Croton Historical Archive

Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Home / Robert Bolton, Jr. (1848) / Passage

A History of the County of Westchester, Vol. I — Passage 1

Robert Bolton, Jr. (1848) 234 words View original →

[Robert Bolton, Jr. (1848)] hane or Tnphanne, (a Delaware word for cold stream^ from which the whites have derived the name Tnppan,) to the ex-tent of tide water up this river; here was the uppermost town. From thence our towns were scattered throughout the country on the smaller rivers and creeks. Our nearest neighbors on the east were the Wanipano.^ "a "The country between the banks of the Connecticut River^ and the Hudson, (says Mr. Bancroft,) was possessed by indepen-dent villages of the Mohegans^ kindred with the Mauhattayis; whose few smokes once arose amidst the forests on New York Island. "c Mr. Schoolcraft informs us that " The Mohegans and the Minci were two tribes of Algonquin lineage, who inhabited the valley of the Hudson between New York and Albany." Mo-hegan, (continues the same authority,) is a word, the meaning of which is not explained by the early writers; but if we may trust the deductions of philology, it needs create little uncertainty. In the Mohegan, as spoken at the present time by their lineal de-scendants, the Slockbridges of Wisconsin^ Maihtshow^ is the name of the common wolf. It is called, in cognate dialects of the Algonquin, Myegan by the Kenistenos, and Myeengun by the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottowattomies. In the old Algon-quin, as given by La Hontan, it is Mahingan, and we perceive that this was the term employed by the early French writers for the Mohegans.