Chapter III: Part 3

Wachanekassik, Indian deed to Livingston, 1683; _Waghankasick,_ patent to Van Rensselaer, 1649, and other orthographies, is written as the name of a small creek which marked the place of beginning of the northwest boundmark of the Livingston Patent and the place of ending of the southwest boundmark of the prior Van Rensselaer Patent of Claverack. The latter reads; ". . . And so along the said Hudson River southward to the south side of Vastrix Island, by a creek called Waghankasick, thence easterly to Wawanaquasik," etc. The deed to Livingston conveyed lands "On both sides of Roelof Jansen's Kill, [FN-1] called by the Indians Sauk-henak," including lands "along the river's bank from said Roeloff Jansen's Kill, northwards up, to a small stream opposite Catskill named Wachanekasseck, and southwards down the river to opposite the Sagertjes Kill, called by the Indians Saaskahampka." In the Livingston Patent of 1684: "Eighteen hundred acres of woodland lying between a small creek or kill lying over against Catskill called Wachanakasseck and a place called Suaskahampka," and in patent of 1686: "On the north by a line to be drawn from a certain creek or kill over against the south side of Vastrix Island in Hudson's River, called Wachankasigh," to which Surveyor John Beatty added more precisely on his map of survey in 1715: "Beginning on the east side of Hudson's River _southward_ from Vastrix Island, _at a place_ where a certain run of water watereth out into Hudson's River, called in ye Indian tongue, Wachankassik." The "run of water" is not marked on Beatty's map, nor on the map of survey of the patent in 1798, but it is marked, from existence or presumed existence, on a map of the boundary line between New York and Massachusetts and seems to have been one of the several small streams that flow down the bluff from the surface, apparently about two miles and a half north of Roelof Jansen's Kill, in the vicinity of the old Oak Hill station [FN-2] on the H. R. R., later known as Catskill station. While referred to in connection with the boundmark to identify its location, its precise location seems to have been lost. In early days boundmarks were frequently designated in general terms by some well known place. Hence we find Catskill spoken of and particularly "the south end of Vastrix Island," a point that every voyager on the Hudson knew to be the commencement of a certain "rak" or sailing course. [FN-3] Hence it was that Van Rensselaer's first purchase (1630) was bounded on the south by the south end of Beeren or Mahican Island, and the second purchase by the south end of Vastrix Island, which became the objective of the northwest bound of Livingston's Patent. While the name is repeatedly given as that of the stream, it was probably that of a place or point on the limestone bluff which here bounds the Hudson on the east for several miles. Surveyor Beatty's description, "Beginning at a place where," and the omission of the stream on his map, and its omission on subsequent maps of the manor, and the specific entry in the amended patent of 1715, "Beginning at a certain place called by the Indians Wahankassek," admit of no other conclusion, and the conclusion is, apparently, sustained by the name itself, which seems to be from Moh. _Wakhununuhkōōsek,_ "A high point," as a hill, mountain, peak, bluff, etc., from _Wakhu_, "hill, mountain," _uhk,_ "end, point," and _ōōsic,_ "peak, pinnacle." etc. The reference may have been to a point formed by the channel of the little stream flowing down from the bluff above, or to some projection, but certainly to the bluff as the only permanent objective on the Hudson. The connection of the "small run of water" with the boundmark should entitle it to more particular description than has been given to it by local writers.

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[FN-1] Named from Roeloff Jansen, Overseer of the Orphan Court under the Dutch Government. (French.)

[FN-2] Oak Hill station on the Hudson River R. R., about five miles south of the city of Hudson, was so called from a hill in the interior just north of the line of the town of Livingston, from which the land slopes west towards the Hudson and south to Roelof Jansen's Kill.

[FN-3] _Vastrix_ is a compression of Dutch _t'Vaste Rak_ as written on Van der Donck's map of 1656, meaning, "The fast or steady reach or sailing course," which began here. The island is the first island lying north of the mouth of the Katskill. It is now known as Roger's Island.

Nickankook, Kickua and Weckqashake are given as the names of "three flats" which, with "some small flats," were included in the first purchase by Livingston, and described as "Situate on both sides" of the kill called Saukhenak (Roelof Jansen's Kill). The Indian deed also included all land "Extending along the bank of the river northwards from Roelof Jansen's Kill to a small stream opposite Catskill named Wachanekassik." The names of the three flats are variously spelled--Nickankooke, Nickankook, etc. The first has been translated by Mr. Wm. R. Gerard from _Nichánhkûk,_ "At the bend in front." _Kickua,_ the second, is untranslatable. _Wickquashaka, Wequakake,_ etc., is the equivalent of _Wequaohke,_ "End land" or place. The kill flows through a valley of broad and fertile flats, but near the Hudson it breaks through the limestone bluff which forms the east line of the Hudson, and its banks are steep and rocky.

Saaskahampka, Indian deed; _Suaskahampka_ patent of 1684--the southwest boundmark of the Livingston Patent, is described as "A dry gully at Hudson's River." It is located about opposite Sawyer's Creek, north of the present Saugerties or Esopus Creek. _Sasco,_ or as written _Saaska,_ means "A swamp;" _Assisku_ (Del.), "Mud, clay"; _Asuskokámika,_ "Muddy place," a gully in which no water was flowing. (Gerard.)

Mananosick--"Along the foot of a high mountain to the path that goes to Wawyactanock to a hill called by the Indians Mananosick." Also written _Nanosick._ Eliot wrote, in the Natick dialect, _Nahōōsick,_ "Pinnacle," or high peak. The indefinite and impersonal _M'_ or _Ma,_ prefixed, would add "a" or "the" high peak. The hill has not been located except in a general way as near the Massachusetts line.

Nanapenahakan and Nanipanihekan are orthographies of the name of a "creek or brook" described as "coming out of a marsh lying near unto the hills where the heaps of stones lye." The stream flows to Claverack Creek. The outlet waters of Achkookpeek Lake unite with it, from which it is now called Copake Creek. It unites with Kinderhook Creek north of the city of Hudson.

