Hudson's River From Butter Hill to Magdelen Island
Ossangwakis 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 ofAchsün(Minsi), "Stone," as inOtstónwakin, 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 fromSepuus(Natick), "A brook"; in Delaware,Sipoes(Zeisberger). It is fromSepu, "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.)
[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, andWaranawankcougys,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 theWaoranecks,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, theWaranawankongsreside. 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 theWaoranekyshave their abode. To them succeed, after a short interval, theWaranawancougys, on the opposite side of the river." Read together there would seem to be no doubt that theWaoraneckswere seated on or around the cove or bay at Low Point and the estuary of Wappingers' Creek, and that theWaranatwankongswere 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 theWarana-wan-kalived on a bay or cove of Hudson's River, their name is certainly fromWalina,which means 'hollowing, concave site,' and 'cove, bay,' in several eastern languages. A good parallel are theWawenocksof S. W. Maine, now living at St. Francis, who call themselvesWalinaki,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.) dialectWaliniis 'bay, cove,' and even the large Bay of Fundy is called so. The meaning ofkorkais not clear, butong,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 thatWaronaandWalinamay 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 wrotelinstead ofrin the Minsi-Lenape, henceWoalac,"A hollow or excavation";Walóh,"A cove";Walpecat,"Very deep water." The dialecticrprevails pretty generally on the Hudson and on the Upper Delaware. On the latter, near Port Jervis, is met of recordWarin-sags-kameck,which is surely the equivalent ofWalina-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."Vlyis a contraction of DutchVallei,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-kameckstands 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 subjunctivek.It may have been so written here, but it seems to be a form of the guttural aspirategh,for which it is exchanged in many cases, here and in Kitchiwangh. In Connecticut on the Sound apparently the same name is met inWaranawankek,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.
Ponkhockieis the familiar form of the name of the point, cove or landing-place on the south side of Kingston Point. It is from DutchPunthoekje,meaning, "Point of a small hook, or angle." The local interpretation, "Canoe harbor," is not in the name, except inferentially from the fact that the cove was a favorite landing place for canoes. [FN-1] After the erection of a stockaded redoubt there, the Dutch called the place Rondhout, meaning. "Standing timber," and the English followed with Redoubt, and extended the name to the creek, as of record in 1670. The present form is substantially a restoration of the early Dutch Rondhout. The stockade was erected by Director Stuyvesant, at the suggestion of the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, about 1660. There were Dutch traders here certainly as early as 1622, and presumably as early as 1614, but no permanent settlement appears of record prior to 1652-3, nor is there evidence that there was a Rondhout here prior to 1657-8. Compare Stuyvesant's letter of September, 1657, and Kregier's Journal of the "Second Esopus War" (Col. Hist N. Y., xiii, 73, 314, also page 189), showing that the Rondhout was not completed until the fall and winter of 1660. De Vries wrote in 1639-40, referring to Kingston Point probably: "Some Indians live here and have some corn-lands, but the lands are poor and stony." When Stuyvesant visited the place, in 1658, he anchored his barge "opposite to the two little houses of the savages standing near the bank of the kil." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 82.) In the vicinity the war of 1658 had its initiative in an unwise attack by some settlers on a party of Indians who had been made crazy drunk on brandy furnished them by Captain Thomas Chambers. Two houses were burned belonging to settlers, and hostilities continued for eight or nine days. "At the tennis-court near the Strand," a company of eleven Dutch soldiers "allowed themselves to be taken prisoners," by the Indians, in 1659. It does not seem probable that the Dutch had a Tennis Court here at that early date, but the record so reads. [FN-2] The hook or cove, was the most desirable place for landing on the south side of the Point. It has since been the commercial centre of the town and city. Punthoekje is certainly not without interesting history.
[FN-1] In early times there were two principal landing places: One at Punthoekje and one north of the present steamboat landing, or Columbus Point as it is called. The Point is a low formation on the Hudson and was primarily divided from the main land by a marsh. It was literally "a concave, hollowing site." The marsh was later crossed by a corduroyed turnpike connecting with the old Strand Road, now Union Avenue. A ferry was established here in 1752 and is still operated under its original charter. The Point is now traversed by rail and trolley roads.
