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The discussion on the connections between Winnasoccum in MD/DE and Conoy Town in PA made me think that this might be a good time to replay an old thread from the past on Blackfoot Town. has anyone discovered anything new on Blackfoot Town or the Indian River Indians? Any idea how they came to the MD/DE area?
Linda said:
“The gentleman writing this is an academic, a historian I believe, who lives in Chicago and carries the Blackfoot identification in his family. He goes by the pen name of Bess Veney. This is the only piece of solid historical documentation pairing the Saponi/Tutelo with the Blackfoot monicker I’ve yet to hear of. “
“Saponi/ Tutelos were indeed located near Dagsboro/ Blackfoot Town prior to 1747. The writings of J. Thomas Scharf, the noted Historian of Delaware,(1.) places the Saponi/Tutelo amongst other tribes inhabiting the southern part of Delaware (most likely Sussex county) in the 1700s. Here is what Scarf says in 1880:
“The …Scackamaxons, Tutelos, Nanticokes and many others occupied the lower country toward the coast, upon the Delaware and its affuents.”(2.) We don’t know exactly how this group of Saponi/Tutelo ended up in this area, but the solution of that problem can be taken up at another time. The main point is that the Tutelo according to Scharf were in lower Delaware at an early date.
Another citation places Saponi/Tutelo in the vicinity of the South Delaware in 1742. Tutelos (recorded as Totra) residing at Conoy town, Lancaster county, PA, along with Seneca, Shawnee, and Nanticoke, were a part of a famous plot for an Indian uprising in lower Delaware, at the portage of the Indian River area and the Pokomoke river on the MD/DE border. The name of the place was Winnasoccum Apparently, groups of Indians at Conoy town, including the Tutelo, did travel to the MD/DE border. Here they met some of the local Nanticokes and “Indian River Indians” to put the plan into action. Details on this plot are recorded in the Maryland Colonial records. Here is what is said about these events in testimony on June 30, 1742:
“Letter No. 78:
Maryland ss | Dochester Co. | The Examination of Jacob Pattasahook, one of Nanticoke Indians taken before me one of his Lordships Justices of the peace for the County aforesaid saith about a month ago this Examinant was at Coney Town on Susquehana River and was told by the Indians of said Town that the Senaca and Totra Indians in Conjunction and by the advice of the french had agreed to Cut of the English Inhabitants in Pensylvania Maryland and other adjacent parts of this Continent and the Indians in Somersett and Dorsett County and to that End the Senaca Indians were soon to go to Philadelphia to Dispose of some part of the Lands for Arms and Ammunition and haveing so done the Senaca, Totra, and other Indians were in roasten Ear and Apple time to fall upon the Back Inhabitants and at the Same time the french who was to come by Sea, were to Land on the Sea bond side of Somersett County in order to meet the said Indians, and further this Examinat Saith not, his June the 30th 1742 Jacob [c Pattasahook Certified by Henry Trippe marke”
This reference can be found at this address online:http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/m…/000001/000042/ html/am42–654.html
After the plot was foiled most likely some of the Tutelo stayed on in the area. So by solid historical accounts, around 1742, Saponi/ Tutelo Indians were near the region of what later became known as Blackfoot Town. The multi tribal population of this area decreased over time but a remnant survives to today. It is established as the Indian River Hundred Nanticoke organization and has an office and museum in the town of Millsboro, which is a few miles form Dagsboro
In the 1930s and 1940s, several government ethnologists visited the Indian River Nanticoke population living near Blackfoot Town. C.A. Weslager, the noted researcher on the Lenni- Lenape and Nanticoke Indians interviewed a Joshua Hitchens on Oct. 25, 1941. When asked about his genealogy, Hitchens said his father’s family “were members of the Blackfoot Tribe.”(3.) Weslager did not endorse this statement of tribal affiliation nor did he try to openly attack it. Instead, he tried to claim that the Blackfoot tribe identification, in question, resulted from Blackfoot Town being a place name. Of course it is ludicrous to claim that the Blackfoot tribe spoken of by Hitchens has nothing to do with Indians, given that Blackfoot Town sat on Indian River. Indian River has been known by this name since 1640 in court records of Worcester County, Maryland, and later in Sussex County, Delaware. “Indian River Indians” who in fact were an amalgamation of the Nantcoke, Assateague, Saponi/Tutelo and others, appear in county documents and Maryland colonial records as early as 1700. Pulling this all together, what makes sense is to recognize that :
to be cont.
