Local News
MILFORD BOROUGH, PA – Milford Borough President, Matt Osterberg, began the September 13 monthly meeting by updating the audience on the Tom Quick Monument issue. The artwork is an obelisk, officially known as the Settlers Monument. Since the obelisk has been torn from its base in 1997, the possible restoration has remained as a highly controversial subject for seven years.
Osterberg said that he had predicted at the previous meeting that an announcement would soon be made about the monument’s fate, but at the moment, the council was still considering its options.
Many have speculated that the monument was torn down by people incensed at the legend of Tom Quick. According to the legend, Tom Quick jr., saw Indians scalping his father and swore to scalp at least 100 Native Americans in revenge. He supposedly scalped 99 Indians and wished on his deathbed to have scalped one more.
The obelisk was erected in 1889, long after Tom Quick, jr., had died in 1795. The legend surrounding Tom Quick, jr., is hard to prove, since it occurred in the 1750s, before this country won its independence from Great Britain.
A forum was held at the Tom Quick Inn, in Milford on
June 25, 2003. Some Native Americans, such as Chief Maurice Gentlelmoon DeMund, have stated that such a setting was inappropriate and may have deterred other Native Americans from attending. He also said that he had not been contacted about attending the discussion.
At the forum, the Pike County Historical Society, (PCHS) presented the findings of its own research. By the end of the forum, most people agreed that no proof existed supporting the legend.
Part of the research was conducted by Milford Borough Council member, Bill Kiger who consulted a Native American named Tom Burke of Greentown, also known as Chief Wounded Bear. Based on the findings of the June forum, a decision was made to restore the statue to its base.
Wounded Bear attended the September, 2003 Milford Borough Council meeting and told the attendees that he had checked with all the Native American communities in the U.S. and that the general feeling was that without proof of any wrongdoing, the statue should be restored to its base.
He said it was also important to address the antiquated wording referring to the Indians as “savages” on the original monument plaque. At the September 2003 meeting it was announced that the restoration and dedication ceremony would take place in Spring, 2004.
In April, 2004, Maurice Gentlemoon DeMund and Jim Beer, representing the Lenape tribe, spoke at the Milford Borough Council meeting. The Lenape tribe was the group of Native Americans living in the Milford area at the time of the Tom Quick Legend. The two men urged the council to reconsider the restoration of the monument. The presence of the two Lenape representatives awoke more controversy. They represent the tribe who lived in the area during the 1750s, but they, themselves, currently reside outside of Pike County. DeMund thanked Wounded Bear for his efforts to resolve the conflict but added that Wounded Bear is of Cree ancestry and the Lenape tribe was the one affected.
During the September, 2004 Milford Borough Council meeting, Council member James Price explained that most of the borough residents wanted to see the monument returned to its base, “but the majority of the people don’t want it up for five minutes.” He explained that many have indicated that as soon as the monument would be restored, another group of vandals would tear it down again. He said that the current plan is get an agreement from the Lenape side so that the borough could restore the obelisk and that the monument would remain intact “50 years from now.”
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