USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 5
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These first citizens of Essex County enjoyed none of the "bless- ings" of our so-called modern civilization. Their wants were simple. Their country abounded in wild fruits and nuts; there were enormous flocks of wild pigeons, ducks, and geese, great herds of deer; and a little farther north the moose ranged. One must not omit that great reservoir of subsistence, the ocean. All accounts agree as to the never-ending supply of cod and mackerel, and kitchen middens testify to the super-abundance of shellfish. Caribou in great herds ranged down to central Maine, and it was not more than fifty years ago that an old friend of the writer saw the last of the caribou upon Mt. Katahdin.
The above is quite apropos since coast Indians frequently marched northward. The men killed moose or caribou while the women con- structed birch bark canoes in which the meat and skins were trans- ported down the Merrimac.
VILLAGE LIFE IN ANCIENT DAYS-Since our records of the daily life of these Indians is voluminous, one is able to present a simple picture of the settlement, its habitations, and the people. The vil- lage was frequently surrounded by a stockade of logs, having a nar- row entrance. Within this enclosure were several "long houses," larger than the individual wigwams. These "long houses" were made by setting poles in two parallel rows, bending them over until they met, and lashing them in place. They were then covered with bark, as Gookin has described it : "The best sort of their houses are covered very neatly, tight and warm, with bark of trees, slipped from their bodies at such seasons when the sap is up; and made into great flakes with the pressure of weighty timbers; when they are green; and so becoming dry they will retain a form suitable for the use they prepare them for." This bark, from birch, chestnut, or oak trees, was so
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fastened to the framework that it overlapped like shingles. The fin- ished long house might be fifteen to twenty feet wide or even wider. Its length varied according to the number of families it was designed to accommodate; the smaller with two fires might be occupied by four families, while the larger with four or more fires might shelter eight families.
The second type of dwelling, or round house, was made in a simi- lar way, but its shape was hemispherical. These were occupied by one or two families.
The long houses were more commonly used in winter, since with several fires they could be kept fairly warm. The round houses were the more usual summer habitations.
Among most tribes the lodges and their contents were the prop- erty of the women, whereas the weapons belonged to the men. Both sexes appear to have cooperated in the setting of nets for fish. In or near each village was a large community mortar. A granite boulder, having a slight natural depression, was selected, and the continual use of stone pestles during generations deepened and enlarged the hole. Nearly one hundred of these stationary mortars have been found at various Indian sites in New England. Quite a number of them along the Merrimac were mapped by F. A. Luce, of Haverhill.
THE TRIBES.
The Indian tribes of this part of the country belong to the Algonkin linguistic classification. There were local differences in speech, yet Indians speaking Massachuset dialect could converse with tribes liv- ing at no great distance. But ethnologists have one trait in com- mon with historians-they do not always agree. While Gookin stated that the languages were so much alike that people of different tribes could easily understand one another, De Forest, in his "Indians of Connecticut" (1853), avers that Gookin's statement is in error.14 Our Massachuset folk seem to be more closely allied to the Nar- ragansett of Rhode Island than to northeastern natives, such as the Abnaki.
The Indians of Essex County were of the Massachuset division of general Algonkin stock. The "Handbook of American Indians"
14. In London, 1643, was published Roger Williams's "Study of the Languages in New England." This preceded Eliots's famous Bible, which was published in 1663. Those who are interested in Algonkin languages are referred to Williams's work.
Essex-4
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
(Smithsonian, 1907) contains several articles relating to our sub- tribes, written by Cyrus Thomas and James Mooney, both competent students. In recent years, Dr. F. G. Speck, University of Pennsyl- vania, has studied the remnants of Massachusetts bands in great detail.
