History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 143

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 143

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).

Under these circumstances it was only natural that he should seek a refuge and home in the new world. November 3, 1631, he landed in Boston from the ship "Lyon," that brought over with him the wife and children of Governor Winthrop. Rev. John Wilson, pastor of the First Church in Boston, was at this time in England attending to the settlement of business affairs in which he was concerned, and Governor Winthrop, with two other laymen, was conducting the services of the church in the absence of the pas- tor. Mr. Eliot was at once invited to preach there, and so acceptable were his labors, that the people were very unwilling to give him up when, to fulfill his promise made to friends in England who were antici- pating a removal to the Massachusetts Colony, he settled in Roxbury, these friends having arrived from the mother country and being ready to abide by their part of the engagement.

November 5, 1632, Mr. Eliot became the minister at Roxbury, and continued such till the time of his death, May 20, 1690. His colleagues at different times were Messrs. Welde, Danforth and Walter. Mr. Eliot was now twenty-eight years of age, and re- markably well fitted to take the lead in the great en- terprise of civilizing and christianizing the Indians. It was a formidable undertaking, so low were they in ignorance and barbarism.

Anticipating his mission, as early as 1641 Mr. Eliot entered on the difficult task of learning the Indian language, particularly the Mohegan dialect, which was spoken generally by the Indians in Eastern Mas- sachusetts, securing for aid the assistance of an In- dian who could speak English, and whom he took into his family. In a few months he could converse somewhat in the Indian tongue, but some years

1 The authorities consulted in preparing this portion of the " History of Natick " are as follows : "Life of Jeha Eliot," by Professor C. Fran- cis ; " The White Oak and its Neighbors," by Sarah S. Jacobs -- better known by the title, " Nenantum and Natick "-"Temple's History of Framingham," very full and reliable upon the Indian history of this region ; the Histories of Natick, by William Biglow, Oliver N. Bacon, Rev. Martin Moore and Rev. S. D. Ilosmer ; " Manual of the First Con" gregational Church of Natick," by Rev, Daniel Wight, a work carefully prepared, full and reliable ; Drake's " Old Indian Chronicles ; " and the collections of the Massachusetts Ilistorical Society. Theso authors agree substantially in all their statements of facts, and these facts will be given je this sketch wichont the usual references to particular au- thorities. Dne credit will nccompany all direct quotations. The Indian apestle, Eliot, was a voluminous writer, und tho same may be said of his ministerial contemporaries in Boston and its vicinity.

515

NATICK.

elapsed before he could trust himself to preach a ser- mon to the natives. His first Indian discourse was given at Nonantum, October 28, 1646.

Nonantum was an Indian village in the northeast part of what is now the city of Newton, bordering on Watertown. Waban (the wind), with his wife and a company of his followers, had come to this village not long before from what is now Concord, and at the time of which we are speaking he was the chief of the Nonantum settlement. This Waban is described as " the chief minister of justice among them," and was regarded as well disposed toward the project of giving instruction in morals and religion to the In- dians. His son, at Waban's suggestion, was at this time attending an English school in Dedham, but came over to Nonantum to be present at the meeting above mentioned.1 Notice having been previously given of this gathering for a religious service, Mr. Eliot and his companions were met not far from the wigwams by Waban and other Indians, who respect- fully saluted them and conducted them to the dwell- ing of their chief, where a considerable audience had assembled.

Mr. Eliot took his text from Ezekiel, chap. xxxvii. 9, 10, " Prophesy unto the wind," etc., and when it is remembered that "Waban" signified "wind;" we may well suppose that the chief made a personal ap- plication of the entire discourse, which occupied one hour and a quarter. In the course of the sermon the ten commandments had been recited and ex- plained, and the whole matter made as practical as possible. Then followed a series of questions and an- swers from both parties, and after three hours had been spent at this first religious meeting of the Mas- sachusetts Indians the services closed. At the re- quest of Waban and his company, the service was re- peated two weeks later in the chief's wigwam, and this was followed by a third and fourth meeting, all of which seemed to leave good impressions on the minds of the Indians.

