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This article is about the Native American tribe. For the U.S. state, see Massachusetts.
Massachusett
Massachuseuck[1]
Muhsachuweeseeak[2]
Location of the Massachusett and related peoples of southern New England.
Total population
Total population ~150
80 Ponkapoag Massachusett (2011)[3]
50 Natick Massachusett-Nipmuc (2013)[4]
Regions with significant populations
 United States: Massachusetts
Languages
English, formerly Massachusett language.
Religion
Christianity, traditionally Algonquian traditional religion.
Related ethnic groups
Nipmuc, Wampanoag, Narraganasett, Mohegan, Pequot, Pocomtuc, Montaukett and other Algonquian peoples

The Massachusett are a Native American people and ethnic group in the United States Commonwealth of Massachusetts, mostly inhabiting their traditional homeland which covers much of present-day Greater Boston. The people take their name from the Algonquian, which is a tribal term meaning “At the Great Hill” - referring to the Blue Hills overlooking Boston Harbor from the south – which was a ceremonial and sacred area for the people of the region.

As some of the first people to make contact with the European explorers and English colonists, the Massachusett and other coastal peoples were severely decimated from an outbreak of leptospirosis circa 1619, which had mortality rates as high as 90% in these areas. This was followed by devastating impacts of virgin soil epidemics such as smallpox, influenza, scarlet fever and others to which the indigenous people lacked natural immunity. Their territories, on the more fertile and flat coastlines, with access to coastal resources, were mostly taken over by English colonists, as the Massachusett were too few in number to put up any effective resistance.

Under the missionary John Eliot, the majority of the Massachusett were converted to Christianity and settled in 'Praying towns' established where the converted Native Americans were expected to submit to the colonial laws, accept some elements of English culture and forced to abandon their traditional religion, but were allowed to use their language. Through intermediaries, Eliot learned the language and even published a translation of the Bible. The language, related to other Eastern Algonquian languages but more specifically, the regional languages of southern New England, would slowly fade, ceasing to serve as the primary language of the Massachusett communities by the 1750s, and the language was likely extinct by the early years of the nineteenth century. The Massachusett language was shared with several other peoples in the region, and the Wampanoag preserved their dialect of the language until the death of its last speaker sometime in the 1890s.

The last of their common lands were sold in the early nineteenth century, loosening the community and social bonds that held the Massachusett families together, and most of the Massachusett were forced to settle amongst their English neighbors, but mainly settled the poorer sections of towns where they were segregated with Black Americans, recent immigrants and other Native Americans. The Massachusett mainly assimilated and integrated into the surrounding communities.

The Ponkapoag Massachusett claim descendency from the Praying Indians of Ponkapoag, centered around what is now Canton, Massachusetts, and the Natick Massachusett-Nipmuc. As the Natick were formed from a substantial input of Nipmuc families and maintained a close connection with the Nipmuc communities, the Natick Massachusett-Nipmuc are recognized as a tribe of Nipmuc, via their involvement with the Nipmuc Nation.[citation needed]

Ethnonyms

Endonyms

View from atop Massachusett, known today in English as Great Blue Hill, was the namesake of the Massachusett tribe. From the sacred peak, nearly all the traditional territory of the Massachusett people could be seen.

The native name Massachuseuck (Muhsachuweeseeak) /məhs at͡ʃəw iːs iː ak/—singular Massachusee (Muhsachuweesee)—signifies "People of Massachusett" or "People of the place of the Great Hill" and is derived from Massachusett (Muhsachuweesut), "Place of the Great Hill," which in turn is the indigenous name for Great Blue Hill located in Ponkapoag. The people later adopted Massachusett (Muhsachuweesut) as an interchangeable form under the influence of the English Puritans but this was contrary to traditional practice.

The Massachusett also just referred to themselves as nunnuock (nunuwak) /nən əw ak/, or the "people," especially when encountering other Massachusett people. Collectively with the other peoples of southern New England that spoke mutually intelligible languages and dialects, the Massachusestt may have also used the term ninnnimissinûwok (nunumusunuwak) /nən ə məsən əw ak/, which refers to the "common people" but implies a sense of loyalty to a specific tribe or people of the region. These terms were later replaced by Indiansog (Indiansak), "Indians," adopted from English usage.

Name derivation1
Colonial spelling mishe/missi-[5] wachu/wadchu[6] -ees -et/-it[7]
Wôpanâak-dialect modern spelling muhs-[8] wachuw[9] -ees -ut[7]
Pronunciation /məhs/ /wat͡ʃəw/2 /iːs/3 /ət/
Meaning 'great', 'sacred', 'big' 'mountain' diminutive suffix, 'small' locative suffix, 'place'
Muhsachuweesut and syncopated Massachusett (*Muhshachuwsut)
  • ^1 The true ethnic name is Massachuseuck (Muhsachuweeseeak) (plural form), which is derived from the place name Massachusett (Muhsachuweesut).
  • ^2 When prefixed, morphemes lose their initial consonants in most environments, thus the initial /w/ of wachuw is dropped when preceded by muhs-.
  • ^3 The Massachusett language historically resisted syncope, but the diminutive suffix -ees was often shortened to simply /s/ in rapid speech and the dialects that allowed syncope. The loss could also be the flawed transcription of the Native name by the English settlers.

Exonyms

The English adopted the term "Massachusett" for the people despite the fact that it technically referred to the place and not the people. With an "s" at the end, the name was later applied to Massachusetts Bay and the colony, now state, known as Massachusetts. The colonial records indicate various spellings such as "Masichewsetta," "Massachuset," "Mastusets" and many others until the current form "Massachusett" supplanted them and derives directly from Massachusett (Muhsachuweeseeak). The spelling and pronunciation in English may have also been influenced by confusion with another Massachusett-language place name, Moswetuset (Muhsweetyuweesut) /məhs wiː tʲuː iːs ət/, "Place of the Great Small House [of the Chief]," which is a reference to another sacred area, Moswetuset Hummock in Misquantum.[10] For specifics, the English also referred to the Massachusett by their location, for example the Massachusett at Ponkapoag were frequently referred to as Ponkapoag Indians.

When referring to all the Native peoples, the English referred to them as "Indians" due to the erroneous belief that Christopher Columbus had reached the East Indies and recorded the indigenous people as indios, i.e., "Indians," translations of which were adopted by the various European nations exploring and settling the Americas. As the English explorers and colonists in New England became more familiar with the local peoples, the term Indian was re-enforced. At first, the term was used as the English were unaware and ignorant of political and ethnic divisions but later, they realized that all the peoples they initially encountered were closely related in culture and language. The Natives were also referred to as "Savages" due to their traditional religious practices and the prejudices of the Europeans. After the Indians were converted, the Indian proselytes were called "Praying Indians."

The French, who explored the area prior to English settlement and had already established the colony of New France in what is now Québec, Canada, referred to the Massachusett people as the Almouchiquois or variant Armouchiquois. The term is likely a French corruption from some Algonquian language referring to the "Dog people" or "Dog eater" and was likely a pejorative reference.[11] In later periods, the French referred to all the Natives of New England as the Loups, "Wolf people," especially in regards to the Native refugees of King Philip's War and subsequent skirmishes between the Natives and English settlers.[12] The French also used the terms Indiens, "Indians," and Sauvages, "savages," as collective terms for Native peoples during their colonial period in North America.

Location

Neponset River in Dorchester. Waterfalls and rapids were gathering places for the Massachusett, as they caught fish during their spawning runs that were dried and smoked such as salmon, trout, alewife, herring, and eels.

The traditional territory of the Massachusett people consisted mainly of the narrow coastal plains along Massachusetts Bay in what is now eastern Massachusetts. When the Pawtucket are included, this area includes the North Shore, the South Shore, MetroWest, the lower Merrimack Valley, Cape Ann and insular areas such as the Boston Harbor Islands. From the coastline, the Massachusett extended roughly twenty miles inward which roughly corresponds to the fall line of many rivers. Major watersheds, from north to south, include those of the Mystic, the Quinobegan, the Neponset, the Weymouth Fore and the North rivers. The coastal plains, particularly along the rivers and estuaries, were amongst the most fertile lands in New England aside from the Connecticut River Valley and the numerous rivers were rich in fish, especially during annual spawning runs.

