Keht-hanne, Heckewelder—Kittan, Zeisberger—"The principal or greatest stream," i.e. of the country through which it passes, was the generic name of the Delaware River, and Lenapewihittuck, "The river or stream of the Lenape," its specific name, more especially referring to the stream where its waters are affected by tidal currents. In the Minisink country it was known as Minisinks River, or "River of the Minisinks." At the Lehigh junction the main stream was called the East Branch and the Lehigh the West Branch (Sauthier's map), but above that point the main stream was known as the West Branch to its head in Utsyantha [FN-1] Lake, on the north-east line of Delaware County, N.Y., where it was known as the Mohawk's Branch. It forms the southwestern boundary of the State from nearly its head to Port Jervis, Orange County, Where it enters or becomes the western boundary of New Jersey. At Hancock, Delaware County, it receives the waters of what was called by the Indians the Paghkataghan, and by the English the East Branch. The West Branch was here known to the Indians as the Namaes-sipu and its equivalent Lamas-sÉpos, or "Fish River," by Europeans, Fish-Kill, "Because," says an affidavit of 1785, "There was great numbers of Maskunamack (that is Bass) and Guwam (that is Shad) [FN-2] went up that branch at Shokan, and but few or none went up the East [Paghkataghan] Branch." [FN-3] In the course of time the East or Paghkataghan [FN-4] Branch became known as the Papagonck from a place so called. The lower part of the stream was called by the Dutch the "Zuiden River," or South River. In early days the main or West Branch was navigable by flat-boats from Cochecton Falls to Philadelphia and Wilmington. Smith, in his "History of New Jersey," wrote: "From Cochecton to Trenton are fourteen considerable rifts, yet all passable in the long flat boats used in the navigation of these parts, some carrying 500 or 600 bushels of wheat." Meggeckesson (Col. Hist. N.Y., xii, 225) was the name of what are now known as Trenton Falls, or rapids. It means, briefly, "Strong water." Heckewelder's Maskek-it-ong and his interpretation of it, "Strong falls at," are wrong, the name which he quoted being that of a swamp in the vicinity of the falls, as noted in Col. Hist. N.Y., and as shown by the name itself.
The Delaware was the seat of the Lenni-LenapÉ (a as a in father, É as a in mate—Lenahpa), or "Original people," or people born of the earth on which they lived, who were recognized, at the time of the discovery, as the head or "Grandfather" of the Algonquian nations. From their principal seat on the tide-waters of the Delaware, and their jurisdiction on that stream, they became known and are generally met in history as the Delawares. In tribal and sub-tribal organizations they extended over Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York as far north as the Katskills, speaking dialects radically the same as that of the parent stock. [FN-5] They were composed of three primary totemic tribes, the Minsi or Wolf, the Unulachtigo or Turkey, and the Unami or Turtle, of whom the Turtle held the primacy. They were a milder and less barbaric people than the Iroquoian tribes, with whom they had little affinity and with whom they were almost constantly in conflict until they were broken up by the incoming tide of Europeans, the earliest and the succeeding waves of which fell upon their shores, and the later alliance of the English with their ancient enemies, the confederated Six Nations of New York, who, from their geographical position and greater strength from their remoteness from the demoralization of early European contact, offered the most substantial advantages for repelling the advances of the French in Canada. Ultimately conquered by the Six Nations, and made "Women," in their figurative language, i.e. a people without power to make war or enter into treaties except with the consent of their rulers, they nevertheless maintained their integrity and won the title of "Men" as the outcome of the war of 1754-6. Their history has been fully—perhaps too favorably—written by Heckewelder and others. The geographical names which they gave to the hills and streams of their native land are their most remindful memorial. While western New York was Iroquoian, southern New York was Lenni-Lenape or Algonquian.
[FN-1] Also written Oteseontio and claimed as the name of a spring. The lake is a small body of water lying 1,800 feet above tide level, in the town of Jefferson, Schohare County. It is usually quoted as the head of the West Branch of Delaware River.
[FN-2] "Guwam; modifications, Choam, Schawan. The stem appears to be Shawano, 'South,' 'Coming from the south,' or from salt water." (Brinton.)
[FN-3] Affidavit of Johannes Decker, Hist. Or. Co. (quarto) p. 699: "Called by the Indians Lamas-Sepos, or Fish Kill, because they caught the shad there." (Cal. N.Y. Land Papers, 698, et. seq.)
