USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 5
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The founders of New England, no doubt, failed to compre- hend the full meaning of what they were doing, and had little idea of what was to be the result of their labors in the cen- turies to come. "They builded better than they knew." Their work was a part of the plan of the eternal Providence, and, wrought under divine guidance, it could not be in vain.
27
INDIAN TRIBES AND THEIR LOCATION.
The Aborigines. The number of native red men in New England at the time of the landing at Plymouth, has been esti- mated at 40,000, of which some 15,000 dwelt in what is now the state of Maine, the other 25,000 occupying, with varying density of population, most of the present territory of Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and also small sections of New Hampshire and Vermont These were distributed in classes or tribes - more or less distinct from each other - and subordinate bands or families, each one having its own sachem or chief, and its own recognized ownership or control of lands, whose limitations and boundaries, as has been said, were more or less indefinite, variable, and uncertain.
In the southeast part of New Hampshire and northeast part of Massachusetts, scattered along the valley of the Merri- mac River, were the Pawtuckets or Pennacooks, a comparatively large and important tribe, but of mild and peaceable disposition, the headquarters of whose chief sachem was at Concord, N. H. Southward of these, bordering upon the waters of Massachu- setts Bay, and extending inland along the Charles River, were the Massachusetts, a strong and warlike tribe, holding several smaller tribes or bands in subjection, from whom the name of the colony and state was derived. Still farther to the south, claiming a sort of jurisdiction over most of what is now included in Bristol, Plymouth, and Barnstable counties, were the Poka- nokets or Wampanoags, less wild and savage than neighboring tribes, their chief seat being at Pokanoket, on the borders of Narragansett Bay, and within the boundaries of the present town of Bristol, R. I. The Nausets of Cape Cod, and probably other small tribes, were subject to them. On the western slopes of the same bay, covering most of Rhode Island, were the Narragansetts. They were a high-spirited and haughty people, loving war and bloodshed, often seeking occasion for and provoking hostilities with their neighbors, especially with the Pequods, the most powerful and belligerent of all the tribes of southern New England, who occupied the valley of the Thames River, and claimed control of all eastern Connecticut, having their headquarters in what is now Groton, opposite New London. West of the Pequods were the Mohegans, in the southern part of Connecticut River valley, of gentle, peace- able spirit, engaging in war only in self-defense, and always friendly to the white man.
West and north of these several tribes were the Nipnet or Nipmuck Indians. The term Nipnet or Nipmuck means fresh water, and was applied in a general way to all those natives dwelling upon or near the inland lakes and streams of New England. They included the Nashuas at Lancaster, and the Quaboags at Brookfield, with their subordinate bands or fami- lies, and also the tribes or families of the valley of the Con- necticut north of the Mohegan territory; the Agawams at
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
Springfield, the Woronokes at Westfield, the Nonotucks or Nor- wottucks at Northampton, the Pocomtucks at Deerfield, and the Squakeags at Northfield. There were no Indians in Berkshire County, except a subordinate branch of the Mohegans at Stock- bridge called the Housatonics, and none to speak of in Vermont and the greater portion of New Hampshire. To the westward, however, at Albany and along the banks of the upper Hudson River and its tributaries, were the Maquas or Mohawks, one of the historic " Five Nations." " They were brave and ferocious, carrying on an exterminating war" with other tribes during most of the seventeenth century, and " destroying," says Judd, in his History of Hadley, "more Indians than have been destroyed by Europeans in war since they settled the country." "They made frequent inroads and attacks upon the New Eng- land tribes, usually with great slaughter." They belonged to that fiercest and most brutal of the native races of North America - the Iroquois, - while the New England tribes were Algonquins, who were of a milder and less sanguinary type of the aboriginal occupants of the continent.
Little time need be spent in delineating the distinguishing characteristics or ethnic peculiarities of the native American Indian. They are well known by intelligent people, or can be easily learned from sources accessible to every reader at the present day. Only a few hints concerning them will be given here.
