USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 28
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With its gentler mission of peace and good-will, The thought of the Quaker is living still, And the freedom of soul he prophesied Is gospel and law where its martyrs died.
The charter under which the Puritans came and the texts in the Bible which they were so skillful in finding, gave them the right to banish anyone from the Massachusetts Bay Colony whom they wished to cast out into the wilderness to be tomahawked by the Indians, as was Ann Hutchinson. All who remained were given the right of suffrage only when they were church members, and the ministers de- cided who should be members. All must "go to meeting," as the phrase was. To speak of going to church might land one in the stocks, as the word "church" meant to the Puritan something estab- lished by law with royalty and the military forces behind it. Once in the meeting-house, the men and women were separated, sitting on opposite sides of the room. The boys usually occupied the pulpit stairs within easy range of the tithing man and his tipstaff.
Both Pilgrim and Puritan displayed many an Indian head upon a pole, over the meeting-house or in some other conspicuous place of authoritative location. It was the custom of the times, not anything which the Separatists had originated but they carried out a custom of the Old World.
Atrocities were not wholly done by the Indians. It was a cruel world and the Plymouth and Bay colonies were not wholly emancipa- ted from cruelty and revenge, as anyone who reads early Colonial his- tory is forced to admit. Those of us, sitting in slippered ease in the twentieth century and in the pride of the day of religious toleration and good will to all mankind, may think we would have acted quite contrary to the record of Governors Winthrop and Bradford and their supporters. Lest we forget and lest we express a pride not
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wholly earned, it may be well to recall some happenings under the slogan "Remember the Maine," and in the struggle "to make the world safe for democracy."
There was a united supplication to the Throne of Grace and an ex- pression of thanks to the Almighty for the death of King Philip and, at the same time, pastors of all the churches and their congregations united in advocating the following heartless death condemnation of innocent Indian children :
The children of notorious traitors, rebels and murderers, and such as have been the principal leaders and actors in such horrid villanies, and that against a whole nation, may salva republica, be adjudged to death.
There were a few exceptions among the clergy, most notable being Rev. James Keith of Bridgewater. More about his attitude and how the Bible was quoted both for and against executions of women and children, is told elsewhere in this history.
The customs of centuries are not altered in a day by either white or red men. Suffering and excitement cause the human animal to re- vert to type.
Captain Thomas Savage was a Puritan who had sympathized with Ann Hutchinson and for that indiscretion was humiliatingly dis- anmed, but when the King Philip War was imminent, he was re-armed to assist in saving his fellow white men. Roger Williams was ban- ished from Massachusetts, but he was pleaded with by those who ban- ished him to use his influence to prevent the Narragansett Indians from joining in King Philip's War. Williams was the only one who could have done it, and Williams did it. Risking his life in a frail ca- noe during a storm on Narragansett Bay, he risked his life continu- ally while, for three days and nights, he combatted the chiefs, who have been portrayed as yelling remonstrance against his plan of peace. Vengeance to them seemed a duty to the Great Spirit.
Williams won and saved the lives and homes of many Puritans, possibly saved the extermination of every white man, but the Puri- tans still called him a heretic, a dangerous influence, and refused to rescind the order banishing him from his lifelong friends. They were, however, magnanimous enough to offer him temporary shelter in Massachusetts while the war raged but only as a temporary matter.
However humiliating it may have been to the Puritans, they ac- cepted the assistance of Captain Savage, Rev. Roger Williams, and others upon whom they had vented their displeasure, and it was well they did. Captain Savage, in one skirmish, killed fifteen Indians. He was a brave, determined, resourceful leader and fighter in the cause.
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A monument marks his resting place in the King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.
Many chickens come home to roost and much water passes under the bridges as time goes on. Pastor Welde called Ann Hutchinson a "Jezebel," but their descendants intermarried.
There is a monument in Boston today in honor of Ann Hutchinson, and those who look upon it can learn lessons against religious bigotry.