[FN-2] Perhaps an Indian Football Court, resembling a Tennis Court. A writer in 1609 says of the Virginia natives: "They use, beside, football play, which women and boys do much play at. They have their goals as ours, only they never fight and pull each other down." There was a famous Tennis Court (DutchKaatsbaan) in the town of Saugerties, which seems to have been there long before the Dutch settlement. The Tennis Court referred to in the text is said to have been near the site of the present City Hall in Kingston, but would that place be strictly "near the Strand"? "Strand" means "shore, beach." It was probably on the beach.
Atkarkarton,claimed by some local authorities as the Indian name of Kingston, comes down to us from Rev. Megapolensis, who wrote, in 1657: "About eighteen miles [Dutch] up the North River lies a place called by the Dutch Esopus or Sypous, by the Indians Atkarkarton. It is an exceedingly beautiful land." (Doc, Hist. N. Y., iii, 103.) The Reverend writer obviously quoted the name as of general application, although it would seem to have been that of a particular place. As stated in another connection, Esopus, Sypous, and Sopus were at first (1623) applied to a trading-post on the Hudson, from which it was extended inland as a general name and later became specific as that of the first palisaded Dutch village named Wildwijk, which was founded a year after Megapolensis wrote. At the date of his writing the territory called Sopus included the river front, the plateau on which Kingston stands, and the flats on the Esopus immediately west, particularly the flat known as the Groot Plat, and later (1662) as the Nieuw Dorp or New Village, [FN-1] as distinguished from Sopus or Wildwijk, or the Old Village, the specific site of which could not have been referred to. Of the site of the Old Village, Director Stuyvesant wrote in 1658: "The spot marked out for the settlement has a circumference of about two hundred and ten rods [FN-2] and is well adapted for defensive purposes. When necessity requires it, it can be surrounded by water on three sides, and it may be enlarged according to the convenience and requirements of the present and of future inhabitants." The palisaded enclosure was enlarged by Stuyvesant, in 1661, to over three times its original size. The precise spot was on the northwest corner of the plateau. It was separated from the low lands of the Esopus Valley by a ridge of moderate height extending on the north, east, and west, and had on the south "a swampish morass" which was required to be drained, in 1669, for the health of the town "and the improvement of so much ground." The Groot Plat in the Esopus Valley was a garden spot ready for the plough and was regarded as of size sufficient for "fifty bouweries" (farms). From the description quoted, and present conditions, it may be said with certainty that the site of the Old Village of Wildwijk was a knoll in an area of prairie and marsh. Neither of the village sites seem to have been occupied by the Indians except by temporary huts and corn-lands. The Wildwijk site was given to Director Stuyvesant by the Indians, in 1658, "to grease his feet with" after his "long journey" from Manhattan. Of the Groot Plat one-half was given by the Indians to Jacob Jansen Stoll in compensation for damages. A commission appointed at that time to examine the tract, and to ascertain what part of it the Indians wished to retain, reported that the Indians had "some plantations" there, "but of little value"; that it was "only a question of one or two pieces of cloth, then they would remove and surrender the whole piece." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 86, 89.) Instead of paying the Indians for the lands, however, the settlers commenced occupation, with the result that the Indians burned the New Village, June 7, 1663, attacked the Old Village, killed eighteen persons and carried away thirty captives, women and children. The war of 1663 followed, the results of which are accessible in several publications, but especially in Colonial History of New York, Vol. xiii. It is sufficient to say here that the Indians lost the lands in controversy and a much larger territory. Interpretation of the name can only be made conjecturally. William R. Gerard wrote me: "I thinkAtkarkartonsimply disguisesAtuk-ak-aten,meaning 'Deerhill,' fromAtuk,'Deer';ak,plural, andaten,'hill.' Ther'sin the name do not mean anything; they simply indicate that thea'swhich precede them were nasal." The Delaware word for "deer" isAchtuch.Dr. Schoolcraft wrote the tradition that the first deers were the hunters of men.