In person, the Aborigines of New England were of good size, tall, erect, and well proportioned, with high cheek-bones, sunken and very dark eyes, long, coarse, black hair, and of copper-brown complexion. Of strong constitution, they were capable of great endurance, and shrank from no danger when in pursuit of a cherished purpose, either of love or hate. Intel- lectually, they were active, quick of discernment, and possessed of a cunning ingenuity which seemed, at times, closely allied to genius. They had no written language and no mental cul- ture. Some knowledge they had of nature's forces, of the products of the earth and their properties, of the symptoms and forms of disease; some, too, of the ruder practical arts, and of the simpler forms of handicraft. Their morality was of a peculiar type. Of the principles of virtue they seemed to have no idea, and none of the distinction between right and wrong. Yet they were singularly free from some of the vices of modern life, while they illustrated certain virtues too rarely found in any community. As to religion, it may be questioned whether they had any worthy of the name, -any that had the least effect upon their conduct and character. Some faint conception of a God they may have entertained, - some notion of a future life; but there is little evidence showing that the spiritual ele- ment in them was ever roused to consciousness or clothed with any vital power.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ABORIGINES.
To domestic and social ties and obligations, the Indian was, for the most part, a stranger. The word home had no place in his vocabulary, and none in his life-plan. Though acknowlegd- ing in a certain way the bonds of marriage, yet they were of most uncertain tenure, and unattended by those fond endear- ments, sweet solicitudes, and tender affections which character- ize any just form of family life. Socially, it was much the same with him. There was something of clannishness in his relations to those about him, pride of race, tribal loyalty, but of what is termed mutuality of feeling, reciprocity, fellowship, apparently nothing. The employment of the male Indian was hunting, fishing, and war, - chiefly the latter. That of the female, care of the wigwam, such as it was, cultivation of the soil, making clothing, braiding mats, and devising and putting to- gether various contrivances and designs for personal or other ornamentation.
Although the Aborigines were more or less nomadic in their mode of life, wandering about from place to place in the sum- mer time, yet each tribe had, as already suggested, its recog- nized extent or range of country, with its central seat or capital, and, except in time of war, rarely roamed beyond the boundaries of its own dominions. In the winter, all the members of a tribe gathered at or about its central seat, which was selected with reference to the nearness of good hunting grounds, fishing facilities, and open fields suitable to the raising of corn and other edibles at their command. From these three sources, they obtained a supply for their physical needs, adding thereto such nuts, roots, berries, etc., as nature about them spontane- ously produced, and they rarely, if ever, had lack of the means of subsistence. Their clothing, what there was of it, was such as they could easily provide from certain grasses grown in the meadows and fields, from the fiber of certain woods, and from the skins and furs of wild beasts. Thus these denizens of the forest lived when our forefathers and foremothers came to these shores, and thus they reigned and revelled in their own chosen domain.
The country in this general region, at that early day, was not, as is sometimes supposed, one dense, impenetrable wilderness, through which it was almost, if not quite, impossible to make one's way. Not only were there frequent openings of meadow, intervale, and cleared lands, but much of the forest was so free of underbrush and rank growths of every sort, and so sparsely covered with trees, that grass and the more delicate kinds of herbage, and even strawberries, would grow there. Early writers were enthusiastic in their descriptions of the wooded sections of the country, comparing them to the parks of the English gentry. William Wood, the common ancestor of the family bearing that name in Westminster, author of a work entitled "New England's Prospects," published in England in
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
1636, says : "In many places, divers acres are so clear that one may ride a hunting" in them as he pleases. "There is no underwood save in swamps and lowlands, for it being the custom of the Indians to burn the woods in November, when the grass is withered and the leaves dry, it consumes the under- brush and rubbish." "There is good fodder" he adds, "in the woods when the trees are thin, and in the spring the grass grows rapidly on the burnt lands." Others note the same fact. It was only in the rougher, wilder sections that this annual clearing by fire did not take place. But along the borders of rivers and ponds, and wherever there were dry meadows and sandy plains, and gentle slopes of easily tilled and fruitful soil, and throughout the less broken and more traversable sections, the custom universally prevailed. Such were the abodes occu- pied by the Aborigines from time immemorial, and such the country which our Puritan ancestors found spreading out before them, when they set foot upon these coasts.
