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 22
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254
THE SEVEN MILE LINE.
know ; by the melting of this glacier the bed of the Woonasqua- tucket and Solitary Hill was formed. Not a vestige of this Hill now remains, but the scratches of the glacier still exist upon the rocks of the Ilill Sky High.
THE SEVEN MILE LINE.
This line was established at a town meeting (not by the Town Council) of the Proprietors or Free Men of the town of Provi- dence, 14th May, 1660 (Early Rec. 2, 128, 129). Thomas Harris, a brother of William Harris, was Moderator, or Presiding officer, of the meeting, or, as it called itself, "This present Assembley". The laws read "that the bounds of this town of Providence for the first division shall be set from the hill called Foxes Hill, seven miles upon a west line, and at the end of the west line to go upon a 'strait' line north unto Pawtucket river, and upon a 'straight' line south unto Pawtuxet river. And all the lands beyond these bounds present fixed according to our Deeds to be disposed of as this town shall see cause, any former land, or clause therein to the contrary notwithstanding" ( Early Rec. 2, 129). Foxes Hill was the spot where now stands the Home for Aged Women in Providence. The point of departure of the line was the source of the Pocasset river, then known as the "Great Cedar Swamp," a name then common, like Sugar Loaf Hill, to every group of settlers. The English then called the Pocasset stream the "Cedar Swamp Brook," a name which did not long continue, notwithstanding it appears on the Walling map of 1855. The actual distance of the line from Foxe's Hill was eight and a half miles. The fixing of this line was the next succeeding step following the three "Confirmation" Deeds, as they were named, dated 29th May, 1659: 13th August, 1659 ; Ist Decem- ber, 1659. The Sachem who signed the first deed above was Cojonaquand, a son of Canonicus ; it was thought best in considera- tion of his degraded condition, to obtain the signature of his son also. This was secured on the 28th April. 1660. Sixteen days later the Town Meeting was held which fixed the Seven Mile Line, a brother of William Harris presiding. It is necessary to understand why these three Deeds were called "Confirmation Deeds" and to understand what they confirmed.
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255
LINE CAUSED BY THE "CONFIRMATION" DEEDS.
There is an undated clause (and not signed by the Grantors) underneath the Deed given by Canonicus and Miantinomi to Roger Williams in this language: "This was all again confirmed by Miantinomi he acknowledged this his act and up the stream of Pawtucket and Pawtuxet without limit we might have for our use of cattle" (R. I. Hist. Tract, Sec. Ser. 4, 21). The date on the recorded copy of this Deed and the signature of Roger Williams are both forgeries. It was this transaction which led to the personal fixing of bounds, consisting of natural objects, by Miantinomi and set forth in a preceding paper. William Arnold and Wil- liam Harris advanced the theory that this phrase, used in the preceding clause, to wit, "Up the stream of Pawtucket and Paw- tuxet without 'limmits' we might have for our use of cattle," was an absolute conveyance to Williams and by him to the thirteen first Proprietors. If admitted it conveyed all the lands in Rhode Island north of what is now the town of Exeter. But it was denied by Williams and by every other honest man in the town. Thereupon, secretly, William Harris obtained by a sufficiency of Wampum the three Deeds from the Sachems who had succeeded Canonicus and Miantinomi, confirming his view that these great Sachems did intend to convey to Williams "all the land between the streams of these rivers and up these streams without limits for their use of cattle-as feeding, ploughing, planting, all manner of Plantations whatsoever" (R. I. Hist. Tract, Sec. Ser. 4. 75). A tract of land about sixteen (16) by twenty-eight (28) miles thus came into the possession of the "men of Providence and the men of Pawtuxet". There were 450 square miles ; about 300,000 acres of land. Eight-thirteenths of these lands would have gone as - private property to Arnold, and Harris, and three or four of their associates. Such was the prize. The Seven Mile Line was to prevent new men admitted as Freemen to any ownership in the lands west of it, unless specifically sold by the real owners. The land and the line remained, but the scheme collapsed ; but it was after a long struggle.
