USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Marlborough > Topographical and historical sketches of the town of Northborough, with the early history of Marlborough, in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, furnished for the Worcester magazine > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Northborough > Topographical and historical sketches of the town of Northborough, with the early history of Marlborough, in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, furnished for the Worcester magazine > Part 2
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A Copy of the Indian Deed of the Plantation of Marlborough. "To all Christian people to whom these presents shall come, Greet- ing,
KNOW YEE, That we, the Indian inhabitants of the Planta- tions called Natick and Wamesit," (now part of Tewksbury,) "in the Massachusetts Colonie, in New England, namely," (the names of the grantees are written below, with the omission of Andrew Pilim or Pitimee, and John Wamnesqut, and the addition of Edmund Aso- wonit, making the whole number 25,) "for and in consideration of the sum of thirty one pounds of lawful money of New England, which said sum, wee the said" (here the names are repeated,) "do acknowledge ourselves to have received of Abraham Williams and Joseph Rice, both of the town of Marlborough, in the County of Middlesex, in New England, who, in the said payment, not only for themselves, but also as agents in behalf of all the rest of their fel- low purchasers, belonging to the said town of Marlborough, and of the said sum of thirty one pounds, and of every part and parcel thereof, wee the said" (names repeated) "for ourselves, and for our heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, do freely, clearly, and wholly, exonerate, acquit, and discharge the said Abraham Wil- liams and Joseph Rice and all their said fellow purchasers belong- ing to the said town of Marlborough, and every of them, and their heirs, executors, administrators, and every of them forever ; have given, granted, bargained, sold, and by these presents, do give, grant, bargain, sell, and confirm, unto the said Abraham Williams and Joseph Rice, and unto all their fellow purchasers, belonging to the said Town of Marlborough, and unto all and every of their sev- eral heirs and assigns forever, all that tract of land, which is con- tained within the bounds of the Town, Township, or Plantation, called Marlborough aforesaid, as the said bounds were laid out, plotted and represented by Mr. Samuel Andrews, of Cambridge, un-
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
to the Court of the Massachusetts Colonie aforesaid, and by the said Court accepted and recorded, that is to say all Uplands, Meadows, Swamps, Woods, Timber, Fountains, Brooks, Rivers, Ponds, and Herbage, within the said bounds of the said Town, Township, or Plantation of Marlborough, together with all and sin- gular the appurtenances thereof, and all manner of profits, gains, and advantages, arising upon, or from, the said tract of land, which the said Abraham Williams, or Joseph Rice, or all, or any of their fellow purchasers, belonging to the town of Marlborough afore- said, at any time formerly had, or now have, or hereafter at any time may, or shall have; (except a certain farm, some years ago laid out unto Mr. John Alcock, deceased, which lyeth within the bounds of said town or township of Marlburrough, and is by us, the said" [names repeated] "utterly and totally exempted and excluded from this present bargain.) To have and to hold all the foremen- tioned tract of land" (here the description is repeated) "to their own proper use and improvement, as is above declared, (except the farm before excepted,) to themselves, the said Abraham Williams and Joseph, Rice, and to all their said fellow purchasers, belonging to the said Marlburrough, and unto all and several their heirs and as- signs forever, in a good and sure estate of inheritance, in fee sim- ple, without any claims or demands, any obstruction, eviction, ex- pulsion, or molestation whatsoever, from us the said" (names re- peated,) "or from the heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns of us the said Indians, or either of us, or from any other person or persons whatsoever, acting by, from, or under us or them, or any of them, our said heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns. Fur- thermore, wee, the said" (names repeated) "do covenant and grant, with, and too, the said Abraham Williams and Joseph Rice, and all their said fellow purchasers, belonging to said Marlburrough, that wee, the above named Indians, have been, until the conveyance and assurance made by these presents, the true and proper owners of all the said tract of land, lying within the bounds of the planta- tion or township of Marlburrough, together with all and singular the appurtenances thereof, in our own right, and to our own use, in a good absolute and firm estate of inheritance, in fee simple, and have full power, good right, and lawful authority to grant, bar- gain, sell, conveigh, and assure, the said tract of land, and every part and parcel thereof, with all and singular the appurtenances of the same, as is before, in these presents, mentioned; and wee, the said" (names repeated) "do warrant and assure that all the tract of
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
land, and all and every the appurtenances thereof, by these pres- ents, alienated and sold, have been and are at the time of signing and sealing of this Deed of sale, utterly and totally free, and clear from any former bargains, sales, gifts, grants, leases, mortgages, judgments, executions, extents, and incumbrances whatsoever ; and wee, the said" (names repeated) "for ourselves, and our heirs, exec- utors, administrators, and assigns, do, and shall, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, (as occasion shall be offered) confirm, defend, and make good, unto all intents and purposes, this whole bargain and sale aforesaid, and unto all and several their heirs and assigns forever. In witness of all which premises, wee, the said" (names repeated) "have hereunto set our hands and seals, this twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord Christ, one thousand six hundred, eighty and four, Annoq. Regni Regis Caroli Secundi XXXVI.
