The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-09-15


to the same belonging excepting the Isl Of
Kent and Pamer's Islend, which belong tC
Captain Clayborne. But nevertheless il
shall be lawful for the aforesaid English OF
Indians to build a house or forte for trade
or any such like use or occasion at any tyne
upon Palmer's Island.''
commissioners OH the part of the English
and on the part of the Indians by "SAwA,
HEGEH, AURoGHTAREGH, SCARHUHADIG,
RUTHCHoGAH and NATuHELDIANCH, war;
captaines and councillors of Susquehanagh
commissioners appointed and sent for the
purpose by the nation and State of Susque
hanagh." 1t is probable that the provi-
sions of this treaty were duly observed, and
that there was peace between the colonsts
and Indians forever afterwards for we find
that in the year 1860 Augustine Herman,
the proprietor of Bohemia Manor, made a
treaty with this same tribe of Indians at
Spesutid Island and purchased Bohemia
Manor from them. From Herman's jour
nal we learn that the original grant that
he obtained from the proprietor of Mary
land was supposed to contain about 5000
acres of "good patentable land, and that
danger of Indians did not then permit a Ger
tain inspection nor surrey Of hat far remote
and then unknoton toilderness. CAUCUS
tine Herman then bought all the land of
the Susquehanagh Indians, then met with
the great men out of the Susquehannah
frot, at Spies Uty Isle, upon a treaty of SOL
diers, as the old record will testify"
Whether Palmers Island and Spesuta
Island are identical, the writer has no means
of verifying. but the fact that there was a
fort on Spesutia at the time of Herman's
treaty with the Indians seems to indicate
that they might have been. The Indians
remained upon Bohemia Manor for some
time after its settlement by Herman, and
are said to have embarked many years after
wards from Bohemia River and emigrated
to the beautiful valleys occupied by the
Wyomirgs, and to have been taken into
fellowship by them, after which their den-
tty and tribal appellations and peculiarities
were lost Tradition indicates that one of
his tribe remained upon the Manor and had
his home on Herring Island Tor Heron, as
it was probably first called, near the mouth
of Back Creek, where he lived for many
years.
We have been informed that some years
ago, during the prevalence of an exceed
ingly high tide, the remains of Indians
were laid bare by the action of the waves
of Bohemia River, near Hacks Point, and
that there was evidently an Indian bury
ing ground there in the ancient times when
they inhabited that part of the county.
William Penn purchased from an Indian
chief, called Malchalold, all lands from the
Delaware to the Chesapeake Bay up to the
falls of Susquehanna, about the year 1888
Or s.. He was probably a chief of the
Delawares. 1t is a matter of history that
in 1744 a treaty was made at Lancaster
between the chiefs of the sir nations and
the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland
and Virginia, the principal object of which
appears to have been the purchase or acqui-
sition of Indian lands by the Governors of
the two last named States. This would
seem to indicate that previous to this time
the warlike and powerful tribe of the Sus-
quehannocks had been absorbed by the six
nations. There were few Indians in Ian
caster county as late as 1868; probably they
were the last of the Susquehannocks, though
at that time they were known by the name
of the Conestogos. These Indians appear
to have degenerated very much and to have
lost all the nobler and better traits of their
character, and to have become very OBJ
noxious to many of the citizens of Lancas
ter county. Some of these Indians were
accused of murder, aud on the night of
the nth of December, 1863 a body of
armed whites made an attack upon their
village, near Conestogo Greek, and slew all
the Indians that were there; most of the
tribe were, however, absent, and they took
refuge in the work house at Lancaster,
where they remained until the 9th of the
same month, when they were again at
tackled and killed. This tragical event
appears to have been uncalled for and al
most unprovoked, and was severely de-
nounced by the more moderate part of the
citizens of Lancaster county. With the
death of the Conestogo Indians, Indian
history ended in Lancaster county.
The last of the Indians of Chester county
died at the aims house of that county in
1903. She was called old Hannah, and was
lo Of Of ho hot
number of years, lived in village of
wigwams in Marlborough township. She,
in her better days, lived alone in a wigwam
on the banks of the Brandywine, and, like
making. She is said to have been both
proud and naughty, and hated the blacks
and the poorer class of whites, and though
she was the last of her race alone and desc
late, decrept and forlorr, she refused to
associate with them.
The road leading from Elkton to New
London along the dividing ridge between
the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays is no
doubt located on or near one of the ancient
Indian paths, though they are said to have
had another route from Chester county by
way of the B. NJ. House to the head of the
bay.
The Indians at one time had village
Just south of the run in the southern part
of the town of North East that, in the
early colonial times, was called Arundle
Creek. They subsisted by fishing and
basket making, and we have been told by
an old resident of North East that when
he was a boy he frequently saw where they
made their arrow heads, the places being
indicated by large quantities of small pieces
of flint stone along the banks of the North
East River.
There was also an Indian village in the
Fourth district, not far from the Head of
Christiana Church, and an Indian burying