Volume 5, Issue 2

The Susquehanna River Archaeological Center of Native Indian Studies ~ www.SRACenter.org ~ email [email protected]

Page 1 THE SRAC JOURNAL Volume 5, Issue 2

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

1916 Susquehanna River Exp 1

The Kassly Tablet 1

Bears on Broad Street! 8

Tom Jack-Native Am Friend 9

SRAC Membership Drive 9

Identity of the Andaste, Minquas.. 10

Recent Contributors 13

Recent Events at SRAC 14

Woolly Mammoth...in Waverly! 16

Membership Form 18

THE 1916 SUSQUEHANNA RIVER EXPEDITION

BY DEB TWIGG, SRAC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Volume 5 , Issue 2 September 2009

THE REGION’S ARCHAEOLOGICAL , CULTURAL , AND H ISTORICAL RESOURCE

TTTTHEHEHEHE SRAC JSRAC JSRAC JSRAC JOURNALOURNALOURNALOURNAL

Early on in my investigations concerning Spanish Hill, I was told to read “Susquehanna’s Indians” by Pa Archae-ology’s Dr. Barry Kent to find out why the site was considered to be not worthy to be preserved. It was then that I realized that Dr. Kent had relied on information from the 1916 Susquehanna River Expedition and its author, Warren K. Moorehead as one of his references. Once I had read all of the information that I could find on the Expedi-tion to include hundreds of letters between Moorehead and others before, during and after the expedition, I felt it important to share the information that I uncovered. Personally I have come to the conclusion

that the Expedition was little more than a treasure hunting spree that left our region with fewer artifacts and even less under-standing of our archaeology. But I will leave it up to you the reader to make your own opinions. – Deb Twigg

On May 16 1916, an expedition of nine men left Lake Otsego, at the head of the Susquehanna River, central New York, and proceeded down that stream to the mouth of the river at Havre de Grace, Maryland. The purpose of the expedition was to record all the Indian sites along the main Susquehanna, and if possible to dis-

(Continued on page 2)

THE KASSLY TABLET BY VINCENT BARROWS, SRAC MEMBER

(LOUISIANNA)

A collection of carved stones found on and around Monks Mound, the world’s largest pyramid, is clear evidence of refined civiliza-tion. Arrows indicate the location that each engraved stone was found on Monks Mound. Today these ob-jects have been graciously donated to museum collec-tions including the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, the Madison County Histori-cal Museum, the Illinois State Museum, The Pea-body Museum of Archae-ology and Ethnology, and the Quincy Museum.

About 40 miles south of the Cahokia Mounds World Heritage site in Southern Illinois, an engraved stone object has been found by Elizabeth Agnes Kassly. The stone was named the “Kassly-Schaefer Tablet” after the finder, Kassly, and prop-erty owner, Schaefer.

The stone had been fractured and four frag-ments have been recovered to date on the surface of a farmer’s field south of Old Val-meyer, IL. Kassly discovered pieces of the stone on November 15, 2000 and May 15,


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cover a cemetery of the Andastes. The expedition followed the plan adopted by the surveys in Maine, of traveling by canoe and camping…As we proceeded down the river the men would land at a site marked on our maps as an Indian village of conse-quence during the historic period. Per-mission having been secured, these men would scatter about and sink test pits fifty or one hundred yards apart over an area of from ten to fifty acres. During the day our workmen would sink as many as two hundred of these pits, or one hundred in half a day. If this number of test pits re-sulted in no finds, the expedi-tion would move on to another site… Warren K. Moorehead

Background:

Apparently, local avocational archaeologist and founder of the Tioga Point Museum in Athens, PA, Louise Welles Murray already had an inter-esting relationship with Moor-head as result of being in-volved in rounding up artifacts from our region for his 1917 book, “Stone Ornaments.” This book referred to many today as nothing more than a collector’s catalog for buyers, was in its day quite a liter-ary work. This along with many other exploits in Moorehead’s life such as accumulating a huge exhibit of Native American artifacts for the Chicago Ex-position in 1893 that had made him quite a celebrity in his time.

As a result, it is no wonder that in 1916 when he began sending letters out to the archaeological societies, muse-ums, and collectors along the Susque-hanna River where his next expedition would take place, many were quick to want to work with the great Warren K. Moorehead.

It was Mrs. Murray in fact who asked Moorehead if a young man who showed great promise in the field of archaeology, Ellsworth Cowles, could join the expedition for a few weeks to gain experience. Moorehead agreed to

this wholeheartedly. As many of you know Ellsworth Cowles’s collection is now a part of the SRAC collections and is on exhibit. The Cowles family also donated a significant exhibit of Moore-head’s Southwestern collection that Ellsworth acquired at some point that we hope to have on display at some point soon. Also, those who visit our Center on most Thursdays, get the chance to have Ellsworth’s son, Dick Cowles give you a special tour of the collection on display.

But in the spring of 1916 it wasn’t just Moorehead who was making plans for the expedition that would take place. In fact there was an even larger plan in the works to build a new museum and to stock it with the grandest artifacts that could be found. This museum to-day is known as the National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center in New York City.

My research reveals that as early as February 1916, George Gustav Heye had agreed to finance Moorehead’s Expedition and had agreed to pay $2,500. In return, all specimens found or bought along the way would be brought to him exclusively. Mr. Heye also told Moorehead that all skeletons should be packed separately in boxes marked with an “S” so that they could be sent “where they belong,” and that

his own man, Alanson Skinner would accompany Moorehead’s crew and would be on Heye’s payroll separately.

However, once the announcement of the Expedition was made public, Heye and Moorehead were not the only ones who began making their plans for their trip along the Susquehanna.

