Indian Ann, Indian Mills, NJ - New Jersey Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Ann, born in 1804, was the daughter of Chief Lasha (sometimes called Ash) Tamar, and was among a small number of her tribesman that did not accept an invitation to relocate to Oneida Lake, New York.

Local stories read that Ann met with a local white girl on the Bread and Cheese trail...and shared a lunch by a stream, which now bears a name from this lunch. Ann introduced Mary to her father, who escorted her back to town and recounted the lunch the girls shared to her family. The area, is now called Inawendiwin, a word meaning "friendship", coined by Ann's father.

It is known that Ann became a reknown basket weaver, and her wares are a treasured Pinelands find. It is not known when she began weaving, or when she met and married her first husband, Peter Green, a former slave. Little is known about how former slaves came to be in this area, it may have been from the famed Underground Railroad, or from a slave camp that was reputed in the area (no evidence has ever been found). It is also not known when or how her first husband died.

There is more known about Ann's second husband, John Roberts, who served in the Civil War, Company A, 22nd Regiment of Colored Troops. He would have been much her junior, as they married in 1864, when Ann would have been sixty-four years of age. Roberts died in a hospital in Yorktown, Virginia after serving thirteen months in the Union Army.

After his death, Ann began receiving a pension of $8 a month, increasing to $12 when she was eighty-two. That was considerable income for the time.

John and Ann lived in a small frame house on Dingletown Road, not far from Indian Mills. There were seven children. Ann lived in this house until her death.

Ann wore her hair in long thick braids, and smoked a clay pipe. She had a clock that needed winding with a key, but for some reason she was afraid to wind it herself, and often had local children perform this task for her.

Her grave sits, appropriately, in the Tabernacle Cemetary, not far from the place where she lived. Each Memorial Day, the president of the Tabernacle Historical Society places flowers on her grave...memorial to the last of the Lenni Lenape tribe of the Pinelands.

Marker Name: Indian Ann Marker Type: Local? Unofficial Marker text: Indian Ann Celebrated Ann Roberts, last of the Delawares in this State, resided here until her death in 1894. She has become a legend in the Pines. Dedication Date: 01/01/1970 City: Indian Mills County: Burlington Group responsible for placement: Indian Mills Historical Society Web Link: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/26/2022 Don.Morfe visited it 12/03/2013 professor26 wrote comment for it

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