USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Framingham > History of Framingham, Massachusetts, including the Plantation, from 1640 to the present time, with an appendix, containing a notice of Sudbury and its first proprietors > Part 3
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The only information we possess, which seems to indicate their actual occupation of the territory in this neighborhood, after the settlement of the colony, is contained in a letter of John Eliot,* who, writing in 1649, says: " Some SUDBURY Indians, some of Concord Indians, some of Maestick Indians, and some of Dedham Indians, are ingenious and pray unto God, and sometimes come to the place where I teach, to hear the word." We have preserved also the religious confession of an Indian named William, of Sudbury, alias Nataous, who is probably the Netus, referred to in the note to the Corlett Grant. He is des- cribed, 1662, as living at Nipnap Hill,; three miles N. of the In- dian Plantation (Natick ?). Hubbard speaks of him as "very familiar with the whites." Gookin, in 1674, refers to Nattous as among " the good men and prudent " who were rulers at Natick. He is also described as a Nipmuck Captain. The Co. Records, as early as 1659,¿ notice him, by the name of Netus, as having been sued by Serg. John Parmenter, of Sudbury, for a debt. This same Netus was the leader of the Indians at the as- sault upon Mr. Eames' house, soon to be related.
The name of Jacob's Meadow, (E. of Indian Head), and Ja- cob's Further Meadow, both in this town, indicate the probable residence here of " Old Jacob," as he is named in the accounts of the praying Indians. Old Jacob (his Indian name being Apona- pawquin), " was among the first that prayed to God. He had so good a memory that he could rehearse the whole catechism, both questions and answers. When he gave thanks at meat, he would sometimes only say the Lord's Prayer." Dr. Homer of Newton states that he died at the age of 90 years, recommending union to his brethren at large, and an inviolable regard to the laws of equity and to the civil authorities.§ Old Jacob will soon appear also as a participator in the " Eames' burning."
* M. H. Coll. position is about three miles N. from the ancient bounds of Natick.
+ We have been unable to identify
this hill. May it not have been another name for Nobscut hill, whose 2*
# i. 157.
§ 1 M. H. Coll., ix. 198 ; v. 264.
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FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
BOMAN and ROGER have already been noticed as grantors of land near the Falls, and as commemorated in the names of Bow- man's Brook and Roger's Field. Other Indian names of hills, ponds and streams, (and those in some instances corrupted), are meagre, yet pleasant memorials transmitted to us, of the aboriginal race .*
Ancient records moreover inform us, that John Awansamug, Sen., was a " chief proprietor " and " sachem " of a tract of land, extending from the S. part of Framingham into Sherburne, and beyond that town to the S. W .; and the name of " Peter Jethro's field," on an old survey, points out the local habitation, near Nob- scut Hill, of an individual, whose name is somewhat notorious in the annals of King Philip's war. Capt. Tom's Hill, which lies at the E. part of the town, S. of the turnpike, upon the bounds of Natick and Framingham, probably received its name from the celebrated Wuttusacomponom, or Capt. Tom, the chief sachem of the Nipmuck Indians. Of the three last named, the following sketches may deserve a place in this History.
AWANSAMUG. - This name very often occurs in ancient deeds, and is variously written Awussomoag, Oonsumog, Wessomog, Os- samog, &c. The earliest mention made of him is in the History of Lynn,t which refers to him (if the same), as having lived at Rumney Marsh (now Chelsea), and the father of Mumin- quash, (James Rumney Marsh), born in 1636. He is generally known, however, as one of the " Natick Indians," in their convey- ances of lands. In an account of the Praying or Christian In- dians, 1659,¿ he is described as " a young man when they (the Indians) begun to pray to God. He did not at the present join with them. He would say to me, I will first see to it, and when I understand it, I will answer you. He did after a while enter into the civil covenant ; but was not entered into church covenant before he died. He was propounded to join the church, but was delayed, he being of a quick, passionate temper." It is added, that the church would have been satisfied to receive him, had he
Indian arrow-heads have been + Page 181
frequently found in ploughed fields in this town.
$ 1 M. H. Coll. ix. 198.
