USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Derby > The history of the old town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880. With biographies and genealogies > Part 4
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Mr. Barber's account of Chuse and the Indians at the Falls is interesting and worthy of preservation, and is as follows :6
" For a long period after the settlement of this place, it was called Chusetown, so named from Chuse, the last sachem of the Derby Indians, who is said to have derived this name from his manner of pronouncing the word "choose." His proper name was Joe Mau-we-hu; he was the son of Gideon Mauwehu, a Pequot Indian, who was the king or sachem of the Scatacook
4 Page 200.
5This subject will be further treated of in the history of Chusetown, or Hum- phreysville.
6 Hist. Col. 199, 200.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
tribe of Indians in Kent. It appears that Gideon, previous to his collecting the Indians at Kent, lived in the vicinity of Derby, and wishing to have his son brought up among the white people, sent Joe to Mr. Agar Tomlinson of Derby, with whom he lived during his minority. Chuse preferring to live at Derby, his father gave him a tract of land at the Falls, called the In- dian field. Here he erected his wigwam, about six or eight rods north of where the cotton factory now [1836] stands, on the south border of the flat. It was beautifully situated among the white-oak trees, and faced the south. He married an Indian woman of the East Haven tribe. At the time Chuse removed here there were but one or two white families in the place, who had settled on Indian hill, the hight of land east of the river and south-east of the cotton factory, in the vicinity of the Methodist and Congregational churches. These settlers wishing Chuse for a neighbor, persuaded him to remove to the place where the house of the late Mrs. Phebe Stiles now stands, a few rods north of the Congregational church. When Mr. Whitmore built on the spot, Chuse removed back to the Falls, where a considerable number of the Indians collected and built their wigwams in a row, a few rods east of the factory on the top of the bank extending to Indian hill. Near the river in the Indian field, was a large Indian burying-ground ; each grave was cov- ered with a small heap of stones. Mr. Stiles, of this place, pur- chased this field about forty-six years since of the Indian pro- prietors, and in ploughing it over destroyed these relics of antiquity. The land on the west side of the river from this place, where the Episcopal church stands was formerly called Shrub Oak. Both the Indians and the whites went to meeting on foot to Derby. Those of the whites who died here, were con- veyed on horse litters to be buried at Derby ; these litters were made by having two long poles attached to two horses, one of which was placed before the other ; the ends of the poles were fastened, one on each side of the forward horse, and the other ends were fastened to the horse behind. A space was left be- tween the horses, and the poles at this place were fastened to- gether by cross pieces, and on these was placed whatever was to be carried. Chuse lived at this place forty-eight years, and then removed with most of the Derby Indians to Scatacook, in
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SHOT BY MISTAKE.
Kent, where he died, at the age of about eighty years. He was a large, athletic man and a very spry and active hunter. He had ten children. Eunice, aged seventy-two years, the young- est daughter of Chuse, is still living [1836] at Scatacook and it is from her that most of the particulars respecting Chuse and the Indians are derived.
" Chuse and his family were in the habit of going down once a year to Milford ' to salt,' as it was termed. They usually went down in a boat from Derby Narrows ; when they arrived at Milford beach they set up a tent made of the sail of their boat and stayed about a fortnight, living upon oysters and clams. They also collected a considerable quantity of clams, which they broiled, then dried them in the sun and strung them in the same manner as we do apples which are to be dried. Clams cured by this method were formerly quite an article of traffic.
" The Indians in the interior used to bring down dried ven- ison, which they exchanged with the Indians who lived on the sea-coast, for their dried clams. Chuse used to kill many deer while watching the wheat fields ; also great numbers of wild turkeys and occasionally a bear. Some of the whites also were great hunters ; the most famous were Gideon Washborn and Alexander Johnson. Rattlesnakes were formerly very numer- ous about Niumph, near Rock Rimmon, and occasionally have been known to crawl into the houses in the vicinity. About the time of the first settlement at Humphreysville, a white man by the name of Noah Durand, killed an Indian named John Sunk, by mistake. They were hunting deer on opposite sides of the river, Durand on the west side and the Indian on the east ; it was in the dusk of the evening, in the warm season, at the time the deer went into the river to cool themselves. Du- rand perceived something moving among the bushes on the east side and supposing it to be a deer, aimed his gun at the place
and fired. Sunk, mortally wounded, immediately cried out, ' You have killed me.' Durand sprang through the river to the assistance of the dying Indian, who begged for water. Durand took his shoe, filled it with water and gave it to Sunk, who, after drinking, immediately died. This took place perhaps twenty or thirty rods south of Humphreysville, just below where Henry Wooster lived. A kind of arbitration was afterward held
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INDIAN HISTORY.
