Okehocking Tribe

Original Lenapehocking lands

The Okehocking Tribe (also known as Ockanickon) was a small band of Delaware Indians from the Lenni-Lenape Nation, who occupied an area along the Ridley and Crum creeks in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Part of that area is now known as Ridley Creek State Park. Along with the Schuylkill and Brandywine Indians, the Okehocking were known as Unami or "people down the river" by other tribes, in accordance with the Indian way of designating a tribe by geographical location.[1]

Establishment of villages

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.[2]

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. [2][3][4]

References

  1. ↑ C.A. Weslager. The Delaware Indians: A History. New Brunswick. Rutgers University Press, 1972. Pg. 35
  2. 1 2 Catherine Quillmann: "Tracing the History of Former Indian Land /A Surveyor is Studying a Tract in Willistown." Records show it was set aside for a tribe by William Penn. Philadelphia Inquirer, November 28, 1996.
  3. ↑ Marshall J. Becker. "The Okehocking: A remnant band of Delaware Indians." Pennsylvania Archaeologist 46, no. 3 (1976):50-51.
  4. ↑ C.A. Weslager. The Delaware Indians: A History. New Brunswick. Rutgers University Press, 1972.

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