Meanwhile, under Mr. Eliot's direction, the tem- poral affairs of this people began to show a marked improvement. Fences were made, ditches were dug, and something like a system of good husbandry intro- duced. The squaws learned to spin ; the markets of the English began to be supplied with brooms, bas- kets, berries, fowls and fish, brought in hy the Indians.

About the same time, or soon after, Mr. Eliot com- menced holding religious services with the Indians at Neponset, but these were attended with less to en- courage him than the meetings and visible improve- ment in temporal matters at Nonantum afforded. He als > visited the natives at Concord, and later on an Indian town was constituted and named Nashobah, where one of Eliot's followers, an Indian teacher, con- ducted religious worship for a time.

It may here be stated that at this stage of his mis-

sionary labors, and during some years after, Mr. Eliot. preached to the Indians in so many places in the eastern part of Massachusetts, and such results fol- lowed his labors, that as many as fourteen settlements of Praying Indians are named in the histories of those times. Besides those already mentioned, Punkapoag (now Stoughton), Hassanamesit (now Grafton), Okom- makamesit (now Marlborough), Magunkaquog (now partly in Ashland), and Wamesit (now Lowell) are enumerated among the Christian towns or settle- ments. When we speak of these Indian towns we are not to picture to ourselves anything resembling one of our modern villages, with spacious and well- kept streets, lined with neat and attractive dwellings, but rather ten or twenty huts on the banks of a pond or stream, with a single room each, and this often partly under ground for the sake of securing warmth in winter, the whole so constructed that all valuable in or about it could be taken down and removed at a few hours' notice. All that has now been stated re- specting the mission of Mr. Eliot seems necessary for a full understanding of the reasons that led to the In- dian settlement in Natick.

Three ar four years' labor in conducting his exper- iment at Nonantum were sufficient to convince this thoughtful and devoted man that he was Jaboring un- . der serious disadvantages in endeavoring to civilize and christianize the natives in such close proximity to the English colonists. The white population was taking possession of the entire region within ten miles of Boston, and it was easily apparent that as society was then constituted, they and the Indians could not live and prosper in the same neighborhood. To say nothing of social habits and customs, which would prevent the two races from enjoying friendly inter- course, their different views of right and wrong made. friction almost inevitable. The fences that the In- dians put around their small gardens and corn-fields afforded but little protection against the cattle of the English, and after loss had been sustained, adequate redress was out of the question, while, notwithstand- ing the strictness of their laws, it must be confessed that the evil example of some of the colonists was de- moralizing. According to the old historians, the In- dians of New England knew nothing of drunkenness till the English began to settle in the region. The most reliable authorities state that they had nothing that could intoxicate before the coming of the white man; but when the taste for strong liquors had been once acquired, they became passionately fond of them, and would obtain them, if possible, at any cost.

As early as 1648 Mr. Eliot sent a petition to the General Court, asking that the sale of intoxicating drinks to the Indians should in Boston be confined to a single individual, and the order of the court was as follows : "On petition of Mr. Eliot, none in Boston to sell wine to the Indians except William Phillips, on fine of twenty shillings."

These exposures and troubles at Nonantum and

See Francis' "Life of Eliot," p. 48.

516

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

elsewhere led Mr. Eliot to seek a more favorable lo- cation for the founding of an Indian town which should be a model settlement for the Praying Indians, and the headquarters of more general and better- directed efforts for their education and moral im- provement. With this object in view, he seems to have explored, on foot or on horseback, the region of country west and southwest of Boston for the distance of twenty or twenty-five miles before a suitable place was discovered. To his great joy such a place was at length found upon the banks of the Charles River, about seventeen miles west of Boston.

This locality he deemed very favorable for many reasons. It was at a sufficient distance from the English settlements to remove the Indians, certainly for a time, from the inconveniences and exposures to which they had been subject at Nonantum, and yet was so near Roxbury that Mr. Eliot could go back and forth without great fatigue, or making serious in- roads upon his valuable time. Besides, there was a large tract of fertile meadow-land upon the banks of the Charles River, at the place selected, already cleared-either by the beavers or by the annual burn- ing of the grass and bushes by the Indians so that the important business of husbandry could be com- · menced at once.

