USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 6
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It is impossible to say to what extent these twelve grantors were representative of the Paugasuck tribe, or whether there were any other connections by marriage between the Paugasucks and the Tunxis than the two deeds reveal to us. Besides, in attempting to interpret and estimate the very slight data afforded us, we must remember what has been said in regard to Indian systems of con- sanguinity, and the risk of our being misled by English terms, mis- takenly applied to Indian relationships. If our supply of facts were larger, we might find among the aboriginal proprietors of Mattatuck unquestionable evidence of the existence of the gens, of inheritance through the mother (as in so many of the Indian tribes), and of the descent of the sachemship not from father to son, but from uncle to nephew. Such facts as we have brought to view seem to point in that direction.
The results of such an examination as this of old records must seem trifling and unsatisfactory. But it will be worth while to have labored over them if the aboriginal owners and occupants of Waterbury are thus brought more distinctly before us. It gives us a somewhat firmer hold upon these flitting forms of the wilderness to know their names and some of the ties which bound them to one another. We see them roaming the forests and threading their way along the river banks, and when the white man comes with his money and coats and axes and hoes we see them gathering from the "long
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
river" on the east and the Housatonic on the south for a confer- ence and a sale, and after the deeds have been drawn up and signed, and marked with the red man's "marks," returning to their camping-grounds little aware of the meaning of the bargain they have made. When Governor Treat made his memorandum on the Paugasuck deed that Conquepatana had appeared before him and acknowledged it, he added that the sagamore "said he knew what was in it and said it was weregen " [good]. But how little he knew ! How little he appreciated the far-reaching significance of the trans- action that had taken place a few weeks before on the banks of the Naugatuck. But it was a peaceable and friendly sale, and so were the others that had preceded it. The rival claimants were not hos- tile but friendly tribes, and the friendship of both of them for the white man remained unbroken to the end.
INDIAN PIPES .*
* (1) The modern pipe in the above cut was made by a Dakota Indian, evidently in imitation of the tom- ahawk pipes of an earlier day. It is of catlinite, in two pieces, is very accurately made, and is covered with delicately engraved lines. Its length is 15 inches, the diameter of the bowl 1/2 inch. It is figured here for the sake of the contrast with (2) the rude soapstone pipe below it, found in Milford, Conn., which was made perhaps after the settlement of the town. The bowl is nearly square ; the stem 4 inches long. The maker, in drilling the hole through the stem, diverged from a direct line and broke through near the base of the bowl. The smoker (if it was ever used) must have covered the aperture with his finger. If this is a fair specimen of the workmanship of the Wepowaug Indians, a low estimate must be placed upon their skill. (3). The pipe with a face and figure upon it displays as much skill as the first, and is a remarkable specimen. of prehistoric art. It is described in Chapter V.
CHAPTER IV.
ABORIGINAL PLACE-NAMES OF MATTATUCK-OBSOLETE NAMES IN THE PAUGASUCK DEED OF 1685-NAMES WHICH STILL SURVIVE-NAMES, NOT INDIAN, CONTAINING REMINISCENCES OF INDIAN OCCUPANCY.
O F the several deeds referred to in the preceding chapter, the fourth, given by the Paugasuek Indians on February 20, 1685, is of peculiar interest for two reasons-because of the vari- ous memoranda which accompany the signatures, and because of the remarkable list of Indian place-names which it contains.
This deed conveys to the settlers of Mattatuck "twenty parcels of land, by their names distinguished ;" but the "parcels" were evidently small, and they are designated only by their Indian names, and with one or two exceptions are not "distinguished " otherwise. The names seem to have been recorded with unusual accuraey (as were also the personal names in the deed), and, taken as a whole, present an inviting but unproductive field for linguistic and topographical investigation. The tract conveyed lay on both sides of the Naugatuck river, so that the "twenty parcels of land " are in two groups. The eastern section is deseribed as follows :
"[1] Wecobemeas, the land upon the brook or small river that comes through the straits northward of Lebanon, and runs into Naugatuek river at south end of Mattatuck bounds, called by the English Beacon Hill brook, and [2] Pacowachuek or Asawacomuck, and [3] Watapecke, [4] Pacoquaroeke, [5] Megunhuttake, [6] Mus- quanke, [7] Mamusqunke, [8] Squapnasutte, and [9] Wachu ; which nine parcels of land lie on the east side of Naugatuek river, south- ward from Mattatuck town ; which comprises all the land betwixt the forementioned river, or Beacon Hill brook, and the brook at the hither end of Judd's Meadows, ealled by the name Sqontk ; and from Naugatuck river to run eastward to Wallingford and New Haven bounds ; with all the lowland on the two brooks forementioned."
