The witness deposed here is Joseph Van Gilder. He was the son of John Van Gilder, a Mohican-Wappinger man, and his German wife Anna Marie Koerner. Joseph was born 14 July 1722. He married Mary Holly Winchell, the daughter of David Winchell and Mary Trumble, 23 May 1748. I will write more about Joseph in my next post.
JOSEPH
VAN GELDER – That he is Forty Eight Years of Age He understood the Indian language that he knows a place called Wawanaquasick it lies between Claverack and Sheffield one
Breakfast Travel from the River to wawanaquasick. it lies about 9 or 10 Miles East from the
River – has seen it often has traveled.
It lies upon the East part of a Hill
has heard of it high thiry Year ago from old Indians who told him it was
wawanaquasick and Said it was an old Place they had there, a great many years
ago – Old Nannahaken and old Skannout old Panneyote who were Ancient Indians
told him so. Old Skannout was quite grey
with Years – Nanahacken about 70 Years then, and old Skannout appeared older
then Ampawekine called Sankenakeke who was the Sachem of the Mohickens also
told him of it. He was then better than
Sixty Years of Age, they were all of the Mowhickens Tribe the Indians told him it was an offering
Place of their old fore fathers and a boundary between the tribes Mohickens
and the River Indians the Eastern Tribes
was called Mohigens and lived at Stockbridge he is sure – the Indians told
himWawanaquasick was a boundary between the Mohicken and the River Indians they used to join together when they went to
war has heard of Keeswky’s He was a River Indian not a Sachem had
erected this place as he knows – that he lived about Claaverack and up
towards Albany Indians told him his fore
fathers had erected this place and that they had it from them Patenhook is the General name of every fall
of Water Papteut is at Claaverack as the
Indians told him it is the name of a
Particular Place – Has lived in Sheffield and Egremont within 5 or 6 Miles of
it almost all his Life Knows of a
Large Samuel of a large flat Rock between Sheffield – Knows Samuel Summers
he lives near the Large Rock within ¾ Mile and where old Jackson lived it is on the East side of Housitonick
River Remembers this Great Rock ever
since he can Remember anything from 10 Years old Indians told him it never was a Monument or
Boundary he used to play there often
when Young lived within a half a Mile of
it There never was a heap of Stones on
it when he first knew it When he was a
little Boy there was a Clift in the Rock
the Boys threw stones on the South side to fill up the Clift which hurt
their legs in Playing Never heard this
Rock Called Wawanaquasick There are two
Cracks in the Rock one Runs East and West and had Earth in it the other North
and South and had none – He is not sure th which Crack it was [historian James N. Parrish of Great Barrington believes this location is on the west bank of the Green River along the north end of the West Sheffield Road.]
Cross-examined – Will not be positive how old he
was when he throgh’d the Stones but he was a little Chap his fathers
name was John Van Gelder in Indian Toanunck
his Fathers Land was near the flat Rock, the Rock fifty or sixty Rods to
the East of his Fathers Land His father
lived there better than fifty Years as
his Mother and father told Schnapk [sic] told him of Wawanaquasick when he was
a little Child and so on from time to time
the last time he told him so was 10 Years ago but he is not certain Also the time but it may be thereabouts Sowhhaap [sic] he believes he has been dead 4
or 5 Years does not know certain but believes thereabouts He lived at Stockbridge usually Knew Samuel Winchel when he first came to
live there about forty Years ago. There
were stones on the Rock when
Found this blog most interesting as the DNA from my West Virginia VanGilder roots show Native American ancestry.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Blattner will be announcing shortly on this blog that the Y-DNA results for Jacob Van Gilder of West Virginia matches that for John Van Gilder of Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
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