New York

Tuscarora Tribe

Tuscarora Indians, Tuscarora Nation (Skurū’rěn’, ‘hemp gatherers,’ the Apocynum cunnabinum, or Indian hemp, being a plant of many uses among the Carolina Tuscarora; the native form of this appellative is impersonal, there being no expressed pronominal affix to indicate person, number, or gender). Formerly an important confederation of tribes, speaking languages cognate with those of the Iroquoian linguistic group, and dwelling, when first encountered, on the Roanoke, Neuse, Taw (Torhunta or Narhontes), and Pamlico Rivers., North Carolina.

Stockbridge Tribe

Stockbridge Indians. A tribe of the Mahican confederacy, first known under the name Housatonic. They occupied part of the valley of Housatonic river, in south Berkshire county, Mass. Their principal village, Westenhuck, was for a long time the capital of the Mahican after the removal of the council fire from Schodac. They had another village at Skatehook. In 1734 Sergeant began missionary work among them, and two years later the several bands were collected on a tract reserved for their use by the Colonial government. After the village of Stockbridge was established they were known as Stockbridge Indians. The French … Read more

Seneca Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Blacksnake Blacksnake (Thaonawyuthe, ‘needle or awl breaker’). A chief, about the close of the 18th century, of the Seneca Indians, who lived on their reservation along the Alleghany River in Cattaraugus County, New York. His residence was a mile above the village of Cold Spring. The date of his birth is not known, but is supposed to have been about 1760, as it is stated that in 1856 he had reached the age of 96 years. He was present on the English side at the battle of Oriskany, N. Y., in 1777, and it is said that he participated in the … Read more

Seneca Tribe

Seneca Tribe: A prominent and influential tribe of the Iroquois. When first known they occupied that part of western New York between Seneca Lake and Geneva River, having their council fire at Tsonontowan, near Naples, in Ontario county.

New York Indian Reservations

A list of New York Indian reservations showing the Indian tribes the land was set aside for, the amount of acres if known, and the acts, treaties, and executive orders used to establish the reservation.

Onondaga Tribe

Onondaga Indians, Onondaga Nation, Onondaga First Nation, Onondaga People (Onoñtǎ’´ge‘,’on, or on top of, the hill or mountain’). An important tribe of the Iroquois confederation, formerly living on the mountain, lake, and creek bearing their name, in the present Onondaga County, New York, and extending northward to Lake Ontario and southward perhaps to the waters of the Susquehanna. In the Iroquois councils they are known as Hodiseñnageta, ‘they (are) the name bearers.’ Their principal village, also the capital of the confederation, was called Onondaga, later Onondaga Castle; it was situated from before 1654 to 1681 on Indian hill, in the … Read more

Oneida Tribe

A tribe of the Iroquois confederation, formerly occupying the country south of Oneida Lake, Oneida county, N. Y., and latterly including the upper waters of the Susquehanna.

Caughnawaga Tribe

Ahyouwaighs

Caughnawaga Indians (Gă-hnă-wă-‘ge, ‘at the rapids’ ). Caughnawaga is an Iroquois settlement on the Sault St Louis on St Lawrence River, Quebec. The majority of the emigrants came from the Oneida and Mohawk, and the Mohawk tongue, somewhat modified, became the speech of the whole body of this village. The Iroquois made several unsuccessful efforts to induce the converts to return to the confederacy, and finally renounced them in 1684, from which time Caughnawaga became an important auxiliary of the French in their wars with the English and the Iroquois.

Western Niantic Tribe

Western Niantic Indians. An Algonquian tribe formerly occupying the coast of Connecticut from Niantic bay to the Connecticut river. De Forest concluded that they once formed one tribe with the Rhode Island Niantic, which was cut in two by the Pequot invasion. Their principal village, also called Niantic, was near the present town of that name. They were subject to the Pequot, and had no political connection with the eastern Niantic. They were nearly destroyed in the Pequot war of 1637, and at its close the survivors were placed under the rule of the Mohegan. They numbered about 100 in … Read more

Mohawk Tribe

Mohawk Indians (cognate with the Narraganset Mohowaùuck, ‘they eat (animate) things,’ hence ‘man-eaters’) The most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation.  They called themselves Kaniengehaga, ‘people of the place of the flint.’ In the federal council and in other intertribal assemblies the Mohawk sit with the tribal phratry, which is formally called the “Three Elder Brothers” and of which the other members are the Seneca and the Onondaga.  Like the Oneida, the Mohawk have only 3 clans, namely, the Bear, the Wolf, and the Turtle. The tribe is represented in the federal council by 9 chiefs of the rank of … Read more

Cayuga Tribe

Cayuga Indians (Kwĕñio’gwĕb;, the place where locusts were taken out–Hewitt). A tribe of the Iroquoian confederation, formerly occupying the shores of Cayuga Lake, New York. Its local council was composed of 4 clan phratries, and this form became the pattern, tradition says; of that of the confederation of the Five Nations of the Iroquois, in which the Cayuga had 10 delegates.  In 1660 they were estimated to number 1,500 and in 1778, 1,100.  At the beginning of the American Revolution a large part of the tribe removed to Canada and never returned, while the rest were scattered among the other … Read more