[FN-4] Paghkataghan means "The division or branch of a stream"—"Where the stream divides or separates." The Moravian missionaries wrote the name Pachgahgoch, from which, by corruption, Papagonck. The Papagoncks seem to have been, primarily, Esopus Indians, and to have retreated to that point after yielding up their Esopus lands. (See Schaghticoke.)
[FN-5] Two slightly different dialects prevailed among the Delawares, the one spoken by the Unami and the Unulachtigo, the other the Minsi. The dialect which the missionaries Learned, and in which they composed their works, was that of the Lehigh Valley. We may fairly consider it to have been the upper or inland Unami. It stood between the Unulachto and Southern Unami and the true Minsi. (Dr. Brinton.) The dialects spoken in the valley of Hudson's River have been referred to in another connection.
Minisink, now so written and preserved as the name of a town in Orange County, appears primarily, in 1656, on Van der Donck's map, "Minnessinck ofte t' Landt van Bacham," which may be read, constructively, "Indians inhabiting the back or upper lands," or the highlands. [FN] Heckewelder wrote: "The Minsi, which we have corrupted to Monsey, extended their settlements from the Minisink, a place named after them, where they had their council seat and fire," and Reichel added, "The Minisinks, i.e. the habitation of the Monseys or Minsis." The application was both general and specific to the district of country occupied by the Minsi tribe and to the place where its council fire was held. The former embraced the mountainous country of the Delaware River above the Forks or junction of the Lehigh Branch; the latter was on Minnisink Plains in New Jersey, about eight miles south of Port Jervis, Orange County. It was obviously known to the Dutch long before Van der Donck wrote the name. It was visited, in 1694, by Arent Schuyler, a credited interpreter, who wrote, in his Journal, Minissink and Menissink as the name of the tribal seat. Although it is claimed that there was another council-seat on the East Branch of the Delaware, that on Minisink Plains was no doubt the principal seat of the tribe, as records show that it was there that all official intercourse with the tribe was conducted for many years. Schuyler met sachems and members of the tribe there and the place was later made a point for missionary labor. Their village was palisaded. On one of the early maps it is represented as a circular enclosure. In August, 1663, they asked the Dutch authorities at New Amsterdam, through Oratamy, sachem of the Hackinsacks, "For a small piece of ordnance to use in their fort against the Sinuakas and protect their corn." (Col. Hist. N.Y., xiii, 290.) In the blanket deed which the tribe gave in 1758, to their territory in New Jersey they were styled "Minsis, Monseys, or Minnisinks." Minsis and Monseys are convertible terms of which the late Dr. D. G. Brinton wrote: "From investigation among living Delawares, Minsi, properly Minsiu, formerly Min-assin-iu, means 'People of the stony country,' or briefly, 'Mountaineers.' It is the synthesis of Minthiu, 'To be scattered,' and Achsin, 'Stone.' according to the best native authority." Apparently from Min-assin we have Van der Donck's Minn-essin; with locative -k, -ck, -g, -gh, Minn-essin-ks, "People of the stony country," back-landers or highlanders. Interpretations of less merit have been made. One that is widely quoted is from Old Algonquian and Chippeway Minnis, "Island," and -ink, locative; but there is no evidence that Minnis was in the dialect spoken here; on the contrary the record name of Great Minnisink Island, which is supposed to have been referred to, was Menag'nock, by the German notation Menach'hen-ak. Aside from this Minnissingh is of record at Poughkeepsie, in 1683, where no island is known to have existed, and in Westchester County the same term is met in Men-assink (Min-assin-ink), "At a place of small stones." The deed description at Poughkeepsie located the tract conveyed "On the bank of the river," i.e. on the back or ridge lands. (See Minnis-ingh.) The final s which appears in many of the forms of the name, and especially in Minsis, is a foreign plural.
[FN] "Minnessinck ofte t' Landt Van Bacham," apparently received some of its letters from the engraver of the map. Ofte—Dutch and Old Saxon, av—English of—was probably used in the sense of identity or equivalency. Bacham—Dutch, bak; Old High-German, Bahhoham—describes "An extended upper part, as of a mountain or ridge." In application to a tribe, "Ridge-landers," "Highlanders," or "Mountaineers." On the Hudson the tribe was generally known as Highlanders. The double n and the double s, in many of the forms, show that e was pronounced short, or i.
Menagnock, the record name of what has long been known as "The Great Mennissincks Island"—"The Great Island of the Mennisinks"—is probably an equivalent of Menach'henak (Minsi) meaning "Islands." The island, so called, is a flat cut up by water courses, forming several small islands.