Relations of Colonists and Indians. In entering upon a consideration of the relations which the new-comers to this part of the country and the aboriginal dwellers here sus- tained to each other during the earlier years of New England history, it is worth while to be reminded of the original spirit and purpose of the former towards the latter. When the proposition to emigrate to America was first made to the little church of Separatists in Leyden, Holland, where a refuge had been sought from the persecutions of their English mother- land, - of which church the Plymouth company was a branch, - one of the principal reasons urged in favor of doing so was, that they might be instrumental in bringing the native heathen inhabitants there to a knowledge of the gospel of Christ, and to a full enjoyment of the benefits and blessings which that gospel is calculated to secure. And this work was continually held up by their spiritual leader, John Robinson, as one of the prime objects to be gained by making the change proposed. In fact, this lay at the very heart of the Plymouth movement. It was the same in the case of the colony of the Massachusetts Bay. Mathew Craddock, its first governor in England, writing in 1629 to Endicott, in authority at Salem, tells him "not to be unmindful of the main end of our Plantation by endeavoring to bring the Indians to a knowledge of the gospel." There can be no doubt that the master spirits in both these colonies re- garded themselves and their associates as missionaries of the Christian faith and heralds of salvation to the heathen tribes of the western world. The labors of John Eliot at Natick and elsewhere, and of Thomas Mayhew at Martha's Vineyard, were in the line of the intention and purpose of all the better ele- ments among the first settlers of New England. How far the important object referred to was realized, will appear later on.
It was fortunate for the colonists that, coming here under
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FAVORABLE OPENING TO THE COLONISTS.
the inspiration of such a motive in respect to the Indians, they should find what might seem to be a providential opening for their advent. Some half a dozen years previous to the landing of the Pilgrims, as is well known, a fearful distemper or plague, presumably the small-pox, had prevailed among the natives inhabiting the eastern portions of the present state of Massa- chusetts ; not only sweeping into the grave large numbers of the population, but causing those who were spared to flee from the death-smitten territory, and to remain permanently away from it. As a consequent, a strip of country along the coast, of varying width, extending from Merrimac River to Buzzard's Bay, was not only unoccupied, but practically abandoned, left open and free to whomsoever might take possession of it. By reason of this fact, the new-comers had no occasion to dispossess any actual residents upon the soil of their right to it, or to come into any immediate contact with the aboriginal tribes. The smoke ot an Indian wigwam never rose through the trees towards the sky within many miles of Plymouth, after the settlement there, and no red man was ever seen at Boston or its immedi- ate vicinity, subsequently to the English occupancy, except as a private visitor or the representative of a tribe. This condi- tion of things was calculated to prevent collision between the two races, and trouble which might otherwise have occurred. It also worked to the advantage of the new-comers in another way. In various localities throughout this depopulated and deserted section of country, were there considerable stores of corn and other kinds of food buried in the earth, the depositors and owners of which had either died or gone to other parts, and for which there were no claimants, so that the colonists, in their great lack, at times, of the necessaries of life, could replenish their wasted resources from these hidden treasuries without injustice to any one, or any cause of offense on the part of those whose favor and good-will every consideration of self- interest, as well as humanity, honor, and religion, would prompt them to endeavor to secure.
There was something exceedingly interesting, -something touching and pathetic, indeed, -in the first meeting of the white and red man, after the settlement at Plymouth had taken place. The story of Samoset, a sagamore of the Monhegans, located on the Penobscot River, who unexpectedly appeared in the midst of the rude dwellings of the colonists, some three months subsequent to their landing, shouting, as he strolled leisurely along, "Welcome, Englishmen! Welcome, English- men!" thereby disarming all fear and gaining for himself a hearty greeting on the part of those to whom he thus introduced himself, is familiar to every reader of the annals of those times. So, also, is that of Tisquantum or Squanto, who some years before had been kidnapped and carried to Europe, but who, escaping, had returned to his native wilds again; who
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
proved to be of great service to the English as guide through the forests, and interpreter of the Indian dialects, and who imparted to them much valuable information in regard to the edible and medicinal products of the soil, the raising of corn and other vegetables, etc., -matters of which they were, for the most part, ignorant.