[FN-1] The land or place on the Esopus flat on which the New Village was founded, is now known as Old Hurley Village. It is repeatedly and specifically designated as "The Groot Plat"—"The large tract of land called the New Village"—"The burnt village called the Groot Plat." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 275,et. seq.) Hurley was given to it by Governor Lovelace in 1669, from his family, who were Barons Hurley of Ireland.
[FN-2] A Dutch rod is twelve feet, which would give this circumference at less than an English half mile. Schoonmaker writes in "History of Kingston": "The average length of the stockade was about thirteen hundred feet, and the width about twelve hundred feet." Substantially, it enclosed a square of about one-quarter of a mile.
Wildwijk,Dutch—Wiltwyck,modern—the name given by Governor Stuyvesant, in 1650, to the palisaded village which later became Kingston, and then and later called Sopus, is a composition of DutchWild,meaning "Wild, savage," andWijk,"Retreat, refuge, quarter"; constructively, "A village, fort or refuge from the savages." The claim that the place was so called by Stuyvesant as an acknowledgment of the fact that the land was a gift from the Indians, is a figment. The English came in possession, in 1664, and, in 1669, [FN] changed the early name to Kingston. The Dutch recovered possession in 1673, and changed the name to Swanendale, and the English restored Kingston in 1674. (See Atkarkarton.)
[FN] "On this day (vizt 25th) the towne formerly called Sopez was named Kingston." Date Sept. 25th, 1669. (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 435.)
Nanoseck,Manoseck,forms of the name of a small island in Rondout Creek, so "called by the Indians" says the record, may be from NatickNohōōsik,"Pointed or tapering." The Dutch called it "Little Cupper's Island."Cupper,"One who applies a cupping glass." Another island in the same stream, was "called by the IndiansAssinke," that is "Stony land" or place. (See Mattassink.) Another island was called by the DutchSlypsten Eiland,that is, "Whetstone Island"; probably from the quality of the stone found on it. It lies in the Hudson next to Magdalen Island.
Wildmeet,an Indian "house" so called by the Dutch, means, in the Dutch language, "A place of meeting of savages." It was not a palisaded village. It was burned by the Dutch forces in the war of 1660, at which time, the narrative states, some sixty Indians had assembled at or were living in it. Its location, by the late John W. Hasbrouck, at the junction of the Vernoy and Rondout kills, is of doubtful correctness, as is also his statement that it was "The council-house of all the Esopus Indians." Its location was about two (Dutch) miles from Wildwyck, or about six or seven English miles. Judge Schoonmaker wrote: "Supposed to have been located in Marbletown."
Preumaker's Land,a tract described as "Lying upon Esopus Kil, within the bounds of Hurley," granted to Venike Rosen, April 1, 1686, was the place of residence of Preumaker, "The oldest and best" of the Esopus sachems, whose life was tragically ended by Dutch soldiers in the war of 1660. The location of his "house" is described as having been "At the second fall of Kit Davits Kil." [FN-1] A creek now bears the name of the sachem, who was a hero if he was a savage.
[FN] "Kit Davits' Kil" or the Rondout was so called from Christopher Davids, an Englishman, who was first at Fort Orange, and was an interpreter. He obtained, in 1656, a patent for about sixty-five acres, described as "Situate about a league (about three miles) inland from the North River in the Esopus, on the west side of the Great Kil, opposite to the land of Thomas Chambers, running west and northeast halfway to a small pond on the border of a valley which divides this parcel and the land of John de Hulter, deceased." Ensign Smith wrote: "I came with my men to the second valley on Kit Davietsen's River.. . . Further up in said valley I crossed the stream and found their house." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii.) Supposed to have been at LeFever's Falls in Rosendale. (Schoonmaker.)
Frudyachkamik,so written in treaty—deed of 1677 as the name of a place on the Hudson at the mouth of Esopus (now Saugerties) Creek, is written Tintiagquanneck in deed of 1767 (Cal. Land Papers, 454), and by the late John W. Hasbrouck,Tendeyachameck.The deed orthography of 1677 is certainly wrong as there is no sound of F in Algonquian. (See Kerhonksen.)
