LENAPE WEST TO EAST

A STORY OF INDIAN MIGRATION

WEST TO EAST

900 A.D.

SCHARF

Ther was no written language, but the inhabitants of the continent had wisdom and used a

series of painted sticks, in various lenghts, each with inrtricate markings, known as Walum Olum, to tell their history.

One of these stick stories tells for the journey made by a nation of Indians, which became the Lenapes or Delaware Indians, from a land beyond the Mississipi, then known as the Father of Waters, left a place near the ' western sea' and made their way east. On the west shore of the Mississippi they met another Indian nation , probably the Iroquois, and the two banded together , more or less for safety and continued the journey eastward. East of a river in the area now Illinoirs, Indiana and Ohio, these tribes met with a much larger nation named Allegwi, superior in numbers and armaments , with fortified villages, and were more sophisticated, thought of being here since 900 A.D. At first the Allegwi allowed both the Lenape and Iroquois to enter their nation and when totally enveloped, made attacks which took great tolls on the travelers. However, the two tribes rallied and conquered

the Allgwi.

Continuing the journey, as the approached now Pennsylvania, the Lenape kept south while the

Irroquois went north. The Lenape, upon reaching “Lenape Wihittuck , the Delaware River, dispursed,

some moving into New york and New Jersey, and other moving into southeast Pennsylvania and the peninsula of Delmarvva.

Source: Dick Carters History of Sussex County, Delaware Coast Press, July 1976. Abstract Harrison H, September 10, 2017.