Part 16

Moggonck, Maggonck, Moggonick, Moggoneck, Mohonk, etc., are forms of the name given as that of the "high hill" which forms the southwest boundmark of the Paltz Patent, so known, now generally called locally, Paltz Point, and widely known as Mohunk. The hill is a point of rock formation on the Shawongunk range. It rises about 1,000 feet above the plain below and is crowned by an apex which rises as a battlement about 400 feet above the brow of the hill, now called Sky Top. _Moggonck_ and _Maggonck_ are interchangeable orthographies. The former appears in the Indian deed from _Matseyay,_ and other owners, to Louis Du Bois, and others, May 26, 1677, and is carried forward in the patent issued to them in September of the same year. _Moggoneck_ appears in Mr. Berthold Fernow's translation of the Indian deed in Colonial History of N. Y., xiii, 506. _Moggonick_ was written by Surveyor Aug. Graham on his map of survey in 1709, and _Mohunk_ is a modern pronunciation. The boundary description of the tract, as translated by the late Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, from the Dutch deed (N. Y. Land Papers, 15), reads: "Beginning at the high hill called Moggonck, then southeast to Juffrouw's Hook in the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian Magaat Ramis), thence north to the island called Raphoos, lying in the Kromme Elbow at the commencement of the Long Reach, thence west to the high hill to a place [called] Warachaes and Tawarataque, along the high hill to Moggonck." The translation in Colonial History is substantially the same except in the forms of the names. "Beginning from the high hill, at a place called Moggonck," is a translation of the deed by Rev. Ame Vaneme, in "History of New Paltz." It seems to be based on a recognition of the locative of the name as established by Surveyor Graham in 1709, rather than on the original manuscript. In the patent the reading is: "Beginning at the high mountain called Moggonck," and the southwest line is described as extending from Tawarataque "To Moggonck, formerly so called," indicating that the patentees had not located the name as they would like to have it located; certainly, that they had discovered that a line drawn from the apex of the hill on a southeast course to Juffrouw's Hook, would divide a certain fine piece of land, which they called the Groot Stuk (great piece), lying between the hill and the Wallkill and fertilized by that stream, which they wished to have included in the grant as a whole. So it came about that they hurried to Governor Andros and secured an amended wording in the patent of the deed description, and Surveyor-General Graham, when he came upon the scene in 1709, to run the patent lines, found the locatives "fixed," and wrote in his description, "Beginning at a certain point on the hill called Moggonick, . . . thence south, thirty-six degrees easterly, to a certain small creek called Moggonck, at the south end of the great piece of land, and from thence south, fifty-five degrees easterly, to the south side of Uffroe's Hook." Thereafter "The south end of the great piece," and the "certain small creek," became the "First station," as it was called. Graham marked the place by a stone which was found standing by Cadwallader Colden in a survey by him in 1729, and noted as at "The west end of a small gully which falls into Paltz River, . . . from the said stone down the said gully two chains and forty-six links to the Paltz River." The "west end" of the gully was the east end of the "Certain small creek" noted in Graham's survey. The precise point is over three miles from the hill. In the course of the years by the action of frost or flood, the stone was carried away. In 1892, from actual survey by Abram LeFever, Surveyor, assisted by Capt. W. H. D. Blake, to whom I am indebted for the facts stated, it was replaced by another bearing the original inscription. By deepening the gully the swamp of which the stream is the drainage channel, has been mainly reclaimed, but the stream and the gully remain, as does also the Groot Stuk. This record narrative is more fully explained by the following certificate which is on file in the office of the Clerk of Ulster County:

"These are to certify, that the inhabitants of the town of New Paltz, being desirous that the first station of their patent, named Moggonck, might be kept in remembrance, did desire us, Joseph Horsbrouck, John Hardenburgh, and Roeloff Elting, Esqs., Justices of the Peace, to accompany them, and there being Ancrop, the Indian, then brought us to the High Mountain, which he named Maggeanapogh, at or near the foot of which hill is a small run of water and a swamp, which he called Maggonck, and the said Ancrop affirmed it to be the right Indian names of the said places, as witness our hands the nineteenth day of December, 1722."