To the north of the Massachusett were the Pawtucket (Pâwatuhqut), "People of the Rapids," a Massachusett-speaking people that were originally part of the Massachusett but were later conquered by the Pennacook, an Abenakian people of the central Merrimack Valley, but continued to maintain cultural, political, kinship and linguistic ties to the other Massachusett tribes. To the west were the various Nipmuc or Nippamaug (Nupamâq)[13][14], "People of the Freshwater Fishing Ponds," who although did not speak Massachusett spoke a very similar language. To the south and southwest of the Massachusett were the various Massachusett-speaking tribes of Wampanoag or Wampanoag (Wôpanâak), "People of the Dawn," with the dividing line roughly corresponding to the southern edges of what is now Norfolk County.

In the traditional Massachusett worldview, their traditional territory or Nutokhemminnit[15] (Nutakheemunut),[15][16] "place of our land," was located in Wompanohkeit[17][15] (Wôpanahkeeut) /wãp an ahk iː ət/, "dawn land"—a reference to the Eastern Seaboard and does not imply a connection to the Wampaoag people. Specifically, the homeland included all that could be seen from the peak of Massachusett (Muhsachuweesut), the indigenous name for Great Blue Hill in Ponkapoag.

As a result of a loss of land, by the 1660s the Massachusett were concentrated in the Praying towns of Natick, Ponkapoag (Canton), Titicut (Bridgewater) and Mattakeesett (Pembroke). Modern descendants of the Massachusett continue to inhabit their traditional territory, especially the Dorchester and the Mattapan districts of Boston and neighboring municipalities such as Quincy, Framingham, Mansfield, Stoughton and Milton, Massachusetts.[18]

Massachusett settlements[18]

Traditional divisions and organization

The most basic unit of organization were small bands, usually consisting of several families, that travelled together to the seasonal sites depending on time of year, and led by a chief, usually a distinguished elder of the tribe. Several bands, often meeting together during the annual spawning runs of fish or times of importance were nominally headed by a regional chief. Very little is known about the divisions that existed and the English colonial records do not mention their respective names, but the records do record the names of the regional chiefs and their territories during the early period.[18] As a result of rapid population loss to epidemics and loss of land to encroachment and usurpation, most of the leaders of the Massachusett submitted to the colonial government and the missionary efforts of John Eliot and were confined to the Praying towns. The appointment of guardians to administer the assets of the Praying Indians and represent them before the colony in 1743 ended the authority of local chiefs and the last vestiges of traditional tribal organization.[19]

  • Chickatawbut, sachem of most of the lands south of the Charles River all the way to Ponkapoag. His son, Wompatuck, would assume "sachemship" over the Mattakeeset tribe near Pembroke.
  • Nanepashemet, sachem of the Pawtucket peoples north of the Charles River. The Pawtucket were Massachusett bands that through kinship and the weakening of the Massachusett, came under the influence of the Pennacook Confederacy controlled by the Pennacook along the Merrimack in what is now central and southern New Hampshire. The nominal control of Pawtucket territory after was split between his widow Squaw Sachem of Mistick and his three sons:
    • Wonohaquaham, also known as Sagamore John, ruled over the area around Winnisimmet and Saugus.
    • Montowampate, also known as Sagamore James, ruled over Massebequash to the shores of Lynn.
    • Wenepoykin, also known as Sagamore George, Winnepurkett and George Rumney Marsh, ruled over the islands of Boston Harbor and what is now Winthrop. He became the primary leader of the Pawtucket after the death of his brothers to the smallpox epidemic of 1633.
  • Manatahqua, also known as Black William, ruled over Nahant and Swampscott. He was killed in 1631 in retaliation for the death of William Bagnall, though he had no connection to Bagnall nor was he present in Maine during Bagnall's murder.
  • Cato, also known as Goodman, ruled over the area of Musketaquid, somewhere near Concord and Sudbury. Cato sold most his lands to English settlers in 1649. Sometimes listed as Nipmuc.
  • Nahaton, around the area of Natick and Sherborn. Descendants of Nahaton joined Ponkapoag and became a prominent family there, although many used variants of the name such as Ahawton, Nahanton, Ahanton, Ahaughton or Hahaton.
  • Cutshamekin, leader of the Neponset tribe around Mattapan, Squantum, Monatiquot and Unquityquesset. Cutshamekin led his people to settle in the Praying town of Ponkapoag, but angered his people by selling the tribal lands along the shore to the colonists. Brother of Chickatawbut and uncle to Wompatuck.

Language

Main article: Massachusett language
The index and first page of Genesis from Eliot's translation of the Bible into the Natick speech of Massachusett in 1663, the Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God.

The Massachusett language, Massachusee unontꝏwaok (Muhsachuweesee unôtuwôâôk) /məhsatʃəwiːsiː ənãtəwaːãk/, was an important language of New England as it was also the native language of the Wampanoag, Nauset, Cowesset and Pawtucket peoples, and due to its similarity with other closely related languages of the region, was used in a simplified pidgin was used as a regional language of trade and intertribal communication.[20] By the 1750s, Massachusett was no longer the predominate language of the community and by 1798, only one Massachusett elder of advanced age spoke the language at Natick. Factors that led to the decline of the spoken language include the rapid rates of intermarriage with non-Indian spouses outside the speech community in the mid-eighteenth century, the need for English for employment and participation in general society, the lack of prestige regarding the Indian language and the dissolution of Indian communities and outmigration of people leading to greater isolation of speakers. The Wampanoag on Noepe, with its more secure land base and larger population, held onto Massachusett as the communal language into the 1770s and went extinct with the death of the last Wampanoag dialect—and last speakers of any Massachusett dialect—in the 1890s.[21][22][23]

The closest relatives were the neighboring languages of Narragansett, Nipmuc, Mohegan-Pequot and Quiripi, all of which are Southern New England Algonquian languages and were mutually intelligible to large extent. The languages were so similar, they could be said to have been dialects of a regional language, with the main difference between them being the outcome of Proto-Eastern Algonquian retroflexs of *r, itself a merger of Proto-Algonquian *θ and *r. For example, Proto-Eastern Algonquian arum became annum (anum) /anəm/ in N-dialect Massachuett but was alum /aləm/ in L-dialect Nipmuc, ayim /ajəm/ in Y-dialect Narragansett and arum /arəm/ in the R-dialect Quiripi language. With the exception of Massachusett, and to a lesser extent Narragansett, which are well-documented in the colonial record, most knowledge of the other languages are fragments of vocabulary and word lists. Most of the SNEA languages, and most of the Eastern Algonquian languages in general, were silenced by assimilation and population loss as Massachusett was. The closest related languages with extant speakers include the Delawaran Munsee language and the Abenakian languages of Western Abenaki, Malecite-Passamaquoddy and Mi'kmaq languages, all of which are threatened but Western Abenaki now has fourteen speakers and Munsee only two.[24][25]

The language, particularly influenced by the Massachusett dialect of Natick, was the basis of Eliot's orthography used to translate the first editions of the Bible printed in North America. The language also contributed numerous terms, many obsolete ones related to Indian culture but also many local plant and animal names. As Massachusee unontꝏwaok (Muhsachuweesee unôtuwôâôk) was spoken in all the coastal regions of Massachusetts, many towns, villages, lakes, rivers, hills and other features of the land derive from the language. The language is currently undergoing a revival, with at least fifteen second language speakers and five hundred people at various levels of fluency as of 2014, but this is restricted to the Mashpee, Aquinnah (Gay Head), Herring Pond and Assonet tribes of Wampanoag that participate in the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project started by Mashpee Wampanoag elder and linguist, Jessie Little Doe Baird.[26] The contemporary Massachusett tribes do not participate in the revival projects of the Wampanoag dialect but continue to revere the old texts of their ancestors written in the colonial orthography as sacred objects.[27]

Late Woodland Period-Contact Period Culture

Subsistence

Agriculture

The "Three Sisters" of maize, beans and squash in a milpa in Zaragoza, Mexico. The cultivation of the three crops spread slowly northward from Mesoamerica, replacing earlier crops such as goosefoot, little barley and erect knotweed in New England by 1000 AD.

