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THE STORY
By
With photographs by
and drawings by
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Philadelphia
Copyright 1943
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Manufactured in the United States of America
London
Humphrey Milford
Oxford University Press
No story about Eastern Indian life could be written without
indebtedness to the scholarship of one whose life has been devoted
to the subject. It is my
fortune to have had his advice and criticism. I respectfully dedicate
this book to hint, my teacher,
FRANK G. SPECK
vii
Preface
WHEN I made Delaware my home several years ago, it was solely
because new business opportunities had presented themselves through
an intermediary of a large corporation by which I was destined to
be employed. The subsequent decision to move family and household
effects to Wilmington opened up a new phase of existence that was
to bring gratification I had not known before.
The new business connection was, and continues to be, a source
of pride and satisfaction, at the same time providing adequate means
for sustenance in return for my
humble services. Quite apart from this necessary but not unpleasant
quest for a living, I found in Delaware many things equally enjoyable
to occupy the hours between the close of one work week and the opening
of the next. What this little
state I now call home lacks in size finds compensation in its traditions,
people, and the fund of material for those curious about the life
of centuries past. The fields
along the Brandywine, which once ran red with patriots' blood, the
old covered bridges, the colonial architecture of New Castle, the
Cape Henlopen sand dunes with their buried pirates' gold, the Christina
River valley and its farms, historic sites, and memories of Peter
Minuit, Johan Papegoja, Jean Paul Jacquet, Peter Alrichs, and pot-bellied
Johan Printz--all are worthy of more attention than has yet been
given them in American Literature.
I lived in Delaware only a short time when I was told of
the existence in the southern part of the state of a strange breed
of people called Moors and Nanticokes.
My interest whetted, I asked the usual questions that come
to one's lips when he learns for the first time of a people shrouded
in mystery. Who were they?
Where did they originate?
I was told many fantastic
stories. They were
allegedly descendants of a red-haired Irish beauty who married an
enslaved Moorish prince; their forebears were eighteenth-century
Spanish pirates marooned on the bay shore and rescued by Indian
women; they were all that remained of an unrecorded Moorish colony
established centuries ago in the lower Delaware Valley.
These conflicting legends intensified rather than relieved
my curiosity. Purely for personal satisfaction and as a hobby
to occupy leisure hours, I set out to seek an authentic account
of these folk in old newspapers and books.
The paucity of information in these sources left my curiosity
unsated, and I took other avenues.
Inquiries brought me closer to the obscure corners of the
state where the Moors and Nanticokes live and where anecdotes of
specific individuals and events met my questions.
Tales were told of a woman among the "Nanticokes"
who never owned a stove but cooked over an open fireplace in her
cabin in the pinewoods for more than seventy-five years; of a man
with long hair and features like an Indian who walked sixteen times
from Millsboro to Philadelphia, a round-trip distance of more than
two hundred miles, sleeping en route in graveyards; of a school
system where whites, Negroes, Moors, and Nanticokes each demand
separate accommodations; of a court case where an Indian was proved
a Negro by spiteful neighbors; of herb doctors and magic cures;
of Moors who have Negro cousins in one city and white cousins in
another. These tales carried
my interest to new heights.
One day it fell my good fortune to meet some of the people
called Moors--then later I met some of the Nanticokes. I visited with them in their fields and in their
schools and churches. I made
friends with many of them and learned to call them by name. Asked to come into their homes, first to chat,
then to eat, I finally after several months achieved the rare honor
of sharing their hospitality as an overnight guest. Over a period Of years, impressions began to
gather in my mind. The people
stood forth in their true light, and through them I found the answers
to the questions that puzzled me.
Inasmuch as the information I had gleaned from pursuing my
hobby is, for the most part, not readily
available, it seemed to me that it should be accessible to
others. Undoubtedly others
as curious as myself would like to have their questions answered,
while those who have never heard of the Moors or Nanticokes of Delaware
might be interested in knowing of them.
That is the reason I wrote Delaware's Forgotten Folk.
It is offered not as a textbook nor as a scientific discussion,
but merely as reading entertainment founded on the life history,
social struggle, and customs of a little-known people.
I want to acknowledge the assistance of a number of persons
who helped to make this story possible.
My good friend L. T. Alexander, a camera hobbyist, devoted
many hours to the excellent photographs which are seen in the book. John Swientochowski, who made the ink drawings,
is also a capable and painstaking brother hobbyist, and I am indebted
for his assistance. Leon
de Valinger, Jr., Archibald Crozier, H. Geiger Omwake, Dr. H. V.
Holloway, Robert Tatnall, Seal Brooks, and William B. Marye were
also most helpful in supplying data or reference material otherwise
not available.
The manuscript was previewed entirely, or in part, by Jeanette
Eckman, Anthony Higgins, William P. Frank, John P. St. Vincent,
Dorotha Redman Hurst, Walter Hurst, and my indulgent wife, Ruth
Weslager. Their combined assistance and constructive criticisms
are deeply appreciated. Above
all, I am greatly indebted to Dr. Frank G. Speck, who read and criticized
each chapter as it was written, and to many Moor and Nanticoke friends
who never objected while their histories and personal affairs were
being probed.
C. A. W.
July 1, 1943
Wilmington, Delaware
Contents
Illustrations
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"The
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