USA > Rhode Island > The lands of Rhode Island : as they were known to Caunounicus and Miantunnomu when Roger Williams came in 1636 : an Indian map of the principal locations known to the Nahigansets, and elaborate historical notes > Part 13
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Dr. Andrew Borde, for he was a physician, founded his "Merry Tale" upon a transaction which took place at Gotam, or Gotham, on the 3d October, in the 24th year of Henry VIII. This is the trans- . action :- "At a last Holden, at Westham, for the purpose of pre- venting unauthorized persons from setting nettes, pottes, and innoy- ances, or anywise taking fish, within the privilege of the march of Pevensey, the king's commission was directed to John prior of Lewes, Richard abbot of Begeham, John prior of Myehillym. Thomas Lord Dacre and others." Mr. Timbs relates that this meet- ing was held at Gotham ( Curiosities of History, 180). Thus it ap- pears that "Gotam" and "Westham" were in effect the same loca- tions. "A last holden" meant "day of meeting". The 24th of Henry VIII was 1532-3. From the record it is conclusive that from the year 1532 until 1630 the name had always been spoken Go-tam.
Frederick I. Furnivall, one of the most learned of recent English philogists, gives this title, "Merie Tale of the Mad Men of Gotam". as being the correct title of the only existing copy, that in the Bod- leian Library, at Oxford, printed in 1630. But other editions had existed since 1565 (Notes and Queries, Sth Series, v. 10, p. 211). The word was divided thus, Go-tam, the accent being on the first syllable. The transition was easy, to Goatom, as our earliest settlers wrote it. It is a serious tale of the wild silliness of fools for details oi ridiculous vagaries, the reader is referred to Brewer's Dictionary
:150
COLLEGE OF GOTAM.
of Phrase and Fable ; also to Notes and Queries, Ist Ser., v. 2, 520; aiso to Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction, p. 154.
While it is not necessary to my present purpose to enter upon the growth, development or genuineness of these tales, for the reason that whether true or false, that question changes not the force of my derivation, nevertheless it may not be without interest to give a few specimens of these tales.
In the year 1613. William Laud, who subsequently became Arch- bishop of Canterbury, was President of St. John's, Oxford, and a Royal Chaplain. There arose a frivolous controversy at Oxford. in which at last leading men became entangled, and Laud among the rest. In order to throw ridicule upon the controversy Laud wrote a satirical account of "the Foundation of Gotam college". In writ- ing the name, Gotam, Laud followed the spelling of the Bodleian copy. Moreover, he says that Gotam was "commonly so called in the mother tongue of that place." ( Notes and Queries, 3d Ser .. v. 5, p. 2.)
The founder of the College of Gotam "resolved to build the college in the air to save charges", "he got up into a tree, and borrowed a rook's nest for a cushion, to see the plot of the building, and the foundation laid" (Notes and Queries, Ser. 3. v. 5, p. 2). "When the King's Messengers arrived at Gotham they found the inhabitants engaged in endeavoring to drown an eel in a pool of water"; others were engaged in dragging carts upon a large barn to shade the wood from the Sun : others were engaged in hedging a cuckoo, which had perched upon a bush; the men had surrounded the bush, hold- ing each other by the hand to prevent the cuckoo from escaping : in short they were all employed upon some foolish way or other, which convinced the King's Messengers that it was a village of fools." (Notes and Queries, Ist Ser., v. 2, p. 520. )
In 1636, Englishmen came here to plant the town of Providence. Their plantations soon covered the banks of the fresh water streams, which here flowed into the salt waters of the Bay, and among them was the Woonasquatucket: it came then as it comes now, in the lowlands, lying between Notaquonckanet, and Sky High. now called Mount Pleasant. The situation suggested at once the action of the men of the town, which several of them had so recently left, in Henry
.
151
GOTTAM, WAS RITSON'S SPELLING.