The Massachusett occupied some of the most fertile, flattest and least rocky lands in New England. A particularly prized area, which the later English colonists referred to as the "Massachusett Fields," was situated between the Neponset and Quinobequin rivers.[28] Agriculture consisted of the companion planting of the "Three Sisters" of maize, beans and squash which had slowly spread northward from Mesoamerica, reaching New England by the start of the Late Woodland Period but it took a few centuries before varieties adapted to the short growing season and cooler climate of New England were developed before this style of farming had displaced earlier crops and methods of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. For the densely populated coastal areas where agriculture was intensively pursued, the three crops provided the bulk of caloric intake, with maize comprising 65 per cent alone.[29]

Fields were prepared in the spring by piling vegetation, soil and small pebbles in mounds arranged in a checkerboard fashion, using hoes made of thin stones or large clamshells. At the top of the mound, maize kernels were planted, often with a few river herring for fertilizer. Once the cornstalks were of a certain height, a few beans were planted on the sides of the mounds and trained to climb the stalks like a trellis. Squash was planted between the mounds, with the large, thorny leaves a deterrent to deer but also shading out weeds and preventing the soil from drying out. The colonial references "Indian orchards" refer to another method of food security where cleared lands near habitation sites were often seeded with various fruit- and nut-bearing trees which were easily accessible, required little care as native species and allowed for the valuable time of the Massachusett women, who were charged with agricultural tasks, to tend to their fields.[28][30]

Prior to the introduction of the Three Sisters, the Massachusett were part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, which included the spread of domesticated varieties of several crops which include goosefoot, marsh elder, erect knotweed, little barley and maygrass. Only the sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke and tobacco, the latter used for important ceremonies, remained in cultivation, although wild-type variants of the former crops were still gathered from the forests and fields.[31]

History

The Massachusett origin myth, akin to other Algonquian peoples of New England, believed that their ancestors originally came from somewhere to the southwest where Kehtanit[32] (Kuhtanut)[33] /kəhtanət/, the "Great Spirit," had fashioned men and women from the soil and then imbued them with life. He later gifted the first people with bow and arrow, seeds of the Three Sisters and other tools for survival before they wandered in search of new lands to the northeast. At death, souls were believed to wander in a southwestern direction until they reached Cautontowwit (Kuhtanut8wut) /kəhtanətuːwət/, "land of Kehtanit," which was said to be rich in game. Cautontowwit was thus referred erroneously as the "happy hunting ground" in nineteenth century American literature.[34]

Late Woodland Period (500 AD-1570)

The origin myth of the Massachusett and other Algonquin peoples may describe the historical spread of the Proto-Eastern Algonquian speakers into the region, with glottochronological distance of the Eastern Algonquian languages from the closest Central Algonquian languages indicating an arrival sometime after 500 AD. The Eastern Algonquian languages diverged as speakers of Iroquoian languages expanded, dividing Central and Eastern Algonquian.[35]

The glottochronological estimate of 500 AD correlates to the transition from the Middle to Late Woodland Period. This can be seen in New England archaeological sites by the sudden and increasing appearance of the bow and arrow, greater diversity in lithic tools, gradual replacement of the Eastern Agricultural Complex with the Three Sisters and the spred of Hopewellian culture, such as building construction and funerary rites, that had originated in the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes regions. The adoption of the bow and arrow quickly replaced the exclusive use of the spear and atlatl, but the adoption of the new crops, originally domesticated in Mesoamerica, was much slower, hampered by New England's cold climate, short growing season and harsh winters.[35]

The correlation of glottochronology and archaeology is also found in genetic analysis of Native remains in New England. The earlier remains dated to the Archaic Period and Early Woodland Period show genetic affinity with eastern Siouan speakers such as the Catawba and Waccamaw peoples. Analysis of bone fragments after 500 AD indicate a significant influx of peoples whose genetic profiles match most closely with other Algonquian peoples and later remains of the Late Woodland Period showing genetic admixture. Taken together, it indicates that a migration of Algonquian speakers, introducing their Hopewellian culture, assimilated and absorbed the original inhabitants.[36][35]

Ethnogenesis of the Massachusett people likely began to occur after 1300 AD when local strains of maize which provided high yields and could withstand the cold climate of the region were finally developed, ending the Eastern Agricultral Complex completely in the region. With high yields, this led to a population boom, particularly along the fertile coastal plains where agriculture was more intensive. Diffusion of Iroquoian-influenced pottery techniques allowed for more durable, lightweight and easier preparation and less dependence on trade for lithic material. As populations became more sedentary and localized, the Algonquian peoples likely diverged into the ethnic groups speaking languages and dialects familiar to the later English settlers, possibly evidenced by the various but increasingly localized motifs and decorations on pottery and basketry.[37]

Pre-colonization European contacts

European exploration of the sixteenth century

Depiction of an Almouchiquois (Massachusett) woman and man by French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Champlain explored the region in 1605, meeting with Massachusett leaders offshore of what is now Boston and stepping afoot villages on the islands of Boston Harbor.

The first known European to make landfall in New England was Giovanni da Verrazzano in what is now Rhode Island in 1524. Although Europeans began to skirt the coasts of New England thereafter, English interest in the region only began by the late 1570s. Bartholomew Gosnold, who explored what is now Cape Cod and interacted with the local Wampanoag noted that the Natives were ready to trade and often wore European adornments, indicating that a trading relationship between local peoples and Europeans predated his 1602 exploration. As a result of the direction of the winds and currents and the protective arm of the Cape Cod Peninsula, the Massachusett were spared many, but not all of these early encounters.

The first known encounter is the 1605 and 1606 voyages of the French explorer Samuel de Champlain who explored Massachusetts Bay, met with Massachusett leaders on several of the Boston Harbor Islands and anchored off Shawmut to conduct trade. Champlain was accompanied by an Algonquin guide and his Almouchiquoise—"Massachusett-speaking"—wife who helped translate. Despite mapping the region to promote French interest, colonization support was deterred by the dense population and resistance to contact by some of the Massachusett leaders.[38][39] The region was later mapped as "New England" by John Smith who followed in many of Champlain's footsteps, but also made landfall at Wessagusset and Conohasset where he conducted trade and met with the sontimauog (sôtyumâwak), "chiefs," and helped promote further English in the region.[40]

Although direct evidence is lacking, the Massachusett may have been subject to other informal English contacts, such as the fishermen that came ashore to dry their catch, which is how Samoset, a visiting Abenaki from what is now coastal Maine, was able to greet the pilgrims. Other Indians occasionally met European vessels to trade furs and supplies for various European items. However, Epenow of the Nauset and Tisquantum (Squanto) of the Wampanoag acquired conversational English after abduction into slavery during blackbirding for Indian slaves.[41][42]

At the time of European contact, the Massachusett were one of the largest ethnic groups in the region. Although the exact population is unknown, the population of New England may have exceeded 90,000, with the Massachusett comprising roughly 12,000, or roughly thirteen per cent of the region's population. Despite the small size of Massachusee Nutokhemminnit (Muhsachuweesee Nutahkeemunut), the region's fertile soils, plentiful spawning fish runs up the rivers and marine resources were able to support the larger population. The chiefs of the Massachusett were powerful political and military leaders, possibly leaders of a tribal alliance or confederacy, able to hold political sway and exact tribute from other Massachusett-speaking peoples such as the Pawtucket, Wampanoag and Nauset as well as peoples of the interior such as the Pocomtuc from the Pioneer Valley and the Nipmuc.[43]

Epidemic of 1617-1619

A man covered in the scars and lesions of a severe smallpox infection. Many Indians died from smallpox and other diseases brought to the Americas by the Europeans as they had no resistance to them. Those that survived were often physically scarred, blinded, or greatly weakened and thus easily succumbed to other diseases.

