Lenape - Munsee - Delaware

Ulster County, Ramapough Lenape Renewing 1665 Esopus Treaty

August 2, 2022 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

On October 7, 1665, a peace treaty was signed between the indigenous Esopus people (the Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation / Ramapough Lenape Nation) and European settlers in what is now Ulster County, NY. The treaty brought to a close hostilities between the two parties that had begun in 1659, known as the Esopus Wars.

Both parties promised to cease hostilities, to establish a course of justice and conduct trade with each other. In addition to the cessation of fighting, the treaty proclaimed, “That all past Injuryes, are buryed and forgotten on both sides” and “that it may bee kept in perpetuall memory.”

A ceremonial peace tree planting and treaty renewal will be held on Friday, August 5th in Kingston. There have been 13 renewals of the treaty found in the Ulster County archives, dating from 1669 to 1745, and six more times in the last ten years. [Read more…] about Ulster County, Ramapough Lenape Renewing 1665 Esopus Treaty

Kieft’s War: Mass Murder on Manhattan

July 20, 2022 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

In the evening of February 25th, 1643, soldiers and settlers of the colony of New Netherland massacred a large number of Native American men, women, and children belonging to Munsee nations on and around Manhattan. The victims were surprised in their sleep. They had assumed they were safe because they had recently sought shelter near New Amsterdam from Indigenous enemies. Dutch sources indicate that at least eighty and perhaps up to one hundred and twenty Munsees were murdered. [Read more…] about Kieft’s War: Mass Murder on Manhattan

Saratoga Area Ethnohistoric Survey Nears Completion

July 18, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In 2018, Saratoga National Historical Park received funding to produce an ethnohistorical study of the Saratoga area. Professor Karim Tiro from Xavier University was chosen to conduct the research and compile the report.

Dr. Tiro specializes in North American history during the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods with a focus on the history of Native Americans, the War of 1812, and epidemics. [Read more…] about Saratoga Area Ethnohistoric Survey Nears Completion

Father Isaac Jogues, Pastor Johannes Megapolensis & Native People

December 21, 2021 by Peter Hess 6 Comments

By 1642, the number of inhabitants of the van Rensselaer Manor Rensselaerswyck had grown and Patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer willingly complied with a requirement of the Dutch West India Company to secure a clergyman for a Dutch Church to conduct services for the settlers.

The Reverend Doctor Johannis Megapolensis, Jr., the dominie (pastor) of the congregation of Schorel and Berg, belonging to the classis of Alkmaar in Holland, was selected and accepted the call. He was to serve for six years at a salary of one thousand guilders (about $400) per year. He was also to receive a yearly donation of thirty schepels (22 ½ bushels) of wheat and two firkins of butter. [Read more…] about Father Isaac Jogues, Pastor Johannes Megapolensis & Native People

Kieft’s War Against Native People: A Primer

July 2, 2020 by Jordan Baker 3 Comments

The series of conflicts known as Kieft’s War (1643-1645) owe their origins to several factors.

Primary among these was the Dutch inability to understand the concepts of land use among native people. When the Dutch gave wampum, muskets, and other trade goods during land negotiations, they believed they were purchasing the land. Native people however, considered the Dutch to have, at best, leased the land. Convinced they had purchased the land in and around Manhattan, Dutch settlers drew ever closer to Native American villages. And, when Native Americans hunted on the ground the Dutch believed they had purchased, the New Netherlanders sought to punish the offenders. [Read more…] about Kieft’s War Against Native People: A Primer

Storytelling: Using Your Documents To Tell A Story

August 9, 2018 by Peter Feinman 1 Comment

We are a storytelling species. Recently, I shared an example of the potential for storytelling in our communities using primary source documents.

In subsequent posts, I intended to share examples from different formats and venues that show how some historians are reaching audiences in ways that go beyond the standard tour. [Read more…] about Storytelling: Using Your Documents To Tell A Story

Shad: The Founding Fish Returns

May 13, 2014 by John Conway 1 Comment

There was a time when Lenape fishermen – or women, since they did much of the fishing in that culture— would use nets woven from branches, saplings or wild hemp to catch huge numbers of shad in the Delaware River. Much of their catch would be preserved by a unique smoking process that would keep them edible through the winter. The Lenape designated March as the month of the shad and celebrated with a festival that often lasted six weeks or more.

The early European settlers learned the importance of shad from the Natives and quickly picked up the technique of smoking them to provide food for the harsh winters when game was scarce. Some historians, including William E. Meehan writing in Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania in 1893, have noted that virtually every Colonial era homestead in a broad area bordering the Delaware River “had its half-barrel of salted shad sitting in the kitchen with some choice pieces of smoked shad hanging by the kitchen chimney.” [Read more…] about Shad: The Founding Fish Returns

Munsee Indian Trade in Ulster County

December 29, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Munsee Indian Trade in Ulster County, New York 1712-1732 (Syracuse Univ Press, 2013), edited by Kees-Jan Waterman and J. Michael Smith offers the full, annotated translation of a recently discovered Dutch account book recording trade with Native Americans in Ulster County, New York, from 1712 to 1732.

The ledger contains just over two-thousand transactions with about two-hundred native individuals. Slightly more than one-hundred Indians appear with their names listed. The volume and granularity of the entries allow for detailed indexing and comparative analysis of the people and processes involved in these commercial dealings in the mid-Hudson River Valley. [Read more…] about Munsee Indian Trade in Ulster County

New Netherland & The Esopus Wars

December 17, 2013 by James Blackburn 6 Comments

The Esopus Wars were fought primarily between the Munsee Esopus and the New Netherland colonists in 1659-1663. The image of an “Indian” war most often conjures up scenes of the American West, yet this conflict took place right in the proverbial backyard of the Hudson Valley.

The conflicts were centered around the settlement of Wiltwijck, a place we know today as Kingston. The conflict completely changed the power dynamic of the region, from one dominated by American Indians to European colonists. While from another angle, a look at the war’s participants offers a view of the diverse population that composed Dutch New York. [Read more…] about New Netherland & The Esopus Wars

William Starna’s New History of the Mahican

November 23, 2013 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

The University of Nebraska Press has published From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians, 1600-1830, by William A. Starna, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the State University of New York College at Oneonta.

This history of the Mahicans begins with the appearance of Europeans on the Hudson River in 1609 and ends with the removal of these Native peoples to Wisconsin in the 1830s. Marshaling the methods of history, ethnology, and archaeology, William A. Starna describes as comprehensively as the sources allow the Mahicans while in their Hudson and Housatonic Valley homeland; after their consolidation at the praying town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts; and following their move to Oneida country in central New York at the end of the Revolution and their migration west. [Read more…] about William Starna’s New History of the Mahican