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HISTORICAL SKETCHES,.
AND
LOCAL NAMES
OF THE








THE
NIAGARA FRONTIER:
EMBRACING
SKETCHES OF ITS EARLY HISTORY,
AND
Indian, French and English Local Names.
READ BEFORE THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL CLUB,
FEBRUARY 27TH, 1865,
BY ORSAMUS H.' MARSHALL.
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.




JOSEPH  WARREN  &  CO., PRINTERS,
Courier Office, Buffalo.




INTRODUCTION.
THE following sketches were prepared at the request of the Buffalo
Historical Society, and read at one of its weekly club meetings held
in the month of February last.
They are a humble contribution to our local history, an attempt to
rescue from  oblivion and illustrate historically, some of the Indian,'
French and English names which have been applied to the most prominent localities on the Niagara Frontier.  The key to the pronunciation of the Seneca names will be found in the Appendix.
BUFFALO, March, I865.








JAMES CARTIER, while exploring the Gulf of St. Lawrence in I535, was informed by the savages living on
its borders, that a mighty river, which  they called
Hochelaga, flowed into the sea near by from a vast distance in the interior.* Having discovered its mouth, he
explored the stream as far as the site of the present city
of Montreal.  He inquired of the Indians, whom he met
on the way, touching the source of that great' river and
the country through which it flowed. He was told, that
after ascending many leagues among rapids and waterfalls, he would reach a lake, one hundred and fifty
leagues long and forty or fifty broad, at the western
extremity of which the waters were wholesome and the
winters mild; that a river emptied into it from the south
which had its source in the country of the Iroquois;
that beyond this lake he would find a cataract and
portage; then another lake about equal to the former,
which they had never explored; and, still further on, a
sea, the western shores of which they had never seen, nor
had they heard of any one who had. t
This is the earliest historical notice of our great lake
region.
Cartier was followed, after a long interval, by French
traders, adventurers and missionaries, who, stimulated by
love of adventure, the attractions of the fur trade, or
* Lescarbot, p. 300.
t Lescarbot, p. 381.




6
inspired by religious zeal, were the first to penetrate the
Canadian wilderness, and encounter the privations and
dangers incident to the exploration of the vast interior
of North America.
Before the Pilgrims landed in New England, Champlain had wintered among the savages on the eastern
shore of Lake Huron, and had crossed Lake Ontario
with an expedition against the Iroquois in the central
part of our State.d
As one after another of the principal lakes and rivers
of the New World were discovered, they were called in
honor of some tutelary saint or patron, some king or
noble. The early travelers not only rejected their aboriginal names, but, in many instances, failed even to
mention them. The series of lakes on our northern
border, were originally considered as but expansions of
one continuous river, called by the old geographers
Saint Lawrence, in honor of the martyr, on the day of
whose festival the noble gulf at its outlet was discovered.
During the three centuries which have elapsed since
that event took place, two distinct races have successively occupied and disappeared from this locality, now in
the undisputed possession of a third.
The traveler in the classic regions of the Old World,
encounters at every step venerable monuments and
crumbling ruins, silent, but eloquent memorials of those
who have risen, flourished, and disappeared in the revolutions of time. The Indian, once lord of this New
World, now a tenant at the will of the white man, was
skilled in none but the rudest arts. He roamed, a child
of nature, over the forest and prairie, absorbed in his
ceaseless struggle for a precarious subsistence on the
* Voyages de Champlain, Part I, p. 25I.




fruits of the chase.  He built no monuments and has
left no records, from which we may learn the story of his
origin, his migrations, his bloody wars and fruitless conquests. The only light which shines upon his annals, is,
at best, a dim and shadowy tradition. Scarce a memorial
of his former occupancy remains, save the names he has
bestowed upon the lakes, rivers, and prominent landmarks of the country. The Iroquois dialects still live in
their melodious geographical terms, suggesting a sad
contrast between their former proud and extensive dominion and their present feeble and reduced condition.
There is no satisfactory evidence of the existence, in
this vicinity, of a race preceding the Indians.  The
" mound-builders," that mysterious people who once
spread in countless multitudes over the valleys of the
Ohio, the Mississippi, and their tributaries, never, so far
as diligent research has been able to discover, dwelt in
this locality.  The ancient fortifications, tumuli, and
artificial structures that abound in Western New York,
can all be referred to a later date and a more modern
race. But at what precise period and by what particular
people they were constructed, are questions which have
hitherto eluded the most diligent historical research.
The Senecas are equally ignorant on this subject. The
venerable Seneca White, a distinguished Iroquois chief
residing on the Cattaraugus Reservation, now 81 years
old, expressed his curiosity on the subject, in a recent
interview with the writer, and desired to know when,
why and by whom  those structures had been built.
Many of them may yet be seen within a few miles of our
city, and are certainly objects of historical interest and
speculation.
Omitting, therefore, from necessity, any notice of the




8
race, of whom these remains are the only memorial, we
find that the first in this locality, of whom history makes
mention, were the Attiouandaronk, or Neutral Nation,
called Kakzwas by the Senecas.*  They had their council-fires along the Niagara, but principally on its western
side. Their hunting-grounds extended from the Genesee nearly to the eastern shores of Lake Huron, embracing a wide and important territory.  In this region,
now  teeming with Anglo-Saxon life, they reared their
rude wigwams, pursued  their game, and  preserved a
rigid and singular neutrality between the fierce tribes
that waged their bloody wars on all sides around them.
They  are first mentioned  by  Champlain  during  his
winter visit to the Hurons in I615, before alluded to,
but he was unable to visit their territory. According
to the early Jesuits, they excelled the Hurons in stature,.strength, and symmetry, and wore their dress with a
superior grace. They regarded their dead with peculiar
veneration. Once in every ten years the survivors of
each family gathered the remains of their deceased ancestors from  the  platforms on which  they had  been
deposited, and buried them in heaps with many superstitious ceremonies.  This was called the "feast of the
dead."  Many of the mounds thus raised may still be
seen in this vicinity. A conspicuous one on Tonawanda
Island is affirmed by the old Senecas to have had such
an origin.  The land of the Neutral Nation is described
* It has been assumed by many writers that the Kah-kwas and Eries
were identical. This is not so. The latter, according to the most reliable
authorities, lived south of the western extremity of Lake Erie until they
were destroyed by the Iroquois in I655. The Kah-kwas were exterminated
by them as early as I651. On Coronelli's map, published in I688, one of
the villages of the latter, called "Kakouagoga, a destroyed nation," is located at or near the site of Buffalo.




9
by the Jesuits as producing an abundance of corn, beans,
and other vegetables, their rivers as abounding in fish
of endless variety, and their forests as filled with a profusion of game, yielding the richest furs.
The peace which this peculiar people had so long
maintained with the Iroquois was destined to be broken.
Some jealousies and collisions occurred in I647, which
culminated in open war in I650. One of the villages of
the Neutral Nation, nearest the Senecas and not far
from the site of our city, was captured in the autumn of
the latter year, and another the ensuing spring.*  So
well directed and energetic were the blows of the Iroquois, that the total destruction of the Neutral Nation
was speedily accomplished. All their old men and children, who were unable to follow their captors, were put
to death, but the women were reserved to supply the
waste occasioned by the war. The survivors were adopted
and absorbed among their conquerors, and, as late as
i669, a small remnant was found by the Jesuit, Father
Fremin, living within the limits of the present county
of Ontario.
Such were the predecessors of the Senecas. A little
more than two centuries has elapsed since they lived
and flourished in this locality, and no evidence of their
occupancy now  exists, save the rude mounds which
mark their final resting-places. Scarce a trace of their
language remains, and we know only that they spoke a
dialect kindred to that of the Senecas. Blotted out from
among the nations, they have left one conspicuous and
enduring memorial of their existence, in the name of the
beautiful and noble river that divides their ancient
domain.
* Relation des Jesuits, I65r, p. 4.