And this is the account of the western section :
"And other parcels on the west side; the first parcel ealled by the name Saracasks ; the rest as follow : [2] Petowtucke, [3] Weqarunsh, [4] Capage, [5] Cocumpasucke, [6] Mequenhuttocke, [7] Panootan, [8] Mattuckhott, [9] Cocaeocks, [10] Quarasksucks, [ 11 ] Towantucke ; and half the Cedar swamp, with the land adjacent from it eastward; which swamp lies northward of Quassapaug pond ; we say, to run
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
an cast line from thence to Naugatuck river ; all which parcels of land forementioned lying southward from the said line, and ex- tend or are comprised within the butments following: From the forementioned swamp a straight line to be run to the middle of Towantucke pond (or the Cedar swamp a south line), which is the west bounds toward Woodbury, and an cast line from Towan- tucke pond to be the butment south, and Naugatuck river the cast butment, till we come to Achetaquopag or Warunscopage, and then to but upon the east side of the river upon the forementioned lands."
The general outline of this tract of land-at any rate, of that division of it lying on the east side of the river-is not difficult to trace ; but to distinguish the " twenty parcels," and to identify them at the present day, is quite impossible, and would probably be impossible even if we knew the meaning of their Indian names. The southern boundary of the eastern section is distinctly stated to be Beacon Hill brook, and the northern boundary "the brook at the hither end [that is, the northern end] of Judd's Meadows, called by the name Sqontk," which must be the stream known to-day as Fulling Mill brook, which empties into the Naugatuck at Union City. The limits of the western section are not clearly stated, but it seems to have been bounded on the north by a line running easterly from Cedar swamp ("which swamp lies northward of Quassapaug pond") to the river, and on the south by a line running from Towantuck pond to the river, and on the west by Woodbury. The west bank of the Naugatuck was to be the eastern boundary of the upper part of this western tract, but below Achetaquopag (or Warunscopag) it was "to abut upon the east side of the river, upon the forementioned lands." In other words, the native proprietors, claiming ownership on both sides of the river below Fulling Mill brook, claimed ownership also of the river itself.
By observing closely the indications thus given, we are enabled to " locate " a few of these parcels of land with some certainty. We know "Towantuck " because the name has survived to the present day-the only one of these twenty names that has not become obsolete. The pond with which it is here connected, is now better known as Long Meadow pond (in Middlebury, near the Oxford line), but the name has become attached to a station on the New England railroad, and has also been selected as the designation of a " tribe" of the "Improved Order of Red Men," organized in Waterbury in 1892. We know also the land designated by the name " Wecobe- meas," because it is distinctly described as "the land upon the small river that comes through the straits northward of Lebanon
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INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
[probably where Straitsville is now situated], called by the English Beacon Hill brook."* And there is another name, although not in- cluded among the twenty, which the language of the deed enables us to fix somewhat definitely. In the phrase, "the brook at the hither end of Judd's Meadows, called by the name Sqontk," the name seems to belong to the stream rather than the meadows, and in that case, as has already been said, represents the well-known Fulling Mill brook of the present day. If it refers to the meadows, its identity is equally well established. In this neighborhood, apparently, we must fix other two names. According to the inter- pretation already given, the eastern boundary of the tract on the west side of the Naugatuck was the west bank of that river down to a certain point, and below that the east bank of the river was the boundary. The point at which the boundary-line crossed the river is named "Achetaquopag or Warunscopage ;" and if the claim of the Paugasucks on the east side of the river was bounded on the north by Fulling Mill brook, as seems evident, then must the spot designated by these two names have been near the mouth of that brook. Whether the "Copage" which is mentioned among the twenty parcels of land is identical with one or both of these, must be considered further on. Of the other