Schuylkill County abounds with names of Indian origin. Most frequently
recurring of these is Mahanoy with its derivatives. Mahanoy is a
corruption of MAHONI, "a lick," with the locative "ink" and "ing" meaning
"at the lick." Thence have come Mahanoy Creek, Mahanoy City,
Mahanoy Township, Little Mahanoy, and the like.
Swatara is a fairly recurring name of Indian origin. Originally,
"Sawharata," it was probably an Indian village at the mouth of the
Swatara stream. The early settlers along the Swatara were probably
Scotch-Irish. Some years ago the name was corrupted to Sweet Arrow and
bestowed on a lake and community.
The tiny settlement of Tamanend derived its name from the Delaware
Chief, Tamanend or Tammany, head of the Delaware tribe when William Penn
made his treaty of 1862. His mark was the rude picture of a turtle.
Tamanend died before 1701, but for years the date May 1st was set aside
of St. Tammany Day in Philadelphia in his honor. The name means
'the affable.'
Some sources hold that the name was given when Taman, a noted Indian
Chief, was caught and hanged at Hawk's Curve near the settlement,
hence the name, Taman's end or Tamanend.
Tamaqua Borough is named for the stream called Tamaqua or Little
Schuylkill. Tamaqua, once Tamaque, is a corruption of Tankamochk,
"Little Beaver," and the suffix, "hanna," meaning "little beaver stream."
In 1790, the stream was referred to as "Tamagaay" or "Little Schuylkill."
Mahantongo, previously referred to, is applied to a township and a
residential street in Pottsville meaning "where we had plenty of
meat to eat" or "plenty of venison."
The origin of the name Shenandoah is a much debated one. One theory
holds that Shenandoah is an Indian word meany "sprucy stream" or
"river flowing alongside high hills and mountains." Another insists
that Jacob Oliver Roads named Shenadoah after the Shenandoah Valley
in Virginia where he had coal interests. The origin of the
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, is Indian, of course, and means
"daughter of the skies." Other claims are that Shenandoah is
Iroquois for "great plains" and less likely, that it is derived from
the Schind-han-dom or "spruce stream." Take your choice.
Excerpted from VOL. VI No. 1,
Publications of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County (1947),
by Herrwood E. Hobbs