The Delaware or Lenape Tribe
The Delaware, or Lenape, an Algonquin-speaking people, found themselves endlessly relocating and in continuous conflict between Europeans and other American Indian tribes throughout the United State’s formative years. Originally settled along the Susquehanna River, due to Iroquoian insults, disease, and incessant conflicts with the French, British, and Americans, after 1740, the Delaware joined the Shawnee and occupied portions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
By the 1820s, and after several “minor” relocations, many of the Delaware moved to Missouri. Unfortunately, the Osage who were already living in the area, viewed the Delaware as intruders attempting to steal their already scarce food supply. War broke out between the two, ultimately ending in governmental intervention. This group of Delaware and the remaining Ohio Delaware then moved across the Missouri River and into Kansas between 1829 and 1832.
Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. September 2006