Ancrop, or Ankerop as otherwise written, was a sachem of the Esopus Indians in 1677, and was still serving in that office in 1722. He was obviously an old man at the latter date. He had, however, no jurisdiction over or part in the sale of the lands to the New Paltz Company in 1677. His testimony, given forty-five years after the sale by the Indians, was simply confirmatory in general terms of a location which had been made in 1677, and the interpretation of what he said was obviously given by the Justices in terms to correspond with what his employers wished him to say. In the days of the locations of boundmarks of patents, his testimony would have been regarded with suspicion. Locations of boundmarks were then frequently changed by patentees who desired to increase their holdings, by "Taking some Indians in a public manner to show such places as they might name to them," wrote Sir William Johnson, for many years Superintendent of Indian Affairs, adding that it was "Well known" that an Indian "Would shew any place by any name you please to give him, for a small blanket or a bottle of rum." Presumably Ankerop received either "A small blanket or a bottle of rum" for his services, but it is not to be inferred that the location of the boundmarks in 1677 was tainted by the "sharp practice" which prevailed later. It is reasonable to presume, however, that the name would never have been removed from the foot of the hill had not the Groot Stuk been situated as it was with reference to a southeast line drawn from its apex to Juffrouw's Hook.

Algonquian students who have been consulted, regard the name as it stands as without meaning; that some part of the original was lost by mishearing or dropped in pronunciation; that in the dialect which is supposed to have been spoken here the suffix _-onck_ is classed as a locative and the adjectival _Mogg_ is not complete. Several restorations of presumed lost letters have been suggested to give the name a meaning, none of which, however, are satisfactory. Apparently the most satisfactory reading is from _Magonck_, or _Magunk_ (Mohegan), "A great tree," explained by Dr. Trumbull: "From _Mogki,_ 'Great,' and _-unk,_ 'A tree while standing.'" It is met as the name of a boundmark on the Connecticut, and on the east side of the Hudson, within forty miles of the locative here, _Moghongh-kamigh_, "Place of a great tree," is met as the name of a boundmark. _Mogkunk_ is also in the Natick dialect, and there is no good reason for saying that it was not in the local dialect here. There may have been a certain great tree at the foot of the hill, from which the name was extended to the hill, and there may have been one on the Wallkill, which Ankerop said "Was the right Indian name of the place." It will be remembered that the deed boundmark was "The foot of the hill." It is safe to say that the name never could have described "A small run of water and a swamp," nor did it mean "Sky-Top." The former features were introduced by the Justices to identify the place where the boundary-stone was located and have no other value; the latter is a fanciful creation, "Not consistent with fact or reason," but very good as an advertisement.

Maggeanapogh, the name which Ankerop gave as that of the hill called Moggonck, bears every evidence of correctness. It is reasonably pure Lenape or Delaware, to which stock Ankerop probably belonged. The first word, _Maggean,_ is an orthography of _Machen_ (_Meechin,_ Zeisb.; _Mashkan,_ Chippeway), meaning "Great," big, large, strong, hard, occupying chief position, etc., and the second, _-apogh,_ written in other local names _-apugh, -apick,_ etc., is from _-ápughk_ (_-ápuchk,_ Zeisb.), meaning "Rock," the combination reading, literally, "A great rock." In the related Chippeway dialect the formative word for rock is _-bik,_ and the radical is _-ic_ or _-ick,_ of which Dr. Schoolcraft wrote, "Rock, or solid formation of rock." No particular part of the hill was referred to, the text reading, "There being Ankerop, the Indian, then brought us to the High Mountain which he named Maggeanapogh." The time has passed when the name could have been made permanent. For all coming time the hill will bear the familiar name of Mohonk, the Moggonck of 1677, the Paltz Point and the High Point of local history, from the foot of which the place of beginning of the boundary line was never removed, although the course from it was changed.

