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The Lenni Lenape Historical Society and Museum of Indian Culture

2825 Fish Hatchery Road - Allentown, PA 18103-9801 - USA - Phone: 610.797.2121

A group of Native Americans called the Lenape were living in and around the Chadds Ford area when European explorers arrived in the early 1600’s. 

What Does the Name Mean?

The land they lived in was called Lenapehoking or “Land of the Lenapes”.  The name Lenape meant ordinary people or common people.  Lenni Lenape meant “we, the people”.  By 1755 they became known as the Delawares.  They all spoke the native language of Algonquian.

Where Did They Come From?

Ancestors of the Lenape came to the Middle Atlantic region 3,000 years ago.  About 1,000 years ago, the culture that was in practice when Europeans arrived coalesced.   

The Lenape creation myth maintains that Kishelemukong, the Creator, brought a turtle up from the ocean.  It grew into an island (North America).  The first men and women sprouted from a tree on the turtle’s back.  

Where Did They Live?

They inhabited a stretch of land along the Middle Atlantic Coast from New York bay to the Delaware bay.  In 1600, the population was estimated at 10,000 to 20,000.  

The social group was the clan, band, village, or tribe.  Membership was matrilineal, that is, traced through the mother’s family.  Thus, women owned the land in trust for the tribe.  A husband left his own village to live with his wife’s family in their village.  

What Did They Eat?

The Lenape practiced a limited agriculture in the cultivation of corn, beans, and squash.  They also grew tobacco.  Hunting for deer, bear, elk, turkeys, beaver, muskrat, otter, and waterfowl was a main source of food as was fishing.  Shad, salmon, herring, and shellfish were trapped, netted, or speared. Stone fish weir - A fish trap, formed of large rocks placed in the shape of a “V” extending from bank to bank.  The fish, mostly shad, were forced into the funnel and the Indians would stand on the banks and spear them.  Wild foods such as berries were collected.  Food was dried or smoked for consumption during the winter.  Corn was ground into meal and flour. 

What Did They Wear?

Their clothing was made from tanned deer and elk hides.  Men wore breechcloths and women wore skirts.  Both sexes wore leggings, moccasins, and fur robes. 

What Happened To Them?

War and European diseases like smallpox and malaria decreased their numbers.  They were dominated by other tribes like the Iriquois.  In the early 1700’s the influx of tens of thousands of English, Scotch-Irish and German settlers ignored colonial land laws protecting Indians.  Europeans wanted all the land.  Most Lenapes were pushed west to the Susquehanna and Ohio river valleys by 1750.  On May 8, 1765, Ohio and Pennsylvania Delawares signed a peace treaty with the English. By 1800, only a few remained. 

Indian Hannah

One of the few who remained was Indian Hannah, the last member of the Lenni Lenape tribe to live in Chester County.  Born in 1730 in Kennett, she was part of the Unami group.  As a child she spent winters in a cabin on the property of William Webb in Kennett Square and summers along the Brandywine in Newlin Township.  Her family moved to other parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but Hannah stayed.  She made baskets and brooms and sold herbs.  As an adult she wintered with various Quaker families.  She was known as a healer.  In 1800 the County Home opened.  Hannah lived there until her death in 1802. 

Sources/Further Reading

Brody, Susannah. Prosperous Beginnings: Chester County Biographies, Volume I: A Quaker Colony. West Chester, PA: Chester County Historical Society, 1999.

Grumet, Robert S.  The Lenapes.  Indians of North America.  Chelsea House Publishers: New York, 1989.