USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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. Not long after, the new married lady had a great desire to see her father and her native country, from whence she came. Her lord was willing to pleasure her, and not deny her request, amongst them thought to be reason- able, commanded a select number of his own men to conduct his lady to her father, where with great respect they brought her; and having feasted there awhile, returned to their own country againe, leaving the lady to continue there at her owne pleasure, amongst her friends and old acquaintance, where she passed away the time for awhile, and in the end desired to returne to her lord againe. Her father, the old Papasiquineo, having notice of her intent, sent some of his men on ambassage to the young sachem, his sonne in law, to let him understand that his daughter was not willing to absent herself from his company any longer; and therefore, as the messengers had in charge, desired the young lord to send a convoy for her; but he, standing upon tearmes of honor, and the maintaining of his reputation, returned to his father in law this answer: "That when she departed from him, hee caused his men to waite upon her to her father's territories as it did become him; but now she had an intent to returne, it did become her father to send her back with a convoy of his own people; and that it stood not with his reputation to make himself or his men so servile as to fetcli her againe."
The old sachem Papasiquineo, having this message returned, was inraged to think that his young son in law did not esteem him at a higher rate than to capitulate with him about the matter, and returned him this sharp reply : " That his daughter's blood and birth deserved more respect than to be slighted, and therefore, if he would have her company, he were best to send or come for her."
The young sachem, not willing to undervalue himself, and being a man of a stout spirit, did not stick to say, "That he should either send her by, his own convoy, or keepe her ; for he was determined not to stoope so lowe."
So much these two sachems stood upon tearmes of reputation with each other, the one would not send for her, lest it should be any diminishing of D
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HISTORY OF LYNN.
honor on his part that should seeme to comply, that the lady, when I came out of the country, remained still with her father; which is a thing worth the noting, that salvage people should seek to maintaine their reputation so much as they doe.
A chief who could treat a lady so discourteously deserved to lose her. Montowampate had not the felicity to read the Fairy Queen, or he would have thought with Spenser :
" What vertue is so fitting for a Knight, ! Or for a Ladie whom a knight should love, As curtesie."
My lady readers will undoubtedly be anxious to know if the separation was final. I am happy to inform them that it was not; as we find the Princess of Penacook enjoying the luxuries of the shores and the sea breezes at Lynn, the next summer. How they met without compromiting the dignity of the proud sagamore, history does not inform us ; but probably, as ladies are fertile in expedients, she met him half way. In 1631 she was taken prisoner by the Taratines, as will hereafter be related. Montowampate died in 1633. Wenuchus returned to her father; and in 1686, we find mention made of her grand-daughter Pah- pocksit. Other interesting incidents in the life of Montowam- pate will be found in the following pages.
WENEPOYKIN, erroneously called Winnepurkit, was the young- est son of Nanapashemet. His name was pronounced with an accent and a lingering on the third syllable, We-ne-pawwe-kin. He was born in 1616, and was a little boy, thirteen years of age, when the white men came. The Rev. John Higginson, of Salem, says : "To the best of my remembrance, when I came over with my father, to this place, there was in these parts a widow wo- man, called Squaw Sachem, who had three sons; Sagamore John kept at Mistick, Sagamore James at Saugus, and Sagamore George here at Naumkeke. Whether he was actual sachem here I cannot say, for he was then young, about my age, and I think there was an elder man that was at least his guardian." On the death of his brothers, in 1633, he became sagamore of Lynn and Chelsea ; and after the death of his mother, in 1667, he was sachem of all that part of Massachusetts which is north and east of Charles river. He was the proprietor of Deer Island, which he sold to Boston. He was called Sagamore
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THE INDIANS.