{TN} {Unable to locate interlinear references to the following two notes which appear on this page.}
[FN-1]Saugertiesis probably a corruption of DutchZager's Kiltje,meaning in English, "Sawyer's little Kill." The original appears first of record in Kregier's Journal of the Second Esopus War (1663), "They were at Zager's Kiletje"; "To Sager's little Kill"; "To the Sager's Killetje." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 342, 344.) The first corruption of record also belongs to that period. It was by a Mohawk sachem who visited Esopus and at a conference converted Zager's Kiltje to Sagertjen. Some of the local Dutch followed with "de Zaagertje's." Other corruptions were numerous until the English brought in Saugerties. The originalZager,however, seems to have held legal place for many years. In 1683, in a survey of the Meals Patent, covering lands now included in Saugerties, it is written: "Being part of the land called Sagers," and in another, "Between Cattskill and Sager's Kill." It is also of record that a man known by the surname of Zager located on the stream prior to 1663, obtained a cession of the lands on the kill from Kaelcop, an Esopus sachem, and later disappeared without perfecting his title by patent.Zageris now converted toSager,and in English toSawyer.The claim that Zager had a sawmill at the mouth of the stream seems to rest entirely upon his presumed occupation from the meaning of his name. A sawmill here, in 1663, would seem to have been a useless venture. In 1750, ninety years later, one Burregan had a mill at the mouth of the kill. "Burregan" stands for Burhans.
[FN-2] "To Freudeyachkamik on the Groote River." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 505.) It was probably the peninsular now known as Flatbush, Glasco, etc., at the mouth of the creek. The orthographies of the name are uncertain. An island south of the mouth of the creek was calledQusieries.Three or four miles north isWantonIsland, the site of a traditionary battle between the Mohawks and the Katskill Indians. It is now the northeast boundmark of Ulster County. Neither of these islands could have been the boundmark of the lands granted by the Indians.Wantonseems to be fromWanquon(Wankon,Del.), "Heel"—resembling a human heel in shape—pertuberant. The lettertin the name is simply an exchange of the surd muteskandl.Modern changes have destroyed the original appearance of the island.
Kerhonkson,now so written as the name of a stream of water and of a village in the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, is of record in several forms—Kahanksen, Kahanghsen, Kahanksnix, Kahanckasink, etc. It takes interest from its connection with the history and location of what is known, in records of the Esopus Indian War of 1663, as the Old Fort as distinguished from the New Fort. In the treaty of peace with the Dutch in 1664, the fort is spoken of without name in connection with a district of country admitted by the Indians to have been "conquered by the sword," including the "two captured forts." In the subsequent treaty (1665) with Governor Nicolls the ceded district is described as "A certain parcel of land lying and being to the west or southwest of a certain creek or river called by the name of Kahanksen, and so up to the head thereof where the Old Fort was; and so with a direct line from thence through the woods and crosse the meadows to the Great Hill lying to the west or southwest, which Great Hill is to be the true west or southwest bounds, and the said creek called Kahanksen the north or northeast bounds of the said lands." In a treaty deed with Governor Andros twelve years later (April 27, 1677), the boundary lines"as they were to be thereafter,"are described: "Beginning at the Rondouyt Kill, thence to a kill called Kahanksnix, thence north along the hills to a kill called Maggowasinghingh, thence to the Second Fall, easterly to Freudyachkamick on the Groot River, south to Rondouyt Kill." In other words the district conceded to have been "conquered by the sword" lay between the Esopus and the Rondout on the Hudson, and extended west to the stream called Kahanksen, thence north to a stream called Maggowasinghingh, thence north, etc. The only stream that has been certainly identified as the Maggowasinghingh is the Rondout, where it flows from the west to its junction with the Sandberg Kill, east of Honk Falls, and this identification certainly places Kahanksensouthof that stream. And in this connection it may be stated thatthe conquered lands did not extend west of the Rondout.The Beekman and the Beake patents were held primarily by Indian deeds. After the conquest the Indians did not sell landseastof the boundary line, but did sell landswestof that line. The deed from Beekman to Lowe distinctly states that the lands conveyed were "within the bounds belonging to the Indians." As the lands on the west of the kill were not conquered and ceded to the Dutch, the Old Fort could not have been on that side of the stream. In reaching conclusions respect must be had to Indian laws, treaties, and boundary descriptions. In the records of the town of Rochester, of which town Wawarsing was a part, is the entry, under date of July 22, 1709, "Marynus van Aken desired the conveyance of about one hundred acres of land lying over against the land of Colonel Jacob Rutsen called Kahankasinck, known as Masseecs," that is the land asked for by Van Aken took the name of Masseecs from a swamp which the name means. Colonel Rutsen's land has not been located; he held several tracts at different times, and one especially on the west line of Marbletown known as Rosendale. Whatever its location it shows that its name of Kahankasinck was extended to it or from it from some general feature. Obviously from the ancient treaty and deed boundaries the site of the Old Fort has not been ascertained, nor has the Great Hill been located. Presumably both must be looked for on Shawongunk Mountain.
