Massachusett

Massachusett

Total population
(Enrolled members:)
Regions with significant populations
United States: Massachusetts
Languages
English, formerly Massachusett language
Religion
Niantagot
Related ethnic groups
Narragansett and Patuxet

The Massachusett are a Native American people who historically lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay, as well as northeast and southern Massachusetts in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including present-day Greater Boston. Tribal members spoke the Massachusett language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. The present-day U.S state of Massachusetts is named after the tribe.

The name Massachusett means “people of the great hills”, referring to the Blue Hills south of Boston Harbor.^[1]

As one of the first groups of indigenous American peoples to encounter English colonists, the Massachusett experienced a rapid decline in population in the 17th and 18th centuries due to new infectious diseases. Descendants of the Massachusett continue to inhabit the Greater Boston area, but they are not a federally recognized tribe.

Name

View of Little Blue Hill from atop Great Blue Hill. The original name Massachusett, 'Big Hill Place,' was adopted by the local Native American people for themselves and their language and later adopted by the English settlers for the colony, and later U.S. State, of Massachusetts.

The name of the people, language and region—adopted as the name of the colony and later U.S. state with the addition of a terminal 's'—takes its name from the original name of the Great Blue Hill, a sacred area to the Massachusett people situated on the borders of Canton and Milton, Massachusetts that overlooks Boston and its harbor. The spellings 'Massachuset' or 'Massachusett' for the people and language and 'Massachusetts' for the region were more or less standard by the eighteenth century, although early English sources are full of alternate spellings such as 'Masichewsetta,' 'Masstachusit,' 'Masathulets,' 'Masatusets,' 'Massachussett,' etc.

The Massachusett were also known as the 'Moswetuset,' which derives from the same roots as 'Massachusett' but the first element is found only in a few compounds with the meaning of 'to pierce' and refers to an 'arrow-shaped hill' and refers to Moswetuset Hummock in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts, said to be ceremonial meeting ground between sachems.^[7] French sources of the early seventeenth century refer to the coastal peoples of New England as the Almouchiquois or Armouchiquois, probably from an unknown Native people of what is now Canada and likely indicating 'dog people.' Although the term extended to the coastal groups of Eastern Abenaki tribes, it specifically referred to the coastal peoples of southern New England such as the Massachusett.^[8] In the late colonial period, the French generically referred to the peoples of central and southern New England as Loup, or 'Wolf people.'^[9]

With the consolidation of the Massachusett to the two Praying towns established for them, it became increasingly more common to refer to the individual tribes, but 'Massachusett' remained the term when referring to the two groups collectively. Due to the influence of Eliot's 'Praying towns' and the conversion of most of the Massachusett to Christianity, either by Eliot or Indians that trained as missonaries, most of the Indians began to stress a general identity, referring to themselves as Indian, 'Indian,' or 'Praying Indian' to refer to the shared experience of many tribes of conversion and confinement to specific lands, precursors to the Indian Reservations established by the United States during its westward expansion and subjugation of its Native American peoples.^[10]

Roots in pre-history

The Massachusett people are most likely descendants of prehistoric Paleo-Indians who lived in eastern North America at the end of the last glaciation 30,000-15,000 years before present (BP). Archeological evidence (spear points, midden mounds) uncovered in Boston indicate habitation in that area between 6,500 and 8,000 years BP. Fishing structures, such as the Boylston Street Fishweir, dating to 5,200 years BP, have been discovered since the late 20th century in what is now Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. A recreation of a fish weir is erected annually on Boston Common in May. These early people lived by seasonal migrations, alternating between inland hunting grounds and winter homes in the fall and winter, to mining their quarries for materials used for weapon and tool making, whaling, coastal fishing and foraging sites in the late spring and summer.

History

Contacts with Europeans (ca. 1570-1621) and English Colonial Period (1621-1776)

Contacts with Europeans and the arrival of English settlers

Depiction of the Almouchicois Indians—the French term for the Massachusett-speaking peoples of southern New England by the explorer Samuel de Champlain. Champlain visited villages on islands in Boston Harbor and anchored offshore Shawmut during his exploration in 1605.

Various European nations sailed past the shores of New England beginning in the middle of the sixteenth century. The Native Americans would occasionally make encounters with the ships sailing just off the coast, English fishermen drying their catch on shore before returning home and blackbirding ships with crews that would abduct passengers for slavery or indentured servitude. Both Squanto and Samoset were able to greet the Pilgrims in English, Squanto via abduction and forced impressment as a translator and crewman on voyages to North America, and Samoset from contacts with English fishermen on his home island off Maine.

