Lenni Lenape were forced from Pennsylvania. Their ancestral remains now will rest in Falls

What impressed me on arrival from Florida in the 1970s was discovering William Penn once lived in Falls Township. In boyhood, I only knew Willie as the guy on the Quaker Oats container in Mom’s kitchen. But here I was suddenly covering Falls for the Bucks County Courier Times newspaper as a rookie news reporter.

My beat included Pennsbury Manor, the reconstructed estate of William who happened to found Pennsylvania in 1682. What was curious to me was his unusual bond with the Lenni Lenape Native American tribe. It governed the Delaware River estuary for a millennia, maybe as far back as when mastodons walked the earth.

Though English King Charlie II deeded Pennsylvania to William, he decided to negotiate with the Indians for a fair purchase. The natives respected Penn and were frequently feted at his Manor. However, the Lenape were not treated fairly by Penn’s sons after his death. They divested the Lenape of their lands all along the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware as far north as Port Jervis, New York. Inevitably, the Indians were evicted and pushed west to Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Canada today.

So total was the purge that when burial grounds were dug up years later, bodies and funereal artifacts were sold or given to various museums and private individuals all over the country. Adding to that sad story is Pennsylvania as a state refusing to recognize the Lenape or any other tribe. This is odd to me; in my native California, 109 tribes and counting are recognized. Florida recognizes the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. Here? None.

Lenape continue to seek recognition in their native state. In the meantime, last month they repatriated to Pennsbury Manor the bodies of 180 ancestors and nearly 10,000 funereal artifacts removed years ago from archeological digs in West New Jersey over the past two centuries.

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In 2004, Lenape leaders were visiting the State Museum of New Jersey in Trenton to take custody of ancestral remains with intention to bury them back on original Lenape territory. But where? They turned to Douglas Miller, director of education at Pennsbury Manor. “They came to me with this idea of creating an ancestral cemetery at the Manor,” Doug told me. “Pennsbury was honored to have the Delaware come home and entrust us to help their ancestors find peace.”

In Delaware Native American tradition, tribal members must be laid to rest near where they once lived so they can find their way in the spirit world. When disrupted, so is the spirit. Tribes throughout the United States are engaged in finding disinterred bodies to return them to as close as they can to where they once lived.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act passed by Congress in 1990 gave impetus to hundreds of tribes throughout the U.S. Think of it this way, according to Brad KillsCrow, chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians: “How would white America like it if I led an all-Indian archaeological team into Arlington National Cemetery because I wanted to study some great Revolutionary War hero’s life?”

In 2012, Doug and former Manor educator Mary Ellyn Kunz traveled to Oklahoma to meet with the Delawares in Bartlesville and Anadarko. By that time the search for bodies was well underway. Archeological records from 19th and 20th century digs in western New Jersey led tribal members to where the bodies and other artifacts ended up — state museums of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at Berkeley and many other institutions. All cooperated for the re-interment in April in the new cemetery denoted by Lenape flags fluttering over it.

Approximately 80 Delaware and 50 invited guests attended the five-day reburial. They included the five chiefs of the Delaware nations. They requested no media coverage for what they viewed as a private, family funeral.

“As we watched the placement of the ancestors from a distance, we could smell the cedar from a smudge pot and hear the songs in their native tongue,” recalled Doug. “Mary Ellyn looked to me with tears in her eyes to point out the songs had not been heard here since the 18th century.” It was the first gathering of the Lenape tribe at Penn’s manor in more than 250 years.

Following the burials, Pennsbury Manor hosted a ceremonial feast. On display was the indenture signed by Lenape Chief Tamanend at Gray Rock in Morrisville that conveyed all of Lower Bucks to William Penn in exchange for various items deemed valuable to the Indians. Also drawing interest was the Lenape wampum belt of friendship given to Penn to cement close ties. The Penn family in England donated it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art which loaned it to the Manor for the repatriation gathering. One Lenape descendent wept at the sight of it.

Said Doug of the tribe, “Their sense of community, respect of ther elders, their ancestors and traditions are truly remarkable.”

Sources include “Native Americans press for the reburial of ancestors and return of cultural items” by Celina Tebor published July 31, 2021 in the Los Angeles Times; “Lenape ancestors and ceremonial objects finally returned” by Jenna Kunze published April 21 in Native News Online.

Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Pennsbury Manor creates ancestral burial ground for Delaware tribes