In 1701, the Iroquois signed a treaty with acting NY Governor John Nanfan. This treaty deeded the Iroquois' vast "Beaver Hunting Grounds" to King William III of England. The treaty was later amended and ratified in 1726.
The British did not immediately attempt to settle the area deeded to them, and the French didn't recognize the treaty at all. Having themselves made peace with the Iroquois in 1701, the French began to establish forts and tradings posts in the region. It wasn't until 1721 that the English made any effort to establish themselves in the area. When they did, by way of Gov. Burnet's expeditions, they went to locations where the French had already been. The only place the English did not manage to build a post was at Niagara.
After making several expeditions to western New York, the English finally fixed a trading post at Oswego in 1724. They built a proper fort there in 1727. Like other locations, Oswego had been an earlier French trading post.
From 1722 to 1724, English traders used the Clyde Blockhouse as a base. It was located along a major Indian trail to Albany - the same trail that Louis Montour had been traveling with Sachems of the Far Indians in 1709 when he was Assasinated by Joncaire.
Cadwallader Colden's History of the Five Nations, published in 1727, describes the activities of the Dutch-English traders and their use of the western waterways of New York, including the Clyde River system. Below is a copy of the map found in Colden's book.
In 1726, the Nanfan Treaty was amended and ratified. The limits of the "Beaver Hunting Grounds" were delineated by the Iroquois, and Sodoms Creek was involved in the boundary. The exact wording of this portion of the ratified deed is as follows:
". . . all that Land Lying and being Sixty miles distance taken Directly from the water into the Country Beginning from a Creek Call'd Canahogue on the Lake Osweego, all along the said lake and all along the narrow passage from the said Lake to the Falls of Oniagara Called Cahaquaraghe and all along the River of Oniagara and all along the Lake Cadarackquis to the Creek Called Sodoms belonging to the Senekes and from Sodoms to the hill Called Tegerhunkserode Belonging to the Cayouges, and from Tegerhunckseroda to the Creek Called Cayhunghage Belonging to the Onnondages all the Said Land being of the Breadth of Sixty English miles as aforesaid all the way from the aforesaid Lakes or Rivers Directly into the Country and thereby Including all the Castles of the aforesaid Three Nations with all the Rivers Creeks and Lakes within the Said Limits to be protected & Defended by his said Majesty. . ."
The boundary from Sodoms Creek to Tegerhunckseroda is said by many historians to run east from Sodus Bay to an unidentified hill, then along Lake Ontario to the Salmon River. However, research suggests that the boundary was actually intended to follow the Indian trail to Albany. I believe the boundary led from Sodus Bay, along Sodus Creek (Glenmark Creek), to the Clyde Blockhouse. According to this theory, the hill called Tegerhunckseroda is south of Sodus Bay, likely one of the prominent hills in the Town of Galen. It may be Dickson Hill, looming over the Clyde River at the very place where the trail crossed it, would have been a landmark. Dickson Hill is speculated to have been an Indian lookout, and it may have marked the boundary of Cayuga territory (which was at or near Clyde). The Clyde Blockhouse may have been deliberately established on the boundary.
The above map, dating to a later period, shows (near the lower-left corner) Canahogue; it also shows Sodoms (Clyde) southwest of Oswego. Most importantly, it shows Cahunghage on the south side of Oneida Lake, not at the Salmon River. In fact, no maps show show Cahunghage on Lake Ontario. There is one map that shows Tegerhunckseroda, where it is placed inland and near the Onondaga Hills. Based on the locative "-seroda" part of the name, however, it is more likely associated with Sodoms / Ossaroda (see Post).
There was also a creek in the Wayne County area called Tegahonesaota (Papoose), which was apparently associated with Tegerhunckseroda. This stream may be Blockhouse Creek in Clyde, which, according to Edgar Welch, was called "Little Waters" by the Indians.
We may never know the answers for sure, but I believe the boundary of the 1726 Ratified Deed to the Iroquois Beaver Hunting Grounds ran from Sodus Bay to the Clyde Blockhouse, then along the rivers to Cahunghage Creek on the south side of Oneida Lake.
Yorumlar