In addition to the Savage family, there were others who sympa- thized with Ann Hutchinson and, on account of this sympathy, were driven into the wilderness. Among such martyrs was one named Gridley who had three sons. Evidently their names were inspired by his experiences, as they were named "Repent," "Believe," and "Trem- ble." Gridley had been arrested and adjudged guilty of heresy and was disarmed and banished. It seems strange that "Repent," "Be- lieve" and "Tremble" should be offsprings of so-called heresy or of the stern stuff of which such as Gridley was made, as one was usually given a chance to recant and save himself from punishment, and Gridley did not avail himself of any such opportunity. He evidently was steadfast in principle, as was Sir Henry Vane and many others.
The Boston police records of 1659 tell of some of these popular ban- ishments of "heretics" as follows:
"Peter Pearson, Judith Brown and George Wilson for religious reasons were whipped thro the town to the Wilderness, tied to a carttail, the executioner having prepared a cruel instrument where- with to tear their flesh."
This was two years earlier:
"Christopher Holden and John Copeland, Quakers, were whipped through town with knotted cords with all the strength the hangman could command. The prisoners were gagged with a stick in the mouth to prevent their outcries."
A little over two hundred years ago, in 1725, "A lad aged seventeen years, for a minor offense was sentenced to be whipped 39 stripes at the Cart tail, 13 at the gallows, 13 at the head of Summer street, 13 below the Townhouse and be committed to Bridewell six months."
Benjamin Franklin wrote: "O, that men would cease being wolves to each other and that human beings would at length learn what they now improperly call humanity." So say we, all of us.
The Pilgrims and Puritans got along surprisingly well together, in- asmuch as the differences between them were regarded as seriously as they were. There was a dispute in boundary line between the Plym- outh and Bay colonies in 1639. Governors Bradford and Winslow rep- resented the Pilgrims, and Endicott and Stoughton the Puritans. As the line was recorded at that time:
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That all ye marshes at Conahasett yt lye of ye one side of ye river next to Hingham shall belong to ye jurisdiction of Massachusetts Plantation and all ye marshes yt lye ye other side of ye river next to Sityate shall be to ye jurisdiction of New Plimoth excepting 60 acres of marsh at ye mouth of ye river on Sityate next to the sea.
There came a time when people from the Bay colony began to over- flow into the Plymouth colony to a remarkable extent. James Cud- worth, the magistrate of Scituate, wrote: "Plymouth saddle is on the Bay horse; our civil powers are so exercised in matters of religion and conscience that we have no time to effect anything that tends to the promotion of the civil weal; but must have a state religion and a state ministry and a state way of maintenance."
Plym-58
CHAPTER XLVIII PILGRIMS' GOOD WILL VISIT TO SQUANTUM
Obbatinewat Readily Ackowledged His Allegiance to King James -Rev. John Eliot Established Village of "Praying Indians" and Taught Them Arts of Peace-Deeds Given by Indians Sometimes Recalled and Demands Made for Second Payments-King Philip Wanted Shirt to Wear to Plymouth Court-Exchanging a Biscuit for a Bass As a Means of Getting Acquainted-Events Which Cul- minated in Indian War-Unworthy Weston Colonists and Esca- pades of Thomas Morton-Landing of Governor Endicott With a New Patent.
The first authentic record of the landing of Englishmen in Norfolk County brings the reader back to Squanto, the friend of the Pilgrims at Plymouth who taught them how to plant their corn and beans with a dead fish placed in the ground with the seed for fertilization, their interpreter in their dealings with Massasoit and their watchful and faithful guide. It was Squanto or Tisquantum who led Captain Myles Standish and other men of Plymouth to the promontory in Quincy, now called Squantum in his honor This was in 1621, the year following the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. Some years ago the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution placed a cairn there commemorating the landing of the Pilgrim exploring party, with an appropriate in- scription on a copper tablet. The cairn is fashioned of field stones taken from the vicinity.
William Bradford, the Pilgrim historian, tells the story of that trip up the Massachusetts coast piloted by Squanto, in the following lang- uage :
It seemed good to the company in general, that, though the Massachusetts (a tribe of Indians) had often threatened us (as we were informed), yet we should go amongst them, partly to see the country, partly to make peace with them, and partly to procure their truck. For these ends the governours chose ten men, fit for the purpose, and sent Tisquantum, and two other savages, to bring us to speech with the people, and interpret for us.
