USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > Farmington papers > Part 15
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dians indulged in such an irregular form of scalping as this, and the injured party appealed to a Yankee justice of the peace for redress, it would seem that their savagery was beginning to take on a rather mild form.
Until the year 1658 the tribe lived mostly on the east side of the river, where they buried their dead and where they maintained a fort. Hither came strange Indians, sometimes as friends and sometimes as foes, until the court found it necessary to order " that notice shall be given to the Indians living at Farmington that in regard of their hostile pursuits, contrary to former orders of court, and considering their entertainment of strange Indians, contrary to the agreement with the English when they sat down in Farmington, whence ensues danger to the English by bullets shot into the town in their skirmishes, that they shall speed- ily provide another place for their habitation and desert that place wherein they are now garrisoned." In the year 1711, and perhaps earlier, a certain piece of land was known in the town records as Fort Lot, and it retained the name until it was absorbed into the golf grounds of the Country Club. It is in part bounded west by the bed of the old canal and north by land recently of Mr. Henry C. Rice. Here were formerly ploughed up in great numbers two kinds of Indian arrow heads, the broad, black kind used by the Tunxis Indians, and a lesser number of a kind narrower, more pointed, and of a lighter color. These latter we were told were the weapons of a hostile tribe left here after a great battle. Of this battle, Deacon Elijah Porter has left us an account based on the traditions of a hundred years ago. He says the whites " made an agreement with them to re- move to the west side of the meadow, but before they left their old settlement they had intelligence that the Stock- bridge Indians were preparing to come and try their
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strength with the Tunxis tribe. They met accordingly at what is called the Little Meadow. The battle was fought with true Indian courage and was very bloody, but the Stockbridge Indians were too powerful for the Tunxis, and they gave way and retreated to their settlement, whereupon the squaws formed a battalion and, attacking the enemy on their flank, soon drove them from the field and gained a complete victory. The Indians, soon after the battle, made preparation to remove to the west side of the meadow." The removal of the Indians ordered by the General Court in 1658 was probably soon accomplished, for as early as 1662 the high ground west of Pequabuc meadow was known on the town records as Fort Hill, where may still be seen the gravestones which marked the new place of Indian burials. In 1675 the Court admitted that they had " set their wigwams where the authority appoints."
During the whole of King Philip's war in 1675 and .1676, when the towns around us suffered the horrors of Indian warfare, the Tunxis tribe remained faithful to the English, and on the 6th of October, 1675, sent six of their warriors to assist them at Springfield. They were Nesehe- gan, Wanawmesse, Woewassa, Sepoose, Unckchepassum, and Unckcowott. In the year 1682 we get a passing glimpse of the relations of the whites and Indians from a single leaf of the account book of Deacon Thomas Bull, in which he recorded his dealings with the Indians. Deacon Bull lived on the east side of the road which diverges from Main Street a little south of the Congregational Church. To Cherry he sells two hoes for which he was to receive five and one-half bushels of corn at harvest time. For one broad hoe John Indian promises a buckskin well dressed and duly pays the same. To Taphow he loaned one bushel of grain and got back one-half bushel. He sells Arwous a
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hatchet to hunt with, for which he was to receive nine pounds of tallow. From Mintoo he received ten pounds of tallow for a hunting hatchet, four more for mending his gun, and another four for a half bushel of corn. He has accounts also with Wonomie, Judas, and others for sales and repairs of axes, bush scythes, guns, gunlocks, hoes, picks, knives, hatchets, etc. Implements for hunting seem to have been most in demand and were paid for from the proceeds of the hunt. They bought some seed corn and hoes, and it is to be hoped made good use of them, but the picture of Indian agriculture given by Wood in his " New England's Prospect " is the more commonly received one. Describing the occupations of the squaws, he says " another work is their planting of corn, wherein they exceed our English husbandmen, keeping it so clear with their clam- shell hoes, as if it were a garden rather than a corn field, not suffering a choking weed to advance his audacious head above their infant corn, or an under-mining worm to spoil his spurnes. Their corn being ripe, they gather it, and, drying it hard in the sun, convey it to their barns, which be great holes digged in the ground in form of a brass pot, ceiled with rinds of trees, wherein they put their corn, cover- ing it from the inquisitive search of their gormandizing hus- bands, who would eat up both their allowed portion and reserved feed, if they knew where to find it."
