Part 22

She'kom'eko, preserved as the name of a small stream which rises near Federal Square, Duchess County, and flows thence north to Roelof Jansen's Kill, was primarily the name of an Indian village conspicuous in the history of the labors of the Moravian missionaries. [FN-1] It was located about two miles south of Pine Plains in the valley of the stream. Dr. Trumbull translated: "_She'com'eko,_ modern _Chic'omi'co,_ from _-she, -che_ (from _mishe_ or _k'che_), 'great,' and _comaco,_ 'house,' or 'enclosed place'--'the great lodge,', or 'the great village.'" [FN-2] We have the testimony of Loskiel that the occupants of the village were "Mahicander Indians."

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[FN-1] The field of the labors of the Moravian missionaries extended to Wechquadnach, Pachquadnach, Potatik, Westenhoek and Wehtak, on the Housatenuc. _Wechquadnach_ (Wechquetank, Loskiel) was at the end of what is now known as Indian Pond, lying partly in the town of North East, Duchess County, and partly in Sharon, Conn. It was the Gnadensee, or "Lake of Grace," of the missionaries. _Wequadn'ach_ means "At the end of the mountain" between which and the lake the Indian village stood. _Pachquadn'ach_ was on the opposite side of the pond; it means "Clear bare mountain land." _Wehtak_ means "Wigwam place." _Pishgachtigok_ (Pach-gat-gock, German notation), was about twenty miles south of Shekomeko, at the junction of Ten Mile River and the Housatonuc. It means, "Where the river divides," or branches. (See Schaghticoke.) _Westenhoek,_ noted above, is explained in another connection. _Housatonuc,_ in N. Y. Land Papers _Owassitanuc,_ stands for _A-wass-adene-uc,_ Abn.; in Delaware, _Awossi,_ "Over, over there, beyond," _-actenne,_ "hill or mountain," with locative _-uk,_ "place," "land"; literally, "A place beyond the hill." (Trumbull.) It is not the name of either the hill or the river, to which it was extended, but a verbal direction. An Indian village called Potatik by the Moravian missionaries, was also on the Housatonuc, and is written in one form, _Pateook._

[FN-2] A translation from the Delaware _Scha-gach-we-u,_ "straight," and _meek_ "fish"--an eel--eel place--has been widely quoted. The translation by Dr. Trumbull is no doubt correct.

Shenandoah (Shenandoah Corners, East Fishkill) is an Iroquoian name of modern introduction here. It is met in place in Saratoga County and at Wyoming, Pa. (See Shannondhoi.)

Stissing, now the name of a hill and of a lake one mile west of the village of Pine Plains, Duchess County, is probably an apheresis of _Mistissing,_ a "Great rock," and belongs to the hill, which rises 400 or 500 feet above the valley and is crowned with a mass of naked rock, described by one writer as "resembling a huge boulder transported there."

Poughkeepsie, now so written, is of record in many forms of which Pooghkeepesingh, 1683; Pogkeepke, 1702; Pokeapsinck, 1703; Pacaksing, 1704; Poghkeepsie, 1766; Poughkeepsie, 1767, are the earlier. The locative of the name and the key to its explanation are clearly determined by the description in a gift deed to Peter Lansing and Jan Smedes, in 1683: "A waterfall near the bank of the river called Pooghkeepesingh;" [FN-1] in petition of Peter Lansing and Arnout Velie, in 1704: "Beginning at a creek called Pakaksing, by ye river side." [FN-2] There are other record applications, but are probably extensions, as Poghkeepke (1702), given as the name of a "muddy pond" in the vicinity. Schoolcraft's interpretation, "Safe harbor," from _Apokeepsing,_ is questioned by W. R. Gerard, who, from a personal acquaintance with the locative, "A water-fall," writes: "The name refers not to the fall, but to the basin of water worn out in the rocks at the foot of the fall. Zeisberger would have written the word _Āpuchkìpìsink,_ that is, 'At the rock-pool (or basin) of water.' _Ā-puchk-ìpìs-ink_ is a composition of _-puchk,_ 'rock'; _ipis,_ in composition, 'little water,' 'pool of water,' 'pond,' 'little lake,' etc." _Pooghk_ is no doubt from _ápughk_ (apuchk), "rock." The stream has long been known as the Fall Kill. Primarily there seems to have been three falls upon it, of which _Matapan_ will be referred to later.