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recovered from the long sickness which caused his death. Eliot elsewhere gives this Indian's confession among others .* The ex- tent of his possessions in this region must have been considerable. Besides land in the S. part of this town, he conveyed to William Sheffield 500 acres at Chaboquassit, in Sherburne, and obtained leave of the General Court, just before his death, to sell a large tract not far from Sherburne line on the S.W., to - Rawson. He appears to have received much kindness from Thomas Eames, of Framingham, " for sundry years until his death," of which a suitable notice is taken in an Indian conveyance to his sons. Awansamug left at his death a widow Yawataw, who signed the deed of the township of Salem in 1686, and at least two sons, Thomas and Amos ; the former of whom owned a " houselot " upon the land of Thomas Eames, and was living (or a son) in Natick, June 4, 1742. Samuel Assamug, of Natick, 1682, was probably another son.t
JETHRO AND PETER JETHRO. - The early historical accounts contain notices of Old Jethro, called Tantamous, and of his son Peter Jethro, in which there is some confusion. Whether the field above named refers to one only, or both, is uncertain. Old Jethro, says Drake, lived on Nobscut Hill at the breaking out of King Philip's war in 1675. The place called " Peter Jethro's field," which was upon the present farm of Mr. Ezekiel How, is referred to in a deed dated 1693. Shattuck's History of Con- cord states, that Jethro was present as a witness at the purchase of Musquitaquid, or Concord, in 1635, which took place under an old tree, standing some years since near the Hotel, called Jethro's tree, and used in early times as a belfry on which the town bell was hung. This must have been the younger Jethro, as the depo- sition printed by Mr. Shattuck, relating to the purchase, was given in 1684, when the deponent was about 70 years old, which was eight years after the death of the older Jethro. The deposi- tion notices that Jethro lived at Nashobah fifty years before. Gookin, writing in 1674,¿ speaks of Jethro as " a grave and pious
* See his letter 3 M. H. Coll.
+ Mr. Willard, in his History of Lancaster, notices that " Hannah Woonsamug, an Indian woman,
owned the Covenant (in that town) and was baptized Oct. 1710." Wor. Mag. II. 300.
# 1 M. H. Col. vii. 193.
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Indian " belonging to Natick, who was sent to be a teacher at Weshakim, near Lancaster. In 1675, the older Jethro, (accord- ing to Drake), with his family of about twelve persons, then living at Nobscut Hill, were among the Indians ordered for security to Deer Island, at the breaking out of King Philip's war. Resenting the ill usage the Indians received from their conductors, he es- caped in the night with his family, but was afterwards betrayed with others, by his son Peter Jethro, to the English, by whom, ac- cording to Hubbard, he was executed Sept. 26, 1676.
In 1665, " Animatohu, alias Jethro," was among the Indians who conveyed to John Haynes and others, 3200 acres of land E. of Quinsigamoge Pond. The Indian name probably belongs to the younger Jethro.
Peter Jethro, in 1683, was living with Jonathan Ting, of Dun- stable ; in consideration of whose kindness to him and his uncle Jeffry (called Quaquoco Noucanomon of Waymessitt), he conveyed to him a tract of land six miles square, at Machapaog, N. of Watchusett's Hill and W. of Groton, which he had previously obtained from his uncle Jeffry. In the deed Peter represents himself as without children and not likely to have any. In 1684, he was among the Indian grantors of the two-mile tract, added upon the W. line of Sudbury. Peter Jethro had derived much benefit from his intercourse with the English, and at times acted as scribe for the Indians. His treachery to his father led to the remark of Increase Mather, " that abominable Indian, Peter Je- thro, betrayed his own father and other Indians of his special acquaintance unto death." A tradition exists, that since the in- corporation of the town, Peter's house has been occupied by In- dians, who are reputed to have been mischievous, and troublesome to their neighbors.
CAPT. TOM,-called also Old Tom, alias Wuttusacomponum, appears to have been one of the praying Indians. Among the State Files* are papers describing the character of "Tom," (perhaps the same Indian), which accuse him of lying, exces- sive drinking &c., and as, "in brief, a fellow very profane and of noe conscience ;" and adds, that going on one occasion " to charge his gun, and wanting paper to ram in, he did teare a piece
* Vol. xxx, p. 57.
