Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Bemino
Bemino (fl. 1710s–1780s, Delaware)—known as John Killbuck Sr. to white settlers, was a renowned medicine man, Chief, and war leader of Delaware (Lenape) and Shawnee warriors during the French and Indian War (1754–63). Killbuck, Ohio is named in his honor.
He was a son of Netawatwees, at one time principal chief of the Delaware (Lenape). Bemino lived with his people in what is now eastern Ohio. During the war he allied with the French against British settlers and engaged with his warrior bands in attacks mostly in the upper Potomac River watershed, in what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. His son Gelelemend (John Killbuck Jr.), was a Delaware chief during the American Revolutionary War.
Bemino was born into a Delaware, or Lenape (their autonym) family. This is an Algonquian language and the people historically occupied territory along the mid-Atlantic coast, from present-day Connecticut to New Jersey and Delaware, including Long Island in New York. They were gradually pushed out of this area by European colonists.
As the Delaware (Lenape) had a matrilineal kinship system, Bemino would have been considered born into his mother's family and clan, which would have determined his social status. Within the Delaware system, Bemino is believed to have belonged to either the Turtle or the Turkey clan. Phratries were the next level of kinship in tribes with an uneven number of clans. This division grouped certain clans together. Marriages had to be exogamous; that is, taking place with a member of a clan other than one's own.
He may have been born or raised in what is now eastern Ohio, where his father, Sachem (principal Chief) and Spiritual Leader Netawatwees, and family had migrated from the Delaware River Valley by pressure from European (white) colonists. Bemino became a medicine man.
By the 1740s and '50s, Bemino was well acquainted with white settler families in the valley of the South Branch Potomac River, in what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. This river and region were known at that time to Indians and whites alike as Wappocomo. This was likely a Lenape or Shawnee word related to the physical character or geography of the place; both tribes spoke Algonquian languages.
Bemino developed a good reputation with the new white settlers. Shortly before the outbreak of the French and Indian War (1754), colonist Peter Casey hired Bemino to retrieve a "runaway negro" (or, by another account, a runaway "Irish servant"). In trying to collect his payment, however, he quarreled with Casey, who knocked him to the ground with a cane. Bemino long held a grudge against the settler. Through the subsequent hostilities, he tried to find an opportunity to kill Casey but was not successful.
Bemino also lived for a time among white families further east in colonial Virginia, where he became familiar with their habits and resources. This information was invaluable when he allied himself with the French rather than the British during the war.
Hub AI
Bemino AI simulator
(@Bemino_simulator)
Bemino
Bemino (fl. 1710s–1780s, Delaware)—known as John Killbuck Sr. to white settlers, was a renowned medicine man, Chief, and war leader of Delaware (Lenape) and Shawnee warriors during the French and Indian War (1754–63). Killbuck, Ohio is named in his honor.
He was a son of Netawatwees, at one time principal chief of the Delaware (Lenape). Bemino lived with his people in what is now eastern Ohio. During the war he allied with the French against British settlers and engaged with his warrior bands in attacks mostly in the upper Potomac River watershed, in what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. His son Gelelemend (John Killbuck Jr.), was a Delaware chief during the American Revolutionary War.
Bemino was born into a Delaware, or Lenape (their autonym) family. This is an Algonquian language and the people historically occupied territory along the mid-Atlantic coast, from present-day Connecticut to New Jersey and Delaware, including Long Island in New York. They were gradually pushed out of this area by European colonists.
As the Delaware (Lenape) had a matrilineal kinship system, Bemino would have been considered born into his mother's family and clan, which would have determined his social status. Within the Delaware system, Bemino is believed to have belonged to either the Turtle or the Turkey clan. Phratries were the next level of kinship in tribes with an uneven number of clans. This division grouped certain clans together. Marriages had to be exogamous; that is, taking place with a member of a clan other than one's own.
He may have been born or raised in what is now eastern Ohio, where his father, Sachem (principal Chief) and Spiritual Leader Netawatwees, and family had migrated from the Delaware River Valley by pressure from European (white) colonists. Bemino became a medicine man.
By the 1740s and '50s, Bemino was well acquainted with white settler families in the valley of the South Branch Potomac River, in what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. This river and region were known at that time to Indians and whites alike as Wappocomo. This was likely a Lenape or Shawnee word related to the physical character or geography of the place; both tribes spoke Algonquian languages.
Bemino developed a good reputation with the new white settlers. Shortly before the outbreak of the French and Indian War (1754), colonist Peter Casey hired Bemino to retrieve a "runaway negro" (or, by another account, a runaway "Irish servant"). In trying to collect his payment, however, he quarreled with Casey, who knocked him to the ground with a cane. Bemino long held a grudge against the settler. Through the subsequent hostilities, he tried to find an opportunity to kill Casey but was not successful.
Bemino also lived for a time among white families further east in colonial Virginia, where he became familiar with their habits and resources. This information was invaluable when he allied himself with the French rather than the British during the war.