Group opposes Stewart's use of name to sell furniture

By WILLIAM LAMB
Members of North Jersey’s Ramapough Indians are objecting to Martha Stewart’s effort to market a new furniture line under the brand name “Katonah” because the name belongs to a 17th-century tribal chief.
Stewart already was in a trademark dispute with a community group in the hamlet of Katonah, in Westchester County, N.Y., where she owns a 153-acre estate.


Now the Katonah Village Improvement Society has enlisted support from leaders of the Ramapough Indians, who say Stewart’s bid to trademark the name “Katonah” exploits the memory of a revered ancestor.
According to legend, Chief Katonah led the Ramapough Indians in North Jersey until the late 1600s, when the Dutch chased them into what is now New York State, said Steven Burton, a member of the Deer Clan of the Ramapough Lenape Nation.
Chief Katonah eventually sold the area near present-day Katonah, N.Y., to white settlers, Burton said.
“We’re concerned that she’s trying to trademark the Katonah name, as anybody would,” Burton said. “It’s our ancestor whose name she’s using to exploit for money.”
A spokeswoman for Stewart’s company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said the homemaking advocate and television personality wants to use the “Katonah” name to sell home furnishings, paints and other products.
The spokeswoman, Diana Pearson, has said Stewart “seeks to honor the town and the hamlet by using the word ‘Katonah.’ ”
Pearson declined to comment Tuesday when asked about the Ramapoughs’ objections.
Autumn Scott, who represents the Ramapough Indians on the New Jersey Department of State Commission on American Indian Affairs, said she didn’t believe that Stewart had set out to hurt feelings by appropriating the name.
“I think that she is doing what she does best, and that is market and make money,” Scott said. “The thing that really disturbs me and a number of people in our community is the fact that she’s doing it for profit, and that she, I’m sure, is totally uninformed and uneducated as to anything dealing with the Native American community.”
Scott said the Ramapoughs had enlisted support from the Powatan-Renape and Nanticoke Leni-Lenape tribes, both of which have strong representation in New Jersey.
“I don’t think [Stewart] is even aware of how many hundreds of thousands of native people are offended by this, and how many thousands live within her immediate area that are watching this and are very concerned,” Scott said. “That’s why it’s important for us to stand up and give voice to our community.”
This article contains material from The Associated Press. E-mail: lamb@northjersey.com