names in the list of twenty there is none that can be positively identified, and only a few whose meaning can be ascertained with any certainty. Foremost among these is "Wachu," the ninth name in the first group. Wadchu always means mountain or hill, and we should, as a matter of course, connect it with Beacon Mountain, were it not for the indications in the deed that Beacon Hill. brook, which flows north of it, was the southern limit of the eastern tract. There are other heights on the east side of the river in that vicinity, but none to which the name "Wachu " could be so fittingly applied. Although there is nothing in the deeds to help us to further identifications, there are, never- theless, two or three points worth noticing. There is, for instance, a "Megunhuttake " (Mequenhuttocke) in both groups of names ; but it does not follow that there were two distinct and widely separated parcels of land thus designated ; the name was doubtless applied to a tract bordering on the river and extending along both banks. A connection between "Copage," which stands fourth in the second
* J. W. Barber, writing in 1836, or earlier, says : "About fourteen miles from New Haven the main road to Waterbury passes by Beacon Mountain, a rude ridge of almost naked rock, stretching southwest. At this place is Collins's tavern, long known as an excellent public house, and the Straitsville post office. About half a mile south of Mr. Collins's the road passes through a narrow defile formed by a gap in the mountain [doubtless the "straits" referred to in the deed], barely sufficient in width for a road and a small but sprightly brook which winds through the narrow passage. On both sides the cliffs are lofty, particularly on the west ; on the east, at a little distance from the road, they overhang in a threatening manner." ("Con- necticut Historical Collections," p. 186, first edition).
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
group, and the two names " Achetacopag " and "Warunscopag " has already been suggested. The close connection between the sixth and seventh names in the first group-" Musquanke " and "Mamus- qunke"-is obvious ; and the same is true, so far as the structure of the words is concerned, of "Pacowachuck" and "Pacoquarocke." The piece of land known as "Pacowachuck" was known also by another name entirely different, " Asawacomuck."
As regards the meanings of these names, it would be interesting to know them, even if the places to which they belonged could not be identified. Every Indian name had a meaning, and was “so framed as to convey that meaning with precision ;" every place- name "described the locality to which it was affixed."* But the names in the list before us are in the Quiripi dialect, and do not readily lend themselves to any such analysis as can now be made. The most that can be done is to throw out a few suggestions and to adduce an occasional parallel.
The first name in the list of twenty-"Wecobemeas"-bears a close resemblance to "Wecuppeemee," the name of a small river in Bethlehem and Woodbury, one of the three streams which unite to form the Pomperaug. The stream seems to have derived its name from an Indian chief (Wickapema, Weekpemes) who is on record as a witness to certain Woodbury deeds. The name means "bass- wood " or "linden." But whether Wecuppeemee, the chief, called himself "the Linden," or was so denominated by the English because he lived at a place where lindens grew, is, as Dr. Trumbull remarks, doubtful. The name which in Woodbury is connected with a stream is applied in the list before us to "the land upon Beacon Hill brook." It probably designated a spot where bass- wood trees grew, and which could easily be distinguished in this way. In the second name, " Pacowachuck," one readily recognizes wachu, "mountain " or "hill," as a component part, and if paco is a variation of pahque, as it frequently is, the entire word must mean "at the clear (or open) mountain," and the reference must be to some hill divested of woods. A similar analysis would give us as the meaning of Pacoquaroke "clear long place," referring perhaps to some strip of meadow on the river-bank, or some smooth place in the river itself. The alternative designation of "Pacowachuck," which is "Asawacomuck" (ashaway - commok) seems to mean "an enclosed place between." In the name " Musquanke " a resemblance may be traced to Massacunnock (Mashequanoke), the Indian name of Falcon Island, south of Guilford, which means "place of fish-hawks,"
* Dr. Trumbull, "Composition of Indian Geographical Names," in Vol. II. of " Collections of the Conn. His. Society," pp. 3, 4.