Just before the Expedition was to be-gin, a letter was sent to Moorehead from Albany. It seems that New York State was quite aware of Mr. Moore-head’s “archaeological tactics of taking

all of the artifacts and obliter-ating sites for further re-search, and they had insisted that none other than Arthur C. Parker, the well respected Native American NYS Mu-seum archaeologist accom-pany (and monitor) the expe-dition until they reached the Pennsylvania border. I am sure Moorehead cringed when he learned that the NYS Museum expected that all archaeological specimens would be taken at the NYS Museum in Albany.

One thing we know is that Moorehead contacted Heye immediately and told him about the letter. Moorehead assured him that the best way

to handle the situation was to try to keep NYS in good humor so that con-cerns would not be raised in the news-papers that would surely cause trou-bles for the Expedition. Instead, Moorehead told his financier that if he could not get NYS to cooperate, he would take Parker in one direction, and allow Skinner and the rest of the team to go elsewhere to find the specimens that would go to Heye.

The Expedition:

As one reads the accounts about the expedition, they will find a very short portion dedicated to the New York State sector through which Moorehead and his men traveled from May 16 until early June that summer. It seems that Dr. Parker had many friends along the Susquehanna in New York State.

(Continued from page 1)


THE 1916 SUSQUEHANNA RIVER EXPEDITION CO N T .

Part of Moorehead’s exhibit at the Chicago Expo in 1893



These friends clearly spread the word ahead of the Expedition that the plan was not to show Moorehead and his team any of the good sites and instead to keep them moving farther down the river as fast as they could.

By June 10th, a frustrated Moorehead who had to return to Andover, Massa-chusetts for graduation ceremonies wrote to Alanson Skinner who was to arrive in Athens, PA. He told Skinner that two gentlemen, Lang and Shoe-maker would need to be dealt with. It was in Moorehead’s opinion that they should first try to cooperate with these people, but if that failed that they would need to “smash through” to get to the Andaste cemetery that Mrs. Murray had offered to have excavated. Clearly, from the earlier work with Mrs. Murray and her contribution of incredible arti-facts photos for his “Stone Orna-ments,” Moorehead knew what Athens, PA held in store for them, and as each mile along the Expedition had been foiled by the NYS Museum efforts, the Murray Farm seemed to be the light at the end of the tunnel and hopeful “treasure trove” that could redeem him in the eyes of his financier who eagerly awaited high quality artifacts for his museum.

On June 12th, Alanson Skinner wrote back to Moorehead from Athens, PA and smugly assured him that he had everyone and everything properly in hand and that there would be no need to “smash through” anything, because he had “the goods” and the permission for all of it. He also stated that the Ath-ens region was an important place with many rich sites, and that Spanish Hill would have to wait because he wasn’t going to drop the Murray Farm until he had to.

In the following three weeks, 59 skele-tons including 6 bundle burials were excavated and the expedition reported to have only found 8 shell-tempered pots, 4 Andaste pipes, 4 celts and 25 other objects in the graves.

One of the bundle burials was covered with several deer antlers, and this was

the beginning of a myth that still is as-sociated with our region today. Louise Welles Murray detailed the event that occurred that day as follows:

While the writer was present one of the working in a grave exclaimed “There are horns over his head!” Mr. Skinner said that indicated chieftain-ship. Later this was found to be a bundle burial, completely covered in antlers of Virginia deer. A passing visitor, however, heard the exclama-tion and attempted to verify it by in-terrogating a fun-loving Maine work-man, and the story grew and was printed from coast to coast that one or more skulls had been found with horns growing from the forehead! – (Murray: 1921)

Unfortunately for Spanish Hill, given the attention and amount of time dedi-cated to the Valley area, Reverend Donehoo and a boy scout troop were the only staff dedicated to trying to find a cemetery and artifacts for the expe-dition at Spanish Hill. In the end Moorehead would claim that 400 test pits were dug at the hill to no avail. However when you see the map of where the test pits were dug, I think you will see that because the hill was actually planted and the farmer had refused to allow them to dig where the crops were, that the majority of test pits sunk all the way around the perimeter of the top were bound to be fruitless.

L.D Shoemaker who was present at the hill when the test pits were dug later wrote to Mrs. Murray and stated that Donehoo merely was looking for a cemetery, and was not interested in much else.

Moorehead would later write a frus-trated Mrs. Murray concerning the little attention paid to the site that the village site and cemetery probably existed, but

that they just did not find them. In fact it would be a much older Ellsworth Cowles who would find the palisaded village site at the foot of Spanish Hill in 1933.

Another report by the Expedition about Spanish Hill that seems to have evaded many was actually a report on another site, called Sugar Creek, lo-cated on the west bank of the Susque-hanna River three miles above To-wanda. In this report, Moorehead states, “We found traces of a fortified hilltop, there being distinct traces of embankments. This is smaller that Spanish Hill, but resembled the same.” (Moorehead: 1938)

Other sites in our region that the expedition reported finding artifacts

from include:

Upper and Lower Sheshequin * – Specimens included deer bones, ant-lers, and several bushels of unio shells, along with fragments of two pots, one with a very heavy rim, An-




Published by the Washington Post on July 30, 1916



daste style, and one flint arrow point. (Moorehead: 1938)

Towanda * – Referred to as an extensive Iroquoian site, but that the burial site seemed to have been washed away. Specimens included bone awls, celts, triangular points, and Iroquoian pottery. (Moorehead: 1938)

Wysox * – This site was referred to having and Andaste settlement and burial ground with triangular arrow points and Iroquoian objects. (Moorehead: 1938)

Wyalusing * – The expedition reported to visit the old lo-cation of the Moravian village of Friedenshutten, and also a prehistoric settlement to the south. Pottery, notched ar-row points and implements were reported to have been found there for many years. (Moorehead: 1938)

* Only a few sentences were dedicated to each of these sites in the book. I am not aware of any field notes that exist for any of these sites from the Expedition.