George, and George Rumney Marsh; [also Sagamore George No-Nose.] Until the year 1738, the limits of Boston extended to Saugus, including Chelsea, which was called Rumney Marsh. Part of this great marsh is now in Chelsea and part in Saugus. The Indians living on the borders of this marsh in Lynn and Saugus, were sometimes called the Rumney Marsh Indians. Wenepoykin was taken prisoner in the Wampanoag war, in 1676, and died in 1684. He married Ahawayet, daughter of Poquanum, who lived on Nahant. She presented him with one son, Manatahqua, and three daughters, Petagunsk, Wattaquat- tinusk, and Petagoonaquah, who, if early historians are correct in their descriptions, were as beautiful, almost, as the lovely forms which have wandered on the rocks of Nahant in later times. They were called Wanapanaquin, or the plumed ones. This word is but another spelling of Wenepoykin, their father's name, which signifies a wing, or a feather. I suppose they were the belles of the forest, in their day, and wore finer plumes than any of their tribe. Petagunsk was called Cicely. [In the In- dian deed of Lynn, she is described as "Cicily alias St George, the reputed daughter of old Sagamore George No-Nose."] She had a son Tontoquon, called John. Wattaquattinusk, or the Little Walnut, was called Sarah ; and Petagoonaquah was named Susanna. Manatahqua had two sons, Nonupanohow, called Da- vid [Kunkshamooshaw] and Wuttanoh, which means a staff, called Samuel. The family of Wenepoykin left Lynn about the time of the Wampanoag war, and went to Wameset, or Chelmsford, now Lowell, where they settled near Pawtucket falls. On the 16th of September, 1684, immediately after the death of Wenepoykin, the people of Marblehead embraced the opportunity of obtaining a deed of their town. It was signed by Ahawayet, and many others, her relatives. She is called " Joane Ahawayet, Squawe, relict, widow of George Saggamore, alias Wenepawweekin." (Essex Reg. Deeds, 11, 132.) She survived her husband about a year, and died in 1685. On the 19th of March, 1685, David Nonupanohow, "heir of Sagamore George, and in his right having some claim to Deer Island, doth hereby, for just consideration, relinquish his right, to the town of Boston." (Suffolk Records.) On the 11th of October, 1686, the people of Salem obtained a deed of their town, which was
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HISTORY OF LYNN.
signed by the relatives of Wenepoykin. [And on the 4th of September, of the same year, the people of Lynn likewise ob- tained a deed of their territory, from the heirs of Wenepoykin, a copy of which may be found on page 51, et seq.]
YAWATA, daughter of Nanapashemet, and sister of the three sagamores, married Oonsumog. She lived to sign the deed of Salem, in 1686, and died at Natick. She had a son, Mumin- quash, born in. 1636, and called James Rumney Marsh, who also removed to Natick. There is great softness and euphony in the name of this Indess. Ya-wa-ta; six letters, and only one hard consonant. Probably her heart was as delicate and feminine as her name. The early settlers indicated their poetic taste by calling her Abigail. [The wife of David Kunkshamooshaw, who was a grandson of Yawata's brother Wenepoykin, was also called Abigail. This last was the Abigail who signed the deed of Lynn. And it seems as if Mr. Lewis may have confounded the two Abigails. Yet, Yawata might have signed the Salem deed, in 1686, though she must then have been quite old.]
POQUANUM, or Dark Skin, was sachem of Nahant. Wood, in his New England's Prospect, calls him Duke William; and it appears by depositions in Salem Court Records, that he was known by the familiar appellation of Black Will. He was con- temporary with Nanapashemet. In 1630 he sold Nahant to Thomas Dexter for a suit of clothes. It is probable that he was the chief who welcomed Gosnold, in 1602, and who is represented to have been dressed in a complete suit of English clothes. If he were the same, that may have been the reason why he was so desirous to possess another suit. He was killed in 1633, as will be found under that date. He had two chil- dren - Ahawayet, who married Wenepoykin; and Queakussen, commonly called Captain Tom, or Thomas Poquanum, who was born in 1611. Mr. Gookin, in 1686, says, " He is an Indian of good repute, and professeth the Christian religion." Probably he is the one alluded to by Rev. John Eliot, in his letter, No- vember 13, 1649, in which he says : " Linn Indians are all naught, save one, who sometimes cometh to hear the word, and telleth me that he prayeth to God; and the reason why they are bad is partly and principally because their sachem is naught, and careth not to pray to God." There is a confession of faith,
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THE INDIANS.
