Shekomeko, New York

Shekomeko (41°55'41"N 73°35'58"W) was a historic hamlet in the southwest part of the town of North East, New York (USA) in present-day Dutchess County. It was a village of the Mahican people. They lived by a stream which Anglo-Americans later named Shekomeko Creek, after their village. The Mahican name probably means 'great village, principal village' she-komeko /sheh-KOM-eh-ko/.

In 1740, Moravians from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, founded a Moravian mission at Shekomeko. Slowly they began to convert the Mahican, and in 1743 built a chapel. With their conversions, the Mahican community became the first Native American Christian congregation in the present-day United States.[1]

Some of the colonists resented the Moravians' work on behalf of the Mahican; others accused them of being secret Jesuits who were working to rouse the Mahican against the settlers on the side of the French. The New York colony had passed a law against the Roman Catholic Jesuits in 1700.

The Moravians were called before colonial government officials in Poughkeepsie, but supporters also testified on their behalf. The colonial government finally expelled them from New York at the end of 1744, "under the pretense of being in league with the French".[2] One of the missionaries died in early 1745 and was buried at Shekomeko. Disheartened, the Mahican left the settlement and went to other areas, and the English colonists took over the Mahican land.[2]

Located by County Route 83, the hamlet of Bethel is now located there, in the town of Pine Plains, formed in 1823 from part of North East.

References

Newton Duel, Elizabeth Klare, James Mara, Helen Netter, Dyan Wapnick, Out of the Wilderness: A History of the Hamlet of Bethel in the Town of Pine Plains, New York (1996), Section 5: "The Moravian Mission".
Smith, Philip H. (1877). General History of Duchess County: From 1609 to 1876, Inclusive, p. 311; self-published.

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[1] Newton Duel, Elizabeth Klare, James Mara, Helen Netter, Dyan Wapnick, Out of the Wilderness: A History of the Hamlet of Bethel in the Town of Pine Plains, New York (1996), Section 5: "The Moravian Mission".

[smith-2] Smith, Philip H. (1877). General History of Duchess County: From 1609 to 1876, Inclusive, p. 311; self-published.

Municipalities and communities of Dutchess County, New York, United States
County seat: Poughkeepsie
Cities	Beacon Poughkeepsie
Towns	Amenia Beekman Clinton Dover East Fishkill Fishkill Hyde Park LaGrange Milan North East Pawling Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Poughkeepsie Red Hook Rhinebeck Stanford Union Vale Wappinger Washington
Villages	Fishkill Millbrook Millerton Pawling Red Hook Rhinebeck Tivoli Wappingers Falls
CDPs	Amenia Arlington Bard College Barrytown Brinckerhoff Chelsea Cove Crown Heights Dover Plains Fairview Freedom Plains Haviland Hillside Lake Hopewell Junction Hyde Park MacDonnell Heights Marist College Merritt Park Myers Corner New Hackensack New Hamburg Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Red Oaks Mill Rhinecliff Salt Point Shorehaven Spackenkill Staatsburg Titusville Upper Red Hook Vassar College Wassaic Wingdale
Other hamlets	Annandale-on-Hudson Bangall Boston Corner‡ Castle Point Chelsea Glenham LaGrangeville Linden Acres Lithgow Mabbettsville Oniontown Pleasant Plains Quaker Hill Rock City Shekomeko Silvernails Sylvan Lake Van Keurens Verbank
Former communities	Guinea Town
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
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Shekomeko, New York

See also

References