Six years later, in 1688, Pethus and Ahamo had de- parted this life for the happy hunting grounds of their race, and no one reigned in their stead. Under the mild protec- tion of the English the tribe no longer needed chieftains to lead them to battle, and the love of office for its petty spoils and dignity, involving the sacrifice of self-respect and worldly goods for its attainment, did not appeal to their simple natures. Nevertheless, it was desirable that some
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of their race should have authority to agree with the Eng- lish in the settlement of controversies. A meeting of the tribe was therefore held on the 17th of September, 1688, at the house of John Wadsworth, and they were asked, now that their chief men were dead, whom they would make choice of to be chief. They very modestly " desired Mr. Wadsworth to nominate a man or two, who did nom- inate Wawawis and Shum, and all that were present well approved of them " . " as captains to whom the Eng- lish may have recourse at all times." The record of the meeting was signed by John Wadsworth, William Lewis Senior, and John Standly Senior as witnesses on the part of the English, and by Nonsbash, Judas, and eleven others . on the part of the tribe. Wawawis and Shum, on their part, " accepted of the place of captains or chief men amongst all the Indians now in our town and do promise to carry quietly and peaceably towards all English and to give an account to Mr. Wadsworth of any strange Indians coming," etc. Twelve others, "not being Tunxis Indians," also signed an agreement "to walk peaceably and quietly to- wards the English . and to be subject to Shum and Wawawis as their chief commanders." This agreement seems to have been faithfully. kept. In 1725, an attack from Canada being feared and bands of hostile Indians having been found lurking about Litchfield, the Governor and Council resolved "That John Hooker, Esq., William Wadsworth, and Isaac Cowles, or any two of them, shall inspect the Indians of Farmington; and the said Indians, each and every man of them, is ordered to appear before said committee every day about sundown, at such place as . said committee shall appoint, and to give to said committee an account of their ramble and business the preceeding day, unless said committee shall, for good reason to them shown,
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give their allowance to omit their appearance for some time." In October this restraint was removed from the Farmington Indians provided they refrained from war paint and wore a white cloth on their heads when they went into the woods to hunt, thus distinguishing themselves from the hostile Indians around them.
The conversion of the natives of this continent to Chris- tianity was a favorite purpose set forth in the grants and charters issued by European sovereigns, whether Protestant or Catholic. In 1706 the General Assembly of Connecticut desires the reverend ministers to prepare a plan for their conversion, and in 1717 the Governor and Council are ordered to present " the business of gospeling the Indians " to the October session of the assembly. In 1727 persons having Indian children in their families are ordered to en- deavor to teach them to read English and to catechise them. In 1733 the General Assembly provides for the payment of the board of the Indian youth of Farmington at a school under the supervision of Rev. Samuel Whitman, and the next year the latter reports progress to Gov. Talcott. "I have leisure only to inform your Honour that of the nine Indian lads that were kept at school last winter, three can read well in a testament, three currently in a psalter, and three are in their primers. Testaments and psalters have been provided for those that read in them, Three of ye Indian lads are entered in writing and one begins to write a legible hand." Appropriations for the school were made by the assembly for three successive years. In 1737 a pupil of the school, one John Matawan, became its teacher. In 1751 the tribe had made such progress in adopting the customs of their white neighbors that the Ecclesiastical Society " granted a liberty to the Christianized Indians belonging to said society to build a seat in the gallery in the
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Meeting House over the stairs at the northeast corner of said house and to be done at the direction of the society committee." In 1763 Solomon Mossuck joins the church, and two years afterward his wife Eunice also joins. In November, 1772, a new teacher took his place in the little Indian schoolhouse in West District. This was Joseph Johnson, a Mohegan Indian, whose father had been a soldier in the French war. He had attended Wheelock's Indian Charity School at Lebanon in 1758, but after leav- ing it had led an irregular life, at one time going on a whaling voyage and visiting the West Indies. Returning to a sober, religious life, he was employed by the " Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England " to teach the . Tunxis Indians until he was ordained as a minister at Han- over, New Hampshire, in the summer of 1774. He had much to do with the subsequent removal of the tribe to the west.