Magaat-Ramis, the record name of the southeast boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is located in the boundary description at "Juffrou's Hook, in the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian Magaat-Ramis)." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 15.) Juffrouw's Hook is now known as Blue Point. It is about two miles north of Milton-on-the-Hudson, and takes its modern name from the color of the rock which projects from a blue-stone promontory and runs for some distance under the water of the river, deflecting the current to the northwest. The primal appearance of the promontory has been changed by the cut for the West Shore Railroad, but the submerged point remains. The Dutch name, _Juffrouw's Hook,_ was obviously employed by the purchasers to locate the boundmark by terms which were then generally understood. Juffrouw, the first word, means "Maiden," one of the meanings of which is "Haai-rog"; "_rog_" means "skate," or Angel-fish, of special application to a species of shark, but in English shad, or any fish of the herring family, especially the female. Hook means "Corner, cape, angle, incurved as a hook"; hence "Maiden Hook," an angle or corner noted as a resort for shad, alewives, etc.: by metonymie, "A noted or well-known fishing-place." The first word of the Indian name, _Magaat,_ stands for _Maghaak_ (Moh.), _Machak_ (Zeisb., the hard surd mutes _k_ and _t_ exchanged), meaning "Great," large, extended, occupying chief position. The second word, _Ramis_ is obscure. It has the appearance of a mishearing of the native word. What that word was, however, may be inferred from the description, "Juffrou's Hook, in the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian Magaat-Ramis)," or as written in the patent, "To a certain Point or Hooke called the Jeuffrou's Hooke, lying in the Long Reach, named by the Indians Magaat-Ramis." That the name was that of the river at that place--the Long Reach--is made clear by the sentence which follows: "Thence north along the river to the island called Rappoos, at the commencement of the Long Reach," in which connection _Ramis_ would stand for _Kamis_ or _Gamis,_ from _Gami,_ an Algonquian noun-generic meaning "Water," frequently met in varying forms in Abnaki and Chippeway--less frequently in the Delaware. In Cree the orthography is _Kume._ The final _s_ is the equivalent of _k,_ locative, as in Abnaki _Gami-k,_ a particular place of water. "On the Great Water," is probably the meaning of Ramis. In Chippeway _Keeche-gummee,_ "The greatest water," was the name of Lake Superior. As the name of the "Great Water," _Magaat-Ramis_ is worthy of preservation.

Rappoos, which formed the northeast boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is specifically located in the Indian deed "Thence north [from Juffrou's Hook] along the river to the island called Rappoos, lying in the Kromme Elbow, at the commencement of the Long Reach." The island is now known as Little Esopus Island, taking that name from Little Esopus Creek, which flows to the Hudson at that point. It lies near the main land on the east side of the river, and divides the current in two channels, the most narrow of which is on the east. Kromme Elleboog (Crooked elbow), is the abrupt bend in the river at the island, and the Long Reach extends from the island south to Pollepel's Island. The name is of record Rappoos, Raphoes, Raphos and Whaphoos, an equivalent, apparently, of _Wabose_ and _Warpose,_ the latter met on Manhattan Island. It is not the name of the island, but of the small channel on the east side of it from which it was extended to the island. It means, "The narrows," in a general sense, and specifically, "The small passage," or strait. The root is _Wab,_ or _Wap,_ meaning, "A light or open place between two shores." (Brinton.)