As the Expedition continued to travel south along the river into the “Antracite Region,” it seems that that Moorehead must have felt like they had re-entered New York where the towns were alerting the others ahead of the Expedition to keep them moving southward:

As we approached the hard coal fields, our men looked forward to seeing the miners. My New England men who were paying $16 to $17 per ton for anthracite wished to observe these miners and ascertain what man-ner of men they were. They were soon disillusioned. Con-ditions became intolerable. None of these men had ever seen large canoes such as ours, and they interfered with our camps on the journey to Plymouth. As the head of the expedition, I ordered my men to keep the canoes in mid-stream, and proceed as rapidly as possible. In passing under bridges, boys and men would frequently drop bits of coal or small stones on the boats as they passed. We had to carry our canoes around one or two dams, necessitat-ing hired labor. Men swimming paused to throw stones. This had never occurred in any other expedition with which the writer has been connected. We made 32 miles that day, not stopping en route to search fields. (Moorehead: 1938)

The Book

As a result, the most impressive and most reported site in the whole report from “The Susquehanna River Expedition of 1916” by Warren K. Moorehead was the Murray Farm in Athens, PA. In fact, the introduction of the book goes to great lengths to thank Louise Welles Murray and her fam-ily for donating ALL the artifacts that were found on the Murray Farm site to include the skeletons.

Strangely, however, the book did not get published until 21 years later. This, in my opinion, is because the book was never the real goal of the expedition, which instead was in search of cemeteries and artifacts to be sent to the financier, George Heye.

Moorehead stated in the book:

It has always been a matter of regret to me that our publication has been delayed 21 years…Between June 2nd and 18th 1916, the writer (Moorehead) was at Ando-ver Mass., attending exercises and taking care of depart-mental duties, so missed the exploration of the Murray cemetery at Tioga Point. George P. Donehoo wrote most of our field notes in the regions of Great Bend and below Athens. (excepting Mr. Skinner’s work on the Andaste cemetery)… The untimely death in 1925 of Alanson B. Skinner, active field director of the expedition delayed pub-lication and many valuable maps and sketches of artifacts were lost. (Moorehead: 1938)

The report that I received from the Smithsonian/Heye Mu-seum told of 93 artifacts from Athens, PA, which they have in their collections. These artifacts are mostly reported to have been donated by Alanson Skinner.

When I contacted the Peabody Museum in Andover, MA a few years ago, about coming up to see their artifacts from Athens, PA, I was told that their inventory was not com-pleted yet.

Moorehead’s Legacy?

Warren K Moorehead died just a year after “The Susque-hanna River Expedition of 1916” was published, on Janu-ary 5, 1939 at the age of 72.

As I searched the internet, I found many references to the claim that “Warren King Moorehead was known in his time as the 'Dean of American Archaeology’.” However, during my research on this topic, I was steered toward some let-ters that are still archived in the Ohio State Museum. They were written by associates of Moorehead, who may have even been with him during that long summer of 1916.

The following is an excerpt from just one of several letters in response to a Mr. Tom Crouch, who in 1973 requested feedback from people who had worked with Moorehead, to be used as part of his dissertation which would be dedi-cated to Warren K. Moorehead’s affect on American ar-chaeology. Each letter in the archive at OHS supports the content of the letter, dated April 20, 1973, excerpted here:

Mr. Tom D. Crouch Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Commis-sion Ohio Historical Center Columbus, Ohio 43211

Dear Mr. Crouch,

It is far better to let the memory of “W.K.” die quietly, as we hoped here that it would. Moorehead “knew every-body” but the only real attention paid to him was by collec-tors (some of them wealthy and many of them as avari-cious as present day ones) and by non-archaeologists who were hood-winked by his barely truthful announce-






ments and promotional letters.

Perhaps you wrote me because you have learned that Moorehead supported me as a young graduate student during the depression when we were pretty hungry. I freely admit to being part of his operations, albeit reluctantly, because the fifty cents per hour made it possible to survive as an archaeologist. I was probably dishonest and reprehensible and I took some ribbing from my colleagues but I had one objective in life and had to eat to reach it. In the course of this really un-happy job I handled a very large portion of the record you mention. Also included were various personal files which you may never see. I do not remember the details after some forty years but I do recall vividly being forced to discard important papers which were significant records. The late Melvin Barnes, my successor at this job, was not an archaeologist and had had very little experience and I know that in one instance a rather important large file I had organized was badly “reorganized.” Moorehead’s insistence that this be done is an example of his stupid, crafty way of life. – (Anonymous: 1973)

As requested, the letter’s author was kept anonymous, but the reference to Melvin Barnes who was the successor to his position makes it pretty easy for anyone to find out with the help of the internet just who the author probably was.

As stated in the beginning of this article, I will leave the final opinion to the reader about Warren K. Moorehead, the Sus-quehanna River Expedition of 1916, and any references that were used about Spanish Hill by them. Instead I will close with a quote from Louise Welles Murray who was there that summer in 1916 and later wrote:

The tendency of the intelligent student of history and archaeology today seems to require more facts, more particu-lars. Curiosity has ever led man to gather and preserve unusual or mysterious objects, which often are assembled in mu-seums. Today it is a recognized fact that museums have a great educational value, and that the student views a collec-tion for what it means rather than what it is. Archaeology has taken strides, and the search for Indian artifacts without making written records is considered vandalism. The skilled archaeologist deplores the fact that sites have been “dug to death” when they might have been “dug to life for the benefit of science. (Murray: 1921)



ABOUT WARREN K. MOOREHEAD

Warren K. Moorehead was the first Curator of Archaeology for the Ohio Historical Society. Born in Siena, Italy in 1866, his family later moved to Xenia, Ohio. He attended both Denison Univer-sity and the University of Pennsylvania, but did not graduate from either institution.

The young Moorehead had a great interest in archaeology and excavated a number of sites in Ohio. He conducted excavations at Fort Ancient and the Hopewell Mound Group to obtain arti-facts for the Columbian Exposition in 1893.

