USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lowell > Hand book of business in Lowell : with a history of the city > Part 2
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The Indian historian, Gookin, (who was magistrate and ruler, under the Colonial government, over all those Indians who em- braced Christianity, and who wrote his Historical Collections of the Indians of New England in 1674) informs us that the Indians were almost exterminated by a great plague, in 1612 and 1613. The victims fell by thousands ; the living feared to bury the dead ; corpses lay on the ground, bleaching in the sun, exposed to car- rion birds and wolves. Heaps of dry bones were found, in various parts of the country, by the white settlers, many years afterwards ; and every former settlement now became a Golgotha. What this pestilence was, it is impossible to decide, and useless to conjecture. The English Puritans, with characteristic piety, treated it as the minister of a " special Providence," to open a way for pure and undefiled religion into the trackless wilds of America.
Lowell under an Indian King.
As the capital of the Pawtucket monarchy, this place was the seat of government of the great Indian King, Passaconaway, the first great sachem of the Pawtuckets, with whom the white settlers formed any acquaintance. Passaconaway was a self-made man. He began life an Indian conjuror or pow-wow, and became dis- tinguished for his skill in the kindred arts of politics and necro- mancy. Pushing his way with his own strong arm, he became
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HAND -BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
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HAYES & NASH, PROPRIETORS,
Lawrence, Mass.
J. R. HAYES,
No. 12 Central St., Wholesale and Retail Agent for Lowell, Mass. Soll also in Lowell by all the Apothecaries, and by Medicine Dealers everywhere.
16
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
successively a priest, a sachem, and finally grand sachem and basheba of the Pawtuckets. He divided his time between Paw- tucket Falls and Pennacook.
The first white visitor to Lowell, of whose visit any record re- mains, was Rev. John Eliot, of West Roxbury. He was em- ployed, under the Colonial authorities, as Agent and Missionary among the Indians. The apostolic beauty of his life and doctrine, the goodness of his heart, and the nature of his vocation, won him the endearing name of " the Apostle to the Indians." He first came here about the year 1646, and remained many days, preaching to the natives, who heard him with willing ears. He frequently repeated his visit during the following quarter-century, and reports that " many received the Gospel."
When Passaconaway first saw the Apostle Eliot, he expressed much fear of that " long-faced man with the black book under his arm." But in 1651 Eliot visited him, labored with him, and made him a convert to Christianity. He submitted to the English jurisdiction in 1644; but frequently appeared at the Governor's Court, in great pomp, with his two sons, to repeat the ceremony of submission ; and never was false to his professions of friendship. The English always regarded him as a brave, sa- gacious, whole-souled man; and admired him for his artful address, his finesse, and his skill in Indian diplomacy.
In 1660, Passaconaway, having become very old, followed the example of Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany, resigned the government to his son, and " retired from the world." A great concourse of chiefs, braves, and lesser tribes of the Pawtucket confederacy, was called. A great number of eloquent speeches were made ; and many heroic experiences, enough to make the fortune of a hundred novelists, were related by the assembled orators and sages of the tribe. The "last words and dying speech" of poor old Passaconaway drew rivers of tears from the people over whom he had ruled so long, so ably, and so well. He pronounced his paternal blessing on Wannalancet, his son and successor ; and exhorted him and his people, again and again, " never to quarrel with the English."
Wannalancet reigned during many years. But of this whole
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OF ITS BUSINESS.
HAND-BOOK
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18
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
period, the records are few, the traditions unreliable, and the history extremely obscure. If the reader is familiar with Livy, he will remember how often that great master of history com- plains of the want of records of the early history of Rome. Lowell rests under a similar cloud. Of unquestioned facts, there are none ; and to adopt a poetic license, and fill up the gaps between the facts, by the invention of graceful fiction, is not permitted to the historian.
Lowell as an Indian Reservation.
IN 1652, twenty gentlemen of Woburn and Concord procured leave, on petition to the General Court, to examine a tract of land between the Concord and the Merrimac, including what is now Lowell. In the same year, they came, with others, to view the premises. They visited the Falls at Pawtucket, and saw the wild beauty of the rapids, the cascades, and the silver spray that flashed like diamond dust under the October sun. But they seemed insensible to these simple beauties of nature. They were stern, cold, cast-iron men,-such as charged under Ireton at Naseby, conquered victory with Cromwell at Worcester, and
"Swept the foe at Marston Moor."