Tawarataque, now written and pronounced _Tower-a-tauch,_ the name of the northwestern boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is described in the Indian deed already quoted: "Thence [from Rappoos] west to the high hills _to a place_ called _Warachoes_ and _Tawarataque,_" which may refer to one and the same place, or two different places. Surveyor Graham held that two different places were referred to and marked the first on the east side of the Wallkill at a place not now known, from whence by a sharp angle he located the second "On the point of a small ridge of hills," where he marked a flat rock, which, by the way, is not referred to in the name. The precise place was at the south end of a clove between the hills, access to which is by a small opening in the hills at a place now known as Mud Hook. Probably _Warachoes_ referred to this opening. By dialectic exchange of _l_ and _r_ the word is _Walachoes--Walak,_ "Hole," "A hollow or excavation"; _-oes,_ "Small," as a small or limited hollow or open place. "Through this opening," referring to the opening in the side of the hill at Mud Hook, "A road now runs leading to the clove between the ridges of the mountain," wrote Mr. Ralph LeFever, editor of the "New Paltz Independent," from personal knowledge. _Tawarataque_ was the name of this clove. It embodies the root _Walak_ prefixed by the radical _Tau_ or _Taw,_ meaning "Open," as an open space, a hollow, a clove, an open field, etc., suffixed by the verb termination _-aque,_ meaning "Place," or _-áke_ as Zeisberger wrote in _Wochitáke,_ "Upon the house." The reading in _Tawarataque_ is, "Where there is an open space"; _i. e.,_ the clove. [FN] The late Hon. Edward Elting, of New Paltz, wrote me: "The flat rock which Surveyor Graham marked as the bound, lies on the east side of the depression of the Shawongunk Mountain Range leading northwesterly from Mohunk, at the south end of the clove known as Mud Hook, near the boundary line between New Paltz and Rosendale, say about half a mile west of the Wallkill Valley R. R. station at Rosendale. I think, but am not certain, that the rock can be seen as you pass on the railroad. It is of the character known as Esopus Millstone, a white or gray conglomerate. I cannot say that it bears the Surveyor's inscription."

It is not often that four boundmarks are met that stand out with the distinctness of those of the Paltz Patent, or that are clothed with deeper interest as geological features, or that preserve more distinctly the geographical landmarks of the aboriginal people.

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[FN] The adjectival formative _-alagat,_ or _-aragat,_ enters into the composition of several words denoting "Hole," or "Open space," as _Taw-álachg-at,_ "Open space," _Sag-álachg-at,_ "So deep the hole." The verb substantive suffix _-aque,_ or _-ake_ (_qu_ the sound of _k_), meaning "Place," is entirely proper as a substitute for the verbal termination _-at._

Ossangwak is written on Pownal's map as the name of what is known as the Great Binnenwater (Dutch, "Inland water") in the town of Lloyd. The orthography disguises the original, which may have been a pronunciation of _Achsün_ (Minsi), "Stone," as in _Otstónwakin_, read by Reichel, "A high rock," or rocky hill. Perhaps the name referred to the rocky bluff which bounds the Hudson there, immediately west of which the lake is situated.

Esopus--so written on Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and also by De Laet in 1624-5; _Sopus,_ contemporaneously; _Sypous,_ Rev. Megapolensis, 1657, is from _Sepuus_ (Natick), "A brook"; in Delaware, _Sipoes_ (Zeisberger). It is from _Sepu_, "River," and _-es,_ "small." On the Carte Figurative it is written on the east side of the river near a stream north of Wappingers' Creek, as it may have been legitimately, but in 1623 it came to be located permanently at what is now Rondout Creek, from which it was extended to several streams, [FN] to the Dutch settlement now Kingston, to the resident Indians, and to a large district of country. The chirographer of 1614-16 seems to have added the initial E from the uncertain sound of the initial S, and later scribes further corrupted it to the Greek and Latin Æ. (See Waronawanka.)

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[FN] The streams entering the Hudson in proximity came to be known as the Kleine Esopus, south of Rondout; the Groot Esopus, now the Rondout, and the Esopus, now the Saugerties. In the valley west of old Kingston was a brook, called in records the "Mill Stream."