He was hired by the Ohio Historical Society in 1894. He resigned as curator in 1897 for health reasons. (TB)

He was head of the Peabody Institute of Andover in Andover, Massachusetts from 1902 to 1920.

He was 51 in 1916 when the 1916 Susquehanna River Expedition took place.

He died in 1939, at 72, 23 years after the expedition and 1 year after his Susquehanna River book came out.

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2003. On June 3, 2009 a fourth piece of the tablet was found, nearly completing the entire artifact. A unique clay head was also found within 30 feet of the tablet. Liz added a YouTube video of fitting up the pieces of the tablet, lo-cated at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct4W8O13CmE

On January 14, 2007, The Tablet was donated by the finder and placed on display at the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center. The tablet is about palm size and the larger portion has a length (Ht.) equal to 86.67 mm, width equal to 60.76 mm, and thickness equal to 28.37 mm. The stone weighs 142.2 grams.

The location of discovery is 18 feet of the south of the west curb line and 10 feet north of the north house line of 6714 Bluff Road in Valmeyer, IL at Schaefer’s house. The coordi-nates of the find are at Latitude= 38 deg 17’ 04.735” N, Lon-gitude = 90 deg 18’23.083” W.

Many artifacts were found at the site from a wide range of chronological periods including the Archaic, Late Woodland, Mississippian, and Historic period.

The date of the sandstone engraving is not possible to pre-cisely determine with analytical tools. However, an assem-blage of diagnostic evidence in the form of lithics from the Schaefer’s site may be used to determine the time that the site was occupied. Lithic styles found at the site include:

• Two (2) Oneoto style scrapers (Paleolithic)

• One (1) Wade base (diagnostic from the late archaic and early woodland transition dating from 1000 BC to 500 BC).

• One (1) Motley (800 BC to 600 BC),

• One (1) Steuben (diagnostic of terminal Middle Wood-land to early Late Woodland periods dating about 100 AD through 500 to 800 AD),

• One (1) Hamilton incurvate arrowhead (diagnostic of Late Woodland Hamilton culture from about 500 AD to 1000 AD),

• Two (2) Madison points, (900 AD to 1150 AD)

• One (1) black and white Cahokia point found within a few feet of the Kassly-Schaefer Tablet (900 AD to 1150 AD)

According to the Jesuit Relations on page 127 of Volume 68, a similar stone was used in the cabin of the Brother of the Great Sun, the War Chief, as follows:



THE KASSLY TABLET CONT.

Schaefer Site, Drawing by Mera Hertel Schaefer Site Artifacts, Drawing by Mera Hertel

Drawing of the Kassly Schaefer Tablet from University of

Illinois Drawing by Mera Hertel



There are in this cabin a number of beds on the left hand at entering: but on the right is only the bed of the great Chief, ornamented with different painted figures. This bed consists of nothing but a mattress of canes and reeds, very hard, with a square log of wood, which serves for a pillow. In the middle of the cabin is seen a small stone, and no one should approach the bed until he has made a circuit of this stone. Those who enter salute by a howl, and advance even to the bottom of the cabin, without looking at the right side, where the Chief is. Then they give a new salute by raising their arms above the head, and howling three times. If it be [Page 127] one whom the Chief holds in consideration, he answers by a slight sigh and makes a sign to him to be seated. He thanks him for his politeness by a new howl. At every ques-tion which the Chief puts to him, he howls once before he answers, and when he takes his leave, he prolongs a single

howl until he is out of his pres-ence.

A clay head was found with the stone and appears to have an upturned nose, open mouth showing teeth, and unique left eye. The right eye was only an indentation.

The symbolic attributes of the stone are a topic that is open to interpretation. Liz Kassly interpreted the symbols to be a Birdman image, similar to the other examples found at Monks Mound.

Similar engravings have been found on Birchbark Scrolls from the Ojibwa. The following symbol from page 203 of The Midewi-

win of the Ojibwa includes an English translation:

Translation: “Mi´-sha-kwat´-ni-yō´, meaning “I brought the medicine to bring life. The Midē´ Man´idō, the Thunderer, after bringing some of the plants—by causing the rains to fall—returns to the sky. The short line represents part of the circular line usually employed to designate the imaginary vault of the sky.”

Other interpretations are open including a record of thunder-bird mythology or watery elements.

The reverse “crosshatched” side resembles a grouping of X shapes interlocking. In other Birchbark Scrolls, the X has been interpreted to symbolize war. This could be a repre-sentation of scales of a snake shedding diagonally from the halfway point toward the right. When compared with all other native venomous snake species of Illinois, this crosshatch-ing is most similar to the copperhead snake species.

Bibliography:

Elizabeth Agnes Kassly, The Prehis-toric Birdman Tablets of Illinois. Pre-historic American #2, 2004.

Illinois Antiquity, Volume 36, No 2 July 2001.

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/clayheadkasslypage1.htm

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/kasslytabletbirdlarge.htm

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/tabletssandstonebirdman.htm

http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_68.html


THE KASSLY TABLET CONT.

Obverse and Reverse of the Cahokia Point found a few feet

from the Kassly- Schaefer Tablet.



August 22nd 2009 was an awesome day for many reasons. First and foremost because SRAC had the opportu-nity to bring a LIVE BEAR show to down-town Waverly, NY that was filled with fun and education and bears that clearly loved to do what they were doing with their trainers, Der-rick Rosairre and his two sons, Derrick and Frederick.

I met up with these guys at the Tioga County Fair and bugged Derrick Sr. long enough for him to

finally give in and come to SRAC in between stops in his travels through New York during fair season.

August 22nd was the date that he gave us with just a few weeks lead time, and I still needed to get the Waverly Coun-cil to approve my request to close down the street for the date. In the end they held a separate meeting one afternoon just to officially approve the request and give me enough lead time for advertising and setup plans.

