BULL. 30] 



CONONTOROY CONOY 



339 



Conontoroy. Given as one of the "out 

 towns" among the Cherokee in a docu- 

 ment of 1755 (Rovcein 5th Rep. B. A. E., 

 143, 1887). Not "identified. 



Conop. A former village, presumably 

 Costanoan, connected with Dolores mis- 

 sion, San Francisco, Cal. — Tavlor in Cal. 

 Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. 



Conoross (corruption of Kdwdn' -urd^ - 

 suiiyl, or Kdtvdn^-t.tyrd^-sunyl, 'where the 

 duck fell off'). The supposed name of 

 a Cherokee settlement on Conoross or., 

 which enters Keowee or Seneca r. from 

 the w., in Anderson co., S. C. — Moonev 

 in 19th Rep. B. A. E., 412, 1900. 

 Conneross. — Ibid. 



Conoy. An Algonquian tribe, related 

 to the Delawares, from whose ancestral 

 stem they apparently sprang, but their 

 closest relations were with the Nanticoke, 

 with whom it is probable they were in 

 late prehistoric times united, the two 

 forming a single tribe, while their lan- 

 guage is supposed to have been somewhat 

 closely allied to that spoken in Virginia 

 by the Powhatan. Heckewelder believed 

 them to be identical with the Kanawha, 

 who gave the name to the chief river of 

 West Virginia. Although Brinton calls 

 this "a loose guess," the names Conoy, 

 Ganawese, etc., seem to be forms of Kana- 

 wha. The application of the same name 

 to the Piscataway tribe of Maryland, and 

 to the river, is difficult to explain by 

 any other theory than that the former 

 once lived on the banks of the Kanawha. 

 In 1660 (Proc. Conn., 1686-67, Md. Ar- 

 chives, 403, 1885) the Piscataway applied 

 to the governor of the colony to confirm 

 their choice of an "emperor," and to his 

 inquiry in regard to their custom in this 

 respect, replied : * ' Long a goe there came a 

 King from the Easterne Shoare who Co- 

 manded over all the Jndians now inhab- 

 iting within the bounds of this Province 

 (nameing every towne severally) and 

 also over the Patowmecks and Sasque- 

 hannoughs, whome for that he Did as it 

 were imbrace and cover them all they 

 called Vttapoingassinem this man dye- 

 ing without issue made his brother Quo- 

 konassaum King after him, after whome 

 Succeeded his other brothers, after whose 

 death they tooke a Sister's Sonn, and soe 

 from Brother to Brother, and for want of 

 such to a Sisters Sonne, the Governm' 

 descended for thirteene Generacons with- 

 out Jnterrupcon vntill Kittamaquunds 

 tyme who dyed without brother or Sister 

 and apoynted his daughter to be Queene 

 but that the Jndians withstood itt as 

 being Contrary to their Custome, where- 

 vpon they chose Weghucasso for their 

 King who was descended from one of 

 Vttapoingassinem brothers ( But which 

 of them they knowe not) and Weghucasso 



at his death apoynted this other Vttapo- 

 ingassinem to be King being descended 

 from one of the first Kings this man they 

 sayd was Jan Jan Wizous which in their 

 language signifyes a true King. And 

 would not suffer vs to call him Tawzin 

 which is the Style they give to the sons 

 of their Kings, who by their Custome are 

 not to succeede in Rule, but his Broth- 

 ers, or the Sons of his Sisters." 



The order of descent in this extract 

 gives it an impress of truth. It indicates 

 close relation between the Nanticoke 

 and the Conoy, though the inclusion of 

 the Susquehanna (Conestoga) among the 

 emperor's subjects must he rejected. One 

 of the tribes of the e. shore from which 

 this chief could have come was the 

 Nanticoke. Thirteen generations would 

 carry back the date of this first enqieror 

 to the beginning of the 16th century. 

 Lord Baltimore's colonists in 1634 estab- 

 lished a mission amongst them, and 

 the "emperor" Chitomachen, otherwise 

 known as Tayac, said to be ruler over a 

 dominion extencling 130 m. e. and w., 

 was converted, with his family. They 

 were, however, so harassed liy the Cones- 

 toga that a few years later tliey aban- 

 doned their country and moved farther 

 up the Potomac. They, then rapidly 

 decreasing, were in 1673 assigned a tract 

 on that stream, which Streeter (Hist. 

 Mag., 1st s., I, 67, 1857) thinks may have 

 been near the site of Washington, D. C. 

 The Conestoga, when driven from their 

 own country by the Iroquois in 1675, 

 again invaded tlie territory of the Conoy 

 and forced that tribe to retire up the 

 Potomac and into Pennsylvania. This 

 was a gradual migration, unless it took 

 place at a much later period, for Bai'on 

 Graff enried, while searching for a re- 

 ported silver mine in 1711, found them 

 on the INIaryland side of the Potomac 

 about 50 m. above Washington, and made 

 a treaty of friendship with them. He 

 calls them Canawest. About this time 

 the Iroquois assigned them lands at Cone- 

 joholo on the Susquehanna, near the pres- 

 ent Bainbridge, Pa., in the vicinity of the 

 Nanticoke and Conestoga. Here they 

 first began to be known as Conoy. Some 

 of them were living with these tribes at 

 Conestoga in 1742. They gradually made 

 their way up the Susquehanna, stopping 

 at Harrisburg, Shamokin, Catawissa, and 

 Wyoming, and in 1765 were living in s. 

 New York, at Owego, Chugnut, and Che- 

 nango, on the E. branch of the Susque- 

 haima. At that time they numbered 

 only about 150, and, with their associates, 

 the Nanticoke and Mahican, were de- 

 pendent on the Iroquois. They moved 

 w. with the Mahican and Delawares, and 

 soon became known only as a part of 