They saw no " good " in the dancing water-fall,-none in those grand old forests which had clothed the hills from eternity,-none in the red children, whose song of " Hiawatha, the beloved," is as immortal as the legends of Ossian, or " the tale of Troy di- vine." They came to find fortune,-"to spy out the good of the land." Vainly the sun shone over them ; vainly the soft wind blew. They found, they say, " a great howling wilderness, where be many Indians, and where be many meadows for ye subsistence of cattle."
In 1653, they again petitioned the General Court, setting forth that this seemed to be " a very comfortable place to accom-
19
HAND - BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS .
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20
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
modate a company of God's people upon." They say they are in great necessity, destitute of accommodations, with no settled place to abide in. They entreat this honorable court, in their Christian wisdom, to grant these humble petitioners the lands which they have viewed ; so that they may, with God's blessing, settle there, and do good for Church and Commonwealth. (See Allen's History of Chelmsford.) The lands were granted ; but, on petition of the Apostle Eliot, the territory of Lowell, between the two rivers, called the " Great Neck," was reserved to the sole use of the Indians. Its then most usual name was Wamesit.
The petitioners aforesaid proceeded at once to their new " plan- tation religious." They opened roads, broke up the ground, established themselves in log-cabins, erected a meeting-house, and a school-house ; and in 1655, they were incorporated as a town by the name of Chelmsford, in honor of Chelmsford, (so called from the river Chelmer, ) in England. But before they came to Chelmsford, the Indians converted by the Apostle Eliot, had al- ready erected permanent wigwams at Wamesit, and lived here with other Pawtuckets, applying themselves to fishing and the til- lage of the soil. Both the Chelmsford grant and the Indian reservation were enlarged in 1656. In 1660, some lands were exchanged, and the boundaries settled, between the Indians and the whites.
The famous Indian Boundary Ditch was opened about the year 1665. It begins on the bank of the Merrimac, a little above the Falls ; it extends southerly, in a semi-circular line, so as to include about twenty-five hundred acres ; it terminates on the bank of the Merrimac, about a mile below the mouth of the Con- cord. Traces of it are still visible, corresponding substantially with the precincts of the city.
Indian Institutions.
ON the suggestion of the Apostle Eliot, the Colonial authori- ties established the following mode of government over such of
21
HAND-BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
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Principal Office, 323 Broadway N. Y. Branch Offices, 47 Hanover St., Boston. Gloversville, N Y. 274 Broad st. Newark, N. J. 142 Chestnut St., Phila. 105 Baltimore St., Balt. 8 East Fourth St., Cincinnati. 81 St. Charles St., N. O.
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HORACE C. DEAN AGENT, AT LOWELL, MASS.
22
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
the Indians as embraced Christianity, and collected in little com- munities by themselves. A few of the most prudent of the con- verted men were nominated by their fellow-villagers, and on the nominations being approved by an English magistrate, the nomi- nees were invested with the authority of rulers. One or more constables were chosen in the same manner in every village. A grand court was held here every spring in May. The English magistrate fixed the time for holding the court, and these chiefs sat with him on the judgment-seat. Gookin himself frequently dispensed justice here in his capacity of judge. Differences be- tween whites and reds, were adjusted by arbitrators of both races. The Apostle Eliot generally came with the judge, to give his apostolic aid and counsel. Gookin quaintly observes, that while the Indians spread their nets to fish for shad, Eliot " spread the net of the Gospel to fish for their souls." There was also a marshal-general over all the praying towns. His name was Pen- nahannit, alias Captain Josias ; and his residence was at Little- ton, which the Indians called Nashobah.
It was the enacted will of the General Court, that the praying Indians should have lands granted them ; that they should not be removed from their fishing grounds, nor be displaced from any lands which they had broken up for tillage. No white could buy land of the Indians without leave of the Court. No one was al- lowed to sell liquor to the Indians without the permission of the magistrates, which was only granted in cases of sickness. The English magistrate had authority to issue decrees and impose penalties for the purpose of promoting industry, morality, edu- cation and good order among this people. Every encouragement was given to Indian teachers and rulers.
The Indians made cordage from wild hemp, and of this cord- age they made nets for fishing, from thirty to forty feet long. They also made lines of it, to which they attached crooked pieces of bone for fish hooks. In this way they furnished themselves with the necessary implements for angling. Boiled with beans and maize and flesh of other kinds, their fish made excellent pot- tage, which was one of the most important articles of their diet. The wigwam of Wannalancet, son of Passaconaway, the chief
HAND - BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS. 23
TRADERS AND MECHANICS INSURANCE CO., OF LOWELL.
