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Title: John Eliot's First Indian Teacher and Interpreter Cockenoe-de-Long Island and The Story of His Career from the Early Records
Author: Tooker, William Wallace, 1848-1917
Language: English
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[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this
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COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND
Edition Limited
To 215 Copies.
_No. 169._
[Illustration: INDIAN GRAVES ON FORT HILL, MONTAUK]
JOHN ELIOT'S
FIRST INDIAN TEACHER AND
INTERPRETER
COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND
AND
_The Story of His Career from the Early Records_
BY
WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER
_Member of the Long Island Historical Society, Anthropological
Society of Washington, etc., etc._
+
"He was the first that I made use of to teach me words
and to be my interpreter."--_Eliot's Letter_, 2, 12, 1648.
+
LONDON:
HENRY STEVENS' SON AND STILES.
1896
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS
OF THE SUFFOLK COUNTY (N. Y.) HISTORICAL
SOCIETY BY YOUR FELLOW MEMBER
WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER.
INTRODUCTION.
_This little work is a brief résumé of the career of an Indian of Long
Island, who, from his exceptional knowledge of the English language,
his traits of character, and strong personality, was recognized as a
valuable coadjutor and interpreter by many of our first English
settlers. These personal attributes were also known and appreciated by
the inhabitants of some parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, by the
Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, and by the
Governor of the Colony of New York, all of whom found occasion for his
services in their transactions with the Indians. The facts which I
shall present in their chronological order, and the strong
circumstantial evidence adduced therefrom, will indicate the reasons
why I have unraveled the threads of this Indian's life from the weft
of the past, and why the recital of his career should be the theme of
a special essay, and worthy of a distinctive chapter in the
aboriginal, as well as in the Colonial, history of Long Island._
WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER.
SAG HARBOR, L. I., _March, 1896_.
[Illustration]
COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND.
The victory of Captain John Mason and Captain John Underhill over the
Pequots on the hills of Mystic, in 1637, in its results was far
greater than that of Wellington on the field of Waterloo. This fact
will impress itself in indelible characters on the minds of those who
delve into the historical truths connected with the genesis of our
settlements, so wide spreading were the fruits of this victory. As the
native inhabitants of the eastern part of Long Island and the adjacent
islands were subjects of, and under tribute to, these dreaded
Pequots,[1] they were more or less disturbed by the issues of the
after conflicts which ensued in hunting out the fleeing survivors. But
as two of the Long Island Sachems, Yoco, the Sachem of Shelter Island,
and Wyandanch, the Sachem of Montauk, through the mediation of their
friend Lion Gardiner came three days after the fight, and placed
themselves under the protection of the victors,[2] and, as the latter
with his men assisted Captain Stoughton during the finale at the
"Great Swamp,"[3] beyond New Haven, they did not feel the effects so
severely as did the immediate allies of the Pequots. Many of the
younger Indians captured in this war, especially those taken in
Connecticut, were carried to Boston, and there sold into slavery, or
distributed around the country into a limited period of
servitude[4]--a period generally terminating when the individual so
bound had arrived at the age of twenty-five.
Among those so captured and allotted was a young Indian of Long
Island, who became a servant in the family of a prominent citizen of
Dorchester, Mass.,[5] a sergeant in the same war, and therefore
possibly his captor. This young Indian having been a native of Long
Island, and on a visit, was perhaps a reason why he was detained in
the colony, for the young male Pequots, we are told, were all
expatriated.[6]
In proof of these findings of fact we have the testimony of the Rev.
John Eliot, than whom no one is better known for his labors in behalf
of the spiritual welfare of the Indians of eastern Massachusetts, and
for his works in their language, including that monumental work which
went through two editions, Eliot's Indian Bible. It is thought that
Eliot began his study of the Indian language about 1643, but it is
possible that he began much earlier. In a letter dated February 12,
1649 (2-12-'48), he wrote:
"There is an Indian living with Mr. Richard Calicott of Dorchester,
who was taken in the Pequott warres, though belonging to Long Island.
This Indian is ingenious, can read, and I taught him to write, which
he quickly learnt, though I know not what use he now maketh of it. He
was the first that I made use of to teach me words, and to be my
interpreter."
[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE PRIMER OF 1669.]
At the end of his Indian grammar (printed at Cambridge in 1666) Mr.
Eliot gives us an account of his method of learning the language and
some more information in regard to this young Long Island Indian. He
writes: "I have now finished what I shall do at present; and in a
word or two to satisfie the prudent Enquirer how I found out these new
ways of grammar, which no other Learned Language (so farre as I know)
useth; I thus inform him: God first put into my heart a compassion
over their poor souls, and a desire to teach them to know Christ, and
to bring them into his kingdome. Then presently I found out, (by Gods
wise providence) a pregnant witted young man, who had been a servant
in an English house, who pretty well understood our Language, better
than he could speak it, and well understood his own Language, and hath
a clear pronunciation; Him I made my Interpreter. By his help I
translated the Commandments, the Lords Prayer, and many Texts of
Scripture: also I compiled both exhortations and prayers by his help,
I diligently marked the difference of their grammar from ours; when I
found the way of them, I would pursue a Word, a Noun, a Verb, through
all the variations I could think of. We must sit still and look for
Miracles; up, and be doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer
and pains through Faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything."
In 1646 Mr. Eliot began to preach to the Indians in their own tongue.
About the middle of September he addressed a company of the natives in
the wigwam of Cutshamoquin, the Sachem of Neponset, within the limits
of Dorchester. His next attempt was made among the Indians of another
place, "those of Dorchester mill not regarding any such thing." On the
28th of October he delivered a sermon before a large number assembled
in the principal wigwam of a chief named Waban, situated four or five
miles from Roxbury, on the south side of the Charles river, near
Watertown mill, now in the township of Newton. The services were
commenced with prayer, which, as Mr. Shepard relates, "now was in
English, being not so farre acquainted with the Indian language as to
expresse our hearts herein before God or them." After Mr. Eliot had
finished his discourse, which was in the Indian language, he "asked
them if they understood all that which was already spoken, and whether
all of them in the wigwam did understand, or onely some few? and they
answered to this question with multitude of voyces, that they all of
them did understand all that which was then spoken to them." He then
replied to a number of questions which they propounded to him,
"_borrowing now and then some small helpe from the Interpreter whom
wee brought with us, and who could oftentimes expresse our minds more
distinctly than any of us could_." Three more meetings were held at
this place in November and December of the same year, accounts of
which are given by the Rev. Thomas Shepard in the tract, entitled,
_The Day-Breaking, if not the Sun-Rising of the Gospell with the
Indians in New England_, London, 1647. I have quoted these letters and
remarks from the interesting notes on John Eliot's life, contributed
to Pilling's Algonquian Bibliography,[7] by Mr. Wilberforce Eames of
the Lenox Library, New York.
As Mr. Eliot in the foregoing letters has testified to what extent he
was indebted to this young Indian, there can arise no question
whatever as to the great influence which the instruction and
information thus obtained must have had on his subsequent knowledge of
the Indian language. It also indicates how close an affinity and how
little dialectical difference existed between the language spoken by
the eastern Long Island Indians and that of the Natick or
Massachusetts Indians to which his works are credited. In fact, the
identity between these two dialects is closer than exists between
either of them and the Narragansett of Roger Williams, as can be
easily proven by comparison. Again, Eliot, in his grammar twenty years
afterward, as I have before quoted, by so confessing his obligation to
his young teacher to the total exclusion of Job Nesutan, who took his
place,[8] shows how he appreciated the instruction first imparted.
Eliot having written, in the winter of 1648-49, that he taught this
Indian how to read and to write, which he quickly learned, though he
knew not what use he then made of the knowledge, it becomes apparent
to all that he had then departed, to Eliot's great regret, from the
scene of Eliot's labors in Massachusetts; and, as seems to have been
the case, had returned to the home of his ancestors on Long Island
sometime between the fall of 1646, when he was with Eliot in Waban's
wigwam, and the winter of 1649, when Eliot wrote.[9] Whether his time
as a servant had expired, or whether he longed for the country of his
youth and childhood, we perhaps shall never learn.