Namenock, an island so called by Rev. Casparus Freymout in 1737, is probably an equivalent of Naman-ock and Namee-ock, L. I., which was translated by Dr. Trumbull from Mass. Namau-ohke, "Fishing place," or "Fish country"—Namauk, Del, "Fishing place." Perhaps it was the site of a weir or dam for impounding fish. Such dams or fishing places became boundmarks in some cases. The name was corrupted to Nomin-ack, as the name of a church and of a fort three or four miles below what is now Montague, N.J. On Long Island the name is corrupted to Nomin-ick. (See Moriches.)
Magatsoot—A tract of land "Called and known by the name of Magockomack and Magatsoot"—so entered in petition of Philip French for Minisink Patent in 1703, is noted in petition of Ebenezer Wilson (same patent), in 1702, "Beginning on the northwest side of the mouth of Weachackamack Creek where it enters Minisink River." The creek was then given the name of the field called Maghaghkamieck; it is now called Neversink. Magatsoot was the name of the mouth of the stream, "Where it enters Minisink River," or the Delaware. It is an equivalent of Machaak-sÓk, [FN] meaning, "The great outlet," or mouth of a river. Although specific in application to the mouth of the river, it is more strictly the name of the stream than that which it now bears. (See Magaat-Ramis.)
[FN] Machaak, Moh., Mechek, Len.; "Great, large"; soot, sÓk, sÓhk, sauk, "Pouring out," hence mouth or outlet of a river.
Maghagh-kamieck, so written in patent to Arent Schuyler in 1694, and described therein as "A certain tract of land at a place called Maghaghkamieck," which "Place" was granted, in 1697, to Swartwout, Coddebeck, and others, has been handed down in many orthographies. The precise location of the "Place" was never ascertained by survey, but by occupation it consisted of some portion of a very fine section of bottom-land extending along the northeast side of Neversink River from near or in the vicinity of the junction of that stream and the Delaware at Carpenter's Point to the junction of Basha's Kill [FN-1] and the Neversink, in the present county of Sullivan, a distance of about eleven miles. In general terms its boundaries are described in the patent as extending from "The western bounds of the lands called Nepeneck to a small run of water called by the Indian name Assawaghkemek, and so along the same and the lands of Mansjoor, the Indian." It matters not that in later years it was reported by a commission that the patent "Contained no particular boundaries, but appeared rather to be a description of a certain tract of country in which 1,200 acres were to be taken up," the name nevertheless was that of a certain field or place so distinct in character as to become a general locative of the whole, as in the Schuyler grant of 1694. It may reasonably be presumed that the district to which it was extended began at Carpenter's Point (Nepeneck) and ended on the north side of Basha's Kill. (See Assawaghkemek.) The same name is met in New Jersey on the Peaquaneck River, where it is of record in 1649, "Mechgacham-ik, or Indian field" (Col. Hist. N.Y., xiii, 25); noted as an Indian settlement in the Journal of Arent Schuyler, in 1694, giving an account of his visit to the Minissinck country, in February of that year, in which the orthography is Maghagh-kamieck, indicating very clearly that the original was Maghk-aghk-kamighk, a combination of Maghaghk, "Pumpkin," and -kamik, "Field," or place limited, where those vegetables were cultivated, and a place that was widely known evidently. [FN-2] The German missionaries wrote Machg-ack, "Pumpkin," and Captain John Smith, in his Virginia notes of 1620, wrote the same sound in Mahcawq. No mention is made of an Indian village here. If there was one it certainly was not visited by Arent Schuyler in 1694, as is shown by the general direction of his route, as well as by maps of Indian paths. To have visited Maghaghkamik in Orange County would have taken him many miles out of his way. Maghaghkamik Fork and Maghaghkamik Church lost those names many years ago, but the ancient name is still in use in some connections in Port Jervis, and most wretchedly spelled.
[FN-1] Basha's Kill, so called from a place called Basha's land, which see.
[FN-2] Kamik, Del., Komuk, Mass., in varying orthographies, means "Place" in the sense of a limited enclosed, or occupied space; "Generally," wrote Dr. Trumbull, "An enclosure, natural or artificial, such as a house or other building, a village, or planted field, a thicket or place surrounded by trees"; briefly, a place having definite boundaries. Maghkaghk is an intense expression of quality—perfection.