Next came the advertising – and asking Brian Denlinger of Denlinger Designs to create an eye catching poster that would get people to the event. Within a day he had created a poster that in the end became a sought after piece of memorabilia. For a handful of complimentary tickets, Gary Murrelle at Signs Express in Sayre made 100 full color post-ers using Brian’s design, and we had our beautiful posters ready within days to be dispersed. My co-workers at Guthrie and many SRAC members took the posters from Vestal, Corning and Ithaca, NY to Troy PA.

Our local radio station, WATS-WAVR gave away 20 compli-mentary tickets on the air and promoted the event. The Morning Times and Daily Review papers covered the event as well. Our website and blog constantly pushed new info about the Rosaire’s Bears Show coming to Waverly.

The night before the event, our own Tom Vallilee was still working and getting things ready for electrical needs, bleachers loaned from Sayre High School, and other last minute details. The Rosaires pulled into Waverly at about 7:30pm and the Waverly Police escorted them to the place we had arranged for them to stay the night.

The next morning by 7am, things started back up with Mark Twigg, Mark Madill, Jeff Terwilliger, Tom Vallilee, Sam Ayres, and Brian Denlinger all on hand when the Rosaire’s

truck pulled in and blocked off Park Ave. from SRAC’s back alley to Broad St. Next we setup our blue and white tents across Park Ave. where it met Broad St., making our own little thea-tre for the day, enclosed by SRAC and the building on the opposite side of the street.

By then, Mary-Ann and Don Taylor had ar-r ived, wi th Marilyn and Daran Weber, Beryl Cleary, Nellie Brewster, Pat Miran, and so many oth-ers that manned the gift shop and sold tickets all day. Out-side in the front tents, Janet Andrus had borrowed the pop-corn maker from Elderwood and actually rented a snow cone maker and bought fixings to sell popcorn and snow cones to the kids all day. The Rail House, Al Burgess and his wife, also filled a tent and sold spiedies and hotdogs. The dance studio also sold teddy bears to the kids. The Waverly Police donated over $250 to pay for every child’s admission to the last show.

By the time the show was to begin, the street was trans-formed into a wonderful carnival-like place, and the audi-ence packed each of the three shows.

For those that attended, from the time that the doors opened and the bears came out walking upright into the caged arena to the last moments that Frederick Rosaire and his bear “Indian” spent answering individual questions, it was a magical time that will not be forgotten.

But to those of us who experienced creating the event and seeing everyone come together from the first moment the decision was made, to putting away the last item after the shows that day, it was a magical feeling of community that was overwhelming. Although I did not get to mention all of the names of the people who helped us – I hope that you know that your efforts have touched me and those of us at SRAC who wanted so much for the day to be a special one for the community.

Without ALL of you, it would have been just another show. With you, it became a proud moment and fond memory!

BEARS ON BROAD STREET—MAKING A MEMORY!



TOM JACK -A NATIVE AMERICAN FRIEND BY TED KEIR, SRAC CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Tom Jack is credited in past history books as the last full-blooded Indian of Bradford County. He was a self-described Mingo-Christian Indian who was born at Logan's Gap, Pa. near the Juniata River. When the white people began to set-tle nearby, he moved to the Susquehanna River near the present town of Forty Fort. There he married Betty Montour , who was three-quarters Indian.

Tom Jack became known as a "peace man." When it was proposed by the Indians and Tories to massacre the white settlers in the Wyoming Valley, he refused to join them and moved up the river with his family. They moved into a cabin on the south side of Sugar Creek at Burlington. Tom Jack shared his few provisions with the early settlers and in every way proved he was a friend, inviting them into his home. He traded salt with the settlers, knowing how valuable it was, and never disclosed the salt's location. It is believed there was a salt dome on a hill near Burlington. There is a Histori-cal Marker in Burlington with Tom Jack’s name on it, saying he was an Iroquois Indian.

Tom Jack stayed in the Burlington area until 1794 and then moved to the Allegheny River, where he died in 1809. He and his wife had two children, a daughter named White Fawn and a son named Sun Down. The son suffered a tragic death but I could not find out the details. White Fawn was educated and became a teacher and a missionary, and

was instrumental in doing much good for her race in the Alle-gheny region. She brought about a reciprocity of good feelings between the Indians and the whites of that region. She never married, giving as a reason that the Great Spirit made her a mother of a nation rather than a mother of a family.

White Fawn died in 1823, highly respected, and in 1836 a monu-ment was erected to her memory by the Moravian Missionary Soci-ety, of which church she was a member as were her parents.

Tom Jack's memory has been perpetuated by the name Tom Jack Creek, near whose mouth he lived and several clubs and organizations that use his name.

Steve Sliwinski, a Troy High School art teacher and avoca-tional archaeologist, has painted a large vibrant image of Tom Jack after researching the life story of this famous Na-tive American.

From today until our next annual membership meeting at our Drumbeats Through Time event on October 10, 2009, we are having a membership drive contest. SRAC members can win huge prizes for referring new members to SRAC!

There will be three top winners in two categories: Most new members referred and most membership dollars made.

How can YOU win?

1.) You need to be a member.

2.) In order for a referral to count for you in this contest, the new member must write in that they were referred by you on their membership form.

3.) Download the form at http://www.sracenter.org/Join/MembershipForm.pdf, put your name on them as the referrer and give them to your friends to join the contest today!

4.) We will keep track of the new members and referrers in our database. We'll announce the leaders at different intervals throughout the contest. The top three winners for both categories will win prizes and will be announced at the annual event in October!

Stay tuned for more information!

Thank you Allen Pierce Foundation!!! SRAC was again blessed to have received a $10,000 grant from the foundation this year. It is important the public know that this foun-dation is truly the reason that many local organizations, like SRAC, survive. Thank you to

Peggy Pierce Elfvin and The Allen Pierce Foundation. We are honored to receive your vote of confidence for 2009-2010!

