Description
The Nabedache were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. An alternate theory says their original name was Wawadishe from the Caddo word, witish, meaning "salt." The Nabedache was the western branch of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy. Their traditional territory was located between the Neches and Trinity Rivers. For a century or more after European contact, the Nabedaches lived in a village called San Pedro forty-five miles southwest of the location mentioned by Joutel and twelve or fifteen miles west of the Neches. In May 1690 Fray Damián Massanet and Alonso De León founded the San Francisco de los Tejas Mission at the Nabedache village. In 1690–91 the Nabedache Indians suffered an epidemic.
Language
Nabedache – A tribe from eastern Texas, their name means “blackberry place” in the Caddo language.
Culture
The Caddo Native Americans had a culture that consisted of the hunting and gathering dynamic. The men hunted year round, while the young and healthy women were responsible for the gathering of fruits, seeds, and vegetables for the tribe. Elderly women planted and cultivated the seeds for the season's crop. Gathered items included corn, sunflowers, beans, melons, tobacco, and squash during the warm seasons. Acorns and roots were gathered and processed to provide food other than meat in the cold seasons when crops did not grow. The men used handcrafted bows and arrows to hunt animals such as wild turkey, quail, rabbits, bears, and bison during winter months. Most tools and items were made by women.