The Treaties for lands of the Natives in Pennsylvania, and their Effects on our Forebears
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Treaties Between the Native Americans and  William Penn, the Penn Heirs and their Agents [including James Logan] , and  Involving the Pennsylvania of our Forebears 
Treaties 1682-84
William Penn sought , and obtained, treaties with the 
native Lenape  immediately upon acquisition of the colony.
He sought a treaty with the Susquehannock,  but found they were subjugated by the Iroquois. 
Map Image below from Penn and the Indians page of comprehensive website entitled
" William Penn. Visionary Proprietor"  by  Tuomi J. Forrest

The Purchase of Lands West of the Susquehanna  1736 from the Iroquois by the Penns which allowed for European settlement of "All the land west of the Susquehanna to the setting sun" 

The Walking Purchase 1738 which cleared the north eastern and north central region for European Settlement, alienated, disenfranchised and cheated the Delaware, and so laid the foundation for their significant role in harrassing and attacking Pennsylvania's frontier comunities in the French and Indian War
a

.
The Natives  at time of contact. By 1682 and Penn's acquisition and  arrival, this map 
would be different
The Lands of the Lenape on Contact , and the Migration as a Result [with the Lenape were the Shawnee and Munsee people] 

 



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Treaties 1682-84
William Penn sought , and obtained, treaties with the 
native Lenape  immediately upon acquisition of the colony.
He sought a treaty with the Susquehannock,  but found they were subjugated by the Iroquois. 
Map Image below from Penn and the Indians page of comprehensive website entitled
" William Penn. Visionary Proprietor"  by  Tuomi J. Forrest
This portion of Penna history involves the Unami (Turtle Totem)  of the Lenape (or Delaware) tribe ,  the first visit of  William Penn to Pennsylvania,  and the Delaware Chief among them , Tammanyfootnote two.
Tammany is the Chief who sold Manhattan for the famous beads-not to the Dutch, but to the English in 1682. 
Swanton writes that in that year  "the most notable event in Delaware history took place .... when these Indians held their first council with William Penn at what is now Germantown, Philadelphia.1" .
Penn came twice to his colony, and never tarried long within it.  His first voyage was in the fall of 1682, and he left in August of 1684. He returned for a short spell in 1692, and at that time was accompanied by  James Logan [our direct via the Howard Ascendancy] , a man of modest means who gained employment as Penn's secretary,  functioned as steward of Pennsylvania on behalf of Penn in Penn's absence, and grew to be the wealthiest man in all the colonies at his zenith.  It is during Penn's first  visit to his colony that Penn supposedly signed a treaty with the Lenni Lenape Indians at Shackamaxon.  No copy of this agreement exists, but there is a wampum belt that is said to have been given to Penn by the natives at this time. Colonial Historian "Francis Jennings believes that Penn signed the treaty and never broke it, but that his less scrupulous successors destroyed the document, presumably so that they could renege on its provisions."3. The earliest treaty document to which we can actually refer is the Treaty dated July 15, 1682 , in which Penn brokered with Idquahon and several others amongst the Lenape leadership for land pertaining to them.  In 1683 he brokered more land transactions with these native peoples, while evidencing undertanding of the Lenape and the Iroqois Confederacy of New York to whom the Lenape were subjugated.  "The treaty of 1701 is both the first full treaty text that remains extant (there exist parts of earlier ones), and the last agreement brokered directly by Penn rather than his agents. It also capped a major power play: 'It conveyed land, controlled trade, and arranged juridical relationships, all at the expense of New York and New York's partners, the Iroquois Five Nations' (Jennings 205). As he had done before, Penn rewarded 'his' Indians. His policies helped make Pennsylvania, in the words of the missionary John Heckewelder, 'the last, delightful asylum' for Native Americans (Jennings, 207). Penn's successors were much less fair and scrupulous in dealing with the Indians. The ink was barely dry on the 1701 treaty when Penn's secretary and family steward, James Logan , began to devise ways to reclaim land set aside for the Susquehannocks and the Delaware. "3
Footnote Two:
"Initially, Penn dealt with the Unami (Turtle Totem) Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribe when he came to Pennsylvania, and the Delaware Chief, Tammany, played a prominent role in the early treaties negotiated with Penn. Although the real 
Tammany's mark appeared on only two treaties (June 23, 1683 and June 15, 1692), he was destined to become a legendary  figure in United States and Pennsylvania history and folklore.[6] Tradition has it that Tammany's name 
meant "the affable" and that he was one of the Delaware Indians who welcomed William Penn on his arrival in 
America, October 27, 1682.[7] By July 6, 1694 in a meeting between the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania and a delegation of Indians, Tammany had become a strong supporter of the whites and their policies.[8] From these 
facts and folklore, a legendary Tammany was   constructed in the early eighteenth century that was the white 
man's friend and counselor. "
From AN AMERICAN SYNTHESIS The Sons of St. Tammany or Columbian Order . [ the footnotes as evident in the text takent from "an American Synthesis" can be accessed at the link given in source] 
 