Andrew Pilim (Pitimee) Attorney to old F. Waban. signum
John M Nasquanet signum
William M Wononatomog signum John Speen signum
Lawrence Nowsawane signum
Jacob X Ponopohquin his mark
signum Peter Ephraim
Attorney for Jno. Awoosamug. signum John Awoosamug
signum
Thom. ₭ Dublet signum Benjamin B Boho.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, in pre- sence of us witnesses,
Simon Crosby
Benjamin Tray his mark
Sosowun noo signum
James Wiser
Simon Betogkom
his mark Great × John
Thomas Waban
his mark Abraham Speen his mark
Great James signum Jacob Petowat signum Jehoja × kin
Jeremy ₭ Sosoohquoh his mark Samuel William signum Nathaniel Quonkatohn James Speen signum John Wamesqut signum
Job × Pohpono his mark
John Curtis his mark
Henry Rice
John Magus Daniel Takawompait Indiana
"June 11th and 12th, 1684. At a Court held at Natick among the Indians, there appeared in Court, and before me, all the seal- ers and subscribers to this deed, being twenty five (there are twen-
6
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
ty six signatures) persons in number, and freely acknowledged this writing to be their act and deed."
"As Attests, DANIEL GOOKIN, Sen'r Assistant."
"This Deed entered in the Register at Cambridge. Lib. 9. page
293-299. 7. 2. 85. By THO : DANFORTH, R."
It will be seen from the above signatures, that, besides the two Indian witnesses, John Magus and Daniel Takawompait, four oth- ers, viz. Andrew Pitimee, 'James Speen, Simon Betogkom, and Thomas Waban, wrote their own names. Daniel Takawompait, or Tokkohwompait, was a pastor of the church in Natick, in 1698, ordained by the Rev. and holy man of God, JOHN ELIOT. He is said to have been a person of great knowledge .* Thomas Waban was probably a son of old Waban, the first Indian convert in Mas- sachusetts, and one who supported a consistent christian character till his death, which happened in 1674, at the age of 70.1 Maj. Gen. Daniel Gookin, before whom the deed was acknowledged, was the friend and fellow laborer of Eliot, an enlightened, virtu- ous, and benevolent magistrate. He belonged to Cambridge, where he died in 1687, aged 75.
Two others, whose names are affixed to this instrument, viz. John Speen, and John Awoosamug, are mentioned in the account of Dochester.į The former of whom, it appears, was for some time a teacher, till he became addicted to intemperance, when he was laid aside. The latter, though he had been propounded to join the church, had been excluded on account of his quick and pas- sionate temper, but discovered marks of penitence during his last sickness, which satisfied the scruples of his brethren.
The Indian Plantation of Ockoocangansett,§ or Marlborough.
Some time previous to the commencement of the English Plan- tation, as appears from the following order of the General Court, the Indians had a grant of a township in that place.
" In reference to the case between Mr. Eliot, in behalf of the Indians of Oguonikongquamesit, and Sudbury men : the Courte find- ing that the Indians had a graunt of a township in the place before
* See 1 Hist. Col. X. 134. + 1 Hist. Col. V. 263. 1 Hist. Col. IX. 198.