upon this case by the white people and the Indians. One of the Indian witnesses remarked that he never knew of deer wearing red stockings before, alluding to the common Indian dress. The Indians, however, appeared satisfied that their countryman was killed by mistake and ever afterwards made Mr. Durand's house their stopping place."7
" Anecdotes are preserved of Chuse, which show that he was somewhat addicted to the use of ardent liquors and considered rum or whisky essentially superior as a beverage to cold water. He used to come when thirsty, to a fine spring bursting from a hollow rock at the foot of the hill and there sit on the bank by the side of the spring and drink the sweet water as it gushed from the rock, and praise it and say that if there was only another spring of rum, flowing by the side of it, he would ask for nothing more, but should be perfectly happy.
"In 1760, he sold an acre and a half of land on the east side of the Falls, including the water privilege, to Thomas Perkins of Enfield, and Ebenezer Keeney, Joseph Hull and John Woos- ter of Derby, who had formed a company for the purpose of put- ting up some iron works. After living at Humphreysville forty-eight years Chuse removed to Scaghticook, where, a few years after, he died at the age of eighty. His land was not dis- posed of until 1792, when it still amounted to thirty-three acres ; and only a part was sold at this time, the rest being sold in 1812."8
On the day-book of the selectmen of Derby are found the following items :
" 1809. Abigail Short, credit, by keeping Frederick Fronk, one of the proprietors of the Indian land at Rock Rimmon Falls, and tending him in his illness, $6.50. By horse and carriage to move Frederick Fronk, one of, etc., $0.67.
" Sept. 4, 1809. Isaac Pease, credit, by making a coffin for Frederick Fronk, one of proprietors, etc., $4.50. Abraham Harger, credit, by digging Frederick Fronk's grave, $1.34. Daniel Todd, credit, by tending on Lydia French and Freder- ick Fronk's funeral, $1.00.
" 1808. Augustus Bagden, credit, by keeping his mother, Hes-
7 Hist. Col. 199, 200.
8DeForest's Hist. 406, 407. Town Rec.
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CHUSE'S REMOVAL.
ter, one of the proprietors of the Indian land at Rimmon Falls, $10.79."
Thus did the town do for the Indians the same as for others under the same circumstances; and whatever may be said of the treatment rendered to the Indians in America, Derby has paid them for all she ever had of them, over and over and over ; living in peace and great friendship with them, caring for them just as for citizens and neighbors, and at last laying them in their last sleeping place as brothers. What more " would ye that men should do unto you ? "
Since preparing the above concerning Chuse, the following items have come under observation : Joseph Mauwee, the sa- chem of Humphreysville, removed to Scatacook about 1780, and in 1786 his name was attached to a petition to the Assem- bly, and hence, he was still living. In 1792 his land was sold (some of it, so said) at Humphreysville, upon the petition of his heirs. Therefore, he died between 1786 and 1792, and is said to have been eighty (or about eighty) years of age. Hence, he was born about 1710, and probably did not settle at Chuse- town before 1740, or when he was about thirty years of age. It is probable that after his marriage he remained some few years at Turkey Hill or Derby Narrows, which was then in- habited only by Indians, and then settled at Chusetown, which agrees with the tradition that his family were closely associated with the Turkey Hill locality. It also appears from these items that he may have lived with Agar Tomlinson a few years after 1734, and after he was twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, to fit himself to become the sachem of the remaining Derby In- dians.