The Purchase of Lands West of the Susquehanna  1736 from the Iroquois by the Penns
 

The time between right to survey and right to the land west of the Susquehanna lagged nearly 15 years during which period settlement west of the Susquehanna was occuring, but the Penn heirs were not profiting from the settlement, and the area involved dispute with Maryland regarding where exactly the boundary of the two colonies lay. 

"Sir william Keith...Lt Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, ...was anxious to hinder these encroachments on what he believed to be the property of the heirs of Penn....the lands had not, as yet, been purchased from the Indians by the propretor of Pennsylvania, and much less by that of Maryland......the policy of Penn ever had been to grant no rights to lands, and to permit no settlements on them, until purchased of the Indians.....
"[Keith consulted] ...the Indians in the neighborhood of the Suquehanna, and ...consulted or held a treaty with the Indians at Conestogoe on the 15th and 16th of June, 1722, when they counselled together concerning the making of a survey  for the use of Springett Penn, the grandson, and as then believed, the heir of William Penn" 8. Present at the meeting was the Govenor with two others on the part of the Colony, and the chiefs of the Conestogoes, Shawanas and Ganaways, among them Tawena8... Tawena's  name is also mentioned in the Madame Ferree story on her arrival to the Pequea Valley East of the Susquehanna in then Chester, now Lancaster County, found east of the Susquehanna and in about 1712]

"...Part of Chester Countyís western frontier at the beginning of the 18th century [desired] Settlement along the Susquehanna was important to Pennsylvaniaís future development not only because of the boundary dispute with Maryland that precipitated Cresap's War (1731-1736) but also because the Susqehanna was a trade route  that provided direct accesss from Pennsylvaniaís hinterland to the West and to the Chesapeake, The heartland  of the American colonies. ì10
 

8. History of York County from its erection to the present time; [1729-1834] By W. C. Carter & A. J. Glossbrenner.
New edition; with Additions Edited by A. Monroe Aurand, Jr. Privately Printed: The Aurand Press: Harrisburg, Pa. 1930; page 3-9 ìManor of Springettsburyî

10. From:Hopkins, Leroy. ìBlack Eldorado on the Susquehanna: The Emergence of Black Columbia, 1726-1861î, Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Vol 89, pp 110-132  Transcription available at Link

First William Penn and later "his heirs and their representatives, negotiated  formally with the Indians, and purchased from them land already nominally theirs . As settlement along the coast grew in size and number, the need for westward expansion became apparent, and in 1722 the Indians were asked for, and gave, permission to survey the land beyond the Susquehanna River. "  2 It was at this time that  " a tract about 6 miles wide and 15 miles long and including the site now occupied by the City of York, was surveyed and named Springettsbury Manor, for Springett Penn, the grandson of the Founder. " 14 years later 

" In the summer of 1736 the sachems (i.e. rulers) of the Five Nations met in the country of the Onandagoes (i.e. in the region of the present-day state of New York) and decided to review the treaties that had been made between them and the colonists. They then traveled to Philadelphia and renewed old treaties of friendship with the Penn family. The Treaty of the Five  Nations, signed by the twenty-three Indian chiefs present, granted to the Penns, among other boundaries: "all the lands lying on  the west side of the said river (i.e. the Susquehanna) to the setting of the sun." 27  Ben Franklin's "Gazettle"  informs "Conrad Weiser learned, about 1 September, that a group of Six Nations chiefs were on their way to Pennsylvania. They were guided to James Logan's home at Stenton where, 28 September, the treaty began. Franklin reported the presence of the Indians in the 7 October Gazette. The treaty continued at the Friends' Great Meeting House in Philadelphia and concluded on 14 October, with the two sides renewing the earlier treaty of friendship, 1732. A Treaty of Friendship held with the Chiefs of the Six Nations at Philadelphia (1737) was the first of a series of Indian treaties printed by Franklin. Then the chiefs met privately with John Penn. He reminded them that they had previously sold all the land along the Susquehanna and asked why they had lately laid claims to those lands. On 11 October the Indians confirmed the sale. The Gazette, 14 October, celebrated Pennsylvania's peaceful Indian policy. At Conrad Weiser's home, 25 October, the chiefs also sold land along the Delaware River below the Kittatinny Hills, and a group of four chiefs warned the Proprietors that the Delaware Indians no longer owned any land and were not to be trusted. "28 