At this point the interesting question arises, Can we identify any one
of the Long Island Indians of this period with the "interpreter" or
"pregnant witted young man" of John Eliot? Here it must be conceded
that the evidence is entirely circumstantial and not direct; but
withal so strong and so convincing as to make me a firm believer in
its truth, as I shall set it forth before you.
I shall begin my exposition with the Indian deed of the East Hampton
township, dated April 29, 1648,[10] where we find, by the power
acquired by the grantees from the Farrett mortgage of 1641,[11] that
Thomas Stanton made a purchase from the Indians for Theophilus Eaton,
Esq., Governor of the Colony of New Haven, and Edward Hopkins, Esq.,
Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, and their associates "for all
that tract of land lyinge from the bounds of the Inhabitants of
Southampton, unto the East side of _Napeak_, next unto _Meuntacut_
high land, with the whole breadth from sea to sea, etc.," this
conveyance is signed by the four Sachems of Eastern Long Island--to
wit: _Poggatacut_,[12] the Sachem of _Munhansett_; _Wyandanch_,[13]
the Sachem of _Meuntacut_; _Momoweta_,[14] the Sachem of _Corchake_;
_Nowedonah_,[15] the Sachem of _Shinecok_, and their marks are
witnessed by _Cheekanoo_, who is thereon stated to have been "_their
Interpreter_."[16]
Here we find confronting us, not only a remarkable, but a very unusual
circumstance, in the fact that an Indian of Long Island, who is called
"_Cheekanoo_," is acting as an interpreter for these four Sachems,
together with Thomas Stanton,[17] another well-known interpreter of
the Colonies, as an intermediary in making the purchase. It is very
clear to me, and I think it will be to all, that if this Indian was
sufficiently learned to speak English, and so intelligent as to act as
an interpreter, with all such a qualification would indicate, in 1648,
the year before Eliot commended his ingenious teacher, and within the
time he seems to have returned to Long Island, he must have acquired
his knowledge from someone who had taken great pains in bestowing it,
and that one must have been John Eliot. We have found that Eliot does
not mention him by name in existing letters; but, as before quoted,
simply calls him his "Interpreter"; therefore, let us learn how a
translation of his Long Island appellation will bear on this question.
This name, _Cheekanoo_, _Cockenoe_, _Chickino_, _Chekkonnow_, or
_Cockoo_,--no matter how varied in the records of Long Island and
elsewhere, for every Town Clerk or Recorder, with but a limited or no
knowledge of the Indian tongue and its true sounds, wrote down the
name as it suited him, and seldom twice alike even on the same
page,--finds its parallel sounds in the Massachusetts of both Eliot
and Cotton, in the verb _kuhkinneau_, or _kehkinnoo_, "he marks,
observes, takes knowledge, instructs, or imitates";[18] hence, "he
interprets," and therefore indicating by a free translation "an
interpreter or teacher"; this word in its primitive form occurs in all
dialects of the same linguistic family--that is, the Algonquian--in an
infinite number of compounds, denoting "a scholar; teacher; a thing
signified; I say what he says, _i. e._, repeat after him," etc.[19]
These I may call inferential marks by the wayside, and with what is to
follow are surely corroborative evidence strong enough to enable me to
assume that I am on the right trail, and that "_Cheekanoo_" and John
Eliot's young man were one and the same individual. In its acceptance
it becomes obvious that he must have been so termed before the date of
the East Hampton conveyance, while still with Eliot in Massachusetts.
Indian personal names were employed to denote some remarkable event in
their lives, and having been a teacher and an interpreter of Eliot's,
and continuing in the same line afterward, which gave him greater
celebrity, it was natural that he should retain the name throughout
his life.
A little over two weeks after the East Hampton transaction, by a deed
dated May 16, 1648[20] (O. S.), _Mammawetough_, the Sachem of
_Corchauge_, with the possible assistance of our interpreter, who, it
seems to me, could not have been dispensed with on such an occasion,
conveys _Hashamomuck_ neck--which included all the land to the
eastward of Pipe's Neck creek, in Southold town, on which the villages
of Greenport, East Marion, and Orient are located, together with Plum
Island--to Theophilus Eaton, Stephen Goodyeare, and Captain Malbow of
New Haven. This is known as the Indian deed for the "Oyster Ponds,"
and while _Cheekanoo's_ name does not appear on this copy of a copy,
for the original has long been lost, it is possible that it may be
disguised in the name of one of the witnesses, _Pitchamock_.
While we may infer from the foregoing documents that his services must
have been necessarily in constant demand by the colonists in their
interviews with the natives, during the four years following the
making of these deeds, we do not find him again on record until
February 25, 1652[21] (O. S., February 15, 1651), when he is
identically employed as at East Hampton, by the proprietors of
Norwalk, Conn., probably on the recommendation of the authorities at
New Haven; and his name appears among the grantors, in two places on
the Indian deed for the Norwalk plantation as "_Cockenoe-de-Long
Island_." But, as he did not sign the conveyance, it shows that he had
no vested rights therein, but simply acted for the whites and Indians
as their interpreter. From the possible fact that he perhaps erected
his wigwam there during this winter and spring of 1651-52, thus giving
it a distinctive appellation, an island in the Long Island sound off
Westport, Conn., near the mouth of the Saugatuck river, bears his name
in the possessive as "_Cockenoe's_ Island" to this day, as will be
noted by consulting a Coast Survey chart. That the name was bestowed
in his time is proven by the record "that it was agreed (in 1672) that
the said Island called Cockenoe is to lie common for the use of the
town as all the other Islands are."[22] This island is one of the
largest and most easterly of the group known as the "Norwalk Islands,"
or as they were designated by the early Dutch navigators, the
Archipelago.[23] The fact that his name is displayed on this deed for
Norwalk, and as the name for this island, has been a puzzle to many
historians; but that it does so appear is easily accounted for, when
we know what his abilities were, and why he was there.
On September 2, 1652,[24] the fall of the year that he was at Norwalk,
he appeared before the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New
England, then assembled at Hartford, as their records bear witness in
the following language: "Whereas we were informed by _Checkanoe_ an
Indian of _Menhansick_ Island, on behalf of the Indian inhabitants of
said island, that they are disturbed in their possession by Captain
Middleton and his agents, upon pretense of a purchase from Mr.
Goodyeare of New Haven, who bought the same of one Mr. Forrett, a
scotchman, and by vertue thereof the said Indians are threatened to be
forced off the said island and to seek an habitation where they can
get it; the said Indians deny that they sold the said island to the
said Forrett; and that the said Forrett was a poor man, not able to
purchase it, but the said Indians gave to the said Forrett some part
of the said Island and marked it out by some trees; yet never, that
themselves be deprived of their habitation there, and therefore they
desired that the Commissioners (they being their tributaries) to see
they have justice in the premises, the Commissioners therefore, in
regard the said Mr. Goodyeare is not present, and that he is of New
Haven jurisdiction, and at their Court, to hear to complaint of the
said Indians, and to satisfy the said Indians if they can, if not to
certify the Commissioners at the next meeting, the truth of the
premises; that some further order may be taken therein as shall be
meet."
As the result of this emphatic protest by _Checkanoe_, and in evidence
of its truth and fairness, we find that on the 27th of December
following,[25] Captain Middleton and associates were obliged to
satisfy the Indians, by purchasing Shelter Island, or as it was called
by the Indians _Manhansick ahaquazuwamuck_,[26] from the Sachem
_Yoco_, formerly called _Unkenchie_, and other of his chief men, among
whom we find one called _Actoncocween_,[27] which I believe to be
simply another descriptive term for our hero, for the word signifies
"an interpreter," or "he who repeats," _i. e._, "the repeat man."