The fort, as described by Kregier in his "Journal of the Second Esopus War," was a palisaded village and the largest settlement of the Esopus Indians. He made no reference to a stream or to a ravine, but did note that he was obliged to pass over swamps, frequent kills, and "divers mountains" that were so steep that it was necessary to "haul the wagons and cannon up and down with ropes." His course was "mostly southwest" from Wildwijk, and the fort "about ten miles" (Dutch), or from thirty to thirty-five miles English. It was not so far southwest from Wildwijk (Kingston) as the New Fort by "about four hours," a time measure equal to nine or ten English miles. The Indians did not defend the fort; they abandoned it "two days before" the Dutch troops arrived. No particular description of it has been handed down. Under date of July 31, 1663, Kregier wrote: "In the morning at dawn of day set fire to the fort and all the houses, and while they were in full blaze marched out in good order." And so disappeared forever the historic Indian settlement, not even the name by which it was known certainly translatable in the absence of knowledge of the topography of its precise location. [FN]
[FN] The name has the appearance of derivation fromGahan(Del.), "Shallow, low water"'; spoken with the guttural aspirate-gks(Gahaks), and indefinite formative-an.As a generic it would be applicable to the headwaters of any small stream, or place of low water, and may be met in several places.
Magowasinghinck,so written in its earliest form in treaty deed of 1677 (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii) as the name of an Indian family, and also as the name of a certain kill, or river—"Land lying on both sides of Rondout Kill, or river, and known by the name of Moggewarsinck," in survey for Henry Beekman, 1685—"Land on this side of Rondout Kill namedRagowasinck,from the limits of Frederick Hussay, to a kill that runs in the Ronduyt Kill, or where a large rock lies in the kill," grant to George Davis, 1677. The Beekman grant was on both sides of Rondout Creek west and immediately above Honk Falls, where a large rock lying in the kill was the boundmark to which the name referred and from which it was extended to the stream and place. The George Davis grant has not been located, and may never have been taken up. Beekman sold to Peter Lowe in 1708, and the survey of the latter, in 1722, described his boundary as running west from "the great fall called Heneck." In Mr. Lindsay's History of Ulster County it is said that the grant was half a mile wide on the southeast side of the stream and a mile wide on the northwest side. Hon. Th. E. Benedict writes me: "The Rondout is eminently a river of rocks. It rises on the east side of Peekamoose, Table, and Lone mountains, and west side of Hanover Mountain of the Catskills, and flows through chasms of giant rocks. All the way down there are notable rocks reared in midstream. The rock above Honk Falls is hogback shape, a hundred or more feet long. It lies entirely in the stream and divides it into two swift channels which join together just above the falls. Here, amid the roar, the swirl and dash of waters breaking through rocky barriers, with the rapids at the falls, the Great Rock was an object to be remembered as a boundmark."