" Onandagoe ,  Seneca, Oneida and Tuscarora nations [of the Six Nations] signed a new treaty of peace and deeded to the Penns, 'all the river Susquehanna and all land lying on the west side of said river to the setting of the sun...'. "  2
 
 

In 1637, "the Onandagoe, Seneca (see also this alternate Seneca link ), Oneida and Tuscarora  [all members of the Iriquois nation]   "signed a new treaty of peace and deeded to the Penns, 'all the river Susquehanna and all land lying on the west side of said river to the setting of the sun...' "2

 

The Walking Purchase 1738
Image from the Lenni Lenape webpages
See Text Version of the Walking Purchase 
Signed by [among others] 
James Logan, and Wm. Logan discussed in the Logan Family Pages 
aaa
n 1732, William Penn's son, Thomas, inherited the deed to the Commonwealth of
 Pennsylvania, which at the time stretched from the Delaware River westward to the
 Susquehanna River, and from the Maryland and Delaware borders northward to roughly
   the base of Blue Mountain.....To expand the state, Penn met with Delaware Indians in Philadelphia and produced a
                   deed from 1686 which stated that the Delaware Indians sold the white settlers all the land
                   west of the Delaware River, north as far as a man could walk in a day and a half. The
                   Indians were puzzled, held a powwow and eventually agreed to the terms of the deed. 

Over 100 years later, experts examined the Deed of 1686 and found that it was in fact a
                   forgery.

Three runners prepared and a path was cleared through the forest. At the end of the race, The Deed of 1686 set the limits of the purchase at right angles to the line of the walk,
                   giving the colonists 1,200 square miles of the Poconos.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A219070

As the colony sought for expansion beyond the territory deeded to Penn by the Indians initially,  clear title from the Indians to the land in the upper Delaware and Lehigh River valleys was sought.  The Walking Purchase of 1737, for whom our direct ancestor James Logan is primarily responsible, abused the Lenape residing in the region in both the manipulation of Indian alliances forcing the treaty from tthem, and trickery deceiving them in the amount of  land involved in the treaty itself. The map at left shows the territory pre and post walking purchase and is again from the Lenni Lenape webpages. 

Against the wishes of the increasingly confined Lenape, the 6 nations of the Iroquois, to whom the Lenape were subservient, signed a deed giving up Lenape interest in the area.
Without support from the more powerful Iroquois, the Lenape capitulated on Aug 25, 1737, agreeing to the deed, and  to a Walking Purchase  [land walked in a specific time frame and a form of land measurement well understood by the Native Americans ] to determine the land involved. 

But Logan  utilized runners well trained in the paths utilized  instead of walkers, and he captured, just as he intended, far more territory than that which the Lenape understood to be anticipated of the agreement.  The Lenape called the whole thing a fraud, complaining the white men didn't "walk fair".  They refused to leave, and the Iroquois were called upon by the colonial government to enforce the agreement signed by that nation. The Iroquois served the white man's purpose as requested in 1741  at which time most of the Lenape went to western Pennsylvania. It is during this interval where much discussion of the Iroquois reference to the Lenape as "Women" occurs-This concept, far from being disempowering, made reference to the Lenape as "Peacekeepers" , a concept often lost on white scholars studying this event. See Footnote One

Forced to now western Pennsylvania,   the Lenape were welcomed by the French, intent on establishing ownership of the Ohio and Allegheny River Valleys and who , by 1748,  were deeply involved in dispute with the Virginia based Ohio Company [with which organization Virginian George Washington became milatarily involved]   for dominance in the region. 