§ ] have given the name as it is uniformly written in the earliest records of Marlborough. Hutchinson, quoting from Eliot, who visited the place in 1670, writes it Ogguonikongquamesut ; Gookin, who wrote in 1674, Okomma- kamesit. The word has since been corrupted into Agoganggomisset. This name, it should be considered, was at first appropriated to the Indian Planta- tion, while the English Plantation, before its incorporation in 1660, was called Whipsuppenicke. Both plantations were, however, in 1674, called by the same name by Daniel Gookin.
see an? Need of
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
the English, the Courte determines and orders, that Mr. Edward Jackson, Mr. Tho. Danforth, Mr. Ephraim Child and Capt. Lusher,* or any three of them, as a committee, shall with the first conven- ient opportunity, if it may be before winter, lay out a township in the said place, of 6000 acres, to the Indians in which, at least, shall bee three or four hundred acres of meadow; and in case there be enough left for a convenient township for the Sudbury men, to lay it out to them; the grant of Mr. Alcock's (842 acres granted in 1655) confirmed by the last Court out of both excepted and reserved, and the Indians to have the Hill on which they are, and the rest of the land to be laid out adjoining to it as may be convenient to both plantations."t
The Hill mentioned in this order, had been improved for many years by the Indians, probably long before the arrival of the Eng- lish, as a planting field. It was afterwards, in 1677, as appears from the following instrument, conveyed to Daniel Gookin, Esq.
" Know all men by these presents that we old Nequain, Robin called old Robin, Benjamin Wuttanamit, James called Great James, John Nasquamit, Sarah the widow of Peter Nasquament, in behalf of her child Moses David, next heir to my father and to my uncle Josiah Harding, deceased, without issue, Assoask the widow of Jo- siah Nowell, in behalf of my children, Sarah Conomog, sole exex- utrix to my late husband, Conomog, Elizabeth, the only daughter and heir of Solomon, deceased," [Solomon had been the teacher of the Indians of Marlborough,] "James Spene, in behalf of my wife, being all of us, true proprietors, possessors and improvers of the Indian lands called Whipsufferage, alias Okonkonomesit, adjoining to Marlborough in the colony of Massachusetts in New England for divers considerations us thereunto moving, especially the love and duty we owe to our honored magistrate, Daniel Gookin, of Cambridge, Esq. who hath been a ruler to us above 20 years, do hereby freely and absolutely give, grant and confirm, unto him the said Daniel Gookin, Esq. and his heirs forever, one parcel of land heretofore broken up, and being planted by us and our predeces- sors, called by the name of Okonkonomesit Hill, situate, lying and being on the south side of our township and plantation, near Marl- borough, containing about one hundred acres, more or less, (also ten acres in Fort Meadow, and ten in Long Meadow,) with free
* These three, Danforth, Child, and Lusher, were respectively deputies to the General Court from Cambridge, Watertown, and Dedham, in 1657.
t Records of the General Court for the year 1658-9.
-
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
č
liberty of commonage for wood. timber, feeding of bis cattle, upon any common land, within our township or plantation."
" Second day of May, 1677.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of us,
John Eliot, Waban X his mark,
Noah Wiswell, Piamboo X his mark,
Joshua Woods, Joseph Wheeler.
Acknowledged before me,
THOMAS DANFORTH, Assistant.
Entered and recorded at the Registry at Cambridge. * "
It is thus described by Gookin in 1674. " In this Indian Plan- tation there is a piece of fertile land, containing above 150 acres, upon which the Indians have, not long since, lived, and planted several apple trees thereupon, which bear abundance of fruit ; but now the Indians are removed from it about a mile. This tract of land doth so embosom itself into the English town, that it is encompassed about with it, except one way; and upon the edge of this land the English have placed their Meeting House." It was a favorite design of the benevolent Gookin, which he proposed in his Historical Collections, " as an expedient for civilizing the In- dians, and propagating the Gospel among them," to have this tract of land, which, with certain meadows and woodland, he says, "is well worth £200 in money, set apart for an Indian free school; and there to build a convenient house for a school master and his fami- ly, and under the same roof may be a room for a school." This, with the necessary out buildings, he computes will not cost more than £200 in money ; and the use of the land, he thinks, will be an adequate compensation for the services of the school master.
" Moreover, it is very probable," he adds, "that the English people of Marlborough will gladly and readily send their children to the same school, and pay the school master for them, which will better his maintenance ; for they have no school in that place at the present."
We learn further from this account that the number of families in Marlborough, at this period, did not amount to fifty, every vil- lage containing that number being required by the laws to provide a school " to teach the English tongue, and to write." "These
* May 18, 1682. Waban, Piamboo, Great James, Thomas Tray, and John Wincols, proprietors of the Indian Plantation of Whipsufferadge, grant- ed to Samuel Gookin, of Cambridge, liberty to erect a Saw Mill upon any brook or run of water within the said Plantation, with land not exceeding three acres, use of timber, &c. for 30 years.