The Massachusett received Samuel de Champlain in 1605, who had sailed south from what is now Québec Province, Canada with an Algonquin guide and his Almouchicois wife as an interpreter, as she was said to speak their language. Champlain spent a night just offshore Shawmut, trading with the men that visited the ship, and may have even went ashore on island to meet the natives there.^[11] John Smith extensively mapped the coast and noted its suitability for colonization, and, like Champlain before him, explored the islands of Boston Harbor and cast anchor around Shawmut, and even landed ashore and met with the Massachusett leaders of Wessagusett and Quonnahasset.^[12]

Engravings depicting an English Puritan man and woman. Through immigration and increase, the English settlers outnumbered the Indians by the 1630s, a decade after the founding of the first settlements in the region.

These early contacts came with a great cost, especially the introduction of pathogens to which the Native Americans lacked immunity, leading to devastating virgin soil epidemics. Circa 1617, an outbreak of leptospirosis, probably introduced by rats from European ships that contaminated the local water supply, struck the densely populated coastal areas—such as the homeland of the Massachusett—with mortality rates as high as 90%.^[13] Weakened by disease and unable to defend their territories, the Massachusett were unable to fend off attacks by traditional enemies such as the Mohawk, who were armed with guns by the Dutch, and the Tarratines (Abenaki or Mi'kmaq), supported by the French.^[14] The Massachusett were unable to fend off the increasing English immigration. The Massachusett were unable to defeat the English settlers of the short-lived Wessagusset Colony in a skirmish in 1624, which led to the death of the local sachem Pecksuot and several members in his tribe.^[15]

By the 1630s, the English settlers became an overwhelming majority. This was by virtue of the fact that the Indian populations were hit several times, particularly a 1633 smallpox outbreak that greatly reduced the population, not just along the coast, but across New England and the East Coast.^[16] The population of English colonists swelled via natural increase and the large influx of roughly 20,000 settlers, most of whom arrived after the smallpox outbreak. As a result, the Indians quickly became a small minority in their own homeland, and increasingly came under influence and control of the English, resulting in an uneasy truce.

Praying Towns and Praying Indians (1651-1675)

The Eliot Church in south Natick. The church was built in 1828 on the site of the original Praying town of Natick's Indian church and meetinghouse.

The founding charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony called upon the English settlers to establish Christianity among the Native peoples present. John Eliot was the most notable, and was known as the 'Apostle to the Indians.' Eliot answered the call, learning the local language through a series of interpreters, particularly his servant Cockenoe, likely a Montaukett who spoke it as a second language, and John Sassamon, raised in indentured servitude in a White household, who agreed to assist Eliot. With the help of interpreters, Eliot attempted to reach Sachem Cutshemakin's people at Neponset in 1646, but was rebuffed. Eliot was better trained and linguistically adept later that year, and converted Sachem Waban's people at Nonantum.

Eliot petitioned the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to grant land to the Indians for the establishment of a Christian township of Indians, which occurred in 1651. Construction of the church and meetinghouse began right away, and the settlement was later joined by numerous Nipmuc people that lived just to the west of the region. Cutshemakin later submitted to Eliot and had his tribe converted, and the second Praying town, Ponkapoag (modern Canton, Massachusetts) was established in 1654 for the Neponset tribe.^[17] Eventually, twelve more of these 'Indian plantations' were established, mostly in Nipmuc, Pennacook or Pawtucket areas. The inhabitants came to be known as 'Praying Indians' and the settlements as 'Praying towns.'

The success of the Praying towns was in large part due to the traumatic experiences of European arrival. Devastating epidemics that nearly wiped the people out could not be cured with traditional healing practices and spiritual rituals nor were the spirits of the land powerful enough to keep out the European invaders. The promise of guaranteed land recognized by the invaders as untouchable to the onslaught of English colonists was also very promising.^[18] The Native Americans viewed English land sales as lease agreements, as rights to land were granted by permission of the local sachem to use until it was no longer needed. Indian land was sometimes just stolen by encroachment, squatting or allowing hungry cattle loose on their planting fields and ruining it. Laws were passed allowing all "unimproved" land to be open to English settlement, opening hunting areas, coastal shellfish collection sites to eventual settlement. With the Praying towns granted official title to their land, the converts were able to continue some aspects of their cultural practices and subsistence patterns.^[19]