VIII's 24th year. concerning fishing in the stream and the "prevent- ing of unauthorized persons from setting nettes, pottes, and innoy- ances or anywise taking fish within the March of Pevensey". The river, and the lay of the land, along the Woonasquatucket, at once brought to mind the action of the wise men of Gotam, with which they had been familiar all their lives, and which name Laud, had twenty years before, stated was pronounced as it stands at the head of this note -- Go-tam.
The earliest English Comedies were in their order Ralph Roister Doister; Gammer Gurton's Needle; Misogonus; and Ferrex and Porrex. The time of writing cannot be fixed, nor can the time of their earliest dramatic presentation. It is sufficient to say that the first three plays above named appeared between the years 1551 and 1567. In Misogonus alone lies our present interest. The scene is laid in Italy between Philogonus and his neighbor Eupelas. The first had a son, Misogonus, who was a wild rake, and Eupelas was giving advice to Philogonus as to effecting a reformation. In the household of Eupelas was Cacurgus, who was the domestic fool of the family, as Mr. Collier has described him. A scheme was sug- gested by a companion to take Misogonus "hunting two-legged venison". They went, but left the domestic fool Cacurgus behind them. Cacurgus began to make fun of Misogonus, saying among other things: "Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha! I must neds laughe in my slefe. The wise men of Gotum are risen againe."
Thus it is beyond question that the name Goatum, given by the earliest English settlers in what is now Olneyville, in Providence. was so pronounced in dramatic representation in London about 1551. ( Collier's English Dramatic Poetry before the time of Shakespeare. 2, 464-472. ) The name is printed Gottam by Ritson ( Robin Hood Ballads, p. 27). Mr. Ritson cites as his authority the Bodleian copy of the Merry Tales. It is also written Gottam by Coryat, in his Oration before Charles the First, when Duke of York, in 1611 ( Notes and Queries, Ist Ser. 2. 477). Mr. Halliwell says "Kemp applauded merriments of the Men of Goteham," and says it was printed in 1594. William Kemp was one of the original actors in Shakespeare's Plays. Such is the origin of the local name in Providence in 1670.
152
HIPSES ROCK-HESPERUS.
HIPSES ROCK.
(9)
It was the "most western" bound fixed "in his own person" by Miantinomi to the lands Deeded to Roger Williams. In a bright green pasture and within siglit of the westernmost foot of Nota- quonckanet Hill stands Hipses Rock. It is a huge isolated rock beneath which was once a cavernous space sufficient for men to stand beneath. This space is now partly filled with sand. The first impulse is to think the naine comes from that of some woman, possibly Hephzibah. Following this impulse the writer searched all the records of early families dwelling near that place; but with no success. No name resembling Hepsy or Hephzibah could be found. There must be therefore some other origin. Those carly English- men were much given to curious nomenclature. There is in the immediate neighborhood of Hipses Rock a place called by them Venter. This place is beside the Woonasquatucket river, just below the present village of Manton. There the river broadens, making an expanse somewhat resembling a pond. Venter is a Latin word meaning the belly, or paunch, or, as the learned Riddle wrote, "any- thing in the shape of a belly ; or a protuberance ; or a swelling". At this spot the Woonasquatucket swelled. and the people called it Venter. Goatom is another name given to a neighboring locality. the origin of which must be sought in the earliest dramatic literature of England. The name Hipses came probably from the Latin word Hesperius, meaning towards the west, or the most western point. 'and this is just what Hipses rock was, among these bounds which Miantinomi personally fixed just before he was murdered, to the lands covered in the Deed from Canonicus and himself to Roger Williams. The Deed to Williams gave Notaquonckanet Hill as one of the bounds; but Hipses rock brought the entire hill. with thousands of acres of land, within the purchase. The name appears in an agreement made between the original proprietors of the town of Providence and the Pawtuxet proprietors, chiefly the same in- dividuals, dated 31st March, 1665. It also appears in the document Salus Populi ( Early Records, v. 2, p. 72), which document bears no date, but which must have been written after March, 1660, and
-
"HIPSES ROCK." Hesperus, The Most Western Bound.
