Indians in the Kanawha-New River Valley, 1500-1755 Isaac J
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2015 Maopewa iati bi: Takai Tonqyayun Monyton "To abandon so beautiful a Dwelling": Indians in the Kanawha-New River Valley, 1500-1755 Isaac J. Emrick Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Emrick, Isaac J., "Maopewa iati bi: Takai Tonqyayun Monyton "To abandon so beautiful a Dwelling": Indians in the Kanawha-New River Valley, 1500-1755" (2015). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 5543. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/5543 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Research Repository @ WVU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maopewa iati bi: Takai Toñqyayuñ Monyton “To abandon so beautiful a Dwelling”: Indians in the Kanawha-New River Valley, 1500-1755 Isaac J. Emrick Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Tyler Boulware, Ph.D., Chair Kenneth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Joseph Hodge, Ph.D. Michele Stephens, Ph.D. Department of History & Amy Hirshman, Ph.D. Department of Sociology and Anthropology Morgantown, West Virginia 2015 Keywords: Native Americans, Indian History, West Virginia History, Colonial North America, Diaspora, Environmental History, Archaeology Copyright 2015 Isaac J. Emrick ABSTRACT Maopewa iati bi: Takai Toñqyayuñ Monyton “To abandon so beautiful a Dwelling”: Indians in the Kanawha-New River Valley, 1500-1755 Isaac J. Emrick Maopewa iati bi is a Tutelo translation of William Byrd’s eighteenth century quote “To abandon so beautiful a Dwelling.” The quotes sets the stage for this examination of the indigenous landscape history of the eastern half of the Middle Ohio River Valley. The region, or Okahok amai, was the homeland of Siouan speakers, but passed from Siouan control into Iroquoian and Algonquian hands around turn of the eighteenth century. Not long afterward Indians, pressured by British and French citizens and governments, were forced to again fight to maintain their hard won new homes. By the middle of the eighteenth century, control and access had begun to shift to the growing number of European settlers gaining a permanent foothold in the former Okahok amai. Residents of the Okahok amai were adept at adapting to ever-changing social circumstances, but they also adapted to economic and environmental processes as well. The environment played a large role in the process of the many diasporas from and through the Middle Ohio Valley. These diasporas stemmed from seventeenth-century demographic and environmental crises, or shatter zones, but also connected the remaining residents to communities across the entire eastern half of North America. These kinship connections became important avenues for survival during the early eighteenth century. Whether Monyton, Tutelo, or Shawnee, the Wahtakai, or Indians as the English referred to them, also remained connected to the former Okahok amai. Maopewa iati bi also challenges many of the myths of the Ohio region, especially the one that refers to the region as merely a “common hunting ground.” While outlining the complicated history of Wahtakai in the Okahok amai beginning in the sixteenth century, my research deconstructs the history of the misunderstandings of the “hunting ground” culturally, geographically, and temporally. This alters and complicates the indigenous cultural landscape assumptions of Seven Years’ War historiography when the Ohio enters the colonial consciousness. The story of this part of the Ohio Valley has been obscured through time but has been carefully reconstructed to show that the historical, cultural, and political importance of this region for indigenous peoples was much deeper and more complicated than previously thought. iv Dedication Si c’est possible, c’est fait; impossible? Cela se fera. The difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer. Charles Alexandre de Calonne, Finance Minister to Louis XIV, circa 1783 One fool may ask more than seven wise men can answer. Torriano, Piazza universal di proverbi italiani, 1666 I dedicate this manifestation of nearly fifteen years of my life first and foremost to the peoples I hopefully represent and give voice to throughout, the Monyton and other residents of the Okahok amai. Through this, and my future endeavors, I hope to return you to the story of the indigenous past of the Americas. But of course there so many people, in the present, that I must include that have come along with me for this ride. My son Kelan was born in the midst of my return to graduate work in 2007. He has never known me to be without this other world ever present in my mind. He has been amazingly patient. My wife, Rebecca, mo Beannu, came into this in the midst of writing the final roughest chapters of my career so far. Many nights have I cloistered in the basement ranting about the minutiae of people she never knew existed. She has made the many sacrifices that three years have brought to finally finish this project. I also have an extensive and complicated family that I like to dedicate this to. My father and mother, after so many years, I am done with the dissertation, for a few months at least. They have supported me by listening to my often long-winded attempts to explain what the heck I am actually doing. My sister has patiently and lovingly sat through most of these discussions, or kept Kelan occupied through them. LeeAnne, it’s done; you were important from the beginning too. Thank you. My final dedication goes to the myriad indigenous peoples I have worked with and talk about in my writings. I am a poor vessel, limited in ability, but I hope to do justice to your histories. I may not be able to correct the injustices of the past, but I hope to not add to them. Thank you for the many whom have put your faith in my work that I can bring these stories back to life. v Acknowledgements The historian ought to be the humblest of men; he is faced a dozen times a day with the evidence of his own ignorance; he is perpetually confronted with his own humiliating inability to interpret his material correctly; he is, in a sense that no other writer is, in bondage to that material. C. V. Wedgwood So many people have provided assistance in the process of this massive project. I must of course begin with the two advisors I had at West Virginia University, Drs. Mary Lou Lustig and Tyler Boulware. Dr. Lustig shaped my Masters research that became the middle portion of this dissertation, whether it was through grammatical boot-camps or pointing out historical logical fallacies. Dr. Boulware, the chair of my dissertation committee, has provided the freedom to go out on a historical limb and found ways to get me through the difficulties of navigating not only academic but also real world issues. Drs. Silvermoon, Kenneth Fones-Wolf, Joseph Hodge, Ronald Lewis and Barbara Rasmussen all sat with me frequently to make helpful suggestions as I began this project. Bonnie Brown from Native American Studies, and archaeologists Patricia Rice and Dr. Amy Hirshman were pivotal in making sure my science was precise. Martha and Becky, in the History office, offered their frequent assistance helping me navigate the complexities of travel grants, tuition waivers, and occasional photo copies. I am forever indebted to the welcoming family of the History Department graduate students under the stairs. Not only did they share research they thought would help me, but we helped keep each other sane through many long study sessions. I also received a great deal of support from the Department of Geology and Geography at WVU, especially those working in GIS. Drs. Gregory Elmes and Trevor Harris shaped the development and expectations of my geodatabase work. The technical support provided by Frank Lafone in the GIS Tech Center also guided me through the morass of technical issues I frequently found developing digital history materials. Conversations with Dr. Amy Hessl helped vi steer me through paleoclimatology, avoiding some major pitfalls; I am forever in your debt. The department’s many grad students were very patient with the random historian that occasionally showed up asking obvious questions. I also must thank the staff at Wise Library on the Downtown Campus of West Virginia University. The reference and ILL staff handled my numerous daily requests with great speed often getting materials digitally that I would have missed. Likewise, the staff at the West Virginia collection helped me dig through the archival materials they had to gather the oldest references to Indians. My second home, another welcoming family, has been the archaeological community in West Virginia. We’re a close-knit bunch, and though I am more historian than archaeologist, they welcomed me and provided me access to hard-to-find research materials and forced me to question things in new ways. The members of the West Virginia Archaeological Society and Council of West Virginia Archaeology were invaluable resources. In particular, I must thank Bob Maslowski and Darla Spencer for their continued support and advice. Much of this project is due to their vast research and many questions. West Virginia’s State Historic Preservation Office in Charleston provided me frequent access to archaeological site files. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources welcomed me in the summer of 2010 as I was beginning the second phase of my research. The wealth of materials and their continued access to the archaeological site files and databases thankfully solved some major cultural affiliation issues in the West Virginia materials.