Part 35

Wawarasinke, so written by the surveyor as the name of a tract of land granted to Anna Beake and her children in 1685, has been retained as the name of a village situate in part on that tract, about four miles north of Ellenville. The precise location of the southern boundmark of the patent was on the west bank of the Rondout, south of the mouth of Wawarsing Creek, or Vernooy Kill as now called, which flows to the Rondout in a deep rocky channel, the southern bank forming a very steep, high hill or point. It is claimed that the Old Fort was on this hill, and that to and from it an Indian path led east across the Shawongunk Mountain to the New Fort and is still distinctly marked by the later travel of the pioneers. That there was an Indian path will not be questioned, nor will it be questioned that there may have been at least a modern Indian village on the hill, but the Old Fort was not there. At the point where the boundmark of the patent was placed the Rondout turns at nearly a right angle from an east and west course to nearly north, winding around a very considerable point or promontory. The orthography of the name is imperfect. By dialectic exchange of _n_ and _r,_ it may be read _Wa-wa-nawás-ink,_ "At a place where the stream winds, bends, twists, or eddies around a point or promontory." This explanation is fully sustained by the topography. Hon. Th. E. Benedict writes me: "The Rondout at that point (the corner of the Anna Beake Patent) winds around at almost a right angle. At the bend is a deep pool with an eddying current, caused by a rock in the bank below the bend. The bend is caused by a point of high land. It is a promontory seventy-five feet high." The inquiry as to the meaning of the name need not be pursued further. The frequently quoted interpretation, "Blackbird's Nest," is puerile. (See Wawayanda.)

Honk, now so written as the name of the falls on Rondout Creek at Napanock, appears first in Rochester town records, in 1704, _Hoonek,_ as the name of the stream. In the Lowe Patent (1722), the reading is: "Beginning by a Great Fall called _Honeck._" The Rochester record is probably correct in the designation of the name as that of the creek, indicating that the original was _Hannek_ (Del.), meaning, "A rapid stream," or a stream flowing down descending slopes. As now written the name means nothing unless read from Dutch _Honck,_ "Home, a standing post or place of beginning," but that could not have been the derivative for the name was in place before the falls became the boundmark. The familiar interpretation: "From _Honck_ (Nar.), 'Goose'--'Wild-goose Falls,'" is worthless. The local word for Goose was _Kaak._ The falls descend two hundred feet, of which sixty is in a single cataract--primarily a wild, dashing water-fall.

Lackawack appears of record as the name of a stream in Sullivan County, otherwise known as the West Branch of Rondout Creek, and also as the name of the valley through which it passes. The valley passes into the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, where the name is met in the Beekman and in the Lowe patents, with special application to the valley above Honk Falls, and is retained as the name of a modern village. In the Lowe Patent it is written Ragawack, the initials L and R exchanged; in the Hardenberg Patent it is Laughawake. The German missionary orthography is _Lechauwak_ (Zeisb.), "Fork, division, separation," that which forks or divides, or comes together in the form of a fork; literally, "The Fork." _Lechauwak,_ "Fork"; _Lechau-hanne,_ "Fork of a river," from which Lackawanna; _Lechau-wiechen,_ "Fork of a road," from which Lackawaxen--"abbreviated by the Germans to _Lecha,_ and by the English to _Lehigh._" (Reichel.)

Napanoch, on the Rondout below Honk Falls, is probably the same word that is met in _Nepeak,_ translated by Dr. Trumbull, "Water-land, or land overflowed by water." At or near Port Jervis, Napeneck, Napenack, etc. The adjectival is _Nepé, Napé,_ "Water."

Wassahawassing, in the Lowe Patent and also in the deed to Lowe from Henry Beekman, is probably from _Awossi-newás-ing_ (Del.), "At the point or promontory beyond," or on the other side of a certain place.

Mopochock--"A certain Great Kil called Mopochock," in patent to Joachim Staats, 1688, is said to have been the name of what is now known as Sandberg Kill, but was not, as that stream was in no way connected with the Staats Patent.

Naversing is entered on Pownal's map between Rosendale and Fountain creeks, in the old town of Rochester. The map location may not be correct. The name is from _Newás-ing,_ (Del.), "At a point or promontory." The familiar form is Neversink.

