LAWRENCE: Before settlers, Lenape Indians were here first

Lawrence Township history buffs are familiar with the names of the early English settlers — Brearley, Phillips, Hunt, Anderson and Mershon.

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Lawrence Township history buffs are familiar with the names of the early English settlers — Brearley, Phillips, Hunt, Anderson and Mershon.
   On the other hand, the names Hoham, Weweenoting, Shawonna, Mehekishue, Lummaseecon, Teptaopamu and Nahusing may not ring a bell.
   But they should, because these are the Lenape Indian chiefs who sold their land to agents of Dr. Daniel Coxe in the 1680s. He sold the land to the English settlers in Maidenhead Township, as Lawrence was originally known.
   Archeologist Jim Wade outlined the history of the Lenape Indians’ settlement in Lawrence Township and central New Jersey last week at the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library System. It was co-sponsored by the Friends of the Lawrence Library and the Lawrence Historical Society.
   Mr. Wade worked as a special project assistant at the New Jersey State Museum, researching the 17th- and 18th-century central New Jersey land deeds of the Lenape Indians. He copied the deeds, which were recorded from 1665 to 1802.
   ”Lenape means ‘common or ordinary folk or people’ — the people who were common around here,” Mr. Wade said. It was not intended to be a derogatory term. The Indians had lived in central New Jersey for thousands of years.
   Most of the Lenape Indians lived along the Shabakunk, Shipetaukin and Assunpink creeks, although there were three Indian villages — Assunpink, along the Delaware River in Trenton; Wishalemensey in Hopewell Township; and Nishalemensey near Lambertville, Mr. Wade said.
   The villages were small, consisting of six or eight wigwams that measured 25 feet by 12 feet or 15 feet, he said. Inside, there were platforms that served as beds, and shelves for personal possessions. There was a food storage pit that was about five or six feet deep. It was covered with bark to keep wild animals away, he said.
   Although there was no Lenape Indian village in Lawrence Township, the Lenape Indians carved a major trail through the township. That trail, which was only three feet wide, is today’s Route 206.
   The Indians moved from place to place as the seasons changed, Mr. Wade said. During the spring, they moved closer to the Delaware River to catch fish. In the winter, they moved inland to the Sourland Mountains to find nuts — chestnuts, acorns and hickory — to eat. They also grew corn, squash and beans.
   The men hunted, using spears and later on, bows and arrows. Deer was the main animal that they hunted, Mr. Wade said. The Indians held their own version of Thanksgiving in early October, which lasted about 12 days. They would gather in a large wigwam for a prayer ceremony, asking the creator and the spirits to continue to bless them.
   When the Europeans arrived, they bought the land from the Indians, Mr. Wade said. The earliest deeds that he copied were dated from 1665, when the English assumed control of the colony from the Dutch. They were written on vellum, which is animal skin. Around 1700, the colonists switched to writing deeds on parchment.
   The Indians did not sign the deeds with their names, as the Englishmen did, he said. They signed with a symbol, such as the sun or a snake, to signify their names. When they were asked to pronounce their names, the scribe wrote it down. There was no consistency in spelling the Indians’ names, because each scribe spelled it differently.
   The early English settlers were not interested in the Indians, he said. They only wanted to know whether they could legally buy the land. Agents for Dr. Coxe bought land in modern-day Lawrence Township, neighboring portions of Ewing Township, and western Princeton. In turn, he sold the land to the settlers.
   Meanwhile, the Indians did not know they were giving up their land, Mr. Wade said. They thought they were sharing the land with the English settlers, and only learned that they had relinquished their rights later on. If they wanted to go back to their land to hunt, they discovered they could not do so.
   ”This was devastating for the people who had lived here for hundreds of thousands of years,” Mr. Wade said. “They finally learned what the deeds meant. Once the Indians began to realize what the deeds meant, they came back for revenge and burned the farmsteads.”
   The Indians were forced to move off the land they had sold to the English settlers, Mr. Wade said. Some moved westward to Pennsylvania and eventually to Oklahoma. Other Lenape Indians moved to New York State, at the invitation of the Iroquois Indians, he said.