The Moneton were a historical Native American tribe from

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. In the late seventeenth century they lived in the

Kanawha Valley The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the sta ...

, near the Kanawha and New Rivers.

Name and language

What the Monetons called themselves is unknown. In the 1670s,

Abraham Wood Abraham Wood (1610–1682), sometimes referred to as "General" or "Colonel" Wood, was an English fur trader, militia officer, politician and explorer of 17th century colonial Virginia. Wood helped build and maintained Fort Henry at the falls of ...

wrote their name "Moneton" and as another variant, "Monyton." The eastern slopes of the southern Allegheny Mountains in Virginia are traditionally known as the Mahock. The Monetans are on the western rim of

Tutelo The Tutelo (also Totero, Totteroy, Tutera; Yesan in Tutelo) were Native Americans in the United States, Native American people living above the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, Fall Line in present-day Virginia and West Virginia. They spoke a Siouan d ...

and "Monasuccapanough"

Siouan Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who call the entire ...

language groups, as well as Iroquois dialects Researchers have speculated that the

Moneton language The Moneton were a historical Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe from West Virginia. In the late seventeenth century they lived in the Kanawha Valley, near the Kanawha River, Kanawha and New River (Kanawha River), New R ...

was part of the Siouan family, close to

History

James Mooney James Mooney (February 10, 1861 – December 22, 1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. Known as "The Indian Man", he conducted major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as of tribes on the Gr ...

declared the Moneton lived in the western part of

Colonial Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

and said their name was an eastern

word. Some scholars suggest Monetons were part of the Monacan, with the different names being a consequence of variable colonial spelling.

The First Explorations of the Trans-Alleghany Region by the Virginians 1650–1674

The word Monetons is Siouan, though it may be Cherokee instead. The Mohetan told Batts and Fallam that their villages were about halfway between Peters' Mountain and the Ohio River. Hale and Mooney defines Siouan "Mon", "Ma" and "Man" as meaning a people's land. "Mone" has also been defined to mean water, and "ton" means large. Doctor Rankin observed that the Tutelo of Virginia have closer linguistic ties to the Crows of Montana than to the Catawbans of Carolina. A recent study of nine thousand pottery shards from Fort Ancient sites in the Kanawha and Ohio River valleys showed that thirty seven percent of them bore corncob impressions similar to those produced in the Siouan villages of Virginia between 1400 and 1600. Doctor Rankin concluded at the 2009 West Virginia Archaeology Annual Meeting that Siouan was probably spoken in the Kanawha Valley. Using topographic maps, geographic landmarks and travel distances, Briceland demonstrates that Batts and Fallam reached

Matewan ''Matewan'' () is a 1987 American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, and starring Chris Cooper (in his film debut), James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell and Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp in suppor ...

on the

Tug Fork The Tug Fork is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 13, 2011 in southwestern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern ...

. The islands near Logan resembles the falls of the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

near Wood's Fort in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, though the gravel bar near

Matewan, West Virginia Matewan () is a town in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States at the confluence of the Tug Fork River and Mate Creek. The population was 499 at the 2010 census. The Norfolk Southern Railway's Pocahontas District passes through the town. It wa ...

does not resemble these early descriptions of the village's location of Batts and Fallam.

Other inhabitants of the area

Map of Native American locations in WV by county during the latter half of the 17th Century

Another tribe known as the Tomahittons has been also been reported in the

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinoi ...

. The reports from the Mohetan given to Batts and Fallam regarding this tribe correspond with reports from the Moneton to Arthur. Batts and Falla are credited as having discovered

Kanawha Falls Kanawha Falls is a waterfall on the Kanawha River in West Virginia that has been a barrier to fish movement for more than 1 million years. The waterfall is formed by a diagonal sandstone ledge across the river about downstream from the conflue ...

. Ouabano was a band of

Mohicans The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...

or Eastern

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

who lived within the region. Earlier scholars have this site as found to be on Campbells Creek near

Belle, West Virginia Belle is a town in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Kanawha River. The population was 1,171 at the 2020 census. Belle was incorporated on December 13, 1958 by the Kanawha County Circuit Court. It is the home of t ...

