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Petition by Harmon Garrett for Jethro's land along the Elizabeth River (Assabet) near what is now Maynard, Massachusetts

Tantamous (also known as Old Jethro or John Jethro[1]: 137 ) (c. 1580[2]–1676) was a well-known Native American Nipmuc leader in seventeenth century Massachusetts. Tantamous was a powwow (healer and spiritual leader) who lived near the Assabet River,[3]: 19–20  [1]: 80  later in Nobscot (now, Framingham). Tantamous "...may have gotten his English name for his good advice."[4]

Biography

According to one source "[i]n his earlier years it is supposed [Tantamous] lived at Isabaeth, the country about the Assabet River, now Maynard."[5] Around 1635 Tantamous and/or his son Peter Jethro was present with a group of Native Americans to witness the sale of what is now downtown Concord to local colonists.[6] In 1651, Tantamous transferred land in what is now Maynard to Herman Garrett, a resident of Concord, by defaulting on a mortgaged mare and colt.[7] In 1659, John Smith of Charlestown unsuccessfully requested the Massachusetts General Court to deed him Tantamous' land near Sudbury as payment for a debt.[8] In 1653 an Indian named "Jethro" was brought into the Indian court in Nonantum with several other Indians for drunkenness, and he was recorded as having two illegitimate children by 1663, but it is not entirely clear if this is the same Jethro.[9][10] Later in life, Tantamous and twelve of his family members lived on the northwest side of what is now named Nobscot Hill, located in Framingham and Sudbury.[11]

Despite living amongst the praying Indians associated with John Eliot, Tantamous did not join their religion. In 1675 Tantamous and ten other Indians were falsely accused of committing a murder in the Lancaster raid after allegedly falling under suspicion due to their "singing, dancing, and having much powder and many bullets and slugs hid in their baskets," but they were acquitted when the true murderer, Monoco, a Nashaway, was discovered, and Peter Jethro actually communicated with the captors of Mary Rowlandson to obtain her release.[12][13] During King Philip's War, the government ordered Tantamous and his family to Deer Island, and in 1675 Tantamous received thirty lashes for abusive speeches.[14] Tantamous eventually escaped from Deer Island but his son, Peter, alerted the authorities (with alleged assurances that his family would not be harmed) of his father's whereabouts,[15] and Tantamous was captured at Cochecho (Dover, New Hampshire) and executed on September 26, 1676, on the Boston Common[16][3]: 19–20  [1]: 80  after being marched through the streets of Boston with a noose on his neck on the way to the Great Elm Tree.[17][18] In his history of the war, Increase Mather referred to the incident, stating, "That abominable Indian Peter Jethro betrayed his own Father, and other Indians of his special acquaintance, unto Death."[19] More recent historians suggest that Peter may have actually been working to turn in only John Monoco, the perpetrator of the Lancaster raid out of a sense of justice, and Monoco and Old Jethro may have intended to surrender peacefully in return for offering Canonicus, the Narragansett leader in exchange for their lives.[13] The remainder of Tantamous' family, other than Peter, were sold into slavery.[20]

Legacy

Remnants of Tantamous' home and farm fields in Framingham could still be seen centuries after his death,[21] and his cave can still be seen today.[22] Tantamous' name is memorialized in Tantamouse Trail in Sudbury and Jethro Street in Maynard, and the Tantamous Lodge of the Boy Scouts.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c Drake, Samuel Gardner (1841). The Book of the Indians, Or, Biography and History of the Indians of North America: From Its First Discovery to the Year 1841. Antiquarian Bookstore. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  2. ^ Bruce A. White, Tantamous: The Powwow from Penobscot (1976) https://books.google.com/books?id=6OovHAAACAAJ
  3. ^ a b Barry, William, A History of Framingham, Massachusetts (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1847)
  4. ^ Wayland Historical Tours re-publication of 1976 Wayland Historical Tours (2013), pg 21 https://www.waylandmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Wayland-Historical-Tours-Final.pdf
  5. ^ Alfred Sereno Hudson, The Annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1891), p. 1
  6. ^ History of the Town of Concord, Mass. by Lemuel Shattuck, (Boston, 1835) http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/middlesex/towns/concord/histch01.txt
  7. ^ Gutteridge, William H. (1921). "A Brief History of the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts". pp. 12–16. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Tantamous," Yale Indian Papers Project https://yipp.yale.edu/bio/bibliography/tantamous-1676
  9. ^ Roger Thompson, Divided We Stand: Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630-1680 (2001), footnotes 23 and 26 (citing Mass Archives folios for original document) https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1558493042
  10. ^ another Indian called "Jethro" was present in the area at this time, see: https://yipp.yale.edu/bio/bibliography/jethro-1621
  11. ^ "Tantamous," Yale Indian Papers Project https://yipp.yale.edu/bio/bibliography/tantamous-1676
  12. ^ Hezekiah Butterworth, Young Folks' History of Boston (1881) pg. 28-33
  13. ^ a b Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin (Yale University Press, 2018) "Peter Jethro and the Capture of Monoco," https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/peter-jethro
  14. ^ Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the ...https://books.google.com/books?id=QDE2AQAAMAAJ (1901) pg. 54
  15. ^ Provincial and State Papers Volume 1 New Hampshire (Colony) Probate Court (1867) p/ 360
  16. ^ Gutteridge, William H. (1921). A Brief History of the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts. Maynard, MA: Town of Maynard.
  17. ^ Hezekiah Butterworth, Young Folks' History of Boston (1883) pg. 25-35
  18. ^ Barber, S., Boston Common: A Diary of Notable Events, Incidents, and Neighboring Occurrences (Christopher Publishing House, 1916), p. 32 https://books.google.com/books?id=p4QUAAAAYAAJ
  19. ^ Kittredge, George Lyman, The Old Farmer and His Almanack: Being Some Observations on Life and ... (1920), pg. 370
  20. ^ Temple, Josiah Howard, History of Framingham, Massachusetts: Early Known as Danforth's ... https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4AlAQAAMAAJ 1887 - Framingham (Mass.), p. 53
  21. ^ Temple, Josiah Howard, History of Framingham, Massachusetts: Early Known as Danforth's ... https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4AlAQAAMAAJ 1887 - Framingham (Mass.)
  22. ^ LaMond, Carole, Staff Writer (Apr 2, 2008). "Preserving Nobscot's History". Sudbury Town Crier. WickedLocal.com. Retrieved May 10, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "Tantamous Lodge". Boy Scouts of America – Mayflower Council. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
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