Founding of the first reservation in America, Brotherton

The first Indian reservation in America was established in 1758 under the terms of the Treaty of Easton. Signed during the Seven Years War, the treaty guaranteed that the Iroquois, Shawnee, and Lenni-Lenape (Delaware) Indians would not aide the French for the duration of hostilities. In return, the British colonial authority agreed to halt settlements west of the Allegheny Mountains; later codified by the Proclamation of 1763. Pennsylvania returned large tracks of land to the Iroquois and promised to honor traditional hunting grounds.

The Lenape faired far worse for having initially sided with the French. They were forced to sell their lands in New Jersey to the provincial government and cede all claims to their ancestral home. Governor Francis Bernard decreed that all Lenape must leave the province or settle on a tract of land reserved by the colonial legislature. Most Lenape moved west, settling under the control of the Iroquois, others disregarded the order and continued to live independently.

Several hundred Lenape, Presbyterian followers of the Reverend John Brainerd, opted to move to the 3,044-acre tract purchased by New Jersey in Egepillock, modern day Indian Mills, Burlington County. Brainerd renamed the area, “Brotherton,” in hopes that everyone would be brothers. In 1762 Brainerd was appointed guardian of the Lenape now called Brotherton Indians.

The Brotherton Indians sought to sustain themselves through a grist and saw mill. However, their quality of life depended upon the missionary support of local Quakers and Presbyterians, as well as the funds provided by the Presbyterian Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, based in Scotland and distributed by the College of New Jersey in Princeton. Through this, the Brotherton Indians constructed homes, maintained mills, built a meetinghouse and school. They also hunted, fished, and foraged in the pinelands abutting the reservation that white settlers avoided and derisively called, “the pine barrens.” .

When Brainerd fell sick and left Brotherton in 1777, the Brothertons fell into dire straits both financially and because of continued white encroachment. The population at Brotherton continued to decline. By 1802 the Brothertons accepted the invitation of the Stockbridge Indians, mostly Mohicans, to relocate to New York. In May of 1802 Elisha Ahhataina (Lashar Tamar), the last chief of the Brotherton led his people to New York. Ahhataina stayed only a few years, returning to Burlington County for the remainder of his life. In 1824, the Brotherton moved with the Stockbridge, and New England Brothertons, to Wisconsin.