STOCK AND MUTUAL.
No Insurance in Mutual Department, except in First Class. In this Department since the Company was first organized, no assessment has ever been made.
Five Years Policies on Dwellings and Furniture issued on favorable terms.
Surplus in both Departments.
DIRECTORS.
c JOSHUA CONVERSE,
JAMES H. RAND, CHAS. B. COBURN,
THOMAS NESMITH, A. C. WHEELOCK, - LORENZO G. HOWE,
THOMAS B. COMINS,
LEVI SPRAGUE,
C. F. BLANCHARD.
J. CONVERSE, President. E. F. SHERMAN, Secretary.
OFFICE, Corner of Central and Middle Strecets, Lowell.
BOOKS, BLANK BOOKS, STATIONERY - AND -
The subscriber offers for sale, at the lowest prices, a full assortment of
BLANK BOOKS,
Fine English and American Stationery,
And a general assortment of SCHOOL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS,
Book-binding, in all its branches, done with neatness and despatch. Blank Books made to order, in my own Bindery and under my personal superintendence. Paper Ruled to any Pattern. B. C . SARGEN City Hall Building.
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HISTORY OF LOWELL:
sachem of the tribe, stood opposite Pawtucket Falls. Wannalan- cet, fearing to lose his influence with the tribe, had not yet become a praying Indian himself; but faithful to his father's advice, was always kind and true to the English. The place where the log- court-house stood, is now covered by the Boott Canal. The high ground on Appleton street is the hallowed spot,-as tradition says,-where stood the log-chapel in which the Apostle Eliot and the Indian teacher dispensed the Word of Life to the Indians.
Gookin's Account.
THE historian Gookin and the Apostle Eliot came to Wamesit together in 1674. The sachem, Wannalancet, entertained them hospitably in his wigwam near Pawtucket Falls. A meeting was then held for worship, in which Gookin assisted ; and Eliot preached on the parable of the marriage of the king's son, (Matt. 22 : 1-14.) Gookin then describes the place as one of the seven villages of praying Indians. Fifteen families, containing seventy-five souls, had then embraced Christianity. The entire population consisted of two hundred and fifty men, besides wo- men and children.
The sachem of the praying Indians was Numpow, a man of noble spirit, and of the blood of their chief sachem, Wannalancet. Before the visitors left, Wannalancet himself concluded to be- come a Christian. He left his " old canoe," as he phrased it, and entered into " a new canoe," and engaged to pray to God in future. Their preacher was a young Indian named Samuel, a son of Numpow, and possessed " of good parts." He could read, speak and write both English and Indian; and was therefore considered qualified to preach. Here, then, as in other villages of praying Indians, the people assembled in their log-chapel, at the sound of the horn and the drum, twice on Sundays, and once on fast-days, lecture-days, and other davs of divine worship; and Samuel preached. What a change since these humble sermon-
HAND - BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS. 25
HILTON & PEABODY,
PROPRIETORS OF
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ESTABLISHMENT, Nos. 36 and 38 Merrimack Street, Under the UNITARIAN CHURCH.
SILKS, SHAWLS, DRESS GOODS, EMBROIDERIES,
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GOODS AT WHOLESALE
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ONE PRICE SYSTEM STRICTLY ADHERED TO.
H. W. HILTON. J. M. PEABODY.
Lowell, July Ist, 1856.
3
26
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
izings of Samuel ! More than twenty clergymen now preach in his little parish ;-
" And what was Goose Creek once, is Tiber now."
Gookin complains that these Indians were never very hearty in their piety. There were thirty Indian churches in New Eng- land ; but no church was ever organized among them.
Wannalancet, the successor of Passaconaway, removed to this place in 1670, or about that time ; and erected a fort on the hill which was thence called Fort Hill. In 1675, the renowned
NORTHERN DEPOT.
King Phillip, of Mount Hope, chief sachem of the Pokonokets, organized his famous Indian coalition to exterminate the whites. But the Indians of Wamesit firmly refused to join him, but re- tired with Wannalancet, their chief, for some time, to the wilds of the interior, and rendered essential aid to the English. They consequently suffered more from the attacks of the savages than any other praying village. Gookin observes that they might have been a prosperous community, deriving a comfortable sub- sistence from the business of supplying Boston with fish ; but their idleness and improvidence, and their wars with the circum- jacent tribes, induced the gradual decline and ultimate extinc- tion of this once powerful and chivalric tribe.
