Okehocking people

The Okehocking (also erroneously attested as the Ockanickon or Crum Creek Indians) were a small band of Unami language-speaking Lenape, who originally inhabited an area along the Ridley and Crum Creeks in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

According to Lenape speaker Nora Thompson Dean, the name "Okehocking" is a place name that may translate to "the place surrounded," and is likely the band's endonym. The name may refer to land surrounded by a stream's bends. The name is consistent with the band's territory along Ridley Creek and Crum Creek in what is now Pennsylvania. The term "Crum" similarly derives from the Dutch word for "bent," and may reflect Dutch traders either similarly describing the creek or translating from the Unami word for it. The band was also known as the Crum Creek Indians and initially had its name recorded as "Ockanickon." This may have resulted from the recorder mistaking the band's name for that of a prominent Lenape elder in present-day New Jersey named Ockanickon.^[1] The two names are likely unrelated.^[1]

The Okehocking were probably an unusually small band even by the standards of the foraging Lenape. Only 3 adult males, all of whom typically participated in Lenape band activities, are recorded in 1702.^[2] Since they are not referred to as "chiefs," they were likely respected elders. Although reference is made to "others" in a 1702 survey warrant, there were probably no more than 3 or 4 other heads of families in the band.^[3] Based on these numbers, the total population of the Okehocking in 1702 probably numbered between 15 and 25. At a time when families of 10 in colonial Pennsylvania were granted about 200-300 acres (81-121 ha), the estimate of 25 band members is consistent with the 500 acre (202 ha) grant given to the Okehocking. Pennsylvania's Proprietors would have regarded the grant as too small for any larger group.^[2]

The Okehocking are first historically attested in 1700, about 70 years after European trade began in the Lenape area.^[5] Prior to European encroachment, the band was initially known to inhabit throughout the area along and between the Crum and Ridley Creeks, and likely foraged inland beyond the creeks and along the Delaware River. The Okehocking probably had a summer settlement in the vicinity of the Delaware.^[4] None of the band's village names have been recorded.^[6] Rapid English settlement in the region after 1680 disturbed the local Lenape, including the Okehocking. Despite growing colonization in the surrounding territory, in what is now Edgmont Township, Pennsylvania Proprietor William Penn did not award land grants in the area inhabited by the band, in keeping with his policy of not settling areas occupied by natives.^[7] Probably to avoid the expanding colonial construction, population, and deforestation, the Okehocking were pressured to move their summer settlement further up the river to an area free of settlers.^[4][8]

By 1701, either on their own initiative or advice from the Proprietors, they had settled on a vacant 1920 acre (777 ha) tract of land between the creeks originally deeded to a Quaker named Griffith Jones in 1686.^[4][8] Jones' plot was within a larger tract claimed by an association of Welsh speaking Quakers and had not been settled, reverting back to William Penn under colonial law.^[9] In 1701, Abraham Beaks petitioned for the vacant tract, prompting a survey to be ordered by the Proprietary on 11 December, 1701. Although Beaks did not receive the land, the survey was granted.^[10] The warrant directed the surveyors, Caleb Pusey, Nicholas Pile, and Nathaniel Newland, to locate a creekside lot for the settlement of the Okehocking.^[8][11]

The manner of relocation has been a subject of debate. C.A. Weslager claims that Penn "arranged for the resettlement" of the Okehocking. Marshall Becker, however, discounts Weslager's interpretation as based on a flawed post-1890 account, and suggests that the band may have requested a secure tract within their traditional territory and had been offered part of the vacant Jones tract, to be determined by the surveyors.^[10][12][11] In either case, the band had settled on the tract by the winter of 1701.^[8]

Possibly waiting to be certain that native land claims had been settled, the Proprietors began selling land in the area after the survey was completed. In 1702, Jonathan Bowater was granted 400 acres (162 ha) on the far western end of the vacant tract.^{[note 1]} Even though Bowater likely selected his plot to avoid contact with the Lenape settlements, the sale of land around them worried still the Okehocking, who still had no official colonial land grant in writing and felt insecure in their settlements.^[13] In December 1702, two weeks after Bowater received his land grant, the band petitioned for an official land tract from colonial authorities.^{[note 2]} The band's decision to conform to the colonial land system ensured a mutual understanding footing for both the colonial and indigenous parties. The colony issued a warrant for another survey a week later, undertaken by Chester County surveyor Isaac Taylor.^[13] Three Okehocking leaders, named as Pokais, Sepopawny, and Muttagoopa, and "others" were to be granted a 500 acre (202 ha) tract under the condition that they never transfer, sell, or dispose of it.^[13][2] If the band vacated the land, it would revert to the Proprietors.^[2]

The actual survey was only completed 10 months later, on October 10, 1703.^[2] Despite Abraham Beaks' request that the band be given land along the creeks, and the order for the surveyors to grant land according to the band's "desire," the land granted to the Okehocking was poor for agriculture and contained only small stretches of Ridley and Crum creeks.^[15] The band was cut off from much of Ridley Creek by the land belonging to Charles Whitacre. Whitacre may have conspired with the surveying team to grant primarily hilly land to the Okehocking and exclude them from the most fertile, creekside areas.^[16] The tract as measured came to 484 acres (196 ha), less than apportioned to the band but within the margin of error for the time.^[17]

In 1701, the tribe approached William Penn for the purchase of a tract of land. Penn allotted them 500 acres. The tribe used the land as their summer fishing camp, moving north during the winter months.^[18]

At that time, English and European settlers were not allowed to purchase or occupy any land occupied by Indians. Because settlers could not be certain where the boundary lay around Indian land, they tended to build settlements well away from Indian encampments. However, the survey of the 500 acres allotted to the Okehocking Tribe allowed a clear demarcation of where Indian land began and ended. This meant that the settlers could freely camp and build settlements all around the borders without fear of breaking the law. Later, feeling surrounded by colonial settlers, the Okehocking moved west toward the Susquehanna River and later settled in the Ohio River Valley.^{[18][19][20][page needed]}

• Okehocking Historic District, about 7 miles west of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania

• Becker, Marshall J. (1976). "The Okehocking: A remnant band of Delaware Indians". Pennsylvania Archaeologist. 46 (3): 24-61.
• Becker, Marshall (1986). “The Okehocking Band of Lenape: Cultural Continuities and Accommodations in Southeastern Pennsylvania.” In Strategies For Survival: American Indians in the Eastern United States, edited by Frank W. Porter III. Greenwood Press.
• Nagy, John C.; Goulding, Penny Teaf, eds. (2006) Acres of Quakers: an architectural & cultural history of Willistown Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, from first settlement through 1900. Malvern, Pa: Willistown Township Historical Commission. ISBN 978-0-9776994-0-7. OCLC 77560108.
• Weslager, C. A. (1972). The Delaware Indians: A History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-0702-6.

• Delaware Nation, official website
• Delaware Tribe of Indians, official website
• Lenni Lenape Historical Society
• Lenape/English dictionary
• Lenape (Southern Unami) Talking Dictionary