This sale was certified to at Southold the following spring,[28] but
the deeds themselves have long been lost, and the pages of the volume
on which they were entered despoiled of their contents by some vandal
years ago. These items of record, however, point to one conclusion,
that if the owners of Shelter Island were unable to produce Forrett's
deed from the Indians in 1652, which they seem to have been unable to
do, it is not at all likely that it will ever be discovered. It also
indicates that Forrett's title, as well as that of Mr. Goodyeare,
rested on a frail foundation as far as the whole island was concerned,
and that the Indians were right in their protest.
In this year according to tradition, or what is more in accordance
with facts, in the spring of 1653,[29] _Yoco Unkenchie_ or
_Poggatacut_, as he is variously named, passed away. The tribe, now
without a head, and weak in tribal organization, migrated from Shelter
Island. Some went to Montauk and to Shinnecock, while a few united
with the Cutchogues. During the following three or four years much
alarm was created from the rumor that the Dutch were endeavoring to
incite the Indians against the English.[30] The conduct of the
Montauks and Shinnecocks was such that they were particularly
distrusted, and they were forbidden without special leave to come into
the settlements.[31] It was forbidden to furnish them with powder,
shot, or rum; hence we find but little recorded. Again, the war
carried on between the Montauks and Narragansetts began in this year,
and continued for some years with great loss on both sides. It is very
doubtful if _Cockenoe_ took any active part in this war, or at least
in its earliest stages; for, according to the fragmentary depositions
by the Rev. Thomas James and others,[32] in the celebrated _Occabog_
meadows suit of 1667,--a quarrel over a tract of salt meadow located
almost within sight of the village of Riverhead, between the
neighboring towns of Southampton and Southold,--_Cockenoe_ was then
residing at Shinnecock with his first wife, the sister of the four
Sachems of Eastern Long Island, who united in the East Hampton
conveyance. She was at this date, in consequence of the death of her
brother _Nowedonah_, the _Sunck Squaw_, that is, the woman Sachem, of
the Shinnecock tribe--a fact which proves that by marriage he came
into the house of the Sachems, and was entitled to be designated as a
Sagamore, as we find him sometimes called.
In the latter part of August, 1656,[33] _Wyandanch_, the Sachem of
Montauk, with five of his men, on complaint entered against him by the
Narragansett Sachem _Ninnegrate_, presented himself before the
Commissioners, then in session at Plymouth, Mass. _Ninnegrate_,
however, not appearing or submitting any proof of his allegations,
_Wyandanch_ was acquitted of the charges with much honor. At the same
time he was relieved from the payment of the tribute, then four years
in arrears, owing to his distressed condition. It is probable that
_Cockenoe_ was one of the five men accompanying him on this occasion.
He again makes his appearance on record in 1657,[34] when he laid out
and marked the bounds of Hempstead in Queens County, by order of
_Wyandanch_, who had then acquired jurisdiction as Sachem in chief
over the Indians of Long Island, as far west as Canarsie.[35]
"_Chegonoe_" witnesses the sign manual of his Sachem, who was
present, on the confirmation deed of July 4, 1657.[36] This deed is
dated 1647, as given in Thompson's History of Long Island.[37] The
mistake is again repeated in Munsill's History of Queens County,[38]
and has been often quoted by others quite recently; but the date will
be found correctly given in the Colonial History of New York.[39]
The records of Hempstead under date of March 28, 1658, read: "This day
ordered Mr Gildersleeve, John Hick, John Seaman, Robert Jackson and
William Foster, are to go with _Cheknow_ sent and authorized by the
_Montake_ Sachem, to marck and lay out the generall bounds of ye
lands, belonging to ye towne of Hempstead according to ye extent of ye
limits and jurisdiction of ye sd towne to be known by ye markt trees
and other places of note to continue forever." These boundaries are
named in the release of the following May, which "_Checknow_"
witnesses. The appearance of his name on the records of Hempstead,
and on these deeds, has led some writers to assume that he was a
Sachem of the Rockaways,[40] an error which I find persistently
quoted.
The year 1658 was a busy one for our Indian. The settlements are
rapidly spreading and land is in demand by incoming colonists. On June
10 he laid out the beach to the westward of the Southampton
settlement, giving Lion Gardiner the right to all whales cast up by
the sea, and he witnesses the grant by his Sachem.[41]
On August 17[42] he marked out, by blazing trees, three necks of
meadow for the inhabitants of Huntington, on the south side, in the
western part of the present town of Babylon, which necks were
afterward in controversy. The village of Amityville now occupies part
of the upland bordered by the meadow. It states in the deed "that
_Choconoe_ for his wages, and going to marke out the Land shall have
for himselfe, one coat, foure pounds of poudar, six pounds of led,
one dutch hatchet, as also seventeen shillings in wampum," which,
together with pay for the land, "they must send by _Chockanoe_." Our
early settlers were always behindhand in their payments, and in this
case, as evidenced by a receipt attached, pay was not received until
May 23 of the next year, when Wyandance refers to "the meadow I sould
last to them which my man _Chockenoe_ marked out for them."
On April 19, 1659,[43] eleven years after the purchase, at an annual
town meeting of the inhabitants of East Hampton, held probably in the
first church that stood at the south end of the street,[44] "_It was
agreed that Checanoe shall have 10s for his assistance in the purchase
of the plantacon._" Seemingly a dilatory and inadequate reward for
such a service. Money, however, was very scarce and worth something in
those days, and we cannot gauge it by the light of the present period.
In comparison we can only refer to the fact that Thomas Talmadge at
the same period was only paid 20s, or double the amount, for a year's
salary as Town Clerk. The record, however, is a valuable one, and is
one of the straws indicating the esteem and favor in which _Cockenoe_
was regarded by the townspeople of East Hampton.
That _Cockenoe_ took an active part in marking the bounds of the tract
of land between Huntington and Setauket, now comprised in the town of
Smithtown, presented to Lion Gardiner by _Wyandanch_ on July 14,
1659,[45] as a token of love and esteem in ransoming his captive
daughter and friends from the Narragansetts, is worthy of note, for
it is evident that the Sachem had no one else so capable. In
confirmation of this surmise and my belief that he had a prominent
part in all the land transactions of Wyandanch, my friend William S.
Pelletreau, who is preparing the early records of the town of
Smithtown for publication, has lately found recorded, in a dispute
over the lands of Smithtown, a deposition taken down by John Mulford
of East Hampton, dated October 18, 1667, which reads: "_Pauquatoun_,
formerly Chiefe Councellor to the Old Sachem _Wyandance_ testifieth
that the Old Sachem _Wyandance_ appointed _Sakkatakka_ and
_Chekanno_[46] to mark out the said _Rattaconeck_ [_Cattaconeck_]
lands, and after that ye sd _Pauquatoun_ saw the trees marked all
along the bounds and the Sachem being with him, he heard him [the
Sachem] say it was marked right. And there is a Fresh pond called
_Ashamaumuk_[47] which is the parting of the bounds of the foregoing
lands from where the trees were marked to ye pathway." This "Fresh
pond" was at the northwest bounds of the town of Smithtown.
At the same time and year, probably, as it bears no date, he witnessed
the sale of "Old Field" by _Wyandance_ to the inhabitants of Setauket
in the town of Brookhaven.[48] Also about the same time the sale of
"Great Neck or _Cattaconocke_"[49] bounding Smithtown on the east as
referred to by _Pauquatoun_.
On February 10, 1660,[50] he marked out, and also witnessed the
confirmation of the sale of Lloyd's Neck, in the town of Huntington,
by _Wyancombone_, the son and heir of the late Sachem _Wyandanch_, who
had passed away, and whose son was then acknowledged by both the
Indians and whites as the chief Sachem of Long Island. His name on
this copy of a copy is misspelled as _Chacanico_.
