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History of Cambria County, V.1

CHAPTER IV.

          
INDIAN TRIBES IN THE CONEMAUGH VALLEY--FIRST WHITE VISITORS.

     Johnstown seems to have been in the path of travel between the East and the West at a very early period, and has held this advantage to the present day. It was the site of an Indian village, occupied principally by the Shawonese and Delaware tribes, both of whom were vigorous and deceitful, and the territory between Bedford and Loyalhanna, including our own vicinity, was the scene of much inhuman conduct by marauding Indians.
     The first inhabitants of the vicinity were a tribe of Shawonese Indians, of whom Okewelah was the chief, and some Delaware and Asswikale red men who continued to reside here until 1755. As to their character and nativity we give such information as is obtainable at this day as to who they were, where they came from, what they did, and when they took their departure.
     It will be observed that frequently a name is spelled differently in the same article -- for instance, "Okowela" and "Okowelah;" but we have quoted as it was written by the men who recorded the interesting history of our town and State, which we reproduce.
     The best authorities practically agree that the original grand division of the North American Indians inhabiting what is at present the Southern tier of Pennsylvania counties, from the Ohio to the Delaware, called themselves the Lenni Lenape, or the original people. These were subdivided into three principal parts--the Turtle, the Turkey, and the Wolf Tribes, and these tribes were again sub-divided into numerous classes, among them the Delawares, who were closely associated with the Shawonese; and these two classes far outnumbered all the others.
     In addition to the Lenapes there was, until 1712, another grand division called the "Five Nations," consisting of the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Oneidas, the Senecas, and the Mohawks. In that year the Tuscaroras were expelled from their native place--North Carolina and Virginia--came North


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Created: 1 Feb 2006, Last Updated: 30 Mar 2008
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Lynne Canterbury, Diann Olsen and contributors