Wawanaquasik, Claverack Patent, 1649; _Wawanaquassick,_ Livingston Patent of 1686; _Wawauaquassick_ and _Mawauapquassek,_ patent of 1715; _Mawanaqwassik,_ surveyor's notation, 1715; now written _Mawanaquassick_--a boundmark of the Claverack Patent of 1649, and also of the Livingston Patent, is described in the Claverack Patent, "To the high woodland called Wawanaquasik," and in the Livingston Patent, "_To a place_ called by the Indians Wawanaqussek, where the heapes of stone lye, near to the head of a creek called Nanapenahaken, which comes out of a marsh lying near unto the hills of the said heapes of stones, upon which the Indians throw another as they pass by, from an ancient custom among them." The heap of stones here was "on the south side of the path leading to Wayachtanok," and other paths diverged, showing that the place was a place of meeting. "To the high woodland," in the description of 1649, is marked on the map of survey of 1715, "Foot of the hill," apparently a particular point, the place of which was identified by the head of the creek, the marsh and the heap of stones. The name may have described this point or promontory, or it may have referred to the place of meeting near the head of the creek, or to the end of the marsh, but it is claimed that it was the name of the heap of stones, and that it is from _Miáe,_ or _Miyáe,_ "Together"--_Mawena,_ "Meeting," "Assembly"--frequently met in local names and accepted as meaning, "Where paths or streams or boundaries come together;" and _Qussuk,_ "stone"--"Where the stones are assembled or brought together," "A stone heap." This reading is of doubtful correctness. Dr. Trumbull wrote that _Qussuk,_ [FN-1] meaning "stone," is "rarely, perhaps never" met as a substantival in local names, and an instance is yet to be cited where it is so used. It is a legitimate word in some connections, however, Eliot writing it as a noun in _Môhshe-qussuk,_ "A flinty rock," in the singular number. If used here it did not describe "a heap of stones," but a certain rock. On the map of survey of the patent, in 1798, the second station is marked "Manor Rock," and the third, "Wawanaquassick," is located 123 chains and 34 links (a fraction over one and one-half miles) north of Manor Rock, as the corner of an angle. In the survey of 1715, the first station is "the foot of the hill"--"the high woodland"--which seems to have been the _Mawan-uhqu-ōōsik_ [FN-2] of the text. To avoid all question the heap of stones seems to have been included in the boundary. It now lies in an angle in the line between the townships of Claverack and Taghkanic, Columbia County, and is by far the most interesting feature of the locative--a veritable footprint of a perished race. Similar heaps were met by early European travelers in other parts of the country. Rev. Gideon Hawley, writing in 1758, described one which he met in Schohare Valley, and adds that the largest one that he ever saw was "on the mountain between Stockbridge and Great Barrington." Mass. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 1039.) The significance of the "ancient custom" of casting a stone to these heaps has not been handed down. Rev. Mr. Sergeant wrote, in 1734, that though the Indians "each threw a stone as they passed, they had entirely lost the knowledge of the reason for doing so," and an inquiry by Rev. Hawley, in 1758, was not attended by a better result. [FN-3] The heaps were usually met at resting places on the path and the custom of throwing the stone a sign-language indicating that one of the tribe had passed and which way he was going, but further than the explanation that the casting of the stone was "an ancient custom," nothing may be claimed with any authority. A very ancient custom, indeed, when its signification had been forgotten.

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[FN-1] Williams wrote in the Narraganset dialect _Qussuck,_ stone; _Qussuckanash,_ stones; _Qussuckquon,_ heavy. Zeisberger wrote in the Minsi-Lenape, _Ksucquon,_ heavy; _Achsun,_ stone; _Apuchk,_ rock. Chippeway, _Assin,_ stone; _Aubik,_ rock. Old Algonquian, _Assin,_ stone. Eliot wrote in the Natick (Mass.) dialect, _Qussuk,_ a rock; _Qussukquanash,_ rocks; _Hussunash,_ stones; _Hussunek,_ lodge or ledge of rocks, and for _Hussimek_ Dr. Trumbull wrote _Assinek_ as an equivalent, and _Hussun_ or _Hussunash,_ stones, as identical with _Qussukqun,_ heavy. Eliot also wrote _-pick_ or _-p'sk,_ in compound words, meaning "Rock," or "stone," as qualified by the adjectival prefix, _Onap'sk,_ "Standing rock."

[FN-2] Literally, "A meeting point," or sharp extremity of a hill.

[FN-3] Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 1039. The heap referred to by Rev. Hawley was on the path leading to Schohare. It gave name to what was long known as the "Stoneheap Patent." The heap is now in the town of Esperance and near Sloansville, Schohare County. It is four rods long, one or two wide, and ten to fifteen feet high. (French.)

Ahashewaghick and Ahashewaghkameck, the latter in corrected patent of 1715, is given as the name of the northeast boundmark of the Manor of Livingston, and described as "the northernmost end of the hills that are to the north of Tachkanick"--specifically by the surveyor, "To a heap of stones laid together on a certain hill called by the Indians Ahashawaghkik, by the north end of Taghanick hill or mountain"--has been translated from _Nash-ané-komuk_ (Eliot), "A place between." Dr. Trumbull noted _Ashowugh-commocke,_ from the derivatives quoted--_Nashaué,_ "between"; _-komuk,_ "place," limited, enclosed, occupied, _i. e._ by "a heap of stones laid together," probably by the surveyor of the prior Van Rensselaer Patent, of which it was also a boundmark. The hill is now the northeast comer of the Massachusetts boundary line, or the north end of Taghkanick hills.