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INDIAN HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION.
of the Bible," and said " he would make the word of God to flie." It is certain, however, that he was held in esteem by Gookin, who speaks of him as " the chief among these praying Indians, who also was their ruler, named Capt. Tom, &c .- a prudent, and I believe a pious man, and had given good demonstration of it many years." He again refers to him as his chief assistant at Paka- choag, being of the chief sachem's blood of the Nipmuck country, and then (1674) residing at Hassanamesit (Grafton). During Philip's war, he was pressed to join his countrymen against the English ; and depositions exist among the State papers, of persons who swore to have recognized him at the attack upon Sudbury, at the Causey, "by a grumbling sign or noise " peculiar to him. On the 9th or 10th June, 1676, he was taken, with his daughter and two children, by a scout sent by Capt. Henchman, about 10 miles S.E. of Marlborough. While on trial in Boston, an urgent petition* was sent in to the Governor and Council by James Rum- ney Marsh and others, in behalf of 80 Indian soldiers then in the service of the English, praying for the lives of " Capt. Tom, his son Nehemialı, his wife and two children; John Uktuck, his wife and children ; Maanum and her children." The lives of the wo- men and children were spared ; Capt. Tom and another were hanged the 26th (some say 22d) June ; " both," says a writer, " died (as it is to be hoped) penitent, praying to God, not like the manner of the heathen." Gookin, who befriended the un- happy Christian Indians at that time of trial, after his favorable mention of Capt. Tom's prudence and piety above quoted, adds, " I had particular acquaintance with him, and cannot think other- wise concerning him in his life or at his death; though possibly in this action he was tempted beyond his strength." From the dis- tance and position of the hill referred to as the place of Capt. Tom's capture, it is probable that " Capt. Tom's Hill" in Fram- ingham derived from him its name.t
The success of the Apostle Eliot's labors among the natives, led to the establishment of several towns of praying Indians, of which
* State papers, vol. 30.
t There are traces of other In- dians, bearing the name of Capt. Tom. " Thomas Ukqueakussennum, alias Captain Tom, of Waymessick," (Chelmsford), was among the grant-
ors of the Salem township, 1686. (Hist. Salem.) In 1703, the town of Hampton was surprised by a noted warrior called Capt. Tom, a Tarra- tine. Drake's Book of the Indians.
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the seven oldest were settled at Natick, Punkapaog (Stoughton), Hassanamesitt (Grafton), Okommakamesit (Marlborough), Wa- mesitt (Lowell), Nashobah (Littleton), and Magunkaquog or Magunkook, now Hopkinton.
Framingham lay midway between three of these towns, viz : Natick, Okommakamesit, and Magunkaquog. Natick-the name signifying a place of hills-was the earliest settled, and in that part now called South Natick. Gookin, in 1674, described it as containing 29 families and about 145 souls ; the chief man being Waban,* about 70 years of age, and a man of great prudence and piety. ¡
The town of Okommakamesit, which embraced a tract of 6000 acres in Marlborough, was occupied at the same period, by about 10 families and about 50 souls. Their ruler, who deceased in 1674, was Onomog, a sachem who had been " the very soul of that place." Hutchinson gives their teacher's name as Solomon.
The town of Magunkaquog, or Magunkook, i. e. the plain of great trees, is described by Gookin # as " partly in Natick, partly on land granted by the country. It lies W. southerly from Bos- ton about 24 miles, near the midway between Natick and Hassan- amesitt. The number of its inhabitants are about 11 families and about 55 souls. There are, men and women, eight members of the church at Natick and about 15 baptized persons. The quan- tity of land belonging to it is about 3000 acres. The Indians plant upon a great hill which is very fertile, and these people wor- ship God and keep the Sabbath and observe civil order, as do the other towns. They have a constable and other officers. Their ruler's name is Pomhaman,§ a sober and active man and pious.
Waban held a commission as justice of the peace, and is repre- sented to have acted with great en- ergy in the government of his people. Among other anecdotes related of him, it is said that being once in- quired of, what he would do, when Indians got drunk and quarrelled, he answered : " Tie um all up, and whip um plaintiff, whip um fendant, and whip um witness." Drake.
t In 1764, only thirty-seven In- dians remained in Natick; and in 1792, they were reduced to one fami- ly of five persons and two single-wo-
men. The Natick Indian town was settled in 1651 ; the first church was embodied, 1660. Natick was incor- porated as an English district, in 1761, and as a town, 1781. 1 M. H. Coll. I. 184 note.
# 1 M. H. Coll. I. 188.
§ Of Pomhaman we have obtained no satisfactory information. The re- ligious confession of Ponampam (pos- sibly the same), is preserved to us. (3 M. H. Coll. iv. 240.) Pomham was Sachem of Showamit (where Gorton settled), and came under the government of the Mass. Colony.
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INDIAN HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION.