It is within the legitimate scope of this brief record, to fol- low Gideon Mauwee to his hunting grounds in Kent. " The clan which collected at New Milford was quite considerable in size, although I cannot find that it had a distinctive name. It was unquestionably a mere collection of refugees and wander- ers, who had migrated hither from the southern and eastern parts of Connecticut, to escape from the vicinity of the English settlements."9
This opinion is not only probable, but demonstrated by the
9De Forest 389.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
fact that Paugasuck Indians were there, forming no inconsider- able part of that settlement. The New Milford settlers bought the township from the native proprietors, on the eighteenth of February, 1703, for sixty pounds in money and twenty pounds in goods. The first Indian name mentioned in the deed, and the first on the list of signers, was Papetoppe; from whence it is possible that he at that time was sachem, or at least the leader. The others are Rapiecotoo, Towcomis, Nanhootoo, Hawwasues, Yoncomis, Shoopack, Wewinapouck, Docames, Paramethe, Wewinapuck, Chequeneag, Papiream, Nokopurrs, Paconaus, Wonawak and Tomassett. The deed is witnessed by John Minor of Woodbury and Ebenezer Johnson and John Durand of Derby. Of these seventeen names, sixteen are given in the Woodbury history as belonging to the Pootatucks, and it is possible that they were taken from this deed and placed to the account of the Poota- tucks, but this would be such a stretch of history as seemingly no author would venture upon, unless they were all found previ- ous to the date of this deed among the Pootatucks. Chequeneag is Cheshconeag of the Derby deed, dated 1698; Wonawak is Nonawaug alias Nonawaux of the same deed ; Tomassett is Tomasoot or Chomasseet of the same deed. Taking into con- sideration the different spelling of the same names by different town clerks in Derby, we need not be surprised to find other New Milford names identical with names in Derby previous to the date of the New Milford deed; as for instance, Paconaus may be the same as Pequonat of Derby.
Hence, in his westward emigration, Gideon Mauwee was not peculiar nor alone, nor did he go among entire strangers. It would be interesting to know whether Cheraromogg, signer of a deed at Stratford in 1684, was Raumaug of New Milford in 1716, and finally Weraumaug, of undying fame, at New Pres- ton. Gideon Mauwee finally rested at Scaghticook10 and gath- ered about him many wanderers, until his company became large enough to attract the special attention of missionaries. The name on white lips became Scatacook, and these Indians were known only as Scatacook Indians. Here Eunice Mauwee lived (as have her descendants after her) on a state reservation, and died in 1859, aged about one hundred and four years.
10" Pish-gach- ti-gock,-the meeting of the waters." Benson J. Lossing.
xlix
THE HATCHETT FAMILY.
Her father was the last chief. "Until within a few weeks of her death, she often talked with freedom of the Indians and their habits. It was interesting to hear her pronunciation of Indian words which have now become local property and are attached to so many names. In almost every instance the mod- ern use of them is merely a reduction of larger and more un- manageable ones ; words which, as they are now used, have been shorn of a half or a third of their original syllables. She was in- telligent and accustomed to talk, and remembered many curious things. She made this statement, that she saw when a girl, an old Indian who had seen King Philip. The Indian was telling her father of the personal traits and appearance of this brave hero."1ยบ This last item leads us back to the hypothesis, that Chuse was descended from the Pootatuck chief Chusumack, who signed several deeds about 1670, and whose family consisted of several sons and grandsons ; whose residence was at Pootatuck, opposite Birmingham Point in Stratford, and afterwards at Pomperaug or Newtown. The old Indian in this case might have been her great grandfather.
In various other parts of the Naugatuck valley is traced the Red man, lingering amidst the institutions and customs of civ- ilization, and suffering more or less in the contact.
MOLLY HATCHETT.
Some particular account of the Hatchett family is given by Dr. A. Beardsley, who, having some personal knowledge of the family, has continued the inquiry until the following result has been obtained :
On the right of the old Milford road at Turkey Hill, just be- low Two-mile brook, there was once an Indian burying-ground. Around the base of a high hill overlooking the Ousatonic, rough field-stones have within a few years marked the resting place of many Red skins who once occupied these regions. An old saying is that many Indians were buried there. Some of these stones were small, others of large size.
In early times the wild turkeys, seeking to escape from the hunter, flew from this hill across the Ousatonic,-a fact which
10Sharpe's Hist. of Seymour, p. 37.
G
1
INDIAN HISTORY.
gave it the name of Turkey Hill. These lands, long in the possession of Mr. David Burt were held sacred. He did not even allow his ploughshare to disturb the rude grave-spots which told so sad a story of the poor Indian. Like Hippocrates of old, who dug up grave-yards in the night season for imperisha- ble bones, so did the medical students of Yale College search here for materials to aid them in their anatomical pursuits. The New Haven and Derby railroad has extinguished all traces of this ancient cemetery, Indian skulls and bones in large quan- tities having been exhumed in excavating at Turkey Hill.