With intensifying European contacts from European fishermen, explorers and blackbirding ships, the people of Wampanohkeit (Wôpanahkeeut), the Massachusett term for the "Eastern Seaboard," would see a dramatic decline in populations. Long isolated in the Americas, the indigenous Native peoples lacked immunity or genetic predispositions to quickly acquire it against novel pathogens carried by the Europeans or the animals they brought with them, thus these new diseases quickly became a series of virgin soil epidemics that devastated populations. Contamination of the water supply by urine and feces of the invasive black rat likely spread the possible leptospirosis epidemic of 1617 until 1619 that struck coastal areas with mortality rates as high as 90 per cent. The islands of Boston Harbor that hosted the visits of Champlain and John Smith were depopulated and abandoned.[44]

The epidemic reduced the total ethnic population to a quarter of its original size, possibly only four thousand from the previous twelve. The reduction in population also reduced the military and political might of the Massachusett with regional rivals taking advantage of the political vacuum. The Pawtucket, originally Massachusett peoples of the lower reaches of the Merrimack River, Cape Ann and coastal New Hampshire were subjugated by the Pennacook, an Abenakian people of the middle Merrimack Valley just upriver from Wamesit, and separated from the Massachusett politically although Pawtucket chiefs maintained close kinship relations with the Massachusett and remained Massachusett speakers. Regional rivals such as the Narragansett and Pequot began to exert their strength in the region, who although coastal peoples, were not as terribly effected as the Native peoples along the Massachusetts Bay. Traditional enemy tribes raided Massachusett settlements, including the Tarratines, raiders from various Abenaki or Mi'kmaq tribes, who had received arms via the French, and the Mohawk (Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) of the upper Hudson River Valley, who were armed by the Dutch. These attacks continued to weaken the Massachusett, making them unable to put up much resistance to the eventual English colonization of their homeland and forcing survivors into palisaded, fortified settlements.[44][45]

Relations with the Plymouth Colony (1620-1626)

Depiction of Obbatinewat on the logo on a night deposit box in Shawmut. Obbatinewat was one of the first leaders of the Massachusett to meet with Myles Standish after the establishment of the Plymouth Colony.

The English established their first permanent foothold in New England with the founding of the Plymouth Colony in 1620 near the site of the former Wampanoag village of Patuxet, just a short distance south of the traditional boundary with the Massachusett. The English Pilgrims caused quite a stir, and many regional leaders sent scouts to observe them or met with Massasoit, the local Wampanoag sachem (sôtyum). In 1621, Tisquantum, last Patuxet survivor of the 1617-1619 epidemic, introduced Myles Standish and William Bradford[disambiguation needed] to Massachusett leaders such as Obbatinewat, who had allied with the Wampanoag, and Chickatawbut, the most powerful Massachusett leader of the time. Unlike Massasoit and possibly Obbatinewat, who favored increasing ties with the new English settlers to help assist against increasing power struggles with the Pequot and the Narragansett, Chickatawbut and other Massachusett leaders were wary of the English settlers and their intentions.

Chickatawbut's fears were confirmed when the Plymouth Colony expanded to Wessagusset, in traditional Massachusett territory, with the arrival of a new ship of colonists. The new settlers were ill-prepared, even more so than the first Pilgrims, and quickly resorted to trading supplies with the Massachusett. As the situation became more dire, the English settlers simply began raiding villages for food and supplies. To prevent an attack, Standish ordered a pre-emptive strike which led to the death of Pecksuot and Wituwamat and several other Massachusett warriors who were lured under the pretense of peace and negotiation to meet with him.[46] Standish angered the Massachusett again when he led his deep into Massachusett territory to suppress the settlers of Merry Mount in Squantum where English settlers were said to drink heavily, gamble and engage in sexual relations with Massachusett women. These activities caused the Massachusett to halt trade with the Pilgrim settlers for many years, impacting the colonial economy. .[46]

Relations with the Massachusett Bay Colony (1629-1676)

The Massachusett were unable to isolate themselves from the English. Despite cutting off relations with the Pilgrim settlers, new English settlers, this time English Puritans, those who wished to reform the Church of England to conform with the Protestant Reformation as oppose to separate from it, began arriving, with the first appearing in Wonnisquam in 1623 and later spreading to Naumkeag in Pawtucket territory. In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was legally established, with claim over the lands north of the Plymouth Colony. The boundary between the two colonies would mirror the traditional boundary between the Massachusett and Wampanoag, although many Massachusett, such as those at Titicut and Mattakeesett, were under the claim of the Plymouth Colony.

The Massachusett sachems awarded many deeds of land to the English settlers, since the English served to rebuff attacks from other tribes. In most cases, it was because the land had already been alienated by English settlement, often because the locals had already died off from disease. The sachems began selling land at a price, often with stipulations allowing the Indians to collect, gather, fish or forage, but these arrangements were seldom honored by the English. The English also did not understand the Indian concept of leasing land from the sachem, and instead thought of their arrangements as permanent land sales. As a result of the rapid loss of land, the Massachusett and other local tribes sent their leaders to Boston for the 1644 Acts of Submission, bringing the Indians under the control of the colonial government and subject to its laws and Christian missionary attempts. By the time of the submission, the Massachusett, a coastal people, had lost access to the sea and their shellfish collection sites.[47]

The presence of the English was detrimental in several other ways. The English demand for furs as a trade item had extirpated the beaver from coastal New England, forcing the Massachusett deeper into enemy territory to procure beaver pelts, thus leading to retaliatory attacks from the Mahican, armed by the Dutch, and the Abenaki and Tarratine, armed by the French, whereas the English banned the sales of firearms to the local tribes, rendering them defenseless. The use of wampum by the Natives, mainly as a record keeper, sacred or ceremonial gift and at times exchanged for goods was erroneously thought of as currency. As the English were able to mass-produce beads of glass with iron drills, the value of wampum deflated. As the Indians became increasingly dependent on trade items of the English, this led to debts. Alcoholism ran rampant as it was previously unknown to the Indians, but proved a scourge, tearing families apart. Some English even resorted to getting Indians drunk so as to run up credit or so that they would be fined and forced to cede their land, which led to the ban of sales of hard cider and other spirits to the Indians.[48]

Demographic changes
Depiction of English Puritans in New England. By the 1630s, the English were the majority in New England as a result of migration, natural increase, and several outbreaks that greatly reduced the Native population.

The Native peoples of New England faced increasing pressures with the arrival of the English settlers. In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony greatly expanded with the arrival of the Winthrop Fleet of eleven ships and almost one thousand colonists beginning the "Great Migration." By the end of 1640, the colonial population, more than doubled to almost twenty thousand due to the continued arrival of ships bearing Puritan settlers fleeing the increasing religious violence leading up to the English Civil War and natural increase, as settlers often arrived as family units and raised large numbers of children.

The settlers feared the Native presence, as they were a numerical majority when all the different groups of New England were taken together and were dependent on them for survival and trade and the settlers were unable to expand. The Native populations continued to fall, with diseases such as scarlet fever, typhus, measles, mumps, influenza, tuberculosis, whooping cough taking large tolls. However, a smallpox epidemic in 1633 and 1634 also took a very heavy toll, afflicting not only peoples of the coast still recovering from the losses of 1617-1619 but far inland. The Massachusett population dwindled to fewer than two thousand individuals.[49] Other epidemics occurred in 1648 and 1666, but although not as devastating, outbreaks of disese would continue to inflict heavy tolls well into the nineteenth century. With so many areas laid to waste, the English believed that God Himself had cleared the land for their arrival. By the 1630s, the Indians of New England were already a minority in their own lands.[50]

The Massachusett put up little resistance to English incursion, but the Native people of New England were quelled with the end of the Pequot War in 1638. The colonists aided local tribes in subduing the Pequot, with bloody massacres of men, women and children, viz., the Mystic Massacre, and the sale of many of the Indians into slavery in Bermuda. The war demonstrated the military superiority of the English over the Native peoples as well as their merciless style in battle.[51]

Adoption of Christianity
Original seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony depicting a Massachusett Indian proclaiming "Come over and help us"—a plea for conversion—inspired from Acts 16:19. Many contemporary Massachusett support initiatives to replace the Great Seal of Massachusetts which preserves most elements of the colonial original and has long been held offensive to many of the Native groups of the region.[52]

As stated in the royal charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1628, "according to the Courſe of other Corporations in this our Realme of England ... whereby our ſaid People, Inhabitants thee ... maie wynn and incite the Natives of Country, to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of Mankinde, and the Chriſtian Fayth, which ... is the principall Ende of this Plantation."[53] The colonists were more occupied with their survival and propagation of a Puritan refuge. Although not the first to attempt to Christianize the Natives, it was not until the missionary John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians", arrived in the colony and attained considerable success before colonial authorities truly began to invest in the project. Eliot began to learn the language, employing the help of two Indian indentured servants fluent in English, including Cockenoe, a Montaukett originally from Long Island that also spoke Massachusett, and John Sassamon from a Neponset family. Once confident in his abilities, Eliot tried to preach to the Neponset tribe led by Cutshamekin in 1646 but was rebuffed. Later, after resuming more language studies, Eliot preached to the Nonantum tribe led by Waban and had better success, bringing Waban and most of the tribe into Christianity.[54]

