The first inhabitants of the Punxsutawney area were the Delaware Indians. Punxsutawney was originally a campsite halfway between the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers. It is located on the earliest known trail to the East, the Great Shamokin Path. The area was, at times, occupied by Shawnee or Delaware Indians and, sometimes, by Senecas or Iroquois.
According to the original "Creation" Story of the Delaware Indians, the "Lenni Lenape" (or original people), who were their forebearers, began life as animals in "Mother Earth" and emerged centuries later to hunt and live as men. Thus it was that Oijik (Wejak), or Wojak, which means "Woodchuck", came to be recognized as the "grandfather" of the earliest known inhabitants of this area.
The Delawares settled in large numbers about 1723 because of the pressures from white men in the East and Iroquois intrigue. During the main move west in 1740, an lndian sorcerer first appeared in various forms and attacked travelers from the East. He was hunted and killed in combat by a young chief. His body was burned to destroy the "evil medicine" but miraculously turned to searing sandflies, or "ponksad," which plagued the area and the Indians. From that time the Delaware called the location, " Ponksaduteney," which meant the "town of the sandflies." The sandflies are now gone, but the "ghost of the spelling" is with us to stay.
WHAT DOES THE DELAWARE INDIAN NAME FOR PUNXSUTAWNEY MEAN ??????
TOWN OF MOSQUITOES = N 40 48.933 W 078 53.948
TOWN OF THE SANDFLIES = N 40 49.555 W 078 54.776
CONGRATULATIONS TO beans&franks FOR THE FTF