10
A long period intervened between the destruction of
the Neutral Nation and the permanent occupation of
their country by the Senecas. For more than a century,
this beautiful region was abandoned to the undisturbed
dominion of nature, save when traversed by the warrior
on his predatory errand, or the hunter in pursuit of
game.  A  dense and unexplored wilderness extended
from the Genesee to the Niagara, with but here and
there an interval, where the oak openings let in the sunlight, or the prairie lured the deer and the elk to crop its
luxuriant herbage.
The Senecas continued to live east of the Genesee, in
their four principal villages, until the year I687, when
the Marquis de Nonville, then Governor of Canada,
invaded their country with a powerful army, and, after
defeating  them  near the site of Victor, in  Ontario
county, drove them  from  their burning villages and
laid waste their territories.*  The humbled Senecas,
influenced by their superstition, never rebuilt a solitary
cabin.  Their abandoned homes long bore witness to
that most disastrous era in the history of the confederacy.  We next find them in scattered villages on the
banks of their favorite river,t in the fertile valley of
which, they resumed the cultivation of the maize, and
recovered, in some degree, their former power and
influence.
During the Revolutionary War they espoused the
British cause. The atrocities they committed in their
savage mode of warfare, culminated in 1778 in the memorable massacre at Wyoming, and  induced  General
Washington, in imitation of De Nonville, to send an
* N. Y. Historical Coil., 2d series, vol. 2, p. I8o.
t The Genesee. In Seneca, Je-nis'-hi-yuh, or beazutflzz pleasaznt valley.




11
army for their chastisement. The famous expedition
under General Sullivan was organized for this purpose,
which, penetrating the heart of the Seneca country,
resulted, for the time being, in their overthrow and complete dispersion. The proud and formidable nation fled,
panic-stricken, from their "pleasant valley," abandoned
their villages, and sought British protection under the
guns of Fort Niagara. They never, as a nation, resumed
their ancient seats along the Genesee, but sought and
found a new home on the secluded banks and among
the basswood forests of the Buffalo Creek,* whence they
had driven the Neutral Nation one hundred and thirty
years before.
I have thus, with as much brevity as the nature of my
subject would admit, noticed the aboriginal races that
preceded us in the occupancy of this region. I consider
this not an inappropriate introduction to an historical
sketch of the most prominent localities on the Niagara
frontier, and of the various names by which they have
been known.
On the 6th day of December, 1678, La Salle, in his
brigantine of ten tons, doubled the point where Fort
Niagara now  stands, and anchored in the sheltered
waters of the river.t The prosecution of his bold enterprise at that inclement season, involving the exploration
of a vast and unknown country, in vessels built on the
way, indicates the indomitable energy and self-reliance
of the intrepid discoverer. His crew consisted of sixteen persons, under the immediate command of the
Sieur de la Motte. " Te Deum laudauns /" chanted the
grateful Franciscans as they entered the noble river.
* Do'-syo-wa.
t Hennepin, p. 74.




12
The strains of that ancient hymn of the church, as they
rose from the deck of the adventurous bark and echoed
from shore and forest, must have startled the watchful
Senecas with the unusual sound, as they gazed upon
their strange visitors.  Never before had white man, so
far as history tells us, ascended the river. On its borders the roving Indian still contended for supremacy
with the scarce wilder beasts of the forest. All was yet
primitive and unexplored.  Dense woods overhung the
shore, except at the site of the present fort, or near the
foot of the portage above, where a few temporary cabins
sheltered  some fishing-parties of the Senecas.  The
stream  in which the French were now  anchored, they
called by its Indian name, NIAGARA. It is the oldest of
all the local geographical terms which have come down
to us from  the aborigines.  It was not at first thus
written by the English, for with them  it passed through
almost every possible alphabetical variation before its
present orthography was established*  We find its germ
in the On-gui-aah-ra of the Neutral Nation as given by
Father L' Allemant, in a letter dated in I64I, at the
mission station of Sainte MAarie.t In describing his
visit to that people, he says:." From  their first village,
"which is about 40 leagues southerly from Sainte Marie,
"it is four days' travel in a south-easterly direction, to
"where the  celebrated  river of the Neutral Nation
"empties into Lake Ontario.  On the west and not on
"the eastern side of said river, are the principal villages
"of that nation. There are three or four on the eastern
* Thirly-nine different modes of spelling Niagara are enumerated by Dr.
O. Callaghan. N. Y. Colonial Doc., Index volume, p. 465.
t Sainte Marie was located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. Relation des Jesuits, I639-40, p. 43.




13
"side, extending from  east to west toward the Eries or
"Cat Nation.  This river," he adds, "is that by which
"our great lake of the  Hurons is discharged, after
"having emptied into Lake Erie, or lake of the Cat
"Nation, and it takes the name of On-gui-aah-ra, until
"it empties into the Ontario or St. Louis Lake."*
The name of the river next occurs on Sanson's map
of Canada, published in Paris in 1657, where it is spelled
"Ongzara."  Its first appearance as Niagara, is on Coronelli's map, published in Paris in  I688.  From  that
time to the present, the French have been consistent in
their orthography, the numerous variations alluded to,
occurring only among the English writers. The word
was probably derived from the Mohawks, through whom
the French had their first intercourse with the Iroquois.t
Some controversy has existed concerning its signification. It is probably the same both in the Neutral and
Mohawk languages, as they were kindred dialects of one
generic tongue.  The Mohawks affirm  it to mean neck,
in allusion to its connecting the two lakes. The corresponding  Seneca namet was always confined by  the
Iroquois to the section of the river below the Falls, and
to Lake Ontario. That portion of the river above the
Falls~ being sometimes called by one of their names for
Lake Erie.1
The name was sometimes applied by the early historians not only to the river, but to a defensive work
* Relation, 1641, p. 71.
t The Mohawks pronounce it Nyai'-ga-rah', with the primary accent on
the first syllable, and the second on the last.: Nyah'-gaah. The signification of this Seneca word is lost. It is probably derived from the name conferred by the Neutral Nation.
~ N. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. V., p. 800, and IX, p. 999.
II Gai-gwvah-geh.




14
and group of Indian cabins, which stood at or near the
site of the present village of Lewiston. In the year
I678, La Salle constructed at this point a cabin of
palisades to serve as a magazine or storehouse.  In
order to allay the jealousies which the work excited
among the Senecas, he sent an embassy to Tegarondies,
the principal village of the confederacy, then located on
what is now known as Boughton Hill, near Victor, in
Ontario county.  They reached it in five days, after a
march in mid-winter of thirty-two leagues, on snowshoes, during which they subsisted only on parched
corn. There they found the Jesuits, Garnier and Raffeix, who had been resident missionaries since I669. A
council was held with the Senecas and presents interchanged, but without favorable result.  The French
retraced their steps to their camp on the river, worn out
with the hardships of the way, and glad to exchange
their meagre diet for the delicious white fish just then
in season.
No regular defensive work was constructed in the
vicinity, until De Nonville, on his return from the expedition before alluded to,.fortified the tongue of land or
angle lying between the lake and the river embracing
the site of the present fort. The French General describes it as "the most beautiful, pleasing and advantageous position on the whole lake." As early as I686,
he had proposed to his government to erect a stone
fortress at this point, sufficient for a garrison of five
hundred men, but received no favorable response. Many
difficulties were now encountered in its construction.
As the place was barren of suitable wood, palisades were
cut at a distance, floated to the adjacent beach, and
drawn up with great labor to the top of the bank. The




15
work was finally completed; and called, after its founder,
Fort De Nonville.  It subsequently appears on some of
the maps as Fort Coity, after a prince of that name, who
was a patron of Tonti, one of La Salle's companions, but
Niagara soon became its exclusive and more appropriate
designation. De Nonville left in the fort a garrison of
one hundred men, who were compelled by sickness to
abandon it the following season, after having partially
destroyed it. They left many of its buildings in an habitable condition, as may be- learned from a curious inventory and statement drawn up at the time of the
evacuation.*  No measures appear to' have been taken
for its reconstruction until I725, when, by consent of
the Iroquois, it was commenced in stone, and finished
the following year. The " old mess-house" is a relic of
that era.
The French, having through the influence of Joncaire
obtained the consent of the Senecas, rebuilt their storehouse at Lewiston in I719-20.  It formed a block-house
forty feet long, by thirty wide, inclosed with palisades,
musket proof, and pierced with port-holes.  Around
this nucleus gathered a cluster of ten Seneca cabins,
and patches of corn, beans, squashes and melons were
soon under cultivation. Father Charlevoix visited the
spot in 1721, while on his extensive tour along the lakes,
and has left quite an exaggerated description of the
ridge at Lewiston, which he calls "a frightful mountain,
that hides itself in the clouds, on which the Titans
might attempt to scale the heavens!"t
The block-house must have soon fallen to decay, for
* N. Y. Colonial Docs., vol. 9, p. 386.
t Charlevoix's Journal, vol. 2., p. 345.




