Connoquenessing?

Richard Hollerman

I have often wondered about the meaning of the term Connoquenessing. Since that time in my early childhood, I have searched online and have not been able to find much, but this is what I have found.

Apparently the term goes back only until the early 1800s. There is one reference to the fact that George Washington (our first president) was involved in the French and Indian war against the English. Thus in the middle 1700s, the term was used by these nations. The term itself was from the Indians (as you might suspect) and means “A Long Way Strait” and it was used by the Indians to mean this.

When I grew up, in a little community in Western Pa, we were virtually surrounded by two streams. The one was called Slippery Rock, and I suppose it was because of the slippery rocks along the banks. Then there was the Connoquenessing Creek. I had often thought that this was an Indian term but was not aware of its meaning. As a youngster, I had often looked for any signs of Indian life but found none. The closest thing was an Indian arrow head that I came across when I was a younger but I didn’t know whether this might have been related to anyone in the area. For a while, I collected Indian arrow heads and tomahawks, but really didn’t know about the origin of these.

Thus, besides this being an Indian term, I knew very little more. I suppose that this area had no background among the Indians. At the present time, I don’t even know the meaning of the Indian Tribe involved. Yet I continued to read and search and still can’t find further details. We know that there were hundreds of tribes in the New World and this involved millions of Indians over the years. If Adam can be traced to the era before Jesus, and if these people came at that time, what do we know about them?

Besides well-known tribes from Central and South America (such as the Incas, the Mayans, and the Aztecs) and the tribes in North America (such as the Cheyanne, the Sioux, the Arapaho, and the Navajo. There were also Apache, the Pueblo, the Iroquois, the Huron, the Mohican, the Mohegan, the Ojibwa, the Winnebago, the Sauk, the Fox, as well as the Illinois. and others. While I know very little about these people, what I do know is that they were in America at one time.  Whether any of them populated the area that I came from in Pennsylvania, I don’t know. Of course, we know that they were lost and had no knowledge of God and His Son, Jesus.

Many parts of the Hemispheres would have been here at that time.  We refer especially to such places as Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Equator, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and especially the United States. According to what I have read, a thousand different indigenous languages were spoken in the New World. Large mammals also roamed the woodlands and hillsides, including camels, horses, tigers, mammoths, mastodons, and others. So we must say that America and the whole of the Americas must have been far different from what we find today. I wonder what the little area where I grew up was like in those times.

Whatever the tribe or tribes may have been around the community of my upbringing, what else? In the North-Eastern part of North America, we have the “Five Tribes” but this doesn’t tell us much. This would especially be true of the period after Noah and after these tribes made it to America. As I said, I don’t even know the name of the tribe around where I grew up. From what I know, whatever this Indian Tribe was, the meaning of this stream was “A Long Way Strait.” It is no wonder that the arrow heads, tomahawks, and such items were so few and far between.

I suppose that the streams around the area might have had a background that I know nothing about. They surely would know that the rocks around the area were “Slippery Rocks” and that the stream was “a Long Way Strait” but I knew very little more. Where did they come from? How many were there? Why did they choose this area?  How many animals were in this area and what were they like? There are just so many questions about the Indians and so forth in this area.

When I was younger, I did some exploring and one day I sat on a tree stump. All at once I heard footsteps and remained motionless. In time a deer arrived and eventually went to the other side of the stream. I had a dog at this time (a German Shepherd) and I don’t know what kept this canine from chasing this animal. At this point, I wonder what it might have been like 200 or 300 years ago. Did they see what I saw and hear what I heard?

In fact, I wonder what it might have been like 1,000 or 2,000 years ago, and did they see what I saw and do what I did? These are thoughts that go through my mind. What do you think?