Taghkanick, the name of a town in Columbia County and primarily of a tract of land included in the Livingston Patent and located "behind _Potkoke,_" is written _Tachkanick_ in the Indian deed of 1685; _Tachhanick_ in the Indian deed of 1687-8; "Land called _Tachhanick_ which the owners reserved to plant upon when they sold him _Tachhanick,_ with the land called Quissichkook;" _Tachkanick,_ "having the kill on one side and the hill on the other"; _Tahkanick_ (Surveyor's notation) 1715--is positively located by the surveyor on the east side of the kill called by the Indians _Saukhenak,_ and by the purchasers Roelof Jansen's Kill. Of the meaning of the name Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan wrote: "_Tachanûk,_ 'Wood place,' literally, 'the woods,' from _Takone,_ 'forest,' and _ûk,_ 'place'"; which Dr. Trumbull regarded as "the least objectionable" of any of the interpretations that had fallen under his notice, and to which he added: "Literally, 'wild lands,' 'forest.'" It would seem to be more probable that _Tachk, Taghk, Tachh, Tahk,_ etc., represents _Tak_ (Taghk), with formative _an, Taghkan,_ meaning "wood;" and _ek,_ animate plural added, "Woods," "trees," "forest." Dr. O'Callaghan's _ûk_ (ook), "Land or place," is not in any of the orthographies. The deed-sentence, "When they sold him Tachanick," reads literally, from the name, "When they sold him the woods." The name was extended to the reserved field, to the stream and to the mountain. [FN] The latter is familiar to geologists in what is known as the Taconic rocks. Translations of the name from Del. _Tuphanné,_ "Cold stream," and _Tankkanné,_ "Little river," are without merit, although _Tankhanné_ would describe the branch of Roelof Jansen's Kill on which the plantation was located.

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[FN] The purchasers claimed but the Indians denied having sold the mountain. It was heavily wooded no doubt. Livingston claimed it from having bought "the woods." The Moravian missionaries wrote, in 1744, _W'takantschan,_ which Dr. Trumbull converted to _Ket-takone-wadchu,_ "Great woody mountain."

Wichquapakat, Wichquapuchat, Wickquapubon, the latter by the surveyor, given as the name of the southeast boundmark of the Livingston Patent and therein described as "the south end of the hills," of which Ahashawagh-kameck was the north. _Wichqua_ is surely an equivalent of _Wequa_ (_Wehqua,_ Eliot), "As far as; ending at; the end or extreme, point." [FN] Now the southwest corner on the Massachusetts line.

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[FN] Robert Livingston, who wrote most of the Indian names in his patent, was a Scotchman. He learned to "talk Dutch" in Rotterdam, and picked up an acquaintance with the Indian tongues at Fort Orange (Albany). Some of his orthographies are singular combinations.

Mahaskakook, a boundmark in the Livingston Patent, is described, in one entry, as "A copse," _i. e._ "A thicket of underbrush," and in another entry, "A cripple bush," _i. e._ "A patch of low timber growth"--Dutch, _Kreupelbosch,_ "Underwood." Probably the Indian name has, substantially, the same moaning. _Manask_ (Del.), "Second crop"; _-ask,_ "Green, raw, immature"; _-ak,_ "wood"; _-ook_ (_ûk_), locative. The location has not been ascertained.

Nachawawakkano, given as the name of a creek described as a "creek which comes into another creek," is an equivalent of _Léchau-wakhaune_ (Lenape), "The fork of a river," a stream that forks another stream. Aupaumut, the Stockbridge Historian, wrote, with locative suffix, _Naukhuwwhnauk,_ "At the fork of the streams."

Mawichnauk--"the place where the two streams meet being called Mawichnauk"--means "The fork place," or place where the Nachawawakkano and the Tawastaweka came together, or where the streams meet or flow together. In the Bayard Patent the name is written Mawighanuck and Wawieghanuck. (See Wawighanuck.)

Shaupook and Skaukook are forms of the name assigned to the eastern division of a stream, "which, a little lower down," was "called Twastawekah," known later as Claverack Creek. It may be translated from _Sóhk,_ Mass., "outlet," and _ûk,_ locative, "At the outlet" or mouth of the stream.

Twastawekah and Tawastawekah, given, in the Livingston Patent, as the name of Claverack Creek, is described as a place that was below Shaukook, The root is _Tawa,_ an "open space," and the name apparently an equivalent of Lenape _Tawatawikunk,_ "At an open place," or an uninhabited place, a wilderness. _Tauwata-wique-ak,_ "A place in the wilderness." (Gerard.)

Sahkaqua, "the south end of a small piece of land called Sahkaqua and Nakawaewick"; "to a run of water on ye east end of a certain flat or piece of land called in ye Indian tongue, Sahkahka; then south . . . one hundred and forty rods to . . . where two runs of water come together on the south side of the said flat; then west . . . to a rock or great stone on the south corner of another flat or piece of low land called by the Indians Nakaowasick." (Doc. Hist., iii, 697.) On the surveyor's map Nakaowasick, the place last named, is changed to Acawanuk. From the text, _Sahkaqua_ described "Land or place at the outlet or mouth of a stream," from _Sóhk,_ "outlet," and _-ohke,_ "land" or place. The second name _Nakawaewick_ (Nakaouaewik, Nakawasick, Acawasik) is probably from _Nashauewasuck,_ "At (or on) a place between," _i. e._ between the streams spoken of.

Minnischtanock, in the Indian deed to Livingston, 1685, located the end of a course described as "Beginning on the northwest side of Roelof Jansen's Kill," and in the patent, "Beginning on the other side of the creek that runs along the flat or plain land _over against_ Minnisichtanock, and from thence along a small hill to a valley," etc. The name has been interpreted "Huckleberry-hill place," from _Min,_ "Small fruit or grain of any kind"; _-achtenne,_ "hill"; _-ûk,_ locative.

Kackkawanick, written also Kachtawagick, Kachkawyick, and Kachtawayick, is described in the deed, as "A high place to the westward of a high mountain." Location has not been ascertained. From the map it seems to have been a long, narrow piece of land between the hills.

Quissichkook, Quassighkook, etc., one of the two places reserved by the Indians "to plant upon" when they sold Tachkanik, is described in the deed as a place "lying upon this (_i. e._ the west) side of Roelof Jansen's Kill" and "near Tachanik," the course running "thence along a small hill to a valley that leads to a small creek called by the Indians Quissichkook, and over the creek to a high place to the westward of a high mountain called by the natives Kachtawagick." In a petition by Philip Schuyler, 1686, the description reads: "Quassichkook, . . . lying on the east side of Roelof Jansen's Kill," and the place as a tract of woodland. The name was probably that of a wooded bluff on the east side of the creek. It seems to be from _Kussuhkoc_ (Moh.), "high," and _-ook,_ locative--"At, to or on a high place"--from which the stream and the plantation was located. (See Quassaick.)

