Category: Delaware Tribe

Contributed to the Coshocton Tribune

COSHOCTON — Jack Walker III took first place in the 2021 Mary Harris Prizes essay contest for non-fiction writing.

The awards are annually sponsored by Scott Butler and are to encourage the study and better understanding of Coshocton’s frontier history. It’s open to persons of any age who reside or work in Coshocton County, including students whose permanent home is in the county. The essays are judged double-blind by Butler and an out-of-state panel of individuals.

In Walker’s “A Living Document,” he describes the importance of avoiding personal bias when it comes to writing non-fiction. He also explores the need to accept that revisions and objectivity are needed when it comes to writing non-fiction, a task that can be difficult when facing history that has been accepted as the truth for long periods. Walker weaves this into his journey of researching his family’s genealogy. Ultimately, he describes history as a living document, something that is always open to change as discoveries are uncovered.

Second place was split between three entrants. Robbie Khel’s “The Bug” detailed a string of fires in Roscoe in 1912. Martha Richardson’s “John Chapman: Pleasure or Profit?” questioned the motivations behind the actions of the man known as Johnny Appleseed. Jennifer Wilkes’ “Pike Township, Coshocton County: A History” tells the story of the southwest corner of Coshocton County from the frontier and its wildlife, the first settlers, to the growth of the township. 

Four essays received honorable mentions. They were Annalissa Hankinson’s “The Delaware Tribe of Coshocton County,” Dana M. Kittner’s “Human Trafficking in North American: A firsthand account by John Leith,” Verlyn Miller’s “Religious History of the Delaware and Moravians” and Christine Sycks’ “Where Paths of Others Lead.”

Submitted by Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum.

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Andrew Joseph “Andy” Lyons Sr., 64, of Millville, passed away suddenly at home Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. He was born in Teaneck, N.J., son of the late John Frederick Lyons of Upper Saddle River, N.J., and the late Muriel Grace Brennan Lyons of West Palm Beach, Fla.

Lyons graduated from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., where he was a tackle on the football team. Over the years, he worked in all types of construction, building custom homes. He built entire communities, roads, sewer and water projects, a water tower and many types of commercial buildings, including wastewater treatment plants, banks, an AT&T telephone exchange and an operating room. He did several commercial historical renovations. The one thing that he always wanted to build was a bridge, but he built many in other ways.

Lyons started one of the first home-inspection businesses in the area, was at one time the code enforcement officer for the City of Lewes and for the Town of Frankford, and had been on the board of adjustment for the Town of Millville. He finally found out what he wanted to be when he grew up after the birth of his first grandchild – “Grandpa.”

Over the years, he also served the community in many ways. He was a member of the Lord Baltimore Lions Club, of which he was president from 1987 to 1988. He was a Sunday school teacher and MYF leader at Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church in Ocean View. He worked with the FACES grant program, and worked with Troop 281 of the Boy Scouts. Lyons was a charter member of Contractors for a Cause.

He was also a dedicated volunteer with Lower Sussex Little League, where over the years he was an umpire, coached all three of his children and served…

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COURTESY OF THE JOHNSON HUMERICK HOUSE MUSEUM  |  The Times-Reporter

The Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum recently announced the 2021 winners of The Mary Harris Prizes for nonfiction writing.  

The goal of the competition, sponsored by Coshocton native Scott Butler, is to encourage the study and better understanding of Coshocton’s frontier history. It’s open to people of any age who reside or work in Coshocton County, including students whose permanent home is in Coshocton County. The essays are judged double-blind by Butler and an out-of-state panel of individuals. 

This year’s first place winner was Jack Walker III with his essay “A Living Document.” Walker describes the importance of avoiding personal bias when it comes to writing nonfiction and explores the need to accept that revisions and objectivity are needed when it comes to writing nonfiction. He focuses on his journey of researching his family’s genealogy through an objective lens. 

Second place was split between three entrants, Robbie Khel’s “The Bug,” Martha Richardson’s “John Chapman: Pleasure or Profit?” and Jennifer Wilkes’ “Pike Township, Coshocton County: A History.” 

Kehl wrote an essay detailing a string of fires in Roscoe in 1912, where he describes the history of several fires that plagued the town. Richardson wrote about John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, and brings to question the motivations behind his actions. Wilkes wrote about the story of the southwest corner of Coshocton County from the frontier and its wildlife, the first settlers and the growth of the township.  

