Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa

Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa (1630–1709), often referred to as Meaurroway, was Chief of the Pekowi, a subdivision of the Shawnee Native American tribe. He was also the Chief of the Turtle Clan, one of the most religious orders of the tribe.

Biography

Straight Tail was born in 1630 in present-day Ohio, to the Chief of the Pekowi and an unnamed Pekowi Woman (possibly Nimeeth Pekowi). Nothing is yet known of his childhood or teenage years, but he succeeded his father at the age of 40 in 1670, as both Pekowi Chief and Chief of the Turtle Clan. Each division of the Shawnee had control over different aspects of the whole tribe's lifestyle, and the Pekowi managed the Shawnee's state of order, duty and celebration of religion.[1] As chief, Straight Tail was in charge of these important aspects of tribal life.

Encounter with Martin Chartier

In 1674 Straight Tail's band was living in a village on the Wabash River in what is now southern Illinois, where they were visited by French explorer Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette and five other men, on their way down the Mississippi. One of Jolliet's men was Martin Chartier (1655-1718) who returned to the Illinois Territory after Jolliet's expedition ended. In 1675 Martin Chartier married Straight Tail's daughter, Sewatha Straight Tail. Their first child, a daughter, was born in 1676, according to a statement Chartier made during a courtroom deposition in 1692.[2] Chartier then returned to Quebec and joined René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle on his 1679-1680 journey to the Great Lakes region. In January 1680, he was with La Salle's men building Fort Crèvecoeur when they decided to mutiny. Chartier and his comrades fled, and Chartier returned to Montreal as an outlaw, living there in secret for several years.[3]

Migrations, 1677-1694

The Shawnee were a migratory people and traveled extensively across eastern North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.[4] In 1677 Straight Tail led his people to present-day Illinois and Ohio to join up with other bands of Shawnee and with other tribes. Between 1680 and 1685 Straight Tail led his band into Tennessee, where Martin Chartier rejoined them on the Cumberland River, near the present-day site of Nashville, Tennessee.[3][5][6]

During the next seven years Straight Tail led his people through present-day Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. They migrated north to Cecil County, Maryland in 1692, and in 1694 settled finally in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[2]:136

Later life and death

Straight Tail eventually gave up his rank of Chief of the Pekowi and the Turtle Clan to his son, Opessa, in 1697. He continued to represent the Shawnees for several years afterwards, however. When in 1698 tensions arose over land rights in Lancaster, Straight Tail attended a conference on 26 May, with his son-in-law Martin and three commissioners sent by Nathaniel Blakiston, the Governor of Maryland, and the chiefs of the Susquehannocks and the Delawares.[7] One eyewitness wrote, "In the evening came Meaurroway, king of the Shawaneles, brought on horseback, by reason of his great age, together with one of his great men, and one Martin Shartee [Chartier], a Frenchman, resident and married among them."[8][9]

His son Opessa would later sign a peace treaty with William Penn in 1701, and have good relations with Pennsylvania governor John Evans. Straight Tail's grandson Peter Chartier became chief of the Pekowi in 1737.[2]

Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa died in Pennsylvania in 1709.

Children

Straight Tail married a Pekowi woman in 1650, having the following children:

  • Wolf Straight Tail: born about 1654.
  • Sewatha Straight Tail: born about 1660 in Ohio, USA. Married to Martin Chartier about 1675. Mother of Peter Chartier. Died in 1759 in Illinois with her son, during a smallpox epidemic.
  • Cakundawanna Straight Tail: born about 1662.
  • Opessa Straight Tail: born about 1664. Great-grandfather of Tecumseh, famed Shawnee leader during the War of 1812.[4]
  • Snow White Straight Tail: born about 1666 in Ohio, USA.
  • Minitha Straight Tail: born about 1668 in Ohio, USA
  • John White Straight Tail: born about 1670 in Ohio, USA.
  • Daughter Straight Tail: born about 1680 in Illinois, USA.

Legacy and intermarriages

Unlike other Native American Chiefs before him, Straight Tail did not discourage interracial marriage. He encouraged a good relationship with the Europeans. His daughter, Sewatha, married French-Canadian trader and explorer, Martin Chartier. Other children and their descendants also married whites. One grandson was Peter Chartier, who was active in opposition to the British in the French and Indian War.

Because of these marriages, many of his modern-day descendants include people that have Caucasian features.

Two of Straight Tail's grandchildren, Loyparcowah and Meshemethequater, were also Shawnee leaders at Lower Shawneetown.[2] One of his granddaughters, Margaret Tecumsapah Opessa, was stepmother to Colonel Alexander McKee (1735-1799).[10]:21

See also

References
  1. C. F. Voegelin, E. W. Voegelin. "Shawnee Name Groups," American Anthropologist, Volume 37, Issue 4, October‐December 1935, pp 617-635
  2. Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 1, Putnam's sons, 1911
  3. Harriette Simpson Arnow, Seedtime on the Cumberland, Michigan State University Press. (2013)
  4. Stephen Warren, Worlds the Shawnees Made: Migration and Violence in Early America, UNC Press Books, 2014 ISBN 1469611732
  5. Martin Chartier, Nashville's First White Person
  6. Robert Trail, "Livingston County, Kentucky: Stepping Stone to Illinois," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 69, No. 3 (July, 1971), pp. 239-272.
  7. Historical Papers and Addresses of the Lancaster County Historical Society Volumes 42-43; Lancaster County Historical Society, 1938.
  8. Corinne Hanna, "Early Traders on the Upper Potomac," November 2019
  9. Archives of Maryland, vol. 23: 426-431. Maryland Historical Society, 1903.
  10. Watters, Dr. Cora Tula. Major Uriah Barber: Pioneer, Settler, Politician (1761 - 1846). AuthorHouse, 2011.
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