The selection of the place for the new settlement was made in 1650, and Mr. Eliot seems to have in- vited the Praying Indians in all the region, and all others who were disposed to join them, to remove to the new locality. During the summer of that year he sent men to cut and cure the heavy grass on the meadows, that there might be an abundance of hay for his horse during the autumn and when the spring of 1651 should open. A considerable number of In- dians from Nonantum and other places removed at once to the new settlement named "Natick" (the hilly place) for reasons already given.

Measures were immediately taken to secure for the Indians a legal title to the land they had been in- vited to occupy. As early as 1636 (as it appears from the "Mass. Col. Records") the General Court had granted a tract of land five miles square, on the north- erly side of Charles River, to the town of Dedham, and this tract embraced most, if not all, the territory now covered by the towns of Natick and Wellesley, and a part of Sherborn. Mr. Eliot asked of Dedham 2000 acres of this land, which was given, and by the General Court set apart as "The Indian Plantation at Natick."

But this did not satisfy Mr. Eliot's ideas of strict justice, for a , considerable part of this territory was already occupied by others whose claims he would not disregard. This part was "the inheritance of Jolın Speene and his brethren and kindred," and these Indians were in possession. There is, in the office of the towu clerk at Natick, a paper supposed to be in Eliot's handwriting, under date of 1650, which sets forth the mode in which this matter was satisfac-

torily settled : 1 " Because all those Lands, or a great part, at least, which belong to Natick, were the inher- itance of John Speene and his brethren and kindred; therefore, we thought it right that he and all his kin- dred should solemnly give up their right therein be- fore the Lord, and give the same unto the publick interest, right and possession of the Towne of Naticke. They were all very willing so to do, and therefore, on a lecture-day, publickly and solemnly, before the Lord and all the people, John Speen and all his kin- dred, friends and posterity, gave away all their Right and interest, which they formerly had in the Land in and about Natick, unto the public interest of the towne of Naticke, that so the praying Indians might then make a towne; and they received nothing to themselves, saving interest in their wyers, which they had before put; for Lands they would only take up lots, as others did, by the publick order and agree- ment of the towne, and at the same time they re- ceived a gratuity unto their good Contentment. 2" Following the above, and on the same page, is another. similar document from another family, which the his- torian (Biglow) declared sixty years ago was scarcely legible. The agreements were signed by John Eliot, Waban and sixteen other Indians as witnesses. Though there is some conflict of authorities respect- ing the exact dates of these conveyances, there is none respecting the facts as stated above.

It having been determined that the settlement should occupy both banks of the river, a foot-bridge became necessary, since during a part of each year the stream was too deep for wading. In the autumn of 1650 this bridge was built in a substantial man- ner hy the Indians, who, up to this time, had never accustomed themselves to such severe and protracted labor. The structure was eighty feet long and nine feet high in the middle, and built in the form of an arch. When it was completed, Mr. Eliot is said to have called the workmen together for a religious ser- vice and to praise them for their industry, zeal and success. He offered to pay them if any desired wages for their work, but all declined the offer, being fully satisfied with the part they had performed in promoting the public convenience and safety.

In the spring of 1651 the work of building was resumed, and an Indian village of considerable size appeared upon both banks of the river. Seed was sown or planted, fruit trees were set out, and soon the Indians were engaged in putting up a house in the English style for their school during the week and for religious services on the Sabbath. This house is described by Mr. Eliot and others as fifty feet long, twenty-five feet wide and twelve feet high between the joists, and two stories high. A white carpenter

1 This is probably the most ancient of the Indian records which the town of Natick has in its keeping. Some of it is deciphered with diffi- culty ; but the most important part was copied into a substantial record- book some years since by Austin Bacon, and this the town will preserve. 2 Biglow, p. 23.