Upon this hill stood the head-quarters of a tribe of Indians. Here they built their wigwams, held their war councils, joined in the noisy dance and smoked the pipe of peace, while the old sachem of Milford, Ansantaway, with his son Ockenuck of Stratford, set his mark upon Derby.
It may be inferred from the most reliable sources that the New Milford Indians and the Paugasucks at one time lined the banks of the Ousatonic from Old to New Milford. They had a trail, many traces of which are still visible, along which, by sig- nal and war whoop, they could telegraph from the one place to the other "between sun and sun." They had several fortresses along this trail. The Paugasucks, however, possessed the land of Derby and one of the last of this tribe is still fresh in the memory of our citizens.
On the line of Two-mile brook, near the Ousatonic, over an old cellar still to be seen, stood the little hut of Molly Hatchett. Leman Stone, agent for Indian land reservations in Derby, in the goodness of his heart caused it to be erected for her home. Truman Gilbert was the boss carpenter, and David Bradley and Agar Gilbert his apprentice boys, both of whom are still living, assisted. The building was only twelve feet square. Here lived and died Molly Hatchett. She was a wanderer upon the earth, but wherever she went she always found a hearty welcome, and was never turned away with an empty basket. She was a favor- ite among the people, and was looked upon with sad sympathy. The children in the streets flocked to meet her, and the old folks always paid her deference. A hundred families or more she visited once or twice a year, selling her little fancy stained baskets, and wherever a child was born she was sure to appear,
li
MOLLY HATCHETT.
and present the baby with a basket-rattle containing six ker- nels of corn. If the mother had more than six children she put in one more kernel, and so on in arithmetical proportion.
In her old age, when she could no longer go her rounds, she was often visited by the good people of Derby Narrows, who gave her great comfort and consolation. Parting with her one day when her death was approaching, a good woman remarked, " Molly, it is too bad that you should die in such a hut as this." "Oh no," she replied, "I shall soon have a better home in heaven, where I shall go and meet the pale faces with the Great Spirit." Her funeral was decently attended, Leman Stone ar- ranging the ceremonies, his workmen acting as pall-bearers. In the parish records of St. James's church, in the hand-writing of the Rev. Stephen Jewett, appears the following :
" 1829, January 17, died Molly Hatchett, Indian, aged nearly one hundred, buried by Rev. W. Swift."
There is no date of her birth or marriage, but she was the wife, according to Indian custom, of John Hatchett, who died at an early age and is said to have been a descendant of old Chuse, who lived at Humphreysville. Molly had four children. She lived with her son Joseph many years, but most of her family afterwards joined the Scatacook settlement in Kent.
Molly Hatchett was a good specimen of the Paugasucks. Nearly six feet tall, muscular, erect, of stately step, with long, black hair falling over her shoulders, with piercing black eyes, of polite and commanding appearance, she was a noble relic of a barbarous race.
It was a fashion of her own, always to wear a white blanket shawl and a man's hat, and to carry a cane or her little hatchet. Shrewd and witty, she was seldom overreached in her jokes. She was rather fond of " uncupe," as she called rum, and this was her besetting sin, for which she blamed the whites.
One day she called at the store of Mr. S-, and asked for a drink of "uncupe." "Can't give it to you," said the conscien- tious merchant, " it is against the law to sell by the glass." " Uh," said she, "there is no law against Indians." Thirsty and full of importunity on her part, the rumseller finally yielded, when he said, " Molly, if you will lie down on your back on this
lii
INDIAN HISTORY.
floor, and let me put a tunnel in your mouth, I will pour down your throat a good horn of uncupe." The action was suited to the words, and both seemed gratified with the evasion of the law. A few days after, calling on her benefactor, smiling and talka- tive, he said, " Well, Molly, what do you want to-day ?" " Oh ! I only called to see if you did not want to tunnel me again."
Many years before her death Molly was often heard to say she could remember when the main road through Derby Nar- rows was only a foot-path by the river bank, dense with forest trees.
She used to correct the white man's pronunciation of the names of our rivers. "You must call them as did the old ' Ingins,' Nau- gatuck and Ousatonuck." When she received a gift her reply was, " Arumshemoke, thank you kindly. Now you must say Tuputney, you are welcome." Her real name was unknown, but she was often called, " Magawiska."
