Part 3

Coponakonkikon: X his marke (L. S.). Hurkanntaman: X his marke (L. S.) Chekanshakaman: X his marke (L. S.). Kelalaman: X his marke (L. S.).”

Each nation had its boundaries, the lands within which were subdivided between the tribes. These boundaries were generally marked by mountains, rivers and lakes, and encroachments on their lands by neighboring tribes were resented as a sort of poaching on their hunting and fishing domains. There were, however, Indian paths which were common highways through the territory of the various tribes, which, later, in numerous instances, were widened into public roads, many of which exist unto this day. The Indians freely traveled by these paths from the ocean to the interior, especially to the ancient council fires at Easton, Pennsylvania.

By 1757 the Delawares had become comparatively few and a conference was held at Crosswicks with the view of settling matters in difference between them and the inhabitants of the colony, and the legislature appointed commissioners with power to inquire into the matter. Another conference was held at Crosswicks in 1758, at which Teedyescung, King of the Delawares, was present with a large number of Indians, and progress was made. The Delawares asked that a tract of land in Burlington county be bought for their occupancy for which they agreed to release all their rights to lands in New Jersey. The legislature appropriated £1600 to carry that project into effect and a tract of land of about 3,000 acres was purchased for the purpose. This place was called “Brotherton” and about 200 Indians located on it. In 1822 the remnant of the Delawares removed from New Jersey, the legislature appropriating some $3,500 for the purchase of their new homes and transportation to them. In 1832 an appropriation of $2,000, asked for by the Delawares, was made in final extinguishment of all Indian claims in New Jersey which arose out of the reservation to them of certain hunting and fishing rights in the treaty of 1758. In acknowledgment of the benefaction of New Jersey to the Delawares in 1822 their representative, Bartholomew S. Calvin, himself an Indian, wrote a letter to the legislature in which he said: “Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle--not an acre of our land have you taken but by our consent. They place the character of New Jersey in bold relief, a bright example to those states within whose territorial limits our brethren still remain. Nothing save benison can fall upon her from the lips of a Lenno Lenape.”

This was the valedictory of the Lenape in New Jersey; and the haunts that knew them formerly knew them no more.

As “along the banks of the sacred Nile, Isis no longer wandering weeps, searching for the dead Osiris,” so along the banks of the historic Delaware, the Indian maiden no longer watches, waiting the return of her dusky lover from the war-path or the chase. As “the divine fires of Persia and of the Aztecs, have died out in the ashes of the past, and there is none to rekindle, and none to feed the holy flames,” so the camp fires of the Indians in New Jersey have flickered and expired, never to be relighted, never again to send a gleam athwart the nocturnal skies.

Lord Campbell concludes the introduction to his monumental work, the “Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England,” by quoting from Lord Chief Justice Crewe, and says:

“Time hath its revolutions; there must be a period and an end to all temporal things--_finis rerum_--an end of names and dignities, and whatever is _terrene_--for where is Bohun? Where is Mowbray? Where is Mortimer? Nay, which is more and most of all, where is PLANTAGENET? They are entombed in the urns and sepulchres of mortality!”

And I ask: Where are the Lenni Lenape?

Teedyescung, Oraton, Mosilian and the other sachems and sagamores of old Schéjachbi (New Jersey) have long since gone to the happy hunting ground, and the remnant of their tribes is on a reservation in the far West, perishing as a type and destined to become extinct as a people.

The Indians have gone from New Jersey, never, never to return. But we shall not forget them! While pictures are painted; while books are printed; while children perennially play Indians all around us, we shall ever be vividly reminded of those bands of roving savages whose deeds have been rendered so popular in American story.

Transcriber’s Notes

A few minor errors in punctuation were fixed.

Page 3: “desidious trees” changed to “deciduous trees”

Page 5: “Rafineseque gives” changed to “Rafinesque gives”

Page 12: “him to vengenance” changed to “him to vengeance”

Page 15: “did not belive” changed to “did not believe”, “committd by an” changed to “committed by an”

Page 16: “ws the “profession”” changed to “was the “profession””

Page 20: “Teedyuscung so great” changed to “Teedyescung so great”

Page 21: “woud procure a meting” changed to “would procure a meeting”