In the confirmation deed for Smithtown, dated April 6, 1660,[51] by
_Wyancombone_, the land is stated to have been laid out by some of the
chief men of the tribe; these men are named in _Pauquatoun's_
testimony. In the copy recorded in the office of the Secretary of
State at Albany, N. Y., _Cockenoe_ is named as a witness in the
corrupt form of _Achemano_. He united on August 16, 1660,[52] with the
rest of his tribe at Montauk, in the first Indian deed to the
inhabitants of East Hampton for "all the aforesd Necke of land called
_Meantaquit_,[53] with all and every parte thereof from sea to sea."
About this time the _Meantaquit_ Indians petitioned the Commissioners
of the United Colonies of New England for protection from the cruelty
of the Narragansetts[54] with the result that the latter were ordered
not to come within six miles of the English plantations, and the
former not to begin any new quarrels, but to behave themselves
quietly, without provocation. The fact that _Cockenoe_ was then living
at Montauk is proof that he must have been one of the petitioners.
Thomas Revell, a merchant of Barbadoes, and a resident of Oyster Bay,
L. I., was engaged with Constant Sylvester, one of the owners of
Shelter Island, together with James Mills of Virginia,[55] and John
Budd of Southold, in the West India trade. Through his partners, or
otherwise, he became well acquainted with our friend _Cockenoe_, and
employed him as an interpreter in buying some land from the Indians in
Westchester County, N. Y. We find that Cockenoe was with him at
Manussing Island, at the head of the Long Island sound, where he gave
Revell a deed, witnessed by John Budd and others, dated October 27,
1661, which reads: "I _Cockoo Sagamore_ by vertue of a full and
absolute power and order unto him and intrusted by _Mahamequeet_
Sagamore & _Meamekett_ Sagamore & _Mamamettchoack_ & Capt.
_Wappequairan_ all Ingines living up Hudson River on the Main land for
me to bargaine & absolutely sell unto Thos Revell.... And fardder more
I doe promise and ingauge myself in behalf of the prenamed Ingaines &
ye rest of those Ingains which I now sell this land for and them to
bring suddenly after ye date hereof, for to give unto Thomas Revels or
his order quiet and peacable possession," etc., etc. This tract of
land thus conveyed was in the present township of Mamaroneck,
Westchester County, N. Y. The power of attorney given to _Cockenoe_ by
these Indians reads: "One of our Councill _Cockoo_ by name an Ingaine
the which we do approve of and do confirm whatsoever the said _Cockoo_
shall doe in bargaining and selling unto Thos Revell of Barbadoes,"
etc. This power of attorney by some means was dated two weeks after
the execution of the deed, and in the litigation which ensued over the
purchase this fact ruined the case for Revell. This deed and the power
of attorney were both recorded at Southampton, L. I.,[56] and are
quoted in full, with particulars of the suit, in Sharf's History of
Westchester County, N. Y.,[57] and are too lengthy to dwell upon at
this time.
_Cockoo_, _Cokoo_, _Cockoe_, or _Cakoe_, as his name is variously
given in the papers relating to this affair, is evidently an
abbreviated form of _Cockenoe_.[58] All the facts recorded in
connection with it point to him and to no one else. From the context
of the papers, he was a strange Indian, not living up the Hudson
river, where it is stated all the other Indians dwelt. That he was
acting as an interpreter is evident--a fact which, as I have before
observed, was a very rare qualification for an Indian of that period.
Humphrey Hughes, whose name appears as one of the witnesses on
Cockoo's power of attorney, was a seaman in the employ of Revell, and
in his various capacities as a sailor, trader, fisherman, or an
inhabitant, is frequently mentioned in the records of both South[59]
and East Hampton towns;[60] hence _Cockenoe_ was no stranger to him.
Two years afterward Hughes witnessed the renewal of the Montauk Squaw
Sachem's whaling grant to John Cooper; therefore, taking all these
items of fact into consideration, it is not at all strange that
_Cockenoe_ should have been employed by Thomas Revell in buying land
from the Indians in Westchester County.
On February 21, 1662[61] (February 11, 1661) _Chekkonnow_ again
united with his tribe in the deed known as the "Hither Woods"
purchase, "for all the piece or neck of land belonging to _Muntauket_
land westward to a fresh pond in a beach, on this side westward to the
place where the old Indian fort stood, on the other side eastward to
the new fort that is yet standing, the name of the pond (Fort Pond) is
_Quaunontowounk_ on the north, and _Konkhonganik_ on the south,"[62]
etc. At this date, as is proven by the above wording of this deed, the
Montauks were encamped at the southern part of East Hampton
village[63] under the protection of the settlers, in order to escape
the invasions of the Narragansetts, and Montauk was temporarily
abandoned.
In the same year _Checkanow_ was sent with _Tobis_, another Indian, by
order of the _Sachem Squaw_, widow of _Wyandanch_, to mark out John
Cooper's whaling limits on the beach to the westward of
Southampton.[64]
Some of the boundaries of Huntington, laid out in 1658, being disputed
by their neighbors of Oyster Bay, it became necessary to send for
_Cockenoe_ that he might identify his former marks. At a town meeting
held at Huntington March 8, 1664[65] (26-12-1663). "It was voted that
when _Chiskanoli_ come that Mr Wood shall have power to agree with
him, and the town to gratifie him to show the boundaries of the necks
of meadow at the south bought by the town."
In the following spring[66] "Att a Generall meeting of ye Deputyes of
Long Island held before ye Governer at Hempstedd, March 6th 1664
(March 16, 1665), It is this day ordered yt ye Towne of Huntington
shall possesse & enjoye three necks of meadow land in Controversy
between ym and Oyster bay as of Right belonging to them, they haveing
ye more anncient Grant for them, but in as much as it is pretented
that _Chickano_ marked out fouer Necks for Huntington instedd of
three, if upon a joynt view of them it shall appeare to be soe, then
Huntington shall make over the outmost neck to Oyster bay," etc.
In the affirmation by John Ketchum and townsmen, who went with
Cockenoe to these meadows according to the foregoing order of the
assembly, we find the following interesting record:[67] "When wee came
to the south to our meadows wee went ovar too neckes to our naybours
who had called _massapeege_ Indians, About the number of twentie, whoe
opoased us About the space of an ower and would not suffer the Indian
[_Cockenoe_] to goe and shew us the marked tree, then we show the
Sachem [_Tackapousha_] the writing to which hee had set his hand which
was our acquitance, and yet hee would not suffer the Indian to goe,
when wee see nothing would prevaile, wee took our leave of them and
said wee would carry backe this anser to them that sent us; but they
not willing that wee should, tooke up the matter as wee did apprihend
spake to the Indians whoe after gave leave to the Indian who was
_Chickemo_ to goe and shew us the tree, many off _massapauge_ Indians
went with us. Thomas Brush went before and not taking notise off the
tree went past it then a _massapauge_ Indian called him backe and
shewed him the tree before _Chickenoe_ came neare it, when _Chickenoe_
came to the tree hee said that was the tree hee marked, as his master
Commanded him. _Massapauge_ Sachem said by his Interpriter that hee
told _muntaulke_ Sachem that hee was grived at his hart that hee had
sould that necke upon which then wee was, but _muntalket_ Sachem tould
him that it was sould and it could not bee helped and therefore bid
him goe and Receve his paye and so hee said hee did: and alsoe
_massapauge_ sachem owned his Land and that he had Receved the goods."
Thomas Topping of Southampton and William Wells of Southold, two of
the Deputies, who were in Huntington at this time by order of the
Assembly,[68] "touchinge three necks of meadowe, whch Huntington had
formerly purchased of _Muntaukatt_ Sarchem, and he informs true
properiety as also in responsion to Oyster Bay inhabitants, who lay a
claime to part of the said three Necks, saying thare are fouer necks &
one thereof belongs to them, the said _Chickinoe_ now did playnly and
cleerly demonstrate before them that the Tree he first marked by his
Master _Muntakett_ Sachems order, and hath a second tyme denied
according to order, is noe other but that whch ought justly to be
owned by him and soe marked as aforesaid, and comprehends only
Huntingtons just Purchase of three Necks of Medow and in truth is
three necks of medowe & not four according to the present relation of
_Chickinoe_." The Huntington men, it seems, were rather greedy, and
_Cockenoe_, true to their interest, and having been "gratified," was
trying to give them all they claimed.
