USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 3
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In several such spots in Sudbury, various relics have been found, notable among which is one by the river meadow, just
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
east of the Jonathan Wheeler place. It is between the meadow margin and the Water Row road, and has an area of one or two acres. It is a light, sandy upland, in places, almost or quite without sod. Arrow-heads and plummets have been found there in abundance, and of a kind of stone unlike any native to the neighborhood. These relics have not only been 'unearthed there by the plow or spade, but some have been uncovered by the wind. Another place where relics have been found in abundance is on the Cool- idge estate, by the Lanham Meadows, a little south of the East Sudbury depot. This spot is also of a light, sandy soil, and has a sand pit within it. A little farther north in this district, on the Frank Walker estate, arrow-heads and parts of a mortar or stone kettle were found; while southerly of Lanham Brook, on the Albert Larkin estate, on an upland some rods west of the house, arrow-heads have been quite numerous.
Another place worthy of mention is at South Sudbury, on the east side of Mill Brook, on what was lately the farm of Israel How Brown. The spot is a little southeasterly of a rock by the brook called "Great Rock," and midway between that and the Goodnow Library. On this place, which is a light, loamy upland, within the space of a few rods have been plowed up quite a quantity of loose, discolored stones, that look as if they had been subjected to the action of fire, and also coal and charred pieces of wood. The nature of the place at South Sudbury is such as would be favorable to Indian occupation. Before the mill was erected there was probably quite a fall to Hop Brook, and for some distance the shoal, sparkling stream might form a fine fishing place in the season of the alewives or shad.
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In the west part of the town, at a sandy spot between the Solomon Dutton and Otis Parmenter places, Indian relics have also been extensively found.
At North Sudbury there were likewise indications of the presence of these former inhabitants. Says Mr. John May- nard, "I have found on my land, east of Cedar Swamp, a stone axe, part of a tomahawk, a gouge, chisel, flaying knife, and other strange things; also about four hundred arrow-
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heads, one-half of them broken. I have plowed over seven or eight collections of paving stones that were discolored by fire, that I suppose were the hearthstones of Indian wig- wams."
There are some parts of the town which we will especially notice as being places that were perhaps occupied by the Indians in considerable companies. These are the neighbor- hood of Nobscot, the River, Weir Hill, and Cochituate Pond. In the vicinity of Nobscot there is little doubt but that Indi- ans once made their homes ; as tradition, record and relics give evidence of it. As we shall notice further on, a noted Indian by the name of Jethro had a wigwam near there, and it is supposed the Indians had a lookout there. At the base of the hill, along the plain land, on the estate of Hubbard Brown, by the brook, and also on the land south of the Fra- mingham road, more or less stone relics have been discovered. The old " Indian wash-bowl," so called, is pointed out in a field about east of the hill. This is an excavation shaped like a wash-bowl, formed in a large rock, and may have been made by nature or art. Probably it was never used as a washing place by the Indians, but, if made or used by them at all, it may have been for grinding corn.
That the Indians largely frequented the neighborhood of the river is quite evident. They probably lived along almost its whole course, as relics of them have been found here and there from one bound of the town to the other. On the east side of the river was an Indian burial place. (See chapter on cemeteries.) An Indian skeleton has been exhumed by the roadside at Sand Hill. This was discovered when the road was built, by a person who was passing by. He drew it from the bank, together with several Indian relics. The " old Indian bridge " was supposed to be southerly of Sand Hill, over West Brook, and formed a crossing in the direc- tion of Heard's Pond. The home of Karte was not far from the river. From his wigwam home on the hill, he could easily reach the mooring place of his birch canoe, or look down upon the expanse of broad meadow lands, green with their covering in Summer, or brown with the frosts of Fall. He could watch the early flight of wild water fowl, or per-
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m
VIEW OF HOP BROOK VALLEY AND NOBSCOT. Taken from Rogers' Hill
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
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haps catch a glimpse of the canoe of Tahatawan as it glided up the Musketahquid.