(On the 18th of September, 1621, being Tuesday,) we set out about midnight, the tide then serving for us. We, supposing it to be nearer than it is, thought to ยท be there the next morning betimes; but it proved well near twenty leagues from New Plymouth. We came into the bottom of the bay, but being late, we anchored and lay in the shallop, not having seen any of the people. The next morning we put in for the shore. There we found many lobsters that had been gathered to- gether by the savages, which we made ready under a cliff (Copp's Hill in Bos-
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ton). The captain sent two sentinels behind the cliff to the landward to secure the shallop and taking a guide with him and four of our company, went to see the in- habitants, when they met a woman coming for her lobsters. They told her of them and contented her for them. She told them where the people were. Tisquantum went to them. The rest returned, having direction which way to bring the shallop to them.
The sachem or governor of this place is called Obbatinewat and though he lived in the bottom of the Massachusetts Bay yet he is under Massasoit. He used us very kindly. He told us he durst not remain in any settled place for fear of the Tarentines, also the squaw sachem or Massachusetts queen was an enemy to him. We told him of divers sachems that had acknowledged themselves to be King James, his men, and if he also would submit himself we would be his safe- guard from his enemies; which he did, and went along with us to bring us to the squaw sachem.
Again we crossed the bay, which is very large and hath at least fifty islands in it, but the certain number is not known to the inhabitants. Night it was before we came to that side of the bay which this people were,-that night also we rid at anchor aboard the shallop. On the morrow we went ashore all but two men and marched in arms up the country. Having gone three miles we came to a place where corn had been newly gathered, a house pulled down, and the people gone. A mile from hence, Nanepashemet, their king, in his lifetime, had lived. His house was not like others, but a scaffold was largely built with poles and planks some six foot from ground and the house upon that, being situated on the top of a hill.
Not far from hence in a bottom we came to a fort built by their deceased king, the manner thus: there were poles, some thirty or forty feet long, stuck in the ground as thick as they could be set, one by another, and with these they en- closed a ring some forty or fifty feet over. A trench breast high was digged on each side; one way there was to go into it was a bridge. In the midst of this palisado stood the frame of an house wherein being dead, he lay buried.
About a mile from hence we came to such another, but seated on the top of an hill; here Nanepashemet was killed, none dwelling in it since the time of his death. At this place we staid, and sent two savages to look the inhabitants, and to in- form them of our ends in coming, that they might not be fearful of us. Within a mile of this place they found the women of the place together, with their corn on heaps, whither we supposed them to be fled for fear of us, and the more, be- cause in divers places they had newly pulled down their houses, and for haste in one place had left some of their corn, covered with a mat, and nobody with it.
With much fear they entertained us at first, but seeing our gentle carriage towards them, they took heart and entertained us in the best manner they could, boiling cod and such other things as they had for us. At length, with much sending for, came one of their men, shaking and trembling for fear. But when he saw that we intended them no hurt, but came to truck, he promised us with his skins also. Of him we inquired for their queen; but it seemed she was far from thence; at least we could not see her. Here Tisquantum would have had us rifle the savage women, and taken their skins, and all such things as might be serviceable for us; for (said he) they are a bad people, and have oft threatened you. But our answer was, were they ever so bad, we would not wrong them, or give them any just occasion against us; for their words, we little weighed them, but if they once attempted anything against us, then we would deal far worse than he de- sired. Having well spent the day, we returned to the shallop, almost all the
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women accompanying us to the shore. We promised them to come again to them, and they us to keep their skins.
Within this bay, the savages say there are two rivers; the one whereof we saw, having a fair entrance, but we had no time to discover it. Better harbours for shipping cannot be than here are. At the entrance of the bay are many rocks; and in all likelihood good fishing ground. Many, yea, most of the islands have been inhabited, some being cleared from end to end, but the people are all dead or removed. Our victual growing scarce, the wind coming fair, and having a light moon, we set out at evening, and through the goodness of God, same safely home before noon the day following, with a considerable quantity of beaver, and a good report of the place, wishing we had been seated there.