Another interesting, and, as the result showed, most fortunate event in the early experience of the Plymouth settlers, was the first visit of Massasoit, chief sachem of the Wampanoags, the tribe that formerly had claimed and exercised jurisdiction over the territory occupied by them. He came, accompanied by some sixty of his warriors, at the suggestion of Samoset, who introduced him to Governor Carver and others of the colony. A formidable and repulsive appearance these rude savages pre- sented, indeed, but they manifested a kindly spirit, and ex- pressed a desire to live with their new neighbors on terms of amity and friendship. So favorably impressed were the English with the temper and bearing of these denizens of the forest, that a treaty of peace and mutual protection was entered into at once between the two, and formally signed by the Governor and the Indian chief, -a treaty that was sacredly kept by both parties for nearly fifty years. The hearts of the Plymouth people were put quite to rest by this event. Their first con- tact with the natives had resulted favorably, and the newly- formed relations with them were full of promise for future years.
Massasoit proved to be a faithful friend and a most useful ally of the white population. Though a pagan, steadfastly set against all attempts to convert him or his people to the Chris- tian religion, he was eminently just, humane, honest, never vio- lating his word, and constantly endeavoring to imbue his people with a love of peace. He not only used his influence to pre- vent his own tribe from committing depredations upon the immigrants, but often dissuaded other tribes from carrying into effect plans of violence and massacre which they had formed. Or, failing in this, he would warn those threatened with attack, so as to enable them to prepare for it, or to flee to places of safety. This good chieftain died at Quaboag (Brookfield), as is supposed, in 1661, and in his death the colonists lost the best friend among the aborigines they ever had.
After much the same fashion, and in a similar spirit, did the Massachusetts Colony established at and about Boston form friendly relations with the natives of their general vicinity. Though no formal treaty was made, so far as is known, between the two, yet there never was an outbreak, and never any serious difficulty occurred. Governor Winthrop was on good terms with Chicatobet, chief sachem of the Massachusetts, often receiving him to his house, and exchanging with him tokens of hospitality and good-will. Transfers of lands were satisfactorily adjusted between the old occupants and the new, and both
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SPIRIT AND PURPOSE OF COLONISTS.
" Governor and Court, evidently tried to maintain relations of amity and equity with the nations round about them." The strictest injunction to just dealing was given to the representa- tives and administrators of the affairs of this colony at the very outset. " If any of the savages pretend right of inheritance," was the charge to Endicott, "we pray you endeavor to purchase their title, that no wrong be done to the natives."
This same spirit and policy prevailed throughout the settle- ments of New England generally, during all the earlier years of its history. No doubt something of the worldly prudence and disposition to drive a sharp bargain, for which the Yankee of a more modern date is somewhat noted, characterized, in a measure, his Puritan progenitors, and very likely their transac- tions with the uncommercial savage were not always in con- formity with the highest interpretations of the golden rule; yet it has been said that not a rod of land was ever permanently occupied by the colonists without the consent of those claiming a right of proprietorship in it, and the rendering to them of such equivalents of money or other valuables, of favors granted, or protection pledged, as was at the time acknowledged to be satisfactory. Would that the same spirit and policy had always prevailed and characterized the dealings of the more civilized race with the more barbarous one! Then a bloody chapter in the annals of carly New England would not have been written, and the Puritan name would have escaped a dark and deplora- ble reproach. Then, indeed, more recent conflicts with the Indians would have been avoided, and the escutcheon of a great republic would never have been soiled with the stains of a dis- honor which have too often tarnished it, and which the waters of all her rivers can never wash out.