“…1. The Saponi/Tutelo Indians who lived about Indian River were responsible for name “Blackfoot Indians” mentioned by Hitchens.
2. Because they lived there, the “Blackfoot Indians” gave their name to an Indian town located along Pepper creek, a tributary of Indian River, which later became known as Blackfoot Town. Blackfoot Town is the result of contact with the Blackfoot Indians not vice verse.
Linda’s overall point is correct on Blackfoot Town in Delaware. However, the exact location is off by many miles. Blackfoot Town/Dagsboro is locate about 100 miles directly east and slightly south from the point she mentioned in western Maryland. Blackfoot Town sits on the headwaters of “Indian River”. This river and the area around it is located in what was formerly Somerset and Worcester counties, MD, but with changes in the state boundaries about 1763, it is located in what is today Sussex County, Delaware. One needs to get a map of Delaware and focus on the southeast coast along the Atlantic Ocean. Indian River dominates the geography of Sussex county. Its headwaters are inland about 20 miles in the swampy marshes near the MD border, and it flows from west to east and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Dagsboro sets on a creek flowing into Indian River. It is a very remote area, even today, and the largest town near Dagsboro/Blackfoot Town is Georgetown.
Saponi/ Tutelos were indeed located near Dagsboro/ Blackfoot Town prior to 1747. The writings of J. Thomas Scharf, the noted Historian of Delaware,(1.) places the Saponi/Tutelo amongst other tribes inhabiting the southern part of Delaware (most likely Sussex county) in the 1700s. Here is what Scarf says in 1880:
“The …Scackamaxons, Tutelos, Nanticokes and many others occupied the lower country toward the coast, upon the Delaware and its affuents.”(2.) We don’t know exactly how this group of Saponi/Tutelo ended up in this area, but the solution of that problem can be taken up at another time. The main point is that the Tutelo according to Scharf were in lower Delaware at an early date.
Another citation places Saponi/Tutelo in the vicinity of the South Delaware in 1742. Tutelos (recorded as Totra) residing at Conoy town, Lancaster county, PA, along with Seneca, Shawnee, and Nanticoke, were a part of a famous plot for an Indian uprising in lower Delaware, at the portage of the Indian River area and the Pokomoke river on the MD/DE border. The name of the place was Winnasoccum Apparently, groups of Indians at Conoy town, including the Tutelo, did travel to the MD/DE border. Here they met some of the local Nanticokes and “Indian River Indians” to put the plan into action. Details on this plot are recorded in the Maryland Colonial records. Here is what is said about these events in testimony on June 30, 1742:
“Letter No. 78:
Maryland ss | Dochester Co. | The Examination of Jacob Pattasahook, one of Nanticoke Indians taken before me one of his Lordships Justices of the peace for the County aforesaid saith about a month ago this Examinant was at Coney Town on Susquehana River and was told by the Indians of said Town that the Senaca and Totra Indians in Conjunction and by the advice of the french had agreed to Cut of the English Inhabitants in Pensylvania Maryland and other adjacent parts of this Continent and the Indians in Somersett and Dorsett County and to that End the Senaca Indians were soon to go to Philadelphia to Dispose of some part of the Lands for Arms and Ammunition and haveing so done the Senaca, Totra, and other Indians were in roasten Ear and Apple time to fall upon the Back Inhabitants and at the Same time the french who was to come by Sea, were to Land on the Sea bond side of Somersett County in order to meet the said Indians, and further this Examinat Saith not, his June the 30th 1742 Jacob [c Pattasahook Certified by Henry Trippe marke”
This reference can be found at this address online:http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/m…/000001/000042/ html/am42–654.html
After the plot was foiled most likely some of the Tutelo stayed on in the area.
