Plaque marks place known as ‘Indian Dancing Circle’

By REBECCA S. NIEMINEN

news@vindy.com

KINSMAN

Mention Kinsman Township history, and most people think of famed attorney Clarence Darrow, the octagon house that was his boyhood home, or perhaps the township monument erected in his memory.

The intrigue of Kinsman history spreads far beyond Darrow, however, to encompass many other colorful figures, stories and monuments.

One such monument is at 6588 Kinsman Nickerson Road at a spot known as the Indian Dancing Circle.

“This is the place where Native Americans congregated and held their rituals and ceremonies, including their large dancing circle,” explained Richard Webb of the Kinsman Historical Society.

A boulder with a copper plaque marks the place near where the ceremonies occurred. Mary Redmond Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected the Indian Dancing Circle monument in 1924. Today, it sits in front of a home owned by Henrietta Matson, a short distance east of the Kinsman square, but during Ohio’s pioneer days, this land was sacred to the tribes who gathered here.

“In the spring when the fields are plowed, you can still see dark rings in the soil where the [Native Americans] had their campfires,” said John Matson Jr., Henrietta’s son.

John and his father, the late John Matson Sr., recovered numerous Native American artifacts from the fields surrounding the home.

“My parents bought this house in 1985, so we’ve been here a while and have collected a lot of arrowheads and other artifacts over the years,” said Matson Jr. as he shared a display case crowded with arrowheads, drills, small spears and hide scrapers. “The Indians would use the smaller arrowheads to kill birds and the larger ones for deer. They used the spears to kill fish.”

Henrietta said she and her husband were not aware of the property’s unique history when they purchased their home.

“There were shrubs growing around the monument, hiding it from view, and so we didn’t even know about it until after we moved in,” she said.

Webb said the Native Americans likely selected the property as their sacred dancing spot because it is located near a stream.

“Dancing was one of their religious ceremonies, and this was a piece of land near the Stratton Creek bottom,” Webb said. “Because it is located near a stream, it would have been an ideal place to camp.”

Matson Jr. said Stratton Creek as it is seen today is not the Stratton Creek the Native Americans would have known. “It has been rerouted, and it actually used to run behind my parents’ home. The area where the Native Americans danced would have been located right where the house sits now,” he said.

According to “Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley,” which was published in 1876 by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, the dancing circle was “tramped hard and smooth by use ...” and a “circle of bright green grass marked the spot years after it had been abandoned.”

Webb said Kinsman was a Native American hunting ground when the first white settlers moved into the area during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

“There weren’t any Native Americans making their permanent homes here when the Western Reserve was settled, but [Native Americans] frequently visited in small bands for hunting, trapping and trading,” Webb said. “Early surveyors recorded that Native Americans had burned a large area of land between Stratton Creek and Pymatuning Creek to create open areas of vegetation where deer would congregate for easier hunting.”

The Native Americans who wandered in and out of northern Trumbull County were Senecas from Buffalo, Delawares from Tuscarawas County, and also Chippewas, Mississaugas and Ojibways from Canada.

Webb said the tribes generally were friendly to white settlers, although occasionally they caused some mischief when intoxicated.

“Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley” describes one such incident. A Native American named Old Paqua wandered into the home of township founders John and Rebecca Kinsman, stretched out before their hearth and, in a drunken stupor, would not get up. Mrs. Kinsman grabbed a tea kettle and used it to pour cold water into Old Paqua’s ear. He quickly rose and left, cursing the “white squaw” in English.

The book also details how in 1808 Old Paqua’s daughter and son-in-law had no children and were fascinated by John and Rebecca’s blond, 4-year-old son, Thomas Kinsman. They called him “Fat Otter” and brought him presents of maple sugar, moccasins and bows and arrows.

“There is so much interesting local history that gets forgotten,” Henrietta said. “The monument helps us to remember.”