. The

Iroquois League The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, Huron Confederacy, and Conestoga(Andaste being a French word that was obtained via the Wendat)(Sultzman) are well reported as blocking the Nation du Chat from attaining fire arms. The Conestoga served as middlemen to the French and Dutch trade, and the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

provided the Conestoga with fire arms. Their neighbor to the east, in the Allegheny Mountains, were the Conestoga (English language or usage/

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

for Andaste), also called Susquehannocks by Virginians. The Conestoga are first mentioned in the Voyages of Samuel Champlain for 1615, and he calls one of their some twenty villages "Carantouan". Carantouan was close to the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

border on the tributaries of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

on his map approaching towards the region from the

Saint Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Americ ...

Grant County, West Virginia Grant County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,976. Its county seat is Petersburg. The county was created from Hardy County in 1866 and named for Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. ...

Hampshire County, West Virginia Hampshire County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,093. Its county seat is Romney, West Virginia's oldest town (1762). The county was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1754, ...

and

Hardy County, West Virginia Hardy County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,299. Its county seat is Moorefield. The county was created from Hampshire County in 1786 and named for Samuel Hardy, a distinguished V ...

as well as

Allegany County, Maryland Allegany County is located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,106. Its county seat is Cumberland. The name ''Allegany'' may come from a local Lenape word, ''welhik hane'' or '' ...

possess archaeological sites having Conestoga Ceramics. A Conestoga site is also located at

Moorefield, West Virginia Moorefield is a town and the county seat of Hardy County, West Virginia, United States. It is located at the confluence of the South Branch Potomac River and the South Fork South Branch Potomac River. Moorefield was originally chartered in 1777; ...

. The tribes on the south eastern Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia in a region of the Blue Stone and Greenbrier river tributaries can be found in Batts and Fallows' September, 1671 Expedition. The records the arrival of the Les Tionontatacaga or Guyandotte, named for the

Guyandotte River The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi (267 km) long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans. It drains an area of ...

in Cabell County. This journal does not identify the "Salt Village" on the Kanawha, but, that the Mehetan were associated with these sites, and may not have been associated with sites further down the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

Protohistory

1670 Augustin Herrman 1621-1686-bohemiensis map

Anthropologist James B. Griffin concluded in 1942 that no historical evidence existed to indicate that Siouan speaking tribes resided there. On the other hand, James Mooney, in a monograph surveying "The Siouan Tribes of the East," lists Mohetan as one of at least nine groups clearly Siouan. "Calicuas" were reported at Cherokee Falls ( Valley Falls) in 1705. Indian trader Charles Poke's trading post dates from 1731 with the remnant Calicuas of Cherokee Falls still in the region from the previous century. The Monetons may also be a distant Cherokee branch, partially evidenced by their antipathy for the Shawnees,), who were located on both sides of the Ohio in the vicinity of the mouth of the

Scioto River The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...

.Chapter: "The Discovery of Kentucky" Pp. 125, "Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society", By Kentucky Historical Society Published by The Society, 1922, Item notes: v.20 (1922) index:v.1-20 Original from Harvard University Digitized Jan 23, 2008

Related Nations

* Akenatsi *

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...

* Cheraw *

Mosopelea The Mosopelea, or Ofo, were a Siouan-speaking Native American people who historically inhabited the upper Ohio River. In reaction to Iroquois Confederacy invasions to take control of hunting grounds in the late 17th century, they moved south to t ...

Saponi The Saponi or Sappony are a Native American tribe historically based in the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia.Raymond D. DeMaillie, "Tutelo and Neighboring Groups," pages 286–87. They spoke a Siouan language, related to the languages of ...

Sewee The Sewee or "Islanders" were a Native American tribe that lived in present-day South Carolina in North America. In 1670, the English founded the coastal town of Charleston in the Carolina Colony on land belonging to the Sewee. The town flouri ...

Waccamaw The Waccamaw people were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who lived in villages along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers in North and South Carolina in the 18th century.Lerch 328 Language Very little remains of the Waccamaw ...

Notes

References

*Demallie, Raymond J. "Tutelo and Neighboring Groups." Sturtevant, William C., general ed. Raymond D. Fogelson, volume ed. ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast.'' Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. . {{authority control Algonquian ethnonyms Extinct Native American tribes Native American tribes in West Virginia Pre-statehood history of West Virginia