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

The Praying Indians were forced to submit to the colonial authority, accept its laws and institutions, adopt certain English customs, conform to Puritan Christianity and were strongly pressured to keep away from Indians that refused to convert and kept more traditional lifestyles, but otherwise were semi-autonomous. The Indians were able to preserve their language, which was the language of the church thanks to Eliot's training of Indian missionaries and translation of the Bible, and drumming called the faithful to the pulpits instead of the church bell. The Praying Indians were disadvantaged because the validity of their conversions were questioned by the English, and general prejudice against Indians in general.^[20] The Praying Indians were despised by traditionalists, who did not receive favors or protections from the English and disavowed them for abandoning Native ways. Adoption of English husbandry and agriculture and dependence on English goods as trade items made the Indians dependent on the English economy, but as they were restricted to remaining in the Praying towns and trade with Indians was a colonial monopoly, the Praying Indians at best eked out existence as subsistence farmers on the outskirts of English colonies, indebted to the unfair credit and inflationary schemes of English neighbors. The civilizing and evangelizing mission behind the development of the Praying towns was adopted in the neighboring Plymouth Colony, and has many parallels with the Indian reservation as they exist today.^[21]

In addition to the official Praying towns of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Massachusett in northern Plymouth Colony had lands and a church established in Titicut (now Bridgewater, Massachusetts). The church was disbanded in 1755, with the Indians forced into the English congregation where they sat segregated with Black congregants. Most of the Titicut Indians and their lands were gone by 1770, probably assimilating into segregated areas for people of color or joining the existing Wampanoag and Massachusett settlements.^[22] The Massachusetts Bay Colony included several settlements of Praying Indians located on the outskirts of English towns where small communities of converts settled such as Cowate, just outside of Natick; Magaehnak, outside of Sudbury, probably about Concord, Massachusetts and Pequimmit, located in what is now Stoughton, Massachusetts.^[23]

King Philip's War (1675-1676) and aftermath

Threats to local culture, loss of land, forced acceptance of English rule and culture and abuses of the English led many Praying Indians to take arms against the English, though the vast majority remained neutral and many served to protect the settlers.

The coexistence between the English settlers and the original population of Native Americans quickly turned into tension as the English flexed their political, military and cultural muscle over the local inhabitants. The Indians were weary of the increase in the population and military strength of the English. The Massachusett and other peoples had the might of the English demonstrated in their devastating reduction of the Pequot in the Pequot War of 1636—1638.^[24]

Saint David's Island, Bermuda. After King Philip's War, many of the Indians of New England were sold into slavery here, destined for the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. The St. David's Islanders were erroneously and disparagingly called 'Mohawk' as the islanders differed in appearance from other Afro-Bermudians due to their relatively high percentage of Native American blood.

The colonies began to enact stricter rules against the Indians. Traditional religious practices were outlawed, and fines were imposed upon those caught being shamans or consulting them. All Indians, Christian or not, were forced to observe the Sabbath by refraining from activity.^[25] Other laws dictated which towns and which times of day the Indians were to avoid, kept the Indians dependent on the English for their goods since direct trade with the Indians was made a colonial monopoly. Sale of weapons, ships, alcohol and other valuables, intermarriage with the English and living too close to English settlements all became banned.^[26] These regulations angered the Indians as it forced assimilation, submission and starved them as they were forced into the English monetary society without protections. Land was the commodity, as it was needed by the English for their ever-growing populations. The Europeans, who viewed the death of the Indians as God's plan to prepare the New World for them, led them to hold any regard or want of the Indians, despite the success of the colonies dependent on Indian aid. The question of all unimproved lands open to settlement, infuriated the Native peoples.^[26]

Deer Island, attached to the mainland after the gulch that separated it silted over, is now occupied by a sewage and wastewater treatment plant. The expansion of the facility angered many Native American groups in Massachusetts whose ancestors' bones were disturbed during the plant's expansion in the 1990s.