Without knowledge of the locative of the name or of the facts of record concerning it, the late Dr. D. G. Brinton, replying to inquiry, wrote me: "I takeMagoworMoggew-assing-inkto be fromMacheu(Del.), 'It is great, large';achsün,'stone', andinklocative; literally 'at the place of the large stone'." The name does not describe the place where the rock lies. The Davis grant in terms other than the Indian name located one as lying "in the kill," and the other is described in the survey of the patent to Beekman: "Land situate, lying and being upon both sides of Rondout Kill or river, and known by the name of Moggewarsinck, beginning at a great rock stone in the middle of the river and opposite to a marked tree on the south side of the river, between two great rock stones, which is the bounds betwixt it and the purchase of Mr. William Fisher," etc.; both records confirm Dr. Brinton's interpretation. As a generic the name may, like Kahanksan, be found in several places, but the particularly certain place in the Beekman grant was at the falls called Honneck, now Honk.
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 ofnandr,it may be readWa-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 calledHoneck." The Rochester record is probably correct in the designation of the name as that of the creek, indicating that the original wasHannek(Del.), meaning, "A rapid stream," or a stream flowing down descending slopes. As now written the name means nothing unless read from DutchHonck,"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: "FromHonck(Nar.), 'Goose'—'Wild-goose Falls,'" is worthless. The local word for Goose wasKaak.The falls descend two hundred feet, of which sixty is in a single cataract—primarily a wild, dashing water-fall.
Lackawackappears 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 isLechauwak(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 toLecha,and by the English toLehigh." (Reichel.)
Napanoch,on the Rondout below Honk Falls, is probably the same word that is met inNepeak,translated by Dr. Trumbull, "Water-land, or land overflowed by water." At or near Port Jervis, Napeneck, Napenack, etc. The adjectival isNepé, Napé,"Water."
Wassahawassing,in the Lowe Patent and also in the deed to Lowe from Henry Beekman, is probably fromAwossi-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.
Naversingis 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 fromNewás-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 fromAmangak,"Large," with the related meaning of terrible, andAnakakan,"Rushes," or sharp rushes.Amangakis fromAmangi,"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 ofSchokkan(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 wordSchokkento describe rough land. At or near the village bearing the name a small creek flows from the west to the Esopus, indicating thatShokanis a corruption ofSohkan,"Outlet or mouth of a stream."Sohkis an eastern form andanis an indefinite or diminutive formative. Heckewelder wrote in the Delaware,Saucon,"The outlet of a small stream into a larger one."Ashokanis 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 recordCocksingandCucksink—"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 fromKoghksuhksing,"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 fromSchindak,"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,' fromMom,'silent,' andBakorBakkus,'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 DutchMomorMumdoes not mean "Silent"; it means "Mask," or covering, andBakorBakkes,does not mean "head," it is a cant term for "Face, chops, visage."Mombakkesis 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 ofWishquot-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 isWichkotteine,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 alsoNaminkon the Groot Esopus.
Catskill,now so written, primarily DutchKat's Kil,presumably fromKáterákts,or "Kil of the Katarakts," has come down from a very early date inKatskil.On Van der Donck's map of 1656 it is writtenKats 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 ofKat'sandKauter'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 DutchKauter,or "He cat," and the latterKat,"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 writeKauter,"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 sideMachak-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.
The River at Hudson Looking West
QuatawichnackandKatawichnack,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.)
Pasgatikookis another record name of the Katskill, varied in Pascakook and Pistakook. It is an orthography ofPishgachtigûk(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,fromTeke-ne,may stand for "Wood," and-achkiestand for land—a piece of woodland.
Quachanock,modernQuajack,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 probablyPahquioke,orPohqu'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 writtenMachachkeek.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 fromWacheu,"hill," and-keag,"land" or place—"Hill country," and Dr. Trumbull gave the same meaning fromWadchuauke.The orthography of the second form, however, is probably the most correct—Machachkeek—which pretty surely, from the locative, stands forMaskekeck,meaning, "Marsh or wet meadow."
Wichquanachtekok,the name of the second flat, is no doubt an equivalent ofWequan-achten-ûk,"At the end of the hill," fromWequa,"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 ofPanqua-auke,Mass., "Clear land, open country." Brodhead wrotePaquiageas 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.)
[FN] DutchInbocht,"In the bend," "bay," etc. "Great" was added as an identification of the particular bend spoken off.