You and I have known one another for long time and I know you are a good man with your heart in the right place.
Sincerely,
Wilma de Soto
On 10/13/03 3:06 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Things began to get really bad around here in the '80's - the 1680's, when the first treaties were being negotiated between the white invaders and the indigenous peoples. William Penn, in 1681 wrote "To the Kings of the Indians...I have a great love and regard towards you, and I desire to Winn and gain your love and friendship by a kind, just, and peaceable life." For the Lenape Indians, it was all downhill from there.
In the 1730's, James Logan (Logan Library fame) produced an alleged copy of a deed from 1686, ceeding a huge area between the Lehigh and Delaware rivers to Penn. After much consternation and pressure from the white men, along with Iroquois allies of the settlers, the Lenape chiefs agreed to have the boundaries of this "walked off" (The alleged deed granted Penn's heirs all the land from a point in lower Bucks County westward as far as a man could walk in a day and a half) Penn's son Thomas had scouting parties clear a path in the woods allowing the "walkers" to cover twice the ground by running than the Lenape anticipated. For more info see:
http://www.delawaretribeofindians.nsn.us/walking_purchase.html
Kingsessing, or Chinsessing ( a place where there is a meadow), was the name of a place lying on the west side of the Schuylkill River, below the western abutment of Penrose Ferry Bridge, and not far distant therefrom.
Kingsessing became the name of the township in which the original Indian and Swedish village stood. The Kingsessing settlement was called a town by the Swedes, and was the first village entitled to that appellation made by white men within the territory of Philadelphia. The township of Kingsessing was created at very early date after the settlement by William Penn. See:
http://www.ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html#12
We can argue all we want about when things got bad for "us". (Whatever group definition we place ourselves in) The fact of the matter is that someone else is always going have a different reference point.
Happy Christopher Columbus Day!
Fred Wolfe