Nevertheless, it is to be remembered that the colonists proper were not responsible for the early acts of violence and blood- shed which occurred within their borders. The affair at Wes- sagusset (Weymouth), in 1622, in which Capt. Miles Standish was a prominent actor at the last, and of which the pious Robinson said, "O, that they had converted some before they had killed any," was instigated by a set of "rude fellows of the baser sort," in no wise connected with, or related to, the Ply- mouth settlers, who provoked the natives to wrath and revenge by their insolence and abuse, by stealing their corn and other- wise wronging them, and who, as a last resort, to save them- selves from a fate threatened them by reason of their own sinful folly, applied to Plymouth for help. The "Pequod War," a most fearful and disastrous conflict, occurring in Connecticut in 1636, which resulted in the practical extinction of one of the aboriginal tribes of that section, as a matter of fact was the culmination of a long-standing feud between the Pequods and Mohegans. By the cunning arts of the latter, the English settlers were unwittingly drawn into the current of the strife,
3
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
caught in the trap carefully laid for them, and only fought to the bitter end when they found themselves, by the plottings of their professed friends, face to face with their foes, and saw no way to do otherwise.
A most interesting and significant phase of the relations existing between the whites and the Indians, appears in the work of evangelization, already alluded to, inaugurated by Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury. Through his tireless labors, begun in 1646 and continued for more than thirty years, he gained to the Christian faith about four thousand converts, whom he established in seven praying towns, as they were termed, and at as many more preaching stations about the country. The residents of the praying towns gave up, for the most part, their wandering life, subsisted themselves by their own labors, with occasional hunting and fishing, and adopted very largely the habits and ways of civilized communities. They had their local habitations, their schools, meeting-houses, native preachers and teachers, officers and magistrates. They had orchards, gardens, and well-tilled fields. Everything denoted industry, thrift, and a growing refinement. Some of the converts gave signs of unusual intellectual power, becoming noted for their attainments and for their high character. One proved a skillful printer, and was the chief helper of Eliot in carrying through the press that notable and herculean work of his, - the Indian bible. Another entered Harvard College, and, having pursued a full course of study, graduated with honors. Surely a good work had been wrought among the rude sons of the forest, who had thus put on the forms, the amenities, and the moral features of an enlightened Christian people. Glowing accounts of what had been accomplished were sent to England, and great hopes were entertained on both sides the sea of what was soon to be realized in this behalf for the salvation of men and the glory of God.
After-events, however, proved the illusiveness of this expecta- tion. The radiance which gladdened the vision of devout enthusiasts was only a flashing of heaven's light through here and there a rift in the clouds, and not the rising dawn of a never-failing day. For, in the midst of these hopeful rejoicings, there came forebodings of a fearful storm soon to burst forth, which should convulse the land, bring to an end all this blessed work, and put a new face on New England history.
King Philip's War. Massasoit was dead. The wise, the humane, the magnanimous chief of the Wampanoags-the constant and trustworthy friend of the white man, had gone. For forty years he lived side by side with the colonists, min- gling freely with them, and no ripple of displeasure or distrust had arisen to mar the harmony of their mutual good-will. No rupture or outbreak had occurred to add a new paragraph to "the purple testament of bloody war," or bring reproach upon
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SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT OF INDIANS.
the blessed gospel of the Prince of Peace. But he had passed " to the fair hunting-grounds beyond the sky," and Wamsutta, his eldest son, otherwise called Alexander, succeeded him as chief of the Wampanoags. Indications of a less friendly policy than his father pursued towards the new settlers soon appeared, and rumors were current calculated to awaken fear and appre- hension in the breast of those who before had found no occasion for questioning or distrust. Explanations were called for and made, with promises of continued amity and peace. The same experience was repeated, but to little purpose. Suspicious occurrences continued to arise, and matters wore a threatening aspect. Before anything satisfactory was accomplished in the way of restoring confidence, amid protestations of innocence and good faith on the part of the sachem, he died. In his stead reigned Metacom, a younger brother, whom the English named Philip, - a man as unlike his father almost as possible, - cold-blooded, sullen, revengeful, and a lover of strife and war.
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