Metacomet, whose brother was likely killed by the English, had his Massachusett interpreter to the English, John Sassamon, murdered, which led to the Plymouth Colony hanging several of his men, sparking King Philip's War. Metacomet or Philip, called a meeting of the regional tribal alliances and rose against English rule. Although many of the Praying Indians ran to support Metacomet, most remained neutral, and a good number even served as scouts, guides and interpreters for the English. The Praying Indians were attacked on both sides, by the Indians who believed they sold out the Indian rights to the land, and the English. As the war escalated, the Praying Indians were rounded up at gunpoint and forcibly interned on islands in Boston Harbor, most notably Deer Island, where they were provided little food, shelter or clothing and most perished of starvation, exposure and illness. Although the Indians that fought alongside Metacomet were successful in early campaigns, heavy losses of men and the scorched earth practices of the English forced the Indians into submission.^[27]

Many of the Indians, whether or not they participated, were executed, expelled or sold into slavery in the West Indies. For a decade or more after, the Indians suffered localized massacres, retaliatory attacks or were forced off their land. After peace was restored, the Indians tried to return to their lands, only to find most of their homes destroyed or occupied by English settlers. Of the Praying towns Eliot established, Natick and Ponkapoag, and two others, were re-opened while the rest were revoked by the colonial government and the Indians barred from returning. Many of the Indians chose to flee to safety to the north or west, assimilating into the tribes that would accept them. For the Indians that remained, this was the last effort at resistance to English rule because they were now numerically disadvantaged and the post-war population was probably only half of what it was.^[28]

Reservation period (1681-ca. 1820)

The Massachusett regrouped around the Praying towns of Natick and Ponkapoag, although the term 'Praying town' was slowly phased out as all the remaining Indians were by that time mostly Christianized, and the remaining lands simply came to be referred to as 'Indian plantations' or 'Indian reserves' and later, 'reservations.' In addition to the trickle of Indians fleeing to safety with relatives that had already sought refuge with the Abenaki or Mahican peoples, many Indians chose to seek safety with other tribes. Despite the fact that Metacomet was a Wampanoag, the missionary settlements on the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were relatively large, as the Wampanoag were better able to hold onto their traditional lands and because as they did not participate in the war, and were trusted by the government of the Plymouth Colony as opposed to the treatment to the north in Massachusetts Bay to its Praying Indians. A minor leader named Nohtooksaet led a small contingent of Massachusett people that were adopted by the Aquinnah Wampanoag at the western end of the Vineyard.^[29]

After 1869

In 1869 Massachusetts passed the Indian Enfranchisment Act. They granted the Massachusett citizenship in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with the right to vote but "terminated" their status as a sovereign nation. This did not conform to the Constitution, as only the federal government could make such decisions in relation to tribal governments.

The praying communities(?) _established at Canton (originally Ponkapoag), Natick, and Brockton continued to have communities of people who identified as Massachusett.^[30] The tombstone of a noted member of the Natick Ponkapoag community said she was the last of her tribe when she died in 1852 at age 101,.^[31]

Contemporary tribes

Ponkapoag Massachusett

Descendants of the Neponset tribe, who later became the Praying Indians of Ponkapoag, have state recognition as the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag under the current leadership of Sachem Gil Nanepashmequin ('Feather on the moon') Solomon.^[32] 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.^[33] 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.^[34]

Natick Massachusett-Nipmuc

Descendants of the Praying Indians of Natick have regrouped as the Praying Indians of Natick, although the tribe has sometimes confusingly 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.^[35] 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.^[36] 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 the their links as honorary members of Nipmuc Nation.^[37] 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.^[38]

Mattakeesett Massachusett

The Indian Head River in Pembroke, Massachusetts. The Mattakeesett tribe, as well as their Wampanoag neighbors, depended on runs of herring, alewife and salmon up rivers such as these for sustenance.

The Mattakeesett, also known as the Mamattakeesett or Mattakeeset, are descendants of the Massachusett Indians that resisted conversion attempts, instead settling on the southern edge of Massachusett territory, just north of the Wampanoag, in what is now Pembroke, Massachusetts. In 2014, descendants regrouped as the Cothutkut Mattakeeset Massachusett Tribe. Because of proximity to the Wampanoag, many of the Mattakeesett likely joined the Wampanoag as Native lands diminished. By the late nineteenth century, most of the tribe had either integrated into the surrounding community or had merged into neighboring Wampanoag peoples, and twenty-five individuals in the Hyatt, William and Prince families are recorded as Mamattakeesett or Pembroke Indians in the Earle Report of 1861.^[39]

The tribe, which does not yet enjoy state recognition, is led by Sachem Larry Wômpimeequin Fisher, is actively working to gain recognition in the Commonwealth and is currently working on several projects to establish a tribal relationship with the state.^[40]

See also

• Wetu

References

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Massachuset.

• Encyclopedia of North American Indians: Massachusett
• "Massachuset", The Menotomy Journal