The Naumkeag Tribe-Mooney says of the Salem region :
"Naumkeag ('fishing place,' from namaas 'fish,' ki 'place,' -ag 'at'). A tribe or band, probably belonging to the Penna- cook confederacy, which formerly occupied the site of Salem, Mass. It appears, however, that the natives had abandoned the locality before the English reached it, as there is no rec- ord that the latter found any Indians on the spot. It has been noticed in regard to the native burials in this locality that the bodies were usually placed in a sitting posture."15
Agawam-This does not designate a tribe, although frequently shown on maps as such. J. N. B. Hewitt, Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, says the word means "fish drying place." Mooney says it is
"a name of frequent occurrence in s. New England and on Long Island, and by which was designated at least 3 Indian villages or tribes in Massachusetts. The most important was at Ipswich, Essex co., Mass. The site was sold by the chief in 1638. Its jurisdiction included the land on Newbury r., and the tribe was a part of the Pennacook confederacy. It was almost extinct in 1658, but as late as 1726 there were still 3 families living near Wigwam hill."16
The Massachuset Tribe-This division of Algonkin stock is shown on Mr. Willoughby's map as occupying all the eastern portion of our state. We quote from the "Handbook," Mooney's and Thomas's narrative :
"Massachuset (Massa-adchu-es-et, 'at or about the great hill'; from massa 'great,' wadchu 'hill or mountain,' es 'small,' et the locative .- Trumbull. In composition wadchu
15. This must be tradition, for excavators at Indian sites have found no bodies buried in sitting posture.
16. "Handbook of American Indians," Vol. I, p. 21. Washington, 1907.
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becames adchu and adds ash for the plural. The name refers to the Blue Hills of Milton. Williams substitutes cuk for et in forming the tribal designation, and uses the other as the local form. Cotton, in 1708 translated the word 'a hill in the form of an arrowhead'). An important Algonquian tribe occupied the country about Massachusetts bay in E. Massa- chusetts, the territory claimed extending along the coast from Plymouth northward to Salem and possibly to the Merrimac, including the entire basin of Neponset and Charles rs. The group should perhaps be described as a confederacy rather than as a tribe, as it appears to have included several minor bodies. Johnson described the group as formerly having 'three kingdoms or sagamoreships having under them seven dukedoms or petty sagamores.' They seem to have held an important place among the tribes of s. New England prior to the coming of the whites. . . Capt. John Smith (1614) mentions II of their villages on the coast and says they had more than 20. In consequence of war with the Tarratine and the pestilence of 1617 in which they suffered more than any other tribe, the English colonists who arrived a few years later found them reduced to a mere remnant, and most of the villages mentioned by Smith depopulated. In 1631 they num- bered only about 500, and 2 years later were still further reduced by smallpox, which carried off their chief, Chickata- bot. Soon thereafter they were gathered, with other converts, into the villages of the 'Praying Indians,' chiefly at Natick, Nonantum, and Ponkapog, and ceased to have a separate tribal existence. As they played no important role in the struggles between the settlers and natives, the chief interest that attaches to them is the fact that they owned and occu- pied the site of Boston and its suburbs and the immediately surrounding territory when the whites first settled there. In 1621, when Standish and his crew from Plymouth visited this region, they found the Indians but few, unsettled, and fearful, moving from place to place to avoid the attacks of their enemies, the Tarratine."17
17. "Handbook of American Indians," Vol. I, p. 816. Washington, 1907.
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
The Nipmuc Tribe-The Nipmuc are frequently mentioned in early records. These and the Nashua probably paid tribute to Mas- sachuset bands. James Mooney says of them :
"Nipmuc (from Nipamaug, 'fresh-water fishing place'). The inland tribes of central Massachusetts living chiefly in the s. part of Worcester co., extending into Connecticut and Rhode Island. Their chief seats were on the headwaters of Blackstone and Quinebaug rs., and about the ponds of Brook- field. Hassanamesit seems to have been their principal vil- lage in 1674, but their villages had no apparent political con- nection, and the different parts of their territory were subject to their more powerful neighbors, the Massachuset, Wam- panoag, Narraganset, and Mohegan, and even tributary to the Mohawk. The Nashua, dwelling farther N., are some- times classed with the Nipmuc, but were rather a distinct body. The New England missionaries had 7 villages of Chris- tian Indians among them in 1674; but on the outbreak of King Philip's war in the next year almost all of them joined the hostile tribes "18
APPEARANCE OF OUR NATIVES-We possess in our museums a few skeletons and numbers of crania from prehistoric burials. Dr. Roland B. Dixon, of Harvard University, comments briefly upon New England skeletal material in his "Racial History of Man" :20
"The larger number of the crania are from sites in cen- tral and eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and show an analysis that the dominant element in all this area is, most unexpectedly, the Proto-Negroid! At first thought such a suggestion seems impossible, yet on the basis of the criteria here adopted the fact cannot be denied, and, as the crania are with a few exceptions almost certainly pre-European or from the period of the earliest contact, no possibility of historic Negro mixture is admissible."
