Re: (erielack) Re: place names

["Russell Hallock" <rhallock_@_frontiernet.net>]

Just to set the record straight on  TOWACO.  I consulted with a friend who 
comes from that place and has done extensive research into the name, more 
than I imagined.  The answer is a qualified "yes" about it being of Native 
American origin.  Qualified because the name or names from which it was 
apparently derived are just barely recognizable as having a similar phonetic 
character. The railroad station name has also had an interesting history.
  (from her paper):     The Boonton Branch of the Morris and Essex Division 
of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was opened in 1870, with 
the Towaco station named Whitehall (Taber, 1977, .p. 81), as it remained in 
1892 and 1894 (pp. 124-125).  A rather dull story about the origin of 
"Whitehall" follows:  "Whitehall, a station on the Delaware, Lackawanna and 
Western Railroad, derived its name fifty years ago from the circumstance 
that a man who kept a store there had his house and store painted white, and 
two or three small buildings near by whitewashed, and called the place White 
Hall."  (History, 1882)  It was renamed from Whitehall to Towaco in 1905 
(Taber, 1981, p. 766).  In a 1913 M. & E. railroad map, "Towaco NJ" is 
named.  However, an 1899 U. S. Geological Survey map (1905 edition) refers 
to Glenview rather than either Whitehall or Towaco.  According to the 
present township historian, Kathy Fisher:    "Towaco is not incorporated. 
Towaco is part of Montville Township,   which was incorporated in 1867/8. 
Towaco started off as being called Towaco.   Then in late 1800's it was 
called Whitehall (called this because RR came in and they  wanted to change 
the name).  RR then found out it duplicated another Whitehall so then they 
changed name to Glen View (name which lasted less time than Whitehall did). 
Again they found they it duplicated another name.  So it went back to Towaco 
approx 1905.  However I have seen maps later that still said Glen View. " 
A website, compiled with data from the Federal Writers' Program of the New 
Jersey Work Projects Administration, cites the origin of "Towaco" as 
"Sub-tribe, Towakan"   Thayer (1975, p. 26) wrote that the Indian name for 
the Towaco Valley was "Tewechauw," its other name "Doremustown"  for the 
descendants of Cornelius Doremus who settled there in the 1740's.  While 
investigating Native history in New York, I (my friend) had found two Indian 
Deeds to northern New Jersey that had been signed in 1671 by Towachkack, 
Tewaghguye, and Tawakhache.  Knowing how early Native name sounds were 
altered by Europeans as they were transmitted and written down, I was 
intrigued.  Were Towachkack and Tawakhache the same?  Was one, or more, of 
these names actually Towaco?  If he signed deeds, he could have been a 
sachem.  There is a water company mentioned in her research, but it is 
"Indian Hill Water Association" dating from the mid 1920's.   Philhower 
(1936, p. 267) wrote that  "Waughow or tawaughow (Towacco) may take its 
origin from Tawwunasin, 'to bury under stones.'  Tradition says there is a 
burial hill on the  knoll just west of the railroad station at Towacco." 
This burial hill "west" of Towaco station seems to be the same as one of 
sites "north" of the station, and is most likely Indian Hill, although the 
archeological map shows no sites labeled as burial sites in the entire area.
.   So this, in a fairly large nutshell, it the story of Towaco.  Her paper 
actually runs many pages and includes a lot of geneology, especially in the 
Wanaque area, if anyone is interested.

Russell Hallock







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