MAY 2, 1814

200 years ago, some of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware Indians) who had lived in that part of the Indiana Territory that became Washington County were adjusting to life in the Missouri Territory near Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River. Local settlers such as Frederick Royse and Jesse Spurgeon often wondered where Old Ox and his band of Delawares had gone after they were encouraged to leave the area after the Pigeon Roost Massacre of September 1812. Some wondered what the native name of Old Ox was. It was believed he may have been the Delaware chief called The Beaver who had signed the Treaty of Grouseland on August 21, 1805 along with three other Delaware chiefs named Hockingpomska, Kecklawhenund, and Allime. Amo’chk was the Lenni Lenape word for beaver and it was pronounced to sound like “ah mox”. In the Treaty of Grouseland, Governor William Henry Harrison had purchased the rights to settle what became Washington County, Indiana. After its survey was completed, the area was open for official settlement in 1807.