Lenape group visits Chief Netawatwees sculpture

NEWCOMERSTOWN − Chief Netawatwees may have died in 1776, but he continues to attract visitors to the village.

Lenape tribe members from Oklahoma and Canada recently visited the Lenape Diaspora Memorial being constructed outside the Temperance Tavern Museum on Canal Street. Chief Netawatwees, who was the head of the Lenape in the region, is the first of six sculptures to be built by renowned sculptor Alan Cottrill at the site.

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Theresa Johnson vowed to come back to pay homage to her Lenape heritage.

“I am from Eelunaapeewii Lahkaawiit, which was or is still called Moraviantown in Ontario, Canada,” she said. “I worked on my family tree for many years and in 2016 we started on a road trip to visit the places where my ancestors lived.

“In 2016, I came to Gnadenhutten, Ohio, and met John Heil of Gnadenhutten, who encouraged me to find out more and keep coming. It was after that I found out we had so many ancestors who lived in this area. I haven’t spent more than a day or two at at a time here in the area, but there is so much to see.”

Harley Dakin of the Newcomerstown Historical Society, which is leading the project, said, “It was a pleasure to meet so many leaders of the Lenape and to have them visit our museum. We are proud of our connection to the Lenape through our founding father, Netawatwees. We appreciate the visit and the opportunity to showcase a portion of the long term project to create a memorial to the Delaware Indians as a whole.”

Johnson said her heritage is from the Lenape/Mohican/Oneida.

“We do have people who have visited the area that descend from Netawatwees, Captain Pipe, and many others, although I am not one of them," she said. "My ancestors include Chief Newalike, Captain Johnny and others who traveled with David Zeisberger and the missionaries. I am slowly meeting more contacts and historians. We came out to Newcomerstown a number of times but didn’t have the contacts to talk about more history and could never catch the museum open.”

Those trips have always included stops to the old cemeteries at Newcomerstown, Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten and Goshen.

“There is so much history and so much to see,” Johnson said. “I need to come here for at least a week to see everything. The re-enactments in the area have also taught me lots of things. Over the years people have come from Moraviantown and visited the area.

"I am doing what I can to encourage others to come and learn about our history. ... While it was the first time visiting the area for some, they did express an interest in coming back. ... We liked learning about the statue and were very happy to see it as a group. Now that we know more statues will be made and added to this display, I know some would be very interested in attending.”

Chief Netawatwees signed many treaties and moved his tribe to Gekelmukpechunk, which was later named Newcomerstown in his honor in 1759. He is the chief who invited the Moravian missionary Zeisberger to establish the Moravian missions near his village. The elderly chief died at Fort Pitt during the Revolutionary War while trying to facilitate peace between the Lenape and the Americans.

In the sculpture, Chief Netawatwees is in a pose representative of his “wise counselor” moniker.

A total of six sculptures by Alan Cottrill of Zanesville are planned, depicting the history of the Lenape in the Newcomerstown area.

To donate to the project, send a check to the Newcomerstown Historical Society, P.O. Box 443, Newcomerstown, Ohio 43832, noting the donation is for the Lenape Diaspora Memorial Project; or mail to Park National Bank, 220 E. State St., Newcomerstown, Ohio 43832 and make check payable to Newcomerstown Historical Society.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Lenape group visits Chief Netawatwees sculpture in Newcomerstown