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In 1779-80, Wryneck was referred to as "principal warrior and chief of the Pickowee tribe of the Shawanese Nation." He was actually Joshua Rennick, a white man.
Someone whose first language was Shawnee usually had trouble with the "R" sound, but Wryneck himself, whose first language was English, did not have that trouble.
A letter to the Filson Club, sent by Russell Johnston over forty years ago, contains much accurate information of the Renicks. "By now I have a fairly extensive genealogy of most of the branches of the Renick family, but not too much about Henry Renick's connection with the others. It seems to me that there were two brothers, George Renick and Thomas Renick, who came to Pennsylvania about 1720 from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. George's children removed from the vicinity of Paxtang or Derry, Lancaster Co, Pa, about 1740 to Augusta County, Va. One son of George was Robert who was Captain of Augusta County Militia and is said to have been wounded at Braddock's defeat in 1756. He was killed by a raiding party of Indians in 1757 and his family taken captives. They were returned under the provisions of Bouquet's treaty about 1764--except for one son, Joshua, who refused to leave the Indians and, according to family tradition, raised in the family of Tecumseh and became a chief of the Miamis. One of his sons is said to have been Logan...."
In July, 1857, Robert Rennick was killed by Indians at the forks of the James River. Mrs. Rennick and their seven children were made prisoners. Among the captives delivered up to Bouquet in 1764 were a Nancy Raneck, a Peggy Reyneck and her four brothers. See Hanna, II, 388.
An Indian named Ryeneck appears among the Indians who dealt with the Ohio Company Indian traders.
Wryneck was one of the Shawnees invited to a council in 1775. Capt. James Wood noted in his journal that "The Cornstalk, Nimwha, Wryneck, Blue Jacket, Silver Heels, and about fifteen other Shawnee arrived; they immediately got drunk and continued in that situation for two days." See Thwaites,´ Rev. on the Upper Ohio˛, ±p. 41.
See Draper Mss. 15S37; Wryneck resided at the Pickaway Town (Piqua); but apparently, he moved to the Wabash where he made a peace with George Rogers Clark in 1778, according to Draper Mss. 1H17.
In January, 1779, Wryneck (Aquilsia) was at a council representing the Shawnees of Piqua. Present was Capt. McKee, Lt. Caldwell, Mr. Elliot, Simon Girty, George Girty, James Girty, Simon Surphet, the Raven (the Cherokee chief), the Weed (an Iroquois chief), and River Bottom (a Mingo). His speech reflected the sentiments expressed by the others present, agreeing to take up the rusty hatchet in defense of their lands against the encroaching Big Knife (Kentuckians and Virginians). See Seineke, p. 416.
See Draper 21V131: After the storm of the Revolutionary War had measurably subsided, as it did for awhile, Joshua Rennick, accompanied by an Indian named The Racer, united with his white connections in Greenbriar County. His brother, William, tried to evangelize him, to make him stay with the whites, but Joshua Rennick was "thoroughly imbibed with the Indian dread of restraint," and he would not stay among them.
There is the story of how he managed to escape the traps that were set for him, and of how glad he was to return to his people, the Shawnees living on the Wabash. Draper says, "...he was a free man again and soon returned to his people in the Indian Country but died a year or two afterwards, about 1784, when his youngest son James was perhaps ten years of age. His oldest son, John, was some two years older."
According to Draper Mss. 4CC117-119, Wryneck was the father of the Shawnee, Lawba or James Logan. For a speech of Wryneck, see ´Mich. Pio. & Hist. Col., ±vol. 20, p. 181.
See Draper 11S210-214: Chieska's notice of Wryneck's death was in the message to the Ft. Nelson; David Owens carried a message back from Col. George Walls to the Indian towns expressing sorrow for "the loss of your great chief Wryneck." These messages are also in the Virginia State Papers.
You won't find any mention of Wryneck in Allan Eckert's work, Tecumseh. He says in a footnote (page 697) that "in twenty-five years of research," he finds no evidence for the Joshua Rennick story except "a brief comment in a letter written in September 1845 to historian Lyman Draper [see Draper Manuscripts DD-YY-1/44], in which one Robert Remick (also spelled once as Renick) states the tradition that his father, Joshua, married Tecumseh's elder sister, Tecumapese, and that Joshua Remick was the father of Spemica Lawba."
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