Pattkoke, a place so called, also written _Pot-koke,_ gave name to a large tract of land patented to Johannes Van Rensselaer in 1649. In general terms the tract was described as lying "South of Kinder-hook, [FN-1] east of Claverack, [FN-2] and west of Taghkanick" (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 617), and also as "Lying to the east of Major Abraham's patent of Claverack." [FN-3] Specifically, in a caveat filed by John Van Rensselaer, in 1761, "From the mouth of Major Staats, or Kinderhook Kill, south along the river to a point opposite the south end of Vastrix Island, thence easterly twenty-four English miles," etc. (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 307. See also, Wachanekasaik.) It was an immense tract, covering about eight miles on the Hudson by twenty-four miles deep, and became known as "The Lower Manor of Rensselaerswyck," but locally as Claverack, from its frontage on the river-reach so called. The name was that of a particular place which was well known from which it was extended to the tract. In "History of Columbia County" this particular place is claimed to have been the site of an Indian village situate "about three (Dutch, or nine English) miles inland from Claverack." (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv, 84.) The record does not give the name, nor does it say "village," but place. The local story is, therefore, largely conjectural. The orthographies of the name are imperfect. Presumably, they may be read from Mass. _Pautuckoke,_ meaning "Land or country around the falls of a stream," and the reference to some one of the several falls on Claverack Creek, or on Eastern Creek, its principal tributary. Both streams were included in the patent, and both are marked by falls and rifts, but on the latter there are several "cataracts and falls of great height and surpassing beauty." "Nothing but a greater volume of water is required to distinguish them as being among the grandest in the world," adds the local historian. The special reference by the writer was to the falls at the manufacturing village known as Philmont, nine miles east of the Hudson, corresponding with the record of the "place" where the Indians assembled in 1663-4. _Pautuck_ is met in many forms. It means, "The falls of a stream." With the suffix, _-oke_ (Mass. _-auke_), "Land, ground, place, unlimited"--"the country around the falls," or the falls country. (See Potick.)

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[FN-1] Kinderhook is an anglicism of Dutch _Kinder-hoek,_ meaning, literally, "Children's point, angle or corner." It dates from the Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and hence is one of the oldest names on Hudson's River. It is supposed to have been applied from a gathering of Indian children on a point of land to gaze upon the ship of the early navigator. It could not have been a Dutch substitute for an Indian name. It is pure Dutch. It was not an inland name. The navigator of 1614-16 did not explore the country.

[FN-2] _Claverack_--Dutch, _Claverrak_--literally, "Clover reach--a sailing course or reach, so called from three bare or open fields which appear on the land, a fancied resemblance to _trefoil_ or three-leaved clover," wrote Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter in their Journal in 1679-80. Presumably the places are specifically located in the patent to Jan Frans van Heusen, May, 1667, on which the city of Hudson now stands, which is described as "A tract of land which takes in three of the Clavers on the south." From the locative the reach extended some miles north and south and to lands which it bounded. It is still preserved as the name of a creek, a town and a village. Of record it dates back to De Laet's map of 1625-6, and is obviously much older. It is possible that the "three bare places" were fields of white clover, as has been claimed by one writer, but there is no record stating that fact. Dankers and Sluyter, who wrote only fifty-four years after the application of the name, no doubt gave correctly the account of its origin as it was related to them by living witnesses. If interpreted as were the names of other reaches, the reference would be to actual clover fields.

[FN-3] "Major Abraham" was Major Abraham Staats, who located on a neck of land on the north side of "Major Staats' Creek," now Stockport Creek. (See Ciskhakainck.) "West of Taghkanick," probably refers to the mountains now so known. It means, literally, however, "The woods." (See Taghkanick.) There was a heated controversy between the patroon of Rensselaerswyck and Governor Stuyvesant in regard to the purchase of the tract. It was decided in 1652 in favor of the former, who had, in the meantime, granted several small leaseholds. (See Brodhead's Hist. N. Y., i.) The first settlement by the patroon was in 1705 at Claverack village.

Ciskhekainck and Cicklekawick are forms of the name of a place granted by patent to Major Abraham Staats, March 25, 1667, and to his son in 1715, described as "Lying north of Claverack [Hudson], on the east side of the river, along the Great Kill [Kinderhook Creek], to the first fall of water; then to the fishing place, containing two hundred acres, more or less, bounded by the river on one side and by the Great Kill on the other." Major Staats had made previous settlement on the tract under lease from Van Rensselaer. His house and barn were burned by the Indians in the Esopus war of 1663. In 1715, he being then dead, his son, Abraham, petitioned for an additional tract described as "Four hundred acres adjoining the north line of the neck of land containing two hundred acres now in his possession, called Ciskhekainck, on the north side of Claverack, on ye east side of Hudson's River." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 118.) The petition was granted and the two parcels consolidated. The particular fall referred to is probably that now known as Chittenden's, on Kinderhook (now Stockport) Creek, a short distance west of Stockport Station. It may be called a series of falls as the water primarily descended on shelves or steps. It was noted as remarkable by Dankens and Sluyter in 1679-80. [FN] Claverack Creek unites with Stockport Creek just west of the falls. In other connections both streams are called mill streams. In the Stephen Bayard patent of 1741, the name of the fall on Stockport Creek is noted as "A certain fall . . . called by the Indians _Kasesjewack_" The several names are perhaps from _Cochik'uack_ (Moh.), "A wild, dashing" stream. _Cochik'uack,_ by the way, is one of the most corrupted names of record.

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[FN] "We came to a creek, where, near the river, lives a man whom they call the Child of Luxury (_t'kinder van walde_). He had a sawmill on the creek or waterfall, which is a singular one. The water falls quite steep in one body, but it comes down in steps, with a broad rest sometimes between them. These steps were sixty feet or more high, and were formed out of a single rock."

Kesieway's Kil, described in an Indian deed to Garritt van Suchtenhorst, 1667-8. "A certain piece of land at Claverack between the bouwery of Jan Roother and Major Abraham Staats, beginning at a fall at the kil called Kesieway's Kil." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 51, 57.) The tract seems to have been on Claverack Creek south of Stockport "Jan Roothers" is otherwise written, "Jan Hendricksen, alias Jan Roothaer." _Roth_ (German) means "red," _-aer_ is from German _Haar_ (hair). He was known locally as "Jan, the red-head." The location of the fall has not been ascertained. _Kashaway_ Creek is a living form of the name in the town of Greenport, Columbia County. On the opposite side of the Hudson the same name apparently, appears in Keesieway, Kesewey, etc., as that of a "chief or sachem" of the Katskill Indians. (See Keessienwey's Hoeck.)