Their teacher is named Job,* a person well accepted for piety and ability among them." He adds, that this town was the last setting of the old towns, and that the Indians had plenty of corn and kept some cattle, horses and swine, for which the place was well accommodated. The " great hill" referred to, which is now called Maguneo Hill, and on which ancient apple trees were stand- ing a few years since, lies to the S.W. of the village of Ashland, at a short distance from the Railroad. The precise bounds of the Indian territory are not known ; but from the extent of the grant, they undoubtedly continued within the ancient territory of Fram- ingham, as the farm of Savil Simpson began at the foot of the hill. It is probable that a part, at least, of the Magunkook tract was granted by the General Court to Sherburne, and was included in the "4000 acres adjoining unto Magunkoog Indian Hill," which they gave to the Natick Indians in exchange for land to the E. of Sherburne which they received from the latter, in 1679.f The burial place of the Magunkook Indians is still identified, as the spot on which stands the brick school-house, near the house of Mr. Samuel Valentine. Skeletons have been disinterred, within a few years, near the highway.
Some interest attaches to this Indian community, not only from their proximity to this town, but from the part they took in the destruction of Thomas Eames' house in Framingham, the only event of Philip's war particularly connected with the town, which will soon be related. The Indians of Magunkook, with those of the other praying towns, were brought under serious suspicion at the opening of the war. The greater part of the Christian Indians were disarmed, and sent to Deer Island, where, according to Goo- kin, they suffered extreme hardships. The inhabitants of Magun- kook were among those who most readily yielded to the entice- ments of Philip, so that after the war their plantation was broken up .¿
Hutchinson i. 119. Sav. Wint. ii. pp. 120, 155. Israel Pumhamun was one of the Natick Indians who conveyed land to John Coller, Aug. 24,1699.
* Job, whose Indian name was Kattewanit, was at Hassanamesit at the beginning of Philip's war. He was friendly to the English, and ren- dered them much service as a spy.
Among the Indians of Magunkook before the war, were William Wa- nuckhow or Jackstraw, his sons Jo- seph and Apumatquin or John, Josh- ua Assatt, John Dublet, son-in-law of Jacob, the latter afterwards of Na- tick.
t See State files.
# Before the war, the whole num- ber of praying Indians in all the
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FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
The formidable combination under King Philip, spread con- sternation through the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts, and threatened a general ruin of the whites. The designs of that crafty chieftain had been suspected as early as 1671, which led to the dangerous expedient of a general disarming of the Indians. The first act in the tragic war which followed, was the attack upon the people of Swanzey, June 24, 1675. Others succeeded in various places, until the memorable Narraganset fight, on the 19th Dec. 1675, upon the issue of which, Philip retired into the western parts of Massachusetts.
A few weeks after that event, occurred the incident we are now to relate .* Thomas Eames, who a few years before had leased the "Pelham Farm," at Sudbury, settled, near 1670, within the bounds of the Plantation of Framingham. He built his house on the southern slope of Mount Wayte, between the Sudbury river and Farm pond, at a distance of about seven miles S.W. from the ancient town of Sudbury, and about three miles E. from the Indian town of Magunkook. A partial depression of the surface, with the surrounding apple trees, still indicate the spot, which is upon the farm of Mr. Harrison Eames. His family consisted, at the time now referred to, of a wife and nine chil- dren .; On the 1st of February, (some accounts say the 2d,) 1675-6, during the absence of the father, who had gone to Boston to obtain a supply of ammunition, a party of about 12 Indians, headed by Netus, approached the house, one of them remaining in the corn-fields at a distance, probably as a watch. Tradition states that two of the children were surprised at the well, and seized ; and that the mother, who had resolved never to be taken alive, made a brave resistance, and being employed at
towns was estimated to be between eleven and twelve hundred. After its close, scarce half that number could be found. Gookin says, that " through God's favor, some of them were preserved alive, and are recon- ciled again to the English, and now live among the rest of the Christian Indians."
* Besides the well-known authori- ties for the particulars of this event, the author has discovered the origin- al minutes of the magistrate, (Thomas Danforth), who examined the actors
in the affair ; and also a petition and deed, to which the sons of Mr. Eames were parties, detailing some of the circumstances.
t Six of the children were by his second wife, then living. Their names were Thomas, Samuel, Mar- garet, Nathaniel, Sarah, and Lydia ; the oldest about twelve, the youngest about three years of age. One only of his sons is known to have been married at this time, who probably lived at Watertown. See Water- town Records.