Early Mingling of the Whites and Reds-The beginnings of the Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony as well as the Plymouth Colony had much to do with the attitude of the Indians and the associations which the col- onists had with them. Although the number of aborigines was much smaller than it had been previous to 1617 they far outnumbered the white settlers from the landing of the Pilgrims and Puritians till they were killed or driven away in or just after the King Philip War. Numer- ous tribes with their sagamores and sachems occupied the territory round about. They were inquisitive, not unfriendly, a danger and a pro- tection to the white settlers according to their disposition. It was not easy for the English to know what their disposition was at any time and, even if the colonists felt fairly sure of their friendly intentions one day, they were not sure what changes might come over the nature of their convictions the next day or some day to follow.
An early attempt was made to civilize and even Christianize them. This attempt occasioned the hatred of the pow wows of the tribes who feared to lose their power over the numerous braves.
The Indian story as applied to Norfolk County is much the same as the Indian story as applied to the other counties included in this his- tory. There had been occurrences before the Puritans landed at Wey- mouth or Salem which gave the Indians good cause for suspicion of the white men even as there had been caused before the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown and Plymouth which made the Indians suspicious of the early Plymouth colonists.
In both colonies the white settlers would have perished had it not been for the Indians who shared with them a meagre store of foodstuffs.
Massasoit was a friend of the Pilgrims and peaceful relations con- tinued between white men and red men as long as he lived. Chicataubut maintained peaceful relations with the Massachusetts Bay colonists until his death from smallpox. Both sachems had provocations for at- tacking the colonists and wiping them out of existence, but they with- held their power and fury. The white men desecrated the graves of the Indians with impunity.
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Chicataubut decorated the grave of his mother with furs and these were stolen by the white men. He wrote a diplomatic letter, showing his grief rather than anger, but did not attempt to wreak vengeance up- on the race which had despoiled ground sacred to the sachem. The same sort of desecration had occurred in the Plymouth Colony and the aborigines had viewed the desecration as an act of foreigners who evi- dently did not hold the dust of their honored dead in the same venera- tion as did the Indians.
There were of course occurrences on each side which aroused the an- ger of the other, but many people have not considered sufficiently the feeling of the children of the forest regarding the resting places of their honored dead. They were more prone to forgive an unfriendly act toward the living than a dishonorable attitude toward the dead. There were times when the white settlers were helpful to the Indians but, in the line of give and take, the Indians had nothing permanent to gain but every- thing to lose by the growth in numbers and power of the white people. It became apparent to King Philip that one race or the other would dis- appear and he attempted to exterminate the menace to his kingdom and people. It might easily have been accomplished in the days of his father, Massasoit. By the time Philip sat upon the throne of the Wampanoags the white colonists had increased in numbers and in war material suf- ficient to protect themselves, unless the Narragansetts could be induced to join Philip in his war. Roger Williams, who had been banished by Puritans and Pilgrims alike, was, perhaps, the individual who saved both colonies by influencing the Narragansetts to remain neutral or, at least, not join in Philip's War.
It will be recalled that when Captain Myles Standish achieved what has been called his "capital exploit" in suddenly turning upon unarmed Indians at Weymouth, killing six of them, and taking the head of one of the chiefs to display on the fort at Plymouth, Rev. John Robinson said : "It would have been better if they had converted some before they had killed any."
Shortly afterward there arrived Rev. John Eliot. He preached to the Indians, taught them, civilized many of them and translated the Bible into their language. Concerning this apostle to the Indians, Hon. Rob- ert C. Winthrop said: "No more marvelous monument of literary work in the service of either God or man can be found upon earth than that Indian Bible of the noble John Eliot." For many years after the last Indians had disappeared from this vicinity, aged remnants of the tribes who were driven to the Far West following the King Philip War, re- turned to visit the graves of their fathers."
Captain John Smith in 1614 voyaged along the New England coast and traded with the Indians whom he described as a "goodly strong and
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well proportioned people ... very kind, but in their fury no less valiant ; for upon a quarrel which we had with one of them, he only with three others crossed the harbor of Cohasset to certain rocks whereby we must pass, and there let fly their arrows for our shot til we were out of danger."
