Pekowi was the name of one of the five divisions (or bands) of the Shawnee, a Native American people, during the 18th century. The other four divisions were the Chalahgawtha, Mekoche, Kispoko, and Hathawekela. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe.
All five Shawnee division names have been spelled in a great variety of ways. Variations of the name "Pekowi" are reflected in many place names in the United States, including Piqua, Pickawillany, Pickaway, and Pequea.
Traditionally, Shawnee ritual leaders came from the Pekowi patrilineal division. [1]
From 1737 to about 1750 the Pekowi were led by Peter Chartier (born Pierre Chartier), a fur trader of Pekowi and French colonial parentage. He was recognized as a leader and rose to be chief of the band. Through his mother's line, Chartier was the grandson of chief Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa. In 1710 he married his cousin, Blanceneige-Wapakonee Opessa and they had three children: two sons and a daughter.
Chartier opposed the sale of rum in Shawnee communities in Pennsylvania, and this brought him into conflict with other traders and the provincial governor, Patrick Gordon. [2] Shawnee and other Native American chiefs had long complained about the sale of alcohol, and had given the colonial government a list of traders they wanted banned because of their actions.
In 1745 Chartier accepted a French commission and left Pennsylvania, leading some 400 members of the Pekowi to Lower Shawneetown. They moved on to modern Kentucky, where they founded the community of Eskippakithiki. Pekowi warriors led by Chartier fought on the side of the French against the English at the Battle of Fort Necessity in 1754 during the French and Indian War. [3]
The Peckuwe and Kispoko divisions of the Shawnee Tribe lived in the Shawnee village of Peckuwe, which was located at 39°54.5′N83°54.68′W / 39.9083°N 83.91133°W near modern Springfield, Ohio, until the Battle of Piqua, August 8, 1780, during the American Revolutionary War.
The Piqua Sept of the Ohio Shawnee Tribe have placed a traditional cedar pole in commemoration of their history here. It is located "on the southern edge of the George Rogers Clark Historical Park, in the lowlands in front of the park's 'Hertzler House.'" [4]
The Shawnee are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Chalahgawtha (or, more commonly in English, Chillicothe was the name of one of the five divisions of the Shawnee, a Native American people, during the 18th century. It was also the name of the principal village of the division. The other four divisions were the Mekoche, Kispoko, Pekowi, and Hathawekela. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe.
Kittanning was an 18th-century Native American village in the Ohio Country, located on the Allegheny River at present-day Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The village was at the western terminus of the Kittanning Path, an Indian trail that provided a route across the Alleghenies between the Ohio and Susquehanna river basins.
Pickaway Plains is a wide area of rolling hills beginning about 3 miles south of Circleville, Ohio, and extending several miles to the north and south. This geological area was formed by sand and gravel deposited by melting water from the last glacier to retreat from the region during the Ice Age. During the time of inhabitation by the Shawnee, the Pickaway Plains were covered by prairie vegetation, mainly grasses.
Chartiers is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's West End. It has a zip code of 15204, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 2. The neighborhood was named after Peter Chartier, a trapper of French and Native American parentage who established a trading post at the mouth of Chartiers Creek in 1743.
Kispoko is the name of one of the five divisions of the Shawnee, a Native American people. The Kispoko were the smallest of the five septs or divisions during the 18th century. They lived among the Creek in the Upper South and Southeast as early as 1650, having been driven from their Ohio country homeland by the Iroquois Confederacy during the Beaver Wars. They returned to Ohio about 1759. The other four divisions were the Chalahgawtha, Mekoche, Pekowi, and Hathawekela. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe. The septs tended to serve different functions for the overall confederacy.
Hathawekela was one of the five divisions of the Shawnee, a Native American people during the 18th century. The other four divisions were the Chalahgawtha, Mekoche, Kispoko, and Pekowi. Together these divisions formed the loose confederacy that was the Shawnee tribe.
Chartiers Run is a tributary of the Allegheny River located in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was named after Peter Chartier, a trapper of French and Native American parentage who established a trading post at the mouth of Chartiers Creek in 1743.
Chartiers Run is a tributary of Chartiers Creek in Washington County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It was named after Peter Chartier, a trapper of French and Native American parentage who established a trading post at the mouth of Chartiers Creek in 1743.
Lenape settlements are villages and other sites founded by Lenape people, a Native American tribe from the Northeastern Woodlands. Many of these sites are located in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Indian Old Fields was an unincorporated community located in Clark County, Kentucky, United States.
Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa, often referred to as Meaurroway, was Chief of the Pekowi, a subdivision of the Shawnee Native American tribe. He was also the Chief of the Turtle Clan, one of the most religious orders of the tribe.
Peter Chartier was a fur trader of mixed Shawnee and French parentage. Multilingual, he later became a leader and a band chief among the Pekowi Shawnee. As an early advocate for Native American civil rights, he joined other chiefs in opposing the sale and trade of alcohol in indigenous communities in the Province of Pennsylvania. He first tried to limit the sale of rum in Shawnee communities but expanded that effort to other indigenous peoples.
Nemacolin was a hereditary chief of the Delaware Nation who helped Thomas Cresap widen a Native American path across the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River Valley.
Martin Chartier was a French-Canadian explorer and trader, carpenter and glove maker. He lived much of his life amongst the Shawnee Native Americans in what is now the United States.
Meshemethequater also known as Big Hominy, Great Huminy, Misemeathaquatha, Missemediqueety, or Big Hannoana was a Pekowi Shawnee chief from western Pennsylvania. Although he was a respected warrior, he is best known for participating in peace conferences that prevented war between English settlers and the Shawnees. In 1745 he joined Peter Chartier and other Shawnees who chose loyalty to New France, but after three years he returned to Pennsylvania and apologized. His date and place of death are unknown.
Opessa Straight Tail, also known as Wopatha or Wapatha, was a Pekowi Shawnee Chief. He was the son of Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa. He is best known for signing, on 23 April 1701, the "Articles of friendship and agreement between William Penn and the Susquehannah, Shawonah, and North Patomack Indians," that designated lands and conditions of coexistence between those tribes and the English settlers.
Kakowatcheky, also known as Kakowatchiky, Cachawatsiky, Kakowatchy, or Kakowatchey, was a Pekowi Shawnee chief believed to be among the first to bring Shawnee people into Pennsylvania. For about fifty years he and the Shawnees lived together with European colonists in Pennsylvania until the mid-1740s when many Shawnees and other Native Americans migrated to the Ohio River Valley.
Neucheconeh was a Pekowi Shawnee chief from western Pennsylvania. From 1732 to 1745, Neucheconeh shared leadership of the Shawnee of western Pennsylvania with Kakowatcheky. During that time, he petitioned the Pennsylvania Provincial Government to regulate the sale of alcohol in Shawnee communities and was involved in the migration of many Shawnees into the Ohio River Valley, away from the influence of European settlers and into a region where game was more plentiful. In 1745 he joined Peter Chartier and other Shawnees who chose loyalty to New France, but after three years he returned to Pennsylvania and apologized. His date and place of death are unknown.
Shannopin's Town, or Shannopintown, was an 18th-century Lenape (Delaware) town located within the site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along the Allegheny River, approximately two miles east from its junction with the Monongahela River. In the early 1700s, British colonial settlers began spreading into western Pennsylvania, forcing Lenape and other American Indian tribes to move further west, settling in the Ohio Country. Shannopin's Town was one of several communities established in western Pennsylvania in the 1720s. The town was largely abandoned during the construction of Fort Duquesne in 1754, although a small community still existed when General John Forbes' troops arrived in September 1758. The community was gone by the time construction on Fort Pitt was started in 1759.