preserved in Eliot's "Tears of Repentance," by Poquanum, probably of this same Indian. He signed the deed of Salem in 1686, and on the 17th of September, in that year, he gave the following testimony : " Thomas Queakussen, alias Captain Tom, Indian, now living at Wamesit, neare Patucket Falls, aged about seventy-five years, testifieth and saith, That many yeares since, when he was a youth, he lived with his father, deceased, named Poquannum, who some time lived at Sawgust, now called Linn; he married a second wife, and lived at Nahant; and himself in after time lived about Mistick, and that he well knew all these parts about Salem, Marblehead and Linn; and that Salem and the river running up between that neck of land and Bass river was called Naumkeke, and the river between Salem and Marble- head was called Massabequash; also he says he well knew Sagamore George, who married the Deponent's Owne Sister, named Joane, who died about a yeare since ; and Sagamore George left two daughters, name Sicilye and Sarah, and two grand-children by his son; Nonumpanumhow the one called David, and the other Wuttanoh; and I myself am one of their kindred as before; and James Rumney Marsh's mother is one of Sagamore George his kindred; and I knew two squawes more living now about Pennecooke, one named Pahpocksitt, and the other's name I know not; and I knew the grandmother of these two squawes named Wenuchus; she was a principal proprietor of these lands about Naumkege, now Salem; all these persons above named are concerned in the antient pro- perty of the lands above mentioned." Wabaquin also testified, that David was the grandson of Sagamore George-by his father, deceased Manatahqua. (Essex Reg. Deeds, 11, 131.)
NAHANTON was born about the year 1600. On the 7th of April, 1635, Nahanton was ordered by the Court to pay Rev. William Blackstone, of Boston, two beaver skins, for damage done to his swine by setting traps. In a deposition taken at Natick, August 15, 1672, he is called " Old Ahaton of Punkapog, aged about seaventy yeares ;" and in a deposition at Cambridge, October 7, 1686, he is called " Old Mahanton, aged about ninety years." In the same deposition he is called Nahanton. He testifies concerning the right of the heirs of Wenepoykin to sell the lands of Salem, and declares himself a relative of Saga- Dx
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HISTORY OF LYNN.
more George. He signed the deed of Quincy, August 5, 1665, and in that deed is called "Old Nahatun," one of the " wise men " of Sagamore Wampatuck. He also signed a quit-claim deed to "the proprietated inhabitants of the town of Boston," March 19, 1685. (Suffolk Records.)
QUANOPKONAT, called John, was another relative of Wenepoy- kin. His widow Joan, and his son James, signed the deed of Salem, in 1686. Masconomo was sagamore of Agawam, now Ipswich. Dudley says, " he was tributary to Sagamore James." From the intimacy which subsisted between them, he was prob- ably a relative. He died March 8, 1658, and his gun and other implements were buried with him. (Felt's Hist. Ipswich.)
The names of the Indians are variously spelled in records and depositions, as they were imperfectly understood from their nasal pronunciation. Some of them were known by different names, and as they had no baptism, or ceremony of naming their children, they commonly received no name until it was fixed by some great exploit, or some remarkable circumstance.
The Indians have been admirably described by William Wood, who resided at Lynn, at the first settlement. "They were black haired, out nosed, broad shouldered, brawny armed, long and slender handed, out breasted, small waisted, lank bellied, well thighed, flat kneed, handsome grown legs, and small feet. In a word, they were more amiable to behold, though only in Adam's livery, than many a compounded fantastic in the newest fash- ion." In another place he speaks of " their unparalleled beauty." Josselyn, in his New England Rarities, says: " The women, many of them, have very good features, seldome without a come-to-me in their countenance, all of them black eyed, having even, short teeth and very white, their hair black, thick and long, broad breasted, handsome, straight bodies and slender, their limbs cleanly, straight, generally plump as a partridge, and saving now and then one, of a modest deportment." Lechford says: " The Indesses that are young, are some of them very comely, having good features." Many prettie Brownettos and spider fingered lasses may be seen among them." After such graphic - and beautiful descriptions, nothing need be added to complete the idea that their forms were exquisitely perfect, superb, and voluptuous. [But is not this superlative language, as applied
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THE INDIANS.
to Indian squaws, rather intense ? Mr. Lewis, however, is well known to have entertained more than ordinary veneration for the aborigines. It is believed that a more just estimate may be found in the volume published here in 1862, under the title "LIN: or, Jewels of the Third Plantation."]
The dress of the men was the skin of a deer or seal tied round the waist, and in winter a bear or wolf skin thrown over the shoulders, with moccasons or shoes of moose hide. The women wore robes of beaver skins, with sleeves of deer skin drest, and drawn with lines of different colors into ornamental, figures. Some wore a short mantle of trading cloth, blue or red, fastened with a knot under the chin, and girt around the waist with a zone; their buskins fringed with feathers, and a fillet round their heads, which were often adorned with plumes.