SRAC MEMBER SH I P DR I VE CONTEST !

Ted Keir, SRAC Chairman

of the Board



THE IDENTITY OF THE ANDASTES, MINQUAS, SUSQUEHANNAS, AND CONTESTOGAS By John Gilmary Shea, 1858

The doubt that seems to hang over the Andaste of the French writers and the Susquehannas mentioned by Virginia and Maryland writers, can we think be cleared away by a closer examination of the earlier writers, and the present essay is an attempt to convey to others the grounds for a belief that one identical nation was known to the French by the name of Andaste, Andastoe, Andastogue, Andastoei, Gandastogue; to the Dutch and Swedes by that of Mengwe or Minqua; to the Maryland and Virginia by that of Susque-hanna, and by other Pennsylvanians, by that of Contestoga.

THE ANDASTES

Name – the Andaste are frequently mentioned by the early French writers from about 1630 down to their overthrow nearly fifty years later. The Jesuit annalists wrote first about them from the Huron territory, and we find “Andasta” defined “perche a faire la voute de la cabane,” “pole to make the roof of lodge,” in other words, a bow bent to half an ellipse. The name Andastoe in Huron corresponds to the Andas-togue of the Iroquois, the “i “subscript of the Huron being replaced in the Iroquois dialect by a “g” as Potier notices in his Huron grammar.

The name frequently ends with “ronon” in Huron and “ronon” or “hage” in Iroquois, both terminations meaning “people” so that the full Huron name is Andastoeronon and the full Mo-hawk Gandastogueronon or Gandastoguehage.

Language – The relations of the Jesuits and Bressani in his “Breve Relatione” mention them as a nation speaking a Huron dialect and as the writers had frequent opportunities of meeting men of the tribe, there can be no doubt on the point. See Huron Relations 1635, Rel. 1639, Rel. 1647, Rel.1672.

Country – The territory of the Andastes lay according to Bressani, and the Relation of 1647 – 8 (p50) near the Swed-ish colony, one hundred and fifty miles S.E. by S. of the Hurons, inclining a little to the east; but the road from the one to the other was actually 200 leagues. Gallatin errone-ously placed them on the headwaters of the Ohio, and hav-ing been unsuspectingly followed by Bancroft, has misled many (see Hist of the U.S. iii 245 and the map.) According to the Relation of 1662-3, a larger river rising near Lake On-tario led to their town. The earlier Relations mention that they lay near the Swedes, with whom they were on friendly terms. A Huron ambassador to the Andaste town in 1647

Recently I came across a copy of the handwritten article writ-ten by John Gilmary Shea that I purchased from one of our local museums. Written in 1858 and subsequently pub-lished in the same year in the “Historic Magazine, Vol .II,” this piece was meant to clarify the identity of the Susquehan-nocks and the Andastes in early historical documentation that referenced them by differ-ent names in different lan-guages. As a result, even though Shea’s references do not use Champlain and the reference to when Brule vis-ited yet another name for the Andastes - the “Carantouannais” in our region, I still thought that it would be a good article to share with our readers; to read and learn about these people, and for the references to many early documents and maps about them. Please note that you can read all of the Jesuit Relations including those referenced in the following arti-cle by visiting my website, www.SpanishHill.com and clicking the ”Jesuit Relations” button. ~ Deb Twigg, Ex-ecutive Director, SRAC



THE IDENTITY OF THE ANDASTES, MINQUAS, SUSQUEHANNAS, AND CONTESTOGAS cont.

visited the Swedish fort, and there heard of the death of Father Jogues.

THE MINQUAS OR MENGWE

From the preceding data, furnished by the French ac-counts, it is evident that that the Andastes were 1.)Huron –Iroquois ; 2.) on the Susquehanna ; 3.) Near Fort Chris-tina.

We have now to see what Dutch and Swedish accounts say of any tribe answering these conditions. It will be seen that the Miqua or Mengwe alone do.

Name – The name Minqua or Mengwe is Algonquin, and is given by the Delawares, who lay nearest the Swedes, just as the Maquuas (Mohawk) was given to the tribe who styled themselves Ganniegue.

Language – The language of the Minquas is a dialect of the Huron, as is evidenced by the vocabulary in the “Nya Swerige” of Campanius (p. 172, rectius 182, and trans-lated in Pennsylvania Historical Collections, “ iii 158)

Country – The creek, called Minqua kill, was the road leading to their town. (Hazard p. 77.) Campanius thus describes their town - we quote form an English transla-tion. “the Minques or Mickus lived at a distance of 12 (Swedish, i.e. 54 English) miles from new Sweden, where they daily come to trade with us. The way to their land was very bad…They live on a high mountain, very steep and difficult to climb; there they have a fort or square building, in which they reside…they have guns and small iron can-non, with which they shoot and defend themselves, and take with them when they go to war. They are strong and vigorous both young and old…they are tall people, and are not frightful in appearance. When they are fighting, they do not attempt to fly, but all stand like a wall as long as there is one remaining. They made the other Indians subject to them, so that they dare not stir, much less go to war against them; but their numbers are present greatly re-duced by war and sickness.”

From this it is evident that Andastes and Minquas coincide in race, language, location and relations with the Swedes; and in total absence of anything to show two dominant tribes with the same characteristics, we must consider them as the same tribe unless historical notices of one are not predicable of the other, which as we shall see, is not the case.

THE CONTESTOGUES

Name – The name Contestogues is an English form, and corresponds to the early French Gandastogues, just as the Caughnawaga do with the early French form Gandawa-gue. The disappearance of the “d” is usual in the lan-

guage; thus on the forst page of Potier’s Huron Grammar we read “D alquindo pronoutiatur ut n, en vicissim n ut d.”

