USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Willey's semi-centennial book of Manchester, 1846-1896, comprised within the limits of the old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 22
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Passaconaway was the chief sachem and must have been very old when the whites first came among them. He was at Pawtucket at the time
of Mr. Eliot's visit in 1647, or would have been there had he not run away for fear of the English. Mr. Morton, who saw him in 1628, says he was ninety years old. On the visit of Eliot, in 1648, Passaconaway promised to become a praying Indian, and said he would advise his sons to do the same, some of whom were with him at this time. If he was ninety years old when Morton saw him, he must have been onc hundred and ten years old at the time he was converted, or rather promised to become a praying Indian. Gen. Gookin saw him in 1660, and at this time he was one hundred and twenty years of age. In that case Wonalan- cct was born after Passaconaway was eighty years old, and it seems there were other children born to him after the birth of Wonalancet. The date of Passaconaway's death is not known. Mr. Potter says : " He died prior to 1669. He was alive in 1663, and as Wonalancet was at the head of the tribe in 1669, it is evident that Passaconaway was dead at this time." The fact that Wonalancet was at the head of the tribe in 1669 is no evidence that Passaconaway was then dcad. He relin- quished all authority over all the Indians subject to him to Wonalancet in 1660. It was at this time that he delivered the speech attributed to him called his dying speech. He had become very old and incapacitated to perform the duties incumbent upon one occupying so high a position ; so he called all his people together and informed them of his intention of surrendering the sachemship to his son, Wonalancet. The great speech which he is said to have delivered on this occasion has been handed down to us, and no less than three entirely different versions of it have been given. It is much more likely that all these pretended eloquent remarks originated in the fertile brain of some white man, or it may have been that instead of delivering the speech he obtained leave to have it printed, as is the custom in modern days.
After Wonalancet had become chief sachem of the tribe, it would be a fair presumption that hc repaircd to Pawtucket and surrendered the Pennacook tribe to the grandson of Passaconaway, Kancamagus, oldest son of Nanamocomuck, who had a sachemship formerly at Wachusett, later at Groton, Mass. After Wonalancet assumed full control of the tribe, it is most likely he remained
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at Pawtucket and retained that place as the princi- pal seat of the tribe, as his father had before him, for in 1663, in answer to the request of Nanaleucet, second son of Passaconaway, having many children and no land of his own to plant, he was granted one hundred acres of land lying upon a great hill, near a great pond, about twelve miles distant from the house of John Eucred, part of which land was formerly planted by Nanalaucet, and Eucred, Webb, and Hinckman of Chelmsford were ap- pointed to lay out the same. Instead of leaving Pennacook and going down the river, in fear of
A party of French Indians (of whom some were of kindred of this sachem's wife) very lately fell upon this people, being but few and unarmed, and partly by persuasion, partly by force, carried them all away. One, with his wife, child and kinswoman, who were of our praying Indians, made their escape and came into the English and discovered what was done. These things keep some in a continual disgust and jealousy of all the Indians.
Wonalancet seems to have been at Pawtucket, or Wamesit, whenever Eliot or Gookin visited this place. Mr. Gookin, in his report of a visit made May 5, 1674, says :
According to our custom, Mr. Eliot and myself took our
MERRIMACK RIVER, BELOW AMOSKEAG FALLS, MANCHESTER .- HIGH WATER SCENE.
the English, Wonalancet left Pawtucket and went to Pennacook, and being followed to this place he went further away. This would be inferred from the letter of Mr. Eliot, under date of Oct. 23, 1677, in which he says :
We had a sachem of the greatest blood in the country sub- mit to pray to God, a little before the war. His name is Wan- nalaunset. In the time of the wars he fled, by reason of the wicked actings of some English youth who causelessly and basely killed and wounded some of them. He was persuaded to come in again, but the English having ploughed and sown with rye all their lands, they had but little corn to subsist by.