Nepeneck, a boundmark so called in the Swartwout-Coddebeck Patent of 1697—Napenock, Napenack, Napenough, later forms—given as the name of the western or southwestern bound of the Maghaghkamick tract, is described: "Beginning at the western bounds of the lands called Nepeneck." The place is presumed to have been at or near Carpenter's Point, on the Delaware, which at times is overflowed by water. It disappears here after 1697, but reappears in a similar situation some twenty miles north at the junction of the Sandberg and Rondout kills. It is probably a generic as in Nepeak, L. I., meaning, "Water land," or land overflowed by water. "Nepenit 'In a place of water.'" (Trumbull.) Carpenter's Point or ancient Nepeneck, is the site of the famous Tri-States Rock, the boundmark of three states.
Tri-states Rock
Assawaghkemek, the name entered as that of the northeast boundmark of the Swartwout-Coddebeck Patent, and described therein, "To a small run of water called Assawaghkemek . . . and so along the same and the lands of Mansjoor, the Indian," is known by settlement, to have been at and below the junction of Basha's Kill and the Neversink, from which the inference seems to be well sustained that "the lands of Mansjoor, the Indian" were the lands or valley of Basha's Kill, which the name describes as an enclosed or occupied place "beyond," or "on the other side" of the small run of water. The prefix Assaw, otherwise written Accaw, Agaw, etc., means "Beyond," "On the other side." The termination agh, or aug, indicates that the name is formed as a verb. Kemek (Kamik) means an enclosed, or occupied place, as already stated. The translation in "History of Orange County," from Waseleu, "Light, bright, foaming," is erroneous, as is also the application of the name to Fall Brook, near the modern village of Huguenot. In no case was the name that of a stream, except by extension to it.
Peenpack, (Paan, Paen, Pien, Penn) is given, traditionally, as the name of a "Small knoll or rise of ground, some fifty or sixty rods long, ten wide, and about twenty feet high above the level of" Neversink River, "on and around which the settlers of the Maghaghkamik Patent first located their cabins." It has been preserved for many generations as the name of what is known as the Peen-pach Valley, the long narrow flats on the Neversink. Apparently it is corrupt Dutch from Paan-pacht, "Low, soft land," or leased land. The same name is met in Paan-paach, Troy, N.Y., and in Penpack, Somerset County, N.J. The places bearing it were primary Dutch settlements on low lands. (See Paanpaach.) Doubtfully a substitution for Algonquian from a root meaning, "To fall from a height" (Abn., Panna; Len. Pange), as in Abn. Panank'i, "Fall of land," the downward slope of a mountain, suggested by the slope of the Shawongunk Mountain range, which here runs southwest to northeast and falls off on the west until it meets the narrow flats spoken of. The same feature is met at Troy.
Tehannek, traditionally the name of a small stream on the east side of the Peenpack Knoll, probably means "Cold stream," from Ta or Te, "cold," and -hannek, "stream." It is a mountain brook.
Sokapach, traditionally the name of a spring in Deerpark, means, "A spring." It is an equivalent of SÓkapeÉk, "A spring or pool."
Neversink, the name quoted as that of the stream flowing to the Delaware at Carpenter's Point, is not a river name. It is a corruption of Lenape NewÁs, "A promontory," and -ink, locative, meaning "At the promontory." The particular promontory referred to seems to have been what is now known as Neversink Point, in Sullivan County, which rises 3,300 feet. The name is generic and is met in several places, notably in Neversink, N.J. (See Maghaghkameck.)
Seneyaughquan, given as the name of an Indian bridge which crossed the Neversink, may have its equivalent in "Tayachquano, bridge—a dry passage over a stream." (Heckewelder.) The bridge was a log and the location said to have been above the junction of the stream with the Mamacottin.
Saukhekemeck, otherwise Maghawam, so entered in the Schuyler Patent, 1697, apparently refer to one and the same place. The locative has not been ascertained. The patent covered lands now in New Jersey. The tract is described in the patent: "Situated upon a river called Mennissincks, before a certain island called Menagnock, which is adjacent to or near a tract of land called by the natives Maghaghkamek." (See Menagnock.)
Warensagskemeck, a tract also conveyed to Arent Schuyler in 1697, described as "A parcel of meadow or vly, adjacent to or near a tract called Maghaghkamek," is probably, by exchange of r and l and transpositions, Walenaskameck; Walen, "hollowing, concave"; Walak, hole; Waleck, a hollow or excavation; -ask, "Grass"; -kameck, an enclosed or limited field; substantially, "a meadow or vly," [FN] as described in the deed.