153
THE ROCK HIPPESSES.
before the close of the year 1665. This Document with absolute certainty preceded the agreement of 1665 above referred to, hence it must be the earliest recorded evidence concerning the names of the boundaries, "set in his own person" by Miantinomi, and to which those names were in that document given.
It next appears in the Town Agreement, which is in these words (Early Rec., v. 3, p. 61) : "Agreed that the line of difference shall be runn between them from the end of that line already sett betweene the Town of Providence and the men of Pawtuxett neere unto Pauchassett river: and from thence upon a straight line unto a Rock called Hippsses Rock which Rock is about three quarters of a inile westward from the farme howse of Joseph Wise where Henry Fowler now liveth which house standeth upon the hill called Neota- conquonitt-but if in running of the said line the said rock shall fall nearer, or further off from the widest way between the river called Pawtuxet, and the river called Wanasquatuckitt then the line shall be fixed in midst between the two rivers against the said Rock-and that shall be the line". Two other early Documents refer to Hipsey's Rock as a boundary. In 1706, William Hopkins made an agreement concerning the lines bounding the "Lappum land"-which land was "neare up the line of Pawtuxet, on the north side of a due west line from (the called) Hippses Rock" ( Early Rec .. v. 4, p. 78). in 1674, Daniel Williams gave a Deed of "one three acre lot lieing beyond a place called Newdaconanet. neare unto a place called Hipses Rock" ( Early Rec., v. 4, p. 191). The form "Hippesses" appears in a deposition made by Epenetus Olney for William Harris to be used in his suits for these lands (Col. R. I. Hist Soc. 10. p. 92).
HORN HEAP.
Potter (Early Hist. Narrag., 303) defines it as the northwest corner of the Pettaquamscut purchase and "so called from a pair of buck's horns placed on the pile when first erected". There are three different deeds from the Indians of this purchase, 1657-1657-1661. but this bound does not appear in either Deed. The writer after much research has failed to locate it, and hence has not placed it upon the map. It is here noted because of the frequency of its mention in the later English conveyances.
154
HACKLETON'S OR HACKINGTON'S LIME KILNE.
HAKEWAMEPINKE.
Another name for the Indian locality. Aspanansuck, where Wawaloam, the Queen of Miantinomi, lived. See "Aspanansuck."
HIACKLETON'S LIME KILNE. A. D. 1665.
This is not Indian, but it is interesting and new to the present generation. See "Setamachut."
KICKEMUET. (19)
The extreme northwesterly part of Mount Hope Bay has an armi extending north, now known as the Kickemuet river. Along the banks of this river summer visitors have built their habitations where once stood the wigwams of the Wampanoags. The name is Indian-it may not be without interest to devote a few moments to the consideration of it. The earliest mention of the name in the annals of the English settlers appears in a deed of the territory lying near and including it, given by Massasoit and his son Wamsutta to certain distinguished men of Plymouth, of whom Governor Brad- ford was one, for thirty-five pounds sterling. The date of the deed is 29th March, 1653, and the name was thus spelled, Kickamuct ( Bailey's Hist. Plym. Bk. 2, p. 234). Fessenden (Hist. Warren ) reproduces this deed (page 56) and spells the word Kickomuet. Here are two variations in transcribing the same document.
In 1660 Wamsutta made complaint to the Plymouth Colony of the damage done by English "swine on the neckes called Anna- wamscutt and Kekamewett ( Plym. Col. Rec., v. 3, p. 192). In this connection the Record reads: "Near by was a spring called Keka- menest." (Plym. Col. Rec., v. 5, p. 248.) The Recorder at Ply- mouth notes the sending of Lieut. Hunt and Joseph Peck to "view the damage done" by swine "on Kickamuet neck" ( Plym. Col. Rec .. v. 2. p. 209). which is described in these same records as being in the entrance of "Mount Hope Necke." 1679. (Vol. 6, p. 16.) It
155
KICKEMUET.
was then spelled Kekamuett, and is also spelled at about the same time Kockamuett (vol. 6, p. 29). Capt. Church, writing about 1715, a History of King Philip's War, speaking of the advance of the Plymouth soldiers, says: "They marched until they came to the narrow of the neck at a place called Keekamuit ( Church's Hist. ed. 1772, p. 13). This word is spelled differently in Church's History, the edition of 1716, which was the rfist-thus Keckkamuit (page 6).