journey to Wamesit, or Pawtucket, and arriving there that even- ing, Mr. Eliot preached to as many of them as could be got together out of Mat. xxii, the parable of the marriage of the king's son. We met at the wigwam of one called Wannalauncet, about two miles from the town, near Pawtucket falls, and bordering upon Merrimack river. This person, Wannalauncet, is the son of old Passaconaway, the chiefest sachem of Paw- tucket [Query .- Was Passaconaway alive at this time ?]. He is a sober and grave person, and of years between fifty and sixty. He hath been always loving and friendly to the English. Many endeavours have been made several years to gain this sachem to the Christian religion, but he hath stood off from time to time, and not yield up himself personally, though for four years past he has been willing to hear the word of God preached, and to
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keep the Sabbath. A great reason that hath kept him off, I conceave, hath been the indisposition and averseness of sundry of his chief men and relations to pray to God. But at this time it pleased God so to influence and overcome his heart, that it being proposed to him to give his answer concerning praying to God. after some deliberation and serious pause, he stood up, and made a speach to this effect : "Sirs, you have been pleased for four years last past, in your abundant love to apply yourselves particularly unto me and my people, to exhort, press, and per- suade us to pray to God. I am very thankful to you for your pains. I must acknowledge, I have all my days used to pass in an old canoe (alluding to his frequent custom to pass in a canoe upon the river), and now you exhort me to change and leave my old canoe and embark in a new canoe, to which I have hitherto been unwilling ; but now I yield up myself to your advise, and enter into a new canoe, and do engage to pray to God hereafter."
There is no room for doubt as to the authen- tieity of this speech, for Mr. Eliot made it a eustom to eopy down all the confessions made by eon- verted Indians.
What was left of the Pawtucket Indians under Wonalaneet forsook their aneient seat in 1677, and removed to the north. Wonalaneet was at Penna- cook in the fall of 1675, as Capt. Mosley, on the 16th of August, was sent to Penny-eook with a company of soldiers to destroy the remainder of his people. When he arrived at Pennaeook he found no Indians. It seems that Wonalaneet, either through eowardiee or fear of the English, withdrew from the place, and while lying in ambush saw his wigwams and provisions destroyed. This would seem to settle the question in regard to what place Wonalaneet went to eseape the war. He evidently left Pawtucket, as stated by Eliot, and eame to Pennacook, supposing, no doubt, that he would be safe from harm, it being so far remote from the seenes of the confliet. Finding no safety here, he removed further north, but messengers were sent after him from Wamesit and he was indueed to return to Pawtucket, where he remained a short time, and then in September, 1677, went to Canada.
Did the apostle Eliot visit the Indians who came to the Namoskeag to fish? Mr. Potter, in his History of Manehester, assumes that he did, for the reason that Eliot had expressed a strong desire to do so, and employed a man to eut a road from Nashaway to Namaske. One would on first thought conelude, as did Potter, that the work
on this path began at the place now known as Nashua. But that was not the ease. The only Nashaway of Eliot's time was the Nashaway tribe of Indians located on or near Wesha- kum pond or lake, about two miles from a white settlement, at Laneaster, Mass. A mission had been established at this place and Eliot went there often to preach, and was at times aecompanied by Mr. Gookin. Eliot said it was a round-about way to get to the great fishing place, which he located some three seore miles to the north. The man employed to eut the road passed through Souhegan, but through which part is not mentioned. If the path was eut on a direet line from Nashaway to Namoskeag, he would have passed through what is now Amherst. There does not seem to have been any tribe of Indians on the Souhegan, only as they came there on their hunting ex- eursions.
Mr. Potter further assumes that Eliot after- wards eame here and established sehools and preaching, and he bases this presumption on the statement of Gookin, who says " there were preaeh- ing and schools at Namkeke," and Potter says: " Who was there to preach and establish sehools here except the Rev. John Eliot ?" The difficulty with this presumption is, that Gookin had no reference in any manner to Namoskeag, on the Merrimack, in New Hampshire. Wamesit was also ealled Namkeke, and Gookin says in the same communication, quoted by Potter, that there were preaching and sehools at Namkeke or Wamesit. The Namkeke to which Gookin referred was at the junetion of the Coneord and Merrimack rivers, in the present town of Tewksbury, Mass. Mr. Potter says: "The Nashuas oeeupied the lands upon the Nashua, and the intervales upon the Merrimack, opposite and below the mouth of that river," and that Nashua means "the river with a pebbly bottom." The only Nashua Indians, how- ever, that had any existenee were, as we have said, on Weshakum lake. They did not take their name from the river near which they resided. as many of the tribes did, but the river took its name from the Nashaway Indians. The name was given to them on account of their location ; they were inland or Nipmuek Indians. Nippe, water, was applied to the ponds, and Nipmuek to the tribe
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that resided upon or near these ponds. Their loca- letter in the first four is k, and in the other four tion was between the Massachusetts or shore it is I. They had two kinds of substantives, viz: Indians and the tribes that resided upon the Con- the names of animate and personified things, and the names of inanimate things; also animate and inanimate adjectives and verbs that are made to agree with the substantive accordingly. These substantives are distinguished by the terminations of the plurals, which are always k for the ani- mate, and I for the inanimate. The languages nectient river. Nashaway is from the Indian, Nsawiwi (pronounced Nansawewe), and means " between," and was applied to this tribe for the reason that they were located between the shore and river Indians. The same word is used to denote the points of the compass, as northwest, northeast, cte .; Pabonki, the north; Waji-nahilot, of the Massachusetts and Narragansett Indians
POLICE STATION, MANCHESTER.
the east; Nsawiwi pebonkik ta waji-nahilot, north- have different suffixes to denote the plurals. east, at, to, or from the northeast, literally, be- tween the north and the east.