Waronawanka, Carte Figurative 1614-16--_Warrawannan-koncks,_ Wassenaer, 1621-5; _Warranawankongs,_ De Laet, 1621-5, and _Waranawankcougys,_ 1633; _Waranawankongs,_ Van der Donck, 1656; _Waerinnewongh,_ local, 1677--is located on the Carte Figurative on the west side of the Hudson a few miles north of latitude 42. On Van der Donck's map it is placed on the west side between Pollepel's Island and the Dans Kamer. De Laet wrote in his "New World" (Leyden edition): "This reach [Vischer's, covering Newburgh Bay] extends to another narrow pass, where, on the west side of the river, there is a point of land juts out covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river on which another nation of savages called the _Waoranecks,_ have their abode at a place called Esopus. A little beyond, on the west side of the river, where there is a creek, and the river becomes more shallow, the _Waranawankongs_ reside. Here are several small islands." In his French and Latin edition, 1633-40, the reading is: "A little beyond where projects a sandy point and the river becomes narrower, there is a place called Esopus, where the _Waoranekys_ have their abode. To them succeed, after a short interval, the _Waranawancougys_, on the opposite side of the river." Read together there would seem to be no doubt that the _Waoranecks_ were seated on or around the cove or bay at Low Point and the estuary of Wappingers' Creek, and that the _Waranatwankongs_ were seated at and around the cove or bay at Kingston Point, "Where a creek comes in and the river becomes more shallow."

Of the meaning of the name Dr. A. S. Gatschet, of the Bureau of Ethnology, wrote me: "If the _Warana-wan-ka_ lived on a bay or cove of Hudson's River, their name is certainly from _Walina,_ which means 'hollowing, concave site,' and 'cove, bay,' in several eastern languages. A good parallel are the _Wawenocks_ of S. W. Maine, now living at St. Francis, who call themselves _Walinaki,_ or those living on a cove--'cove dwellers'--in referring to their old home on the Atlantic coast near Portland. In the Micmac (N. S.) dialect _Walini_ is 'bay, cove,' and even the large Bay of Fundy is called so. The meaning of _k_ or _ka_ is not clear, but _ong,_ in the later forms, is the locative 'at, on, upon.'"

It is safe to say that at either the Dans Kamer, Low Point, or Kingston Point, the clan would have been seated on a bay, cove, recess or indentation shaped like a bay, and it is also safe to say that _Warona_ and _Walina_ may be read as equivalents, the former in the local dialect, and the latter in the Eastern, and that its general meaning is "Concave, hollowing site." Zeisberger wrote _l_ instead of _r_ in the Minsi-Lenape, hence _Woalac,_ "A hollow or excavation"; _Walóh,_ "A cove"; _Walpecat,_ "Very deep water." The dialectic _r_ prevails pretty generally on the Hudson and on the Upper Delaware. On the latter, near Port Jervis, is met of record _Warin-sags-kameck,_ which is surely the equivalent of _Walina-ask-kameck,_ "A hollowing or concave site, a meadow or field." It was written by Arent Schuyler, the noted interpreter, as the name of a field which he described as "A meadow or vly." _Vly_ is a contraction of Dutch _Vallei,_ meaning "A hollow or depression in which water stands in the rainy season and is dry at other times," hence "hollowing." _Ask_ (generic), meaning "Green, raw," is the radical of words meaning "meadow," "marsh," etc., and _-kameck_ stands for an enclosed field, or place having definite boundaries as a hollow. _Awan_ (_-awan, -wan, -uan,_ etc.), as Dr. Gatschet probably read the orthography, is an impersonal verb termination met on the Hudson in Matteawan, Kitchiwan, etc. Mr. Gerard writes that it was sometimes followed by the participial and subjunctive _k._ It may have been so written here, but it seems to be a form of the guttural aspirate _gh,_ for which it is exchanged in many cases, here and in Kitchiwangh. In Connecticut on the Sound apparently the same name is met in _Waranawankek,_ indicating that whoever wrote it on the Figurative of 1614-16 was familiar with the dialect of the coast Indians. As it stands the name is one of the oldest and most sonorous in the valley of Hudson's River.