[FN] Vly is a Dutch contraction of Vallei, with the accepted signification, "A swamp or morass; a depression with water in it in rainy seasons, but dry at other times." A low meadow. Walini, (Eastern), hollowing, concave site.
Schakaeckemick, given as the name of a parcel of land on the Delaware described as "lying in an elbow," seems to be an equivalent of Schaghach, meaning "Straight." level, flat, and -kamick, a limited field. The tract was given to one William Tietsort, a blacksmith, who had escaped from the massacre at Schenectady (Feb. 1689-90), and was induced by the gift to settle among the Minisinks to repair their fire-arms. He was the first European settler on the Delaware within the limits of the old county of Orange. He sold the land to one John Decker, and removed to Duchess County. No abstract of title from Decker has been made, and probably cannot be. Decker's name, however, appears in records as one of the first settlers, in company with William Cole and Solomon Davis, in what was long known as "The Lower Neighborhood"; in New Jersey annals, "Cole's Fort." The precise location is uncertain. In History of Orange Co. (Ed. 1881, p. 701), it is said: "It is believed that further investigation will show that Tietsort's land was the later Benj. van Vleet place, near Port Jervis." In Eager's "History of Orange County" (p. 396), Stephen St. John is given as the later owner of the original farm of John Decker. Decker's house was certainly in the "Lower Neighborhood." It was palisaded and called a fort.
Wihlahoosa, given, locally, as the name of a cavern in the rocks on the side of the mountain, about three miles from Port Jervis, on the east side of Neversink River, is probably from Wihl (Zeisb.), "Head," and -hoos, "Pot or kettle." The reference may have been to its shape, or its position. In the vicinity of the cavern was an Indian burial ground covering six acres. Skeletons have been unearthed there and found invariably in a sitting posture. In one grave was found a sheet-iron tobacco-box containing a handkerchief covered with hieroglyphics probably reciting the owner's achievements. Tomahawks, arrow-heads and other implements have also been found in graves. The place was long known as "Penhausen's Land," from one of the grantors of the deed. The cavern may have had some connection with the burial ground.
Walpack, N.J., is probably a corruption of WalpeÉk, from Walak (Woalac, Zeisb.), "A hollow or excavation," and -peÉk, "Lake," or body of still water. The idea expressed is probably "Deep water." It was the name of a lake.
Mamakating, now so written and preserved in the name of a town in Sullivan County, is written on Sauthier's map Mamecatink as the name of a settlement and Mamacotton as the name of a stream. Other forms are Mamacoting and Mamacocking. The stream bearing the name is now called Basha's Kill, the waters of which find their way to the Delaware, and Mamakating is assigned to a hollow. The settlement was primarily a trading post which gathered in the neighborhood of the Groot Yaugh Huys (Dutch, "Great Hunting House"), a large cabin constructed by the Indians for their accommodation when on hunting expeditions, [FN-1] and subsequently maintained by Europeans for the accommodation of hunters and travelers passing over what was known as the "Mamacottin path," a trunk line road connecting the Hudson and Delaware rivers, more modernly known as the "Old Mine Road," which was opened as a highway in 1756. The Hunting House is located on Sauthier's map immediately south of the Sandberg, in the town of Mamakating, and more recently, by local authority, at or near what is known as the "Manarse Smith Spring," otherwise as the "Great Yaugh Huys Fontaine," or Great Hunting House Spring. [FN-2] The meaning of the name is largely involved in the orthography of the suffix. If the word was -oten it would refer to the trading post or town, as in "Otenink, in the town" (Heckewelder), and, with the prefix Mamak (Mamach, German notation), root Mach, "evil, bad, naughty" (Mamak, iterative), would describe something that was very bad in the town; but, if the word was -atin, "Hill or mountain," the name would refer to a place that was at or on a very bad hill. Presumably the hill was the objective feature, the settlement being at or near the Sandberg. There is nothing in the name meaning plain or valley, nor anything "wonderful" about it. Among other features on the ancient path was the wigwam of Tautapau, "a medicine man," so entered in a patent to Jacob Rutzen in 1713. Tautapau (Taupowaw, Powaw), "A priest or medicine man," literally, "A wise speaker."
[FN-1] Indian Hunting-houses were met in all parts of the country. They were generally temporary huts, but in some cases became permanent. (See Cochecton.)