But the places where it is supposed the Indians were more numerous than at any other point along the river were toward the town's northeast bound. Near this point were fording and fishing places. One of these was at Weir Hill, below Sherman's Bridge. The very locality of this place is favora- ble for Indian occupancy. It is situated at a point of the river where, as we have been informed, at low water the river can be forded. On its opposite bank a hill extends almost to the stream, and on either side the meadow bank is hard, which is a circumstance rare on the river course. At this place tradition says there was an Indian fishing weir, which old inhabitants state was about northeast of Weir Hill ; and from this the hill has derived its name. The fish- ing weir was an important thing for the Indians, as by means of it large quantities of fish could be taken. The principle of construction was the placing across the river of an obstruc- tion, as perhaps some kind of a fence, which, running diag- onally from either bank to' the centre of the stream, left a small aperture at the apex, where the fish could be taken in a wicket work or net. Such an apparatus, at a favorable place on the river, would supply fish for a considerable vil- lage. These fish served not only a present purpose, but were dried and preserved for future use. Another inducement for Indians to locate in this part of the town was a good fording place just below Weir Hill, which is at or near a small hill called Mount Headley, and is between the river and the county road. That this locality was improved by the Indians is evident from the quantities of relics that have been found there. Both about here and at Weir Hill more or less of these have been picked up; and, at the latter place, their hearthstones have been unearthed by the plowshare, with the coals still upon them.
As has been stated, there are indications that the Indians once dwelt in considerable numbers about Cochituate Pond. The region about there was favorable to Indian occupation, not only on account of the lake itself, but because of its near- ness to the falls of Sudbury River (Saxonville). The name
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
of the locality has been spelled Wachittuate, Cochituet, Chochichawicke, Coijchawicke, Catchchauitt, Charchittawick, Katchetuit, Cochichawauke, Cochichowicke. The word as now spelled is found in a record dated 1644, in connection with laying out the Glover farm. "The southwest bounds are the little river that issueth out of the Great Pond at Cochituate." This record, as well as others, also shows that originally the term was applied, not to the pond, but to the region near the outlet. Temple states that the word signi- fies, "place of the rushing torrent," or, " wild dashing brook." On the westerly side of the pond was an Indian fort, and, near by, a permanent settlement.
Not very much is known, at most, of the Indians who lived in Sudbury at the time of its settlement ; but a few facts are on record concerning some of them.
Karte was owner of the first land tract which was sold to the Sudbury settlers. His home at one time was at Goodman's Hill, -sometimes called Wigwam Hill, -but where he lived in his last years is unknown. That he was a man of some prominence in and about the town is probable, not only from the amount of his landed possessions there, but from his asso- ciation with certain rulers or sagamores at the sale of a weir and planting grounds at Concord. Of this transaction the following account is found in the Colony Records : -
"5th, 6mo., 1637. - Wibbacowett; Squaw Sachem ; Natan- quatick, alias Old Man; Carte, alias Goodmand; did express their consent to the sale of the Weirs at Concord, over against the town : and all the planting ground which hath been formerly planted by the Indians, to the inhabitants of Concord; of which there was a writing, with their marks subscribed, given into court expressing the price."
It is said that he was an attendant upon the ministry of Rev. Edmund Brown, first minister of Sudbury; and that by his preaching he was converted to the Christian religion.
Another Indian of some notoriety was Tantamous, who was also called Jethro. He had a son called Peter Jethro. On an old survey is "Peter Jethro's field," near Nobscot Hill, where Jethro lived. This field was upon a farm once in the possession of Mr. Ezekiel How. According to Drake,
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Tantamous lived at Nobscot Hill at the beginning of King Philip's war, and there were about twelve persons in his family. He was present with Waban of Natick, and some other natives, at the sale of the territory which is now the town of Concord. When about seventy years old, he made a deposition about the transaction, and in connection with that deposition is spoken of as a Christian Indian of Natick. In 1674, Tantamous was appointed missionary to the Indians at Weshakim (Sterling), but remained there for a short time only. Mr. Gookin speaks of him as a "grave and pious Indian," and says he was sent to be a teacher at a place near Lancaster. In 1675, while Tantamous was living at Nobscot with his family, he was ordered by the Colony to Deer Island, Boston Harbor, for security. Resenting the ill usage that was received from those conducting them there, Jethro and his family escaped in the darkness of night. He was betrayed, however, by his son, Peter Jethro, into the hands of the English, by whom, according to Hubbard, he was exe- cuted, Sept. 26, 1676.
