A circumstance more suggestive perhaps than any other of the truly primitive condition of Wise County at the time of its settlement, was the discovery here of a band of aboriginees peacefully inhabiting its confines and rarely emerging beyond them. What is known of this tribe of Indians was gained principally from their own revelations and is of a nature so meager as to leave their ancestry and prior history shrouded in mystery. Through them it became known that they were a branch of the Delaware tribe, but from whence they came or what land they had originally occupied" was never learned..

The band found here numbered about 65 men, women and children, and was presided over by two chiefs; an elderly one named Jim Ned, and a younger one named Tom Williams. These English names they doubtless achieved from the settlers themselves. Jim Ned was supreme in command of the tribe, Tom Williams being a sub-chief of a division. When the band was first discovered Jim Ned had the appearance of a man of about fifty years of age, was slightly grey-haired, and of much darker complexion than Tom Williams whose shade of color was more that of a Mongolian. The tribe lived true to their original customs and habits, which were to forage about the country in search of game and fish, the most of the time united, but occasionally separated into two bands which occupied different territories, but pursuing the same ends, hunting and fishing. After they had been separated for some time they would then reunite and seem thoroughly to enjoy the coming together. A district would be occupied until its fish and game supply was diminished, and then a removal would occur to another section. In this way the Indians hunted over every portion of the county, but it was observed that their operations were being more and more confined to the western part as if gradually being pushed out of their wonted haunts by the incoming settlers. Their relations with the sparse settlers were at all times of a peaceable and friendly character, and no criminal acts are recorded of them, yet in their personal habits they were truly barbaric, upon which account no women could visit their camps with impunity. The tribe is remembered to have first been in camp in the eastern part of the county near Piper's Springs, on Catlett Creek, in 1853. Dr. Renshaw found them there when he came out to make his land locations in that year. From Piper's Springs they removed to the vicinity of Sand Hill, and established their village near the farm of Lem Cartwright. Next, they moved and camped in what is now the Muse neighborhood and from thence on their movements were towards the west with stoppings in Jennings' Valley, on Sandy Creek, and Martin's Valley on the West Fork. Their last camp is thought to have been near the Jim Ned Springs, in Jack County, from which place they were removed by United States soldiers and confined on the reservation at Ft. Belknap.

In Wise County the chiefs mingled freely with the settlers and eagerly partook of the supplies of tobacco, food and fabrics that were given them. They also exchanged hides and furs, beads and moccasins with the settlers, receiving such articles of use and others of frivolous value as they needed or admired. Horse trading was also one of their chief accomplishments, and a herd of ponies was constantly kept to enable them to indulge in the practice.

Their living abodes were constructed of crossed upright poles, over which blankets were thrown for protection. The squaw members did all the manual labor about the camp, building the fires, cooking the food, dressing the skins and making the moccasins which were to be sold or traded.

The establishment of Howell's Store had the effect of quickening the endeavors of the tribe at providing hides and furs for sale and exchange. Mr. Howell brought large supplies of gaudily colored fabrics and shining trinkets which appealed to the Indian eye and quickened their endeavors to secure them. They came to the little store to trade, and their presence added that touch of color to the picturesque scene which rendered it typically frontier in aspect.

In coming to market, they rode single-file with the bucks in the lead and the squaws behind, and if strangers were met they grunted an austere "how" their interpretation of the English "howdy." Upon arriving, all dismounted, the squaws sat flat on the ground and the bucks did the trading. They bought brown sugar, tobacco, whiskey, blankets and gaudy ginghams and calicoes. They always brought along buckskin robes, furs and moccasins to trade to the store-keepers and to the settlers.

They were skilled at many games and experts at riding, and shot the arrow with such sureness of aim as to astonish the natives. Shooting matches, foot- and horse-racing always followed their visits to town. Small coins in forked sticks were put up at distances and the Indians won them by striking with the arrow. Their fleet foot-runners were rarely outdistanced, and their racing ponies were trained to astonishing speed.
In the tribe was a small boy, nearly white of complexion, whose presence there was a constant source of mystery and suspicion to the settlers, but with a bow and arrow he was a deadly shot, rarely failing at any target.

The tribe developed an iniquitous habit; they would come to Howell's store, thoroughly intoxicate themselves with whiskey, and then retire to the neighboring hills, cover themselves with blankets and lie down to let the sun absorb the spirits from their bodies by the sweating process. Sometimes they would lie in the blazing sun for two days at a time.

In 1859 this friendly tribe of Delawares was removed to Ft. Belknap, to secure them against the murderous designs of the wild tribes, whose enmity had been aroused because of the Delawares' peaceable relations with the whites. Finally they were caught unprotected by an atrocious band of Comanches and exterminated.