What is "kiondashawa"

Kiondashawa, or "Flying Fish", lived in the mid-to-late 18th century. He was a chief of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware Nation) and primary chief of The Pymatuning, a series of villages along the Shenango River from New Castle, PA to above the Linesville, PA area near the current Pymatuning Reservoir

Not much is known of Kiondashawa. It is said that he was a peaceful man who aided the newly arriving settlers on Pennsylvania's western frontier and Connecticut's Western Reserve (present northeastern Ohio).

He acted as a political liaison between his people and the Seneca Nation, and for a brief period, the new settlers in the valley. The name Shenango is said to have been derived from the Native American who once dominated the hunting land along what is now the Shenango River.

A story is told of him that he walked from his village at the great bend ( Big Bend) on the Shenango River to Sandusky, Ohio (nearly 150 miles), barefoot, in the snows of winter, to avenge the murder of a female settler by one of his own relatives.

No one knows what became of Chief Kiondashawa. He may have been buried at his village at Big Bend, or perhaps he moved westwards as more and more settlers entered his land.