The Delaware Indians in Kansas
Because of United States Government policies, the Delaware, Shawnee, and Wyandot Indians lived near each other in the eastern U.S. and then in eastern Kansas. The Delaware, also known as the Lenape, resided in Kansas from 1830 to 1868.
The Lenape once lived in the present states of New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York. Scholars estimate there may have been close to 10,000 Lenape and that they subsisted by fishing, hunting, and farming. They built bark houses called wigwams and practiced ancient spiritual rituals. The nation organized itself into clans called the Wolf, Turkey, and Turtle and children remained members of their mother’s clan. The clans spoke a number of dialects within the Algonquian language group.
As with all Native American tribes, interaction with Europeans dramatically changed Lenape life. In the 1600s, European explorers claimed the Lenape homeland as their own. England appointed Sir Thomas West, the third Lord de la Warr, as governor of the area and the Lenape became known as the Delaware people. Land sales, war, disease and cultural challenges necessitated removal from eastern lands. The Delaware separated into smaller groups. While some fled to north, the main body moved west.
In the 1820s, government officials ordered the removal of American Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River. The Delaware selected a reservation of 2,808,000 acres in present day Kansas, known then as “Indian Territory”. The group of about 1,000 people increased their reliance on farming and skilled trades, while still hunting and fishing. The Delaware built log and frame houses. Government agents, translators, traders and craftsmen worked with the tribe. Missionaries organized churches and educated Delaware children at the Baptist Mission School and the Shawnee Methodist Mission. Some Delaware maintained practiced ancient spiritual rituals.
As pressure from railroad companies, land speculator and settlers mounted, the Delaware were again removed from their lands. More than 900 Delaware moved to Oklahoma in 1866 and became members of the Cherokee tribe. Sixty-nine individuals chose to relinquish their tribal status and stayed in Kansas as U.S. citizens.
Despite land sales, war, disease and challenges to their status, the Delaware continue to celebrate their culture, while living within American society. Several groups claim Delaware ancestry. The largest is the Delaware Tribe of Indians headquartered near Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The Kansas Delaware Tribe of Indians, descendents of those who chose citizenship in 1866, holds their annual meeting in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Related groups live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, western Oklahoma and Ontario, Canada.
--ALBUM vol.15, no. 4 (fall 2001)