16
we find Louis XV. proposing to rebuild it in I727,* but
the project was abandoned the next year. 
This locality was always considered an important
point in the early history of the Niagara frontier. Here
was the commencement of the Portage around the Falls,
where all the goods in process of transportation between
the lakes underwent transhipment.  The traveled road
pursued, as now, a zigzag course up the mountain ridge,
but the heavy goods were raised or lowered in a sliding
car or cradle, moved on an inclined plane by a windlass.
The remains of the old tramway were visible at a late
period, and possibly may still be seen. The ascent of
the ledge at this point was so difficult, that long before
the railway was constructed, the Senecas had given it a
name which signifies, literally, "walking on all fours,"t
in allusion to the postures assumed by the French and
Indians while climbing the steep acclivity under their
heavy burdens.  Hennepin calls it "the three mountains," (Irois monlagnes),J in allusion to the high riverbank and the two terraces above it, which form  the
mountain ridge.  When Kalm arrived there in   750, he
found one of the Joncaires still a resident. Over two
hundred Senecas were then employed in carrying furs
over the portage, at the rate of twenty pence a pack
for the entire distance.~ There were three warehouses
at the foot of the ridge in   759, and one at its summit,
all used for storing the goods in transitu.
Opposite Fort Niagara, on the Canada side of the
river, is " MISSISSAUGA POINT," SO called after one of the
N. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. 9, p. 964.
t Duh'-jih-heh'-oh.
t Hennepin, p. I 13.
~ Kalm's letter in Annual Register, vol. 2, p. 389.




17
Algonkin tribes that formerly resided in the vicinity.*
The adjacent village of NIAGARA was known in   780, by
the name of Butlersbury, after Colonel Butler of Wyoming notoriety.t It was afterward called Newark, after
the place of that name in New Jersey, and West Niagara
and British Niagara. In I792 it became the residence
of the Lieutenant-Governor of Canada, and in the autumn of that year, the first session of the Parliament of
the Upper Province was held there.  It is an older
settlement than any on the eastern side of the river, and
boasted a weekly newspaper as early as I795. About
one mile above Newark, a defensive work was built by
the British, at the close of the last century, called FORT
GEORGE.  Between this and the river was a storehouse,
bearing the high-sounding name of Navy Hall, and near
the latter the residence of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe.
QUEENSTON, SO called in honor of Queen Charlotte,
had no earlier name, though the locality was frequently
noticed by the first explorers.  Hennepin speaks of it
as "the Great Rock,"t referring to an immense mass,
which, becoming detached from the brow of the mountain, had fallen into the river below. It is now plainly
visible under the western end of the lower Suspension
bridge.
The DEVIL'S HOLE and the WHIRLPOOL are not noticed by any of the early travelers. The former is more
particularly celebrated as the scene of a well known
bloody tragedy in I763.  Its Seneca name signifies,
"the cleft rocks."~  The BLOODY RUN, which falls over
* N. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. 5, p. 589.
t Gilbert's Narrative, p. 52. Col. Butler died in I796. Merritt's MS.
I La grosse roche. Hennepin, p. II3.
~ Dyus-da'-nyah-gQh. The river-bank is cleft by the action of the Bloody
Run.




18
the precipice at this point, derives its present name from
the same tragic occurrence, though the Indians have no
term  to distinguish it from  the Devil's Hole.  Their
name for the Whirlpool means, literally, "the current
goes round." 
It has already been stated, that the Indians, whom
Cartier met in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1535, alluded,
in their description of the interior, to a " CATARACT and
portage," at the western extremity of Lake Ontario.
This is the first historical notice of NIAGARA FALLS.
Seventy-eight years afterward, Champlain published an
account of his voyages in Canada, illustrated by a map
of the country, on which the several lakes, as far west as
Lake Huron, are laid down, though in very erroneous
outline.t  It distinctly shows the river Niagara, interrupted by a waterfall, and intersected by an elevation of
land, answering to the mountain ridge at Lewiston. It
contains no specific name for the cataract, but calls it
"Saul d'eau," or waterfall.  Champlain describes it as
"so very high that many kinds of fish are stunned in
" its descent."
The next notice of the cataract is by the Jesuit Father
Ragueneau, who, in a letter to the Superior of the Missions at Paris, dated in 1648, says, "north of the Eries
" is a great lake, about two hundred leagues in circum-' ference, called Erie, foimed by the discharge of the
"mer-douce, or Lake Huron, and which falls into a third
"lake, called Ontario, over a cataract of frightful height."t
Heznepin is the first who published a detailed description of this remarkable waterfall. He first saw it in the
Dyu-no'-wa-da-se'.
t Edition of I632.
1 Jesuit Relation, 1648, p. 46.




19
winter of 1678-9, and accompanies his description by an
engraved sketch,* evidently drawn from  memory, as it
embraces a bird's eye view of the whole river, as far as
Lake Erie, with the Grzffin in the distance.  The two
falls, with Goat Island between, and Table Rock, are
very well delineated, though the height is very much'
exaggerated.  A group of Frenchmen, viewing the cataract from the American side, are represented as stopping their ears to shut out the deafening sound.
No doubt the Falls were visited at an earlier date by
numerous traders and voyageurs, but no record of the
fact exists.  The Niagara was not a favorite route to the
far west, the Ottawa being shorter and safer for a canoe
voyage, an easy portage connecting its head-waters with
Lake Huron.  The fatiguing transit around the Falls,
and the hostility of the warlike Iroquois, were formidable obstacles to the more southern course.
The Seneca name of the Cataractt signifies "the
place of the high fall." They never call it Niagara, nor
by any similar terrn, neither does that word signify in
their language " thunder of waters," as affirmed by Schoolcraft.4 Such a meaning would be eminently poetic, but
truth is of higher importance.
The picturesque ISLANDS which add so much to the
beauty and unrivaled scenery of the Falls, must have
challenged the admiration and stimulated the curiosity
of the early visitor. Equally attractive at all seasons,
whether arrayed in summer verdure, colored with the
tints of autumn, or clothed in the crystal robes of win* Hennepin, p.  16.
t Det-gah'-skoh-ses. See appendix.: Tour to the Lakes. p. 32.




20
ter,* they reposed like fairy creations, amid the turmoil
of the impetuous rapids, isolated and apparently secure
from  human intrusion or profanation.  Traditions exist
of early Indian visits to the larger one, which are confirmed by a deposit of human bones discovered near its
head.  The access was from  the river above, through
the still water between the divided  currents.  Judge
Porter first landed there in I 806, and found several dates
carved on a beech, the earliest of which was I769. He
purchased the entire group from the State in I816, and
during the following year built the first bridge which
connected  them  with  the  main  land.  Stedman  had
cleared a small field near the upper end of the largest,
and colonized it with a few animals, including a venerable goat. The latter was the only survivor of the severe
winter of I779-80, in commemoration  of which the
island received its present name. The Boundary Commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent, gave to it the
more poetic title, Iris Island, but the earlier one was
destined to prevail.
JUDGE PORTER was one of the earliest settlers at the
Falls, having erected his first dwelling there in 1809-Io.
He foresaw  the unrivaled advantages of the position,
and secured, at an early day, the fee of a large tract of
land in the vicinity. In addition to his dwelling, he
erected mills, probably on the site where Lieutenant
DePeyster built a saw-mill in  767, and' which Stedman
subsequently occupied for the same purpose.  He also
constructed a rope-walk for the manufacture of rigging
* Those who visit Niagara in summer only, see but half its beauties. In
winter, the spray, congealed by frost on every tree, bush and rock, glitters
with diamond lustre-in the sunlight, while, in the gulf below, cones, pyramids and towers, immense stalactites and frost work in every variety of
form, are produced by the falling waters.




