Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/10

=== CHAPTER l ===

History

BRUNSWICK'S HUMAN PREDECESSORS

Humans lived here well before our explorers and fur traders. Fertile land with seemingly endless game and a river flowing by made this area attractive to the native Indians.

The Susquehannans, under many other names, including Conestogas, were from the Iroquoi stock. The Susquehannans were large and aggressive. Hunting was not only a necessity for surviving but doing it well was a passage into manhood.

Although the women were servile to the men, they played an important role beyond serving. They took part in tribal government, had some power in family relations, and were treated affectionately.

The tribe had its chief, a less powerful assistant, and the tribal council. These, plus the medicine man and distinguished warriors, made up the council. The medicine man was important because illness, both physical and emotional, was considered a weakness. Only the medicine man could recommend the treatment.

These Indians had religious worship and ritual, a god, and animal or crop sacrifices. They buried their dead with precious mementos and carefully tended their burial sites.

Fishing, farming, hunting, trading and warring all played a role in their survival. Their word for their nearby river, which ultimately they called "Potomac," meant "something bought" or "trading place" in the Algonkian n tongue.

The men hunted; the women farmed. Warriors were important to this warlike people, who fought native and white alike. Yet the white settlers succeeded in pushing them west, and their life and demise has yet to be accurately written.

Yet the settlers could not have survived without learning the war methods they acquired from the Susquehannans. Corn was a crop of the Europeans, and corn sustained them from the beginning of their life in these lands. The use of leather as a clothing material came from the natives.

Two Indian village archaeological digs along the Potomac were made by the Smithsonian, and scouts of the first half of the century, like Charlie Utterback and Austin and Glenn Cooper, found many tools, utensils, shards, and weapons in the vicinity of Brunswick.

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BRUNSWICK HISTORY COMMISSION formerly BRUNSWICK COMMISSION ON HISTORY AND DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS

The Brunswick Commission on History and Distinguished Citizens resulted from a city ordinance passed in 1976 by the Mayor and Council upon the suggestion of the Rev. H. Austin Cooper, who became the group's president.

The commission honored 17 citizens in each year 1976 and 1977, then lay dormant for two years.

In 1980, meetings resumed under the presidency of Mr. Cooper. As the group met to select honorees for this third year, they decided to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the purchase of Berlin (Brunsw ick's first name) by Leonard Smith.

Next the members wrote a set of by-laws which stated the reason for being and goals of the group. At this time the unwieldy name of the commission was changed to the Brunswick History Commission. Their frequent reminiscing led them to include among their goals the writing of a definitive history of Brunswick to be published in 1990, the year of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town. Almost immedia tely, Richard