John Callender, writing in 1739, says: "Both Philip and his chief old men were utterly averse to the war, and they shew the spot. Kikemuit spring, in a farm belonging to Stephen Paine, Esq., of Bristol, where Philip received the news of the first Englishmen that were killed with grief and sorrow, and wept at the news." { Hist. Disc. Ist ed., 1739, p. 73.) See also Hist. Soc. Col. R. 1., v. 4, p. 126. This note, written within a lifetime following the event, destroy's whole pages of tradition, which has been formulated into "history" since Callender's time. This note, written by Mr. Callender, is in direct conflict with what he wrote in the body of the text concerning Philip's aversion to the war. The picture of Philip's weeping is extremely touching.
The Rev. Jeremy Belknap, writing in 1798, says: "The principal seat of Massasoit was at Sowams and Kikemuit. ( American Biog- raphy, v. 2, p. 221.)
In 1822 the Rev. Samuel Deane, in a communication to the Mass. Hist. Soc. (Collections, Sec. Ser., v. 10, p. 174), incidentally touches the word Keekamuit, as he writes it. Mr. Deane says : "That wutohkekum, the Massachusetts and Narragansett name for `a spring,' is derived from wuttatash, 'drink,' and kikegat, 'day' or 'clearness,' that is, a clear spring, the aboriginal name of Bristol, R. I.".
Mr. S. G. Drake, writing in 1827, says: "Keekamuit now the upper part of Warren which has been taken from Bristol. It is called on the map of R. I., Kickemuet, or rather the bay which makes the neck on one side is so called; Warren river makes the other side." ( Hist. Philip's War, 1827, p. 34. ) Alexander Young. writing in 1841, follows Mr. Belknap's note (Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 208). Mr. Guy M. Fessenden, writing in 1845, says:
-
156
TOKEKOMMUIT.
"On this ( Mount Hope) neck were three Indian villages, viz .. Montop located near the mount; Kikemuit, around a spring of that name; and Sowams, or Sowamset, pronounced S'womset, on the spot where the village of Warren now stands." ( Hist. Warren, p. 13.) Mr. Fessenden again refers to the word (page 65). Dr. Usher Parsons, writing in 1861, gives the form Kickamuit, which he says means "a back river," but what that means, Dr. Parsons does not inform us. He cites G. A. Brayton as authority that the name was applied to the "Apponang Mill Stream," for which probably there is no authority. Then Dr. Parsons says "it is a river in the north part of Warren," and "it is a spring at the extreme N. E. part of Bristol a few rods from the Warren line. In the Narra- gansett dialect springs were called Watchkecum, clear spring Mishamuit. On the other side of the bay (that is, the region where Kickamuet is) springs were called Dashmuit, Ashimuit : but Kicka- muit means clear spring." (Parsons's Indian Names, p. 15. ) This note came wholly from Mr. Deane's note, and is full of errors. Dr. Parsons gives two entirely different nieanings : surely both cannot be correct.
In 1865 Mr. H. M. Dexter edited an edition of Church's Hist. King Philips War. In a foot note ( Part I, page 6) Dexter presents Fessenden's note, adds a note of his own, which only confuses the case, and cites Trumbull in denial of Dr. Parsons, when Parsons said Kikemuit means "a black river." "No," says Trumbull, it has lost an initial syllable. Tokekommuit signifies "at the spring or water source," and Hammond refers to Eliot's Indian Bible for the word Tohkekom. Eliot's Bible was published in 1663. Mr. Dexter gives in his Index to Church another form. thus. Keekkamuit. This, as is shown above, is in agreement with the text of Church's first edition.
In 1643, twenty years before the publication of Eliot's Indian Bible, Roger Williams published his Key into the Indian Language, and to this day it stands at the very head of authorities concerning the philology of that language. Mr. Williams says Takekum means "a spring." Takekummuo means "is there a spring." Eliot gave Tohkekum. Mr. Trumbull was right, the first syllable has been lost. Ta and a last syllable, uit, has been added, thus Kekumuit.