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[FN-1] "This fifth day of May, 1683, appeared before me . . . a Highland Indian called Massang, who declared herewith that he has given as a free gift, a bouwery (farm) to Pieter Lansingh, and a bouwery to Jan Smeedes, a young glazier, also a waterfall near the bank of the river, to build a mill thereon. The waterfall is called Pooghkeepesingh and the land Minnisingh, situated on the east side of the river." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 571.)

[FN-2] Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 71. There are forty-nine record orthographies of the term, from which a selection could be made as a basis of interpretation. _Poghkeepke,_ for example, might be accepted as meaning, "Muddy Pond," although there is neither a word or particle in it that would warrant the conclusion.

Wynogkee, Wynachkee, and Winnakee are record forms of the name of a district of country or place from which it was extended to the stream known as the Fall Kill "Through which a kill called Wynachkee runs, . . . including the kill to the second fall called Mattapan," is the description in a gift deed to Arnout Velie, in 1680, for three flats of land, one on the north and two on the south side of the kill. "A flat on the west side of the kil, called Wynachkee" (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 545, 572), does not mean that the kill was called Wynachkee, but the flat of land, to which the name itself shows that it belonged. The derivatives are _Winne,_ "good, fine, pleasant," and _-aki_ (auke, ohke), "land" or place; literally, "land." [FN]

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[FN] From the root _Wulit,_ Del. From the same root _Winne, Willi, Wirri, Waure, Wule,_ etc. The name is met in equivalent forms in several places. _Wenaque_ and _Wynackie_ are forms of the name of a beautiful valley in Passaic county, N. J. (Nelson.) _Winakaki,_ "Sassifras land--rich, fat land." _Winak-aki-ng,_ "At the Sassifras place," was the Lenape name of Eastern Pennsylvania. (See Wanaksink.) Eliot wrote in the Natick (Mass.) dialect, "_Wunohke,_ good land." The general meaning of the root is pleasurable sensation.

Mattapan, "the second fall," so called in the deed to Arnout Velie (1680), was the name of a "carrying place," "the end of a portage, where the canoe was launched again and its bearers reembarked." (Trumbull.) A landing place. [FN] "At a place called Matapan, to the south side thereof, bounded on the west by John Casperses Creek." (Cal. Land Papers, 108.) (See Pietawick-quasick.)

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[FN] _Mattappan,_ a participle of _Mattappu,_ "he sits down," denotes "a sitting down place," or as generally employed in local names, the end of a portage between two rivers, or from one arm of the sea to another--where the canoe was launched again and its bearers reembarked. (Trumbull.) In Lenape _Aan_ is a radical meaning, "To move; to go." _Paan,_ "To come; to get to"; _Wiket-pann,_ "To get home"; _Paancep,_ "Arrived"; _Mattalan,_ "To come upto some body"; logically, _Mattappan,_ "To stop," to sit down, to land, a landing place.

Minnissingh is written as the name of a tract conveyed to Peter Lansing and Jan Smedes by gift deed in 1683. (See Poughkeepsie.) _Minnissingh_ is, apparently, the same word that is met in Minnisink, Orange County. The locative of the tract has not been ascertained, but it was pretty certainly on the "back" or upper lands. There was no island there. (See Minnisink.)

Eaquorisink is of record as the name of Crom Elbow Creek, and _Eaquaquanessìnck_ as that of lands on the Hudson, in patent to Henry Beekman, the boundary of which ran from the Hudson "east by the side of a fresh meadow called _Mansakìn_ [FN-1] and a small run of water called _Mancapawìmick._" In patent to Peter Falconier the land is called Eaquaquaannessìnck, the meadow Mansakin, the small creek Nanacopaconick, and Crom Elbow (Krom Elleboog, Dutch, '"crooked elbow'") Creek. Eaquarysink is a compression of Eaquaquaannessinck. It was not the name of the creek, but located the boundmark "as far as the small creek." The composition is the equivalent of _Wequa,_ [FN-2] "end of"; _annes,_ "small stream," and _ink,_ "at," "to," etc.

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[FN-1] "A meadow or marsh land called Manjakan," is an equivalent record in Ulster County. (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 133.) "A fresh meadow," _i. e._ a fresh water meadow, or low lands by the side of the creek.

[FN-2] Enaughqua, L. I.; _Yò anûck quaque,_ Williams; _Wequa, Weque, Aqua, Ukwe, Echqu,_ etc., "end of." The word is met in many forms. _Wehque,_ "as far as." (Eliot.)