Iroquois Tribe

Iroquois Indians, Iroquois People, Iroquois First Nation (Algonkin: Irinakhoiw, ‘real adders’, with the French suffix –ois). The confederation of Iroquoian tribes known in history, among other names, by that of the Five Nations, comprising the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca. Their name for themselves as a political body was Oñgwanonsioñni’, ‘we are of the extended lodge.’ Among the Iroquoian tribes kinship is traced through the blood of the woman only; kinship means membership in a family, and this in turn constitutes citizenship in the tribe, conferring certain social, political, and religious privileges, duties, and rights which are denied to … Read more

Huron Tribe

Encampment among the Islands of Lake Huron

Commonly known as the Huron Tribe, Huron Indians, Huron People, Huron First Nation, Wyandot Tribe, and Wyandot Indians (Huron – lexically from French huré, bristly,’ ‘bristled,’ from hure, rough hair’ (of the head), head of man or beast, wild boar’s head; old French, ‘muzzle of the wolf, lion,’ etc., ‘the scalp,’ ‘a wig’; Norman French, huré, ‘rugged’; Roumanian, hurée, ‘rough earth,’ and the suffix –on, expressive of depreciation and employed to form nouns referring to persons). The name Huron, frequently with an added epithet, like vilain, ‘base,’ was in use in France as early as 1358 as a name expressive … Read more

Erie Tribe

A populous sedentary Iroquoian tribe, inhabiting in the 17th century the territory extending south from Lake Erie probably to Ohio river, east to the lands of the Conestoga along the east watershed of Allegheny river and to those of the Seneca along the line of the west watershed of Genesee river, and north to those of the Neutral Nation, probably on a line running eastward from the head of Niagara river (for the Jesuit Relation for 1640-41 says that the territory of the Erie and their allies joined that of the Neutral Nation at the end of Lake Erie), and west to the west watershed of Lake Erie and Miami river to Ohio river.

Wappinger Indian Divisions

Sub-tribes, bands and divisions of the Wappinger Tribe of Indians. Kitchawak Kitchawak (perhaps akin to Chippewa Kichŭchǐwǐnk ‘at the great niybtaub.’ (W. Jones). Apparently a band or small tribe, or, as Ruttenber designates it, a “chieftaincy” of the Wappinger confederacy, formerly residing on the east bank of the Hudson in what is now Westchester County, New York. Their territory is believed to have extended from Croton river to Anthony’s Nose.  Their principal village, Kitchawank, in 1650, appears to have been about the mouth of the Croton, though one authority locates it at Sleepy Hollow.  They also had a village at … Read more

Wappinger Tribe

Wappinger Indians (‘easterners,’ from the same root as Abnaki). A confederacy of Algonquian tribes, formerly occupying the east bank of Hudson River from Poughkeepsie to Manhattan Island. and the country extending east beyond Connecticut River, Conn. They were closely related to the Mahican on the north and the Delaware on the south. According to Ruttenber their totem was the wolf. They were divided into 9 tribes: Wappinger proper Manhattan Wecquaesgeek Sintsink Kitchawank Tankiteke Nochpeem Siwanoy Mattabesec Some of these were again divided into subtribes. The eastern bands never came into collision with the Connecticut settlers. Gradually selling their lands as … Read more

Lenape Tribe

Lenape Tribe, Lenape Indians, Lenape People, Delaware Indians, Delaware tribe, Delaware People, Lenni-Lenape, Lenni-Lenapi People, Lenni-Lenape Tribe, Lenni-Lenape Indians. A confederacy, formerly the most important of the Algonquian stock, occupying the entire basin of Delaware river in east Pennsylvania and south New York, together with most of New Jersey and Delaware. They called themselves Lenape or Leni-lenape, equivalent to ‘real men,’ or ‘native, genuine men’; the English knew them as Delaware, from the name of their principal river; the French called them Loups, ‘wolves,’ a term probably applied originally to the Mahican on Hudson rivers, afterward extended to the Munsee … Read more

Delaware Indian Tribe Villages

The following is an alphabetical list of known villages of the Delaware Tribe: Achsinnink Ahasimus (Unami ?) Alamingo Allaquippa Alleghany Anderson’s Town Aquackanonk Au Glaize Bald Eagle’s Nest Beaversville Beavertown Bethlehem (Moravian) Black Hawk Black Leg’s Village Buckstown Bullets Town (?) Cashiehtunk (Munsee ?) Catawaweshink(?) Chikohoki (Unalachtigo) Chilohocki (?) Chinklacamoose (?) Clistowacka Communipaw (Hackensack) Conemaugh (?) Coshocton Crossweeksung Custaloga’s Town Edgpiiliik Eriwonec Frankstown (?) Friedenshuetten (Moravian) Friedensstadt (Moravian) Gekelemukpechuenk Gnadenhuetten (Moravian) Goshgoshunk Grapevine Town (?) Greentown (?) Gweghkongh (Unami?) Hespatingh (Unami?) Hickorytown Hockhocken Hogstown (?) Hopocan Jacob’s Cabins (?) Jeromestown (?) Kalbauvane(?) Kanestio Kanhanghton Katamoonchink (?) Kickenapawling (?) Kiktheswemud (?) … Read more