Hidden History: Chief Shikellamy's beads and medal leave storage and back on display

Jul. 22—{em}Know of any hidden history in the Valley? Email Editor Bill Bowman at bbowman@dailyitem.com or reporter Justin Strawser at jstrawser@dailyitem.com.SUNBURY — The Northumberland County Historical Society is displaying the beads and medal of Chief Shikellamy after 20 years in storage.

The artifacts, believed to have belonged to the peacekeeping chief during the mid-1700s, have been hidden away in the society's storage since the early 2000s. The society's board of directors recently sought legal advice and decided to display the items again at the organization's headquarters at 1150 N. Front St., Sunbury.

"They are important," said past society President Cindy Inkrote. "We're fairly certain they're the ones that Shikellamy wore. Anytime anything like this is recovered is exciting. The fact that the beads are intact and their condition adds to their importance."

The 118 opalescent glass beads — one string of 69 and another of 49 — and medal are on display behind a glass case with other trade items. While Inkrote said they are nearly certain the relics belonged to Chief Shikellamy, the placard makes no reference to him, only reading: "European trade beads opalescent glass, ca. 1745. Excavated in the vicinity of Fort Augusta."

"It's the right thing for the museum to do," said Inkrote. "If you don't have total absolute proof, you don't say it."

Grave unearthed

The story of how the beads and medallion came to the historical society requires a look at history starting nearly three centuries ago.

Shikellamy, who was essential to keeping the peace between the local tribes and the settlers in the region during the mid-1700s, died on Dec. 17, 1748. Having been baptized into the Christian faith by the Moravian missionaries, Shikellamy was buried in a wooden coffin with the possessions he valued most highly during life and interred in a Native American burial ground along the Susquehanna River in the lot between Front Street Christian Assembly at 1188 N. Front St. and the railroad tracks, according to documents from the Northumberland County Historical Society.

In 1860, "the discovery of the Indian burial place was brought about by a flood," according to an article detailing the events in the Philadelphia Times published Oct. 24, 1897. "The city of Sunbury had grown up around the graveyard when the Susquehanna overflowed its banks. When the waters receded human skeletons were discovered falling out of the loosened earth and relic hunters began to dig up the remains."

One of those relic hunters was Sunbury resident Martin Luther Hendricks, "a collector of antiquities who owns one of the largest private collections in the state." He had purchased the former Hunter farm on the Fort Augusta site in 1858, according to newspaper records.

Hendricks "began to dig one morning at daylight at a point in the centre of the road that heads to the Northumberland bridge, about midway between the southern end of the bridge and the Hunter mansion. Immediately after his spade struck the earth he uncovered the grave of an Indian. He had hardly dug down ten inches until he came to the skeleton, which had rested undisturbed in the road for years," according to the newspaper records.

The skeleton was in a good state of preservation, according to the newspaper records.

"The grinning skull was still covered with a mass of long black hair. But when he raised the skull a little the hair fell off and crumbled to dust," according to newspaper records.

John H. Carter wrote in "Proceedings Vol. III," a publication of the Northumberland County Historical Society in 1931, that "the skeleton was interred with the head to the east and the feet to the west, and was evidently the remains of a person of distinction, judging from the method of burial and objects found in this grave," Carter wrote. "About 400 beads, glass, bone and amber, were found in this grave. Some are the shape and color of blackberries. The amber beads are as large as small hickory nuts."

Beads and a copper medal

The Philadelphia Times reported, "Lying on the chest of the Indian was a number of blue glass beads still in a semi-circle form."

The grave also additionally contained more than a dozen items, including a copper medal, called the George I Indian Peace Medal from 1714. The medallion had a "portrait on one side, and on the reverse, an Indian with bow and arrow, standing under a tree, in the act of shooting a deer, with the sun brightly shining on the scene," Carter wrote. "Both the Governor of New York and the Governor of Pennsylvania presented medals of this series to important Indian Chiefs of the Six Nations."

A few crumbling pieces of a wooden coffin, with corroded nails adhering to them, completed the find, Carter wrote.

There was no DNA or forensics in the 1800s, but no other native would have been buried in a wooden coffin or with the amount or type of items, said Inkrote.

The Philadelphia Times wrote, "Most convincing of all was the discovery of nails and hinges of a coffin, the only one ever discovered in an Indian burial ground, proving beyond reasonable doubt that it held the body of Chief Shikellamy, the only old warrior to receive a Christian burial."

Plus, according to the Philadelphia Times, Shikellamy had signed a treaty called the "Indian Deed," which released all claims to the Susquehanna lands for a small consideration of goods. All items mentioned in the deed except for those that would be destroyed by the ravages of time, were found in the grave of the chief when exhumed.

Items taken

Hendricks took the items. What he did with human remains is unknown. Documents from the historical society state he "presumably reinterred the skeleton," but The Philadelphia Times article left out any mention of this detail.

