Shikellamy's Town
West Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The earlier residence of the noted Oneida chief was near here. As the Six Nations' overseer or vice-regent of the Delaware and other refugee Indians, he spent the most of his time from 1728 to 1748 at Shamokin, now Sunbury, where he died.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Before making Shamokin his main seat, the Oneida leader Shikellamy kept an earlier residence near this spot. As the Six Nations' vice-regent over the Delaware and other refugee peoples, he spent most of the years 1728 to 1748 governing Native affairs along the Susquehanna until his death at Shamokin, now Sunbury.
Why it matters
It maps the on-the-ground geography of Iroquois authority in Pennsylvania, where a single leader oversaw the fate of displaced Native nations.
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Related people
- · Shikellamy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Shikellamy's Old Town - PLAQUE
Kelly Township, PA · est. 1921
On the plain below this ridge once stood the town of Shikellamy, the seasoned Iroquois leader who served as the Confederacy's overseer of the tributary peoples along the Susquehanna. The Pennsylvania interpreter Conrad Weiser passed through here in 1737 on one of his diplomatic journeys to the Iroquois council at Onondaga. In 1745 Shikellamy was named vice-regent of the Confederacy and made his headquarters downriver at Shamokin, today's Sunbury.
Buffalo Church
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Presbyterian settlers pushing into the Buffalo Valley organized this congregation in 1773, only to see it scattered when frontier warfare swept the West Branch country during the Revolutionary years. The faithful regathered and installed their first settled pastor in 1787, and their humble log meetinghouse of about 1775 gave way to stone in 1816 and brick in 1846. Each rebuilding marked a community putting down deeper roots in a valley it had nearly abandoned.
Lee Massacre
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Buffalo Church
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