Mattachonts, a modern orthography, preserves the name of a place in the town of Rochester, Ulster County, and not that of an Indian maiden as locally stated. The boundary description refers to a creek and to a swamp. The record orthographies are Magtigkenighonk and Maghkenighonk, in Calendar of Land Papers, and "Mattekah-onk Kill," local.

Amangag-arickan, given as the name of an Indian family in western Ulster (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 505), is probably from _Amangak,_ "Large," with the related meaning of terrible, and _Anakakan,_ "Rushes," or sharp rushes. _Amangak_ is from _Amangi,_ "Big, large, powerful, dire," etc., and _-ak,_ animate plural.

Ochmoachk-ing, an unlocated place, is described as "Above the village called Mombackus, extending from the north bound of the land of Anna Beake southerly on both sides of the creek or river to a certain place called Ochmoachking." (Patent to Staats, 1688.)

Shokan, the name of a village on Esopus Creek, in the town of Olive, has been interpreted as a pronunciation of _Schokkan_ (Dutch), "To jolt, to shake," etc., by metonymie, "A rough country." The district is mountainous and a considerable portion of it is too rough for successful cultivation, but no Hollander ever used the word _Schokken_ to describe rough land. At or near the village bearing the name a small creek flows from the west to the Esopus, indicating that _Shokan_ is a corruption of _Sohkan,_ "Outlet or mouth of a stream." _Sohk_ is an eastern form and _an_ is an indefinite or diminutive formative. Heckewelder wrote in the Delaware, _Saucon,_ "The outlet of a small stream into a larger one." _Ashokan_ is a pronunciation. The same name is met at the mouth of the East or Paghatagan Branch of the Delaware. Shokan Point is an elevation rising 3100 feet.

Koxing Kil, a stream so called in Rosendale, is of record _Cocksing_ and _Cucksink_--"A piece of land; it lyeth almost behind Marbletown." It is not the name of the stream but of a place that was at or near some other place; probably from _Koghksuhksing,_ "Near a high place." (See Coxackie.) On map of U. S. Geological Survey the name is given to the outlet of Minnewaska Lake, which lies in a basin of hills on Shawongunk Mountain, 1650 feet above sea level.

Shandaken, the name of a town in Ulster County, is not from any word meaning "Rapid water," as has been suggested, but is probably from _Schindak,_ "Hemlock woods"--_Schindak-ing,_ "At the hemlock woods," or place of hemlocks. The region has been noted for hemlocks from early times.

Mombackus, accepted as the name of a place in the present town of Rochester, Ulster County, is first met in 1676, in application to three grants of land described as "At ye Esopus at ye Mumbackers, lying at ye Round Doubt River." In a grant to Tjerck Classen de Witt, in 1685, the orthography is Mombackhouse--"Lying upon both sides of the Mumbackehous Kill or brook." The stream is now known as Rochester Creek flowing from a small lake in the town of Olive. The late John W. Hasbrouck wrote, "Mombakkus is a Dutch term, literally meaning 'Silent head,' from _Mom,_ 'silent,' and _Bak_ or _Bakkus,_ 'head.' It originated from the figure of a man's face cut in a sycamore tree which stood near the confluence of the Mombakkus and Rondout kills on the patent to Tjerck Classen de Witt, and was carved, tradition says, to commemorate a battle fought near the spot," that "for this information" he was "indebted to the late Dr. Westbrook, who said the stump of the tree yet stood in his youthful days." Although the evidence of the existence of a tree marked as described is not entirely positive, the fact that trees similarly marked were frequently met by Europeans in the ancient forests gives to its existence reasonable probability. In his treatment of the name Mr. Hasbrouck made several mistakes. "Place of death" is not in the word, and Dutch _Mom_ or _Mum_ does not mean "Silent"; it means "Mask," or covering, and _Bak_ or _Bakkes,_ does not mean "head," it is a cant term for "Face, chops, visage." _Mombakkes_ is plainly a vulgar Dutch word for "Mask." It describes a grotesque face as seen on a Mascaron in architecture, or a rude painting. Usually trees marked in the manner described included other figures commemorative of the deeds of a warrior designed to be honored. Sometimes the paintings were drawn by a member of the clan or family to which the subject belonged, and sometimes by the hero himself, who was flattered by the expectation that his memory would thereby be preserved, or his importance or prowess impressed upon his associates, or on those of other clans, and perhaps handed down to later generations.