[FN-2] Fontaine is French—"A spring of water issuing from the earth." The stream flowing from the spring is met in local history as Fantine Kill.
Kau-na-ong-ga, "Two wings," is said to have been the name of White Lake, Sullivan County, the form of the lake being that of a pair of wings expanded, according to the late Alfred B. Street, the poet-historian, who embalmed the lake in verse years before it became noted as a fashionable resort. (See Kong-hong-amok.)
"Where the twin branches of the Delaware Glide into one, and in their language call'd Chihocken, or 'the meeting of the floods';" [FN-1]
The "Willemoc," [FN-2] and "The Falls of the Mongaup," are also among Street's poetical productions.
[FN-1] "Formerly Shohakin or Chehocton." (French's Gaz.) In N.Y. Land Papers, Schohakana is the orthography. Street's translation is a poetical fancy. The name probably refers to a place at the mouth of the northwest or Mohawk Branch of the Delaware, and the northeast or Paghkataghan Branch, at Hancock, Del. Co.
[FN-2] Willemoc probably stands for Wilamauk, "Good fishing-place." There were two streams in the town, one known as the Beaver Kill and the other as the Williwemack. In Cal. N.Y. Land Papers, 699, occurs the entry: "The Beaver Kill or Whitenaughwemack." The date is 1785. The orthography bears evidence of many years' corruption. It may have been shortened to Willewemock and Willemoc, and stand for Wilamochk, "Good, rich, beaver." It was, presumably, a superior resort for beavers.
Shawanoesberg was conferred on a hill in the present town of Mamakating, commemorative of a village of the Shawanoes who settled here in 1694 on invitation of the Minisinks. (Council Minutes, Sept. 14, 1692.) Their council-house is said to have been on the summit of the hill.
Basha's Land and Basha's Kill, familiar local terms in Sullivan County, are claimed to have been so called from a squaw-sachem known as Elizabeth who lived near Westbrookville. "Basha's Land" was one of the boundmarks of the Minisink Patent and Basha's Kill the northeast bound of the Maghaghkemik Patent. Derivation of the name from Elizabeth is not well-sustained. [FN-1] The original was probably an equivalent of Bashaba, an Eastern-Algonquian term for "Sagamore of Sagamores," or ruling sachem or king of a nation. It is met of record Bashaba, Betsebe, Bessabe, Bashebe, etc. Hubbard wrote: "They called the chief rulers, who commanded the rest, Bashabeas. Bashaba is a title." "Chiefs bearing this title, and exercising the prerogatives of their rank, are frequently spoken of by the early voyagers." [FN-2] (Hist. Mag., Second Series, 3, 49.) The lands spoken of were the recognized territorial possession of the chief ruler of the nation or tribe. The "squaw-sachem" [FN-3] may have held the title by succession or as the wife of the Bashaba.
[FN-1] Basha's Kill was applied to Mamcotten Kill north of the village of Wurtsboro, south of which it retained the name of Mamacotten, as written on Sauthier's map. Quinlan, in his "History of Sullivan County," wrote: "The head-waters of Mamakating River subsequently became known as Elizabeth's Kill, in compliment to Elizabeth Gonsaulus. We could imagine that she was the original Basha, Betje, or Betsey, who owned the land south of the Yaugh House Spring, and gave to the Mamakating stream its present name; but unfortunately she was not born soon enough. Twenty-five years before her family came to Mamakating, 'Basha's land' was mentioned in official documents." It appears in the Minisink Patent in 1704.
[FN-2] A. S. Gatschet, of the Bureau of Ethnology, wrote me: "The Bashas, Bashebas and Betsebas of old explorers of the coast of Maine, I explain by pe'sks, 'one,' and a'pi, 'man,' or person—'First man in the land.'"
[FN-3] Squaw, "Woman," means, literally, "Female animal." Saunk-squa stands for "Sochem's squaw." "The squa-sachem, for so they call the Sachem's wife." (Winslow.)
Mongaup, given as the name of a stream which constitutes in part the western boundary of Orange County, is entered on Sauthier's map, "Mangawping or Mangaup." Quinlan (Hist. Sullivan County) claimed for it also Mingapochka and Mingwing, indicating that the stream carried the names of two distinct places. Mongaup is a compression of Dutch Mondgauwpink, meaning, substantially, "At the mouth of a small, rapid river," for which a local writer has substituted "Dancing feather," which is not in the composition in any language. Mingapochka (Alg.), appears to be from Mih'n (Mih'nall plural; Zeisb.), "Huckleberry," and -pohoka, "Cleft, clove or valley"—literally, "Huckleberry Valley." Street, writing half a century ago, described the northern approach of the stream as a valley wreathed (poetically) in whortle berries—
"In large tempting clusters of light misty blue."
