Shawnee

Shawnee history connected to Cridersville Auglaize County Ohio Indigenous people Native American history settlements Auglaize River Northwest Ohio local history Cridersville Historical Society. The Shawnee tribes are thought to have established a settlement along the banks of the Auglaize River in the 1780s. They built their village not far from the river, named by French explorers for its clay-filled waters. The Shawnee named their new village Waughpaughkonnetta. The Shawnee came to what would become Auglaize County because the forests were filled with deer, beaver, fox, wolf, black bear and many other kinds of wildlife to feed their families. The region became their hunting grounds. Waughpaughkonnetta was a good location at which to portage canoes. It was possible to canoe up the Auglaize River from Lake Erie and carry a canoe less than 15 miles to the head waters of the Great Miami River and on to the Ohio River, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. It was possible to travel nearly a thousand miles with only walking less than 15 miles. The foods of the Shawnee people were the plentiful wild game including squirrel, raccoon, beaver, deer and bear. The men were the hunters. They also raised maize (corn), pumpkins, squash and beans. They were very fond of maple syrup from the plentiful maple trees in the forests. The women were the farmers. The Shawnee families would have originally lived in wigwams made of tree branches tied together and covered with tree bark or woven grasses or branches. A fire pit was located in the center for cooking and to provide heat in the winter. The families slept on the ground with blankets of fur. Wigwams were clustered close together in the village. Later, the Shawnee began to build more permanent houses made of logs. They also planted large fields of corn and began to raise livestock. The treaty established three Shawnee reservations—Waughpaughkonnetta (120 square miles), Hog Creek (25 square miles), and Lewistown (63 square miles). The Lewiston Reservation was located in Logan County. A trail developed through the forest along the dividing line between the Waugh- paughkonnetta and Hog Creek Shawnee reservations. This trail would become the...