517

NATICK.

was employed for a very short time to direct about the framing and raising, but otherwise the entire work was done by the Indians. They felled the trees and hewed the timber for the frame, carrying it on their shoulders to the foundation already prepared, and finished the structure, not in elegant style in- deed, but in such substantial work as called forth the commendations of visitors. The lower story was fit- ted up for the school and for religious gatherings, while above was a spacious room for the deposit of Indian valnables and especially for the skins, etc., belonging to Waban, who was in his way a trader. Another part of the second story furnished a com- fortable study for Mr. Eliot when, as was often the case, he came over from Roxbury and passed a num- ber of days at the Plantation.

Whether this entire building was surrounded by tall trees stripped of their branches and set close to- gether in the ground, after the manner of the early forts in New England, it seems difficult to determine; but either around it, or in close proximity to it, such" a fort was constructed and made capable of defence from hostile attack. It is supposed that for a consid- erable period, when the weather was favorable, their religious meetings were held in the open air, for we read that the Indians constructed canopies of mats attached to poles-one for the preacher and his at- tendants, others for the men and women respectively, the sexes being separated according to the custom of the times in English assemblies. The building de- scribed above was the first church edifice in Natick.

A few of the Indian homes resembled somewhat small and cheaply constructed English houses, but because of the expense attending their erection and the difficulty of warming them easily and sufficiently in the winter, most preferred wigwams like those in which they were born. These were located on the banks of the river on three streets, two on the north side of the stream, and one on the south side. House lots were measured off, one being assigned to each wigwam, and soon fifty or more Indian families were established in homes which at least were deemed comfortable, and which were really a great improve- ment on the filthy and crowded buts of their child- hood.

The Indians were encouraged in every possible way to adopt the customs of civilized life, while their intellectual and moral training received from Mr. Eliot the most constant and careful attention. With their new and spacious room for educational pur- poses a new era opened, and soon a large number were engaged in study and making, according to all reports, commendable progress. An Indian by the name of Monequassen, who had been for some years under training, was engaged as teacher. Governor Endicot and Rev. John Wilson, of Boston, testified at the time respecting the good qualifications of this man for his work. He could read, spell and write English as well at least as most of the English teach-

ers of that day-while all his instruction was given under the general superintendence of Mr. Eliot. As to the Sabbath services, we learn from Gookin that " upon the Lord's days, fast days and lecture days, the people assemble at the sound of a drum (for bells they yet have not) twice each day."1

This school at Natick, Mr. Eliot plainly designed as a seminary for the higher education of the bright- est and most promising among the Indian young men of his acquaintance, that such might be fitted for instructors in less favored localities ; and in this re- spect his hopes were at least partially realized. It was early discovered by this sharp-sighted, as well as devotedly pious man, that the exhortations of the Indians in their own tongne had a remarkable effect, especially upon strangers who might be present at their religious meetings (and the presence of such was not uncommon), and so he established the cus- tom of selecting two of the scholars for each Sabbath "to exercise," as it was termed; that is, to repeat portions of the Scriptures as he read them, to offer prayer and to give, in their own language, the sub- stance of his discourses. Mr. Eliot himself cate- chised the adults when he was present on the Sab- bath, as he often was, for many years, while the children were catechised by Monequassen.

The material, intellectual and religious concerns of the Plantation having been provided for by these arrangements, Mr. Eliot now directed his attention to the mode of civil government which it would be best for the Indians to adopt. Thongh, in a sense, they were not absolutely independent, but were subject to the laws of the English colony, it seems to have been expected on all sides that they would adopt what we may call municipal regulations of their own, and the form and scope of these became, at a very early day, a serious matter.

Under his supreme regard for the authority of the Bible, Mr. Eliot's ideas respecting the best form of civil government differed from those entertained by most of the Puritan leaders. In one of his letters to friends in England, he exclaimed, "O the blessed day in England when the Word of God shall be their Magna Charter and chief law-book, and when all lawyers must be divines to study the Scriptures."

