air being unwh0iesone, no
to mention the extravaganza IN drinking and Ii
dangerous conqueucc. The Governor grantee
permission to send blacksmith, and this CAV
the Brethren an opportunity to send a missionl
ry. Accordingly Brother Mack went to Shame
kin to consult with sheckelemy and his council
and to agree that in case the Brethren shout
| send blacksmith to reside there, he would sta
with them no longer than they preserved thci
faith and friendship with the English, Pursuan
to this arrangement, John Hagen and Josepl
Powell went there in june, l74S, and built
house for the blacksmith, finishing it in few
weeks. Anthony Schmidt, one of the Brethren
and his wife moved to Shamokin in the sam
month and began to work. Hagen died in Sep
tcmber, aud Brother Mack and his wife wen
| there to superintend the mission. The residence
OF the brethren there was attended with great in
convenience, all the necessaries OF life being con
veyed to them from Bethlehem. Shamokin wa
| u place through which the lrOquois used to pas
on their way to Philadelphia and Virginia, an
when going out on hunting and the brelhrc1
found u good opportunity of becoming acquaint
: ed with n great part of that nation, and Of pIu
f pairing the way for the propagation of the goepe
, among them
In l74p, Bishops Won Wate:vlllc and Cammcr
hoff went with Martin Mack aud David Zcisbcr
, naet maze with Sheckelemy in the name of tn
Irn1uois, and the latter sent Il message to CUun
Zinzendorf ''that his brethren, the Six Nations
salute him ; for they love him, and desire him
salute all the brethren whom they love likewise, :,
Towards the end OF the year l;4A, Shecke,em
died at Suubury, Being the first magistrate an
head-chief of all the 1roquois Indians living o
1 the banks of tho SusGueAaDna as far as Onondl
: ga, Syracuse, New York. He thought II iuCuT
bent upOn him to be very CirCumspcCt In hi
ipGl " ppODlp, Z
3, the brethren at first, but upon discovering thei
, sincerity, became their ilrm aud real friend. b.
r ing much engaged IN political affairs, he ha
learned the art of concealing his sentiments, nn
therefore never coutradieted those, who endea
j vored to prejudice his mind against the mission
: aries, though he always suspected their motives
In tho last years of his life he became less resrr'
ed, and received tho brethren who came to Sha
nokin into his house. lie also very kindly at
g sisted them in building, and defended thei
against the insults of the drunken Indians, ben
himself never addicted to drinking, because as h
| expressed il, he never wished to become tooI.
- he had built his house upon pillars for SAID g..
> in which he always shut himself up when an
drunken frolic was going on in the village. |
this, house Bishop Won Watterville, ana his cen
4 pany visited, and preached the Gospel to hin
1 II was then that the Lord opened his heart L
listened with great attention, and at last wit
tears, respected the doctrine Of n cruciAed JcsUi
, and recevcd IL in faith, as message full {
grace and truth. During his visit to BethleheI
= IL remarkable change took place in his hcal
which he could not conceal. he found cpmfor
- peace and Joy, By faith in his Redeemer, and I'll
brethren considered him as candidate for bal
tism. But hearing that he had been aIcuad
= baptized by Il Catholic priest, in Canada, the
only endeavorel to impress his mind with Pre-
per idea of the Importance OF the sacrament
ordinance, upon which lie destroyed small idC
which he wore about his neck. After he rcturi
| cd TO Shamokin the grace of God bestowed upO
= him was.truly manifest, and his behaviour wa
remarkably peaceable and cOntented. In tni
state of mind he was taken i'll, was attended b
Z. brother David Geisbcrger, and in his presenc,
fell rapidly asleep in the Lord, in full assuranc
of obtaining eternal life, through the merits {
! Jesus Christ.
Z JOHN p. LINN.
& Harrisburg, May Q, 1873.
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