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
people of Marlborough," says he, somewhat indignantly, "wanting a few of fifty families, do take that low advantage to ease their purses of this common charge."
What reception this proposal met with, we are not informed. It was most certainly an expedient that promised the happiest con- sequences, and worthy of the liberal and philanthropic mind of its author. How close is the resemblance between this plan, conceiv- ed more than one hundred and fifty years since, and that of the Indian schools recently established at Brainerd, Eliot, Mayhew, and other places in the United States ?*
The people of Marlborough, notwithstanding the severity of Gookin's censure, have not been behind other towns in New En- gland in their attention to schools. Owing to the troubles which ensued, soon after the date of Gookin's Historical Collections, they felt themselves unable to meet the expense of a public school for several following years. At length, however, in 1698, Benjamin Franklint was employed as a school master in Marlborough, from the first of November, 1696, to the last of March, 1697, at eight shillings per week ; " he engaging carefully to teach all such youth as com or are sent to him, to read English once a day, att least, or more, if need require ; also to learn to write and cast accounts." The school was kept in Isaac Wood's house, which was then un- occupied.
$ 1 Hist. Col. I. p. 220.
t This person was probably an uncle of Doctor Benjamin Franklin. In the first volume of Franklin's Works, edited by his grandson, William Tem- ple Franklin, page 6, is the following account of the person referred to above. " My grandfather had four sons, who grew up, viz: Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an apprenticeship in Lon- don. He was an ingenious man. I remember, when I was a boy, he came to my father's, in Boston, and resided in the house with us for several years. There was always a particular affection between my father and him, and I was his godson. He lived to a great age. He left behind him two quarto volumes of manuscript of his own poetry, consisting of fugitive pieces addres- sed to his friends. He had invented a short hand of his own, which he taught me, but not having practiced it, I have now forgotten it. He was very pious, and an assiduous attendant at the sermons of the best preachers, which he reduced to writing according to his method, and had thus collected several volumes of them. He was also a good deal of a politician ; too much so, per- haps, for his station. There fell lately into my possession, in London, a col- lection he made of all the principal political pamphlets relating to public af- fairs, from the year 1641 to 1717; many of the volumes are wanting, as ap- pears, by their numbering ; but there still remains eight volumes in folio, and twenty in quarto and octavo. A dealer in old books had met with them, and knowing me by name, having bought books of him, he brought them to me. It would appear that my uncle must have left them here, when he went to America, which was about fifty years ago. I found several of his notes in the margins. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, is still living in Boston."
.
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
Jan. 10, 1698-9. The town voted to build a school house. Af- ter this, Mr. Jonathan Johnson was employed as a school master for many years in succession.
The Indian Plantation was laid out agreeably to the following report of the Commissioners appointed as aforesaid.
"WHIPSUPPENICKE THE 19th OF JUNE, 1659.
"The Committee appointed by the Gen. Court to lay out a Plan- tation for the Indians of 6000 acres at the above named place, hav- ing given Mr. Eliot* a meeting and duly weighed all his exceptions in the behalf of the Indians; first, what hath beene formerly acted and returned to the Gen. Court, do judge meete in way of comply- ance, that the bounds of the Indian Plantation bee enlarged unto the most westerly part of the fence, that now standeth on the west side of the Hill or planting field called Ockoocangansett, and from thence to bee extended on a direct north line untill they have their full quantity of 6000 acres : the bounds of their Plantation in all other respects, wee judge meete that they stand as in the form returned ; and that their full complement of meadow by Court Grant, may stand and bee exactly measured out by an artist within the limits of the aforesaid lines, when the Indians, or any in their behalf, are willing to be at the charges thereof : provided alwaies that the Indians may have noe power to make sale thereof, of all or any part of their abovesaid lands, otherwise than by the consent of the Hond Gen' Court; or when any shall be made or happen, the Plantation of English there seated may have the first tender of it from the Court ; which caution wee the rather insert, because not only a considerable part of the nearest and best planting land is heereby taken away from the English (as we are informed) but the nearest and best part of their meadow, by estimation about an hundred acres in one place, that this north line doth take away, which tendeth much to the detrimenting of the English Plantation, especially if the lands. should bee impropriated to any other use than the Indians proposed, that is to say, for an Indian Plantation, or for the accommodating their Plantation, they should bee depriv- ed thereof."