SHANNOCK. (26)
This is now the name of a post village in the southerly bound of
256
SHANNOCK-ASHUNAIUNK
the town of Richmond. It was first given in our histories by Judge Potter (Ilist. Narrag. p. 305) in 1835. Judge Potter says, "still so called," but he does not inform us what is still so called, nor since when it was originally so called ; then he follows with this: "Mishanneke, a squirrel? Key 95," by which he means that by referring to Williams's Key to the Indian Language, page 95, you will find the word, Misshanneke, which means a squirrel, and he makes a querry, whether this word Shannock was not thus derived and has that meaning. Judge Potter has also noted in this con- nection the Indian word given by Mr. Williams in the 12th chapter of the Indian Key, Mishannock, which Williams defines as the "Morning Starre". It is evident that Judge Potter thought that the modern Shannock came from one of these words.
Next came Dr. Usher Parsons in 1861, with Shannock, which name he applies to a river in North Stonington, Conn., notwith- standing he is giving only Indian names in Rhode Island, and with Dr. Parsons the query by Potter becomes actual assertion. He says the word means "squirrel river".
Then came the Rev. Mr. Denison in 1878, and gives the word, which he applies to "Hills in the southeast corner of Richmond," signifies "squirrel," thus following Parsons, who had stamped cer- tainty upon Potter's guess.
Then came Dr. Trumbull, with his "Indian Names of Con- necticut," 1881, with the words Shannock and Shunock, which he says is a river in North Stonington, Conn. He says the word is equivalent to the Mohegan word Shawweunk, which means "place where two streams meet." Dr. Trumbull also gives Shanock applied to a hill in the southerly part of Richmond, west of Ashuiunk [ Charles] river, for which statement Trumbull quotes Parsons (page 10) ; at this place Parsons gives the word "Ashunaiunk, a river in Richmond, probably Beaver river." Then continues Trum- bull: "Transferred from the river, or rather from the point of junction of Wood and Charles rivers," wherein Trumbull is con- fused, or the explanations cease to explain. The third notice of the word Shannuck which Trumbull gives is to a "river so called by the Indians, and by the English, Paugatuck," for which he quotes a Report of a "Connecticut" Committee on the Narragansett lands
ASQUEEBAPAGUCK. 257
made in 1677. The language of this report on these points is as follows :
"Allsoe we have taken a survey of a place called by the Indians Chippachoog, in which tract of land are meadows lying in two places, one being a boggy mead, by which are severall playnes of very good land for corn, which place will give entertaynment suffi- cient to six score familyes at least; the said tract of land lying southwest from the Sunk Squaw's (Quaiapen) plantation, being about eight miles from the harbor at Capt. Hudson's house, that land being bounded by a great pond, Asqueebapaguck (probably Worden's), on the west and on the northernmost branch of a river called by the Indians, Shannuck, and by the English, Paugatuck.
"Alsoe we apprehend that on the west of Shannuck, alias Pau- gatuck river, being situate on the west of the foresayd Chippachoog, there is sufficient land both meadow and upland to accommodate four score families." (R. I. Col. Rec., v. 2, p. 596.)
Possibly, this matter can be more clearly stated. There is a river emptying into Little Narragansett Bay, thence into Long Island Sound, which river separates Rhode Island from Connecticut at this point, and separating the towns of Westerly, Charlestown, and South Kingstown from Stonington, Hopkinton, and Richmond. This river is now known as the Pawcatuck. In 1677 the Indians called this river, Shannuck, and the English called it Paugatuck. The English application of a name has survived. On a map of 1824 a portion of this river, that running from Worden's pond to the mouth of Wood river, was called "Charles" river, and it is to this section that Trumbull has in 1881 applied the name. Shewunck is a spelling given in R. I. Colony Records 4, 278.
Strangely enough, this word Paugatuck is omitted by Trumbull from his Indian Names. It is surely Indian ; possibly it was applied to the lower Pawcatuck, while to the upper portion the name Shan- nuck was given.
In further illustration of the word Alshuniunk, Potter says it was either Beaver or Usquepaug river. This latter was the continuation of the Parecatuck above Worden's pond. The earliest mention of Ashuniunk, a river, occurs in the Indian deed. Wanumachon, to Stanton, in 1662. (Potter's Narragansett, p. 66.)