Wawyachtanock, Indian deed to Robert Livingston, 1685; _Wawyachtanock, Wawijachtanock, Wawigachtanock_ in Livingston Patent and _Watwijachtonocks_ in association with "The Indians of the Long Reach" (Doc. Hist. N. Y., 93, 97), is given as the name of a place--"The path that leads to Wawyachtenock." In a petition for permission to purchase, in 1702 (Col. Land Papers, 58), the description reads: "A tract of land lying to the westward of Westenhoeks Creek [FN-1] and to ye eastward of Poghkeepsie, called by ye Indians _Wayaughtanock._" It is presumed that the locative of the name is now known as Union Corners, Duchess County, where Krom Elleboog Creek, after flowing southwesterly, turns at nearly a right angle and flows west to the Hudson, which it reaches in a narrow channel between bluffs, a little south of Krom Elbow Point, where a bend in the Hudson forms the north end of the Long Reach. The first word of the name is from _Wawai,_ "Round about," "Winding around," "eddying," as a current in a bend of a river. The second, _-tan, -ten, -ton_ means "current," by metonymie, "river," and _ock,_ means "land" or place--"A bend-of-the-river place." The same name is met in Wawiachtanos, in the Ohio country, [FN-2] and the prefix in many places. (See Wawayanda.)

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[FN-1] Westenhoek is Dutch. It means "West corner." It was given by the Dutch to a tract of land lying in a bend of Housatonuk river, long in dispute between New York and Massachusetts, called by the Indians W-nagh-tak-ook, for many years the name of the capital town of the Mahican nation.(Loskiel.) Rev. Dr. Edwards wrote it Wnoghquetookooke and translated it from an intimate acquaintance of the Stockbridge dialect, "A bend-of-the-river-place." Mr. Gerard writes it, Wamenketukok, "At the winding of the river." Now Stockbridge, Mass.

[FN-2] "Tjughsaghrondie, alias Wawayachtenok." (Col. Hist. N. Y., iv, 900; La Trobe's Translation of Loskiel, i, 23.) The first name, Tjughsaghrondie, is also written Taghsaglirondie, and in other forms. It is claimed to be from the Wyandot or Huron-Iroquoian dialect. In History of Detroit the Algonquin is quoted Waweatunong, interpreted "Circuitous approach," and the claim made that the reference was to the bend in the Strait at Detroit at an elevation "from which a view of the whole broad river" could be had. In Shawano, _Wawia'tan_ describes bending or eddying water--with locative, "Where the current winds about." The name is applicable at any place where the features exist.

Metambeson, a creek so called in Duchess County, is now known as Sawkill. It is the outlet of a lake called Long Pond. The Indian name is from _Matt,_ negative and depreciatory, "Small, unfavorable," etc., and _M'beson,_ "Strong water," a word used in describing brandy, spirits, physic, etc. The rapidity of the water was probably referred to.

Waraughkameck--Waraukameck--a small lake in the same county, is now known as "Fever Cot or Pine Swamp." The Indian name is probably an equivalent of Len. _Wálagh-kamik,_ an enclosed hole or den, a hollow or excavation.

Aquassing--"At a creek called by the Indians Aquassing, and by the Christians Fish Creek"--has not been located. _Aquassing_ was the end of the boundary line, and may be from _Enaughquasink,_ "As far as."

Tauquashqueick, given as the name of a meadow lying between Magdalen Island [FN] and the main land, now known as "Radcliff's Vly," is probably an equivalent of _Pauqua-ask-ek._ "Open or clear wet meadow or vly."

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[FN] Magdalen Island is between Upper and Lower Red-hook. The original Dutch, Maagdelijn, supposed to mean "A dissolute woman," here means, simply, "Maiden," _i. e._ shad or any fish of the herring family. (See Magaat Ramis.) The name appears on Van der Donck's map of 1656.

Sankhenak and Saukhenak are record forms of the name given as that of Roelof Jansen's Kil (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 612; French's Gazetteer.) _Sauk-hannek_ would describe the mouth or outlet of the stream, and _Sank-hannek_ would read "Flint-stone creek." Sauk is probably correct. The purchase included land on both sides of the creek from "A small kil opposite the Katskil," on the north, called _Wachhanekassik._ "to a place opposite Sagertyes Kil, called Saaskahampka." The stream is now known as Livingston's Creek. [FN]

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[FN] The creek was the boundmark between the Wappingers and the Mahicans. (See Wahamanessing.)

