Delawar e Nation of Contact Information Address: P.O. Box 825 Location: 2.5 Miles North of Anadarko on HWY 281 City: Anadarko County: State: Oklahoma Zip Code: 73005 Phone: (405) 247-2448 Fax: (405) 247-9393 Web Site: http://www.westerndelaware.nsn.us

HISTORY:

The Delaware, once a confederacy, and at one time, one of the larger tribes of the Eastern Woodland people, was formerly the most important of the Algonquian stock, occupying the entire basin of the Delaware River in East Pennsylvania and Southwest New York, together with most of New Jersey and Delaware. They called themselves Lena’pe or Leni-lena’pe, equivalent to real men. The English knew them as Delaware from the name of their principal river.

The Lena’pe or Delaware were composed of three (3) principal branches identified by the Morgan Papers as: , Unami and Unalachtigo. Each of these had its own territory and dialect with separate identity, the Munsee being so far differentiated as frequently to be considered and independent people.

The early traditional history of the Delaware is contained in the national legend, the Walum Olum. When they made their first treaty with William Penn in 1682, the Delaware had their Council Fire at Shackamaxon, about the present Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia; and under various names, occupied the whole country along the river. Gradually, they moved west and were located in at least ten (10) different states during the migration. There are, at the present time, two groups of Delaware living in Oklahoma. The main part of the tribe known as “Registered Delaware”, came from their reservation in Kansas in 1867, settled with the Cherokee along the Caney River, and were allotted land with them. Their descendants live in Washington, Craig, Nowata and Delaware Counties.

The other group, identified as a separate legal entity, was associated with the Caddo and Wichita Tribes in and came to the Washita River in the in 1859 near Caddo County. This group called themselves “the lost tribe” or “Absentee Delaware Nation.”

The Delaware reorganized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, and began meeting in their own tribal office after 1971. On April 21, 1973, they passed their Tribal Constitution and changed their name to the Delaware Nation of Western Oklahoma. By 1985, they had a tribal enrollment of 980 members. In 1984, they moved into their new tribal offices located approximately two miles north of present Anadarko, Oklahoma. On November 13, 1999, their name was again changed to the Delaware Nation with a membership of 1,298.

Current Leadership Wichita, Caddo, & Delaware Reservation

Bruce Gonzales, President

Tulsa Edgar French, Vice President The Reservation

borders are defined Oklahoma City Linda Poolaw, Secretary by the Canadian River on the north, Judith Dela Rosa, Treasurer the Washita River on

the south, 98° west Lawton/Ft. Sill Kelly Line, Member longitude on the east, and 98° 40’ west C.J. Watkins, Member longitude on the west.