New York

Moravian Tribe

Moravian Indians. Mahican, Munsee, and Delaware who followed the teachings of the Moravian brethren and were by them gathered into villages apart from their tribes. The majority were Munsee. In 1740 the Moravian missionaries began their work at the Mahican village of Shekomeko in New York. Meeting with many obstacles there, they removed with their converts in 1746 to Pennsylvania, where they built the new mission village of Friedenshuetten on the Susquehanna. Here they were more successful and were largely recruited from the Munsee and Delaware, almost all of the former tribe not absorbed by the Delaware finally joining them. … Read more

Conoy Tribe

Conoy Indians. An Algonquian tribe, related to the Delawares, from whose ancestral stem they apparently sprang, but their closest relations were with the Nanticoke, with whom it is probable they were in late prehistoric times united, the two forming a single tribe, while their language is supposed to have been somewhat closely allied to that spoken in Virginia by the Powhatan. Heckewelder believed them to be identical with the Kanawha, who gave the name to the chief river of West Virginia. Although Brinton calls this “a loose guess,” the names Conoy, Ganawese, etc., seem to be forms of Kanawha Conoy … Read more

Brotherton Tribe

Brotherton Indians. The name of two distinct bands, each formed of remnants of various Algonquian tribes. The best-known band was composed of individuals of the Mahican, Wappinger, Mohegan, Pequot, Narraganset, etc., of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and of the Montauk and others from Long Island, who settled in 1788 on land given them by the Oneida at the present Marshall, Oneida County, New York, near the settlement then occupied by the Stockbridge. Those of New England were mainly from Farmington, Stonington, Groton, Mohegan, and Niantic (Lyme), in Connecticut, and from Charlestown in Rhode Island. They all went under the leadership … Read more

Metoac Tribe

Metoac Indians (contraction of Meht-anaw-ack, ‘land of the ear-shell or periwinkle. Tooker). A collective term embracing the Indians of Long Island, New York, who seem to have been divided into the following tribes, subtribes, or bands: Canarsee, Corchaug, Manhasset, Massapequa, Matinecoc, Merric, Montauk, Nesaquake, Patchoag, Rockaway, Secatoag, Setauket, and Shinnecock. There were besides these some minor bands or villages which have received special designations. They were closely connected linguistically and politically, and were probably derived from the same immediate ethnic stein. Ruttenber classes them as branches of the Mahican. The Montauk, who formed the leading tribe in the eastern part … Read more

Matinecoc Tribe

Matinecoc Indians. An Algonquian tribe which formerly inhabited the northwest coast of Long Island, New York, from Newtown, Queens county, to Smithtown, Suffolk county. They had villages at Flushing, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, and Cow Harbor, but even before the intrusion of the whites they had become greatly reduced, probably through wars with the Iroquois, to whom they paid tribute. In 1650 Secretary Van Tienhoven reported but 50 families left of this once important tribe. Ruttenber includes them in his Montauk group, which is about equivalent to Metoac; but the interrelationship of the tribes in the western part of … Read more

Mohegan Tribe

Mohegan Indians (from maïngan, ‘wolf.’ Trumbull). An Algonquian tribe whose chief seat appears originally to have been on Thames river, Conn., in the north part of New London county. They claimed as their proper country all the territory watered by the Thames and its branches north to within 8 or 10 miles of the Massachusetts line, and by conquest a considerable area extending north and east into Massachusetts and Rhode Island, occupied by the Wabaquasset and Nipmuc. On the west their dominion extended along the coast to East river, near Guilford, Conn. After the destruction of the Pequot in 1637 … Read more

New York Indian Agencies and Schools

Agencies and Schools listed below are what were listed for the state.  Slight indent after an Agency list all schools in that jurisdiction. New York Agency, New York. Post-office: Salamanca, New York. Telegraph address: Salamanca, New York; Postal and Western Union; delivered by messenger; time, 2 minutes. Railroad station: Salamanca, New York, on main line Erie Rwy.; main line Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg Rwy., and Allegheny Valley Division of Pennsylvania Rwy.

Notes on the Iroquois

King Hendrick - Iroquois

Notes on the Iroquois is an official report to the government on the possibilities of civilizing the Iroquois. In the face of facts which depress all others, Schoolcraft is full of high hope that these Indians may be once and for all leaving hunting and farming. He finds the Iroquois increasing in numbers, stabilizing the organization of their society, and improving as individuals.

Line of David Abeel

David Abeel, Patriot of the Revolution, eldest son of Capt. David and Mary (Duyckinck) Abeel, was born in Albany, 1727. He married July 2, 1752, Neiltje, daughter of Garret Van Bergen and Annatje Meyer. He settled in Catskill as early as 1754. In 1771 he obtained a patent for one thousand acres of land “on the west side of and adjoining the brook called the Caterskill, at a place called the Bak-Oven.” This estate was within the bounds of the Catskill Patent, and was formerly owned by Abeel’s father-in-law. They had issue: Annatie, born in Albany, March, 1753; died in … Read more