21
for Porter, Barton & Co.,* who were then the principal
carriers on the portage, and owned or controlled nearly
all the trading vessels on the two lakes and river. All
kinds of rigging, including cables of the largest size
required, were here manufactured. Much of the hemp
they used, was raised by the Wadsworths on the Genesee
flats. Such was the scarcity of men in the then new
country, that the Judge was indebted to Capt. Armisted
of Fort Niagara, for a company of Ioo men, to assist
him in raising the heavy frame of his mill. It proved to
be expensive aid, for the soldiers stripped his garden of
all its fruit, then very fine and abundant. All his buildings, embracing dwellings, mills and rope-walks, shared
in the general conflagration on the frontier in 1813.
The village on the American side of the Falls, has
been known as Grand Niagara and Manchester, and is
now incorporated under the name of Niagara Falls.
FORT SCHLOSSER, was named after Captain  Joseph
Schlosser, a native of Germany, who served in the British
army in the campaign against Fort Niagara in I759.t
Sir William Johnson found him  at Schlosser in I76I.
He must have remained until the autumn of 1763, for it
is stated by Loskiel and Heckewelder, t that he arrived at
Philadelphia in January, 1764, having just returned from
Niagara with a detachment from General Gage's army.
Heckewelder pays a high tribute to his humanity and
manly qualities. ~
The earlier names of the Post were, Fort du Portage,
Little Fort and Little Niagara. I\  It was not built until
* This well known firm was composed of Augustus Porter, Peter B.
Porter, Benjamin Barton, and Joseph Annin.
t N. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. x, p. 731, n. 5.: Loskiel's Missions, p. 222.
~ Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 83.
[I N. Y. Colonial Docs. vol. vii, p. 621.




22
I75o.  In the summer of that year, the younger Chabert
Joncaire, informed the Senecas that the French Government intended to build a Fort at the south end of the
Portage, above Niagara Falls. The project was carried
into effect the same season, and we find that Joncaire
C/auzonne, brother of Chabert, was appointed its commandant.*  In I755, it was called Fisher's Battery.t  When
Sir William  Johnson invested Fort Niagara in 1759,
Chaber1 Joncaire seems to have been in command at
Fort Schlosser, his brother Clauzonne being then with
him.  On the fall of the former fortress, Fort Schlosser
was burnt, and its garrison withdrawn to the Chippewa
river, on the opposite side. It must have been speedily
rebuilt by the British, for we find Captain Schlosser stationed there soon after in command of a garrison. The
fort then consisted of an enclosure of upright palisades,
protecting a few store-houses and barracks. Alexander
Henry, who visited it in 1764, calls it a "stockaded post."'
The plough has obliterated all traces of its existence,
save some inequalities in the surface where it stood,
plainly visible from the neighboring railroad. The tall,
antique chimney which rises from the adjacent buildings,
is not, as generally supposed, a relic of the fort, but of
barracks, constructed by the French, and destroyed by
Joncaire, on his retreat in I759. The same chimney
was subsequently used by the English when they reestablished the post. The dwelling they erected was
afterward occupied by Stedman, who was a contractor at
the portage from  1760 until after the peace of I783.
He probably remained until after Fort Niagara was
* Lewis Evans' map.
t N. Y. Colonial Docs. vol. vi. p. 608, 706.
Travels, p. 183.




23
delivered to the United States by the British authorities
in I796, when he removed to the Canadian side.  He
left his "improvements" in charge of a man known as
Jesse Ware. They are described by a visitor at that
early day, as consisting of seventeen hundred acres, about
one-tenth partially cleared, an indifferent dwelling, a fine
barn, saw-mill, and a well fenced apple orchard containing twelve hundred trees.'
There appear to have been three brothers by the
name of Stedman, John, Philip and William. The traveler Maude, found John at Schlosser in i800. While
master of the portage, he had command of the wagons
and theirescort, at the time of the massacre at the Devil's
Hole in September, I763, before alluded to. It was a
return train which had been transporting supplies from
Fort Niagara for the use of the garrison at Detroit.
Only three persons escaped; a drummer-boy who lodged
in a tree as he fell over the precipice, a wounded driver,
who lay concealed in some evergreens near by, and
Stedman himself, who, being well mounted, forced his
way through the Indians and escaped amid a shower of
bullets, to Fort Schlosser. Two companies of troops
that were stationed at Lewiston, hearing the firing, hastened to their relief. The wily Senecas, anticipating the
re-inforcement, lay in ambush, and all but eight fell by
the rifle or the tomahawk. The entire garrison of Fort
Niagara was then despatched to the scene, but arrived
only to find the ghastly and mangled remains of their
slaughtered comrades.
The Seneca Sachem, John Blacksmith, informed the
writer that the party which made the attack, were young
warriors from the Genesee, who, instigated by the French
* Voyage par Hector St. John, vol. ii, p. I53.




24
traders, secretly organized the expedition under the leadership of Farmer's Brother, without the knowledge of
their chiefs. Eighty scalps, including those of six officers,
were their bloody trophies.
The Senecas, attributing the preservation of Stedman
to some miraculous interposition, and believing he wore
a charmed life, conferred upon him the name of "Stone
Giant."*  The story that they gave him  all the land
lying between the river and the line of his flight, embracing about five thousand acres, is undoubtedly a
fiction. The pretended grant was the foundation of the
"Stedman claim," which was subsequently urged upon
the State authorities with much pertinacity. If really
made, it seems never to have been ratified by the Senecas,
for at a formal treaty held with them by Sir William
Johnson at Johnson Hall, in April of the following year,
signed by Farmer's Brother and Old Smoke, it was not
only not alluded to, but on the contrary, a strip of land
four miles wide on the east side of the river, commencing
at Lake Ontario and extending southerly to Gill creek,
embracing the entire Stedman claim, was ceded in perpetuity to his Brittanic Majesty.t Stedman petitioned
the Legislature in I8oo, to confirm the pretended grant,
but without success. He recites in his memorial, that
he took the possession of the premises in 1760, and
soon after met with a great loss from the Indians; that
as a compensation therefor, the chiefs gave him a deed
of the tract containing 4,983 acres, and which he had
continued to improve for forty years; that the deed had
perished with the papers of Sir William Johnson, which
had been buried in an iron chest at Johnson Hall. A
* Ga-nas-squah.
t N. Y. Colonial Docs. vol. vii, p. 621.




25
bill passed the Assembly, giving him  the land he had
actually improved, but it failed in the Senate. The
buildings on the premises had suffered much from decay
as early as I800, and the adjacent fort was in ruins.
The old orchard was still productive, the overplus yield
bringing 500o in a single season, but the boys, crossing
from the Canada side, plundered most of the fruit.*
The PORTAGE ROAD commenced at the Lewiston landing, and followed the river until it reached the small
depression just north of the present Suspension Bridge.
Diverging from this, it intersected the river a short distance above the Stedman house, and followed its bank
for about forty rods to the fort above. Midway between
the house and fort, were a dock, a ware-house, and a
group of square-timbered, whitewashed log-cabins, used
by the teamsters, boatmen and engagees connected with
the portage.t
About half a mile below the Stedman house, near the
head of the present hydraulic canal, was the OLD FRENCH
LANDING, where goods were transhipped when only
canoes were used, and where the portage road terminated before Fort Schlosser was built. All along the
road between the fort and Lewiston, block-houses were
erected about a mile apart, to protect the teams from
disasters such as had occurred at the Devil's Hole. The
remains of some of these were quite recently in existence.
Judge Porter leased the Stedman farm from the State
in I805, the agent, Ware, being still in possession. He
was ejected with some difficulty.  Legal steps were
taken, but owing to the unsettled state of the country,
and the difficulty of executing process in a region so
* Maude's Niagara, p. I46.
t Manuscript letter of Hon. A. S. Porter.