Pomponick, Columbia County. (N. Y. Land Papers.) _Pompoenik,_ a fort to be erected at "about the barn of Lawrence van Alen." (Doc. Hist. N. Y., ii, 90.) _Pompoen_ is Dutch for pumpkin. The name is also written as that of an Indian owner--"the land bought by Jan Bruyn of Pompoen." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 545.) Pompoeneck is the form of the signature to deed.

Mawighanuck, Mawighunk, Waweighannuck, Wawighnuck, forms of the name preserved as that of the Bayard Patent, Columbia County, described as a place "Lying to the northwest of Kinderhook, about fifteen miles from Hudson's River, upon Kinderhook River and some branches thereof, part of which tract is known by the Indian name of Mawighanuck." The particular "part" noted has not been located, but it seems to have been where one of the branches of Kinderhook Creek united with that stream. (See Mawichnauk.)

Mogongh-kamigh, a boundmark of the Bayard Patent (Land Papers, 245), is located therein, "From a fall on said river called by the Indians Kasesjewack to a certain place called by the natives Mogongh-kamigh, then up the southeast branch," etc. The name means, probably, "Place of a great tree."

Kenaghtiquak, "a small stream" so called, was the name of a boundmark of the Peter Schuyler Patent, described, "Beginning where three oak trees are marked, lying upon a small creek, to the south of Pomponick, called by the Indians Kenaghtiquak, and running thence," etc. It probably stands for _Enaughtiqua-ûk,_ "The beginning place."

Machachoesk, a place so called in Columbia County, has not been located. It is described of record as a place "lying on both sides of Kinderhook Creek," and may have taken its name from an adjacent feature.

Wapemwatsjo, the name of a hill in Columbia County, is a Dutch orthography of _Wapim-wadchu,_ "Chestnut Hill." The interpretation is correctly given in the accompanying alternate, "or Karstengeberg" (Kastanjeberg, Dutch), "Chestnut Hill."

Kaunaumeek, an Indian village sixteen miles east of Albany, in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, was the scene of the labors of Moravian missionaries, and especially of Missionary Brainerd. It was long known as Brainerd's Bridge, and is now called Brainerds. The name is Lenape (German notation) and the equivalent of _Quannamáug,_ Nar., _Gunemeek,_ Len., "Long-fish place," a "Fishing-place for lampreys." The form, Kaunaumeek, was introduced here by the Moravian missionaries.

Scompamuck is said to have been the name of the locality now covered by the village of Ghent, Columbia County, perhaps more strictly the head of the outlet of Copake Lake where an Indian settlement is located on early maps. The suffix, _-amuck,_ is the equivalent of _-amaug,_ "fishing place." _Ouschank-amaug,_ from _Ousch-acheu,_ "smooth, slippery," hence eel or lamprey--"a fishing-place for eels."

Copake, the modern form of the name of a lake in Columbia County, is of record _Achkookpeek_ (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii. 628), meaning, literally, "Snake water," from _Achkook,_ "Snake," and _-péek,_ "Water place," pool or pond. Hendrick Aupaumut, the Historian of the Stockbridge-Mahicans, wrote: "_Ukhkokpeck;_ it signifies snake-water, or water where snakes are abundant." On a map of the boundary line between Massachusetts and New York an Indian village is located at the outlet of the lake, presumably that known as Scompamuck.

Kaphack, on Westenhook River, a place described as "Beginning at an Indian burying-place hard by Kaphack," probably means "A separate place"--"land not occupied." The tract began at "an Indian burying-place," and presumably took its name therefrom. _Chépeck,_ "The dead;" _Chépeack,_ "Place of the dead." (See Shapequa.)

Valatie, the name of a village in Columbia County, is Dutch. It means "Vale, valley, dale, dell," and not "Little Falls," as rendered in French's Gazetteer. _Waterval_ is Dutch for "Waterfall." _Vallate,_ Low Latin for "valley," is the derivative of _Valatie,_ as now written.

Schodac, now covered by the village of Castleton (Schotax, 1677; Schotack, 1768), was the place of residence of Aepjin, sachem, or "peace chief," of the Mahicans. [FN-1] It has been translated from _Skootay,_ Old Algonquian (_Sqúta,_ Williams), "fire," and _-ack,_ "place," literally, "Fire Place," or place of council. It was extended to Smack's Island, opposite Albany, which was known to the early Dutch as "Schotack, or Aepjen's Island." It is probable, however, that the correct derivative is to be found in _Esquatak,_ or Eskwatak, the record name of the ridge of land east of Castleton, near which the Mahican fort or palisaded village was located, from which Castleton takes its name. _Esquatak_ is pretty certainly an equivalent of _Ashpohtag_ (Mass.), meaning "A high place." Dropping the initial _A,_ and also the letter _p_ and the second _h,_ leaves Schotack or Shotag; by pronunciation Schodac. Eshodac, of which Meshodack [FN-2] is another form, the name of a high peak in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, has become Schodac by pronunciation. It has been claimed that the landing which Hudson made and so particularly described in Juet's Journal, was at Schodac. [FN-3] The Journal relates that the "Master's mate" first "went on land with an old savage, the governor of the country, who carried him to his house and made him good cheere." The next day Hudson himself "Sailed to the shore, in one of their canoe's, with an old man who was chief of a tribe consisting of forty men and seventeen women," and it is added, "These I saw there in a house well constructed of oak bark and circular in shape, so that it had the appearance of being built with an arched roof." Presumably the house was near the shore of the river and in occupation during the fishing and planting season. The winter castle was further inland. The "arched roof" indicates that it was one of the "long" houses so frequently described, not a cone-like cabin. The "tribe" was the sachem's family.