Wieskottine, located on Van der Donck's map (1656), north of Esopus Creek and apparently in the territory of the Catskill Indians, is a Dutch notation of _Wishquot-attiny,_ meaning, literally, "Walnut Hill." A hill and trees are figured on the map. The dialect of the Catskill Indians was Mahican or Mohegan. It seems to have influenced very considerably the adjoining Lenape dialect. On a map of 1666, the orthography is _Wichkotteine,_ and the location placed more immediately north of the stream. The settlement represented can be no other than that of the ancient Wildwijk, now Kingston. The name has disappeared of record, as has also _Namink_ on the Groot Esopus.

Catskill, now so written, primarily Dutch _Kat's Kil,_ presumably from _Káterákts,_ or "Kil of the Katarakts," has come down from a very early date in _Katskil._ On Van der Donck's map of 1656 it is written _Kats Kill,_ but he never wrote Kil with two l's. Older than Van der Donck's map it evidently was from the frequent reference to the "Kats Kil Indians" in Fort Orange records. Its origin is, of course, uncertain. Reasonably and presumably it was a colloquial form of Katerakts Kil--reasonably, because the falls on that stream would have naturally attracted the attention of the early Dutch navigators, as they have attracted the attention of many thousands of modern travelers. It was the absence of an authoritative explanation that led Judge Benson to inflict upon the innocent streams which now bear them the distinguishing names of _Kat's_ and _Kauter's,_ and to relate that as catamounts were probably very abundant in the mountains there and were naturally of the male and female species, the former called by the Dutch _Kauter,_ or "He cat," and the latter _Kat,_ "She cat," the streams were called by those names. His hypothesis is absurd, but is firmly believed by most of modern residents, who do not hesitate to write _Kauter,_ "He cat," on their cards and on their steamboats, although it is no older than Judge Benson's application. He might have found a better basis for his conjecture in the fact that in 1650, on the north side of the Kat's Kil reigned in royal majesty, _Nipapoa,_ a squaw sachem, while on the other side _Machak-nimano,_ "The great man of his people," held sway; that, as they painted on their cabins a rude figure of a wolf, their totemic emblem, easily mistaken for a catamount, the name of "He cat" was given to one stream, and "She cat" to the other.

Katarakts Kil, as it is met of record--now Judge Benson's Kauter Kil--is formed by the outlets of two small lakes lying west of the well-known Mountain House. A little below the lakes the united streams leap over a ledge and fall 175 feet to a shelf of rock, and a few rod's below fall 85 feet to a ravine from which they find their way to the Kat's Kil. Beautiful are the falls and appropriate is the ancient name "The Kil of the Kataracts." Compare it, please, with Judge Benson's "He cat kil."

The Kat's Kil Indians have an interesting history. They are supposed to have been the "loving people" spoken of in Juet's Journal of Hudson's voyage in 1609. They were Mahicans and always friendly in their intercourse with the Dutch. In the wars with the Esopus Indians they took no part. Their hereditary enemies were the Mohawks who adjoined them on the west side of the mountains, their respective territories following the line of the watersheds. They came to be more or less mixed with fugitives from the eastern provinces, after the overthrow of King Philip. A palisaded village they had north of the Esopus, and fierce traditional battles with the Mohawks. They disappeared gradually by the sale of their lands, and gave place to the Rip van Winkles of modern history.

Quatawichnack and Katawichnack, record forms of the name given as that of a fall on Kauter's Kill, now so written, supposed to be the fall near the bridge on the road to High Falls, has been interpreted "Place of the greatest overflow," from the overflow of the stream which forms a marsh, which, however, the name describes as a "Moist, boggy meadow," or boggy land. (See Quatackuaohe.)

Mawignack, Mawichnack, Machawanick, Machwehenoc, forms of the name given as that of the meadow at the junction of the Kauter Kil and the Kat's Kil, locally interpreted, "Place where two streams meet," means, "At the fork of the river." (See Mawichnauk.)

Pasgatikook is another record name of the Katskill, varied in Pascakook and Pistakook. It is an orthography of _Pishgachtigûk_ (Moh.), meaning, "Where the river divides, or branches." (See Schaghticoke.) In patent to John Bronck, 1705, the name is given to "A small piece of land called Pascak-ook, lying on the north side of Katskil creek." The locative is claimed by the village of Leeds.