The reaction to Christianity was mixed, with many Native leaders continuing to be wary of the English and urging their people to remain traditionalists whereas many wholeheartedly embraced it. Those that did embrace the new religion often did so because the traditional medicines and rituals conducted by healers known as powwow (pawâwak) /pawaːwak/ failed to protect them from English encroachment of their lands or the novel pathogens to which they lacked resistance. These Indians hoped that the new God of the English would protect them the way that it had protected the English and often bought into the belief that they were punished for their wickedness. Other Indians likely joined because they thought they had to. The colonial government had forced the tribal leaders of Indians as far west as Quabaug (Brookfield, Massachusetts) to sign the 1644 Acts of Submission which forced upon the Indians acceptance of the authority of the colonial government and its protection as well opening their people to missionary activity, with many Indian leaders likely still fearful of the English atrocities of the Pequot Wars which demonstrated the military superiority of the newcomers. Others converted in hopes of removing the stigma of heathenism to improve relations with the English, but due to synchretism and cryto-traditional practices conducted in secret by some, the Puritans continued to mistreat the Indians and cast suspicions on the sincerity of the new believers who came to be referred to as "Praying Indians" or peantamwe Indiansog (puyôhtamwee Indiansak) /pəjãhtamwiː əntʃansak/.[55]

Praying towns and praying Indians (1651–1675)
The Eliot Church in south Natick. The church was built in 1828 where the Indian Church once stood.

Eliot had gathered many of the Massachusett Bay and urged them to settle along a bend of the Charles River but were immediately sued by the English settlers of Dorchester that claimed the land. The Native people in Massachusett were losing lands to the English settlers, and by the time of the Acts of Submission, access to the coastal shellfish beds were lost. Eliot petitioned the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay to award deeds of lands for the new converts where they could live apart from both the English settlers as well as their traditionalist brethren. In 1651, land was set aside for the creation of Natick, which would serve as the first home for the Massachusett converts. In 1654, another settlement was established at Ponkapoag for members of the Neponset tribe that refused to settle Natick. As they were settled by "Praying Indians," the settlements came to be known as "Praying Towns" or Peantamwe Otanash (Puyôhtamwee 8tânash) /pəjãhtamwiː uːtaːnaʃ/. A similar concept was also introduced in the Plymouth Colony, which was not merged into Massachusetts Bay until 1692, with Mattakeeset (Pembroke, Massachusetts) and Kehtiticut or Titicut (Bridgewater, Massachusetts) established for the Massachusett people in that colony's jurisdiction.

The establishment of Natick was particularly important as it served as the flagship and headquarter of Eliot's Indian mission, and construction quickly began on the Indian church and a school. Many of the Indians that Eliot had instructed in reading and writing, such as Monesquassin, instructed men, often from prominent chiefly families, to become preachers, teachers or administrators in the Praying towns. The new Indian missionaries were more successful than Eliot, eventually establishing twelve other Praying towns. Not only were the Indian missionaries more successful than Eliot because they were of the people and spoke the language, but as word spread of these "safe zones" of land recognized by the colonial government and protected from usurpation and encroachment, made conversion an easier choice for the marginalized Natives.[56] The Praying towns also helped weaken ethnic boundaries somewhat as different groups mingled together. Natick, for instance, attracted many Nipmuc settlers.

Historical marker standing on the northern boundary of what was once the Praying town of Ponkapoag, now contained in the town of Canton, Massachusetts.

Life in the Praying towns became an interesting blend of English and Indian customs. The Praying Indians adopted English-style houses, animal husbandry, agriculture, certain foods and tools, such as kettles and pots of their neighbors. Native clothing and hairstyles were altered with English influences to conform to Puritan standards of modesty and decency. The towns also had to have English-style governance. The traditional leadership filled these roles, with former sachems and their kin networks becoming constables, magistrates and jurors. Others served as elders, deacons or pastors of the Indian congregations at Natick or Ponkapoag, which had independent churches. Nevertheless, the English were unable to erase all Indian culture, and church services were introduced by drumming instead of the toll of church bells, preaching was conducted in the Massachusett language and the Indians continued to engage in traditional subsistence patterns and continue most practices, but severe fines and punishments were imposed for those that violated the codes of conduct such as breaking the Sabbath, drunkenness, adultery or practicing traditional religions. In some ways, the Praying towns were akin to the Indian Reservations of the United States that developed in the late eighteenth century.[57]

Humiliation of the Indians

The truce that had existed between the English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies and the local Native peoples was tested. The submission of the local chiefs to the respective colonial governments and adoption of Christianity allowed the Indians to seek redress in the English court system and removed one of the prejudices against them. The Praying Indians of Natick were brought to court several times by the English settlers of Dedham that claimed some of the land, but with Eliot's assistance, most of these attempts failed. Most of the time, however, the Indians failed, as some of the Indian interpreters and chiefs ceded lands to curry favor from the English to maintain special privileges, such as the Nipmuc John Wampas, who betrayed the Nipmuc and Massachusett people by selling land to the settlers to which he had no claim, but these sales were upheld in later court challenges. The Pawtucket sachem Wenepoykin, son of Nanepashemet and Squaw Sachem of Mistick, through kinship and family ties laid claim to much of Massachusett territory, and tried several times to petition the courts for lands lost in the turbulence of the 1633 epidemic that took both of his brothers to no avail, with most cases simply dismissed.[58]

The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a series of harsh measures that earned the ire of the Native peoples. All Indians, Christian and traditional religionists, were forced to observe the Christian Sabbath and were restricted from a wide range of activities, such as hunting, fishing and farming or entering the English towns, and heavy fines were imposed on those caught practicing the shamanic rights or consulting traditional spiritual leaders or healers. Alcohol, firearms and many luxury goods were banned. By this time, the Indians had already integrated into the economic system of the English, but were dealt a heavy blow as laws were passed restricting trade to appointed colonial agents, which gave the colonial government a monopoly on trade with the English and made the Indian farmers less competitive as they were not allowed direct access to English markets. New laws allowed open settlement to any 'unimproved' lands, essentially anything that was not fenced in or with crops grown on it, threatening the wooded areas and meadows cleared by fire that were used for hunting and cultivation areas that were allowed to fallow.[48]

King Philip's War (1675-1676)

Further information: King Philip's War
Although most of the Massachusett stayed neutral, many Native peoples in New England joined the Wampanoag leader Metacomet in his rebellion against English colonial rule.

The outbreak of King Philip's War from 1675 until 1676 was disastrous for both the Indians and the English colonists, with enormous bloodshed and destruction on both sides. By the early 1670s, Waban and Cutshamekin had begun to address Daniel Gookin and warn of the increasing discontent of the interior peoples such as the Nipmuc. However, the rebellion was started by the Wampanoag sachem (sôtyum) Metacomet, son of Massasoit who had welcomed and befriended Edward Winslow and the Pilgrims. Metacomet maintained the peace of his father but turned after the never-ending requests for land, but especially the execution of his brother Wamsutta for selling land to Roger Williams, seen by the Wampanoag as a very harsh measure for something outside the Plymouth Colony's jurisdiction. In defiance, Metacomet murdered his interpreter to the colonial government, the Massachusett John Sassamon, before fleeing and seeking the support of the disgruntled tribes, culminating in the raid of Swansea in June 1675. Metacomet was able to bring the Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Podunk, Tunxi peoples into his forces, organizing attacks on numerous outposts such as Sudbury, Lancaster, Turner's Falls and other English settlements, leading many English to flee their lands for fortified towns. The English quickly responded by organizing units to attack the Indians, leading to numerous massacres.[59]

The Massachusett, all of whom had become Praying Indians confined to Praying towns, remained neutral during the war, but suffered heavy casualties. The Praying Indians were attacked in their fields and harassed by their English neighbors who had become overwhelmed with panic, hysteria and anti-Indian sentiment. The Praying towns were also targets of Metacomet's forces, raided for supplies and persuading or using force, bringing some of the Praying Indians to join. To appease the English, the Praying Indians accepted confinement to the Praying towns, curfews, increased English supervision and surrendered their weapons.

Most of the Praying Indians exiled to Deer Island in Boston Harbor died from exposure to the elements, starvation and disease. The island was later chosen for a sewage treatment plant, angering the Massachusett, Nipmuc and other peoples whose ancestors perished there during King Philip's War.