.
157
KITTACKQUAMUCKOPETTE.
which means perhaps at or around the spring, and was the name of the Indian village.
Plymouth Colony had claimed jurisdiction. in spite of the charter of 1663, to all lands on the eaftern side of Narragansett Bay. In 1691, the Massachusetts Colony by a trick swallowed Plymouth, and for half a century pressed her claim to these lands. In 1746 the King of England, by his Council, threw out the Massachusetts claim and gave jurisdiction to Rhode Island. In 1755 the Colony of Rhode Island enacted a law to prevent the setting of seines in Kikamuit river-so it is printed (Col. Rec. 5, 472). But in the Acts and Resolves, February, 1755, the word is printed Kekemuit (page 79). The law provides "that no sein shall be set or drawn in Kekemuit river within half a mile's distance from the said nar- rows called Little's and Mason's Narrows."
KITACKAMUCKOUT. (31)
This name appears but twice in our early records ; both times in the Deed of Acquidnec Island given by Canonicus and Miantinomi to William Coddington and his friends, 24th March, 1637. The original manuscript is not known to be in existence; but the docu- ment was recorded on the Portsmouth Records by Richard Sherman 20th April, 185 -. Mr. Sherman certified his record to be a true copy, of a copy, of the Original Deed. The word is thus spelled, I am now resting upon the Records of Portsmouth as printed in 1901 (pp. 55-56).
Kittackquamuckquiet-Kittackquamuckopette.
The document also printed in the Rhode Island Colonial Records. v. 1, pp. 45-46, thus gives the name :
Kitackamuckqutt-Kitickamuckqutt.
The editor does not state whence he made his copy. It certainly was not made from the original. In the two records the word is given four times, and each time different in form. The recorders certainly copied from something which they saw, and not from a spoken sound, which came through the ear. There is certainly no
158
LOUISQUISSET-LOQUASQUOCIT.
excuse for such work. The original Deed was probably written by Roger Williams. He negotiated with the Sachems for it, and was one of the witnesses to the signatures. His handwriting was clear and distinct : and his experience in writing into English letters the sounds of the utterances of the Indians was more acute and much greater than any other man possessed. It will illustrate how so much corruption has crept into the spelling of Indian names. This locality is placed on our map at the most north point of Aquidnec Island (31). This at first might seem to be an error; because having deeded the island there was no necessity of giving the English permission "to cut the grass upon the rivers and coves about Kitackamuckqut". This, however, seems to be overcome by the declaration of the two great Sachems that their title to the Island rested upon the "subjecting of the dead Sachems of Aquidnec and Kitackamuckqut, themselves and land unto us". This must fix the location of Kitackamuckqut on the Island.
LOQUASSUCK-LOQUASQUOCIT. (6)
There is scarcely a peculiar name in Rhode Island, in these latter days, which has awakened more curiosity as to its derivation and meaning than Louisquisset. It is the name of a road or highway running from Providence northerly, and west from the Blackstone river. In the early records the name often appears, and always in connection with that locality. Some years since, Mr. W. E. Foster applied to Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, the ablest student of Indian Philology then living, for its explanation ; but Dr. Trumbull could not give it, remarking that "in its modern shape it is unintelligible and corrupt beyond conjecture of its original Indian origin." (R. I. Hist. Tract, Ist Ser. Pt. 19-1, page 23.) A reference to this diffi- culty made in Book Notes not long since fell under the eye of Mr. W. W. Tooker of Sag Harbor, N. Y., who has much interest in such matters ; he applied to the writer for a history of the word: the writer gave also to Mr. Tooker the varieties in spelling which the oldest of our records disclosed, believing that in this variety of spelling lay hidden the phonetic sounds, which possibly might give
159
LOQUASSUCK, A NIPMUCK BOUND.
a real clue to the meaning of the word. Mr. Tooker then sent the writer this letter :
My Dear Sir, -- The abstracts from the early records containing the various forms of the name Louisquissett are very good, and afford sufficient data for my purpose. I can now, as the lawyers say, prepare my case.
