Biography:
Shikellamy (died December 6, 1748), also known as
Swatana, was an
Oneida chief and overseer for the
Iroquois confederacy. In his position as chief and overseer, Shikellamy served as a supervisor for the Six Nations, overseeing the
Shawnee and
Lenape tribes in central
Pennsylvania along the
Susquehanna River and protecting the southern border of the Iroquois Confederacy. While his birth date is not known, his first recorded historical appearance was in Philadelphia in 1728.
[1] In 1728 he was living in a Shawnee village in Pennsylvania near modern
Milton, and moved in 1742 to the village of
Shamokin, modern day
Sunbury, at the
confluence of the
West and North Branches of the Susquehanna. Shikellamy was an important figure in the early history of the
Province of Pennsylvania and served as a go-between for the colonial government in
Philadelphia and the Iroquois chiefs in
Onondaga.
[2] He welcomed
Conrad Weiser to Shamokin and served as Weiser's guide on his journeys into the frontier of Pennsylvania and
New York.