Chief Killbuck is a local figure that is made famous through the name of the Killbuck Creek and the small town of Killbuck, located south of Millersburg. There are so many myths and legends surrounding Chief Killbuck it is difficult to separate fact from fiction.
For starters there were at least three Lenape men who were known by this name. The Killbucks were a family of notable pro-American Delaware Indians who worked hard to safeguard their people before, during and after the American Revolution.
According to Linda Frennette, a historian with the Killbuck Valley Historical Society, The first Chief Killbuck was called Netawatwees. His son was called John Killbuck. The third was called Gelelemend. He was born in 1737.
Not all histories give the Killbuck name to Netawatwees, but he was the first of the Killbuck family line. It is thought he was born amongst his people in the Delaware River Valley sometime between 1677 and 1686. This was during the time the Delaware Nation was being driven westward by the encroachment of settlers.
Eventually Netawatwees and his group ended up in Ohio, and Netawatwees himself became the chieftain of a town called Gekelemukpechunt, which was located on the outskirts of present-day Newcomerstown.
Netawatwees, though he never converted to Christianity, was a friend to Moravian missionaries who were traveling among Native Americans at the time. He also was an ally to the American rebel forces against the British, and before he passed away in 1776, he entered into agreements with the Americans that allowed the Americans onto Delaware lands.
The second Chief Killbuck was Netawatweess son Bemino, whose English name was John Killbuck. There is some dispute over whether Bemino was an actual Delaware chieftain. Most histories agree that he was not technically a chieftain, but it is known that he was a medicine man and a war leader during the French and Indian War between 1754 and 1763. Killbuck sided with the French against the British and in later years the Revolutionary War years was known to be pro-American.
Bemino also formed Killbuck Town, which was a small Delaware village north of present-day Holmesville. According to Frennette, Killbuck Town was considered one of the three major Indian villages in the area.
Bemino was one of the chief advisors to Chief White Eyes, who was one of the most important leaders of the Delaware Nation. White Eyes was notable in that he spoke on behalf of his people at the 1776 Continental Congress. In 1778 he signed the Fort Pitt Treaty, a treaty that promised to give the Delaware people statehood and representation in Congress.
John Killbucks son Gelelemend was the third Chief Killbuck, known as John Killbuck, Jr. Born in Pennsylvania, he, like his father and grandfather, was part of the Delaware migration westward. Gelelemend was quite possibly the most influential of the Killbucks, and he, along with Chief White Eyes, was a signatory on the Fort Pitt Treaty.
The problem at the time of the signing of the treaty, the issue that defined Gelelemends life, was the Delaware Nation was deeply divided in their opinions over whether they should ally with or fight against the Americans following the Revolutionary War. Not long after the Fort Pitt Treaty was signed, Chief White Eyes was assassinated by an American militiaman, which left Gelelemend as chieftain over a deeply divided people. The Delaware Nation split, leaving Gelelemend to lead the pro-American Indians while the rest of the Delaware allied with the British and resettled in Canada.
After the Delaware split, Gelelemend was forced out of power. He relied on his relationship with the Americans to survive, and in 1781 he guided Captain Brodhead on an expedition to destroy Coshocton, which was the Delaware Nation capital that Gelelemend had once led.
Once this battle was over, Gelelemend returned to Fort Pitt, where he lived until 1785. In 1788 he finally decided to join the ranks of the Moravian Christians, and in so doing, traveled to the Salem, Ohio Moravian Mission, where he was baptized with the name of William Henry. It is thought this new name was in honor of a man who had rescued Gelelemend during the French and Indian War.
Gelelemend went on to become the most famous of the Moravian converts in the Delaware Nation, and he continued his missionary work among the Delawares until his death in 1811 in Goshen, Ohio.
William Henry Killbuck (aka John Killbuck, Jr. and Gelelemend) became a friend of the Moravian minister David Zeisberger. They are buried side by side in Goshen, Ohio, not far from the restored Moravian village of Schoenbrunn, Frennette said.
The story told by Frennette about present-day Killbuck and Killbuck Creek goes something like this: Abraham Shrimplin was hunting near the village of his Indian friends near the S-curve of the Killbuck Creek. He shot a deer from a great distance, a shot having to cross water twice before felling the animal in its tracks. In doing this, the Indians became very excited and shouted, Kill um buck! and proclaimed Shrimplin a great hunter. According to the story, the town was named for this event.
Most historians believe, however, this story is exactly that: just a good story. In actuality it is more likely Killbuck, which was formerly named Oxford, and the Killbuck Creek were both named for the famed Killbuck family, particularly Bemino and Gelelemend.