As a result of the collective history above, the Lenape  Indians, known as the Delawares to the colonials, were among the firecest in the raids on the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania occuring during the French and Indian War.In the short period between 1748 and 1756, the French used the Indians as a devestating and effective  tool against the British.  Adams County, at that time still part of York, was greatly affected by these raids, as were its frontier neighbors. 

Top of Page
The Natives of Eastern and South Central Pennsylvania: Page Contents
IroquoisMingoSusquehannocksShawneeLenni Lenape [Delaware]







































Sources for This Page:
 

1. State Museum of Pennsylvania. Brief Summary of the 1681 Charter.

2. From York County History Pages of York County Webpages.
3. Penn and the Indians page of site entitled " William Penn. Visionary Proprietor"  by  Tuomi J. Forrest

4 Indians, Sources, Critics by Will J. Alpern (Prudential-Bache Securities). Presented at the 5th Cooper Seminar, James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, July, 1984. ©1985 by State University of New York College at Oneonta ["may be downloaded and reproduced for personal or instructional use, or by libraries" ] Originally published in James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art, Papers from the 1984 Conference at State University of  New York College -- Oneonta and Cooperstown. George A. Test, editor. (pp. 25-33)

5. Kittanning-pa.com

6.  SUSQUEHANNOCK HISTORYpart of First Nations, Issues of Conesquence pages. Lee Sultzman
 

7. SUSQUEHANNOCK HISTORY, Lee Sultzman. Part of First Nations Histories
8.Information on the Susquehannock Indians from Pagewise

9.  Delaware History by Lee Sultzman.. Part of First Nations Histories

10. Where are the Susquehannock now?  part of the pages of BrokenClaw.com

12. Native Americans Post Contact:, from The Mariners Museum, Newport News, Va pages

13. .  Internet School Library Media Center, Monacan Indians page.

14. AN AMERICAN SYNTHESIS The Sons of St. Tammany or Columbian Order . [ the footnotes evident in the text takent from "an American Synthesis" can be accessed at the link given in source

15. Iroquois . By: Joe Wagner, with references provided.

16. The Iroquois. by Lee Sultzman. Part of First Nations Histories

17 William Henry Harrison and the West  , part of Dr James B. Calvert's pages at University of Denver Website.
At the time of Penn's arrival in 1682, the Susquehannock were subservient to the Iroquois Confederacy, just as their enemies and neighbors, the Delaware , were. The Susquehannock were decimated by war and disease, but the Lenape remained vital.

18. Shawnee's Reservation  a detailed site on Shawnee History

19. Shawnee History by Lee Sultzman. . Part of First Nations Histories

20. Marjorie Hudson, Among the Tuscarora: The Strange and Mysterious Death of John Lawson, Gentleman, Explorer, and Writer,  North Carolina Literary Review, 1992 [transcribed at East North Carolina Digital History Exhibits]

21. Chief Logan: Friend, Foe or Fiction?  by Ronald R. Wenning.  The Journal of the Lycoming County Historical Society, Volume XXXVII, Number 1, Fall, 1997

22. Mingo Indians part of The Allegheny Regional Family History Society's Web pages

23. Weiser, Shikellamy and the Walking Purchase By  Al Zagofsky
 

24. Conrad Weiser from the   Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

25. The Walking Purchase from   Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

26. James Logan , Mingo Indian from The American National Biography, published by Oxford University Press under the auspices
 of the American Council of Learned Societies.

27. The Lineage of Mother Bedford from Mother Bedford ,  a website devoted primarily to the history of Old-Bedford County, Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War period.
28.   Year 1736.  part of the webpage entitled "Ben Franklin :A  Documentary History"  by J A Leo Lemay , English Department , Professor University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.

29. Shawnee' entry from Hodge's Handbook Abstract: The 'Shawnee' entry from Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, edited by Frederick
Webb Hodge (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. GPO: 1910.)

30. sample chapter of At the Crossroads  Indians and Empires on a Mid-Atlantic Frontier, 1700-1763
by Jane T. Merritt [book content , availability and sample chapter  viewable and obtained via The University of North Carolina Press]
 
 
 

Not sure where I use the following here: numbered 1 like 1 above, but not used so far that I can see, and if so, should have another number

1. (New Jersey) Extract from  The Indian Tribes of North America  by John R. Swanton.  Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145ó1953. [726 pagesóSmithsonian Institution] (pp. 48-55). Presented in pages of the Northern Plains Archive Project web site.
 
 

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