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258
SOGKONATE-SEACONNET.
The interpretation of the word Shannock, as rendered by Parsons and Denison, from Potter's query, "Squirrel," is rejected by Trum- bull. He says: "You need not hesitate to reject his (Dr. Parsons) interpretation. The name of an animal was never used by the Indians as the name of a place (locality) or river. They might give to woodlands or to a hill the designation of 'a place where squirrels are plenty' or to the like; but they did not call hill. wood- land, or river, a squirrel." ( Rhode Island Census, 1885, page 95.)
It is positively certain that in the earliest period of any Englishi knowledge of these lands, the Indians knew two specific streams by precisely similar names, -- Paugatuck or Shannock; or it is equally certain that in applying these names to two different rivers the Englishmen have become confused. The names appear in the earliest records in North Stonington, Conn., and also to a much larger stream in Southwestern Rhode Island.
There is a spelling, "Shawnuck," applied to a river in Connecticut flowing south and emptying into the Pawcatuck. It is upon a map which appears in Bowen's Boundary Disputes, page 46, and is therein written in a document dated 1720. In this same document which appears the name, "Ashewag" river, a name now written Asheway.
SOGKONATE. (35)
The southeasternmost point of Rhode Island is a rocky mass extending into the Atlantic Ocean known by sundry names now best expressed by the word Saconet. Recent inquiry has induced the writer to print this note concerning the origin and evolution of the word. The earliest mention of it in colonial annals occurs in Plym. Col. Rec., v. 5, p. 216, where is recorded in 1661 the "pur- chase att Saconett." The next year, 1662, an Indian complained to the colonial government that Wamsitta had sold his (this Indian's) land at Saconett ; later in the same year occurs another reference to the place, referring to "all those lands from Cape Codd to Saconett Point" ( Plm. Col. Rec .. v. 4. pp. 17-62). This same spelling appears in the caption to an agreement between the colonial government and Awashonks, the famous Squaw Sachem, made in
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259
SEACONNET-SACONET.
1671 (Mass. Hist. Col. Ist Ser., v. 5, p. 193; also Plym. Col. Rec., v. 5, p. ). Increase Mather write, in 1676, a History of the War with the Indians. In the edition of this work, published in 1862. edited by S. G. Drake, the word is spelled Sakonet (p. 170) ; this same book, at page 172, gives Cotton Mather's History of the sanie war, in which the word is rendered Saconet ; the same form appears in Mather's Magnalia, folio, London, 1702, p. 53, seventh book. In 1677. Hubbard's Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians was published in London ; at pages 105, 106, is given this same form, Sakonet; an edition of Mr. Hubbard's Narrative was published at Boston in 1775, in which the word was corrupted to Seaconet. On the 6th June, 1682, the "inhabitants of Saconet" were incorporated- "shalbe a towneship" were the words of the law ( Plym. Col. Rec., v. 6, p. 88). This same form is found on a manuscript Chart now in the British Foreign Records Office, which chart was made in July. 1684. The History of Philip's War, by Capt. Church, was published in 1716; the name appeared in the book in this extraor- dinary form-Sogkonate,-and so it appears in all the editions of Capt. Church's book ; it was the result of the general ignorance so prevalent at the beginning of the 18th century. The second edition of Capt. Church's book, published in 1772, has a Life of Capt. Church, written by President Stiles, in which the name is given, Seconet. There was printed in the Mass. ITist. Col., 3d ser., v. 6. p. 188, a narrative of the Indian and French wars, written by Mr. Niles, who died in 1762; he wrote the name, Saconet. On the . Harris map of Rhode Island, 1795, the name is given, Seakonet, and the same form is given on the Blaskowitz chart. London, 1777. Morse, in the American Gazetteer, 1804, says "Seconnet, or Sea- konnet": Pease in the Gazetteer of Rhode Island, 1819, page 356. says "the Indian name was Seconnet"; in this Gazetteer was in- serted Lockwood's map of Rhode Island, on which the name is
given Seakonnet. There is a paragraph about the Saugkonnet Indians in Mass. Hist. Coll., Ist Ser., v. 10, p. 114, written by sonie one probably concerned in the publication of the volume in ISog: in the very same paragraph the name is twice given, Saconet, cleverly showing the looseness of writers. The form, Sogkonate, used by Capt. Church, again appears in Mass. ITist. Coll., Ist Ser., v. 9,
ـاهـ
260
SAUGHKONNET IN 1870.