Descendants of Johannes Abeel

Johannes Abeel Eldest son of Christopher Janse (Croom) Abeel, was born in Albany, March 23, 1667, died Jan. 28, 1711. He was a prosperous merchant, and was elected mayor of Albany, 1694-5. He removed to New Amsterdam and lived there for a time and on his return to Albany was elected a member of the Assembly in 1701; and in 1709 was again elected mayor of Albany. He married April 10, 1694, Catharine, daughter of David Schuyler, who, with his brother Pieterse, came from Amsterdam in 1650, and settled at Fort Orange. David Schuyler, the younger of the two, married … Read more

Abeel and Allied Families

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Recent discoveries relating to the Abeel family, of which little has hitherto been known, have brought to light certain facts which have an important bearing on the Revolutionary period of our country’s history. The Genealogy of the Williamson and Abeel families, compiled by James A.Williamson, proves conclusively that the famous “Cornplanter” of the Seneca Tribe of the Six Nations was a direct descendant of Christopher Janse Abeel, the founder of this old Holland family in America. The faithful mother, who so carefully provided for her son’s welfare, little dreamed of the influence that would be exerted by him and his … Read more

Willem Willemsen Genealogy

Willem Willemsen Willem Willemsen, the Long Island ancestor, was born in Holland in 1637, came to New Amsterdam in the ship Concorde in 1657, and settled at Gravesend, L.L., where his name appears on the tax list of 1683, and on the census of Gravesend in 1698. He took the oath of allegiance to England in 1687. In the allotment of lands, 1670, he drew lot 32, and received another portion in 1700. In his will dated Dec.1, 1721, recorded in the surrogate’s office, New York (p. 288, liber 9), and other contemporaneous documents he signs his name Willem Willemsen. … Read more

Saponi Tribe

Saponi Indians. One of the eastern Siouan tribes, formerly living in North Carolina and Virginia, but now extinct. The tribal name was occasionally applied to the whole group of Ft Christanna tribes, also occasionally included under Tutelo. That this tribe belonged to the Siouan stock has been placed beyond doubt by the investigations of Hale and Mooney. Their language appears to have been the same as the Tutelo to the extent that the people of the two tribes could readily understand each other. Mooney has shown that the few Saponi words recorded are Siouan. Lederer mentions a war in which … Read more

Shinnecock Tribe

Shinnecock Indians. An Algonquian tribe or band on Long Island, New York, formerly occupying the south coast from Shinnecock Bay to Montauk Point. Many of them joined the Brotherton Indians in New York. About 150 still remain on a reservation of 750 acres, 3 miles west of Southampton, having intermarried with Negroes until their aboriginal character is almost obliterated. Nowedonah, brother of the noted Wyandanch, was once their chief, and on his death his sister, wife of Cockenoe, became his successor. In Dec. 1876, 28 Shinnecock men lost their lives in an attempt to save a ship stranded off Easthampton, … Read more

Pocomtuc Tribe

Pocomtuc Indians, Deerfield Indians. A tribe formerly living on Deerfield and Connecticut rivers, in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Their principal village, of the same name, was near the present Deerfield, and they were frequently known as Deerfield Indians. They had a fort on Fort Dill in the same vicinity, which was destroyed by the Mohawk after a hard battle in 1666. They were an important tribe, and seem to have ruled overall the other Indians of the Connecticut Valley within the limits of Massachusetts, including those at Agawam, Nonotue, and Squawkeag. They combined with the Narraganset and Tunxis in the attacks … Read more

Nipmuc Tribe

Nipmuc Indians (from Nipamaug, ‘fresh-water fishing place’). The inland tribes of central Massachusetts living chiefly in the south part of Worcester county, extending into Connecticut and Rhode Island. Their chief seats were on the headwaters of Blackstone and Quinebaug rivers, and about the ponds of Brookfield. Hassanamesit seems to have been their principal village in 1674, but their villages had no apparent political connection, and the different parts of their territory were subject to their more powerful neighbors, the Massachuset, Wampanoag, Narraganset, and Mohegan, and even tributary to the Mohawk. The Nashua, dwelling farther north, are sometimes classed with the … Read more

Montauk Tribe

David Pharaoh, "Last King of the Montauk"

Montauk Indians (meaning uncertain). A term that has been used in different senses, sometimes limited to the particular hand or tribe known by this name, but in a broader sense including most of the tribes of Long Island, excepting those about the west end. It is occasionally used incorrectly as equivalent to Metoac. The Indians of Long Island were closely related to the Indians of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Tooker says that the dialect of the Montauk was more nearly related to the Natick of Massachusetts than was the Narraganset. The Montauk, in the limited sense, formerly occupied Easthampton township, Suffolk … Read more

Manhattan Tribe

Manhattan Indians (‘the hill island,’ or ‘the island of hills,’ from manah ‘island’, –atin ‘hill.’ Tooker). A tribe of the Wappinger confederacy that occupied Manhattan Island and the east bank of Hudson river and shore of Long Island Sound, in Westchester County, New York. Early Dutch writers applied the name also to people of neighboring Wappinger tribes. The Manhattan had their principal village, Nappeckamack, where Yonkers now stands, and their territory stretched to Bronx river. From their fort, Nipinichsen, on the north bank of Spuyten Duyvil creek, they sallied out in two canoes to attack Hendrik Hudson when he returned … Read more