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[FN-1] Aepjin's name appears of record first in 1645 as the representative of the Westchester County clans in negotiating a treaty of peace with the Dutch. In the same capacity he was at Esopus in 1660. He could hardly have been the "old man" whom Hudson met in 1609. In one entry his name is written "Eskuvius, alias Aepjin (Little Ape)," and in another "Called by the Dutch Apeje's (Little Ape's) Island." He may have been given that name from his personal appearance, or it may have been a substitute for a name which the Dutch had heard spoken. Eliot wrote, "_Appu,_ He sits; he rests, remains, abides; _Keu Apean,_ Those that sittest," descriptive of the rank of a resident ruler or peace chief, one of a class of sachems whose business it was to maintain the covenants between his own and other tribes, and negotiate treaties of peace on their behalf or for other tribes when called upon. From his totemic signature he was of the Wolf tribe of the Mahicans. (See Keessienway's Hoeck.)

[FN-2] The prefixed _M,_ sometimes followed by a short vowel or an apostrophe (M'), has no definite or determinate force. (Trumbull.)

[FN-3] The Journal locates the place at Lat. 42 deg. 18 min. This would be about five miles (statute) north of the present city of Hudson. "But," wrote Brodhead, "Latitudes were not as easily determined in those days as they are now; and a careful computation of the distances run by the Half-Moon, as recorded in Juet's day-book, shows that on the 18th of September, 1609, when the landing occurred, she must have been 'up six leagues higher' than Hudson, in the neighborhood of Schodac and Castleton."

Sickenekas, given as the name of a tract of land on the east side of the river, "opposite Fort Orange (Albany), above and below," dates from a deed to Van Rensselaer, 1637, the name of one of the grantors of which is written Paepsickenekomtas. The name is now written Papskanee and applied to an island.

Sicajoock, (Wickagjock, Wassenaer), is given as the name of a tract on the east side of the river extending from Smack's Island to Castle Island where it joined lands "called Semesseeck," Gesmessecks, etc., which extended north to Negagonse, "being about twelve miles (Dutch), large measure." The northern limit seems to have been Unuwat's Castle on the north side of a stream flowing to the Hudson north of "opposite to Rensselaer's Kil and waterfall." _Sicajoock_ (Dutch notation), "Black, or dark colored earth," from _Sûcki_ "Dark colored, inclining to black," and _-ock,_ "land." The same name is written Suckiage (_ohke_) in application to the Hartford meadows, Conn.

Gesmesseeck, a tract of land so called, otherwise entered of record "Nawanemit's particular land called _Semesseerse,_ lying on the east bank, opposite Castle Island, off unto Fort Orange." "Item--from Petanoc, the mill stream, away north to Negagonse." In addition Van Rensselaer then purchased lands held in common by several owners, "extending up the river, south and north" from Fort Orange, "unto a little south of Moeneminnes castle," "being about twelve miles, large measure." Moeneminne's castle was on Haver Island at Kahoes. _Semesseerse_ is the form of the name in deed as printed in Col. Hist. N. Y., vol. i, p. 44, and Gesmesseecks p. 1, v. iv. Kesmesick is another form and perhaps also Taescameasick. (See Patuckquapaen.) The several forms of the name illustrate the effort on the part of the early Dutch, who were then limitedly acquainted with the Indian tongue, to give orthographies to the names which they heard spoken.

Passapenoc, Pahpapaenpenock and Sapanakock, forms of the name of Beeren Island, lying opposite Coeymans, is from an edible tuber which was indigenous on it. [FN] The Dutch name Beeren or Beerin, means, literally, "She bear," usually called Bear's Island. De Laet wrote "Beeren" in 1640.

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[FN] "The Indians frequently designated places by the names of esculent or medicinal roots which were there produced. In the Algonquin language the generic names for tubers was _pen,_ varying in some dialects to _pin, pena, pon,_ or _bun._ This name seems originally to have belonged to the common ground nut: _Apias tuberosa._ Abnaki, _pen,_ plural, _penak._ Other species were designated by prefixes to this generic, and, in the compositions of place names, was employed to denote locality (_auk, auki, ock,_ etc.), or by an abundance verb (_kanti-kadi_). Thus _p'sai-pen,_ 'wild onions,' with the suffix for place, _ock,_ gave _p'sai-pen-auk,_ or as written by the Dutch, _Passapenock,_ the Indian name for Beeren Island." (J. H. Trumbull, Mag. of Am. Hist I, 387.)

Patuckquapaen and Tuscumcatick are noted in French's Gazetteer as names of record in what is now the town of Greenbush, Rensselaer County, without particular location. The first is in part Algonquian and in part Dutch. The original was, no doubt, _Patuckquapaug,_ as in Greenwich, Ct., meaning "Round pond." The Dutch changed _paug_ to _paen_ descriptive of the land--low land--so we have, as it stands, "Round land," "elevated hassocks of earth, roots," etc. (See Patuckquapaug.) The second name is written in several forms--Taescameatuck, Taescameesick, and Gessmesseecks. _Greenbush_ is an anglicism of _Gran Bosch,_ Dutch, meaning, literally, "Green forest." The river bank was fringed by a long stretch of spruce-pine woods. Dutch settlement began here about 1631. In 1641 a ferry was established at the mouth of the _Tamisquesuck_ or Beaver Creek, and has since been maintained. About the same year a small fort, known as Fort Cralo, was constructed by Van Rensselaer's superintendent.

Poesten Kill, the name of a stream and of a town in Rensselaer County, is entered in deed to Van Rensselaer in 1630, "Petanac, the mill stream"; in other records, "_Petanac,_ the Molen Kil," and "De Laet's Marlen Kil and Waterval." _Petanac,_ the Indian name, is an equivalent of Stockbridge _Patternac,_ which King Ninham, in an affidavit, in 1762, declared meant "A fall of water, and nothing more." "Molen Kil" (Dutch), means "mill water." "De Laet's Marlen Kil ende Waterval," locates the name as that of a well-known waterfall on the stream of eighty feet. Weise, in his "History of Troy," wrote: "Having erected a saw-mill upon the kill for sawing posts and timber, which was known thereafter as Poesten mill, the name became extended to the stream," an explanation that seems to bear the marks of having been coined. From the character of the stream the name is probably a corruption of the Dutch _Boosen,_ "An angry stream," because of its rapid descent. The stream reaches the Hudson on the north line of Troy. (See Gesmessecks.)