The stream rises in the center of Sullivan County and flows to the Delaware. The falls are said to be from sixty to eighty feet in four cascades. (Hist. Sul. Co.) Another writer says: "Three miles above Forestburgh village, the stream falls into a chasm seventy feet deep, and the banks above the falls are over one hundred feet high."
Meenahga, a modern place-name, is a somewhat remarkable orthography of Mih'n-acki (aghki), "Huckleberry land" or place.
Callicoon, the name of a town in Sullivan County, and of a stream, is an Anglicism of Kalkan (Dutch), "Turkey"—Wilde Kalkan, "Wild turkey"—in application, "Place of turkeys." The district bearing the name is locally described as extending from Callicoon Creek to the mouth of Ten Mile River, on the Delaware. Wild turkeys were abundant in the vicinage of the stream no doubt, from which perhaps the name, but as there is record evidence that a clan of the Turkey tribe of Delawares located in the vicinity, it is quite probable that the name is from them. The stream is a dashing mountain brook, embalmed poetically by the pen of Street. (See Cochecton.)
Keshethton, written by Colonel Hathorn in 1779, as the name of an Indian path, is no doubt an orthography of Casheghton. In early years a trunk-line path ran up the Delaware to Cochecton Falls, where, with other paths, it connected with the main path leading to Wyoming Valley, [FN] the importance of the latter path suggesting, in 1756, the erection of a fort and the establishment of a base of supplies at Cochecton from which to attack the Indians under Tedyuscung and Shingask in what was then known as "The Great Swamp," from which those noted warriors and their followers made their forays. (Doc. Hist. N.Y., ii. 715; Ib. Map, i, 586.) Colonel Hathorn passed over part of this path in 1779, in pursuit of Brant, and was disastrously defeated in what is called "The Battle of Minnisink."
[FN] "The first well-beaten path that connected the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, and subsequently the first rude wagon road leading from Cochecton through Little Meadows, in Salem township, and across Moosic Mountains." (Hist. Penn.) It was with a view to connect the commerce from this section with the Hudson that the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike was constructed in the early years of 1800.
Cochecton, the name of a town and of a village in Sullivan County, extended on early maps to an island, to a range of hills, and to a fall or rift in the Delaware River, is written Cashieghtunk and in other forms on Sauthier's map of 1774; Cushieton on a map of 1768; Keshecton, Col. Cortlandt, 1778; Cashecton, N.Y. Land Papers, 699; Cushietunk in the proceedings of the Treaty of Easton, 1758, and in other New Jersey records: Cashighton in 1744; Kishigton in N.Y. records in 1737, and Cashiektunk by Cadwallader Colden in 1737, as the name of a place near the boundmark claimed by the Province of New Jersey, latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes. "On the most northerly branch of Delaware River, which point falls near Cashiektunk, an Indian village, on a branch of that river called the Fish Kill." (Doc. Hist. N.Y., iv, 177.) In the Treaty of Easton, 1758, the Indian title to land conveyed to New Jersey is described: "Beginning at the Station Point between the Province of New Jersey and New York, at the most northerly end of an Indian settlement on the Delaware, known by the name of Casheitong." Station Point, called also Station Rock, is about three miles southeast of the present village of Cochecton, on a flat at a bend in the river, by old survey twenty-two miles in a straight line from the mouth of Maghaghkamik Creek, now Carpenter's Point, in the town of Deerpark, Orange County. Cochecton Falls, so called, are a rocky rapid in a narrow gorge covering a fall of two or three hundred feet, the obstruction throwing the water and the deposits brought down back upon the low lands. The Callicoon flows to the Delaware a few miles northeast of the falls. Between the latter and the mouth of the Callicoon lies the Cochecton Flats or valley. The precise location of "Station Point or Rock," described as "At the most northerly end" of the Indian village, has not been ascertained, but can be readily found. The late Hon. John C. Curtis, of Cochecton, wrote: "Our beautiful valley, from Cochecton Falls to the mouth of the Callicoon, was called, by the Indians, Cushetunk, or low lands," the locative of the name having been handed down from generation to generation, and an interpretation of the name which is inferentially correct. There is no such word as Cash or Cush in the Delaware dialect, however; it stands here obviously as a form of K'sch, intensive K'schiecton (Len. Eng. Dic.); Geschiechton, Zeisberger, verbal noun, "To wash," "The act of washing," as by the "overflow of the water of a sea or river. . . . The river washed a valley in the plain"; with suffix -unk (K'schiechton-unk—compressed to Cushetunk), denoting a place where the action of the verb was performed, i.e. a place where at times the land is washed or overflowed by water, from which the traditionary interpretation, "Low land." [FN-1]