The continued progress of the Indians toward a civilized life and their feelings and aspirations in regard to it are set forth in the memorial of Elijah Wampey, Solomon Mossuck, and the rest of the tribe to the May session of the General Assembly in 1774: "Your Honour's Memorial- ists have always lived and inhabited in the said town of Farmington by means whereof the most of us have in some measure become acquainted with and formed some general ideas of the English custom and manners, and many of said tribe have been instructed in reading and writing in English, and have been at considerable expense in attaining the same, and furnishing ourselves with bibles and some other books in English for our further instruction though poorly able to bear the expense thereof, and we being desirous to make further proficiency in English literature and especially to be acquainted with the Statute Laws of this Colony
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do therefore pray your Honours to give us a Colony Law Book to guide and direct us in our conduct." The petition was granted.
Another memorial by the same persons, dated six days earlier, foreshadows a great change about to come over the tribe. The restless spirit of the savage, which no civilizing influences, or religion itself, could wholly subdue, had been set on fire by the allurements of new scenes offered them and of more room for the exercise of their old-time free- dom of forest life. The memorial states " that they have received a kind invitation from their brethren, the Six Nations at Oneida, to come and dwell with them, with a promise of a cordial reception and ample provision in land whereon to subsist, and being straightened where we now dwell, think it will be best for ourselves and our children and also tend to extend and advance the kingdom of Christ among the heathen nations to sell our interest in this Colony, to accept said kind invitation of our brethren and to remove to the Oneida, and to prevent being imposed upon therein, we humbly pray your Honours as our fathers and guardians to appoint Col. John Strong and Fisher Gay, Esq., and Mr. Elnathan Gridley, all of said Farmington, a committee to assist, direct, and oversee us in the sale of our lands." Their petition was granted. We have another account of this invitation of the Tunxis tribe to the home of their former deadliest enemies. It was written down by Deacon Elijah Porter, who was a boy of thirteen at the time of the occurrence and doubtless wrote of what he personally knew. He says: "Some time before the Rev- olutionary War a tribe of the Oneida Indians came to Farmington to make the Tunxes a friendly visit. Accord- ingly they had a feast of wild deer. In the evening they held a pow-wow. They built a very large fire and the two
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tribes joined hands and set to a running around this fire singing and shouting and sounding the war whoop so loud as to be plainly heard a mile."
The great obstacle to the removal of the tribe was their claim to valuable lands which they could neither take with them nor legally sell. Since the year 1738 they had many times besought the assistance of the General Assembly and that body by sundry committees had found them to be the rightful owners of a piece of land known as the Indian Neck, containing from ninety to one hundred and forty acres, bounded east and south by the river, north by the Wells Farm, and west by land of Daniel Lewis. This land, though not held in severalty, certain individuals of the tribe had attempted to sell in small quantities by deeds in most instances not legally executed or recorded and dating back as far as the first day of December, 1702. Many legisla- tures perplexed themselves with attempts to do justice to all parties, until at length a committee was appointed in 1773, which, taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case, divided a particular holding to each Indian, whether warrior or squaw, in quantity varying from ten acres to a little less than two acres and made a map of the same. Lots were laid out to thirty-seven individuals, being one more than the census of 1774 records. According to the latter there were fourteen males over twenty years of age and twelve females. The whole matter was accom- plished in 1777, and the tribe was free to remove with the proceeds of the sale of their lands. The tribe, small as it was, seems not to have made its exodus in a body. In Oc- tober, 1773, their principal men sent a circular letter to six other New England tribes asking them to send a messenger to the house of Sir William Johnson, who had encouraged their removal. Joseph Johnson and Elijah Wampey were
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the only men who went. At a meeting at Canajoharie the next January, representatives were sent by four tribes who announced their intended removal in a speech by Joseph Johnson in the council house of the Oneidas. The latter, in their reply, say: " Brethren, since we have received you as brothers, we shall not confine you, or pen you up to ten miles square," and add many expressions of hearty wel- come. The spring of 1775 saw the departure of a consider- able part of the Tunxis tribe, some to Oneida and some to Stockbridge. In the Indian deeds on record, Elijah Wam- pey locates himself in 1777 as " now of Oneida in the Mo- hawk country," and James Wowowas in 1775 as of Stock- bridge. The time of their removal was most unfortunate. They, with most of the Oneidas, espoused the patriot side in the Revolution and were driven in 1777 from their new homes by the British, Tories, and Indians under St. Leger and sought refuge in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. To tell the story of their disaster at length were to rehearse a large part of the history of the Revolution. The war over, they renew their memorials to our state legislature to help them return to their now devastated homes.