The loss of the Nipmuc Willymachin and James Printer and the Pawtucket Wenepoykin, all of whom were part of the Indian mission and had well-developed relationships with the English, led to increasing distrust in the neutrality of the Praying Indians. Overwhelmed by the anti-Indian hysteria, in October 1675 and by order of the Generl Court, the Praying Indians of Natick were rounded up, tied neck-and-neck with rope and marched at gunpoint by vigilantes before being exiled to islands in Boston Harbor. The Acts of Removal were later applied to all the Praying towns and any Indians that were encountered during round-up missions, joining the Indians already removed to Deer Island, Great Brewster Island and Long Island. Similarly, the Plymouth Colony evacuated the Massachusett of Mattakeesett to Clark's Island in Duxbury Bay.[60] The Indians exiled to the islands had little food or provisions and subsisted on shellfish and fish that they could harvest from the shores. With only crude shelter and limited vegetation on the island, many Indians froze to death due to constant exposure to the cold, ocean breezes and winter storms in addition to starvation and disease. The Indians were also exposed to blackbirding ships, who would skirt the islands and occasionally abduct a handful of Indians for sale in the Caribbean slave markets.[61]

As the war progressed, the English decided to recruit some of the Praying Indians as scouts, guides and to fill the ranks of the colonial militia, with a regiment of Praying Indians, including many Massachusett, recruited by Daniel Gookin sent to face Metacomet's warriors at Swansea, but it is known that other Massachusett aided the colonial militias in Lancaster, Brookfield and Mount Hope battles of the war. Despite early victories, Metacomet was weakened by lack of resources, starvation, disease, the betrayal of the Mohawk and the neutrality of the Mahican, but especially the increasing number of Praying Indians who were familiar with Native war tactics that were conscripted as scouts and guides. Metacomet was later shot by a Wampanoag Praying Indian, John Alderman, who was serving in the regiment of Benjamin Church, in August 1676, which ended the war in the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies.[59]

Late Colonial Period (1676–1776)

Aftermath of the War (1676–1681)

Three Abenaki women weaving baskets in Odanak, Quebec. Most of the Odanak, although Western Abenaki speaking, were historically an amalgam of several Abenakian tribes with a significant part of their ancestry from the refugees of King Philip's War fleeing southern New England.

The war proved very disruptive to Indian life in New England. The warriors that supported Metacomet were executed in public displays, and like Metacomet's head, were kept on posts outside most major English settlements. Those that were not executed, were gathered and sent to the slave markets in Bermuda where most would be forced to work on the sugar plantations, although some of the luckier ones, particularly women and children, were forced into servitude locally in English homes. The Praying Indian survivors of internment, any Indians lucky enough to have been pardoned and any survivors regrouped at Natick, where they divided up amongst their old tribal groupings and pressed for a return to their lands. By 1681, the Indians were allowed to return to their respective homes, but continued to face harassment, retaliatory attacks, local killings and abuse to their lands and property by their English neighbors.

Many Indians fled the region, most seeking refuge with the Abenaki in the north or the Mahican to the west, away from English settlement. Those that remained often joined kinsfolk in other tribes and people, leading to considerable internal migration as well. The Wampanoag, such as Mashpee and Aquinnah, were able to hold onto a substantial land base and had better relations with their English neighbors as well as were closer to the whaling ports where Indian men could find employment. It is known that Nohtooksaet and Mankutquet led their own groups of Massachusett to Martha's Vineyard and were eventually absorbed into neighboring Wampanoag tribes of the island.[62]

Return to Reservations

Wekepeke Brook in Sterling, Mass., once settled as the Praying town of Waushakum. The Nashaway Nipmuc that inhabited the area sold their lands in 1701, a few staying behind, but most leaving to seek their relatives in Canada or New York or joining Natick. Natick would attract and absorb numerous Nipmuc from the smaller Indian enclaves.

The Indians were allowed to return to their lands after the war. The Indian mission was considered a failure, and the Praying Indians and their Praying towns came to simply be referred to as 'Indians' and their lands as 'reserves' or later, 'reservations.' This was in part because of lack of support of the Indian mission, deemed a failure in the wake of the war. In 1692, Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies merged into the Province of Massachusetts, in part to secure better response to the attacks of the Indians and tighter hold of the English Crown. The English colonists, not eager to see a return of their Indian neighbors, harassed the returning Indians, attacked and murdered and vandalized Indian property or resorted to other means. Natick absorbed many of the surrounding tribes, thus keeping the population balanced despite the large numbers of Indians that continued to leave, seeking their relatives amongst the Abenaki or tribes to the west.

Okommakamesit was sold by the colonial authorities in 1685, as the English courts upheld forged deeds of questionable and sales, forcing most of the Nipmuc and Pawtucket of the community to settle in Natick. Most of the leaders of the Pawtucket sold or deeded off their lands and regrouped in Wamesit, but after experiencing harassment from the local English, most sold their land and joined Wonalancet and the Pennacook, but Wenepoykin joined his nephew in Natick. Similarly, the Nipmuc of Magunkaquog were forced away from their community when the last of their lands were sold in 1714 and armed men prevented their return. Disease, outmigration and loss of land shrunk many of the former Indian communities below carrying capacity, and most young people often left for Natick to seek land, spouses and employment.[63] Most of the young Nipmuc had left Nashoba for Natick for these reasons, leaving behind only an aged woman named Sarah Doublet, or Wunnehhew, as resident at her death in 1736.[64]

The autonomy of the Indians was eroded by the dismantling of their lands. Natick was able to retain its traditional leadership, with the Natick elite serving the administrative roles of the community and holding the positions of the Indian church with daily affairs conducted in the Massachusett language. This continued until 1721, when record keeping switched to English and Oliver Peabody, a monolingual English speaker, was appointed the minister of the Indian church. Peabody used his position to encourage the Indians to sell land, in part so as to have English company in the Indian enclave. By the 1750s, Natick had ceased to be an Indian town, as it was more a messy patchwork of Indian common lands and English property in between, and the town's governance and church had switched to English and was dominated by English interests, although a few Indians continued to serve the church.[65] In 1743, the Praying Indians of Titicut donated and sold most of their lands, residing on individual allotments for the handful of Indians that remained. Within a decade, they could no longer support their own church, but despite donating the land and funds for the parish church they shared with their English neighbors, they were forced to sit in segregated pews in the cold upper rows reserved for Black Americans and Indians.[66]

A painting of Crispus Attucks, the first casualty of the American Revolution. Attucks was believed to have maternal ties to Massachusett-Nipmuc peoples of Framingham and an African father. Numerous Massachusett people served in the various battles of the French and Indian Wars as well as the American Revolutionary War.
Guardianship of the Indians

Instead of being absorbed into the general affairs of the now English town, the colony appointed a commissioner to oversee the Natick in 1743, but commissioners were later appointed for all the extant tribes in the colony. Originally, the commissioner was charged to manage the timber resources, as most of the forests of New England had been felled to make way for farm and pasture, making the timber on Indian lands a valuable commodity. Very quickly, the guardian of Natick came to control the exchange of land, once the domain of the sachems, and any funds set up by the sale of Indian products, but mainly land. As the guardians assumed more power and were rarely supervised, many instances of questionable land sales by the guardians and embezzlement of funds have been recorded. The appointment of the guardians reduced the Indians to colonial wards, as they were no longer able to directly address the courts, vote in town elections and removed the power of the Indian chiefs.[19][67]

Loss of land continued. As forest lands were lost, the Indians could no longer resort to seasonal movements on their land or eke out a living, forcing many into poverty. Land was their only commodity, and was often sold by the guardians to pay for treatments for the sick, care of orphans and debts incurred by Indians, but Indians were also the victims of unfair credit schemes that often forced the land out of their hands. Ponkapoag went from 1,000 acres (404.69 hectares) to only 411 acres (166.33 hectares) in 1757 in part to pay the medical care of its rapidly aging population. In 1763, a damaging winter and the eleven children that became orphans when their father Samuel Mohoo passed led to land being sold in 1769, 1773 and 1776, leaving a small fraction in Indian hands.[68] Without land to farm or forage, Indians were forced to seek employment and settle in the de facto segregated sections of cities. Although no longer bound to the traditional cycle of the seasons, Indians often were restricted to menial and dangerous professions by racial prejudice. Men were often conscripted to work on vessels of whaling, merchant and fishing vessels in the growing whaling cities such as New Bedford or the docks of Boston, or worked in construction or as laborers, which often drew them away from their families for months at a time. Women peddled traditional baskets and herbal medicines, and alongside children, worked as domestics in English homes.[69]

