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| Plaque displayed at the Wyandanch train station: “Wyandanch (c.1615-1658) was a leader of the Montaukett Indians on eastern Long Island, referenced in many land agreements with 17th century European settlers. In 1889, the LIRR honored Sachem Wyandanch in bestowing the name to the station previously known as West Deer Park.” While there are no drawings of Chief Wyandanch from his lifetime (and photography came along well after his death), Shinnecock artist David Bunn Martine created this interpretation of the Sachem’s appearance. |
Wyandanch
– the Montaukett Sachem and the Long Island Community
The name Wyandanch is without a doubt a
reference to the 17th century Chief or Sachem Wyandanch. It is
believed that he was born around 1615 in Montauk, the east end of Long Island,
and died in 1658. [Note: previously this post stated that Chief Wyandanch died in the area near Long Island City, NY. The source of that information has not been confirmed.] The
Sachem, like the Native Americans of his time, lived in different parts of Long
Island, likely based on the season and the availability of shelter and food
sources, among other factors. Contrary to folk tales, there is no evidence that
Wyandanch ever resided in the community named for him, nor was there a band of
Native Americans known as “the Wyandanch.”
Sachem Wyandanch is
referenced in many land documents with the European settlers in the 1600s. The
Native Americans had a spoken language, rather than a written one. Records kept
by Colonists in the 1600s-1800s contained writings of the Europeans’
interpretations of the Native American language. The European settlers
typically used phonetic spellings, which differ among documents and writers. (Image
how differences in the understanding of Dutch or English settlers could have
influenced the way that names and words were recorded. If ‘beauty is in the eye
of the beholder,” then, perhaps, ‘interpretation is in the ear of the listener.’)
In his 1911 book The Indian Place-Names on Long Island and Islands Adjacent,
William Wallace Tooker identified at least nine different spellings of
“Wyandanch” between 1642 and 1659, including: Waiandance, Waindance, Waindance, Wayandanch, Weandance, Weyrinteynich, Wiantanse,
Wyandance, and Wyandanch. Tooker surmised that the name Wyandanch could be
interpreted as “the wise speaker.”
Located in the lower portion of the Half Hollow
Hills, the present community of Wyandanch was previously known as West Deer
Park. The name Deer Park came into use when the Long Island Rail Road established
one of its first depots there, in 1842. Being to the west of Deer Park, the
name West Deer Park was assigned to the railroad depot established around 1875.
Reportedly, this was followed by years of confusion and complaints by railroad
travelers that mistakenly got off the train in West Deer Park when they had
intended to go to Deer Park.
To reduce the station confusion and create
a unique identity for the western station, the LIRR made the following
announcement:
"CHANGED ITS NAME: The name of West Deer Park Station, on the Long Island Rail Road, will be changed January 1, to Wyandance." Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 30, 1888
Wyandance …, not a typo. As
referenced above, that was one of the many interpretive spellings of the Chief’s
name. Both Wyandance and Wyandanch were used throughout the 1800s in the Brooklyn
Daily Eagle and Long Island newspaper, which frequently wrote about the ‘olden-days’
of Colonists and their transactions with the Native Americans. However, by the early
1900s, the spelling Wyandanch, became the preference.
For better or worse, the Long Island Rail
Road appears to have influenced, or changed, the names of many communities,
including Massapequa (formerly South Oyster Bay) and Copiague (formerly East
Amityville). Overall, one might argue that the LIRR and the Post Office have
had more influence over community names on Long Island than residents and municipalities.
In many instances, a Post Office typically named itself after the local
railroad station, and vice-versa.
The late railroad historian Vincent Seyfried, in
some of his works about LIRR history, described that the West Deer Park post office
changed its name to “Wyandance” at the request of the local Wyandance Brick
& Terra Cotta Manufacturing Company in 1888 and that, in turn, influenced
the railroad station change. However, this Town Historian has yet to confirm
that the brick manufactory formed prior to 1890 (but, as always, I will
continue to look). Brick-making was an important local industry that started in
the mid-1800s. The mineral-rich clay in the Half Hollow Hills apparently made
very good bricks, and George W. Conklin was one of the early brickmakers.
So, there it is. Wyandanch was a real man who lived on our beloved Long Island, or as he may have known it, Paumanok. The
community of Wyandanch is the only one in the Town of Babylon to be named for a
real person.
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To recap, let’s clarify three persistent
rumors about Wyandanch, both the man and the name.
- There was not a tribe or group of Native Americans named “the Wyandanch.” (There wasn’t a group called “the Copiague,” either.)
- Chief Wyandanch did not live in what is now the Wyandanch community. He did live in places around Long Island but there is no evidence that he had a permanent or temporary dwelling in our Wyandanch hamlet. Many Native Americans and their descendants have lived in Wyandanch, but he was not among them.
- There is NO MERIT to the rumor that the name Wyandanch will be ... or should be ... changed. That rumor started years ago and just won't go away. As detailed above, the community was named for the famous Native American Sachem, and the honor of bestowing his name on the Wyandanch community is an important one. This Town Historian would be proud to be among the first in line to oppose any measure to change the name, out of respect for the Sachem, his descendants and the legacy of all Native Americans, and for the preservation of the history of our hamlet, Wyandanch.