The Indian town spoken of was established in 1744, although its site was previously occupied by Indian hunting houses or huts for residences while on hunting expeditions. In Col. Mss. v. 75, p. 10, is preserved a paper in which it is stated that the Indians residing at Goshen, Orange County, having "Removed to their hunting houses at Cashigton," were there visited, in December, 1744, by a delegation of residents of Goshen, consisting of Col. Thomas DeKay, William Coleman, Benj. Thompson, Major Swartwout, Adam Wisner, interpreter, and two Indians as pilots, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of the removal; that the delegation found the residents composed of two totemic families, Wolves and Turkeys; that, having lost their sachem, they were debating "Out of which tribe a successor should be chosen"; that they had removed from Goshen through fear of the hostile intention on the part of the settlers there, who "Were always carrying guns." Later, a delegation from the Indian town visited Goshen, and was there "Linked together" with Colonel De Kay, as the representative of the Governor of the province, in their peculiar form of locking arms, for three hours, as a test of enduring friendship. [FN-2] It was the only treaty with the Indians in Orange County of which there is record.
Aside from its Indian occupants the town is historic as the point forming the old northwest boundmark of New Jersey (Lat. 41 degrees 40 minutes), as recognized in the Treaty of Easton. (See Pompton.) From its association with the history of three provinces, the story of the town is of more than local interest. The lands were ultimately included in the Hardenberg Patent, and most of the Indian descendants of its founders of 1744 followed the lead of Brant in the Revolution. They probably deserved a better fate than that which came to them. They are gone. The long night with its starless robe has enveloped them in its folds—the ceaseless wash of the waters of the Delaware upon the beautiful valley of Cochecton, hymns their requiem.
[FN-1] Probably the same name is met in Sheshecua-ung, the broad flats opposite and above the old Indian meadows, Wyoming Valley, where the topography is substantially the same.
[FN-2] A belt was presented by the Indians to Col. De Kay, but what became of it neither the records or tradition relates.
Here we close our survey of the only monuments which remain of races which for ages hunted the deer, chanted songs of love, and raised fierce war cries—the names which they gave and which remain of record of the hills and valleys, the lakes and waterfalls, amid which they had their abiding places. Wonderfully suggestive and full of inferential deductions are those monuments; volumes of history and romance are linked with them; the most controlling influences in making our nation what it is is graven in their crude orthographies. Their further reclamation and restoration to the geographical locations to which they belonged is a duty devolving on coming generations.
[From De Laet's "New World," Leyden Edition.]
"Within the first reach, where the land is low, there dwells a nation of savages named Tappaans. . . . The second reach extends upward to a narrow pass named by our people Haverstroo; then comes Seyl-maker's (Zeil-maker's, sail-maker's) reach, as they call it; and next, a crooked reach, in the form of a crescent, called Koch's reach (Cook's reach). Next is Hooge-rack (High reach); and then follows Vossen reach (Foxes reach), which extends to Klinckersberg (Stone mountain). This is succeeded by Fisher's (Vischer's) reach, where, on the east bank of the river, dwells a nation of savages called Pachamy. This reach extends to another narrow pass, where, on the west side of the river, there is a point of land that juts out covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river, on which another nation of savages, called the Waoranecks, have their abode, at a place called Esopus. A little beyond, on the west side, where there is a creek, and the river becomes more shallow, the Waronawankongs reside; here are several small islands. Next comes another reach called Klaver-rack, where the water is deeper on the west side, while the eastern side is sandy. Then follow Backer-rack, John Playser's rack and Vaster rack as far as Hinnenhock. Finally, the Herten-rack (Deer-rack) succeeds as far as Kinderhoek. Beyond Kinderhoek there are several small islands, one of which is called Beeren Island (Bear's Island). After this we come to a sheltered retreat named Onwee Ree (Onwereen, to thunder, Ree, quick, sudden thunder storms), and farther on are Sturgeon's Hoek, over against which, on the east side of the river, dwell the Mohicans."