Wachanekassik, Indian deed to Livingston, 1683; _Waghankasick,_ patent to Van Rensselaer, 1649, and other orthographies, is written as the name of a small creek which marked the place of beginning of the northwest boundmark of the Livingston Patent and the place of ending of the southwest boundmark of the prior Van Rensselaer Patent of Claverack. The latter reads; ". . . And so along the said Hudson River southward to the south side of Vastrix Island, by a creek called Waghankasick, thence easterly to Wawanaquasik," etc. The deed to Livingston conveyed lands "On both sides of Roelof Jansen's Kill, [FN-1] called by the Indians Sauk-henak," including lands "along the river's bank from said Roeloff Jansen's Kill, northwards up, to a small stream opposite Catskill named Wachanekasseck, and southwards down the river to opposite the Sagertjes Kill, called by the Indians Saaskahampka." In the Livingston Patent of 1684: "Eighteen hundred acres of woodland lying between a small creek or kill lying over against Catskill called Wachanakasseck and a place called Suaskahampka," and in patent of 1686: "On the north by a line to be drawn from a certain creek or kill over against the south side of Vastrix Island in Hudson's River, called Wachankasigh," to which Surveyor John Beatty added more precisely on his map of survey in 1715: "Beginning on the east side of Hudson's River _southward_ from Vastrix Island, _at a place_ where a certain run of water watereth out into Hudson's River, called in ye Indian tongue, Wachankassik." The "run of water" is not marked on Beatty's map, nor on the map of survey of the patent in 1798, but it is marked, from existence or presumed existence, on a map of the boundary line between New York and Massachusetts and seems to have been one of the several small streams that flow down the bluff from the surface, apparently about two miles and a half north of Roelof Jansen's Kill, in the vicinity of the old Oak Hill station [FN-2] on the H. R. R., later known as Catskill station. While referred to in connection with the boundmark to identify its location, its precise location seems to have been lost. In early days boundmarks were frequently designated in general terms by some well known place. Hence we find Catskill spoken of and particularly "the south end of Vastrix Island," a point that every voyager on the Hudson knew to be the commencement of a certain "rak" or sailing course. [FN-3] Hence it was that Van Rensselaer's first purchase (1630) was bounded on the south by the south end of Beeren or Mahican Island, and the second purchase by the south end of Vastrix Island, which became the objective of the northwest bound of Livingston's Patent. While the name is repeatedly given as that of the stream, it was probably that of a place or point on the limestone bluff which here bounds the Hudson on the east for several miles. Surveyor Beatty's description, "Beginning at a place where," and the omission of the stream on his map, and its omission on subsequent maps of the manor, and the specific entry in the amended patent of 1715, "Beginning at a certain place called by the Indians Wahankassek," admit of no other conclusion, and the conclusion is, apparently, sustained by the name itself, which seems to be from Moh. _Wakhununuhkōōsek,_ "A high point," as a hill, mountain, peak, bluff, etc., from _Wakhu_, "hill, mountain," _uhk,_ "end, point," and _ōōsic,_ "peak, pinnacle." etc. The reference may have been to a point formed by the channel of the little stream flowing down from the bluff above, or to some projection, but certainly to the bluff as the only permanent objective on the Hudson. The connection of the "small run of water" with the boundmark should entitle it to more particular description than has been given to it by local writers.

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[FN-1] Named from Roeloff Jansen, Overseer of the Orphan Court under the Dutch Government. (French.)

[FN-2] Oak Hill station on the Hudson River R. R., about five miles south of the city of Hudson, was so called from a hill in the interior just north of the line of the town of Livingston, from which the land slopes west towards the Hudson and south to Roelof Jansen's Kill.

[FN-3] _Vastrix_ is a compression of Dutch _t'Vaste Rak_ as written on Van der Donck's map of 1656, meaning, "The fast or steady reach or sailing course," which began here. The island is the first island lying north of the mouth of the Katskill. It is now known as Roger's Island.

Nickankook, Kickua and Weckqashake are given as the names of "three flats" which, with "some small flats," were included in the first purchase by Livingston, and described as "Situate on both sides" of the kill called Saukhenak (Roelof Jansen's Kill). The Indian deed also included all land "Extending along the bank of the river northwards from Roelof Jansen's Kill to a small stream opposite Catskill named Wachanekassik." The names of the three flats are variously spelled--Nickankooke, Nickankook, etc. The first has been translated by Mr. Wm. R. Gerard from _Nichánhkûk,_ "At the bend in front." _Kickua,_ the second, is untranslatable. _Wickquashaka, Wequakake,_ etc., is the equivalent of _Wequaohke,_ "End land" or place. The kill flows through a valley of broad and fertile flats, but near the Hudson it breaks through the limestone bluff which forms the east line of the Hudson, and its banks are steep and rocky.