One not eonversant with the various prefixes and suffixes used in the Indian language would likely fall into many errors, not only in the or- thography, but in the etymology, as has been the ease with writers on these subjeets. In the Abenaki language, there are eight terminations for the plurals of their nouns, namely : ak, ik, ok, k, al, ol, il, l. It will be noticed that the final
The word au-ke is the one that has caused the most errors in the etymology of places that now bear the Indian name in New Hampshire. Au-ke was a word denoting ground, land, or place on the land. The French orthography of the word was a-ki, pronouneed au-ke. The terminations ke and ki are the same. Au-ke was never used in connection with a water location, for which ke and kek were used. It will be noticed that the difference between these is the suppression of the
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first syllable au. Kek was used to denote the locality. The final letter k had the foree of the prepositions, at, to, or from. In the Massachusetts language et was the termination for the preposi- tion. Au-ke was used in a broader sense for eoun- try or region, as Winnepes-aukee, or lake region. Ki or ke was more limited in its application, apply- ing more particularly to a farm, a place, or a definite piece of land, as Wenos-ki, onion land.
Namoskek, and not namos-auke, was the cor- rect way of spelling the great Amoskeag falls. It means "at the fishing place." The kek has a gutteral sound, and is so much like keag that that termination is generally used.
Penacook is from the Massachusetts word penayi (erooked) and tegw, a word used in compo- sition for river. Sepo, or sebo, was river when used independently, but when as a termination for a river, tegw was the word. This, being sounded with the gutteral tone, is so much like cook that it has been supplanted by the termination cook, viz: Penacook, Contooeook, Coaticook, etc. If Penaeook means crooked river, than the true Indian orthography would be Penayitcgw.
Massabesie is from massa, or, as it is some- times expressed, msi (large), or mamsi (vast), and nebe (lake or pond), and ik, which gives it its local term.
Uneonoonuc is probably from kuneannow- et (breast), the termination uc from the plural ok, the breasts.
Cohas brook, from eoa, a pine tree, with the diminutive, eoas, or cohas, "little pine tree brook."
Our historians have presumed that Wonalan- cet and his people joined the St. Francis tribe, which were the remnant of the Abenakis tribe that had removed to Canada and settled on the St. Francis river, but this does not seem to have been the fact. The Pennacooks, oceupying the Merrimack river valley, and coming from the tribes of Massachusetts, were ealled by the Abenakis the Patsuikets, the meaning of this being, "those who had established themselves in that locality by fraud." The territory occupied by the Pennacooks was claimed as the hunting and fishing ground of the Indians of Maine, who were a part of the Abenakis family, and they eame to the falls to fish in the spring and early summer; they camped on
the hill east of the falls. They must have gathered there in great numbers, and were not only pre- pared to fish, but to fight in case of attack by the Mohawks. This tribe suffered more from the Mo- hawks than any other eastern Indians, and in prep- aration for defence they concealed large quanti- ties of arrow and spear points in the ground, many of which have been found in graves, which served as arsenals. On the occasions of these annual fishing excursions they beeamc acquainted with the Penaeooks or Patsuikets, and on their removal to Canada continued to treat them as their friends.
When Wonalaneet and his tribe went to Can- ada, they doubtless located on the shores of Umbagog lake. Pere Maurault, in his " Histoire des Abenakis," gives the etymology of the word, and says it is from the word Nidobakik,-" the lake of my comrades "-from nidoba, friend. This lake was the division between the Abenakis and the Patsuikets. After remaining some eight years on the shores of Umbagog lake, Wonalancet, in 1685, returned to his old seat at Wamesit, poor, disheart- ened, and old. He received some aid from the colony of Massachusetts, and died about 1700, near the age of eighty years.
Passaconaway's oldest son, Nanamocomuck, who had been at the head of the small tribe of Nip- mucks at Wachusett, was living in 1663 at Groton, which was near the seat of Passaconaway. On the 2 Ist of October of that year a tract of land one quarter of a mile square was granted to him. One hundred aeres, including the place where he then lived, ealled his planting ground, was laid out.