There can be no doubt whatever but that the word, in the form as it has come down to us, belongs to the Nipmuck dialect. 111 fact, there is some evidence, which seems now unnecessary to quote, that the locality itself was within the bounds of the Nipmuck country. Evidence is ample that the Nipmucks invariably sounded the L. Roger Williams's Key gives us some instances of this by inserting some words containing this letter, which he evidently oh- tained from the Nipmuck Indians. (See Narr. Club Ed. R. W.'s Key, pp. 58. 168. 170, 172.)
The various spellings, Loquassuck, 1646; Loisquisset, 1658; Loquasqusuck, 1667; Locquoset, (no date) ; Loqusqusset, Locas- quiset, 1672; Loquasqusuck, 1685, 1702, shows that the phonetic elements are probably more correctly represented in the longer forms. The word, as evidenced by its terminal, is in the diminutive form of the locative case ; that is to say, -- is, is the diminutive,-uck, the locative; Roger Williams, however, was not constant in the use of this locative, as lie varies it as,-it,-ick, et, ut, and uck (sce Trumbull's Note. RW"'s Key. Narr. Club Ed. p. 33). Therefore,- . is-uck, or is-et, signifies "at or about," [a fixed locality, not an ex- tended country]. Now we have confronting us the main verbal root Loquas-, with a grammatical formative-qu. The sounds of q in both of these elements are sometimes represented in various dialects by K. By substituting the Narragansett .V for its alternate / in the Nipmuck, we have the word Noquasqusuck, or Nocasquiset. Taking all these facts into consideration, as we must, we then find that the verbal root, with its formative, noquasqu, or nocas-qu, is the parallel of the Narragansett Nokus-kau, or Nockus-kaw, "to meet." "to come together." (Narr. Club, Ed. RW's Key, p. 100. ) For comparison. we have in the Delaware ( Zeisberge ) nakisgauwcan. "to meet him"; Otchipwe ( Baraga ) nin-nagishkawa, "I meet him" : Abnaki Rashes ) n&naskrSan. Je le rencontre en chemin: Cres
---
160
THE FURTHER NEEPMUCKS.
( Lacombe ) Nakiskacw, rencontre. Therefore, from this study, we have the whole name in the Narragansett Vokus-kaut-is-uck, or Nockus-kaw-is-uck, "at the place of meeting." Which. as stated in the record of 1646, by "Gregory Dexter, Thomas Olney, Roger Williams, and Robert Williams, in a word of truth and faithfulness," was "an Indian plantation lying northwest of a parcel of land claimed by Ousamequin" ( R. I. Col. Rec. v. I. p. 33). It was un- doubtedly one of the Indian palisaded inclosures or forts-a place of refuge for the Indians of that vicinity. Roger Williams may have met and preached to the Indians there.
Yours very truly, W. WALLACE TOOKER.
The writer cannot strengthen the argument of Mr. Tooker in a philological way, being no philologist, but he will do what he can in the way of historical research. Mr. Tooker says the word is of the Nipmuck dialect. and hence must apply to the country of the Nipmucks. The Nipmucks, or Nopnats, or Nipnots, or Neepnucks. or Neepmoogs, as the name is variously spelled, occupied a territory covering the northern portion of Rhode Island, extending to and beyond Worcester, and thence southwesterly into Connecticut. even to the banks of the Connecticut river. Roger Williams, in a letter to John Winthrop in 1637, writes of the "further Neepmucks" ( Letters, p. 28). and the "hither Nipmucks" ( Letters, p. 29). He says, Wunnashowtucket is the place of the "further Neepmucks." and that there "the enemy shelters and has forts," and he tells Winthrop that these Indians are equi-distant from Providence and Boston. Trumbull. in his Indian Names, has this word Wunna- showatuckqut. which locality he says is in Worcester county, and says the word means "at the crotch of the river, and probably refers to the forks of the Blackstone."
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