27
HAND-BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
JOSEPH R. HAYES, DRUGGIST & APOTHECARY,
AND DEALER IN PURE CHEMICALS, DRUGS, MEDICINES, PERFUMERY AND FANCY GOODS, No. 12 Central Street, Lowell, Mass.
DISCOVERER AND PROPRIETOR OF
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28
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
An Idolatress Judged.
THE Apostle Eliot relates an interesting case of idolatry, which he, with more than apostolic vigilance, ferreted out among the Indians here. In the spring of 1653, he came to this place and preached. Among the Indian congregation was a woman who had a small bright image of a man suspended from her neck. Meeting her after the service, the Apostle asked her why she wore it, and was horror-stricken to hear her reply, that she prayed to it ! He asked whether she really thought this image to be a God ! She answered that she did ! The astonished Apostle marvelled greatly ; and proceeded, as he says, to explain the magnitude of the sin of idolatry. He read aloud the second commandment, and produced proofs of holy writ that all idols should be demolished, and drowned in the Red Sea.
He then demanded the idol, to destroy it. She refused to surrender. He then offered to buy it. She declined to make the trade. But the Apostle was not a man thus to be baulked. He perceived that the image was suspended to her neck by a ribbon tied with a riding knot ; and feeling it to be his duty to nip this sin in the bud, he slipped the knot, and snatched the idol away. The woman stormed with rage : he tried to pacify her by giving her half a crown : but she, like Rachel, refused to be comforted ; and declared that she would follow the Apostle's heels wherever he went, as long as he carried her God in his pockets.
It now occurred to the Apostle that perhaps his zeal had car- ried him too far. He therefore called together four Christian Indian sachems, and submitted the matter to them. They re- tired apart by themselves, talked over it, smoked over it, and then reported that they had agreed what should be done. The Apostle gives the report of their judgment :- First, That the act of taking away the idol was well done. Secondly, That one man should be appointed to demolish the idol, and three others for witnesses that it was done. Thirdly, They adjudged the idolatress to be a great sinner ; yet as it was her first offence,
HAND- BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS. 29
WM. P. BRAZER, 47 CENTRAL,
CORNER OF MARKET STREET, LOWELL.
HAT, CAP, UMBRELLA, - AND -
Bent's Furnishing Establishment.
By the use of a FRENCH TYPOGRAPHICAL CONFORMATOR, heads are mea- sured, and Hats made to fit at the shortest notice.
LADIES' RID N& HATS, CHILDREN'S
FANCY TRIMMED HATS AND CAPS OF ALL THE LATEST STYLES.
Mr. B. is the Lowell Agent for the sale of
DRAPER'S PLYMOUTH BUCK GLOVES.
3c
30
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
and she had done it ignorantly, they would spare her. The four sachems then addressed the woman one after another, each in turn reproving her very solemnly. The judgement of this In- dian Court was duly and promptly carried into execution.
At the same time, another image was discovered, which some of the Indians had worshipped. This too, these four sachems, and the apostolic Iconoclaust, dealt with in the same way. They applied the axe manfully to the root of this tree of idolatry, and felled it forever to the ground. These images had been distribu- ted among the Indians by the Roman Catholic missionaries of Canada. No doubt the Apostle improved this occasion to attack the Church of Rome with might and main, and to denounce her as the Man of Sin, the Mother of Abominations, the Scarlet Wo- man of Babylon, the Lady with the Flaming Petticoat,-also ap- plying such other kindred epithets, as a man versed in scripture could command.
Annexation to Chelmsford.
COMMUNITIES of unequal races, like Chelmsford and Wamesit, have always dissimilar destinies to fulfil. It seems to be the manifest destiny of the stronger to absorb the weaker. It was thus in the present case. The English village grew with a steady and healthy growth. The Indian village pined under a daily diminishing population. With the instinct of progress and the passion for territorial expansion, characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race,-the Chelmsford men bought and annexed piece after piece of the Indian reservation. Wamesit grew smaller by de- grees, " and beautifully less." But the Chelmsford men rather rejoiced at its decline. Disdaining the Indians as inferior beings, they generally alluded to them as " tawnies," " savage heathen," " devil's imps." In their selfish blindness, they failed to recog- nize, under the red skin of the Indian, a member of the Great Brotherhood of Man, a representative of the Divine Paternity.
HAND - BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS. 31
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