Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.djvu/33

COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES —the one from Wyoming to the forks of the Delaware, at Easton. To all other points the trail along the Susquehanna was not only the great Indian thoroughfare for the natives of the valley, but for the whole Iroquois confederacy.

MADAME MONTOUR

From authentic sources the story of Madame Montour is as follows: She was the daughter of a French gentleman named Montour and an Indian woman of the tribe at that time inhabiting Canada. Her first marriage was to an Indian of the Seneca tribe. She was at Albany in 1711 and acted as interpreter. Ill 1744 she again acted as interpreter, in a treaty held at Lancaster, Pa. Her second husband was Carondawana, a chief of the Oncidas, and she had altogether four sons and two daughters, but by which union they were born is not positively known. She seems to have been a friend of the proprietaries, for la^e grants were given to her sons, Andrew, Henry, Robert and Lewis, on the Chillisquaque, near Montoursville and at Shade Gap, in Hunting¬ don county. In 1745 she resided at Shamokin, where she died, but the date is not known.

Madame Montour's daughter Margaret had several children, three of them daughters. She it was who was termed “French Margaret.” One of her daughters, Esther, married Echgohund, a chief of the Monsey clan. She was accused of complicity in the Wyoming massacre, although no direct evidence could be gathered lo prove the fact. Tradition ascribes to another daughter of Margaret the founding of the famous Cathrinestown, the home and temple of the sorcerers of the Cat Clan of the Senecas, who were the enemies alike of the whites and the other tribes of Indians.

INDIAN VILLAGES AND SETTLEMENTS

Any attempt to locate the sites of Indian villages in this part of Pennsylvania must depend entirely upon tradition. It is accepted as fact that the sites of Bloomsburg, Berwick. Catawissa and Danville were at one time occupied by large Indian settlements, as the remains and relics continually found at these points indicate the presence in the remote past of large and thriving communities. Most of the first settlers encountered these natives on their arrival and were for some time after¬ wards frequently terrorized by the return of occasional bands of Indians who camped on the sites which ha«l from time immemorial beep their favorite stopping places. The nearest large village of which accurate record has been left us, in this portion of the State, is that of Shamokin, now the site of Sunbury, Northumberland county. In 1728 Shi- kellamy, a prominent Cayuga chieftain, was governor of the village, which was populated principally by the Delawares. He governed in a wise and judicial manner until his death in 1749. The natives after that date were gradually forced out by the whites, who in 1756 built the fort called Augusta at this point. From this nucleus grew up the present town of Sunbury.

More than a century and a half has passed since the withdrawal of the Indians from the territory of Columbia and Montour counties, and the history of the Indian customs and habits would soon be lost if not revived by the historian of each decade. It is well, therefore, to review in brief the manner of life of our aboriginal predecessors as a reminder of the contrasts between those days and the present age of wonders and achievement.

The towns and villages of the Indians inhabiting the valley of the Susquehanna and its tributaries were located immediately upon the banks of the streams, on ground high enough to be out of reach of floods. But little attention was paid to location for defensive purposes, except that a spot free of timber and usually on a point jutting out into the stream was selected, in order that canoes could be easily landed and the squaws have ready access to the water.

Wigwams were constructed in a substantial manner to resist wind and storm, and to keep the inmates comfortable during the winter. Some were nearly twenty feet in diameter, large and roomy, while others were smaller; most of them either oval or round in shape; of bark or matting laid over a framework of poles stuck ill the ground, bunched together at the top and tied with thongs. The winter wigwams were covered with skins, with an opening at the top to allow the escape of smoke, and flaps at different points arranged to be used for entrance, according to the direction of the wind. Even in -these modern days it is quite an art to erect a “teepee” that will be weatherproof and at the same time not suffocate the occupants with the smoke of the fire. In winter these wigwams were lined with matting, woven of rushes, grasses and reeds; bunks were built of poles, with skins and furs for bedding. The clay cooking pots were hung from the center over the ever-burning fire. In the larger settlements the Indians built log cabins, roofed with bark and sod, a hole