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INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
or the root of the name may be m'squammaug, meaning "red fish," that is, salmon. But the name "Mamusquunke" which is associated with the other, suggests a derivation different from both of these. In the third name on the west side of the river, "Wequarunsh," the prefix wequa is a familiar one, meaning "at the end," and thence "a point." It is possible that in the remainder of the word we have the inseparable generic - ompsk ("a standing rock"), in which case the name would mean "at the end of the ledge," or would designate some place or point with an "upright rock at the end."* In "Pan- ootan," one can hardly help suspecting that the n of the first sylla- ble ought to have been written , in which case we should find in the word a reminder of our old friend Powhattan and the "falls" which gave him his name.t Pauat-han means "falls in a rapid stream ;" but whether there are falls or even rapids in the Nauga- tuck, within the limits indicated by the deed, of sufficient import- ance to justify such an appellation, may be open to question. In the name which follows this, "Mattuckhott," the first syllable may represent matta, "without," which appears again in "Mattatuck," or the whole word may stand for m'tugk-ut, meaning "at the tree." The only other name of the twenty, of which anything definite can be said is "Capage." It is substantially the same as Cupheag, the old name of Stratford, (the same as Quebec also) and means " a place shut in," "narrows" or "a cove." The writer of this chapter suggested, in the Rev. Samuel Orcutt's "History of Derby," } that the name designated "possibly the narrows in the river at Beacon hill." If this "Capage" is identical with the copage in "Acheta- quopag or Warunscopage"-the point at which the eastern bound- ary line crossed the Naugatuck-then must we locate it at the north- ern rather than the southern end of the eastern section of the Paugasuck grant-that is, at Fulling Mill brook, rather than at Beacon hill. But there is no good reason for insisting on their identity. As for "Warunscopage," perhaps we have here a personal name associated with a place-name in a quite unusual way. Among the signers of the deeds given to Waterbury, Warun Compound holds a leading place. May not this spot at which the boundary line crossed the river have been known as Warun's Copage? and in
* In the agreement made May 22, 1674, between New Haven, Milford, Branford and Wallingford with reference to their bounds, in the memorandum attached to the New Haven and Milford section, we read of " a straight line up into the country, which line shall run upon the rock or stone called 'the beacon,' which lieth upon the upper end of the hill called Beacon hill, and from thence to the end of the bounds" (Conn. Col. Records, Vol. III, p. 233).
+ See p. 32.
" Indian Names of Places," pp. xciii-xcvii. of Orcutt's "Derby ;" see also Dr. Trumbull's " Indian Geographical Names," pp. 8, 23.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Acheta-copag may we not recognize another of our signers, Achetowsuck? These, however, are mere possibilities .*
In our interpretation of the deed, we have brought these last mentioned names into close association with "Sqontk," a name attached, apparently, to "the brook at the hither end of Judd's Meadows," which we have identified as Fulling Mill brook. The name, "Squantuck," is attached to a tract of land on the east bank of the Housatonic river, at the mouth of Four Mile brook, in Sey- mour, and to a settlement of a dozen houses at that point. In a Derby deed of 1678 it is described as "a certain tract called and known as Wesquantook and Rockhouse hill," whence it appears that "Squantuck" is an abbreviated form of the original name, the meaning of which, Dr. Trumbull says, "is not ascertained." It is doubtful whether the name "Sqontk," which we have connected with Fulling Mill brook, is to be considered etymologically the same as the Squantuck in Seymour, or is rather to be identified with Scantic, the name of a stream in another part of the state- between East and South Windsor. The latter Dr. Trumbull derives from peska-'tuk, "where the river branches"-a meaning which would be sufficiently applicable to the place at which Fulling Mill brook empties into the Naugatuck. In this connection it is worthy of remark that in Pierson's Catechism, which represents the dialect of the Paugasuck Indians, the word squanta is used as the rendering for "gates." +
We have given our attention thus far to the obsolete place- names in the Paugasuck deed. But besides these, and besides "Towantuck," to which reference has been made, there are other geographical names mentioned here, which are by no means obsolete, but are in daily use and have attained to no little import- ance. These are "Naugatuck " and "Quassapaug," and we may add " Mattatuck."
" Mattatuck " is mentioned in the deed, first as the name of the "township" which the grantees represent, and secondly, as an alter- native name of the river. The stream which was known in the lower part of its course as the Naugatuck, was known further north as the Mattatuck, and afterward also as the Waterbury river. By the help of early records, the history of the name can readily be
* By mistake of the copyist, the name Warunscopage appears in the Waterbury Land Records as Marusco- pag, the initial W having been taken for an M. In this incorrect form it was transferred to the list in Orcutt's "History of Derby," p. xcv, and thence into Dr. Trumbull's "Indian Geographical Names," pp. 2, 8, 23. In the original deed (the discovery of which is referred to elsewhere) the name is plainly " Waruns- copage." In the list in Orcutt's "Derby," the name Quarasksucks-the nineteenth in our list of twenty- was given as " Gawuskesucks," having been incorrectly deciphered.