Signed by
ELEAZER LUSHER, EDWARD JACKSON,
Commissioners. EPHRAIM CHILD, THOMAS DANFORTH,
* The celebrated John Eliot, minister of Roxbury, commonly called the Apostle of the Indians.
3
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
The account given of this Plantation by Capt. afterwards, Maj. Gen. Goskin, of Cambridge, who visited it in 1674, more than one hundred and fifty years since, will be interesting to those who have not already seen it.
" Okommakamesit, alias Marlborough, is situated about twelve miles north northeast from Hassanamesitt, (Grafton) about thirty miles from Boston westerly.
"This village contains about ten families, and consequently about fifty souls. The quantity of land appertaining to it is six thousand acres. It is much of it good land, and yieldeth plenty of corn, be- ing well husbanded. It is sufficiently stored with meadow, and is well wooded and watered. It hath several good orchards upon it, planted by the Indians : and is in itself a very good plantation. . This town doth join so near to the English of Marlborough, that it (we might apply to it what) was spoken of David in type and our Lord Jesus Christ, the antitype, "Under his shadow ye shall re- joice :" but the Indians here do not much rejoice under the English- men's shadow ; who do so overtop them in their number of people, stocks of cattle, &c. that the Indians do not greatly flourish, or de- light in their station at present.
"Their ruler here was Onomog, who is lately deceased, about two months since ; which is a great blow to that place. He was a pious and discreet man, and the very soul as it were of that place. Their teacher's name is Here they observe the same decorum ' for religion and civil order, as is done in other towns. They have a constable and other officers, as the rest have. The Lord sancti- fy the present affliction they are under by reason of their bereave- ments ; and raise up others, and give them grace to promote relig- ion and good order among them."
From this account, which is given by an eye witness, it is pretty evident that a spirit of jealousy and envy against their more pros- perous neighbors of the English Plantation, was even then rankling in their hearts : and we are not much surprised to learn that, in the calamitous war which broke out in the following year between the English and Indians, known by the name of King Philip's war, some of these half civilized sons of the forest were found among the en- emy, at the place of their general rendezvous, in the western part of Worcester County, a few days previous to their desolating march
*Hutchinson says his name was Solomon, judged to be a serious and sound Christian. p. 167.
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
through the country, in which Lancaster, and many other towns, experienced the horrors of savage warfare .*
* James Quanipaug, who was sent out with another Indian by the name of Job to reconnoitre the enemy, then in the Western part of this County, in the beginning of 1676, passed through Hassanamesit (Grafton) thence to Manexit, (a part of Woodstock) where he was taken by seven Indians and carried to Menimesseg, (New Braintree) where he found many of the enemy, and among them " the Marlborough Indians who pretended that they had been fetched away by the other Indians." Some of them professed to be willing to return. Philip is said at this time to have been about half a day's journey on the other side of Fort Orania, (Albany) and the Hadley Indians on this side. They were then preparing for that memorable expedition, in which the towns. of Lancaster, Groton, Mariborough, Sudbury, and Medfield, were destroyed.
The letter of James Quanipaug bears date 24th : 11 mo : 1675. (Jan. 24, 1676.) It was only 16 days alter this, viz. Feb. 10th O. S. that they made a descent upon Lancaster, with 1500 warriors, and butchered or carried into captivity nearly all the inhabitants of that flourishing village.
Whether the Marlborough Indians joined in this expedition, or left the enemy and returned to their homes, I have not been able after diligent en- quiry to ascertain. The little that I have been able to collect, though cor- roborated by circumstantial evidence, rests mainly on tradition.
Though it appears from the testimony of James Quanipaug that the Marlborough Indians were with Philip's men at Menimesseg, it is by no means certain that all who belonged to the Plantation had gone over to the enemy. Tradition says, that those who remained at home were suspected of treachery, and that representations to that effect were made to the governor, (Leverett) who dispatched a company of soldiers under the command of Capt. Mosely, to convey them to Boston. They reached Marlborough, it is said, in the night ; and early in the morning, before the Indians had any sus- picion of their design, surrounded the fort to which they were accustomed to repair at night, siezed on their arms, and obliged them to surrender. They attempted no resistance, and it is by no means certain that they entertained any hostile designs against the English. They were, however, taken into the custody of the soldiers ; and, having their hands fastened behind their backs, and then being connected together by means of a cart rope, they were in this manner driven down to Boston, whence it is probable, that they were convey- ed, in company with the Indians of Natick and other places, to one of the is- lands in the harbor, and kept in durance till the close of the war.
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