While the anthropological data cited by Doctor Dixon is correct -for one would hesitate to dispute with so learned an authority-
18. "Handbook of American Indians," Vol. II, p. 74. Washington, 1910. 20. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1923, p. 409.
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yet stone artifacts from eastern Massachusetts, taken as a whole, are quite different from primitive tools found elsewhere in the world.
Dr. George Woodbury, of Manchester, a physical anthropologist, made a careful study of two or three crania of Essex County Indians. One especially fine specimen was found buried in sand when excava- tions were made for foundations at Lowell Textile School. There are in existence a few brief papers presenting studies of the physical characteristics of the ancient inhabitants of Essex County and east- ern Massachusetts. It does not seem necessary to list them here.
Sylvester draws a vivid picture of the New England Indian :21
"The Indian has been described as of tall, angular, and generally stalwart physique; but in that respect he was sub- ject to the same variations in stature as other races. An acquaintance with the western Indians of to-day bears out the assumption. In peace and plenty his physiognomy was calmly mild, if not pleasantly suggestive. In anger or unrest his features were as shifty as the sea in a whipping gale. As an expression of savagery, they were demoniac. They were at once brave, timid, detesting falsehood in others, and again courting it; haughty and insolent with those of inferior rank or power, they were most humbly docile in the presence of their superiors in strength and influence. The mood of the savage was kaleidoscopic. It varied, like that of a child, with
every circumstance. What he might have become had the New World remained a sealed book to the Old is problemati- cal. The inference is that in the long years to be unfolded they might have evolved into traders and explorers, and have taken the initial step, as have some of the races of the Orient, toward a more complete civilization. They might, on the other hand, have fallen a prey to the natural decadence inci- dent to a people without cohesion or high moral purpose, of which they had neither."
The earliest description of the Indians of this State is by Verra- zano. He writes ( 1524) :
"There were amongst these people 2 kings, of so goodly stature and shape as is possible to declare, the eldest is about
21. "Indian Wars of New England," by Herbert Milton Sylvester, Vol. I, pp. 38-40. Boston, 1910.
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
40 yeares of ag, the second was a yong man of 20 yeares old. Their apparell was on this manner: the elder had upon his naked body a harts skin, wrought artificialie with divers braunches like Damaske, his head was bare, with the hair tied up behinde with divers knottes: About his neck he had a large chaine garnished with divers stones of sundrie coulours, the yong man was almost apparelid after the same manner. This is the goodliest people, and of the fairest conditions, that wee have found in this our voyage. . . . The women are of the like conformitie and beawtie, verie handsome and well favored, they are as well mannered and continente as anye women of good education. There are also of them whiche weare on their armes verie riche skinnes of leopards (bay lynx), they adorne their heades with divers ornaments made of their owne haire, whiche hange downe before on both sides their breasts, others use other kind of dressing themselves."
A modern authority describes the appearance of our Indians thus :
"The hair of the Indians of this section was dressed in various ways, the styles being determined in a measure by the age and station of the individual. At the age of puberty the boys were permitted to wear it long; previous to that period it was cut in various ways. Some of them wore a long fore- top, a long lock on the crown, and one on each side of the head, the rest of the hair being cut even with the scalp. These various styles were probably the distinguishing marks of the different clans. . . The hair of King Philip's Mount Hope warriors was trimmed 'comb fashion'; that is like a cocks- comb, one or both sides of the head being shaved, leaving a ridge of comparatively short upright hair extending across the head from front to back.
"Another method which seems to have been quite general was to gather and tie the hair into a long round knot at the back of the head, like a 'horse's tail bound with a fillet.' In this knot or twist feathers of the eagle or turkey were fast- ened. The front hair was cut short or was shaved far up on the head, the long hair remaining being combed and twisted in various ways and intertwined with feathers as already noted.