Paanpaach is quoted by Brodhead (Hist. N. Y.) as the name of the site of the city of Troy. It appears in 1659 in application to bottom lands known as "The Great Meadows," [FN-1] lying under the hills on the east side of the Hudson. At the date of settlement by Van der Huyden (1720), it is said there were stripes or patches within the limits of the present city which were known as "The corn-lands of the Indians," [FN-2] from which the interpretation in French's Gazetteer, "Fields of corn," which the name never meant in any language. The name may have had an Indian antecedent, but as it stands it is Dutch from _Paan-pacht,_ meaning "Low, soft land," or farm of leased land. The same name appears in _Paan-pack,_ Orange county, which see.

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[FN-1] Weise's Hist. of Troy.

[FN-2] Woodward's Reminiscences of Troy.

Piskawn, of record as the name of a stream on the north line of Troy, describes a branch or division of a river. Rale wrote in Abnaki, "_Peskakōōn,_ branche," of which _Piskawn_ is an equivalent.

Sheepshack and Pogquassick are record names in the vicinity of Lansingburgh. The first has not been located. It seems to stand for _Tsheepenak,_ a place where the bulbous roots of the yellow lily were obtained--modern Abnaki, _Sheep'nak._ _Pogquassick_ appears as the name of a "piece of woodland on the east side of the river, near an island commonly called Whale-fishing Island," correctly, Whalefish Island. [FN] This island is now overflowed by the raising of the water by the State dam at Lansingburgh. The Indian name does not belong to the woodland; it locates the tract near the island, in which connection it is probably an equivalent of _Paugasuck,_ "A place at which a strait widens or opens out" (Trumbull), or where the narrow passage between the island and the main land begins to widen. In the same district _Pogsquampacak_ is written as the name of a small creek flowing into Hoosick River.

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[FN] "Whale-fishing Island" is a mistranslation of "Walvish Eiland" (Dutch), meaning simply "Whale Island." It is related by Van der Donck (1656) that during the great freshet of 1647, a number of whales ascended the river, one of which was stranded and killed on this island. Hence the name.

Wallumschack, so written in return of survey of patent granted to Cornelius van Ness and others, in 1738, for lands now in Washington County; _Walloomscook,_ and other forms; now preserved in Walloomsac, as the name of a place, a district of country, and a stream flowing from a pond on the Green Mountains, in the town of Woodford, near Bennington, Vermont. [FN-1] It has not been specifically located, but apparently described a place on the adjacent hills where material was obtained for making paints with which the Indians daubed their bodies. (See Washiack.) It is from a generic root written in different dialects, _Walla, Wara_ etc., meaning "Fine, handsome, good," etc., from which in the Delaware, Dr. Brinton derived _Wálám,_ "Painted, from the sense to be fine in appearance, to dress, which the Indians accomplished by painting their bodies," and _-'ompsk_ (Natick), with the related meaning of standing or upright, the combination expressing "Place of the paint rocks." [FN-2] The ridges of many of the hills as well as of the mountains in the district are composed of slate, quartz, sandstone and limestone, which compose the Takonic system. By exposure the slate becomes disintegrated and forms an ochery clay of several colors, which the Indians used as paint. The washing away of the rock left the quartz exposed in the form of sharp points, which were largely used by the Indians for making axes, lance-heads, arrow points, etc. Some of the ochre beds have been extensively worked, and plumbago has also been obtained. White Creek, in the same county, takes that name from its white clay banks.

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[FN-1] Vermont is from _Verd Montagne_ (French), meaning "Green Mountains," presumably from their verdure, but actually from the appearance of the hills at a distance from the color of the rocks reflected in the atmosphere. To the Indian they were Wal'ompskeck, "fine, handsome rocks."

[FN-2] An interpretation of the name from the form Wallumscnaik, in Thompson's Hist. Vermont, states that "The termination _'chaik'_ signifies in the Dutch language, 'scrip.' or 'patent.'" This is erroneous. There is no such word as _chaik_ in the Dutch language. The _ch_ in the name here stands for _k_ and belongs to _'ompsk._

Tomhenack, Tomhenuk, forms of the name given as that of a small stream flowing into the Hoosick from the north, [FN] takes that name, apparently, from an equivalent of _Tomheganic,_ Mass., _Tangamic,_ Del., a stone axe or tomahawk, referring to a place where suitable stones were obtained for making those implements. (Trumbull.) (See Wallumschack.)

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[FN] "At a creek called Tomheenecks, beginning at the southerly bounds of Hoosick, and so running up southerly, on both sides of said creek, over the path which goes to Sanckhaick." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 194; petition of John de Peyster, 1730.)

Tyoshoke, now the name of a church at San Coick, Rensselaer County, is probably from an equivalent of _Toyusk,_ Nar., "a bridge," and _ohke,_ "Place"--a place where the stream was crossed by a log forming a bridge. It was a well-known fording place for many years, and later became the site of Buskirk's Bridge.

Sanckhaick, now San Coick, a place in North Hoosick, Rensselaer County, appears of record in petition of John de Peyster in 1730, and in Indian deed to Cornelius van Ness and others, in 1732, for a certain tract of land "near a place called Sanckhaick." The place, as now known, is near the junction of White Creek and the Wallompskack, where one Van Schaick made settlement and built a mill at an early date. In 1754 his buildings were burned by Indian allies of the French. After the war of that period the mill was rebuilt and became conspicuous in the battle of Bennington, Aug. 16, 1777. It is claimed that the name is a corruption of Van Schaick. Col. Baume, commandant of the Hessians in the battle of Bennington (1777) wrote it Sancoik, which is very nearly Van Schaick.