So by solid historical accounts, around 1742, Saponi/ Tutelo Indians were near the region of what later became known as Blackfoot Town. The multi tribal population of this area decreased over time but a remnant survives to today. It is established as the Indian River Hundred Nanticoke organization and has an office and museum in the town of Millsboro, which is a few miles form Dagsboro
In the 1930s and 1940s, several government ethnologists visited the Indian River Nanticoke population living near Blackfoot Town. C.A. Weslager, the noted researcher on the Lenni- Lenape and Nanticoke Indians interviewed a Joshua Hitchens on Oct. 25, 1941. When asked about his genealogy, Hitchens said his father’s family “were members of the Blackfoot Tribe.”(3.) Weslager did not endorse this statement of tribal affiliation nor did he try to openly attack it. Instead, he tried to claim that the Blackfoot tribe identification, in question, resulted from Blackfoot Town being a place name. Of course it is ludicrous to claim that the Blackfoot tribe spoken of by Hitchens has nothing to do with Indians, given that Blackfoot Town sat on Indian River. Indian River has been known by this name since 1640 in court records of Worcester County, Maryland, and later in Sussex County, Delaware. “Indian River Indians” who in fact were an amalgamation of the Nantcoke, Assateague, Saponi/Tutelo and others, appear in county documents and Maryland colonial records as early as 1700. Pulling this all together, what makes sense is to recognize that
1. The Saponi/Tutelo Indians who lived about Indian River were responsible for name “Blackfoot Indians” mentioned by Hitchens.
2. Because they lived there, the “Blackfoot Indians gave their name to an Indian town located along Pepper creek, a tributary of Indian River, which later became known as Blackfoot Town. Blackfoot Town is the result of contact with the Blackfoot Indians not vice verse.
Linda, despite the error in location, your main point on timing is absolutely correct. The Blackfoot Indians living at Blackfoot Town/Dagsboro, DE, in 1747 predate, come before, the fictional diffusion of the so-called Western Blackfoot ID (idea?) into the Southeast during the 1880s. Also, this group of Saponi Blackfoot Indians (1747) predate the first appearance of Sihasapa Lakota Blackfoot in European and American records, which did not occur until about 1851. Prior to that, the precursors of the Sihasapa are known to us only by the names of leading families which at that time are living within other groups, i.e., with the Yanctonies..
The Blackfoot represented by the Saponi and the Sissipahaw appear in records way before the western Blackfoot, the Sisksika and the Sihassapa Lakota. Your observation that the Eastern Blackfoot is older than those in the west is supported by facts. All this points to the reality that the Eastern Blackfoot identity developed on a local basis in the Southeast and was not imported. True there were some cases of actual migrations of Sihassapa individuals and families into the Southeast during the 19th century. But they can be fairly recognized through genealogy research and are extremely small in number. Their presence cannot account for the wide spread existence of the Blackfoot ID in the Southeast.
Bess Veney
1. J. Thomas Scharf History of Delaware 1609-1888, L.J. Richards & Co. (1888) vol. 2, 1888, p.20
2. Ibid Scharf:20
3. Weslager,, C. A., The Nanticoke Indians— Past and Present, University of Delaware Press, Newark, p.198.
[Blackfoot Town (Dagsboro) was very near Millsboro. Although it was in Maryland at that time, it is now Sussex County, Delaware. ]
Hi.
Please let me know if I am understanding this crrectly.
Blackfoot Town in Md/De is not anywhere near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is it? Is “Blackfoot” a term used in Lancaster County, Pa?
Brenda, I haven’t read much of this, but I intend to and study it further. Right now I don’t have the time to digest it, but I definitely intend to do so. 🙂 Thank you for bringing it up again.
vance
Originally posted by vance hawkins
Hi.
Please let me know if I am understanding this crrectly.
Blackfoot Town in Md/De is not anywhere near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is it? Is “Blackfoot” a term used in Lancaster County, Pa?