Saaskahampka, Indian deed; _Suaskahampka_ patent of 1684--the southwest boundmark of the Livingston Patent, is described as "A dry gully at Hudson's River." It is located about opposite Sawyer's Creek, north of the present Saugerties or Esopus Creek. _Sasco,_ or as written _Saaska,_ means "A swamp;" _Assisku_ (Del.), "Mud, clay"; _Asuskokámika,_ "Muddy place," a gully in which no water was flowing. (Gerard.)

Mananosick--"Along the foot of a high mountain to the path that goes to Wawyactanock to a hill called by the Indians Mananosick." Also written _Nanosick._ Eliot wrote, in the Natick dialect, _Nahōōsick,_ "Pinnacle," or high peak. The indefinite and impersonal _M'_ or _Ma,_ prefixed, would add "a" or "the" high peak. The hill has not been located except in a general way as near the Massachusetts line.

Nanapenahakan and Nanipanihekan are orthographies of the name of a "creek or brook" described as "coming out of a marsh lying near unto the hills where the heaps of stones lye." The stream flows to Claverack Creek. The outlet waters of Achkookpeek Lake unite with it, from which it is now called Copake Creek. It unites with Kinderhook Creek north of the city of Hudson.

Wawanaquasik, Claverack Patent, 1649; _Wawanaquassick,_ Livingston Patent of 1686; _Wawauaquassick_ and _Mawauapquassek,_ patent of 1715; _Mawanaqwassik,_ surveyor's notation, 1715; now written _Mawanaquassick_--a boundmark of the Claverack Patent of 1649, and also of the Livingston Patent, is described in the Claverack Patent, "To the high woodland called Wawanaquasik," and in the Livingston Patent, "_To a place_ called by the Indians Wawanaqussek, where the heapes of stone lye, near to the head of a creek called Nanapenahaken, which comes out of a marsh lying near unto the hills of the said heapes of stones, upon which the Indians throw another as they pass by, from an ancient custom among them." The heap of stones here was "on the south side of the path leading to Wayachtanok," and other paths diverged, showing that the place was a place of meeting. "To the high woodland," in the description of 1649, is marked on the map of survey of 1715, "Foot of the hill," apparently a particular point, the place of which was identified by the head of the creek, the marsh and the heap of stones. The name may have described this point or promontory, or it may have referred to the place of meeting near the head of the creek, or to the end of the marsh, but it is claimed that it was the name of the heap of stones, and that it is from _Miáe,_ or _Miyáe,_ "Together"--_Mawena,_ "Meeting," "Assembly"--frequently met in local names and accepted as meaning, "Where paths or streams or boundaries come together;" and _Qussuk,_ "stone"--"Where the stones are assembled or brought together," "A stone heap." This reading is of doubtful correctness. Dr. Trumbull wrote that _Qussuk,_ [FN-1] meaning "stone," is "rarely, perhaps never" met as a substantival in local names, and an instance is yet to be cited where it is so used. It is a legitimate word in some connections, however, Eliot writing it as a noun in _Môhshe-qussuk,_ "A flinty rock," in the singular number. If used here it did not describe "a heap of stones," but a certain rock. On the map of survey of the patent, in 1798, the second station is marked "Manor Rock," and the third, "Wawanaquassick," is located 123 chains and 34 links (a fraction over one and one-half miles) north of Manor Rock, as the corner of an angle. In the survey of 1715, the first station is "the foot of the hill"--"the high woodland"--which seems to have been the _Mawan-uhqu-ōōsik_ [FN-2] of the text. To avoid all question the heap of stones seems to have been included in the boundary. It now lies in an angle in the line between the townships of Claverack and Taghkanic, Columbia County, and is by far the most interesting feature of the locative--a veritable footprint of a perished race. Similar heaps were met by early European travelers in other parts of the country. Rev. Gideon Hawley, writing in 1758, described one which he met in Schohare Valley, and adds that the largest one that he ever saw was "on the mountain between Stockbridge and Great Barrington." Mass. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 1039.) The significance of the "ancient custom" of casting a stone to these heaps has not been handed down. Rev. Mr. Sergeant wrote, in 1734, that though the Indians "each threw a stone as they passed, they had entirely lost the knowledge of the reason for doing so," and an inquiry by Rev. Hawley, in 1758, was not attended by a better result. [FN-3] The heaps were usually met at resting places on the path and the custom of throwing the stone a sign-language indicating that one of the tribe had passed and which way he was going, but further than the explanation that the casting of the stone was "an ancient custom," nothing may be claimed with any authority. A very ancient custom, indeed, when its signification had been forgotten.

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