The _Massapeag_ Sachem _Tackapousha_, who has put on record "that it
grived his hart" to make this sale, was a thorn in the flesh of the
settlers of these two towns as long as he lived. It was utterly
impossible to satisfy his demands. The records show that both the
English and Dutch were obliged to buy him off time and time again.[69]
He is one of the most selfish and turbulent characters we find in the
whole aboriginal history of Long Island. Had he and his tribe been
more powerful than they were, they would have left a bloody page on
the annals of Long Island; as it was, it was his weakness alone that
prevented it.
On November 3, 1669, at East Hampton, before the Rev. Thomas James and
others,[70] "_Checkannoo_," with other chief men of the Montauk
tribe, made an acknowledgment in "utterly disclayming any such
vassalage as _Ninecraft_ did declare to the Governor at Rhoad Island &
doe protest against it in our owne names & in the name of ye rest of
ye Indians at Montaukett & doe further declare that he shall have no
more wampom of us without approbation of ye Governour of this place &
that we acknowledge ye Governour at New Yorke as our chiefest Sachem."
The same year, with his associates, _Cockenoe_[71] gave a certificate
that many years before they heard the old Sachem Wyandanch declare, in
a meeting of the Indians, that he gave to Lion Gardiner and Thomas
James all the whales which should come ashore, at any time, on
Montauk.[72]
On December 1, 1670,[73] together with _Poniuts_, alias _Mousup_,
grandson of _Wyandanch_, and other chief men of the tribe,
"_Chekonnow_" joined in the Indian deed for the land between the
ponds, to John Mulford, Thomas James, and Jeremiah Conkling. This
conveyance took in all the land to the southward of Fort Hill between
the "Ditch plain" and the "Great plain," and is remarkable for its
Indian names of boundary places.[74]
By an entry of July 4, 1675,[75] _Cockenoe_ was one of the crew
engaged by James Schellinger and James Loper of East Hampton, as the
record states, "uppon the Designe of whalleing ... During ye whole
season next ensuing," then a growing industry on the south side. This
service included the carting and trying out of the oil at some
convenient place, for which the crew were to receive, "one halfe of
one share of all profit what shall bee by us gotten or obtained During
ye said terme of time."
The Indians of Long Island were disarmed in this year on account of
King Philip's war, and on October 5[76] _Mosup_ the Sachem, grandson
of _Wyandanch_, with _Pekonnoo_ [an error for _Chekonno_], Counselor,
and others, made supplication by a letter written by Rev. Thomas James
to Governor Andros at New York, "Alledging the fact that they had
always been friends to the English and their forefathers before them,
and this time of war fighting with the English Captains, desired that
their guns might be returned, as it was the usual time of hunting."
Owing to an indorsement on the back of this letter, written a week
after by James, on mature consideration, the request in its entirety
was not granted.[77]
On June 23, 1677,[78] _Cockenoe_ appeared before Governor Andros and
Council at New York, in behalf of the inhabitants of Hampstead, who
were having trouble with the Indians in their neighborhood, regarding
land laid out by him in 1657, twenty years before, to which I have
previously referred. At the same council he interpreted the speech of
_Weamsko_, the Sachem of _Seacotauk_ in Islip, who claimed the
_Nesquak_ [_Nissequogue_] lands; also the speech of _Swaneme_, who
pretended to own the land called _Unchemau_ [Fresh Pond] near
Huntington. In the copy from which this has been taken he is called
_Checkoamaug_, an evident error of some transcriber.
We find him occasionally employed by the proprietors of Montauk,
especially in the year 1682, when he is "_paid 9s for keeping the
Indian corne_,"[79] and as much "_for burneing Meautauk_,"[80] which
was done every spring to free the land from underbrush and weeds.
The years are now rapidly fleeting, and _Cockenoe_ is advancing in
years with the settlements. The power of the Montauks is a thing of
the past; they exercise no control over the rest of the Long Island
Indians, who convey land without the assent of the Montauk Sachem. As
most of the younger generation of the natives can speak English,
probably as well as he, there is no necessity for him to interpret. He
is now about the last of his generation still exercising the right as
a member of the house of the Sachems, in the councils of the clan;
and, on August 3, 1687,[81] he unites once more with the members of
his tribe in the Montauk conveyance to the inhabitants of East
Hampton: "For all our tract of land at Mantauket, bounded by part of
the Fort Pond, and Fort Pond Bay west; the English land south by a
line from the Fort Pond to the Great Pond ... to the utmost extent of
the Island from sea to sea," etc., and then he retires from our view
forever on the records of the past.
At the time of making this deed, half a century had elapsed since the
conflict on the hills of Mystic--fifty eventful years in the history
of our Colonies. If he was twenty-five years of age when he parted
from Eliot in 1646 or 1647, he had then reached threescore years and
five; not by any means an aged man, but, for all we know, he may have
lived for some years afterward.[82]
There may be other recorded facts relating to his life which I have
overlooked, or they may lie buried in the time-stained archives
of other Long Island and New England towns--inaccessible,
undecipherable, and unpublished--which some future historian may
unfold and bring to light.[83] The seeds of knowledge planted by Eliot
on the fertile field of this native's mind bore good fruit, even if
his preceptor did write at an early day he knew not what use he then
made of it. For the part he took in the rise and development of our
settlements--a life work, unparalleled by that of any other Long
Island or New England Indian--he deserves to be enrolled upon the page
of honor.
And now, amid the rolling hills of Montauk, which he loved so well,
and within sound of the everlasting murmur of the mighty ocean, which
he so often heard, in a grave unmarked and unknown,[84] he sleeps to
await the resurrection morn. A scarred and battered fragment from
nature's world--a glacial bowlder, typical of the past--should be his
monument[85]--on one side a sculptured entablature, inscribed:
"_To the Memory of a Captive in the Pequot War, the first Indian
Teacher of John Eliot; A firm friend of the English Colonists;
Cockenoe-de-Long Island._"
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "The Pequots were a very warlike and potent people about forty
years since, (1624) at which time they were in their meridian. Their
chief Sachem held dominion over divers petty Sagamores, as over part
of Long Island, over the Mohegans, and over the Sagamores of Quinapak,
yea, over all the people that dwelt on Connecticut river, and over
some of the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuk country about
Quinabang."--Gookin's History.
Gardiner's Relation of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his
Descendants, by C. C. Gardiner, 1890): "Then said he, (Waiandance) I
will go to my brother, for he is the great Sachem of Long Island, and
if we may have peace and trade with you, we will give you tribute as
we did the Pequits."
[2] Relation of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his Descendants, by
C. C. Gardiner, 1890), p. 17.
[3] _Ibid._, pp. 17, 18.
[4] Morton's New England's Memorial, 1669, Reprint 1855, p. 131: "We
send the male children to Bermuda by Mr. William Pierce, and the women
and maid children are disposed about in the towns."
[5] "Richard Collacot was a prominent man in Dorchester. He had been a
sergeant in the Pequot War, and held also at various times the offices
of Selectman and of Representative." In 1641, with two associates, he
was licensed by the Governor of Massachusetts, to trade with the
Indians, also to receive all wampum due for any tribute from Block
Island, Long Island Pequots or any other Indians.--Archæologia
Americana, vol. vii. pp. 67, 434.
[6] New England's Memorial, 1669. Reprint 1855, p. 131.
[7] Pp. 176, 117.