In the evening of her days, when taking a last survey of the departed glory of her ancestors and standing on their graves, their wigwams leveled, their council fires almost forgotten, this poor, lonely Paugasuck is imagined as thus soliloquizing :
"Deserted and drear is the place, Where huts of my fathers arose, Alone, and the last of my race, I watch where their ashes repose. The calumet now is no more, No longer the hatchet is red;
The wampum our warriors once wore, Now smolders along with the dead. The day of our glory is gone, The night of our sorrow is here ;
No more will our day-star arise, No more our sunlight appear.
Once we listened to hear the war song, Once we sailed on the Naugatuck's wave, When the arm of the hunter was strong, The soul of the warrior was brave. Now lonely and drear is the place Where huts of my kindred arose, Alone ! and the last of my race, I watch where their ashes repose." 1
The above lines, so full of pathos were written by Dr. J. Hardyear, a native of Derby, a young man of talent and prom-
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OPINION OF A MINISTER.
ise, who located in Stratford, where he died at the early age of twenty-nine years.
Just above Two-mile brook, on the Whitney farm was also an Indian settlement, established there many years after the one at the spot originally called Turkey Hill. This latter place is the one more familiarly known at the present time, and for some years past, as Turkey Hill.
An anecdote or two concerning the Indian Chuse, have not appeared in print. Living among the white settlers he became partially civilized, often going to church and thereby obtaining some knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel.
Having a child dangerously ill, he became impressed with the desire of having it baptized, and called on the Congregational minister to perform the ceremony. The parson asked him if he was in full communion with the church. He replied that he was not. "Then I must refuse to baptize him," said the par- son. "Do you call yourself a minister of Christ ?" asked Chuse. "Yes," was the reply. Said Chuse, "You are not ! You are the devil's minister. Christ commanded to teach all nations, baptizing them in the Lord." The sick child, however, received the rite of baptism from the Episcopal minister. This story is authenticated by one who was familiar with all the parties.
After removing to Scatacook, he often visited the few who lived at Turkey Hill. Mrs. Deborah Riggs, deceased some years since, well remembered when one of his daughters was married, and the bridal party walked through the drifting snow from Turkey Hill to Chusetown in the night season, to solemnize the nuptials.
Some few marks or foot-prints of the Red man in Derby still remain. Close by the New Haven and Derby railroad on the Whitney farm, is an Indian corn mill, or mortar, sunk in the bed rock. It is about eight inches in diameter at the top and the same in depth. Here, for many years, the Indians ground the corn for their daily bread. This is a little south of the ravine called the Devil's Jump ; near which are said to be two more mortars sunk in the bed rock. Lover's Leap is a little
liv
INDIAN HISTORY.
further up the river, consisting of a high rock almost over- hanging the river.
One Indian ax, of bluestone, has been seen, of the size of an ordinary ax, but from the roughness of the stone it is inferred that it had remained long exposed to the elements after it was made, before it was found. -
THE MACK FAMILY.
The last remnants of the Paugasucks in Derby were the Mack Indians as they were called, who formerly inhabited Bethany. The selectmen of that town, fearing that these In- dians would become paupers, purchased a small tract of land in Deerfield, situated within the limits of Derby, and placed them upon it, so as to be rid of them. They assisted them in build- ing some cheap huts, and in these they dwelt, securing a living by hunting and making baskets. There were James and Eunice Mack, who lived by themselves near the turnpike that leads from Seymour to New Haven. Jerry Mack and four other Indian men, two squaws and three children lived over the hill south of James Mack's about eighty rods. For a long time the place was called the Indian settlement.
In 1833, a squaw came from Milford, who became the guest of James and while there was taken sick and was immediately removed back to Milford, where she died of small-pox. In due time these ten Indians sickened with the same disease, and all died except the three children. These children were run down into the woods, and vaccinated by Dr. Kendall, and thus saved from the terrible scourge. The Indians were buried by Samuel Bassett and others, who had had the small-pox, in the garden near their huts. Derby paid all expenses and great excitement prevailed as to the disease, and to make sure that no more Indians should become paupers from that settlement, the torch was applied in the night season by order of the select- men to these modern wigwams, and thus they were reduced to ashes.
Of these Deerfield Indians, Mr. DeForest says :
" One of the women, old Eunice as she was commonly called, died a number of years since. Her two children, Jim and Ruby, I have
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