26
remote from  civilization, recourse was had to Judge
Lynch, before possession was finally obtained.*  Judge
Porter occupied the dwelling during the years 1806-7
and 8, when he removed to the Falls.  He was succeeded by Enos Boughton, one of the first pioneers
on the Holland Purchase, who opened a tavern for the
accommodation of early visitors to the Falls, and travelers en route for the great West.  It became the Head
Quarters in all that region, for military musters, general
trainings and fourth of July celebrations. The buildings were destroyed by the British in December, I8I3,
but the old chimney was suffered to remain, conspicuous
among the surrounding ruins, a weather beaten memorial of the ruthless desolation of war.
GILL CREEK, SO named from its diminutive size, and
called also Cayuga Creek,t and Stedman's Creek, derives
its only importance from being named as a boundary in
some of the early Indian treaties.$
CHIPPEWA CREEK, nearly opposite Fort Schlosser, is
called  by the Senecas Jo-no-dak, signifying "shallow
water," probably referring to an old fording place at the
mouth of the creek. Poucho/, in his narrative of the
siege of Fort Niagara, calls it Chenondac, evidently the
same name, and describes its banks as abounding in fine
timber, suitable for ship building.~  It was named Chippewa, after the Ojibway-otherwise called Mississanga
Indians, who formerly lived on its banks. The Canadian
Government by proclamation in  792, gave it the name
of Welland river, but it did not pass into general use.
* Manuscript letter of Hon. A. S. Porter.
j Savary's Journal, p. 360.: Treaty at Canandaigua in I794.
~ Pouchot, vol. iii, p. 174,




27
The earliest notice of the stream is found in the narrative of Father Hennzepin, who, while seeking a site suitable for building the Griffinz, encamped on its banks in
the winter of I678-9.  He says, "it runs from the west,
and empties into the Niagara within a league above the
great fall."  He found the snow a foot deep, and was
obliged to remove it before building his camp-fire.  The
narrative incidentally mentions the abundance of deer
and wild turkeys that were found in the vicinity.*
The Seneca name for NAVY ISLAND, signifies: "The
big canoe island."t  This is in allusion to the vessels
built there by the French at an early day, for use on the
lakes.  Hence the French name, Isle-la-Marine, and the
English  name, Navy Island.  It contains about 300
acres.  A tradition still exists among the Senecas that a
brass cannon was mounted on one of the vessels.?  It
was there the French reinforcements arrived from Venango for the garrison at Fort Niagara, during its siege
by Sir William Johnson.  The English built two vessels
on the island in I764, one of which was accidentally
burned there in I 767.  The island has become more
celebrated in modern times as the rendezvous of the
Patriot forces during the Canadian rebellion of 1838.
GRAND ISLAND is called by the Senecas, "The Great
Island."1  It is mentioned by Hennepin under its present name.,j  At its northern extremity, in a sheltered
bay, the remains of two vessels may now be seen at low
water, which, tradition says, belonged to the French, and
Hennepin, p. 75.
t Ga-o'-wah-go-waah.: A brass six-pounder was placed on one of the British vessels in I764.
Governor Simcoe's manuscript letter to Col. England.
t Ga-we'-not.
~ Hennepin, p. 49.




28
were burnt at the time Fort Niagara capitulated, to prevent their falling into the hands of the English. This
has given origin to the name, Burnt  hipz Bay.  I have
been unable, however, to find any historical verification
of this tradition. Sir William Johnson, while on his
way West in August, 1761, encamped for the night on
the west side of this island, at the mouth of a creek now
called Six Mile Creek, which he describes as a fine position, affording an eligible situation for a house, and a
good harbor for boats.  He called it PointPleasant, a
name, the origin of which certainly entitles it to perpetuation.  The Baronet makes special mention of the fine
oaks with which the island abounded.*
CAYUGA CREEK was so named by the Senecas. On
the 22d day of January, I679, La Salle and his companions constructed a dock at its mouth, and laid the keel
of the first vessel built on our western waters. The site
chosen was just south of the stream, close to the river
bank.  The first bolt was driven on the 26th, and notwithstanding the attempts of the jealous Iroquois to
burn the vessel, and to kill and entice away the workmen, its hull was completed  the  following  spring.
Blessed by the church, amid the strains of the le-deum,
the salvos of artillery, the shouts of the Frenchmen and
the astonishment of the savages, it was launched and
christened the Griffin. Casting anchor in the stream,
the crew swung their hammocks on board, and awaited
their supplies from Fort Frontenac, for the first time
secure from the treacherous natives since their sojourn
in the wilderness.  With great difficulty they carried
their provisions, munitions of war, and other necessaries,
up the Mountain ridge and over the portage. Father
" Stone's Johnson, vol. ii, p. 45.




29
Gabriel,* then 64 years old, went back and forth, engaged like the rest in the laborious task.  Four men
carried their largest anchor, and when overcome by the
toil, were plied and refreshed with brandy.
The vessel was ready for the voyage the following
August, when, fully equipped and armed, it ascended
the river as far as the rapids near Lake Erie, and anchored above the head df Grand Island. While waiting
for a favorable wind to aid in overcoming the powerful current, La Salle landed a party of his men on the
Canadian shore, and planted some garden seeds for the
benefit of those who should come after him.  Thus our
voyagers became the pioneer horticulturists of all this
region.t
The rapids having been sounded by Father Hennepin, and reported navigable, the Grifin set sail on the
7th, the wind being fresh from the north-east, and aided
by twelve of the crew  at the tow-lines on shore, surmounted the current and entered the lake.
Again the Te Dezum was chanted, their guns all discharged, and the vessel pursued its adventurous way
westward, over waters as yet unvexed by the keel of
commerce, pioneer of a fleet, whose present tonnage
would compare favorably with what the whole world
could then boast of. She arrived safely at Green Bay,
but was lost on her return voyage with all on board.
In commemoration of this enterprise, the name of
LA SALLE has been conferred upon the small village and
post-office at the locality where the Grizfn was built.
* Father Gabriel was the last scion of a noble Burgundian house. He
had renounced the world and all its honors for the order of St. Francis.
He perished the next year by the hand of the Kickapoos, on his way from
Ft. Crevecceur to Green Bay.
t Hennepin, p. II8.




30
The same site was selected by the United States Government about the year I804, for the construction of a
small sloop of 50 tons burden, called the " Niagara," and
used for conveying supplies to the western posts. It
was subsequently purchased by Porter, Barton & Co.,
re-built at Black Rock, and named the "Nancy," after
the wife of the late Benjamin Barton, one of the partners.*  While bearing the latter name she was commanded by Captain Richard O'Neil, and went out of
commission just before the war of 1812.
TONAWANDA CREEK was so called by the Senecas,
after the rapids at their village a few miles above its
mouth, it signifying literally, "a rough stream  or current."t  The French called it, La rivziere aux bois blanzcs,
or "white wood river."  On the early maps it is called
Maskinonzgez, that being the Chippewa name for the
muskelunge, a fish once abundant in the stream.
The Senecas have a different -name for TONAWANDA
ISLAND.  They call it, "The Small Island."'  It contains less than Ioo acres. Its upper end having a fine
elevation above the surface of the river, was an occasional camping ground of the Senecas, before their final
settlement in this region. Phzilip Kenjockety (hereafter
more particularly noticed,) claims to have been born
there, while his father's family, then residing on the Genesee, were on one of their annual hunting expeditions.
Two negro brothers lived at an early day, at the
mouth of CORNELIUS CREEK, just below  Lower Black
Rock. They were supposed to be runaway slaves. The
* Mrs. Barton was usually called Nancy, but her baptismal name was
Agnes.
t Ta-no'-wan-deh.
i Ni-ga'-we-nah'-a-ah.