Brenda, I haven’t read much of this, but I intend to and study it further. Right now I don’t have the time to digest it, but I definitely intend to do so. 🙂 Thank you for bringing it up again.
vance
Vance, the deposition that I copied for you from the Archives of Maryland shows that there was traveling and visiting going on between the part of Maryland and Delaware where Blackfoot Town was located and the Conoy village in PA. The Conoy Village and Blackfoot Town are not geographically located side by side, but I don’t see that as an issue since there was travel back and forth and apparently some kind of cultural exchange. We know that there were Tutelo in Conoy Town, at least so it seems to me. Some people think the Indians at Blackfoot Town may have been Nanticoke; some think they were Saponi/Tutelo. That is for us to further study and discover. How did Blackfoot town get its name? I think the thread I reposted had some good points. …. Most of these towns were an amalgamation of various peoples– that seems to be the nature of the diasporia in the Native East. I tend to have confidence in Linda’s theory that “Blackfoot” is an in-group term for the Saponi/Tutelo. Linda, am I understanding your position correctly? Whether there is a piece of paper somewhere that says Blackfoot was a term used in Lancaster County, I couldn’t say yet. I haven’t seen such a piece of paper. However, if we find eastern peoples with the Blackfoot family tradition who tarried in Lancaster County around a certain time, why, I would think that was interesting and worth exploring further.
I hope I am being clear in why I think this is interesting and worth looking into a bit. Is Wayland the surname in your Blackfoot family tradition?
Hello Brenda.
It was interesting that it said at one point that the French planned to attact the English Colonists by sea.
Does anyone speak French? Does anyone know where French Colonial papers might be located? Quebec? Montreal? Paris?Perhaps there is some obscure French document of this planned attack. What did the French call their Totra allies? It’s interesting having a French connection to the Tutelo in the 1740s, considering that “Melunge” is also a French word . . .
Are there other Maryland records of the “Totra”? It is possible the term “Blackfoot” originated in Maryland. Is the term “Totra” used any place else other than Maryland? How do you know “Totra” means “Tutelo”?
vance
Vance,
More years ago than I will admit, I taught French. I am a little rusty now though, but I have read a few French sites when I was looking at the lineage of Queen Catherine Montour.
My honeymoon was in Quebec. I had majored in French but did not understand what they said. I could read the roadsigns but could only pick out a word or two. A few years later, a Parisian told me that she could not understand them either, that they spoke a French of the 17th century. I did tell one gentleman who stopped us at the fort in Quebec City to speak slowly. Turned out he was panhandling.
Techteach
I’d like to see the original papers of Thomas Scharf, some of these obscure tribal names are possibly mis spelling or mis translations of old hand writing.
I took french, in school as a manditory class, in Canada it’s is our second official language, but it’s useless outside of Quebec, and words like “le hot dog” are common, the old records could be in the Archives of Quebec or who knows where, not much different than English records, just in French.
Do a search for the Provincial Archives of Quebec and you’ll hit on something at least a place to start!
Cindy,
When I as in college I remember a French student that lived in the dorms where I lived. Like an idiot, I went up to him and said I’d once visited Cajun Country, south Louisiana, and heard people talking in some strange language that I was later told was French. When they spoke English it was with an accent I’d never heard before, and not with the generic French accent you hear on television.
His reply was that he’d been there too, and what they were speaking was not French. He never explained what he meant & I never asked.
You may have explained it, tho — thanks. If that Parisian you met couldn’t understand Canadian French — I bet those in South Louisiana would REALLY be a trial.
Thanks Tom — “Provincial Archives of Quebec” — I’ll remember that. If it’s in French tho — I’m outa luck . . . 🙁 I know some Spanish, maybe I can pick out an occasional word . . .
vance
The site you get is mostly like an advertisement to pay for stuff. Info..are there any sites that don’t charge in Quebec? The first one, the library, is just info as to what they have…
French is not the problem, but accessing a site with info that is free…OH Well. If someone has a link let me know. Sue J
C. A. Weslager’s books, “Delaware’s Forgotten Folk”, and “The Nanticoke” have some general treatments on the history of the Eastern Shore’s native people that might have some bearing on the “Blackfoot Town” discussion. Ditto the “Tockoughs”, which I think someone was asking about earlier.