[8] Eliot wrote October 21, 1650: "I have one already who can write,
so that I can read his writing well, and he (with some paines and
teaching) can read mine." The native here referred to was, without
doubt, Job Nesutan, who had taken the place of the Long Island Indian,
Eliot's first instructor in the language. He is mentioned by Gookin in
the History of the Christian Indians as follows: "In this expedition
[July, 1675] one of our principal soldiers of the praying Indians was
slain, a valiant and stout man named Job Nesutan; he was a very good
linguist in the English tongue, and was Mr. Eliot's assistant and
interpreter in his translations of the Bible, and other books of the
Indian language."--Bibliography of the Algonquian Language; Pilling
(Eames's Notes, p. 127).
[9] In the summer of 1647 Eliot visited some more remote Indians about
Cape Cod and toward the Merrimack river, where he improved the
opportunity by preaching to them. It is probable that about this time
his interpreter left Dorchester.
[10] East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 3, 45; Chronicles of East
Hampton; p. 113.
[11] Thompson's History of Long Island, vol. ii. p. 311, 312, 313. The
rights acquired by this mortgage are very explicit, and began as soon
the same was sealed and delivered. Its bearing on the purchases from
the Indians by the Colonies of Connecticut seems to have been
overlooked by all our historians.
[12] This is the only instance in the early records of Long Island
where we find the old Sachem of Shelter Island called _Poggatacut_. I
believe it to have been rather the name of a place where he lived,
either at Cockles Harbor, or on Menantic Creek, Shelter Island.
_Poggat-ac-ut_ = _Pohqut-ack-ut_, "at the divided or double place."
Cockles Harbor is protected on the north by two Islands, which during
low tides are one Island. It was probably the sheltered condition of
this harbor which gave the island its Indian name as well as its
English. It was at this locality that Govert Loockmans purchased two
geese from the chief Rochbou [Yoco] in 1647.--Colonial History of New
York, vol. xiv. p. 94.
[13] _Wyandanch_ = _Wayan-taunche_, "the wise speaker or talker."
[14] _Momoweta_ = _Mohmô-wetuó_, "he gathereth or brings together in
his house."
[15] _Nowedonah_ = _N'owi-dónoh_, "I seek him," or "I go to seek him."
This Sachem was formerly called _Witaneymen_ or _Weenagamin_, and he
probably changed his name when he went to spy out the enemies of the
Dutch in 1645 (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60), see
also Thompson's Long Island, vol. i. p. 365, Plymouth Colonial
Records, vol. ix. p. 18, where he is called _Weenakamin_, _i. e._,
"bitter berry."
[16] The original of this deed has been stolen from the Town Clerk's
office at East Hampton; consequently, I am unable to verify the
spelling of these names. On some copies of this deed this name is
printed _Chectanoo_; an evident error, for in no other instance do I
find the _k_ in his name replaced by a _t_.
[17] See Pilling's Algonquian Bibliography (pp. 396, 397), for a brief
sketch of Thos. Stanton's career as an Interpreter to the
Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England.
[18] The root _kuhkoo_ or _kehkoo_, has simply the idea of "mark" or a
"sign," which in Algonquian polysynthesis is modified according to its
grammatical affixes, and the sense of the passage used, when
translated into an alien tongue. But it must be remembered, however,
that its primary meaning was never lost to an Indian--a fact well
known to all students of Indian linguistics.
[19] Compare the various derivates from the Nipissing (Cuoq) _kikina_
and _kikino_; Otchipwe (Baraga) _kikino_; Cree (Lacomb) _okiskino_;
Delaware (Zeisberger) _kikino_, etc.
[20] Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 210, office of the Secretary of State,
Albany, N. Y. A copy of this deed, from a contemporary copy made by
Richard Terry, then on sale at Dodd & Mead's, New York, was
contributed to the Greenport Watchman by Wm. S. Pelletreau, June 6,
1891.
[21] Hall's Norwalk, p. 35.
[22] Hall's Norwalk, p. 62.
[23] Another island of this group bears the personal name of an Indian
who was called _Mamachimin_ (Hall's Norwalk, pp. 30, 93, 97. He joined
in the Indian deed to Roger Ludlow of Norwalk, February 26, 1640,
corresponding to March 8, 1641). The name still survives, abbreviated
to "_Chimons_ Island."
[24] Colonial Records of Connecticut, vol. iv. p. 476.
[25] East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 96-97.
[26] _Manhansick ahaquazuwamuck = Manhan-es-et-ahaquazuOOamuck_, "at
or about the island sheltered their fishing-place," or "their
sheltered fishing-place at or about the island," see Brooklyn Eagle
Almanac, 1895, p. 55, "Some Indian Fishing Stations upon Long Island."
[27] Compare Delaware (Zeisberger) _Anhuktonheen_, "interpreter,"
_Ekhikuweet_, "talker"; Lenâpé (Brinton) _Anhoktonhen_, "to
interpret"; Otchipwe (Baraga) _Ânikanotagewin_, "interpreter," or "his
work as an interpreter," _Anikanotage_, "I repeat what another says."
[28] Southold Records, vol. i. p. 158.
[29] The late David Gardiner in his Chronicles of East Hampton, p. 33,
and other Long Island historians following him, place this event in
the year 1651; but as _Yoco_, as he is more often called, united with
the chief men of his tribe in the deed to Captain Middleton and
associates on the 27th of December, 1652, a date which was, in
accordance with our present mode of computing time, January 6, 1653,
would indicate beyond question the error of our historians in
assigning his death previous.
[30] East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 31: "It is ordered noe Indian
shall Come to the Towne unles it be upon special occasion and none to
come armed because that the Dutch hath hired Indians agst the English
and we not knowing Indians by face and because the Indians hath cast
of their sachem, and if any of the Indians or other by night will come
in to the towne in despit of eyther watch or ward upon the third stand
to shoote him or if thay rune away to shoote him" (April 26, 1653).
[31] Southampton Records, vol. i. p. 90 (April 25, 1653): "At a
generall court Liberty is given to any Inhabitant to sell unto ye
Sachem any manner of vituals for the supply of his family for a
month's time from the date hereof, Mr. Odell haveing promised to use
his best endeavors to see that the said Sachem buy not for other
Indians but for his particular use as aforesaid." It is probable from
the following note that this Sachem was Cockenoe.
[32] East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 261 (Munsill's History of
Suffolk County, East Hampton Town, see Facsimile, p. 13), Extract:
"and the Shinokut Indians had the drowned Deere as theirs one this
side the sayd River and one Beare Some years since; And the old squaw
Said by the token shee eat some of it Poynting to her teeth; And that
the skin and flesh was brought to _Shinnocut_ as acknowledging their
right to it to a saunk squaw then living there who was the old
_Mantaukut_ Sachems sister; And first wife to _Chekkanow_." In the
trial November 1, 1667 (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p.
601), an Indian testified: "It was about fourteen yeares agoe since
the beare was kill'd," which indicates the year 1653 as the time the
Saunk Squaw was living at Shinnecock.