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The beard was rarely allowed to grow, but was removed as it appeared.
"There is little information as to the methods of dressing women's hair.
"Tattooing seems to have been generally practiced. Wood writes that many of the better class bore 'upon their cheeks certain pourtratures of beasts, as bears, deares, mooses, wolves, etc., some of fowls, as of eagles, hawkes, etc., which be not a superficial painting but a certain incision or else a raising of their skin by a small sharp instrument under which they conveigh a certain kind of black unchangeable ink which makes the desired form apparent and permanent.' Johnson notes a blue cross tattooed 'dyed very deep' over the cheek- bones of the women."
DRESS OF OUR INDIANS-We do not lack authoritative state- ments on the part of eye witnesses with reference to dress, costume, and ornaments of the original inhabitants of this county. Barring minor detail, the same description would apply to natives throughout New England. Indeed, there is more or less similarity between abo- riginal clothing and personal ornamentation from Maine to Florida. The differences were chiefly due to climatic conditions. It is quite understandable that in the warm Southeast, the natives adapted their costumes as well as their dwellings to the climate. In New England all observers and writers who have commented upon the subject noted that in summer little clothing was used. During winter, furs and robes were in common use.
Lucien Carr, Esq., published a very interesting and important pamphlet, entitled "Dress and Ornaments of Certain American Indians."23 In this paper he presents numerous citations from French, Spanish, and English records. His researches, which were extensive, covered not merely all of New England, but the entire United States. Mr. Willoughby, in his excellent article, already cited, presents a scholarly condensation, confining his remarks to this section of the country.
Outer garments were in common use in ancient times in this State during the period of cold, which extended from the latter part of
23. From the "Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society," at the semi- annual meeting, April, 1897.
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
October to the end of April. There was no striking difference between robes and other coverings employed by either men or women. Both sexes wore clothing prepared from the skins of beaver, moose, wolf, otter, and raccoon. There is one rather interesting fact to be noted, to the effect that raccoon robes were very highly prized! Thus the first citizens of Essex County were not so very different from the young citizens of today who attend football games in November. Both men and women in early times clothed themselves modestly. Inside the cabins or wigwams very little covering was employed. False modesty seems to have been instilled in the minds of the natives by the Europeans. Wood mentions in his important narrative that the Indian women, who formerly wore rather short garments, length- ened these and always wore them in the presence of Europeans.24
The men employed close fitting leggings made of deerskins care- fully tanned by the women. Willoughby's comment that these were not merely for warmth but for protection from brush and briers when hunting is quite to the point. Many of these costumes were embroid- ered or ornamented. The use of belts, which were rather wide and contained pockets in which parched corn and small objects could be placed, was very common. In cold weather some of the women wore long garments of furs, which were skillfully made. One writer makes this interesting comment on them: "like a great lady's train." Feathers were employed in the making of cloaks; sometimes colored or iridescent feathers were used. The common people seem to have woven grasses and hemp into robes or skirts. As to footwear, the moccasin need not be commented upon; its use was widespread. Espe- cial care seems to have been lavished by the women on their children. They put especial care into the making of little garments and fre- quently decorated them. One is tempted to remark that the prevail- ing idea that our first citizens were "naked and unkempt savages" is by no means correct.
A quaint contemporary account of the Indians about Massachu- setts Bay was published by Lechford in 1642. It is given here because it tells us how the natives appeared to the first Europeans who settled among them, before they had become much contaminated by the influence of the white man.25 He says :
24. William Wood: "New England's Prospect. 1620-34."
25. "Plaine dealing, or Newes from New England," by Thomas Lechford (London, 1642), pp. 49-52. Quoted by Sylvester.