The French and Indian Wars and the American Revolutionary War

The French in Canada and their Abenaki allies, many of whom refugees of King Philip's War and seeking revenge against the English, raided settlements of the Massachusetts Colony. The English colonists enlisted the help of the men of the Indian communities to fight in engagements such as King William's War (1689–1699), Queen Anne's War (1704–1713), Dummer's War (1722–1724), King George's War (1744–1748), Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and the French and Indian War (1754–1760). As many of the Abenaki allies were New England Indians they had absorbed, some battles pitted kin against kin. Many fought with distinction as guides, interpreters and scouts in units such as Gorham's Rangers, such as Abraham Speen, John Babysuck and Jonathan Womsquam, all of whom had ties to Natick's old families.[70]

Many Native Americans also died in service of the American Revolutionary War. (1775–1783).[71] Massachusett veterans of the Revolution include Joseph Paugenitt, Jonas Obscow, Alexander Quapish of Natick and George, Asa and Wiliam Robinson; Quok Mattrick and John Isaacs of Ponkapoag. A memorial to the Natick Massachusett veterans of the American Revolutionary War was erected in the South Natick.[72][73]

American Independence (1776) to present

Post-independence and nineteenth century

Memorial to the Praying Indian veterans of Natick that served in the American Revolutionary War.

The official transition from the Colony of Massachusetts to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which officially joined the new republic of the United States of America, did not improve the lot of the Indians in the new state. With the exception of the regime change, most of the policies and laws concerning the Indians of the colonial period were adopted unaltered. The Indians became wards of the Commonwealth, as the guardian system remained intact. By the end of the Federal Period, the common lands of the Massachusett people were sold off, with a small number of Indians able to buy or were granted lots of land, but most were evicted and forced to eke out an existence in greater society but were still restricted the right to vote and guardians continued to control payments to the tribes from the final land sales and annuities set up for the old and infirm.[74]

Intermarriage

Thomas F. Bancroft (1821–1903). A member of the Ponkapoag tribe, Bancroft served in the Massachusetts Fifth Cavalry—a Black regiment—in the Civil War. Like many Indians in the nineteenth century, Bancroft was recorded variably as 'Mulatto,' 'Colored' and 'Indian' in the 1850, 1860 and 1880 U.S. censuses, respectively.[75]

By the end of the eighteenth century, Indian men seemed to have disappeared. In a letter written to the General Court sometime after the American Revolutionary War, the Natick women write '... almost all that were able did go into the Service of the United States and either died in the service or soon after their return home. We are their widows, there being not one male left now that was then of age to go to war.'[76] If not lost to battle, most Indian men could only find work in dangerous professions such as crewmen on whaling ships out at sea or were contracted as laborers, bringing them far from the dwindling remains of their communities and also taking numerous Indian lives.[69]

A staggering gender imbalance was the result, with Indian females outnumbering Indian males. Intermarriage, which had begun as a slow trickle, greatly accelerated by the end of the eighteenth century. Many Indian women took Black slaves as their partners. Slavery was not abolished in Massachusetts until 1781. Although African slave labor did not reach the level in the south, the New England elite often acquired a few slaves to work as servants and laborers, but few women were imported to New England, thus suffering an inverse gender imbalance. As Indian women were often employed as domestics in English households, it increased this type of interaction. As the status of the children were inherited from the mother, the children of such unions were born free, and as long as they maintained social ties with other Indians, were accepted into the community, especially in the traditional matrilineal and matrilocal culture of the Massachusett and other Native peoples. Intermarriage with White men was not as common, as the English did not suffer a gender imbalance and anti-miscegenation laws prevented them, but nevertheless, these rates spiked too, often with pariahs and those of lesser means.[77]

The presence of so many non-Indian spouses was generally not a threat to Indian land and traditions as although they may have been accepted as kin, they were not recognized as Indians and were thus barred from participating in communal affairs and the tribal guardians carefully maintained the distinction between Indian and non-Indian. Tensions arose as Indian men remained were threatened by intrusion of outsiders into their lands and competition for spouses, and several letters of complaint regarding their number and influence over their wives were written to the guardians.[69]

In the eyes of White neighbors, the mixed-race offspring were no longer considered Indian. This was mainly in part because of the 'one-drop rule' which made a person designated Black if there was any known or visible African ancestry. The descendants of the English settlers, likely influenced by notions of the 'noble savage' idealized in works such as The Last of the Mohicans and depictions of the newly subjugated and unmixed peoples of the Western Frontier, often believed that the 'real' Indians were gone and that the bi- or tri-racial descendant 'mongrel Indians' no longer had claim to legitimacy because of miscegenation and two centuries of assimilation.[69] Indians disappear from the record, by the time of the first Federal Census in 1790, the Massachusett and other local peoples are instead listed as 'Black,' 'Mulatto' or 'Colored' in census records, based on guesses of the census taker to the amount of assumed African ancestry.[78]

End of the reservations

A bog on lands once part of the Praying town of Ponkapoag. Loss of land prevented the Indians from supplementing their diet with foraged foods, such as wild cranberries, cowberries and black huckleberries from bogs, that were part of the traditional cuisine. The Ponkapoag Reservation was whittled away until the Indians were evicted and the lands sold by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1827.

The last communal lands of Ponkapoag were sold in 1827. A small plot was not sold until 1840, but the Ponkapoag had already been restricted from its use. The last lands of Natick were sold in 1828 in part to raise funds for the care of the oldest and ill members of the tribe. The loss of land did not remove the restrictions of the guardians.[79] Still under guardianship, the Massachusett could not vote or participate in local elections and still required the guardians to address the courts.[80]

The end of the reservations put a final death knell on physical communities where Indians could return after their seasonal and contract jobs were over and could seek land. Many Indians dispersed, settling in the African-American neighborhoods of Boston and other cities or joining other remnant Indian communities. A small handful of Ponkapoag Indians had become proprietors, forming a small hamlet of Indian families on Indian Lane that would last until the early twentieth century. Instead of community, Indian identity and structure was rooted in family relations. For instance, Rebecca Davis, who had lived in Boston her entire adult life, continued to return to Indian Lane to visit family members and friends to stock up on jams, corn and other foodstuffs every autumn until she reached her seventies. Others tried their luck at the few remaining Indian lands, such as the outflow of the Natick Pegan family to Chaubunagungamaug.[81]

Censuses and Indian Enfranchisement

The Massachusett people were still wards of the state under guardians who handled what funds were left from previous land sales. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ordered reports on the condition of the Indians, mainly for the purposes of keeping track of the expenses and check up on the guardians, who more or less operated autonomously with little oversight from the General Court. The first was Denny Report of 1848, which was a very preliminary look. The report only found four Ponkapoag and made no effort to determine the number of Natick. A year later, a more detailed report was released, which came to be known as the Briggs Report of 1849, which records 10 Ponkapoag but again does not list any Natick. The most detailed, and last, of the reports conducted by John Milton Earle was started in 1859 and published in 1861, includes even more information, such as surnames, location and profession. Even Earle, who provides the most detailed information, lamented '... the temptations to a race naturally inclined to a roving and unsettled life, are too great to be resisted ... they frequently remove from place to place, keeping up no correspondence or communication with those they have left; till at last their place of residence ceases to be known to their friends, and all trace of them is lost.' He goes on to state that tracing them was difficult due to the 'humble social position and obscure station in life, known only to a few directly about them ... [and are] frequently not recognized as Indians, by the people among whom they dwell.' Earle was also aware that his research was not an exhaustive list, as 'This lack of reliable statistics prevents the making of any comparison of the present number with what it has been at former periods so as to show whether the tribe is increasing or diminishing.'[82]

His Excellency, Governor George N. Briggs. Bird, Griswold and Weeks, the three commissioners tasked with reporting on the Indians in 1849 presented their preliminary findings to Briggs later that year, that report is now known to historians as the Briggs Report.