Peter Jethro, or Jethro the Younger, who was perhaps also called Ammatohu (as this term was applied to one of the Jethros), was connected with several real estate matters. He was among the Indians who conveyed to John Haynes and others thirty-two hundred acres of land east of " Quin- sigamoge Pond," in Worcester. In 1684, he was among the Indian grantors of the two-mile tract which was granted to the Sudbury settlers, and laid out on the town's westerly side. In 1683, Peter Jethro lived at Dunstable, with Mr. Jonathan Ting ; and in consideration of this man's kindness, as shown to himself and his uncle, Jethro gave Mr. Ting a tract of land six miles square at Machapoag, north of Wachusett Mountain and west of Groton, which he had obtained from his uncle Jeffy.
Still another Indian of some prominence was Nataous. He was also called William of Sudbury. "Indian William's Meadow" is mentioned in the Colony Records as early as 1658. Rev. Edward Brown was to have "one small parcell of three acres formerly called 'Indian William's Meadow,' lying toward the falls of Cochittuat River." It is stated that
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
in 1662, he lived at Nipnax Hill, a place about three miles north of the plantation at Natick, perhaps Reeves' Hill. Hubbard speaks of him as being "very familiar with the whites." Gookin states that he was among the "good men and prudent " who were rulers at Natick. He was desig- nated also as the Nipmuck Captain, and was called, in the Colony Records, Netus; and by this name he was known in some of the sad scenes of his subsequent life. This Indian, whose beginning as a Christian was so bright, and who left on record a religious confession, did sad work in Framingham, by leading, near the outset of Philip's war, a party who destroyed the house of Mr. Thomas Eames, a former resident of Sudbury.
In 1668, Mr. Thomas Eames leased the " Pelham Farm " (in Wayland), and it was ordered, that during his lease of the place he should "pay to the minister fore pound (for) a man and 20sh. to every £20 rate." Mr. Eames subsequently moved to Framingham, and made his home near Mt. Waite, in the southerly part of that town. When absent on a jour- ney to Boston for a stock of ammunition, a party of Indians, Feb. 1, 1676, burned his dwelling-house and barn, and killed or carried away captive his family. We may not know all the circumstances that led to this act, but it is supposed that some of them were of an aggravating character.
English distrust had doubtless led to Indian suspicion. The removal of certain parties from their homes to Deer Island might not have been understood. Besides this, it is said these Indians had been to Maguncook, an Indian station near by, and, on finding that corn had been removed from their granaries, they started out, partly for food and partly for revenge, toward the nearest English settlement. Netus, or Nataous, from this time probably joined the hostile tribes, and made common cause with King Philip. We hear of him afterwards near Sudbury, with a war party which was attacked in the night, March 27, 1676, by a party of English from Sudbury and from the garrison at Marlboro. (See chapter on Philip's War.) In that night encounter Netus was slain, with several others of the enemy, while they were asleep about their camp-fire. Thus sad were the closing
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scenes in the history of Tantamous and Netus, these illustri- ous sons of the forest.
The following are Indian names that have been preserved in documents concerning real estate transactions in Sud- bury : Jehojakim, Magos, Muskqua, Musquamog, Wenneto, Nepamun.
That no more Indian names are found in the records is no evidence that other Indians did not inhabit the town at the time of its settlement. Those whose names are recorded were landed proprietors, and so connected with real estate transactions ; but others of humble condition, and possessed of nothing but a few utensils for the wigwam and chase, may have ranged through the valley and over the hills.
Beside the Indians whose abode was in Sudbury, it is also probable that Indians from neighboring hamlets or clans made use of the town's hunting grounds, and were more or less residents of them. On the north, east, and west were Indian villages of considerable importance. At Natick they were gathered in Christian relations by John Eliot, the apostle of the Indians. At Concord were Tahattawan's subjects, and at Nashoba, now Littleton, there was a praying band of Indians. On the west, at Whipsuffrage, now Marlboro, other Indians were gathered in friendly relations ; while at Magunkaquog, or Maguncook, a place in Ashland, there was also another station which had been established by Mr. Eliot.
