Moingwena Indians. The name (the etymology of which is doubtful) of a small tribe of the Illinois confederacy, closely affiliated with the Peoria. The name was applied also to the villages in which they resided. The first recorded notice of the tribe is by Marquette in the account of his descent of the Mississippi with Joliet in 1673, when he found them residing in the vicinity of the Peoria village on the west side of the Mississippi near the mouth of the Des Moines. Franquelin’s map of 1688 gives the name of the river as “Mingana,” and marks the Indian village of “Moingoana” on it. When Marquette returned from the south in 1674, he passed up Illinois river and found the Peoria in the vicinity of Lake Peoria, the tribe having removed hither after his descent the previous year. He does not mention the Moingwena in this connection, but from the fact that Gravier found them with the Peoria in this locality in 1700, it is presumed that they migrated thither with the latter tribe. As no mention is made of them after this time they probably were incorporated with the Peoria, thus losing their tribal distinction.