31
elder was called by the Senecas " Rock Bass,"* on account of a red spot in one of his eyes, resembling that
in the eye of the fish.  Hence they called the creek,
"the residence of Rock Bass."t  He was shrewd and
intelligent; became a trader in cattle with parties in
Canada and at Fort Niagara; chose a wife among the
Seneca maidens, and acquired considerable property.
The notorious Ebenezer Allen married one of his daughters, and added her to his extensive harem on the Genesee.  The younger negro was called So-wak, or " Duck."
Both died more than half a century ago, leaving numerous descendants, some now living on the Tonawanda
Reservation.
KENJOCKETY CREEK was not so named by the Senecas.
They called it after a peculiar kind of wild grass, that
grew near its borders.t  The name "Kenjockety"~ was
given by the whites, after an Indian family they found
living on its banks. Its literal signification is " Beyond
the Multitude."  JOH-N  KONJOCKETY, the head of the
family, was the son of a Kah-kwa, or Neutral Indian,
whose father had been taken prisoner by the Senecas
in the war which resulted in the extermination of his
people. This occurred at the capture of one of the
Kah-kwa villages located on a branch of the Eighteen
Mile Creek, near White's Corners in this county.  His
family wigwams were on the north bank of Kezjockety
Creek, a little east of the present Niagara street. They
obtained their water for domestic use from  the river,
then fordable at low water to Squaw Island. The creek
still retains among the whites the name they first gave
O-gah'-gw-iah'-geh.
O-gah'-gwaa6lh.: Ga-noh'-gwaht-geh.
~ Sga-dyuh'-gwa-dih.




32
it-the Senecas adhering to the more ancient designation. The old chief must have been a man of more
than ordinary consideration among his people.  The
Rev. Mr. Kirkland mentions him in the journal of his
tour to Buffalo creek in   788.  He writes his name
"Skendyoughgzwatti," and styles him  "the second man of
influence and character among the Senecas at the Buffaloe."* His name is appended to a letter addressed to
Governor George Clinton in I 789, remonstrating against
some unauthorized sales of Indian lands.t  The Hon.
Augustus Porter, who surveyed the boundary line of the
"Gore," between the Seneca Reservation and Lake Erie,
stated to the writer that he was accompanied during the
survey "by an old Indian named Scaugh-juk-guatty,"
who had been appointed by the Senecas to act with Red
Jacket for that purpose. They indicated the edge of the
swamp as the line for Judge Porter to follow, by preceding him from tree to tree, thereby carefully excluding
what is now called "the Tifft farm," and the remainder
of the Flats, as comparatively of no value. This will
account for the zigzag course of the line in question.
Kenjockety continued to reside on the creek, until
about the commencement of the present century, cultivating his corn-field on Squaw  Island, and drawing
abundant subsistence for himself and family from the
river and the forest. The survey of the " Mile-strip" by
the State authorities, and the arrival of the pioneers of
Buffalo, disturbed his tranquil home, and compelled him
to remove to the Reservation, where he finally settled
on the bank of Buffalo creek, near the present iron
bridge. Becoming dissipated in his old age, he perished
* Kirkland's Ms. Journal in N. Y. State Library.
t Indian Treaties, vol. ii, p. 331.




33
miserably by the roadside, from  the effects of intoxication, while on his way home from  Buffalo in October,
I808.
SQUAW  ISLAND was called by the Senecas "a divided
island,"* referring to its division by the marshy creek
known as "Smugger's Run."t  It was presented by the
Nation to Captain Parish, their favorite agent and interpreter, as an acknowledgment, says the record, of his
many services in their behalf. The gift was ratified by
the Legislature in 1816, though the Captain was required
to pay the State at the rate of two dollars per acre
before he obtained his patent.  He sold the island to
Henry F. Penfield, Esq., in 1823.  Captain Parish and
his colleague, Captain Jones, had each previously obtained a donation of a mile square on the river, now
known as the Jones and Parish Tracts, and lying within
the present bounds of our city.  The Legislature was
induced to make this grant, by that touching and effective petition dictated by Farmer's Brother, which has
been so often cited as a specimen of Indian eloquence.?
BIRD ISLAND was originally several feet above the river
level, rocky at its lower end, and partially covered with
tall trees. It has entirely disappeared, the rock which
composed it having been used in the construction of the
Black Rock pier.  Its Seneca name,~ signifies "Rocky
Island."  It was called  "Bird Island" by the whites,
because of the multitude of gulls and other aquatic birds
that frequented it at certain seasons.ll
* De-dyo'-we-no'-guh-doh.
t Philip Kenjockety stated to the writer that he has often passed through
this creek in his canoe, on his way to Canada.
$ Copied in Turner's Holland Land Company purchase, p. 29I.
~ Dyos-da-o-dohi.
II Campbell's Life of Clinton, p. 128.




34
BLACK ROCK, being a convenient crossing place on the
Niagara, became an important locality at an early day.
Its history has been fully illustrated in an able and interesting paper entitled " The Old Ferry," read before this
Society.* Its Seneca name, signifying "rocky bank,"f is
a compound word, embracing also the idea of a place
where the lake rests upon or against a rocky bank. Its
English name comes from the dark corniferous limestone
which outcrops at this locality, and underlying the bed
of the outlet, composes the dangerous reef at the head
of the rapids.
Prior to the commencement of the present century,
the usual route between Buffalo Creek and the Falls,
was on the Canada side, crossing at Black Rock. The
Rev. Samuel Kirkland traveled it in   788, and the
Duke of Liancourt in I795.
FORT ERIE was originally built by Col. Bradstreet,
some distance below the present structure, while on his
expedition against the Western Indians in the summer
of I764. He states in a letter to General Amhert, still
unpublished,t that "when he arrived at the locality he
" found no harbor. That vessels were compelled to lie
"at anchor in the open lake, exposed to every storm,
"and liable to be lost.  In addition to this, they were
"obliged to send more than twenty miles for their load"ing; that on examining the north shore, he found a
"suitable place to secure the vessels by the help of a
"wharf just above the rapids. A  Post," he adds, "is
"now building there, and all that can, will be done
"toward finishing it this season."  He further says,
that "to avoid giving offense to the Seneca savages, to
* By C. Norton, Esq.      t Dyos-daah'-ga-eh.: Bradstreet's manuscripts, N. Y. S. Library.




35
"whom  the land belongs, I have desired Sir William
"Johnson to ask it of them, and they have granted it."
This letter is dated August 4th, I764. The treaty between Sir William and the Senecas bears date two days
after, at Fort Niagara, and cedes to His Majesty all the
land, four miles wide, on each side of the river, between
Fort Schlosser and the rapids of Lake Erie.  The
islands in the river were excepted by the Indians, and
bestowed upon Sir William  "as a proof," says the record, "of their regard, and of their knowledge of the
" trouble he has had with them  from time to time."  Sir
William accepted the gift, but, like a good subject, humbly laid it as an offering at the feet of his sovereign.*
The foundations of the present fort were laid in
I79I.t  It must have been a rude fortification as originally constructed, for the Duke of Liancourt describes
it in I795, as a cluster of buildings surrounded with
rough, crazy palisades, destitute of ramparts, covered
ways, or earthworks. Outside of the fort were a few log
houses for the shelter of the officers, soldiers and workmen.  There was also a large government warehouse,
with an overhanging story pierced with loop-holes for
the use of musketry.?  The stone fort, a portion of
which still remains, was built in i806, in the form  of a
quadrangle, and subsequently enlarged to more formidable dimensions.  Its Indian name signifies " The place
of hats."~ Seneca tradition relates, as the origin of the
name, that in olden time, soon after the first visit of the
white man, a battle occurred  on the lake between a
party of French  in batteaux and  Indians in canoes.
* N. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. vii, p. 647.
t Indian State Papers, vol. i, p. I60.
t Voyage par Liancourt, vol. ii, p. 4.
~ Gai-gwtah-geh.