Four essays received honorable mentions, including Annalissa Hankinson with “The Delaware Tribe of Coshocton County”; Dana M. Kittner, with “Human Trafficking in North American: A firsthand account by John Leith”; Verlyn Miller, with “Religious History of the Delaware and Moravians”; and Christine Sycks, with “Where Paths of Others Lead.” 

For information: 740-622-8710; jhmuseum@jhmuseum.org. 

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One of Philadelphia’s salient features is the grid pattern of our streets as originally laid out by William Penn and Thomas Holme. There are, though, some major thoroughfares that deviate from the norm. Ridge Avenue, Germantown Avenue, and Passyunk Avenue interrupt the orderly Philly lattice. Each of these roads share something in common: they were originally Indian trails that had been established long before William Penn or any other Europeans had come to this land. Although Philadelphia’s population today is only .36 percent Native American, our land was once home to a flourishing and expansive Indian community.

In January 2020, the Museum of Indian Culture in Allentown opened a Historic Preservation Office to help members of the Delaware Nation connect to their ancestral homeland. To celebrate this event, a map of the Delaware Valley prior to European settlement was driven from Pennsylvania to the Delaware Nation, now based in Oklahoma. Photos of the map intrigued me, so I set out to learn more about its origins and purpose.

The Coaquannock Map

The Works Progress Administration published the little-known Coaquannock map in 1934. | Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The full title of the map recently gifted to the Delaware Nation is Philadelphia Region when known as Coaquannock “Grove of Tall Pines” AND AS FIRST SEEN BY THE WHITE MEN. WITH INDIAN VILLAGES, ABORIGINAL NAMES OF LOCALITIES, STREAMS AND ISLANDS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has three original copies of the map, and I recently visited their reading room to take a closer look. 

An inscription below the map indicates that it was published in 1934 and had been prepared using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA),…

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East Stroudsburg University  |  Special to Pocono Record

An East Stroudsburg University honors program student is using modern technology to educate others about an ancient culture in a new exhibit.

Emily Serpico, a senior history and communication double major who is also pursuing a business writing certificate, utilized 3D technology to replicate several artifacts from Greene Dreher Historical Society for her honors thesis project, currently on display in Stroud Hall. The exhibit, Living Legacies: Community Connections, is the result of several months of work in which Serpico teamed up with Susan Bachor, Delaware Tribe Historic Preservation Office and ESU instructor of history and geography; Darlene Farris-LaBar, ESU professor and chair of art + design; and students such as art + design major, James Holloway, by lending various areas of expertise, including 3D scanning and 3D printing.

The exhibit allowed Serpico to apply her various skill sets and take a hands-on approach to her studies. She honed her cataloguing and researching skills during her internship with Bachor last summer, and she currently works at the Schisler Museum of Wildlife and Natural History and McMunn Planetarium. Her supervisor at the museum, Cathy Klingler, did some consulting work on the project. “It came together pretty naturally,” Serpico said.

The exhibit timeline was aggressive, according to Bachor: “The initial brainchild happened in the spring. We wanted to have what Emily was already doing incorporated into her thesis so it wasn’t overwhelming. She ended up designing this project and exhibit. It took about 8-9 months, which is a short time for an exhibit. That’s a very demanding timeline that Emily held to. November is Indigenous People’s Month and we had the Assistant Chief visit us on campus, and this helped us stick to the timeline.”

Serpico’s exhibit includes replicated projectile points, a Delaware blanket, buckskin pelts, a map, and a collection of minerals. Many of…

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Joe Malinconico  |  Paterson Press

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Paterson NJ Great Falls during a rainfall

The Great Falls, in Paterson, is shown as it rains, Sunday, April 11, 2021.

Kevin R. Wexler, NorthJersey.com

PATERSON — An archeologist will monitor the construction of a new $26 million affordable housing complex at the Argus Mill site near the Great Falls as part of a tentative agreement designed to prevent the destruction of 19th century artifacts.

At present, most of the location in question is covered by an asphalt parking lot at the corner of Van Houten and Mill streets.

But experts say that beneath the surface of that parking lot loom the remains of mill workers’ homes from the start of the city’s Dublin neighborhood in the 1830s.

The foundation of a house where the Colt family lived almost 200 years ago as their Paterson gun mill produced legendary Colt .45 revolvers may also lay buried beneath the asphalt.