Language – The language of the Contestogues was an Iroquois dialect, as Coldens assures us in his “History of the Five nations” ii 58, and is evident from the names of the chiefs who appears in various treaties.

Locality – Contestoga is near the Susquehanna in the South of Pennsylvania, not far from Lancaster.

These points coincide exactly with what we have seen of Andaste and Miqua, and are corroborated by the letter of Father Lamberville in (NY Documentary History, I 400; New York Colonial Documents, ix. 227); and by Penn’s treaty of 1701 (Penn. Hist. Coll., iii. P. 2, 169), where Min-quas, Susquehannas, and Contestogues are spoken of as one tribe.

As will be seen in the historical sketch, the subjugation of the Contestogues by the Iroquois, and the overthrow of the Andastes date from the same period.

THE SUSQUEHANNAS

Name – The name was given by Virgininan and Maryland tribes whose languages have totally disappeared.

Language – Their language according to Smith, almost our only authority for the Virginia tribes, different from that after Powhatans and Tockwogh; the latter at least of whom seem to have been Algonquin.

Father White’s Mary-land Grammar and Dictionary, of which a copy is promised me, may throw some light on the point. As to the family of the lan-guage, it is a signifi-cant fact that Lederer in his “North Carolina explorations took a Susquehanna inter-preter on his vist to the Tuscaroras.

Country – They lay on the Susquehanna and were a warlike race, friends of the Swedes and Dutch ( M c S h e r r y ’ s “Maryland” p. 59) According to Smith, “The Susquehan-nocks inhabit upon



the chief spring of these four branches of the barges head (i.e. the Susquehanna) two days higher than our barge could pass for rocks.” On his map, as Bozman remarks, he locates their town on the east side of the Susquehanna, about 20 miles up. He elsewhere says “They can make near 200 able men, and are palisaded in their towns to defend them from the Massawomekes, their mortal enemies.”

He describes and depicts a chief, whose garb, arms, and especially the mode of wearing the hair, wore peculiarly Huron. See Bozman, i. 128, 142.

“The Swedes,” says a writer in 1648, “hiring out three of these soldiers to the Susquehannocks have taught those the use of our arms and fights, “ See citation in “Proud’s Pennsylvania, i . 111; Bozman’s Maryland, ii. 273.

The meager accounts furnished us of the Susquehannas give us therefore only the locality and the connection with the Swedes to justify us in identifying the dominant Susquehannas with the dominant Minquas. The Treaty made by Penn in 1701 is here also an authority, as Conodagtoh is styled “King of the Susquehannas, Minquays, or Contestogo Indians.”

HISTORY OF THE TRIBE – J. Gilmary Shea

Before the year 1600 - the Andastogues had in a ten years war almost exterminated the Mohawks – Rel. 1659 – 60, p. 28.

1608 – Susquehannas at war with Messawomekes (Mohawks) – Smith

1614-1616 – “Minquas called by Mohawks Ogehage” at war with Mohawks – Map in NY Colonial Documents, vol. i., and map in O’Callaghan’s New Netherlands.

1633 – Minquas at war with Timber Creek Indians – De Vries. Swedes purchase lands and friendship of them. – Hazard, 48; Campanius.

1634 – Susquehannas at war with Yoamaeoes.

1639-1644 – Susquehannas make war on the Piscataways and Patuxents – Bozman’s Maryland, ii. 161.

1647 – The Andastes numbering 1,300 warriors, sent an embassy to Hurons, and offer them aid against the Iroquois. – Rel 1647 – 8, p. 50.

1652 – Sawahegeh, Auroghtaregh, Scarhuhadigh, Ruthchogah and Nathhelddianeh, Susquehannas chiefs in presence of a Swedish deouty cede to Maryland from Patuxent River to Palmer’s Island and from the Choptank to the N. E. branch, North of Elk River. Bozman, ii. 683.

1656 – Andaste hunters robbed by Onnondagason lake Ontario, and war expected – Rel. 1656 – 7 ch. 4-5.

1660 – Swedes makes presents to Minquas

1661 – Three Cayugas killed by Andastes. Rel . 1660-1, last chapter.

1661-1662 – Some Minquas killed near Swedish post by Senecas. Hazard, 341-6-7, citing Albany Records xvii. 142, 156.

1662-1663 – Western cantons defeated by Andastes and anxious for French aid. Rel. 1662-3, ch. 4.

1663 – May. As an army of 1,600 Senecas besieges 100 Minquas in a little fort, but were compelled to raise the siege, and being pursued by Minquas, lost ten warriors and ten prisoners. Hazard’s Ann. Pennsyl., 346.

1663 – 4 - Senecas wish French aid against the Andastes. – Rel. 1663 – 4, ch. 8; Charlevoiz, ii. 134.

1667 – A part of Cayugas harassed by Andastes cross Lake Ontario and settle on the north side. – Rel. 1667 – 8, ch. 5.

1668 – 73 – Andaste prisoners burnt at Onondaga and Oneidas.






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1669-1670 – Andastes attack Cayugas, but offer peace; Cayugas however, after a time pput their ambassadors to death. Rel. 1669-70. Senecas take prisoners.

1670-1671 – A Cayuga medicine man ordered his body to be interred on the road to Andastes, promising to prevent their inroads. Promises that they will take a Hochi-tagete, a great Andaste chief.

1671-1672 – A Seneca war party takes the field against the Andastes, intending to join a Cayuga party, but before they can effect a junction, are routed by 60 Andaste youth who then pursue Cayugas – Rel. 1671-2 p. 81. “God help them,” says the writer, “They have only 300 warriors.”

1672 – Andastes burnt at Onondaga.

1675 – The total defeat of the Andastes mentioned in the “Etat Present” of 1675.

1676 – The Relations of this year says, “Andastoguets exterminated by the Iroquois after having made head against them for more than 20 years. P. 2.