Their appeal to the October session of the General Assembly in 1780 was written by Wampey, Cusk, Cur- comb, and others from West Stockbridge asking for funds to pay for the preaching among them of " Daniel Simon of the Narragansett tribe of Indians of College education and ordained to preach the gospel." Their request, though fortified by an appeal from the missionary Samuel Kirk- land, was refused, and instead thereof they were allowed to solicit contributions in the several churches. A consider- able sum was thus collected in Continental currency and in bills of credit issued by the state, but so utterly valueless had this currency become that " not worth a continental "
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was the common designation of anything absolutely worth- less. The assembly this time took pity on their condition and ordered the state treasurer to take up the bills and pay lawful money to Rev. Samuel Kirkland for their use.
In 1788 the Indians began to return to their Oneida homes, being encouraged by an act of the New York legis- lature which has the following preamble: "And whereas the Oneida and Tuscarora tribes inhabiting within this state have been distinguished for their attachment to the cause of America and have thereby entitled themselves to protec- tion, and the said tribes by their humble petition having prayed that their land may be secured to them by authority of the legislature," commissioners were appointed to devise measures for their contentment. In an act of 1801 we read " that the tract of land of six miles square confirmed by the Oneida Indians to the Stockbridge Indians by the treaty held at Fort Stanwix in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight shall be and remain to the Stockbridge Indians and their posterity forever." . . " and be it further en- acted that the tract of land heretofore set apart for the In- dians called the New England Indians, consisting of the tribes called the Mohegan, Montock, Stonington, and Nar- ragansett Indians, and the Pequots of Groton and Ne- hanticks of Farmington, shall be and remain to the said Indians and their posterity, but without any power of alienation by the said Indians, or of leasing or disposing of the same or any part thereof, and the same tract shall be called Brothertown and shall be deemed part of the town of Paris in the county of Oneida." Brothertown was on the Oriskany and occupied the greater part of the town of Marshall, which was formerly a part of the town of Paris and the southern part of Kirkland in which is located Hamilton College. New Stockbridge was six miles to the
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west in the town of Augusta. The two settlements formed at first one parish, the Rev. Samson Occom preaching alter- nate Sundays, now in the barn of Fowler in Brothertown and now in some house in New Stockbridge. The history of these two settlements, of their contentions with the land- hungry whites, and of their own internal dissensions, is too voluminous for our present consideration. In 1831 they again began a new removal westward, this time to Green Bay, Wisconsin. The amount of Tunxis blood diffused through that conglomeration of races must now have be- come so small that we will not pursue the history of the tribe further. Those who desire further knowledge of the Brothertown Indians should consult the account of Rev. Samson Occom by the Rev. William Deloss Love and the numerous authorities to which he refers. I shall only quote a few lines from the account which President Dwight gives of his visit to them in 1799. He says : " I had a strong inclination to see civilized Indian life, i. e., Indian life in the most advanced state of civilization in which it is found in this country, and was informed that it might prob- ably be seen here." The Brothertown Indians, he says, " were chiefly residents in Montville and Farmington, and were in number about one hundred and fifty. The settle- ment is formed on the declivity of a hill, running from north to south. The land is excellent, and the spot in every re- spect well chosen. Here forty families of these people have fixed themselves in the business of agriculture. They have cleared the ground on both sides of the road about a quarter of a mile in breadth and about four miles in length. Three of them have framed houses. . . . The remaining houses are of logs, and differ little from those of the whites, when formed of the same materials. Their husbandry is much in- ferior to that of the white people. Their fences are indiffer-
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ent and their meadows and arable grounds are imperfectly cleared. Indeed, almost everywhere is visible that slack hand, that disposition to leave everything unfinished, which peculiarly characterizes such Indians as have left the savage life."