+ " Some Helps for the Indians," p. 65 of Dr. Trumbull's reprint.
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INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
traced. Its first occurrence is in the deed of February 8, 1657-8, already referred to, by which certain lands in the upper part of the Naugatuck valley were granted to William Lewis and Samuel Steele, of Farmington. The deed reads, " A parcel or tract of land called ' Matetacoke,' that is to say, the hill from whence John Stanley and John Andrews brought the black lead, and all the land within eight mile of that hill on either side." "Matetacoke" evidently stands for Matuhtugk-ohke, meaning a " place without trees," and was probably an accurate description of the hill referred to, or of some spot in its neighborhood. If applied to a hill, it must have been a bare and treeless hill, and might with equal propriety have been described by the name "Pacowachuck," referred to above. The next occurrence of the name is fifteen years subsequent to the deed to Lewis and Steele. It is in a document embodying the report of a committee of the General Court sent out in behalf of the people of Farmington to inquire in regard to a place for a new settlement in the Naugatuck valley. They say they "have been to view Matituc oocke in reference to a plantation," and "do judge it capable of the same." The Farmington people immediately petitioned the Court for permission to make a settlement, and in their petition they speak of "having found out a tract at a place called by the Indians Matitacoocke, which we apprehend may sufficiently accommodate to make a small plantation." As the reference here is unquestionably to the meadows of Waterbury, we must suppose that an Indian name belonging to a place a number of miles further up the river was used by a kind of accommodation, or that during the interval of fifteen years the scope of the name had been gradually enlarging until in popular use it covered the entire region, or else that the same name was independently given to two distinct localities-to the place where the black lead was found, because it was a bare and treeless hill, and to the Waterbury meadows for a similar reason, because they were destitute of trees. Since every Indian place- name was a description of the locality to which it was affixed, such a coincidence as this might easily happen.
In each instance of its occurrence thus far, the name appears in its larger form, terminating in oke or oocke. It occurs in this form in the petition to the General Court in October, 1673. But in the record of the action of the Court on this petition, the name is given in the shortened form, "Mattatock," and this form came immedi- ately into use. The committee appointed to explore the region speak in their report, made in April, 1674, of having "viewed the lands upon the Mattatuck river," and in the record of the Court, May 18, the expression used is "a plantation at Mattatuck." From
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
this time onward until 1686, the place and also the river were known by this name. In the records for May 13, 1675, we read of "the new town going up at Mattatuck," and a little further on, Mattatuck is mentioned in connection with Derby and Woodbury (whose names had recently been changed) and Pottatock and Wyantenuck (whose names were afterward changed to Southbury and New Milford) as towns whose boundaries required to be immediately ascertained and established. In the record for May 15, 1686, we read : "This Court grants that Mattatuck shall be and belong to the County of Hartford ; and the name of the plantation shall be for the future Waterbury."*
Although "Mattatuck" was not retained as the name of the town, and has been superseded by "Naugatuck " as the name of the river, nevertheless it has not become extinct. It was duplicated on Long Island as early as 1658,t and survives there, in the form " Mat- tituck," as the name of a pleasant little village, situated between Long Island sound and Great Peconic bay. It has survived also in the upper part of the Naugatuck valley almost to the present time ; at all events, it was customary a few years ago to speak of East Litchfield as Mattatuck. The name is attached to a street in the city of Waterbury - that which runs northward from West Main street along the eastern channel of the Naugatuck river ; also to a local Historical society, organized in 1878, which has for its field the territory embraced within the ancient town. The " Mattatuck Manufacturing company," established in 1847, has become extinct ; but the name is connected with other organizations. There is a Mattatuck Council of the "Royal Arcanum" (an insurance frater- nity), and a Mattatuck Drum Corps. The name occurs, finally, in the title of a book published in 1892-" The Churches of Mattatuck "- which contains the record of the celebration of the bi-centenary of the First church in Waterbury (November 4 and 5, 1891), with sketches of all the Congregational churches within the ancient domain.
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