1675 – Contestogues said to have been subdued about this time by the Five Nations.

1675 – Susquehannas retreating before Senecas attacked by Marylanders and Virgini-ans under Traceman and Washington, and their chiefs put to death.

1675-1676 – Governor of Maryland in a commission to Col. Cousey, dated April 30, 1677, says that the Susquehannas had lately desired to make peace with Lord Balti-more, and after these overtures had submitted to put themselves under the protection of the Cinnigos. See Dr. O’Callaghan’snote in NY Colonial Documents, ix, 227.

1683 – Iroquois claimed to have annexed the Susquehanna Territory – Colden, i. 54

1701 – Contestogues make a treaty with Penn.

1749 – Teorhassery (Day Dawn) and other Contestoga chiefs at treaty of Philadelphia.

1763 – Contestogues massacred by Paxton Boys. See account Parkman’s Pontiac, p. 414.


RECENT CONTRIBUTORS TO SRAC

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lowing for their support:

• Dandy Mini Marts

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chaeological Assoc.

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• Guthrie Health

• Stan Vanderlaan

• Beryl Cleary

• John & Dee Margetanski

• Ann Riley

• Frank Patterson

• Waverly Police Dept.

• Peter Pratt

• Dan Caister

• Athens

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There’s always something happening at SRAC! Our events draw more and more people. In fact, we recently had to turn people away when it became clear we were at risk of exceeding safe building capacity. We love to share pictures captured at these events. Thanks, as always, to John Margetanski for his generosity in taking pictures and sharing his photography!

RECENT EVENT S AT SRAC



RECENT EVENT S AT SRAC



The Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology is one of the oldest chapters in Pennsylvania, and the United States. Silvia Wilson and Ted Keir are now, to my knowledge, the oldest living mem-bers of the club at this time. Early on, as SRAC was being formed, I also joined the Andaste Chapter, and the close ties between the two or-ganizations have become even closer over the years.

Since SRAC bought the Center in Waverly, we have hosted many of the Andaste Chapter monthly meetings at SRAC as a joint meeting and have invited the TriCities Chapter of NY Ar-chaeology to also join in to make it a “border” meeting whenever possible. Today the Andaste Chapter and TriCities Chapter have become great supporters and friends to our fledgling organization, and to me, we have all become a little better together because of the friendships we have made.

Early in September we were notified that the Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology had received a grant that would facili-tate getting reproductions of the woolly mammoth 10 foot tusk, jaw and teeth that were excavated at Spring Lake near Wyalusing in Bradford County, PA. Ted Keir, Tom Vallilee, Mark Madill and many others from the Andaste Chapter as-sisted the Carnegie Museum in the excavation that summer in 1987.

This is a huge honor for SRAC, and we have already been working with our friend Brian Denlinger of Denlinger Design to help us create and exhibit that will span thousands of years and incorpo-rate the woolly mammoth pieces into an exhibit that will be viewed for gen-erations to come.

This is a rendering of the basic layout, placement and design that Brian has created. As you will note, the exhibit will fill the whole back area of the ex-hibit hall and include our mural, a new TV/DVD area, two murals, the birch bark canoe on a river and even a wa-terfall and rock ledges created. The final phase of the exhibit will then house an “excavation site” where the replicas will be placed with life size standups of Ted and some of the An-daste Chapter at the 1987 wooly mam-moth dig. The whole exhibit will speak of the ability of archaeology to be the medium that can allow us to see the past while paying tribute to the An-daste Chapter’s efforts at the archaeo-logical dig in 1987.

WOOLLY MAMMOTH…. I N WAVERLY !

Thank you to the Mildred Faulkner Truman Foundation for the $5,000 grant to upgrade the fire/smoke detectors and security system at SRAC! Your philanthropy in our region is awe inspiring! With this grant, SRAC will be able to more safely and securely accommo-

date the many collections we currently house.

Anyone interested in financially supporting this new

and exciting exhibit are asked to send donations to:

SRAC WOOLLY MAMMOTH FUND

PO Box 12

Sayre, PA 18840

Thank you in advance for your support of this wonder-ful addition to our community!



SRAC operates with 100% volunteer staffing. The people listed below donate hundreds of hours every month to make SRAC a success. Thank you for all that you do! We survive because of your efforts!

One of the Valley's oldest organizations will join with one of its newest to pre-sent "The Valley Digs Culture" on Sunday, Nov. 8 here at the Susquehanna River Archaeological Center on Broad Street, Waverly.

The unique "infotainment" event will benefit both the Polyhymnia Music Club, part of the Valley's cultural scene since 1897, and SRAC, which dates from 2005.

The afternoon (from 2-5 p.m.) will include entertainment by a lineup of out-standing musicians (including some of the winners of the club's recent audi-tions), great food, and a chance to learn more about the amazing collections housed here at SRAC.

The exhibit hall will be open with SRAC directors on hand to answer questions and explain the significance of the many items on display -- all of which are much older even than Polyhymnia Club!

Raffles and games will also be featured during this event designed to entertain and inform the whole family.

Tickets -- they're $10, with no charge for those under 12 -- are available at the Center and from members of the Polyhym-nia Club.

• Deb Twigg

• Dick Cowles

• Ted Keir

• Susan Fogel

• Tom Vallilee

• Janet Andrus

• Mary Ann Taylor

• Mark Madill

SRAC BOARD OF D I R E C TO R S S RAC VOLUNTE E R S

The Valley Digs Culture!

• Mary Keene

• Bev

• Beryl Cleary

• Sam Ayers

• Ben Borko

• Pat Miran

• Nellie Brewster

• Ann Carrigan

• Don Taylor

• Marilyn and Derek Weber


Page 18 THE SRAC JOURNAL Volume 5, Issue 2 The Susquehanna River Archaeological Center of Native Indian Studies

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Sayre, PA 18840

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