Teteachkie, the name of a tract granted to Francis Salisbury and described as "A place lying upon Katskill Creek," has not been located. _Teke,_ from _Teke-ne,_ may stand for "Wood," and _-achkie_ stand for land--a piece of woodland.

Quachanock, modern _Quajack,_ the name of a place described as the west boundary of a tract sold to Jacob Lockerman, does not mean "Christian corn-lands," as locally interpreted, although the Indians may have called "the five great plains" the "Christian corn-land" after their occupation by the purchasers. The original word was probably _Pahquioke,_ or _Pohqu'un-auke_ (_-ock_), "Cleared, opened land," or land from which the trees and bushes had been removed to fit it for cultivation.

Wachachkeek, of record as the name of the first of "five great flats, with the woodland around them," which were included in the Catskill Patent of 35,000 acres, is otherwise written _Machachkeek._ It is described as "lying on both sides of Catskil Creek," and is claimed to be known as a place west of the village of Leeds. Dr. O'Callaghan interpreted the name from _Wacheu,_ "hill," and _-keag,_ "land" or place--"Hill country," and Dr. Trumbull gave the same meaning from _Wadchuauke._ The orthography of the second form, however, is probably the most correct--_Machachkeek_--which pretty surely, from the locative, stands for _Maskekeck,_ meaning, "Marsh or wet meadow."

Wichquanachtekok, the name of the second flat, is no doubt an equivalent of _Wequan-achten-ûk,_ "At the end of the hill," from _Wequa,_ "the end"; _-achtene,_ "hill" or mountain, and _-ûk,_ locative.

Pachquyak, Pachquyak, Paquiage, etc., forms of the name of the third flat (_Pachquayack,_ 1678), given also as the name of a flat "in the Great Imbocht," [FN] is the equivalent of _Panqua-auke,_ Mass., "Clear land, open country." Brodhead wrote _Paquiage_ as the name of the place on the west side of the Hudson to which the followers of King Philip retreated in 1675, but the name may have been that of any other open or unoccupied land west of the Hudson. (See Potik.)

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[FN] Dutch _Inbocht,_ "In the bend," "bay," etc. "Great" was added as an identification of the particular bend spoken off.

Paskaecq--"a certain piece of land at Katskill, on the north side of the kill, called by the Indians Paskaecq, lying under a hill to the west of it." Conveyed to Jan Bronk in 1674-5. The name describes a vale, cleft or valley. It is widely distributed. (See Paskack.)

Assiskowachok or Assiskowacheck, the name of record as that of the fourth flat, is no doubt from _Assiskeu,_ "Mud"--_Assiskew-aughk-ûk,_ "At (or on) a muddy place."

Potic, the name of the fifth flat, is also of record Potick, Potatik, and Potateuck, probably an equivalent of _Powntuckûk_ (Mass.), denoting, "Country about the falls." (Trumbull.) From the flat the name was extended to a hill and to a creek in the town of Athens. Hubbard, in his "History of Indian Wars," assigns the same name to a place on the east side of Hudson's River. (See Pachquyak and Schaghticoke.)

Ganasnix and Ganasenix, given as the name of a creek constituting the southern boundary of the Lockerman Patent (1686), seems to be an orthography of Kaniskek, which see.

Waweiantepakook, Waweantepakoak, Wawantepekoak, are forms of a name given as that of "a high round hill" near Catskill. The description reads: "A place on the northeast side of a brook called Kiskatamenakook, on the west side of a hill called Waweantepakoak." (Land Papers, 242.) The location has not been ascertained. _Antpéch_ (_Antpek,_ Zeisb.), means "Head." In Mass. (Eliot), _Puhkuk--Muppukuk,_ "A head." _Wawei_ is a reduplicative of _Wai_ or _Way_; it means, "Many windings around," or deviations from a direct line. The name is sufficiently explained by the description, "On the west side of a hill," or a hill-side, but descriptive of a hill resembling a head--"high, erect"--with the accessory meaning of superiority. "Indian Head" is now applied to one of the peaks of the Catskills. The parts of the body were sometimes applied by the Indians to inanimate objects just as we apply them in English--head of a cove, leg of a table, etc. (See Wawayanda.)