Their money was made of shells, gathered on the beaches, and was of two kinds. The one was called wampum-peag, or white money, and was made of the twisted part of the cockle strung together like beads. Six of these passed for a penny, and a foot for about a shilling. The other was called suckauhoc, or black money, and was made of the hinge of the poquahoc clam, bored with a sharp stone. The value of this money was double that of the white. These shells were also very curiously wrought into pendants, bracelets, and belts of wampum, several inches in breadth and several feet in length, with figures of animals and flowers. Their sachems were profusely adorned with it, and some of the princely females wore dresses worth fifty or a hundred dollars. It passed for beaver and other commodities as currently as silver.
Their weapons were bows, arrows and tomahawks. Their bows were made of walnut, or some other elastic wood, and strung with sinews of deer or moose. Their arrows were made of elder, and feathered with the quills of eagles. They were headed with a long, sharp stone of porphyry or jasper, tied to a short stick, which was thrust into the pith of the elder. Their tomahawks were made of a flat stone, sharpened to an edge, with a groove round the middle. This was inserted in a bent walnut stick, the ends of which were tied together. The flinty heads of their arrows and axes, their stone gouges and pestles, have been frequently found in the fields.
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HISTORY OF LYNN.
Their favorite places of residence hereabout, appear to have been in the neighborhood of Sagamore Hill and High Rock, at Swampscot and Nahant. One of their burial places was on the hill near the eastern end of Mount Vernon street. In Saugus, many indications of their dwellings have been found on the old Boston road, for about half a mile from the hotel, westward; and beneath the house of Mr. Ephraim Rhodes was a burying ground. On the road which runs north from Charles Sweetser's, was another Indian village on a plain, defended by a hill. Na- ture here formed a lovely spot, and nature's children occupied it. [The localities here referred to lie between East Saugus and Cliftondale.] They usually buried their dead on the sides of hills next the sun. This was both natural and beautiful. It was the wish of Beattie's Minstrel.
" Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave."
The Indians had but few arts, and only such as were requisite for their subsistence. Their houses, called wigwams, were rude structures, made of poles set round in the form of a cone, and covered by bark or mats. In winter, one great house, built with more care, with a fire in the middle, served for the accom- modation of many. They had two kinds of boats, called canoes ; the one made of a pine log, twenty to sixty feet in length, burnt and scraped out with shells; the other made of birch bark, very light and elegant. They made fishing lines of wild hemp, equal to the finest twine, and used fish bones for hooks. Their meth- od of catching deer was by making two fences of trees, half a mile in extent, in the form of an angle, with a snare at the place of meeting, in which they frequently took the deer alive.
Their chief objects of cultivation were corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes and melons, which were all indigenous plants. Their fields were cleared by burning the trees in the autumn. Their season for planting was when the leaves of the oak were as large as the ear of a mouse. From this observation was formed the rule of the first settlers.
When the white oak trees look goslin gray, Plant then, be it April, June, or May.
The corn was hoed with large clam shells, and harvested in cellars dug in the ground, and enclosed with mats. When
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THE INDIANS.
boiled in kernels it was called samp; when parched and pound- ed in stone mortars it was termed nokehike ; and when pounded and boiled, it was called hominy. They also boiled corn and beans together, which they called succatash. They formed earthen vessels in which they cooked. They made an excellent cake by mixing strawberries with parched corn. Whortleberries were employed in a similar manner. Some of their dishes are still well known and highly relished - their samp, their hominy or hasty pudding, their stewed beans or succatash, their baked pumpkins, their parched corn, their boiled and roast ears of corn, and their whortleberry cake - dishes which, when well prepared, are good enough for any body. And when to these were added the whole range of field and flood, at a time when wild fowl and venison were more than abundant, it will be seen that the Indians lived well.
The woods were filled with wild animals - foxes, bears, wolves, deer, moose, beaver, racoons, rabbits, woodchucks, and squirrels - most of which have long since departed. One of the most troublesome animals was the catamount, one of the numerous varieties of the cat kind, which has never been par- ticularly described. It was from three to six feet in length, and commonly of a cinnamon color. Many stories are related of its attacks upon the early settlers, by climbing trees and leaping upon them when traveling through the forest. An Indian in passing through the woods one day, heard a rustling in the boughs overhead, and looking up, saw a catamount pre- paring to spring upon him. He said he " cry all one soosuck"- that is, like a child -knowing that if he did not kill the cata- mount, he must lose his own life. He fired as the animal was in the act of springing, which met the ball and fell dead at his feet.