36
The latter were victorious, and the French boats were
sunk and their occupants drowned. Their hats floated
ashore where the fort was subsequently built, and attracting the attention of the Indians from their novelty,
they called the locality " The place of hats."
In the summer of I687, the Baron La Hontan ascended in his birchen canoe, the rapids of the Niagara
into Lake Erie, on his way to the far West.*  Appreciating with military eye this commanding locality, he
recommended it to the French Government as suitable
for a fort, and marked it "Fort Suppose"' on the map
which illustrates his journal.  This is the earliest historical notice of the site of Buffalo. No attention appears to have been paid to the recommendation, and for
more than a century it remained in undisturbed repose,
its solitudes unbroken by the axe of the woodman, or
the tread of advancing civilization. Voyageurs, traders
and missionaries passed and re-passed on the river, but
make no mention of even an Indian encampment.  Nor
does Sir William Johnson, who ascended the outlet into
the lake on his way west in August, and returned in
October, I76I.t
It has already been mentioned that the Senecas fled
to Fort Niagara in I779 before the invading forces of
General Sullivan, and settled the following year on the
banks of the Buffalo Creek. A single survivor of that
fugitive band is now living on the Cattaraugus Reservation, in the person of the venerable Philip  Kenjockety, a
son of the John Kenjockety previously mentioned. When
the writer saw him in June last, he appeared strong and
vigorous, being employed at the time in piling hemlock
* La Hontan, English ed., vol. i, p. 82.
f Journal in Stone's Johnson, vol. ii, pp. 451 and 470.




37
bark. His entire dress was a loose cotton shirt, and the
customary Indian leggihgs. He presented a fine specimen of the native Indian of the old school, a class now
almost extinct. He claimed to be Ioo years old, and a
little examination into his personal history furnished
proof of his correctness. It appeared-that he was about
fifteen at the time of Sullivan's expedition, and resided
at Nunda.  He well remembered the flight of the
Senecas on that occasion, when he drove a horse to
Fort Niagara. The fugitives arrived there in the month
of September, and remained in its neighborhood and
under its protection during the following winter. The
season was the most inclement known for many years,
so much so that the river opposite the fort was frozen
from the 7th of January until the following March, and
many of the Senecas perished from exposure and starvation before the ensuing spring. Brant made strenuous
efforts during the winter to induce the Senecas to locate
in Canada under the protection of the British Government. The Mohawks and a few from the other tribes
yielded to his solicitations, but Kenjockety's father, who
was intimately acquainted with the superior advantages
of Western New York, successfully opposed the Mohawk chieftain, and prevailed upon the remainder to
settle in the region watered by the Buffalo, Cattaraugus
and Tonawanda creeks.
While listening to the eventful narrative of the aged
Seneca, the writer could scarcely realize that the man
was still living, who not only resided in this locality
at the first advent of the white man, but who came
here, with the Senecas themselves, to reap, by a permanent occupancy, the substantial fruits of their ancient
conquests.




38
At the time of the arrival of the Senecas, the striking
feature of this locality was the' predominance of the
linden or basswood over all the other trees of the forest.
They fringed both borders of the creek, and spread their
ample foliage over its fertile bottoms. Seneca tradition
tells us, that in the season when the tree was in flower,
the hunting-parties from  the Genesee could hear, ere
they reached the creek, the hum of the bee as it gathered, in countless swarms, its winter stores from the
abundant blossoms.  Michaux, the French  naturalist
who traveled through this region  in  807, states as a
peculiarity of this locality, in his great work on the
forest trees of America, that the basswood constituted
two-thirds, and, in some localities, the whole of the
forest between Batavia and New Amsterdam.*  Early
settlers say, that the peninsula, bounded by Main street,
Buffalo Creek and the canal, embracing what is now
intersected by Prime, Lloyd and Hanover streets, was
almost exclusively covered with this tree. It was occasionally found more than eighty feet high and four feet
in diameter. Its giant trunks furnished, at that convenient locality, a light and soft wood from  which  to
fashion the Indian canoe, and a bark easily converted
into various utensils useful in savage life.  This bark
formed the exclusive covering of the temporary huts,
erected for the shelter of the hunting and fishing-parties
that frequented this region. The Senecas, in conformity
with their well-known custom, seized upon this marked
peculiarity of the place, and conferred upon it a name,
strikingly  euphonious in their tongue, and meaning
"The place of basswoods." 
* North American Sylva, vol. iii, p. I3I.
f Do'-syo-wa. Also called Te-hos-e-ro-ron, in the treaty at Fort Stanwix,
it being a variation, in Mohawk, of the Seneca name.




39
The origin of the name, BUFFALO, has already been so
thoroughly discussed in and out of this Society, that no
additional light can be thrown upon the subject. Its
first occurrence is conceded to be in the narrative of
the captivity and residence of the Gilbert family among
the Senecas during the years I780-81, which was published in I784. It next occurs in the treaty at Fort
Stanwix before alluded to. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, in
his journal of a visit to the Senecas in 1788,* speaks of
their "village on the Buffaloe," and from that time the
name appears to have passed into general use. The
Holland Company endeavored to supplant it with the
term "New Amsterdam," but our village fathers, with
great good sense, rejected the substitute, together with
the foreign names which the same company had imposed upon our streets.
The Senecas, with a few kindred Onondagas and
Cayugas, on their arrival here, selected eligible locations
along the borders of Buffalo Creek. The former chose
the southern bank, and the level bottoms beyond the
present iron bridge, east of what is now known as " Martin's Corners."  The Onondagas went higher up, and
established their wigwams on the elevated table land
near where the southern Ebenezer village was subsequently located.  The Cayugas settled north of the
Onondagas, along that branch of the creek to which
they gave their name.
In these localities the tribes were found, when the
vanguard of emigration reached them, and here they
remained, dividing their time between hunting, fishing,
and the cultivation of the soil, until the encroachments
of the white man diminished their game, and created a
* MS. journal in N. Y. State Library.




40
demand for their lands too eager and powerful to be
resisted. We have seen, within a few years, the last of
the Senecas abandon these ancient seats, some to locate
on the adjacent Reservations, and others to seek "a
wider hunting-ground" beyond the Mississippi.
They left the graves of their fathers in the possession
of the white man, and how has he fulfilled the trust?
A  visit to yonder rude and neglected cemetery will
furnish the answer. The violated grave of Red Jacket
bears witness against us..   The remains of the chief,
though rescued from the spoiler, are still, through fear
of further profanation, denied the common rite of sepulture.  The headstone of the " White Woman," carried
away by piecemeal for relics by the curious, no longer
tells the simple, touching story of her remarkable life.
Pollard and Young King and White Seneca, and many
others, whose names were once as household words
among us, all rest in unmarked graves.  They were
the  friends of the  founders of our city, when the
Indians were strong and the white man weak.  Our
conditions are now reversed.  Having crowded the living  from  their ancient seats and  pleasant huntinggrounds, shall we rob their graves and desecrate their
ashes?   One of their eloquent chiefst has touchingly
and  reproachfully  told  us, "the  bones of his  people  lie in exile in their own country."   Would  it
not be an appropriate work for this Society to initiate
measures for the permanent protection and preservation
of their dead?  The remains of such of their distin* Red Jacket's grave was robbed of its remains in 1852. His family recovered and still retain them. They are preserved in a chest on the Cattaraugus Reservation.
t De-jih'-non-da-weh-hoh, The Paczficalor. (Dr. Wilson.)




41
guished chiefs as can now be identified, should be removed to some consecrated spot in our new cemetery.
There, on the quiet banks of the Ga-noh'-gwaht-geh, in
the shadow of the native forest, they could repose in
security.  There the dust of our antagonistic races
might commingle undisturbed, until the final summons
shall call alike, from the ostentatious mausoleum of the
white man and the humble grave of the Indian, the
innumerable dead to one common Judgment.