[33] Hazard's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 359. As this record has never
been quoted in full in our Long Island histories, and Hazard's work is
quite rare, it would be well to print it at this time, viz.: "Upon a
complaint made by _Ninnegrates_ messenger to the Generall Court of the
Massachusetts in May last against the _Montackett_ Sachem for
murthering Mr Drake and some other Englishmen upon ours near the Long
Island shore and seiseing theire goods many years since and for
Trecherously assaulting _Ninnegrett_ upon block Island and killing
many of his men after a peace concluded betwixt them certifyed to
Newhaven by the Massachusetts Commissioners by a Complaints made by
_Awsuntawney_ the Indian Sagamore near Milford and two other western
Indians against the said _Montackett_ Sachem for hiering a witch to
kill _Uncas_ with the said Milford Sachem and his son giveing eight
fathom of wampam in hand promising a hundred or a hundred and twenty
more when the said murthers were committed; Notice whereof being given
to the said _Montackett_ Sachem and hee Required to attend the
Commissioners att this meeting att Plymouth The said Sachem with five
of his men came over from longe Island towards the latter part of
August in Captaine Younges Barque whoe was to carry the Newhave
Commissioners to Plymouth but the Wind being contrary they first putt
in att Milford. The Sachem then desiring to Improve the season sent to
speake with _Ausuntawey_ or any of the western Indians to see whoe or
what Could bee charged upon him but none came but such as professed
they had nothing against him; The Commissioners being mett att
Plymouth; The said Sachem presented himselfe to answare but neither
_Ninnegrett_ nor _Uncas_ nor the Milford Sachem appeared, only
_Newcom_ a cuning and bould Narragansett Indian sent by _Ninnegrett_
as his Messinger or deputy charged the long Island Sachem first with
the murther of Mr Drake and other Englishmen affeirming that one
Wampeag had before severall Indians confessed that hee hiering under
the _Montackett_ Sachem did it being thereunto hiered by the said
Sachem which said Sachem absolutly deneyinge and Capt Young professing
that both English and Indians in those partes thought him Innocent:
_Necom_ was asked why himselfe from _Ninnegrett_ haveing layed such
charges upon the long Island Sachem before the Massachusetts Court hee
had not brought his Proffe; hee answared that Wampeage was absent but
some other Indians were present whoe Could speak to the case; wherupon
an Indian afeirmed that hee had heard the said Wampeage confesse that
being hiered as above hee had murthered the said Englishmen; though
after the said murther with himselfe that now spake the _Muntackett_
Sachem and some other Indians being att Newhaven hee deneyed itt to Mr
Goodyer and one hundred fathome of Wampam being tendered and delivered
to Mr Eaton the matter ended; Mr Eaton professed as in the presence of
God hee Remembered not that hee had seen Wampeage nor that hee had
Received soe much as one fathom of wampam, Nor did hee believe that
any at all was tendered him; wherupon the Commissioners caled to the
Indian for Proffe Mr Eaton being present and deneying it the Indian
answered there were two other Indians present that could speak to it;
they were called forth but both of them professed that through
themselves and from other Indians where then att Newhaven yett the
former afermined Indian was not there and that there was noe wawpam
att all either Received or tendered soe that the long Island Sachem
for what yett appeered stood free from this foule Charge; 2 Cond, The
said _Newcome_ charged the _Montackett_ Sachem with breach of Covenant
in asaulting _Ninnegrett_ and killing divers of his men att Block
Island after a conclusion of peace, the Treaty whereof was begun by a
Squaw sent by _Ninnigrett_ to the said Sachem to tender him peace and
the Prisoners which the said _Ninnigrett_ had taken from the long
Island sachem upon condition the said sachem did wholly submitt the
said message, but afeirmed hee Refused to accept the Conditions which
hee said hee could not without advising with the English whereupon the
Squaw Returned and came backe from _Ninnigrett_ with an offer of the
prisoners for Ransom of wampam which hee saith hee sent and had his
prisoners Relieved, _Newcome_ affeirmed the agreement between the said
Sachems was made att _Pesacus_ his house by two long Island Indians
deligates to the _Montackett_ Sachem in presence of _Pesacus_ and his
brother and others, two Englishmen being present one whereof was
Robert Westcott; Pesacus his brother testifyed the agreement as
aforesaid. The _Muntackett_ acknowlidged hee sent the said Delligatts
but never heard of any such agreement and deneyed hee gave any such
commission to his men, _Newcome_ afeirming Robert Wescott would
Testify the agreement aforsaid and desiring a writing from the
commissioners to Lycence the said Wescott to come and give in his
Testimony which was granted and _Newcome_ departed pretending to fetch
Wescott but Returned Not: The Commissioners finding much Difficulty to
bring theire thoughts to a certaine Determination on Satisfying
grounds yett concidering how Proudly _Ninnigrett_ and how peaceably
the _Montackett_ Sachem hath carryed it towards the English ordered
that a message the contents whereof heerafter followeth bee by Tho
Stanton delivered to _Ninnigrett_ and that for the cecuritie of the
English plantations on long Island and for an Incurragement to the
Montackett Sachem the two first particulars of the order to hinder
Ninnigretts attempts on long Island; made last year att New Haven bee
continued; Notwithstanding the said English are Required to Improve
those orders with all moderation and not by any Rashness or
unadvisednes to begin a broil unless they bee Nessesitated thereunto;
The _Montackett_ Sachem being questioned by the Commissioners
concerning the Painment of his Tribute Professed that hee had Payd it
att hartford for ten yeares but acknowlidged there was four yeares
behind which the Commissioners thought meet to respett in respect of
his present Troubles; Plymouth Sept 17th 1656."
[34] Thompson's Long Island, vol. ii. p. 9.
[35] This protectorship was agreed upon and confirmed May 29, 1645, by
_Rochkouw_ [_Yoco_] the greatest Sachem of _Cotsjewaminck_ (=
_Ahaquazuwamuck_). See Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60.
See also Plymouth Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 18.
[36] Thompson's Long Island, vol. ii. p. 10.
[37] _Ibid._, p. 9.
[38] P. 145.
[39] Pp. 416, 417.
[40] Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, Ruttenber, p. 73; Munsill's
History of Queens County, p. 19.
[41] East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 48.
[42] Huntington Records, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.
[43] East Hampton Records, vol 1. p. 156.
[44] _Ibid._, p. 66.
[45] Book of Deeds, vol. ii. pp. 118-19, Office of the Secretary of
State, Albany. The original is now in the possession of the Long
Island Historical Society: "Bee it knowne unto all men, both English
and Indians, especially the inhabitants of Long Island: that I
_Wyandance_ Sachame, of _Pamanack_, with my wife and son
_Wiancombone_, my only sonn and heire, haveinge delyberately
considered how this twenty-foure years wee have bene not only
acquainted with Lion: Gardiner, but from time to time have reseived
much kindness of him and from him, not onely by counsell and advise in
our prosperitie, but in our great extremytie, when wee wee were almost
swallowed upp of our enemies, then wee say he apeared to us not onely
as a friend, but as a father, in giveinge us his monie and goods,
wherby wee defended ourselves, and ransomd my daughter and friends,
and wee say and know that by his meanes we had great comfort and
reliefe from the most honarable of the English nation heare about us;
soe that seinge wee yet live, and both of us beinge now ould, and not
that wee at any time have given him any thinge to gratifie his
fatherly love, care and charge, we haveinge nothing left that is worth
his acceptance but a small tract of land which we desire him to Accept
of for himselfe, his heires, executors and assignes forever; now that
it may bee knowne how and where that land lieth on Long Island, we say
it lieth betwene Huntington and Seatacut, the westerne bounds being
Cowharbor, easterly Arhata-a-munt, and southerly crosse the Island to
the end of the great hollow or valley, or more, then half through the
Island southerly, and that this gift is our free act and deede, doth
appeare by our hand martcs under writ." Wayandance's mark represents
an Indian and a white shaking hands.
[46] These two chief men of the Montauk tribe were frequently sent
together by _Wyandanch_, and were possibly the Delegates sent to
_Pesacus_ at Rhode Island as stated in Note 33. _Sakkataka_ or
_Sasachatoko_ was at one time chief counselor of the Sachem of the
tribe. He was still living in 1702-03, as the Montauk conveyance of
that date bears witness.
[47] See Brooklyn Eagle Almanac, 1895, p. 55.
[48] Brookhaven Records, vol. i. p. 16.
[49] "The Name of the Neck aboves'd; is _Cataconocke_, March 8 1666"
(Brookhaven Records, vol. i. p. 16). The Indian name, of which "great
neck" is probably a popular translation, signifies "a great field,"
_Kehte-Konuk_.
[50] Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 20.
[51] Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 118, office of the Secretary of State,
Albany, N. Y.; George R. Howell in Southside Signal, Babylon, June 30,
1883.
[52] East Hampton Records, vol. i. 172.
[53] "The Signification of the name Montauk," Brooklyn Eagle Almanac,
1896, pp. 54, 55.
