02. Grinter Place

Our next stop is in Lenape Country at Grinter Place State Historic Site. This site is named for Moses Grinter and his wife Annie. Moses came west to Fort Leavenworth shortly after its construction. He then was authorized to operate a ferry across the Kansas River near an earlier trading post. Moses married Annie Marshall, a Delaware, and they began a family. Eventually they would raise fruit, vegetables, and livestock while operating a trading post and continuing to operate the ferry, as it connected the Permanent Indian Frontier. This line ran from Fort Snelling, Minnesota to Fort Jesup, Louisiana. Its purpose was to keep the western tribes from attempting to push the new immigrants back to their old homelands.

 

Annie is an example of an individual and family member who chose to intermarry and join American society. Other families and bands did not. To preserve the old ways, customs, and religion, some chose to move further away. Others chose a different route.