At one point, state historic preservation officials were also concerned about the new development’s impact on Native American artifacts and required the builder to seek the blessings of the Delaware and Shawnee tribes before proceeding. The Delaware tribe had no objections, while the Shawnee declined to comment on the issue, according to public documents

City and state officials this week…

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Biden protects Native American site, boost safety

President Joe Biden signs a “long overdue” order improving public safety and offering justice to Native Americans, along with seeking a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling on Chaco Canyon, in northwestern New Mexico. (Nov. 15)

AP

An Oklahoma tribe will require employees to become vaccinated against COVID-19 “without exception,” its chairman announced in a terse, one-page letter to employees. 

“The Citizen Potawatomi Nation no longer chooses to allow unvaccinated employees to touch and breathe on our children in the daycare, prepare food and serve it to our elders or cough and sneeze infected mucus and snot at work,” longtime Chairman John “Rocky” Barrett wrote. 

The tribe operates several businesses near its home base in Shawnee, east of Oklahoma City, including the Grand Casino Hotel and Resort and Firelake Discount Foods. It also has extensive government offices and two clinics.

Land vote:After decades of tension, Citizen Potawatomi, city of Shawnee pledge new start 

In his letter sent Tuesday, Barrett said workers at the tribe’s health care facilities must become vaccinated by Dec. 4. Other employees have until Dec. 31. Those who opt not to get the shots will “face termination,” he said. 

Barrett said in a statement that it was his responsibility “to make decisions…

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[]Oklahoma tribes to receive over $7 million from HUD for COVID relief | KOKHPlease ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes ofwebsite accessibility Continue reading

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time for appreciating, recognizing and paying tribute to the Indigenous people whose land this country was wrongfully founded on.

The history of the relationship between Native Americans and the European settlers who landed on their shores has been notoriously white-washed. Over time, many attempts have been made to erase not only their plight at the hands of the settlers but also their contributions to America’s progress.

Despite the inextricable relevance of Indigenous presences in America, many people know next to nothing about the history of the specific tribes who live in their region.

The Lenape people, also known as the Delaware Tribe, lived and still do live in the area that now encompasses New Jersey, Delaware and parts of Pennsylvania and New York. But when colonists began to arrive in the early 17th century, the Lenape were tricked out of their land by white settlers and forced to leave their homes, ending up displaced thousands of miles away in an allocated area of Kansas. Despite this, almost all of the eligible Delaware men voluntarily enlisted in the Union effort during the Civil War, even as white trespassers stole from them and unlawfully occupied their land.

This is obviously admirable, but Native Americans should not need to be heroes to be celebrated and acknowledged. It is enough that they were here first, as sovereign nations, and still they have not been given the attention or respect they deserve.

Montclair State University has a somewhat turbulent history when it comes to its relationship with Native American heritage and culture. During the 1930s, Montclair State’s athletic logo was changed from a simple red “M” to a stereotypical profile of a Native American chief, and the team name was changed in…

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Longform

The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania is fighting for governmental recognition — despite pushback from other Lenape tribes — raising big questions about who gets to call themselves Native and how the state views its history.

Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!

Lenape tribal member Rick Quiet Hawk Welker, photographed at a powwow at Mauch Chunk Lake. Photograph by Kevin York

It’s a muggy mid-September Sunday, and kayakers and vacationing families are taking in the calm waters of Mauch Chunk Lake, a small reservoir in the southern Poconos. While beachgoers lounge on the sand and watch eagles cruise above the trees, another group is gathered a few hundred yards up the shore for an even more traditional lakeside activity: a Native American powwow. The reverberation of drumbeats, along with the smell of burning sage and barbecue, hangs in the humid air, floating across the parking lot between the powwow and the beach.

Many of the people dancing, chatting and celebrating at the powwow claim ancestral connections to the Lenape (leh-NAH-pay), the Indigenous people of the Delaware Valley. Some are dressed in full regalia, wearing head-to-toe beads and painted feathers, attracting stares from those who came to Mauch Chunk Lake for swimming or a hike. They gawk, open-mouthed. Some take pictures. It’s as if the last thing they expected to see on their weekend trip to the Poconos was the people who lived here first.

It’s a common belief that there are no longer any Lenape (sometimes called Delaware Indians, the name given to them by European colonists) in Pennsylvania. It is widely presumed that every single Lenape person was forcibly relocated to…

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