Schaghticoke, now so written as the name of a town in the northeast corner of Rensselaer County, and in other connections, is from _Pishgachtigok_ Mohegan, meaning "Land on the branch or division of a stream." The locative of the name was at the mouth of Hoosick River on the Hudson, in Washington County. The earliest record (1685) reads, "Land at _Schautecógue_" (-ohke). It is a generic name and appears in several forms and at several places. _Pishgachtigok_ is a form on the west side of the Housatonic at and near the mouth of Ten-Mile River. It was the site of an Indian village and the scene of labor by the Moravian missionaries. In some cases the name is written with locative, "at," etc., in others, with substantive meaning land or place, and in others without suffix. Writes Mr. Gerard, "The name would probably be correctly written _P'skaghtuk-uk,_" when with locative "at." [FN] Although first of record in 1685, its application was probably as early as 1675, when the Pennacooks of Connecticut, fleeing from the disastrous results of King Phillip's War in which they were allies, found refuge among their kindred Mahicans, and later were assigned lands at Schaghticoke by Governor Andros, where they were to serve as allies of the Mohawks. They seem to have spread widely over the district and to have left their footprints as far south as the Katskill. It is a tradition that conferences were held with them on a plain subsequently owned by Johannes Knickerbocker, some six miles east of the Hudson, and that a veritable treaty tree was planted there by Governor Andros in 1676-7, although "planting a tree" was a figurative expression. In later years the seat of the settlement seems to have been around Schaghticoke hill and point, where Mashakoes, their sachem, resided. (Annals of Albany, v, 149.) In the French and Indian war of 1756, the remnant of the tribe was carried away to Canada by the St. Francis Indians, an organization of kindred elements in the French service. At one time they are said to have numbered six hundred warriors. (See Shekomeko.)

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[FN] The root of the name is _Peske_ or _Piske_ (_Paske,_ Zeisb.), meaning, primarily, "To split," "To divide forcibly or abruptly." (Trumbull.) In Abnaki, _Peskétekwa,_ a "divided tidal or broad river or estuary"--_Peskahakan_ (Rale), "branche." In the Delaware, Zeisberger wrote _Pasketiwi,_ "The division or branch of a stream." _Pascataway,_ Md., is an equivalent form. _Pasgatikook,_ Greene County, is from the Mohegan form. _Paghataghan_ and _Pachkataken,_ on the east branch of the Delaware, and _Paghatagkam_ on the Otterkill, Vt., are equivalent forms of _Peskahakan,_ Abnaki. The Hoosick is not only a principal branch, but it is divided at its mouth and at times presents the appearance of running north in the morning and south at night. (Fitch's Surv.)

Quequick and Quequicke are orthographies of the name of a certain fall on Hoosick River, in Rensselaer County. In petition of Maria van Rensselaer, in 1684, the lands applied for were described as "Lying on both sides of a certain creek called Hoosock, beginning at ye bounds of Schaakook, and so to a fall called Quequick, and thence upward to a place called Nachacqikquat." (Cal. Land Papers, 27.) The name may stand for _Cochik'uack_ (Moh.), "Wild, dashing" waters, but I cannot make anything out of it. The first fall east of Schaakook (Schagticoke) Patent is now known as Valley Falls, in the town of Pittstown (Pittstown Station).

Pahhaoke, a local name in Hoosick Valley, is probably an equivalent of _Pauqna-ohke,_ "Clear land," "open country." It is frequently met in Connecticut in different forms, as in Pahqui-oke, Paquiag, etc., the name of Danbury Plains. The form here is said to be from the Stockbridge dialect, but it is simply an orthography of an English scribe. It has no relation whatever to the familiar Schaghticoke or Scat'acook.

Panhoosick, so written in Indian deed to Van Rensselaer in 1652, for a tract of land lying north and east of the present city of Troy, extending north to nearly opposite Kahoes Falls and east including a considerable section of Hoosick River, appears in later records as an apheresis in Hoosick, Hoosack, and Hoosuck, in application to Hoosick River, Hoosick Mountains, Hoosick Valley, Hoosick Falls, and in "Dutch Hossuck," an early settlement described in petition of Hendrick van Ness and others, in 1704, as "land granted to them by Governor Dongan in 1688, known by the Indian name of Hoosack." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 27, 74.) The head of the stream appears to have been the outlet of a lake now called _Pontoosuc_ from the name of a certain fall on its outlet called _Pontoosuck,_ "A corruption," wrote Dr. Trumbull, "of _Powntucksuck,_ 'falls of a brook,' or outlet." "_Powntuck,_ a general name for all falls," according to Indian testimony quoted by the same writer. "_Pantuck,_ falls of a stream." (Zeisb.) Several interpretations of the name have been suggested, of which the most probably correct is from Massachusetts _Pontoosuck,_ which would readily be converted to Hoosick or Panhoosick (Pontoosuck). It was applicable to any falls, and may have had locative at Hoosick Falls as well as on the outlet of Pontoosuck Lake. Without examination or warrant from the local dialect, Heckewelder wrote in his Lenape tradition, "The Hairless or Naked Bear": "_Hoosink,_ which means the basin, or more properly, the kettle." The Lenape or Delaware _Hōōs,_ "certainly means, in that dialect, 'a pot or kettle.' Figuratively, it might be applied to a kettle-shaped depression in land or to a particular valley. _Hoosink_ means 'in' or 'at' the pot or kettle. _Hoosack_ might be read 'round valley land,' or land with steep sides." (Brinton.) Of course this does not explain the prefix _Pan_, nor does it prove that _Hōōs_ was in the local dialect, which, in 1652, was certainly Mahican or Mohegan. Still, it cannot be said that the tradition was not familiar to all Algonquians in their mythical lore.

Heckewelder's tradition, "The Naked or Hairless Bear," has its culmination at a place "lying east of the Hudson," where the last one of those fabulous animals was killed. "The story," writes Dr. Brinton, "was that the bear was immense in size and the most vicious of animals. Its skin was bare except a tuft of white hair on the back. It attacked and ate the natives and the only means of escape from it was to take to the waters. Its sense of smell was remarkably keen, but its sight was defective. As its heart was very small, it could not be easily killed. The surest plan was to break its back-bone; but so dangerous was it that those hunters who went in pursuit of it bade families and friends farewell, as if they never expected to return. The last one was tracked to Hoosink, and a number of hunters went there and mounted a rock with precipitous sides. They then made a noise and attracted the beast's attention, who rushed to the attack with great fury. As he could not climb the rock, he tore at it with his teeth, while the hunters above shot him with arrows and threw upon him great stones, and thus killed him." [FN]

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[FN] "The Lenape and their Legends."