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INDIAN HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION.
the time in making soap, poured upon the assailants the boiling fluid. The Indians soon succeeded in firing the house, and either killed or took captive the entire family ; at the same time destroy- ing the barn, with the cattle and stores.
Of the exact numbers killed and taken captive, the accounts are contradictory and irreconcilable .* The nearest estimate we can form is, that of the ten members of the family, the wife and three or four of the children were killed, and the rest carried into captivity. Hubbard notices, that the wife of Eames' son died the following day, having, as another account says, been pre- viously tomahawked and scalped. Of this statement we have found no confirmation. Tradition informs us that the captives were first taken in the direction of Lancaster, and that one of the sons was present at the attack upon the garrison of Sudbury, the following April .; It was probably the same son, who, in the spring following his capture, succeeded in making his escape. Having been early instructed, in such an event, to go in the di-
* Drake quotes two authorities, one of which gives seven as killed, and two children taken; the other, " they killed seven people in a bar- barous manner, and carried some away captive." Drake himself says, without giving his authority, " in all, seven persons were killed or fell into the hands " of the Indians. Accord- ing to Hubbard, (p. 84) Mr. Eames' " wife was killed and his children carried captive," and he adds, that " the next day his son's wife died." The Indian deed to the sons of Eames says, they " killed his wife and three children, and captivated five more, whereof only three re- turned, who are now dwelling on the said (Eames') lands." The sons in their own petition to the Gen. Court, represent, that " they slew his wife and five children, and four only of those whom they took into captivity returned." The facts known are as follows : Eames, in his inventory de- tailing his losses, states his family to have consisted of "a wife and nine children." As his oldest son, John, was probably living at Watertown, it is to be presumed that he was not in- cluded in the family. His wife hav- ing had children by her first hus- band, it is probable that some of
them lived with her. There is no reason for supposing, that any of the family escaped death or captivity. The whole number, then, killed and taken captive, was probably ten. Of this number three only of the child- ren can be accounted for, viz. Samu- el, Margaret and Nathaniel, all of whom returned, and were subse- quently married. According to the confession of the Indians, there were two daughters among the captives. It is certain therefore that as many as four captives were carried away. As it is probable, moreover, that not all the captives ultimately returned. the best conjecture we can form is, that four or five, including the wife, were killed, and the rest taken cap- tive, of whom three returned. As the sons of Eames who returned were quite young at the time of their captivity, and as there is reason to believe, that the captives were separ- ated soon after the catastrophe oc- curred, the discrepancy in the differ- ent statements in which they were parties, is less surprising.
t He is said to have reported, that the Indians suffered severely by the fire from the garrison,and that an aged squaw lost six sons, all of whom were brave and distinguished warriors.
3
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rection of the rising sun, after a bold and perilous journey of some 30 miles in the wilderness, he reached in safety an English settlement ; an act of singular courage in a boy of eleven or twelve years .*
We learn from the confession of the Indian actors in this do- mestic tragedy, that near the month of June following the event, the two daughters of Mr. Eames were "at a great hill about midway between Watchusett and Penecooke, in good health, and not in a starving plight ;" that Mattahump ; had one of the daughters, and Pumapen the other. They were supposed, in August, to be in the neighborhood of Fort Aurania, (Albany). Respecting the subsequent fate of the captives, we know little more than that two sons and one daughter were happily restored to their desolated home and friends. Tradition throws an air of romance upon the fortunes of Margaret, the daughter. The colonial government having despatched some agents to obtain the release of captives detained in Canada, one of their company was in his own turn captivated by the attractions of the daughter of Mr. Eames, whose release he had obtained, and whom he soon after made his wife. The Cambridge Records are authority for the fact, that Joseph Adams married Margaret Eames, in 1688.
" The next day, (i. e. March 12, another account says May), a youth of about eleven years of age made his escape from the Indians, who was taken prisoner when his father's house was burnt and his mother murthered, on the first of February last ; and though the boy knew not a step of the way to any English town, and was in continual danger of the skulking Indians in the woods, and far from the English, yet God directed him aright and brought him to the sight of plantane, (the herb which the Indians call English-foot, because it grows only amongst us and is not found in the Indian plantations), whereupon he concluded he was not far from some English town, and accordingly fol- lowing of the plantane, he arrived safely among us." (Drake's old Indian Chronicle, p. 122). From the age above given, it is probable that the name of the boy was Samuel Eames.
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