p. 204, which was published in 1804. In the edition of Morton's N. E. Memorial, published in 1826, edited by Davis, there is printed (page 480) a list of the original Corporations or Plantations in Plymouth Colony ; Saconet is one of them. In this list Judge Davis states that this Saconet plantation was annexed to Rhode Island in 1741 ; this is an error; the decree of the King bears date 1746. Francis Baylies, writing his History of Plymouth Colony, 1830, uses the form Saconet,-book I, p. 44, and again book 3, p. 3, and again book 4. p. 17. Mr. Baylies says, "the Indian name of Little Compton was Saconet" ; in a foot note, book 4, p. 62, Mr. Baylies says, "Col. Church writes the name Sogkonate, which was probably conformable to the Indian pronunciation." S. G. Drake, a volumi- nous writer upon Indian matters, uses in his Indian Biography, 1832, the form. Sogkonates (p. 341) ; in his Old Indian Chronicle, 1837, pages 73, 74, Seconets ; in his Book of Indians, 1841, book 3. p. 65, Sogkonate; in a foot note, same page, Mr. Drake says "com- monly called Seconet." In the Report of the U. S. Coast Survey for the year 1870, the name is three times written Saughkonnet-a corruption original with the individual who wrote the Report; in this volume is the chart made by the Government Coast Survey, and first issued in 1873, the name is given Sakonnet. The publishers of the Asher & Adams Atlas, 1872, followed the original corruption of the Report of the U. S. Coast Survey, Sanghkonnet-probably a joke of some boy in the Government employ. Gray's Atlas, 1878, gives "Sakonnet,". or "Seaconnet," as the name of the "Point". The Rhode Island Manual, first issued in 1872-3, gave the name, Seaconnet, and so it still continues. The easternmost arm of Nar- ragansett Bay upon the earliest maps, down to the Coast Survey chart of 1873, always appeared as the "East Passage"; on this Government chart this water was given the name Sakonnet River. and so on all the later atlases it is as now appears. Concerning the meaning of the name nothing is known. Dr. Usher Parsons is the only person who has ever attempted to define the word; his defini- tion is given in his "Indian Names of Places in Rhode Island," page 5. thus: "Sogkonate is compounded of Seki, 'black,' and konk, 'goose,' and the syllable et is a locative; thus Seki-konk-et. Seconknet, Seconet, equivalent to 'black-goose-place.'" This defini-
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A RIDICULOUS DEFINITION-SOWAMSET. 261
tion is ridiculed by Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull (see Church's Philip's War, edition of 1865, edited by H. M. Dexter, page 2) : but Trumbull attempted no definition. I have stated above that Sakonet River, on the Coast Survey chart, had always appeared under the name, East Passage, before the issue of that chart, but there is one exception ; on the Blaskowitz chart of 1777 the name Seakonnet Passage was given to it. It was to this passage that the Northmen gave the name H'op. See the account under the head herein of Mount Hope.
SOWAMS-SOWAMSET. (19)
This was the name of an undefined land on which the town of Warren stands today. In all the earlier records it will be observed that Sowams, Kickamuet and Pokanoket were always used in con- nection ; and the fact of contiguity, and all lying casterly of the Warren, or as it was first known, the Sowams, River, points clearly to Warren as Sowams. The land was bought from Massasoit in 1653 (Fessenden's Hist. Warren, R. I., 56). There has been much controversy concerning the precise locality of Sowams-some con- tending for Warren; other contending for Barrington; and still others Mount Hope. Fessenden ( Hist. of Warren, 1845) makes a strong case for Warren. But one of the reasons on which he rests is comical. He says : "A map of New England originally published in 1677, republished in 1826, in Morton's Memorial (Davis's ed.), has a crown marked upon it to denote the residence of the principal Sachem: this crown is not placed on the seaward end of Mount Hope or any other neck ; nor is it on the west side of Warren River, but exactly where Warren stands" (page 26). When this map was printed Massasoit had been dead sixteen years; Alevander, his son, fifteen years; and Philip, his other son, one year; but there is no pretence that King Philip ever lived at Warren.