APPENDIX.
The following list embraces many of the early names that have been applied to some of our great lakes and rivers, and to a few prominent localities
along their borders. Several of inferior note, though of more local interest,
are also given. The great diversity that has existed in the mode of spelling
the geographical terms of the Iroquois, has given rise to much confusion
and uncertainty. This has induced the writer to adopt, in reducing the
Seneca names to English orthography, the admirable system invented by
the Rev. Asher Wright, 6f the Cattaraugus Mission. That able missionary
has published in the Seneca language, which he speaks and writes fluently,
several works of much interest to the philologist, the fruit of his many years
of successful labor among that people. The acknowledgments of the writer
are justly due to him for his assistance in determining the orthography and
signification of many of the names that occur in these pages; also to Dr.
Peter Wilson, Nathaniel T. Strong and Nicholson H. Parker, all highly
intelligent and cultivated members of the Iroquois family.
The following is the key to Mr. Wright's system. If the sounds of the
letters and accents are strictly observed, a close approximation to the correct pronunciation will be reached.
a sounded like a in fall.
a sounded like a in hat.
e sounded like e in they.
e sounded like e in bet.
i sounded like i in machine.
i sounded like i in fit.
o sounded like o in note.
O intermediate between o in note and o in move.
u sounded like u in push.
ai sounded like i in pine.
iu sounded like u in pure.
ch always soft, as in chin.
h sounded like the h in the interjection oh! when impatiently uttered;
approaching the sound of k, though not quite reaching it.
When h comes after t or s it is separately sounded.
A mark underneath a vowel, thus a, represents a nasal sound.
There are no silent letters.
A repeated vowel only lengthens the sound.




44
LAKE ONTARIO.
Lac des Entouhonorons. I Champlain, 1632, p. 336. So called after a
nation living south of the lake.
St. Louis. Champlain ed., 1632. Rel., I640-4I, p. 49.
Des Iroquois. Relation des Jesuits, 1635, p. I21.
La Mer Douce. "  The Fresh Sea."  Relation, 1639-40, p. I30.
Ontario. "Beaulfzid Lake."  Hennepin, p. 3I. Relation, I640-4I, p. 49.
Skanadario. "Beautiful Lake."  Hennepin, p. 42.
Cadarackui. Colden, xvi.
Frontenac. Hennepin, p. 40.
LAKE ERIE.
Erie. Relation, I64I, p. 71.
Du Chat. " Cat Lake."  Sanson's Map of 1651.
De Conty. Coronelli's Map of I688.
Oswego. N. Y. Colonial Documents v, p. 694.
LAKE HURON.
La Mer Douce. " The Fresh Sea."  Champlain, appendix, p. 8.
Attigouantan. Champlain i, p. 324.
Karegnondi. Sanson's Map of I657.
Des Hurons. Relation, I670-71, map.
D' Orleans. Coronelli's Map of i688.
Quatoghe. Colden, xvi.
Caniatare. Colden, xvi.
LAKE MICHIGAN.
Des Puants. Champlain, I632.
Des Illinois. Relation, I669-70. Marquette's Map, 1674.
St. Joseph. Father Allouez in 1675.
Dauphin. Coronelli's Map of I688.
Michigonong. Hennepin, p. 53.
LAKE SUPERIOR.
Le Grand Lac. "The great Lake."  Champlain, 1632.
Superieur. " Upter Lake."  Relation, 166o, p. 9.
De Tracy. Relation, I667, p. 4.
De Conde. Le Clercq, p. I37.




45
NIAGARA FALLS.
Saut d' eau. "Waterfall."  Champlain's Map, 1613.
Onguiaahra. Relation, I640-41, p. 65. Applied to river only.
Ongiara. Sanson's Map of I65I. Ducreux, 166o.
Unghiara. Bancroft's U. S., vol. iii, p. 128.
Och-ni-a-gara. Evans's Map, I755.
Iagara. Colden's Five Nations, appendix, p. 15.
O-ni-a-ga-rah. Colden's Five Nations, p. 79.
O-ny-a-kar-rah. Macauley's N. Y., vol. ii, p. I77.
Tgah-sgoh'-so-wa-nah.  " The Great Fall."  Common Seneca name.
Sometimes also calledDet-gah'-sgoh-ses. "The High Fall."
MISCELLANEOUS SENECA NAMES.
Do'-syo-wa. "The place of basswoods."  Name of Buffalo.
Gah-dah'-geh. "Fishing-place with a scoop-basket."  Cayuga Creek,
or north fork of Buffalo Creek.
Hah-do'-neh. " The place of 7une berries." Seneca Creek, or middle
fork of Buffalo Creek.
Ga-e-na-dah'-daah.  "Slate rock bottom."  Cazenovia Creek, or south
fork of Buffalo Creek.
Tga-is'-da-ni-yQnt. "The place of the suspended bell."  The Seneca
Mission House.
Tgah-sgoh'-sa-deh. " The place of the falls.". Falls above Jack Berrytown.
Jiihk'-do-waah'-geh. "The place of the crab-apple."  Cheektowaga.
De-as'-gwah-da-ga'-neh.  " The place of the lanmper-eel."  Lancaster
village, after a person of that name who resided there.
Ga-yah-gwaah'-dohi. The Indian name of Old Smoke, who lived and
died on the bank of Smoke's Creek. He led the Senecas at Wyoming.
The name is now also applied to Smoke's Creek, and signifies " The smoke
has disappeared."
De-dyo'-deh-neh'-sak-do. "A gravel bend." Lake shore above Smoke's
Creek.
JQ-nya'-dih. " The other side of the flats."  Tifft's farm.
De-yeh'-ho-ga-da-ses.  " The oblique ford."  The old ford at the present
Iron Bridge.
De-yoh'-ho-gali. "The forks of the river."  Junction of the Cayuga
and Cazenovia creeks.




46
Tga'-non-da-ga'-yos-hah.  "The old village."  The flats embracing
Twitchell's farm. This is the site of the first village the Senecas built on
Buffalo Creek.
Ni-dyio'-nyah-a'-ah. "'Narrow point." Farmer's Brothers Point.
Ga-noh'-hoh-geh. " The 5lace filled up."  Long Point in Canada, and
sometimes applied to Erie.  In allusion to the Indian tradition, that
The Great Beaver built a dam across Lake Erie, of which Presque Isle
and Long Point are the remains.
Gah-gwah-ge'-ga-aah. "The residence of the Kah-kwas."  Eighteen
Mile Creek. Sometimes called Gah-gwali'-geh.
Yo-da'-nyuh-gwah'. " 4 fishing-5place with hook and line."  Sandytown,
the old name for the beach above Black Rock.
Tgah'-si-ya-deh. " Rope ferry."  Old ferry over Buffalo Creek.
Tga-noh'-so-doh. "The place of houses."  Old village in the forks of
Smoke's Creek.
Dyo-ge'-oli-ja-eh. " Wetgrass."  Red Bridge.
Dyos'-hol. " The sulphur spring."  Sulphur Springs.
De-dyo'-na-wa'-oh. " The rippl5le."  Middle Ebenezer village.
Dyo-nahi'-da-eeh. "Hemlock elevation."  Upper Ebenezer village, formerly Jack Berrytown.
Tga-des'. " Long2prairie."  Meadows above Upper Ebenezer.
O-non'-dah-ge'-gah-geh. " The place of the Onondagas."  West end of
Lower Ebenezer.
Sha-ga-nah'-gah-geh. " The place of the Stockbridges."  East end of
Lower Ebenezer.
He-yont-gat-hwat'-hai. " The picturesque location."  Cazenovia Bluff,
east of Lowes Ebenezer.
Dyo-e'-oh-gwes. " Tallgrass (orfiag) island."  Rattlesnake Island.
Dyu'-ne-ga-nooh'. "Cold water."  Cold Spring.
Gah-da'-ya-deh. "A p5lace of misery."  Williamsville. In allusion to
the open meadows at this place, which were very bleak in winter. Blacksmith says the name refers to the "open sky," where the path crossed the
creek.