He later removed to the Amariscoggin in Maine, and joined the Abenakis remaining on that river. His son Kancamagus, or Hawkins, joined his father at that place, and thus virtually ended the history of the tribe of Indians of the Merrimack.
Before the great epidemic in 1613 made such havoc among the Indians of New England, the Pawtucket tribe, ineluding all those under Passa- eonaway, numbered about 3000 men. The great sickness destroyed them to such an extent that in 1674 there were only about 250 men beside wo- men and children, and it is said that Wonalancet. when he finally left for Canada, had only eight men that composed his once powerful tribe.
If any of the blood of Passaconaway's tribe
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remains, it is mixed with the white blood of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with Rev. J. M. citizens of the Province of Quebec, and if they come back to ns, it is not with the war-whoop and scalping knife of their fathers but in peace, to find honest employment in the mighty industries of civilization that have sprung up all along the banks of the profound Merrimack, where beautiful and happy homes have supplanted the wigwams of this peculiar and unfortunate people.
S T. PAUL'S M. E. CHURCH. - The first Methodist Episcopal Church in Manchester was organized at the Center, East Manchester, in 1829, the second in 1839. In 1840 a chapel was built on the corner of Hanover and Chestnut strects.
A
AAR
ST. PAUL'S M. E. CHURCH, MANCHESTER.
Buckley, now editor of the Christian Advocate, as pastor. In 1875 the Tabernacle M. E. Church was established, having as successive pastors Revs. J. B. Hamilton, L. E. Gordon, and O. S. Baketel. In 1882 these two societies united, and the present structure and parsonage were built. The following clergymen have been pastors successively since 1840 : Revs. John Joncs, Silas Green, James Mor- row, Samuel Kelly, L. D. Barrows, C. N. Smith, Silas Quimby, Justin Spaulding, Elisha Adams, H. H. Hartwell, Richard Rust, Henry Hill, John Currier, J. M. Buekley, Jonathan Hall, W. H. Thomas, H. L. Kelscy, D. C. Babcock, E. A. Smith, Jamcs Pikc, C. S. Pitblado, and G. N. Nor- ris. Rev. Mr. Babcock repaired the Elm-strcet church and Rev. G. N. Norris paid a final debt thercon. In 1879 Rev. E. A. Drew became pastor and May 1, 1882, St. Paul's church, corner of Union and Amherst streets, was occupied. His successors have been Rev. J. M. Avann, J. A. Wil- liams, J. M. Durrell and C. D. Hills. The church and parsonage are valued at $40,000. Improve- ments to the value of over $2,000 were made in the summer of 1895.
The Quarterly Conference, the highest local authority of the church, is composed of the follow- ing: Trustees,- B. F. Piper, president; John Ro- bertson, secretary; O. D. Knox, treasurer ; C. C. Babbitt, Miron B. McAllister, George Dearborn, C. P. Trickey, Frank T. Dickey, and George C. Kemp. Class Leaders, - Thomas Grundy, Miss A. Bernette Brown, George E. Cheney, F. R. Vose, M. B. McAllister, A. P. Tasker, J. Edgar Montgomery, Mrs. L. B. Sanborn, F. T. Dickcy, George C. Kemp and Mrs. Emma F. Smith. Stewards,- H. M. Woods, Thomas Stafford, O. W. Cushman, C. H. Cushman, G. M. Morey, M. D., F. R. Vosc, George A. Young, A. B. Johnson, A. G. Hood, Hugh W. Flack, C. H. Babbitt and George W. Lewis.
This was removed to the corner of Pine and Mcrri- mack streets. In 1842 the Elm-street building was erected. In 1855 the North Elm street M. E. Society was formed. In 1862 the two Elm-street societies united under the name of St. Paul's He spent two years at the Providence Conference
REV. CHARLES DUDLEY HILLS, D. D., was born in East Hartford, Conn. There he attended the common schools and the academy, and worked also on a farm and in the paper mill.
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Academy at East Greenwich, R. I., and graduated from the Classical High School of Hartford, and with honor from Wesleyan University, Middle- town, in 1863. Mr. Hills joined the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
REV. CHARLES D. HILLS, D. D.