The earliest mention in recorded history of the name of Sowams, or its variations, occurs in the Patent granted to Plymouth settlers, 13th January, 1629. The phrases are, "The mouth of the said river called Narragansetts river to the utmost limitts and bounds of a
262
MISHAWOMET-SHAWOMET.
country or place in New England called Pokanocutt, alias Sowam- sett ;" again, "as the utmost limits of the said place commonly called Pokenocutt alias Sowamsett" ( Plym. Col. Laws, p. 23). Concern- ing the meaning of the word Sowams, Mr. Tooker thinks it means "South Country or Southward-". Mr. Tooker doubtless derives his idea from Williams's Indian word, Sownvanin, which means southwest-but Mr. Trumbull defines it to mean "a place of Beach trees". How it is possible to reach two conclusions so very different shows how difficult it is for modern scholars to discover the meaning of Indian words, or to construct sentences in the Indian languages. There was a pond not far from the present town of Warren with the Indian name Assowamset.
SENECHATACONET.
(3)
It was the Indian name of the land once called the Attleborough Gore, now the town of Cumberland, R. I. It came by the Rehoboth north purchase made in 1661. Plymouth then held it, but it came to Rhode Island by the charter of Charles the Second in 1663 (Daggett's Hist. Attleborough, 15). The jurisdiction of it in Rhode Island was not acknowledged by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which body had "swallowed" the Plymouth Colony. The in- habitants desired to be within the Government of Rhode Island, and so petitioned many times (Digest of R. I. Laws, 1730, p. 213). The King fixed the bounds in 1746.
SHAW-OMET.
It is the name given by the Indians to the lands sold to Samuel Gorton and his eleven companions in 1642. This fact appears in Simplicities' Defence, London, 1646 (p. 31). The word is there written Shawo-met. On page 33 of the same book it is divided as it stands at the head of this note. Mr. Trumbull prints this note concerning the word: "Mishawomut, contracted to Showomet, the name of Gorton's purchase of Warwick Neck, describes a 'place to which boats go,' generally. a landing place at an indentation of the coast on one side of a peninsula or point of land. In Boston, the
I wish to correct a singular blunder :nade by myself in giving the date of the birth of Stephen Hopkins. I gave it as being in the year 1710. I followed the Rev C. C. Beaman ( History of Scituate, p. 9.) The correct date is 1707, careless- ly I relied on Beaman without any in- vestigation; I have learned better since 1 did it in this Hopkins case. Beaman himself blundered; for he gave the cor- rect date in this same History of Scitu- ate (page 17). My error was under the name Setuat. ( Indian Lands as Known to the great Sachems, (p. 263.)
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263
SAWGOGUE, THE HOME OF CANONCHET.
same name (written Mishawomuck ) has been corrupted to Shaa'- mat, and Boston men prefer to derive this from an imaginary Indian word which they believe to mean 'a great spring.'" ( Pot- ter's Early Hist. Narr., 2d ed., 410.)
Shawomet is the name of a tongue of land on Mount Hope Bay, cast of Metapoiset.
SETUAT. (8)
The town of Scituate was incorporated in February, 1731, as. we now write the years. Why it was so named is not stated in the act (Digest of R. I. Laws, 1730, p. 223), nor is it quite clear. Dr. C. W. Parsons gives the reason to be on account of a recent emigra- tion of families from the Massachusetts town, Scituate. This emigration, quoting Rev. C. C. Beaman, the Town Historian, Par- sons fixes in 1710. It is possible that this is true; indeed, one of my own ancestors, Amos Turner, was one of the men who came. But the word is Indian, and while we have no carly Indian record containing it, it is true, nevertheless. Gov. Bradford ( Hist. Plymouth, 440, gives the form Sityate. Mr. Baylies Ply- mouth, I, 279) gives two forms, Satuit-Setauat. The Plymouth Col. Records gives the form Setuat, which we have followed. Stephen Hopkins was born on Chapomeset Hill in 1710. This Hill is now in the town of Scituate. There was a pond in Massachusetts with the Indian name Satuite.