Well this introduces more questions, more ambiguity as to just who these “Blackfoot” in Blackfoot Town, Md, were. Were they a conglomerate of Algonquin and Siouan people — descendants of ALL the Indians from Maryland, Delaware, the Virginias and the Carolinas? sons and daughters of ALL the “Tributary Tribes”? Has this possibility been excluded? Perhaps Iriquouan people (Nansemond or Tuscarora) we also living in the area and lumped together as well. It may have been named for the aponi, but it may have included other fragmented, refugee tribes as members.
I believe one link referred to the Tuckwoghs as a band of Nanticokes. I’d still like to see in writing a cited reference that says the Totra and the Tutelo were one and the same. Maybe I have and just forgot. 🙂
vance
Hello, the Archives in Quebec are for the Province.
Canada’s National archives maybe of some help, I’ll see what I can do, the best I can suggest is to e mail them , someone will reply in English.
I have seen somewhere the reference to the Tutelo being called by various names.
The Cajun French dialect has a huge amount of loan words from various tribal groups, and influences from who knows where else.
The Houma people speak a very old form of French, but so does the Creole, The Cajuns and the Fench speaking Indian people. Like every where else Louisiana has many dialects of several languages, sometimes even within home communities.
Pretty Neat Stuff!
Originally posted by vance hawkins
Well this introduces more questions, more ambiguity as to just who these “Blackfoot” in Blackfoot Town, Md, were. Were they a conglomerate of Algonquin and Siouan people — descendants of ALL the Indians from Maryland, Delaware, the Virginias and the Carolinas?
I’d still like to see in writing a cited reference that says the Totra and the Tutelo were one and the same. Maybe I have and just forgot. 🙂
vance
Vance,
I am caught up with a lot of stuff in present times this past few weeks and haven’t been able to post to this link and the other one I am interested in for awhile, however, this quick note to reply to your comment & question.
I would like to see more info. on just who the Indians were at Blackfoot Town, too, especially now that I know that there were some Steels/Steeles living there abouts in Worcester Co. MD/Sussex Co. DE early on, even a few in Dagsboro Hundreds. I think the conventional wisdom is that the “Indian River Indians” were a mixture of Nanticoke, Assateagues, and miscellaneous remnants. I have never seen the Tutelo identified as having lived at Blackfoot Town– at least yet. I have started collecting references to Indian River. When Peter Monk wanted to be “Emperor” of the Nanticoke, a delegation of the Nanticoke objected and there was testimony that his family wasn’t Nanticoke, but one of those “Indian River Indians.” In another place in the MD archives, Peter Monk is called a Nanticoke! [I think I may have posted some info. & questions on Monk]. Anyway, I am interested in learning more about Blackfoot Town, so if you find anything, please share!
That all these groups travelled around a lot back and forth through VA/MD/PA and visited is indisputable. I think the governor of Maryland’s comments on this were posted earlier by someone quoting Helen Rountree’s work. This statement is also in the archives of MD.
It’s established by a lot of contemporary accounts that the Tutelo were in PA c. 1742. [Brainard’s Journal, Conrad Weiser, the Moravians, etc.] It is thought that their migration into PA started around 1740. A good review of the “Tutelo in Pennsylvania History” occurs in the introduction to Frank Speck & George Herzog’s THE TUTELO SPIRIT ADOPTION CEREMONY. They have lots of references and include the “Totra” reference I posted from the MD Archives. They seem to accept the reference as being to the Tutelo [aka /Tutero/Totero/Toteri/Totteroy, etc.]
Brenda
THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
Please note: Articles from the Miami Archives are numerous. This section will be continuously added to and updated.
http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/archives/miamis8/miamitoc10.html
http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/archives/menu.html
http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/home.html
The above has French sources so you can get an idea of all that may be out there somewhere. I love this site, but can’t say I have specifically seen a reference to Blackfoot Town here.
Brenda
Lets start at the begining, by trying locate the history of Dagsboro Town , perhaps they have a history book, check for the earliest census records and diaries of military people etc.
The questions posted here are historical fact based on records some where so lets locate the records.
Here is some a French record source that I have not had time to surf yet but iam in the process of;
The name is Gallica, through Yahoo when it comes up notice there is a translate this page on the heading, so far it looks like we can use it here for some of the research that we are doing!
Keep in mind I have not had time to surf this iste!
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