Katonah (Native American leader)

Chief Katonah was a Lenape sachem who led both the Wiechquaeskeck band of Wappinger in the Greenwich, Stamford, and Bedford area, from whom the land of the town of Bedford, New York was purchased, and the Ramapo. The Ramapo Sachemdom was part of the Tankiteke Chieftaincy of the Wappinger League, of the Mohegan tribe of the Algonquians.
Biography.
Katonah was the sachem of the condensed remnant tribes called the Ramapo. He lived in the area in the late seventeenth century. Records show that in 1708 the Ridgefield settlers petitioned the General Assembly at Hartford to remove the Ramapo. Katonah sold the Ramapo lands of 20,000 acres for 100 Pounds Sterling to the "Proprietors of Ridgefield". His name appears on land deeds up to 1743. The Remnant tribe of the Ramapo scattered to the north and west. Chief Katonah was the son of Onox (the elder) and the grandson of Ponus, Sachem of the Rippowams. Katonah was the successor to Powahay, his brother. Katonah had a brother named Onox and a son named Papiag who also signed land deeds. His uncle, Tapgow, son of Ponus, signed many land deeds in northern New Jersey including the Schuyler Patent or the Ramapo Tract Deed in 1710 in northern New Jersey. Katonah was married to Cantitoe, sometimes known as Mustato, said to be of the Pompton tribe. Their daughter married Samuel Mohawk alias Chickens Warrups.
Legend has it that Katonah died of grief after his wife and son were killed by lightning. He is said to be buried with them in Katonah's Wood, off New York State Route 22. William Will's poem "Katonah" describes him laid beneath a giant boulder and the others under two smaller immediately adjacent boulders.
Legacy.
The hamlet of Katonah, New York, located within Bedford, is named for Chief Katonah.
In 2007, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia applied for a trademark on the Katonah name for a line of furniture. Members of the Ramapough Lenape Nation who are descendants of Katonah joined forces with local residents to oppose it.