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"They (the Indians) are of body tall, proper, and straight ; They goe naked, saving about their middle, somewhat to cover their shame. Seldome they are abroad in the extremity of Winter, but keep in their wigwams, till necessity drives them forth; and then they wrap themselves in skins, or some of our English coorse cloath : and for Winter they have boots, or a kind of laced tawed-leather stockins. They are naturally proud, and idle, and given much to singing, dancing, and playes; They are governed by Sachems, Kings; and Sagga- mores, petie Lords; by an absolute tyrranie. Their women are of comely feature, industrious, and doe most of the labor in planting, and carrying of burdens; their husbands hold them in great slavery, yet never knowing other, it is lesse grievous to them. They say English men much foole, for spoiling good working creatures, meaning women. And when they see any of our English women sewing with their needles or working coifes, or such things, they will cry out, Lazie squaes! but they are much kinder to their wives by the example of the English. Their children they will not part with upon any terms to be taught. They are of swarthy complexion and tawny: their children are born white but they bedawb them with oyle, and colours presently. They have all black haire, that I saw.
"In times of mourning, they paint their faces with black lead, black, all about the eye-brows, and part of their cheeks. In time of rejoicing they paint red, with a kind of vermilion. They cut their haire of divers formes, according to their Nation or people, so that you may know a people by their cut; and ever they have a long lock on one side of their heads and weare feathers of Peacocks, and such like, and red cloath, or ribbands at their locks; beads of wampom-peag about their necks, and a girdle of the same, wrought with blew and white wampom after the manner of checker-work, two fingers broad about their loynes: Some of their chiefe men goe so, and pendants of wampom, and such toyes in their ears. And the women, some of the chiefe, have faire bracelets, and chaines of wampom. Men and women of them come confidently among the English. . . . They have Powahes, or Priests,
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
which are witches, and a kind of Chirurgions, but some of them are faine to be beholding to the English Chirurgions. They will have their times of powaheing, which they will of late have called Prayers, according to the English word. The Powahe labors himselfe in his incantations, to extreme sweat- ing and wearinesse, even to extacie. The Powahes cannot work their witchcrafts if any English be by; neither can any of their incantations lay hold on, or doe any harme to the English, as I have been credibly informed. The Powahe is next to the King or Sachem, and commonly, when he dyes, the Powahe marries the Squa Sachem, that is, the queene. They have mainie wives; they say they commit much filthinesse among themselves. But for every marriage the Saggamore hath a fadome of wampom, which is about seven or eight shill- ings value. Some of them will attend diligently to anything they can understand by any of our Religion, and are very willing to teach their language to any English. They live much better and peaceably for the English: and themselves know it, or at least, their Sachems, and Saggamores know so much, for before they did nothing but spoile and destroy one another. They live in wigwams, or houses made of mats like little hutts, the fire in the midst of the house. They cut downe a tree with axes and hatchets, bought of the English, Dutch, or French, & bring in the butt-end into the wigwam, upon the hearth; and so burne it by degrees. They live upon parched corne, (of late they grind at our English mills, ) Venison, Bevers, Otters, Oysters, Clammes, Lobsters and other fish, Ground-nuts, Akornes, they boyle all together in a kettle. Their riches are their wampom, bolles and trayes, kettles, spoones, bever, furres and canoes. He is a Sachem (whose wife) hath her clean spoons in a chest, for some chiefe English men, when they come on guest-wise to the wigwam. They lye upon a mat, with a stone, or a piece of wood under their heads; they will give the best entertainment they can make to any English coming amongst them. They will not taste sweet things, nor alter their habit willingly; onely they are taken with tobacco, wine, and strong waters; and I have seene some of them in English or French cloathes. Their ordinary weapons are
-
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ESSEX COUNTY IN INDIAN TIMES
bowes and arrowes, and long staves or halfe pikes, with pieces of swords, daggers, or knives in the ends of them : They have Captaines, and are very good at a short mark, and nimble of foot to run away. Their manner of fighting is most commonly all one style. They are many in number, and worship Kitan, their good god, or Hobbamocco, their evill god; but more feare Hobbamocco, because he doth them most harme ..... Among some of these Nations, their policie is to have two Kings at a time; but, I thinke, of one family; the one aged for counsell, the other younger, for action. Their Kings suc- ceed by inheritance."
FOODS OF NEW ENGLAND INDIANS-Lucien Carr, Esq., for many years on the staff of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, made meticulous search of the records and published his findings through the American Antiquarian Society, April, 1895, under the title of "Food of Certain American Indians and Their Methods of Preparing It." This study by Carr covers New England in detail as well as the entire country. It is recommended to readers.
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