Moneton

Category: Tribe

Culture area: Northeast

Language group: Siouan

Primary location: West Virginia

The Moneton, a branch of the Siouan language family, lived in West Virginia. As is the case for many of the eastern Sioux, there is no information about the Moneton language. Evidence suggests they lived in matrilineal clans and that they conducted harsh initiation ceremonies. They wore long hair and tattoos—decorations which set them clearly apart from their Iroquoian neighbors. Probably the Sioux had been in what is now the southeastern United States for hundreds or even thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived. Scholars have struggled to learn about the prehistoric migrations of the Sioux, but without much success. What is clear from oral tradition and the records of early white settlers is that through the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries the southeastern Sioux suffered greatly. Constant attack by the Iroquois and the introduction of new diseases by Europeans decimated the tribes. Many people fled and disappeared from record, while others were absorbed into other tribes; many died. In 1671, the Moneton were visited by the trader Thomas Batts. Three years later they were visited again by Gabriel Arthur, who reported finding them living in “a great town.” They were not heard of again and are assumed to have united with Siouan groups in the Piedmont region of Virginia.

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