It is hardly supposable that, when so many Indians lived in the surrounding localities, they did not from time to time traverse the town, and resort to it for fishing and hunting, so that, if the native inhabitants were few, the place might yet be considerably occupied. It should furthermore be consid- ered that one Indian householder might have a numerous family. An Indian wigwam, as will be farther observed, sometimes had capacity for several residents. It is said that a dozen Indians lived at Jethro's house at Nobscot. Karte's wigwam, at Goodman's Hill, may not have been the home of a single inhabitant, but a numerous family may have been about him. His wigwam may have sheltered several families. About the hill may have resounded many a merry voice at
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the coming of the early green corn, or the gathering in of berries or nuts, or when the alewife or shad returned in the spring; or at the fall migration of birds, when the whistle of the wild water fowl's wing was heard, and the pigeons made their way over the plains.
Thus merry may have been the places where even a single wigwam stood ; and in those silent, now far-away times, there may have been more of liveliness connected with aboriginal life than we are wont to suppose. The inmates of wigwams or villages may have had more or less intercourse in a neigh- bor-like way, - Nataous visiting the residence of Karte, and Karte calling on Tantamous. Tahattawan or his people may have often passed through Sudbury from Concord to visit John Eliot at Natick, and more than one may have been the rough wilderness paths they trod on errands of toil or friendly intercourse. So that the town, if not very populous, may have been far from a desolate or lonely place.
The character and habits of the Indians about Sudbury were naturally in common with those of others in the near vicinity. Probably no authority on this subject is more reli- able than that of Mr. Gookin. He was associated with Mr. Eliot in his labors, and was conversant with the mission sta- tions in the vicinity of the town. From him we learn the following about the customs, houses and food of the abo- rigines in this part of the country. The houses were called " wigwams," and were made by placing poles in the ground, and fastening them together at the top by the bark of trees. The best of these structures were covered neatly, and made quite warm by strips of bark placed upon them. The bark used for this purpose was stripped from the trees when the sap was up, and made into great flakes by the pressure of weiglity timbers. By thus securing and using them when green, the flakes when dry retained the form to which they were fitted. The more meanly made wigwams were covered over with mats made of bulrushes. The Indian houses varied considerably in size ; some were twenty, some forty feet long. Says Gookin, "I have seen one fifty or a hundred feet long, and thirty feet broad."
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We are informed by Mrs. Rowlandson (see chapter on Philip's War) that, after the Wadsworth fight, the Indians made a wigwam sufficiently large to contain an hundred men as a place in which to celebrate their victory. These wig- wams were kept warm by a fire or fires made within. In the smaller dwelling one fire was made in the centre ; in the larger, two, three or four were sometimes made. A door was formed by a mat hung at the entrance, to be raised as the person entered, and dropped when he was within. Thus there may have been more of warmth and comfort in these rude forest homes than some are wont to suppose. Says Gookin, " I have often lodged in these wigwams, and found them as warm as the best English houses." In the wigwam was a sort of mattress or couch, raised about a foot high. This was covered with boards split from trees, upon which were placed mats or skins of the bear or deer. These couches were large enough for three or four persons to sleep on. They were six or eight feet broad, and could be drawn nearer to or farther from the fire, as one chose.
The food of the Indian, to an extent, consisted of game, - the streams furnishing an abundance of fish, and the forests a supply of game. Such a diet would be most easily obtained, and the methods of obtaining it most in accord with the Indi- an's wild nature and life. But this food was by no means all. Says Gookin, it consisted chiefly of Indian corn boiled. Some- times they mixed beans with their corn, and frequently they boiled in their pottage fish and flesh of all sorts, either fresh or dry. Bones also were cut in pieces and used ; but, says our authority, "they are so dextrous in separating the bones from the fish when eating that they are never in danger of being choked." They also mixed with their pottage various kinds of roots, ground nuts, pompions (pumpkins), squashes, acorns, walnuts and chestnuts, dried and powdered. Some- times they beat their maize into meal, and sifted it through a basket made for that purpose. With this meal they made bread, which they baked in the ashes, after covering it with leaves. They also made of this maize meal what was called "Nokake," which it was said was sweet, toothsome and
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hearty, - so much so that when the Indian was going on a journey, he would often take with him no food but a bag or basket of this.