1865, and the same year married Miss Emma J. Martin of Westfield, Mass. He has had pastoral charges in Northampton, Springfield, Woreester, Lynn, Lowell, and Boston. . He was for six years in the Troy Conference at Pittsfield, Mass., and Schenectady, N. Y. From Pittsfield he was transferred to the New Hampshire Conference and appointed to St. Paul's church in Manchester.
father's house, where he built several model loco- motive engines of the American type. One of these, which was but five inches long, was complete in every detail, with a tubular boiler exhausting into the smokestack, reverse gear, and link move- ment. Miniature yachts and steam launches also occupied much of his time, and these he sold in order to purchase tools. When between fifteen and sixteen years of age he became a clerk in the Seventh Ward National bank of New York city, in which institution he rapidly rose, filling various positions, including that of settling clerk at the clearing house, up to assistant receiving teller. But this life became monotonous, and at the age of nineteen years he entered the office of Mahlan Randolph, New York city, where he remained some years and obtained a valuable experience in various branches of engineering work. After
JAMES B. THURSTON was born in Easton, Penn., April 20, 1853, his parents removing JAMES B. THURSTON. to New York city during his early childhood. The common school education which he received having become the chief engineer in the office, he resigned and started in business for himself as a mechanical engineer and patent solicitor. He was successful in a high degree, and his business grew was supplemented by diligent reading and study, especially of mathematical and mechanical works. In early boyhood he developed marked talent for mechanics and fitted up a small shop in his ,so rapidly and made such inroads upon his health
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that in 1882 he was compelled to seek a change of and two children, Belle and John Donald, have climate. After a year's rest in Concord he opened been added to the family. an office there, and early in 1895 removed to Man- chester, where he has built up a remarkably fine business, which extends over America and Europe, with branch offices and correspondents in many W TILLIAM H. MARA, son of Henry and Mary Mara, was born in Cardiff, Wales, in November 1864. His parents coming to Man- countries. Being a natural born mechanic, and possessing a wide experience in mechanical engineering and an intimate acquaintance with the intricacies of patent law, Mr. Thurston has been enabled to render great assistance to hun- dreds of New Hampshire inventors.
JOHN A. McCRILLIS, son of John B. and Mary S. McCrillis, was born in Haverhill, Mass., Sept. 11, 1845. One year later his parents
JOHN A. M'CRILLIS.
moved to Manchester, and he has since lived here, being now a member of the firm of J. B. MeCrillis & Son. He was married Oct. 9, 1872, to Miss Mary M. Pearson of Newton, Mass.,
WILLIAM H. MARA.
chester when he was four years of age, he was educated in the common schools of this city and at the New Hampshire Business College. After leaving school he was employed for about a year in the Manchester Print Works, and then he learned the tailoring business with D. A. Plumer, with whom he remained about five years. In March, 1887, he formed a partnership with Richard J. Gallagher, and this relation continued until the latter's death, in May, 1891, since which time Mr. Mara has carried on the business alone. Nov. 28, 1893, he married Miss Pasha Sutton of Manchester, a native of Wales. Mr. Mara is a member of the Amoskeag Veterans, the Elks, and the Knights of Columbus.
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H ENRY B. FAIRBANKS, son of Hon. A. G. of that organization. and Harriet A. Fairbanks, was born in Man- Grand of Wildey Lodge No. 45, I. O. O. F. ; Past chester Oct. 10, 1847, and his education was Commander of Grand Canton Ridgely No. 2, Patriarchs Militant ; a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and of the Amoskeag Vet- erans; and was commissary sergeant on Major Burnham's staff. In politics he is a Republican, received in the north grammar and high schools of this city. Entering the service of the Daniels Hardware Company at the age of sixteen, he remained there five and a half years and then went to work for the John B. Varick Company. In and he has served two terms in the city council 1871 he went into partnership with Reed P. Silver in the manu- facture of hardwarc, and on the dissolution of the firm, at the end of a year, he engaged in the stove business with William T. Fol- som. This relation continued for five years, or until Mr. Fairbanks became en- gaged as an auctioneer. He had at last found his true vocation, and it was not long before his reputation as a ready and skilful auc- tioneer began to spread throughout New England. Mr. Fairbanks occupies large warerooms on Hanover street. He has made a specialty of real estate sales, and some of the heav- HENRY B. FAIRBANKS. iest transactions in that line in New Hampshire have been conducted through him. In addition to his auctioneering business, he has for the past ten years been very successful as a conductor of tourist excursions, and his tireless energy and public spirit have made him prominent on many important occasions, such, for instance, as Merchants' Week, when he has often served as chief marshal. He also served as chief marshal at the semi-centennial celebration of Manchester in 1896. As director of the Board of Trade he has contributed much to the efficiency
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