Honniasont

The Honniasont (Oniasont, Oniassontke, Honniasontkeronon) were a little-known indigenous people of North America originally from eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.[1] They appear to have inhabited the upper Ohio River valley, above Louisville, Kentucky (Hanna 1911:119 [2]).

Language

Honniasont may have been considered an Iroquoian language (Swanton 1953: 55-57[3]). However, James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington, D.C. 1894) believed their name, first appearing as Oniasont on 17th c. French maps, to be a variation of the name of the tribe recorded in West Virginia and western Virginia at the same time period, as Nahyssan and Monahassanough, i.e. the Tutelo, a Siouan language speaking people.[4]

References

  1. ^ Hodge, Frederick Webb, 'Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico' , Bureau of Ethnology 1906 ([1] ret. 1/4/2011)
  2. ^ Hanna, Charles Augustus, 'The wilderness trail: or, The ventures and adventures of the Pennsylvania traders on the Allegheny path' , G. P. Putnam's sons, 1911
  3. ^ Swanton, John R., 'The Indian Tribes of North America' , Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145—1953.
  4. ^ Charles Hanna, The Wilderness Trail pp. 117-119.