Origin of Shenendehowa
Origin of Shenendehowa
The work of Beauchamp” Aboriginal Place Names of New York State” 1918 concludes that due to the similarity of Shenendehowa and the word Shenandoah they must mean the same. Beauchamp gives Shenandoah an Iroquoian origin and a meaning of “Big Meadow”. This however has no basis in fact. Others claim that Shenandoah is of Algonquin origin and has a meaning of “Daughter of the Stars”. Others are Schinhandowi”the river through the spruce” and Onandagoa “river of the high Mountains” These like Beauchamp are opinions and not fact.
This same myth is perpetuated by Howard Becker who again based on assumptions with no basis in fact gives us “Great Plain” Beckers correspondence with Arthur Parker in which he asks if the word Shenedehowa could mean “Great Plain” is inconclusive. As much as we were led to believe the answer was positive it was not. Parker clearly told Becker he did not know. Present times leads us to the Shenendehowa Central School Districts web site which again perpetuates the same myth and appears not to be interested if the “Great Plains” listed on their site is factual or not. In a recent statement the district claimed to have “conducted extensive research and consulted with Mohawk/Iroquois experts”. They also stated that “we can’t find confirmation” yet they are still giving the origin of Shenendehowa as “Great Plain” on their site. Rather odd for an educational institution.
Historians such as Nathaniel Sylvester in 1878 give us “Shanandoi” as the Indian name for Round Lake. He also gives us “Shanendahora” as the Indian word for Ballston Lake. Of course Sylvester gives us “Tanendahora” as the Indian name for Round Lake as well. In 1858 historian Chester Booth gives us” the territory known as Thenendahowa alias Clifton Park” as well as listing “Thenendahowa” as the Indian name for Round Lake.
What is fact is that it is obvious that we do not have any conclusive evidence as to the Origin of Shenendehowa. The first appearance of the word is in 1703 and 1707 when Nanning Harmansen appeals to Lord Cornbury for his letters of patent for land that he bought from the Indians known as “Shonondehowah”(1703) and “Shonondehaway”(1707) What we also know as fact is that this was not Iroquois land in in 1703 when the word first appears in documentation it was Mohican land. The nearest Mohawk Village was to the west where the Schoharie Creek enters the Mohawk. Though the Mohawk defeated the Mohicans circa 1623 they collected tribute and did not take their land. The Mohicans maintained a presence in Saratoga County until 1753 with a large group living at Halfmoon at the request of Albany until 1696. The dominant Native group in Saratoga County was a mixed group, as large as 1000 at times that maintained a village that went from Stillwater NY along the Hoosick River to Schagticoke NY with a focal point at the Knickerbocker Farm on the Hoosick. It was not until 1753 when the mixed group left the area due to European encroachment that the area became to future historians” The Fruitful Hunting Ground of the Iroquois” and the Native history prior to that time was forgotten and ignored
by richarddorrough@yahoo.com
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