Shekomeko (41°55'41"N 73°35'58"W) was a historic

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the southwestern part of the town of

North East, New York North East is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 3,031 at the 2020 census. The town is in the northeastern corner of the county. U.S. Route 44 crosses the town. History The town of North East takes its name fr ...

, United States) in present-day

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later organ ...

. It was a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of the

Mahican 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 ...

people. They lived by a stream which Anglo-Americans later named Shekomeko Creek, after their village. Shekomeko comes from Mahikanneuw (language of the Muhhecanneok/Mahikanneok, "Mahikanak" or Mahikan/Mohican people) and means "people of the place of eels linear fish" from "shaxk" - linear, straight; "amek" = fish; = locative suffix "ink", + ethnonymial locative suffix "oik" - Shaxkaminkoik > Shekomeko. In 1740,

Moravians Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...

from

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, founded a

Moravian mission at Shekomeko The Moravian mission at Shekomeko was founded in 1740 by Christian Henry Rauch to convert the Mahican Indians in eastern New York. Background In the late 1730s, the Moravian Church established their first missionary efforts in North America ne ...

. Slowly they began to convert the Mahican, and in 1743 built a chapel. With their

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

s, the Mahican community became the first Native American

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

congregation in the present-day United States.Newton Duel, Elizabeth Klare, James Mara, Helen Netter, Dyan Wapnick, ''Out of the Wilderness: A History of the Hamlet of Bethel in the Town of Pine Plains, New York'' (1996), Section 5: "The Moravian Mission". Some of the colonists resented the Moravians' work on behalf of the Mahican; others accused them of being secret

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

who were working to rouse the Mahican against the settlers on the side of the French. The New York colony had passed a law against the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Jesuits in 1700. The Moravians were called before colonial government officials in

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

, but supporters also testified on their behalf. The colonial government finally expelled them from New York at the end of 1744, "under the pretense of being in league with the French".Smith, Philip H. (1877)
''General History of Duchess County: From 1609 to 1876, Inclusive''
p. 311; self-published. One of the missionaries died in early 1745 and was buried at Shekomeko. Disheartened, the Mahican left the settlement and went to other areas, and the English colonists took over the Mahican land. Located by County Route 83, the hamlet of

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

is now located there, in the town of Pine Plains, formed in 1823 from part of North East.

References

{{Coord, 41, 55, 41, N, 73, 35, 56, W, type:city_region:US-NY_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Former Native American populated places in the United States Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area Hamlets in Dutchess County, New York North East, New York Native American history of New York (state)

See also

References