SAWGOGUE-SQUAKILEAGUE. (22)
This was the home of Canonchet. It was near the Devil's Foot Rock. It had been the home of Canonicus and Miantinomi. The Queen's Fort was just southwest (23-24). There was also an Eng- lish settlement at Squakheague near Springfield, Mass. It was destroyed in September, 1675 ( Hubbard Indian Wars, 1677. p. 133).
1 :
1
264
"AT THE CROTCH OF A RIVER."
SCATACOKE. (16)
This is an Indian name of a locality. The precise situation can- not be fixed .. It is a name to a locality, according to Trumbull, on the Housatonic River. It is also a name of a village in Rensselear County, N. Y., on the Hudson River, spelled Schaghticoke. The name there used Trumbull defines as "The place where a river branches or divides"-"at the branch". . There is no such condition attached to Scatacoke in Rhode Island. This definition seems to have been a favorite with Dr. Trumbull. He defines Pascoag "land at the branch, or crotch of a river". Chepachet, "the division or fork of a river". Wunnashowatuckqut, "at the crotch of a river". Pishgachtigok, "the confluence of two streams". This indicates a copious condition which the Indian dialects have not been supposed to possess.
SACONASET. (10)
This name appears in a Harris document of 1667 (Coll. Hist. Soc., v. 10, p. 207). In some transfers it is mentioned as a Hill. It is doubtless the hill Sockanosset of our times.
SHINSKATUCK-SHENSKONET. (4)
These are names of brooks, or hills, in what is now Glocester. They were in transfers of land, the first in 1708; the last in 1705, recorded in the Proprietors' Records, which have now been de- stroyed by a fire in Providence.
SCAMSCAMNEK. (18)
Is the name of a spring on the neck of land known to the English as Rumstick, opposite Warren.
265
SISSAMACHUTE, OR SETTEMECHEVT.
SETAMACHUT. (9)
This name is attached to a hill in the town of Johnston, on our Indian map. This hill is near the village of Manton on the south- west bank of the Wanasquatueket river. In order to fix the loca- tion of this hill I submit a few points. On the 27th July, 1703. the town of Providence ordered a committee "to repair a highway from said river westward over Sissamachute hill". The words "said river" refer to "Neotaconkonit river" ( Early Rec. xi., 77). This river was the small stream which ran from what we now know as Ochee Spring, flowing across the Killingly road into the Wanas- quatucket river.
In May, 1667, fifty acres of land was laid out to Thomas Harris in the division ordered two years before. This land was between "the Safoen mil lin and the fower mill line on the hea. . er sid of Settemeechevt heall towards the Riavear ayt score polle long and fiftie broad". Here I follow the terrible illiteracy given in the printed Early Records (vol. 15, p. 115). I will attempt an English translation : "Between the seven mile line, and the four mile line. on the hither side of Setamachut hill, towards the river ( Wanas- quatucket ) eight score ( 160) poles long, etc." In 1677 the town of Providence laid out to Roger Williams thirty-three acres of land on the northern end of a hill called Setamachut ( Prov. Early Rec. 15, 177). Mr. Williams gave this land to his grandson, John Sayles. The town ratified the act 27th October, 1680. It was then stated to be on the east side of Setamachut. In May, 1667, fifty acres of land, "upon the second division," ordered in 1665, was laid out to William Harris. "It lieth in a vallie, on the north east side of Neotaconkanett river near Shichemachute hill" ( Prov. Early Rec. 5. 317). In 1685, John Sheldon, of Pawtuxet, deeded land to his son "on ,or near, Sichamachute hill, bounded partly with the common and partly by the land of Daniel Williams" ( Prov. Early Rec. 5. 47). On the 12th January, 1703, fifty acres was given on the right of William Harris "lieing and being about five miles westward from the salt water harbor in said Providence, on the eastwardly part of the hill called Sissamachute" ( Prov. Early Rec. 5, 51). There are
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