Talk:Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa

Contested deletion

This article should not be speedily deleted for lack of asserted importance because frankly, I do not see the reason for this page to be deleted. Firstly, Straight Tail was a brave chief who steadily lead his people to new lands. Secondly, he was the chief of the entire Pekowi subtribe, and should not be excluded from Wikipedia. Lastly, what would be the point of deleting this article? Does it harm Wikipedia in any way? I think not. All the page is, all it tries to express, is the life and history of an important, devoted leader. I respectfully urge for this page not to be deleted.

Sincerely,

Eislundo.

• Please read WP:NOHARM. "It doesn't do any harm" is not a valid reason to keep an article. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 14:20, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

Revision, references and additional material

I am attempting to bring this article in line with Wikipedia standards by adding new material and references. Cmacauley (talk) 06:21, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

Cmacauley, for some more info on Opessa, if you can get it, check out: Lakomäki, Sami. Gathering Together: The Shawnee People Through Diaspora and Nationhood, 1600–1870. United Kingdom, Yale University Press, 2014. Kevin1776 (talk) 22:14, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Great resource, thanks! I'll make use of it. Cmacauley (talk) 22:36, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Few reliable sources on Meaurroway

I am concerned that most of the information in this article, including the title itself, is not referenced to reliable sources. I can find only 2 historical references to him, which only reveal that around 1697, he was an elderly Shawnee leader of some importance.

In Hanna, The Wilderness Trail (1911), p. 152: "The chiefs of the Shawnees who came from the South to Cecil County, Maryland, in 1692 and settled at Pequea Creek, near the Conestogas, about 1697, as we have seen, were Meaurroway and Opessa."

And in the Archives of Maryland (1903), pp. 428-29. From 1698 (I think): "[I]n the Evening Came Meaurroway King of the Shawanoes brought on horseback by reason of his Age together with one of his great men and one Martine Shartee a french man resident & married Among them [...] We tooke our Place where were present Connetectah King of the Susquehanahs, Meauroway King of the Shananoles with Penascoh his Coadjutant, & Owhahala King of the Delewares theire great men Sitting on one side there Interpreters Standing behind them."

Are there any other historical references to him? The "Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa" name, along with all of his supposed family connections, appear to come from unreliable, self-published genealogies that have been described as fraudulent by other genealogists. Unless there are some reliable sources I have not yet seen (and I hope there are), I'm afraid we don't have enough information about Meaurroway to have an article about him. Kevin1776 (talk) 23:39, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

I found a good scholarly reference (by searching for the spelling "Meauroway") here. The relevant passage is:

When the Shawnee leaders were summoned to a meeting with Maryland authorities in 1697, their chief was still the “aged” Meauroway, who had led them from Fort St. Louis. He was accompanied by what the record calls “his coadjutant, Penascoh,” which most authorities think is a rendering of Opessa (AM 19:574). The Shawnee language did not have a simple “s” sound, and Opessa’s Shawnee name was probably more like Opeththa. By 1700 Opessa had apparently become their sole chief. Opessa seems to have had a close relationship with the French trader Martin Chartier. Chartier married a Shawnee woman and their son, Peter Chartier, later became a chief of one Shawnee band. Since a chief’s power among the Shawnee was partly hereditary, we can assume that Peter Chartier’s mother was a woman of high status, and it has often been speculated that she was a sister or daughter of Opessa. (p. 35)

So this confirms that Meauroway was the leader of the Shawnees who came from Starved Rock with Martin Chartier, and that Opessa became their sole chief by 1700. We have no confirmation for any of Meauroway's family members. It seems probable that an over-imaginative genealogist has concocted Meauroway's family tree. Alas, there is little biographical information about individual Shawnees before the 1690s. As it now stands, we don't have enough reliable information for an article on Meauroway, but we can (and should) mention him in Opessa's article, since historians have written about him enough for an article. Kevin1776 (talk) 16:35, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

I agree. I've spent some time trying to find reliable information on Meauroway, without success. Do you suggest that the article be deleted? Cmacauley (talk) 18:48, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

I would say redirect to Opessa and mention Meauroway's reliable info there, since they were "coadjutants" for a brief recorded time. And then the unreliable genealogical info needs trimmed from Opessa's article. As far as I know, the only verifiable relative of Opessa is his son Laypareawah (or Loyparcowah), although they may be others I don't know about. Kevin1776 (talk) 00:56, 15 December 2021 (UTC)