When Captain John Smith visited the territory of Norfolk County the tribe of the Massachusetts Indians was presumably at the height of its glory and strength of numbers. The great pestilence of 1616 and 1617 left behind only a remnant of the once powerful tribe. Thomas Morton first visited Quincy in 1622 and, writing of the scenes which he en- countered, said : "The bones and skulls upon the several places of their habitations made such a spectacle after my coming into those parts, that as I travelled in that forest near the Massachusetts, it seemed to me a new found Golgotha."
Although this Thomas Morton found evidences of the results of the smallpox or some other scourge, he mingled with the Indians who had escaped and his dealing with them greatly alarmed the men of Plymouth. He furnished the Indians "fire water" and weapons, a dangerous com- bination, and set them an example in reckless living which might easily have caused an extermination of the white men. For his indiscretions, he was seized and sent back to England. He returned, was deported a second time; again returned and was finally driven away from the vicin- ity. He died in York, Maine, in 1643.
Notable Work of the Apostle to the Indians-It was in Norfolk County and vicinity, or in the territory now having that county designa- tion largely, that the notable work for the conversion of the Indians was undertaken with much success by John Eliot, the minister at Roxbury, in 1646. His first instruction was at Nonantum, a part of the present city of Newton. Eliot proposed that the Indians be collected into one village ten miles west of the village of Dedham, on the Charles River. The town of Dedham assented to the proposition, when it was proposed to the General Court. Two thousand acres of land were granted by the General Court for an Indian reservation and a town was built, with three principal streets. The dwellings were constructed of poles set in the ground and covered with peeled bark, with few variations where some of the converted Indians attempted to imitate the houses of the white men. There was a large building used as a meeting-house and school- house and with an upper room in which the Indians were allowed to store their stock of skins.
House lots were assigned to Indian families and they were supplied with implements and instructed in the art of agriculture. A form of gov- ernment was set up, in which some of the less important offices were
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held by Indians and the leading offices by colonists. These Indians were called Naticks, as the village was in the town of that name. The grant of land by the General Court was in 1651, and by 1670 there were two teachers and from forty to fifty "praying Indians."
The two thousand acres of land in the Indian town had belonged to early settlers of Dedham, and they were recompensed by the General Court for the land by being allowed to take up eight thousand acres in the town of Deerfield. The Indian name for the locality was Pacomtuck. The land was purchased from the Indians. Three deeds, transferring the property, are now in possession of the town of Deerfield. They were procured from the Indians by Captain John Pyncheon of Springfield. It was not convenient for a part of the territory of Dedham to be located so far away and the Dedham proprietors disposed of their holdings to a group of men who became the proprietors of Pacomtuck and inhabited the territory. A church was provided, with an orthodox minister, and the settlement later incorporated as the town of Deerfield, May 24, 1682.
Philip's Land Sale on a Shirt-Numerous deeds were obtained by the white settlers from the Indians and some of them are still in existence, a part of the documentary evidence of early days preserved by various towns in the county. Some of the deeds show that the white settlers paid for the same territory more than once. This was in accordance with a policy advised by the Council for New England, to make purchases where the Indians claimed rights of inheritance. Usually the price paid was small and the colonists could much better afford to pay twice for the same thing than to have trouble with Indians over trifles. A time was coming when there would be plenty of trouble, but this was un- known to either white settlers or aborigines, at the time the land pur- chasing was in vogue.
The territory west of the Neponset River, with the Charles River as a northern boundary line, was claimed by Chicataubut, sachem of the Neponsets. The land he claimed joined, on the south, land claimed by Metacomet, or King Philip as he was generally known to the white set- tlers. He was sachem of the Pokenokets or the Wampanoags. His father, Massasoit, was the sachem with whom the Pilgrim Fathers en- tered into peaceful relations a few months after the landing of the Pil- grims at Plymouth. Massasoit kept his peace terms faithfully until his death and was succeeded by his son, Alexander, or Wamsetta. The lat- ter died shortly after succeeding his illustrious father, having had some unpleasantness with the Plymouth Court. Dr. Samuel Fuller, the Pil- grim physician, administered a dose of medicine to Alexander, and his death shortly after was seized upon by Philip as a pretext for war. He claimed that the white men had poisoned the sachem of the Wampan-
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