SERENDIPITY

Lenape Lands
“SERENDIPITY”

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I began my quest for the LENAPE History by a process that I now call “serendipity.”  “Making pleasant and unexpected discoveries entirely by chance.” 

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At Oklahoma State University about 1971 I was given an assignment to help State Extension Agents in ten prairie states deal with “Feedlot Waste Management.” 

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As I traveled into each state I would buy and read a book about the state.   When I visited in Nebraska, I had little spare time throughout most of the visit.  As my wife and I departed the University of Nebraska bookstore, I saw a book entitled
“Ancient Pioneers, Early Early Connections.”  I thought the book was about the pioneer couple, who were featured as the mascots of the Nebrasa sport teams.

A string of decisions led to my being in the University of Nebraska bookstore.  But those decisions were, each one, “entirely by chance.”  They had no relation to the “Ancient Pioneers” book, which I bought.
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SERENDIPITY #1.

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Astri A. Stromsted wrote a book about ancient Norse pioneers.
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I was reading the book as my wife drove.
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I came across another discovery.  Four thousand Norse oeople vanished from Greenland.  No one knew where they went. 
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SERENDIPITY #2.

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I remember exclaiming. “I am 52 years old.   I read history books all my life.  Why is it that I never heard of the 4.000 people, who vanished from Greenland?”

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At home I told my family about the 4,000 people, who  varnished.  I told them that, when I retire, I would find out where the 4000 people went.  “4,000 people cannot vanish with out leaving a record.”

But I still had thirteen years to make a living.  I put the book references into my Commodore 64 computer.  I added references to the VIKING and the RED MAN.
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Then I forgot the Ancient Pioneers.

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Then I, a man who should have been settled  for the rest og hid life, moved at least eight  times into four states. I changed computer systems three times.

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Afer a year into retirement, I told my daughter, “I do not know what to do with myself.”  She said, “Dad, remember that book you were going to write?”

I searched my computer’s memory for “Ancient Pioneers”.
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SERENDIPITY #3.
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The Ancient Pioneers data was an unexpected find.

LENAPE LANDS

LENAPE LANDS

Dr. Myron Paine

Feb 4, 2020

INTRODUCTION

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Today I am reflecting on two decades of research about places I call LENAPE LANDS.

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Recently I summarized what I think are facts about the LENAPE LANDS.  Here are those facts:

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We learned a colonial history, which is not accurate.

We should teach a more accurate paradigm.

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1. There was a Pan-North Atlantic Culture, which spoke Old Norse, 4,500  ya.

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2. In the 11 to the 15th centuries, the Lenape composed a history, which still exists.

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3. The Catholic religion came to North America during the 12th century.

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4. The Catholics in America called themselves Lenape, which means “Abide with the pure.”

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5.  The Lenape History tells about a migration from Greenland to New Jersey, via the Dakotas

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6. When the English invaded, most people in eastern North America spoke Old Norse.

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7. Colonial leaders knew the LENAPE spoke Old Norse and had archaic Christian traditions.

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8. The Protestants, who came to America, suppressed Lenape by omitting them from the printing presses.

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I am writing this history to encourage educators to challenge their students to verify the fact that when the English invaded, most Americans were Catholics, who spoke Old Norse.  If educators do nothing, early history in America will remain suppressed.

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This will be a story about my research about the Lenape history.  The LENAPE HISTORY appears to have been compiled about the time of the Little Ice Age.  But the LENAPE HISTORIANS, who compiled the LENAPE History,  appear to have started the LENAPE History about “the lands we left behind,” Which is Greenland.

SERENDIPITY