Entertaining such views, it is not surprising that Mr. Eliot proposed to the Indians that for the funda- mental law of the Natick Plantation they should adopt the Mosaic code so far as it relates to civil officers. "England," he assured them, " did flourish happily under that kind of government," alluding, as Profes- sor Francis supposes, to King Alfred's institutions, after he had expelled the Danes from Great Britain.

There appears to have been no objection on the part of the Indians to this proposal of Mr. Eliot. August 6, 1651, a general meeting of the Praying In- dians was held in Natick, but how far those who

1 Mass. Hist. Coll.

518

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

came from the other Christian settlements partici- pated in this election of civil rulers we are not in -. formed. The most we know is that a ruler of a hun- dred, two rulers of fifties and rulers of tens were chosen after Mr. Eliot had prayed and expounded to them the eighteenth chapter of Exodus. For the ruler of one hundred, Totherswamp was selected, who was a man in the prime of life, distinguished for uncommon ability and moral worth. Waban, to whom the reader has been already introduced, was chosen one of the captains of fifties. Ten captains of tens were also elected, and these Mr. Eliot denomi- nated tithingmen, after, as he informs us, the custom of the mother country, when, for a little time, a simi- lar form of government prevailed there. Then each man was requested to name his leader among the tithingmen, and, this being done, the organization of the civil government was complete. A day was named for entering into a solemn covenant with God, which was also a day for fasting and prayer. When first the rulers and then the people had taken upon themselves the solemn vow to live according to the commands of the Most High, Mr. Eliot's heart was full of praise and thanksgiving.

To show how these rulers demeaned themselves in office, the following incident may be related : Tother- swamp, or Toteswamp, as he was sometimes called, the ruler of the hundred, had sent his son, a boy of eleven years, to one of the settlements nearer Boston to purchase some supplies. The lad found in that place three of the most vicious from the Praying In- dians, who were making themselves drunk upon sev- eral quarts of strong liquor which they had obtained from the English. One of these men gave the boy a little rum in a spoon, and another forced him to drink from a bottle till he was thoroughly intoxi- cated; then they cried out, "We will now see whether your father will punish us for drunkenness, since you are drunk as well as we." Then a fight commenced among the intoxicated Indians, and the boy did not return home till the next day. The news of their shameful proceeding reached Mr. Eliot just as he was leaving his Roxbury home to pass the Sabbath in Natick, and he was almost overwhelmed with grief, particularly as one of the offenders had been em- ployed by him as an interpreter, and was depended upon to aid in translating the Bible into the Indian language. The rulers were wisely left to try the case. The position of Toteswamp was especially trying, but in the final decision the just magistrate, rather than the father, prevailed. His boy, he said, had often been warned against being found in the company of the wicked, so that, though grievously sinned against, he was far from being guiltless, and deserved punish- ment. After mature deliberation the verdict ren- dered was as follows: The three chief offenders should sit in the stocks a long time, and then receive thirty lashes each at the whipping-post, while the boy should sit in the stocks a little while, and then

be whipped by his father in the school-room, in the presence of the other Indiau children-and this ver- dict, we are assured, was faithfully carried out.

In 1658, the tract of 2000 acres constituting the Natick Plantation being deemed too small, Mr. Eliot petitioned the General Court for an enlargement and readjustment of its boundaries. His petition led to the appointment of a committee "to lay out conve- nient bounds to Natick, out of the common lands ad- joining, and also to treat with Dedham, and compound with them for such lands as lye adjoining to ye said place, and seemed to be necessary for the Indians." This committee laid out and assigned to the Indian settlement a large tract of land lying north and west of the 2000 acres which had been donated by Dedham in 1650. But about 4000 acres of this tract were claimed by Dedham, and this town appealed to the General Court for redress. A committee was ap- pointed in May, 1662, " to make final issue of the controversy between the town of Dedham and the Indians at Natick." About a year later this commit- tee reported, when the General Court "judgeth it meete to grant Dedham 8000 acres of land in any convenient place or places, where it can be found free from former grants; provided Dedham accept this offer." Dedham appears to have been satisfied with the arrangement, for two years later these 8000 acres were laid out for Dedham, at Deerfield, in the valley of the Connecticut River.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 143

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034