[54] East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 175; Southold Records, vol. i.
p. 363.
[55] Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 14, 20, 209.
[56] Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 15, 16.
[57] See Mamaroneck, by Edward Floyd DeLancey, Esq.; chap. 23, pp.
850, 851.
[58] See Note 18.
[59] Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15, _et seq._
[60] East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 159, 160, _et seq._
[61] From the original in possession of the owner of Montauk, Frank
Sherman Benson, Esq.
[62] _Quaunontowounk_ = _QuaneuntOOunk_ (Eliot), "where the fence is,"
and refers to the "sufficient fence upon the north side of the pond."
Compare "the Indian fence at _Quahquetong_," Trumbull's Names in
Connecticut, p. 58; _Konkhonganik_ "at the boundary place,"
_Kuhkunhunkganash_, "bounds" (Eliot), Acts xvii. 26. The agreement,
Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 123, office of Secretary of State, Albany,
N. Y., dated October 4, 1665, says: "That the bounds of East Hampton
to the East shall be ffort Pond, the North ffence from the pond to the
sea shall be kept by the Towne. The South ffence to the sea by the
Indyans." _Askikotantup_, daughter of the Sachem Wyandanch, was Sachem
Squaw of Montauk at the date of this agreement.
[63] This passage reads: "The cruel opposition and violence of our
deadly enemy Ninecraft Sachem of Narragansett, whose cruelty hath
proceeded so far as to take away the lives of many of our dear friends
and relations, so that we were forced to flee from the said Montauk
for shelter to our beloved friends and neighbors of East Hampton, whom
we found to be friendly in our distress, and whom we must ever own and
acknowledge as instruments under God, for the preservation of our
lives and the lives of our wives and children to this day."
[64] East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 199.
[65] Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 58.
[66] Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 58.
[67] _Ibid._, p. 90.
[68] Huntington Records, vol. i. pp. 91, 92.
[69] Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. Index, under Tackapousha.
[70] _Ibid._, p. 627.
[71] East Hampton Records, vol. ii. p. 33.
[72] The date of this gift to Gardiner and James was November 13,
1658. See East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 150.
[73] From the original deed in possession of Frank Sherman Benson,
Esq. There is an imperfect copy in Ranger's Deeds of Montauk, 1851.
[74] These boundaries are as follows: "bounded by us, the aforesaid
parties [_i. e._, the Indians] _Wuchebehsuck_, a place by the Fort
pond, being a valley southward from the fort hills pond,
_Shahchippitchuge_ being on the north side, the said land, midway
between the great pond and fort, so on a straight line to
_Chabiakinnauhsuk_ from thence to a swamp where the haystacks stood
called _Mahchongitchuge_, and so through the swampe to the great pond,
then straight from the haystacks to the great pond, so along by the
said pond to a place called _Manunkquiaug_, on furthest side the
woods, growing on the end of the great pond eastward, and so along to
the sea side southward, to a place called _Coppauhshapaugausuk_, so
straight from thence to the south sea," etc. See Indian Names in the
Town of East Hampton, Tooker, East Hampton Records, vol. iv. p. i-x.
[75] East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 379.
[76] Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. pp. 699, 700.
[77] James wrote: "The lines upon the other side I wrote upon the
desire of the Sachem & his men, they were their owne words & the
substance thereof they also had expressed before Mr Backer, but since
my writeing of them wch was almost a week since, I perceive that
delivering up the armes to the Indians doth not relish well with the
English, especially since of late we heard of the great slaughter,
they haue made upon the English in other parts of the country; I
perceive att Southampton ye English are much troubled ye Indians haue
their armes & I thinke it doth much disturbe ye spirits of these haue
them not; as for these Indians for my owne part I doe thinke they are
as Cordiale freinds to the English as any in ye Country & what is
written by ym is knowne to many to be ye truth, though God knows their
hearts," etc.
[78] Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 728.
[79] East Hampton Records, vol. ii. p. 109.
[80] _Ibid._, p. 111.
[81] The originals of the Montauk Indian deeds are in the possession
of Frank Sherman Benson of Brooklyn.
[82] As his name does not appear among the grantors on the
confirmation deed for Montauk, dated March 3, 1702-03, we must accept
it as sufficient evidence that he had passed away before that date;
although his associate and companion _Sasachatoko_ was still living,
an aged man. Rev. Thomas James died June 16, 1696, after a ministry of
about forty-five years.
[83] It is to be regretted that we have left us so little relating to
the Rev. Thomas James and his knowledge of the Indians of Montauk. The
few depositions and letters he left show that his knowledge of Indian
traditions and customs must have been quite extensive. In September,
1660, he informed the Commissioners of the United Colonies, then in
session at New Haven, that he was "willing to apply himself, to
instruct the Indians" of Long Island, "in the knowledge of the true
God." An allowance of £10 was therefore made for him "towards the
hiering of an Interpreter and other Charges." In 1662 he was paid £20
"for Instructing the Indians on Long Island," and the same allowance
was continued for the two following years. In a letter from Governor
Lovelace to Mr. James (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. pp.
610-11), we find: "I very much approve of yor composure of a
Catechisme.... That wch I shall desire from you at p'sent is the
Catachisme with some few select chapters & Lauditory Psalms fairly
transcribed in the Indian Language wch I will send over to England &
have quantityes of them printed & if you thinke it necessary I
conceive a small book such as shal only seme to the instructing ye
Indians to read may likewise be compiled & sent with them," etc. The
Catechism referred to above was probably never printed (Pilling's
Algonquian Bibliography, p. 569). It cannot be possible that James
neglected to avail himself of _Cockenoe's_ knowledge. The facts
presented in this paper would indicate, from James' reference to him,
that he found him a valuable assistant for many years.
[84] The numerous valleys and hilly slopes of the "North Neck," to the
northeast of Fort Pond, are dotted in many places by Indian graves.
The pedestrian will meet with them in the most isolated spots; but
generally near swamps and ponds in proximity to wigwam or cabin sites.
The two principal are located at "Burial Place Point," on the eastern
shore of Great Pond, and on the top of Fort Hill. The outlines of the
Fort still visible (which was yet standing in 1662) now inclose forty
graves, each marked by cobblestones laid thickly along the tops. The
tramping of cattle has obliterated all traces of mounds, and the
stones are generally on a level with the surface. On the outside, in
close proximity to the others, are ten more, while on the slope of the
hill to the northwest--the hill not being so abrupt in its descent at
this point--are eighty-six more graves; making a total of one hundred
and thirty-six buried on this hill. All are marked in the same manner,
the last being covered by a thick growth of blackberry vines and
bayberry bushes, and would not be noticed by the careless observer.
One of the graves, inside the outlines of the Fort, has an irregular
fragment of granite for a headstone; on it is carved very rudely
1817/BR. This is evidence that the graves on this hill were all
subsequent to the erection of the Fort, and are not very ancient.
Those at "Burial Place Point" look much older, and some of the graves
there are simply depressions not marked by any stones. In the "Indian
Field," to the northwest of Great Pond, are many more.
[85] I would suggest placing this at the top of Fort Hill, and thus
preserving the hill and graves forever as a memorial.
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
inconsistencies.
The transcriber noted the following issues and made changes as
indicated to the text to correct obvious errors:
1. p. 17, Footnote #8, Alqonquian --> Algonquian
2. p. 27, Footnote #26, Manhan-es-et-ahaquazuOOamuck: OO appears as
infinity symbol in text
3. p. 37, pounds of poudar --> pounds of poudar,
4. p. 46, Footnote #62, QuaneuntOOunk: OO appears as infinity symbol
in text
5. p. 51, satisfy his demands, --> satisfy his demands.
6. p. 58, Footnote #83, pp. 610-11, --> pp. 610-11),
7. p. 59, Footnote #84, 1817/BR appears in text at 1817 directly
over the BR with a horizontal line between them.
End of Transcriber's Notes]
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