Kiskatom, a village and a stream of water so called in Greene County, appears in two forms in original records, _Kiskatammeeche_ and _Kiskatamenakoak._ The abbreviated form, _Kiskatom,_ appears in 1708, more particularly describing "A certain tract by a place called Kiskatammeeche, beginning at a turn of Catrick's Kill ten chains below where Kiskatammeeche Kill watereth into Catrick's Kill," and "Under the great mountain called Kiskatameck." Dr. Trumbull wrote: "_Kiskato-minak-auke,_ 'Place of thin-shelled nuts,' or shag-bark hickory nuts." He explained: "Shag-bark hickory nuts, 'nuts to be cracked by the teeth,' are the 'Kiskatominies' and 'Kisky Thomas nuts' of the descendants of the Dutch colonists of New Jersey and New York." (Comp. Ind. Geographical Names.)

Kaniskek, or Caniskek, of record as the name of Athens, is described in original deeds: "A certain tract of land on the west side of North River opposite Claverack, called Caniskek, which stretches along the river from the lands of Peter Bronck down to the valley lying near the point of the main land behind the Barren Island, called Mackawameck," now known as Black Rock, at the south part of Athens. The description covers the long marshy flat in front of Athens, or between Athens and Hudson. The name seems to be from _Quana_ (_Quinnih,_ Eliot), "Long"; _-ask,_ the radical of all names meaning grass, marsh, meadow, etc., and _-ek,_ formative--literally, "Long marsh or meadow." The early settlement at Athens was called Loonenburgh, from one Jan van Loon, who located there in 1706. Esperanza succeeded this name and was followed by Athens. The particular place of first settlement is described as running "from the corner called Mackawameck west into the woodland to the Kattskill road or path, which land is called Loonenburgh." Athens is from the capital of the ancient Greek State of Attica.

Keessienwey's Hoeck, a place so called, [FN-1] has not been located. It is presumed to have been in the vicinity of Kaniskek and to have taken its name from the noted "chief or sachem" of the Katskill Indians called Keessienwey, Keesiewey, Kesewig, Keeseway, etc. On the east side of the river, south of Stockport, Kesieway's Kil is of record. Mr. Bernard Fernow, in his translation of the Dutch text wrote, "_Keessienweyshoeck_ (Mallows Meadow Hook)," but no meadow of that character is of local record. Kessiewey was a peace chief, or resident ruler, whose office it was to negotiate treaties of peace for his own people, or for other clans when requested, and in this capacity, with associates, announced himself at Fort Orange, in 1660, as coming, "in the name of the Esopus sachems, to ask for peace" with them. [FN-2] He was engaged in similar work in negotiating the Esopus treaty of 1664; signed the deed for Kaniskek in 1665, and disappears of record after that date. In "History of Greene County," he is confused with Aepjen, a peace chief of the Mahicans, and in some records is classed as a Mahican, which he no doubt was tribally, but not the less "a Katskil Indian." Beyond his footprints of record, nothing is known of the noted diplomat. His name is probably from _Keeche,_ "Chief, principal, greatest." _Keechewae,_ "He is chief." (See Schodac.)

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[FN-1] ". . . We have, therefore, gathered information from the Mahicanders, who thought we knew of it, that more than fifteen days ago some Esopus [Indians] had been at Keessienwey's Hoeck who wanted to come up [to Fort Orange], but had been prevented until this time, and in order to get at the truth of the matter, we have concluded to send for two or three sachems of the Katskil Indians, especially Macsachneminanau and Safpagood, also Keesienwey, to come hither." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 309.)

[FN-2] "May 24, 1660. To-day appeared [at Fort Orange] three Mahican chiefs, namely, Eskuvius, alias Aepjen (Little Ape), Aupaumut, and Keessienway, alias Teunis, who answered that they came in the name of the Esopus sachems to ask for peace."

Machawameck, the south boundmark of Kaniskek, was not the name of Barrent's Island, as stated in French's Gazetteer. It was the name of a noted fishing place, now known as Black Rock, in the south part of Athens. The prefix _Macha,_ is the equivalent of _Massa_ (Natick _Mogge_), meaning "Great," and _-ameck_ is an equivalent of _-ameek_ (_-amuk,_ Del.), "Fishing-place." As the root, _-am,_ means "To take by the mouth," the place would seem to have been noted for fish of the smaller sort. The Dutch called the place _Vlugt Hoek,_ "Flying corner," it is so entered in deed. Qr. "Flying," fishing with a hook in the form of a fly.