None of the reports offer any insight into the small remnant groups of the Mahican of The Berkshires or the Pocomtuc and Nipmuc-related peoples of the Pioneer Valley. The Earle Report was the first report, however, that provided any information regarding the Natick Indians or the Pembroke Indians (Matakeesett or in the Earle Report, 'Mamatakeeset'). The Earle Report also mentions another Indian group known as the Tumpum that also lived in the vicinity. As Pembroke was more or less on the frontier of two closely related peoples that often intermarried, it is uncertain if the Tumpum can be considered a Massachusett group, but descendants of the Tumpum have mostly intermarried into and have descendants in contemporary Wampanoag communities. The three reports due more or less point out the difficulties of Indian life, as they were not considered citizens of the United States, were alienated from their lands, mostly lived in poverty due to lack of land and lack of suitable employment due to prejudice and racism, were not recognized as Indian because of their racial mixture and still had guardians that managed what little financial benefits they had, either as annuities paid by the state for the eldest and sick members of the tribe, or interest accrued from the tribal fund, funded from the sale of the last of the reservation lands. The reports also highlight the general marginalization of Indians, the fracturing of Indian communities and the higher mortality rate compared to the general population. A good number of the Indians had already assimilated into the surrounding communities, attending the same churches, schools and participating in larger society. The Earle report does list employment, showing most of the Massachusett with known employment were either laborers, mariners, barbers, caterers or farmers.[83]

The growth of the Abolitionist movement in the northern United States was especially prevalent in the then Republican dominated government. Boston was a hotbed, attracting notable abolitionist leaders to set up offices and raise funds for their cause, as well as attracting numerous speakers on a growing political circuit, many of whom were either from Massachusetts or stayed for extended periods, such as William Lloyd Garrison, Maria W. Stewart, Frederick Douglass, William Cooper Nell, Susan B. Anthony and Robert Gould Shaw.[84] The Indians more or less became an embarrassment to the abolitionist cause, as a small minority of colored people, with varying degrees of African heritage, were denied citizenship and the right to vote as wards of the state. Furthermore, many Indians participated in the Civil War, enlisting in Black regiments. In the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and more re-assuring signs of a Union victory, Massachusetts passed the Massachusetts Enfranchisement Act in 1869. The Act extended these rights, but also 'detribalized' the Indians, similar to effects of the Dawes Act of 1887 at the federal level. This ended the guardianship of the Indians, and any remaining funds were disbursed to Indians recorded on the Earle Report or their known descendants and removed any remaining legal prohibitions against the sale of Indian lands. The Indians of the Commonwealth were no longer under its patronage and few steps were taken to care for the Indians, although a handful of the Natick and Ponkapoag continued to receive state benefits because of old age, illness and lack of kin.[85]

Massachusetts 'Indian Censuses' Natick Indians Natick Surnames Ponkapoag Indians Ponkapoag Surnames Mattakeesett Indians Mattakeesett Surnames
1848, Denney Report[86] - - 4 - - -
1849, Briggs Report[87] - - 10 - - -
1861, Earle Report[88] 12 Blodget, Pease, Jepherson 117 Bancroft, Black, Burr, Burrill, Croud, Davis, Elisha, Foster, Hall, Hunt, Jackson, Lewis, Manuel, Mooney, Myers, Roby, Smith, Stemburg, Talbot, Thomas, Toney, Williams 25 Hyatt, Joel, Prince

Post-Enfranchisement, twentieth century and present

In the 105 years between the Massachusetts Enfranchisement Act of 1869 and the creation of the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs by legislative act in 1974, records on the Massachusett people are very few. Local obituaries refer to numerous 'last' of the Indians. Mary Burr, who passed in 1852 before enfranchisement, has the epithet 'last of the Punkapog' on her tombstone. Other Ponkapoag Indians also received the title, such as Daniel Crowd, who moved to Milton in the late 1860s, remembered as he was one of the last pure-blooded or mostly pure-blooded Ponkapoag.[89] In 1875, a reunion of the descendants of John Eliot proclaimed the death of the 'Last of the Natick,' most likely referring to Patience Blodgett.[90] In 1900, another Ponkapoag, Lemuel Burr, is referred to as the last, however, the article in a Cambridge newspaper at the time referred to his mother and aunt as the last of the tribe, and mentions his son, Lemuel D. Burr but goes on to claim that the deceased Burr was the last of his race.[91] Perhaps one of the last to receive this distinct honor was Jeanette Rose Beauty Bancroft Crowd (née Burrell) who passed in 1928, great-great-grandmother of the current sachem of the Ponkapoag, Gill Solomon.[92]

By the twentieth century, attitudes towards Native Americans changed. The end of Manifest Destiny meant the Indians were no longer enemies of the expanding American frontier, but instead, integral and unique parts of the local landscape that were being lost. A spike in anthropological, linguistic, and cultural evaluation began. Renowned Iroquoian and Algonquian culture expert Frank Speck made several trips to New England in the 1920s, collecting information on language, history, folklore and meeting with Indians, even paying respects to Mary Chapelle (née Crowd), who steadfastly proclaimed Indian identity and preserved some of the last traditional knowledge of the tribe. Speck, as well as anthropologist/linguist Gladys Tantaquidgeon, were even able to compile small word lists in the Massachusett language—albeit its Wampanoag dialect—by rememberers in the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag tribes, respectively. Some Indians began publicly confessing Indian identity with the adoption of Plains Indian clothing and powwows, as these were the most well-known symbols of Indian culture, and began participating in pan-Indian cultural meetings and associations, aiming to pool their knowledge and re-establish ties with other Indians.[93]

Other Massachusett people quietly lived their lives. Alfred Crowd III of the Ponkapoag tribe served in World War II as did Paul Hasgell of Natick, who descends from the Thomas family that served in the Civil War, the latter having tried to get the army to list him as 'Indian' to avoid the Jim Crow policies still rampant in the U.S. Army at the time. Most participated in wider society, maintaining Indian heritage down the family lines.[94][95] Things began to change with the creation of the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs. By the 1980s, most of the descendants of Indians listed on the Earle Report regrouped, seeking out and re-establishing relationships with distant relatives and creating tribal governments and received state recognition. Although not entitled to the state-to-state relationships of federally recognized tribes, the Massachusett are able to market their products as Native American made and receive a limited number of benefits from the state, such as tuition waivers for Native American students.

21st century

Two organizations claim descendency from the Massachusett but both are unrecognized tribes.

Ponkapoag Massachusett

Descendants of the Neponset tribe, who later became the Praying Indians of Ponkapoag, organized as the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag under the current leadership of Gil Nanepashmequin ('Feather on the moon') Solomon.[96] The members of the tribe continue to live in the Massachusett homelands along the Neponset River watershed and Boston and environs just to the south of the city.

In the 2010 US census, 85 individuals claimed Ponkapoag ancestry.[3] Membership in the tribe is restricted to the descendants of the 117 individuals of the Bancroft, Burr, Philbrick, Croud, Robbins, Davis, Black, Elisha, Hunt, Mooney, Moore, Myers, Roby, Smith, Stemberg, Hall, Jackson, Lewis, Manuel, Talbot, Thomas, Toney, Williams and Foster families recorded in the 1861 Earle Report as having connection with the former reservation.[97]

Natick Massachusett-Nipmuc

File:Natick praying indian wedding.PNG
Contemporary Natick celebrate the first wedding of Natick Praying Indians celebrated inside the South Natick Church, on the grounds of the original Indian Church, in over 340 years.

Descendants of the Praying Indians of Natick have regrouped again, although the tribe has sometimes confusingly also used the name Praying Indians of Natick and Ponkapoag, despite its membership not including descendants of the Praying Indians of Ponkapoag. The inclusion might be a reference to the location of many of the tribe's current members in Stoughton, Massachusetts, where much of the land was originally part of Ponkapoag territory. Other members lie scattered in the Greater Boston area, particularly to the south and southwest of the city.

According to the current Sunksquaw ('female sachem') Rosita Caring Hands Naticksqw Andrews, in 2011 there were a little more than 50 members.[4] Membership in the tribe is restricted to direct descendants from the twelve individuals of the Blodget, Jepherson, Pease, and Pegan families listed in the 1861 Earle Report as having connection with the former reservation at Natick.[98] Many Nipmuc can trace their ancestry back to Natick ancestors, and many Natick have both Massachusett and Nipmuc ancestry. As a result of these close links, the tribe has state recognition, albeit via their links as honorary members of Nipmuc Nation.[99] Nipmuc Nation is the representative body for descendants of the Praying town of Hassanamessit, also known as the Grafton Indians or Hassanamisco Nipmuc, but includes in its membership many descendants of the Praying Indians of Chaubunagungamaug.[100]

See also

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External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article "Massachuset".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Massachusett&oldid=1039942381"