A Brief History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio

57 the accurate history of New Comerstown previous to the settlement of the county by the whites. We know that near the present town of that name/there was an Indian village of considerable size: that the chieftain, Netawotwes. lived in a house built of logs, with board floors, stairway and shingle roof, in fact a kingly palace compared to the ordinary Indian hut. It was a rendezvous for traders, hunters, trappers and renegades. The Indian name of the place was Gekelemuk- pechunk. By this name it was known to Zeisberger and other missionaries. Translated it means “New Comer’sTown." The Indians named the place New Comerstown. probable in honor of king Newcomer, their former chief. It consisted of about one hundred houses mostly built of logs. This gave the place some appearance of permanence. and the Indians cultivated as much as three hundred acres of the contiguous territory. As the Indians were driven westward the traders, hunters and trappers moved with them. The first permanent white settlers of the town cannot be determined definitely. John Mulvane was dwelling in the valley as early as 1804, as shown by a running account

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