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The wild pigeons are represented to have been so numerous that they passed in flocks so large as to " obscure the light." Dudley says, "it passeth credit if but the truth should be known; " and Wood says, they continued flying for four or five hours together, to such an extent that one could see " nei- ther beginning nor ending, length nor breadth, of these millions of millions." When they alighted in the woods, they frequently broke down large limbs of trees by their weight, and the crash-
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HISTORY OF LYNN.
ing was heard at a great distance. A single family has been known to have killed more than one hundred dozen in one night, with poles and other weapons; and they were often taken in such numbers that they were thrown into piles, and kept to feed the swine. The Indians called the pigeon wusco- wan, a word signifying a wanderer. The wild fowl were so numerous in the waters, that persons sometimes killed "50 duckes at a shot."
The Indians appear to have been very fond of amusements. The tribes, even from a great distance, were accustomed to challenge each other, and to assemble upon Lynn Beach to decide their contests. Here they sometimes passed many days in the exercises of running, leaping, wrestling, shooting, and other diversions. Before they began their sports, they drew a line in the sand, across which the parties shook hands in evi- dence of friendship, and they sometimes painted their faces, to prevent revenge. A tall pole was then planted in the beach, on which were hung beaver skins, wampum, and other articles, for which they contended; and frequently, all they were worth was ventured in the play. One of their games was foot-ball. Another was called puim, which was played by shuffling to- gether a large number of small sticks, and contending for them. Another game was played with five flat pieces of bone, black on one s; and white on the other. These were put into a wooden bowl, which was struck on the ground, causing the bones to bound aloft, and as they fell white or black, the game was decided. During this play, the Indians sat in a circle, making a great noise, by the constant repetition of the word hub, hub, - come, come -from which it was called hubbub; a word, the derivation of which seems greatly to have puzzled Dr. Johnson.
The Indians believed in a Great Spirit, whom they called Kichtan, who made all the other gods, and one man and woman. The evil spirit they called Hobamock. They endured the most acute pains without a murmur, and seldom laughed loud. They cultivated a kind of natural music, and had their war and death songs. The women had lullabies and melodies for their children, and modulated their voices by the songs of birds. Some early writers represent the voices of their females, when heard
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THE INDIANS.
through the shadowy woods, to have been exquisitely harmoni- ous. It has been said they had no poets; but their whole lan- guage was a poem. What more poetical than calling the roar of the ocean on the beach, sawkiss, or great panting ? - literally, the noise which a tired animal makes when spent in the chase. What more poetical than naming a boy Poquanum, or Dark Skin; and a girl Wanapaquin, a Plume ? Every word of the Indians was expressive, and had a meaning. Such is natural poetry in all ages. The Welch called their great king Arthur, from aruthr, terribly fair; and such was Alonzo, the name of the Moorish kings of Spain, from an Arabic word, signifying the fountain of beauty. When we give our children the names of gems and flowers - when we use language half as designative as that of the Indians, we may begin to talk of poetry. "I am an aged hemlock," said one, "whose head has been whitened by eighty snows !" " We will brighten the chain of our friend- ship with you," said the chiefs in their treaties. ["You are the rising sun, we are the setting," said an old chief, sadly, on seeing the prosperity of the whites. Gookin says that when ยท the Quakers tried to convince certain Indians of the truth of their doctrines, advising them not to listen to the ministers, and telling them that they had " a light within, which was a suffi- cient guide," they replied, " We have long looked within, and find it very dark."] The Indians reckoned their tim py snows and moons. A snow was a winter; and thus, a man who had seen eighty snows, was eighty years of age. A moon was a month ; thus they had the harvest moon, the hunting moon, and the moon of flowers. A sleep was a night; and seven sleeps were seven days. This figurative language is in the highest degree poetical and beautiful.
The Indians have ever been distinguished for friendship, jus- tice, magnanimity, and a high sense of honor. They have been represented by some as insensible and brutish, but, with the exception of their revenge, they were not an insensate race. The old chief, who requested permission of the white people to smoke one more whiff before he was slaughtered, was thought to be an unfeeling wretch; but he expressed more than he could have done by the most eloquent speech. The red people re- ceived the immigrants in a friendly manner, and taught them
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