Chief Tamanend
c. 1625 - c. 1701
Chief Tamanend, also known as Tammany or Tamanen, was a revered leader of the Lenape (Delaware) people whose legacy became one of the most enduring symbols of peace, diplomacy, and moral leadership in early American history. Though many details of his life are shaped by oral tradition rather than written records, Tamanend is believed to have lived during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, primarily in the region that is now eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Tamanend was not known as a war chief, but rather as a sachem—a civil leader whose authority rested on wisdom, integrity, and consensus-building. He gained widespread respect for his commitment to peaceful coexistence, particularly during the early period of European settlement. Lenape tradition portrays him as a man deeply guided by principles of justice, hospitality, and respect for the natural world, values that shaped his leadership and earned him admiration well beyond his own people.
One of the most enduring aspects of Tamanend’s legacy is his association with William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania. According to longstanding tradition, Tamanend played a central role in welcoming Penn and negotiating a treaty of friendship between the Lenape and the English settlers around 1683. This agreement—often referred to as the Treaty of Shackamaxon—was notable for being formed without coercion, written contracts, or oaths, relying instead on mutual trust. While historians debate the exact details of the treaty, it became a powerful symbol of fair dealing between Native Americans and Europeans.
In the decades following his death, Tamanend’s reputation grew rather than faded. By the 18th century, he was celebrated by colonists as a model of virtuous leadership, often described as a “patron saint” of America before independence. His name was frequently invoked at patriotic gatherings, and Tammany Societies—fraternal and political organizations—were formed in his honor. These groups viewed Tamanend as an emblem of liberty, democracy, and resistance to tyranny, ideals they believed aligned with his leadership style.
Ironically, Tamanend’s name later became most widely known through Tammany Hall, the powerful New York City political organization. While Tammany Hall ultimately became synonymous with corruption and machine politics, this legacy stands in sharp contrast to the Lenape leader whose name it borrowed. The original Tamanend represented ethical leadership and communal responsibility—values far removed from the excesses of the political machine.
Today, Chief Tamanend is remembered as a symbol of peace and moral authority in early American history. His story reflects both the possibilities and the tragedies of early encounters between Native peoples and European settlers. While much of his life remains wrapped in legend, Tamanend’s enduring reputation speaks to the profound impact of leadership rooted in wisdom, fairness, and respect—principles that continue to resonate centuries later.
Black Beaver
1806 - May 8, 1880
Black Beaver, Se-ket-Tu-Ma-Quah, renowned Delaware Indian scout and guide of many U.S. government exploring expeditions throughout the Southwest, made seven treks over different routes to the Pacific Coast. He was a guide with a military escort under the command of Capt. R.B. Macy who accompanied the famous wagon train of gold seekers to the California gold fields in 1849, charting the long-used “California Road” west from Fort Smith, AR.
Black Beaver was born 1806 at the site of Belleville, IL, and came southwest as a young man. His band of Delaware lived as neighbors to the Absentee Shawnee near the Oklahoma-Arkansas boundary. Black Beaver’s band lived in many places south of the Canadian River in Oklahoma before the Civil War.
He was interpreter to Col. Henry Dodge on the noted Leavenworth (or Dragoon) Expedition from Fort Gibson to the Wichita village on the Red River in 1834, for the first council between the U.S. and the Plains Indians of Oklahoma.
He and members of his band went to Kansas and served as scouts for the Union army during the Civil War.
After the war, Black Beaver and his friend Jesse Chisholm returned and converted part of the Native American path used by the Union Army into what became the Chisholm Trail. They collected and herded thousands of stray Texas longhorn cattle by the Trail to railheads in Kansas, from there the cattle were shipped East, where beef sold for ten times the price in the West.
Black Beaver resettled at Anadarko, where he built the first brick home in the area. He had 300 acres of fenced and cultivated land as well as cattle, hogs and horses. He became a preacher in the Baptist church, and was counted as a leader among the Indians of the Wichita Agency.
He had three, perhaps four, wives and four daughters. Black Beaver died May 8, 1880 and was buried in a government plot near his old home place in Anadarko, OK. His remains were moved to the Chief’s Knoll at Fort Sill, OK, in 1975.
Roberta Lawson
10/31/1878 - 12/31/1940
Roberta Campbell Lawson, was a Lenape-Scots-Irish activist, community organizer, and musician. She was born at Alluwe, I.T. (Indian Territory), the daughter of J.E. and Emeline Journeycake Campbell. She was the granddaughter of the Rev. Charles Journeycake, the last tribal chief of the Delaware.
Roberta learned from both sides of her family; she was tutored at home and later attended a seminary and Hardin College in Missouri. From her mother and maternal grandfather Charles, she learned Lenape chants and music, which later inspired her own compositions.
She married lawyer Eugene B. Lawson on Oct. 31, 1901 and they established a home in Nowata, OK.
When the first women’s club was organized in Nowata in 1903, Roberta became its president, serving for five years. The Lawson family moved to Tulsa, OK, in 1908, where their beautiful home was a tradition in Oklahoma hospitality.
During World War I, she was the head of the Women's Division of the Oklahoma Council of Defense. She was president of the Oklahoma State Federation of Women's Clubs, which organized to support community welfare and educational goals, from 1917 to 1919, and General Federation of Women's Clubs director from 1918 to 1922. She was a member of Tulsa’s Philbrook Art Center’s board of directors, and also served 18-years as a member of the board of regents for the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha, OK. She was a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society, and a trustee of the University of Tulsa at time of her death.
Always closely identified with the Delaware people, Lawson became distinguished within the tribe when she was elected national president of the National Federal of Women’s Clubs from 1935 to 1938, the first woman of American Indian descent to hold this office. During her three year term, she led its two million members to work toward goals of "uniform marriage and divorce laws, birth control, and civic service".
Roberta died from monocytic leukemia in her Tulsa home on Dec. 31, 1940. She was buried in Tulsa’s Memorial Park Cemetery.