We will close this paper with a brief account of the scanty remnant of the Tunxis tribe who lived and died on their ancestral soil. Solomon Mossuck, who joined the church in 1763, died January 25, 1802, at the age of 78 and was buried in the Indian burying ground on the hill to the left of the road as you go to the railroad station. A well- executed monument marks his grave. He had a son Dan- iel who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and a son Luke who removed to Brothertown. Thomas Curcomb, who is said on the church records to have been the last Tunxis Indian of unmixed blood, died December 21, 1820, aged 44. He is best remembered by the story of his buy- ing rum at the store of Zenas Cowles, the nearest source of supply for the inhabitants of the Indian Neck. It was during the early days when total abstinence societies were unknown and all classes and conditions of men bought rum, and every merchant sold it, as one of the absolute neces- sities of life. Thomas, having obtained a gallon for eight shillings, in due time returned for another supply and was disgusted to learn that the price in the meantime has risen to nine shillings. It was explained to him that the extra shilling was for interest on the money and for shrinkage of the liquor, and that it cost as much to keep a hogshead of rum through the winter as to keep a horse. Yes, yes, said the Indian. He no eat hay, but he drink much water. Thomas got his rum for eight shillings as before. The story of Henry Mossuck, son of Luke and grandson of Solomon, is not edifying, but as he was the last of his race
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and as his career well illustrates the inevitable fate of weaker races in the contest of life I must venture to give you a brief sketch of a man sinning somewhat, but very much sinned against. His first recorded appearance in public was in a justice court, where Esquire Horace Cowles fined him for stealing chickens on the night of July 8, 1824. A month afterward he was wanted in another matter but had absconded to parts unknown. Two years later he goes to sea for a three years' voyage, and, as I am told, with Capt. Ebenezer Mix, giving a white neighbor a power of attorney to take care of his land in his absence. Just be- fore he returned, his trusted agent sold the land, pocketed the proceeds, and went west. Passing over twenty years of his uneventful life we find him at the age of forty-nine in Colebrook, where on a Saturday night in the last week of March, 1850, two wretches not twenty-one years of age, William H. Calhoun and Benjamin Balcom, murdered a certain Barnice White in a most brutal manner. They were sentenced to be hung, and Henry Mossuck, known as Henry Manasseth, was sentenced with them as having prompted and abetted them. A year afterward the sen- tences of all three were commuted to imprisonment for life. I have read the lengthy records of the court and the minute confession of Calhoun and have learned much from other sources. There seems to have been no evidence whatever against Mossuck except that of the men, who re- hearsed the story of their brutal crime with no more com- punction than they would feel at the butchering of an ox, and who had every motive for lying. Mossuck vainly peti- tioned the legislature for release for three successive years, in 1861, 1862, and 1863, but finally, in 1867, Balcom on his death bed having asserted the innocence of Mossuck, and the chaplain and officers of the State Prison giving him
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a good character, he was pardoned. He died in our poor- house on the 19th of October, 1883.
So came to an ignoble end a race always friendly to our fathers. They have left little to recall them to mind. A few monuments mark their graves on Fort Hill near by where John Mattawan and Joseph Johnson taught their schools. A single stone in our own cemetery overlooks the river once covered with their canoes and the broad acres once their hunting grounds. On it are inscribed the well- known lines by Mrs. Sigourney :
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