KETCHE-WANK

"In the very interesting article on the High Bridge over the Croton River, there is reference to the Croton River "known by the name of Kitchawan, meaning 'swift river'," Since additional contributions of information were invited, I will venture to revise this translation.

"'Kitchawank,' 'Ketchewan,' or 'Kitchtawan' was a name applied not only to the river but more correctly to the chieftancy or native sub-tribe that inhabited the region north of the river which later was known--and properly so--as the 'Kwoton.'

"First as to 'Ketchewan'; the significance of this is in its first syllable, 'Ketche', meaning principal, to which is added the familiar 'anck' or 'onck.' These contrive to make the name of 'The Principal Land'; another title was applied to the people residing there.

"Next as to Croton: since there was no 'R' in the native tongue, one may assume that its present form is a corruption due to European pronunciation. This river is referred to in the deeds of 1686 and 1699 as 'Kightawonk' creek. In the course of the stream there was a point at a bend in the river which the natives designated by the term 'Kiwightigwock,' "Kewighecock' or Kewighelock,' according to its queer sound as European scribes heard it.

"The first part of the difficult word is rather near the name 'Kwoton.' This is compounded of part of the Indian words 'Wegua-tuck-onk,' clipped to 'Qua-Fu-on' or 'Kwoton.' Its meaning is 'The Boundary-Stream Place' or, as we would express it, 'The Stream Which Forms the Boundary' dividing, as it did, the lands of the Kitchawank from those of the Sint-Sinck.."

(Westchester County Historical Society, The Quarterly Bulletin, Reginald Pelham Bolton, "Ketche-Wank", Vol. 12 No. 1, January, 1936, p. 17)