The corn was planted in places perhaps first cleared by fire. It was planted when the oak-leaf was about the size of a mouse's ear, and fertilized by a fish placed in the hill. Gookin states that the Indian was given much to hospitality, and that strangers were given their best lodging and diet. Their religion consisted in the belief in a Good Spirit called Kiton, and a Bad Spirit called Hobbammoc, and in a happy hunting ground beyond the grave. They had their pow- wows and medicine men who served the place of a rude priesthood among them, and they conformed to various cus- toms which corresponded to their wild ways of life. Some of these customs, as well as some of the coarse phases of Indian character, are indicated by the following orders drawn up and agreed upon at Concord, and as set forth by Rev. Thomas Shepherd, an early minister at Cambridge.
These " conclusions and orders made and agreed upon by divers sachems and other principal men amongst the Indians at Concord in the end of the eleventh month (called Janu- ary), An. 1646."
"2. That there shall be no more Powwowing amongst the Indians. And if any shall hereafter powwow, both he that shall powwow, and he that shall procure them to powwow, shall pay twenty shillings apiece."
"6. That they may be brought to the sight of the sinne of lying."
" 8. They desire that no Indian hereafter shall have any more but one wife."
"16. They intend to reform themselves in their former greasing."
"20. Whosoever shall play at their former games shall pay ten shillings."
" 23. They shall not disguise themselves at their mourn- ing as formerly, nor shall they keep a great noyse by howl- ing." (Shattuck's History of Concord.)
Johnson speaks of them as " being in very great subjection to the Divel," and the powwows as being " more conversant
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with him than any others." But to the great glory of the religion of Christ, it is said these notions were corrected wherever civilization and Christianity were introduced. The money or medium of exchange was wampumpage.
In the capture of game the methods were various. Fish was taken both with the hook and spear. In the migrations of the alewife and shad, the birch-bark canoes, torch and spear, were probably effective means in the catch. The canoes were sometimes forty feet long, says Gookin, and would carry twenty men. The larger animals were perhaps sometimes caught by the pitfall, a place dug in the ground, and covered lightly with sticks and leaves, through which the game when passing would fall ; sometimes by a forest drive, by which means a portion of country was traversed by a company of men deployed at short distances, who moved towards a given point, where was a partial enclosure, through which the animals were forced to pass ; at the place of exit, hunters were stationed to dispatch the game as it strove to make its way through.
Part of the Indians living in Sudbury, when its territory was transferred to the English, belonged, as it is supposed, to the Massachusetts Indians who lived about Massachusetts Bay, and the remainder to the Nipmucks or Nipnets, who lived in the interior of the State. Those who belonged to the former were probably of the Mystic Indians, the chief of which tribe was in the early part of the seventeenth century Nana- pashemit. The home of this chieftain was at Medford, situ- ated on a prominent place which overlooked the Mystic River. He was killed by the Tarrentines, a tribe of eastern Indians. After his death, his wife reigned under the name of the squaw sachem. She married Wibbacowett, the chief powwow or priest (Shattuck). She also lived near the Mystic. The subjects of this sachem or squaw probably extended nearly or quite to the Nipmuck country, as it embraced Tahattawan and his tribe at Concord.
Tribal relations so extended would probably include some of Sudbury's Indians. Such is supposed to be the case.
It is stated in the Colony Records, that, in 1637, Karte was associated with the squaw sachem at Medford in the sale of
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
a fishing weir at Concord, "and all the planting grounds which hath been planted by the Indians there." Nataous, it is supposed, was of Nipnet origin. If these prominent natives of Sudbury had different tribal relations, so may it have been with others less prominent ; but whether they belonged to the Nipnet or Massachusetts Indians, they all alike belonged to the great family of Algonquins. The Algonquin Indians included the class of American aborigines who inhabited that part of the country extending for hundreds of miles between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. They included Canada on the north, and their southern limits ex- tended as far as North Carolina. Among these Indians were various and powerful tribes, inhabiting various parts of this extended territory. "The New England Indians inhabited the country from Connecticut to the Saco River. The prin- cipal tribes were the Narragansetts in Rhode Island and the western shores of the Narragansett Bay, the Pokanokets and Wampanoags on the eastern shore of the same bay and in a portion of Massachusetts, the Nipmucks in the centre of Mas- sachusetts, the Narragansetts in the vicinity of Boston and . the shores southward, and the Patuckets in the northeastern . part of Massachusetts, embracing the Pennacooks of New Hampshire." (Lossing.)
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