Shikellamy's exact burial site remains unknown to this day. It has been reported that Shikellamy's body is buried in an unmarked grave in the same area as it was originally found.

"It was never marked, there has never been anything definitive," said Inkrote.

Due to the high acidity of the local soil, it is likely that any bones that were buried would be dissolved by now, according to the historical society.

In 1900, construction of the Sunbury Converting Works began at the cemetery site and any traces of the burial grounds were wiped out, according to the historical society.

Items sold

After Hendricks's death in 1911, his widow sold off most of her husband's collection to a man from New York. The Rev. Ephraim McClay Gearhart, the minister of the former Trinity Lutheran Church on Susquehanna Avenue, in Sunbury, purchased two strings of glass beads and the peace medal, according to the historical society.

Gearhart sold those items to a Butler family in Milton prior to World War I. In the late 1970s, Helen Murray Butler, of Philadelphia, sent the beads to Nancy Roberts, a retired teacher living in Milton, who in 1989 turned over the beads to the historical society. The medal came later in 1992, according to the historical society.

The medal came to the historical society in three pieces. The medallion, the size of a silver dollar, appeared to have been damaged from cleaning over the years, according to the historical society.

The items were cleaned and preserved, the beads restrung with wire and cord, and then displayed for about 10 years, Inkrote said.

Legal matters

Questions eventually arose about the legality of displaying the relics. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 had gained momentum and the society quietly made the decision to remove the beads and the medal from display and place them in storage in the early 2000s.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, or NAGPRA, "provides a process for federal agencies and museums that receive federal funds to repatriate or transfer from their collections certain Native American cultural items — human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony — to lineal descendants, and to Indian tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations," according to the National Park Service.

NAGPRA provides for requests by lineal descendants, Native American tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. A lineal descendant is an individual tracing his or her ancestry directly and without interruption by means of the traditional kinship system of the appropriate Native American tribe or Native Hawaiian organization or by the common law system to a known Native American individual whose remains, funerary objects, or sacred objects are being requested. A Native American tribe is any tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Native Americans that is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Native Americans because of their status, according to the National Park Service.

The relics were stored in archival cartons and wrapped in acid-free archival tissue specifically designed for long-term storage. They would be taken out of storage occasionally to be cleaned, said Inkrote.

"They were lovingly cared for all those years," said Inkrote.

Legal advice sought

A few months ago, the conversations started on whether to display the items again. The society board — consisting of President David Ruths, Vice President Michael McWilliams, Treasurer Charlotte Rhinehart, Assistant Treasurer Louise Latsha, Secretary Jack Lindermuth and Directors Toni Rice, Ken Troutman, Sherry Engle, Ann Roll, Jenny Snyder, Hope Kopft and Inkrote — sought legal advice from attorney Joel Wiest, of Sunbury.

Wiest provided the letter he sent to the historical society that detailed his legal advice.

"First, the aforesaid Act only applies to institutions which receive federal funding, so if the Historical Society receives no federal funding it is not applicable, except if any such items were discovered or excavated on either Federal or Tribal lands (which were either designated as Federal or Tribal at the time of said discovery or excavation), so there would need to be proof of the item being taken from designated Federal or Tribal land before the law would apply," Wiest wrote.

He continued, "As it is my understanding that the Northumberland County Historical Society does not receive federal funding, and the item(s) were not removed from designated Federal or Tribal lands, the Historical Society does not have any obligation under the law, to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief."

Inkrote said the big question comes down to ownership.

"What do we really own?" said Inkrote. "They were here first. We're all here for a short time in the grand scheme of things."

Respect, she said, has to be considered.

"You don't want to step on any toes," she said. "There are things they truly have a right to."

If someone with a claim were to come to the historical society, they might be able to take ownership of the artifacts. They would need to provide proof of ancestry and cultural heritage, said Inkrote.

"Anyone who has any museum with Indian artifacts in their collections has to take a stance of respect for that culture," said Inkrote. "That's the lesson here. Respect and appreciation for a culture that did so much."

Shikellamy's legacy

While Chief Shikellamy's final resting place is not known, his spirit lives on. Shikellamy School District, Chief Shikellamy Elementary School and Shikellamy State Park are named in his honor.

A stone monument, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1915, and a historical market sit near the original burial site at the intersection of Front Street and Fort Augusta Avenue in Sunbury. Another stone monument, erected by Ada Swengel Miller in 1921, sits on the grounds of Central Oak Heights in West Milton.

A gazebo along Front Street was constructed in 1964 along the Sunbury flood wall because it is said that Chief Shikellamy's profile can be seen in the mountain range across the Susquehanna River.

Inkrote is looking forward to the public viewing the beads and medal again. They were on display for public viewing for the first time in 20 years during the society's annual History Day on Saturday.

"I'd like them always to be here," she said. "I think it has a story to tell. That's not going to happen in an archival carton."

The Northumberland County Historical Society Library and Museum are open 1 to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.