Awonunsk
A Native woman named Awonunsk (Nonotuck) first appears in town records in September 1653, when fur trader and land broker John Pynchon negotiated a deed with Chickwalloppe, Nassicohee, Kiunks, Paquahalant, and Assellaquompas, conveying a parcel of Nonotuck land for settlement by Northampton’s town founders. The land included parts of present-day Easthampton and Westhampton. (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 26-30)
Native women traditionally took responsibility for planting fields; as a result, they were listed on some of these early deeds either in their own right (Awanunsk), or in absentia as the “right owners” of the land (Kewenusk and Niarum in the first deed for Agawam and Springfield).
In August 1662, Awonunsk, in company with her husband Wequagon and son Squomp, negotiated a deed with Pynchon for land in present-day South Hadley, Granby, and Belchertown. They reserved continued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, set up wigwams, harvest wood etc. on these lands (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 51-54).
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Native women traditionally took responsibility for planting fields; as a result, they were listed on some of these early deeds either in their own right (Awanunsk), or in absentia as the “right owners” of the land (Kewenusk and Niarum in the first deed for Agawam and Springfield).
In August 1662, Awonunsk, in company with her husband Wequagon and son Squomp, negotiated a deed with Pynchon for land in present-day South Hadley, Granby, and Belchertown. They reserved continued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, set up wigwams, harvest wood etc. on these lands (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 51-54).
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Chickwalloppe
From the 1630s to the 1680s, the sachem Chickwalloppe (Nonotuck) was well-known to the English colonists. He often acted as a spokesperson and statesman by negotiating with, and sometimes representing, other sachems. In this role, he posted bonds, signed land agreements, and conducted inter-tribal and inter-cultural diplomacy. The earliest record of his name appears in fur trader and land broker John Pynchon’s account book on July 1, 1649, when Chickwalloppe borrowed (and later paid for) “3 h [hands] of wampum” Pynchon Day Book & Accounts 1648-1650).
On September 1653, Pynchon negotiated a deed with Chickwalloppe (who used the alias Wawhillowa on this document), Nassicohee, Kiunks, Paquahalant, Assellaquompas, and Awonunsk, conveying a parcel of Nonotuck land for settlement by Northampton’s town founders. The deed was witnessed by two Native men from outside the area: Wutshamin, a sachem from Nammeleck (East Windsor, Connecticut Colony), and Skittomp (alias Unkquask) from Chicopee. The land included part of present-day Easthampton and Westhampton (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 26-30).
In 1658, Chickwalloppe (alias Wawhillowa), in company with the sachems Umpanchela (alias Womscom), and Quonquont (alias Wompshaw), negotiated another deed with Pynchon for land including parts of present-day Hadley, Amherst, Belchertown, Pelham, and Shutesbury. This document (assigned in 1663) reserved land for a Native cornfield and promised continued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, etc. on these lands, and included this hopeful phrase: “The Indians desired they might set their Wiggwoms at sometimes wth in ye tract of ground they sold withoute offence & that the English would be kinde & neighborlie to ym” (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 33-36).
In 1665, Chickwallope and a Native man named Sophos posted a £3 bond after the Massachusetts court charged that “An Indian [later identified as Wenawen] at Northampton broke into Praisever Turner's mill” along the Mill River in Northampton. The following year, the court decided that Turner should be paid either “£40 or 20 fathoms of wampum for his loss from his mill & for his charges about this suit” (Judd, History of Northampton, 178).
In 1667, Pynchon and the town’s leaders asked Chickwalloppe to serve as the lead sachem at Nonotuck. They insisted that, whenever any crimes were committed by Native people, he must deliver “into the hands of the English Justice the Indians that have injured the English; if the wrong is proved, & no reparation made nor Indian given up the sachem to be proceeded against in a court of law as being liable to answer for the injury” (Records of the Hampshire County Court, October 1667).
In 1672, Chickwalloppe’s only son was captured by Captain Salisbury in Albany, and charged with murder. In a letter to John Winthrop Jr., John Pynchon noted that “Our Indians much desire the younger fellow. . .may be spared; one being enough to die for one,” but he nonetheless believed that both men should be executed, and sent money to Albany to fund the subsequent prosecution and hanging (Judd, Massachusetts Series Vol. I, 348-358).
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On September 1653, Pynchon negotiated a deed with Chickwalloppe (who used the alias Wawhillowa on this document), Nassicohee, Kiunks, Paquahalant, Assellaquompas, and Awonunsk, conveying a parcel of Nonotuck land for settlement by Northampton’s town founders. The deed was witnessed by two Native men from outside the area: Wutshamin, a sachem from Nammeleck (East Windsor, Connecticut Colony), and Skittomp (alias Unkquask) from Chicopee. The land included part of present-day Easthampton and Westhampton (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 26-30).
In 1658, Chickwalloppe (alias Wawhillowa), in company with the sachems Umpanchela (alias Womscom), and Quonquont (alias Wompshaw), negotiated another deed with Pynchon for land including parts of present-day Hadley, Amherst, Belchertown, Pelham, and Shutesbury. This document (assigned in 1663) reserved land for a Native cornfield and promised continued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, etc. on these lands, and included this hopeful phrase: “The Indians desired they might set their Wiggwoms at sometimes wth in ye tract of ground they sold withoute offence & that the English would be kinde & neighborlie to ym” (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 33-36).
In 1665, Chickwallope and a Native man named Sophos posted a £3 bond after the Massachusetts court charged that “An Indian [later identified as Wenawen] at Northampton broke into Praisever Turner's mill” along the Mill River in Northampton. The following year, the court decided that Turner should be paid either “£40 or 20 fathoms of wampum for his loss from his mill & for his charges about this suit” (Judd, History of Northampton, 178).
In 1667, Pynchon and the town’s leaders asked Chickwalloppe to serve as the lead sachem at Nonotuck. They insisted that, whenever any crimes were committed by Native people, he must deliver “into the hands of the English Justice the Indians that have injured the English; if the wrong is proved, & no reparation made nor Indian given up the sachem to be proceeded against in a court of law as being liable to answer for the injury” (Records of the Hampshire County Court, October 1667).
In 1672, Chickwalloppe’s only son was captured by Captain Salisbury in Albany, and charged with murder. In a letter to John Winthrop Jr., John Pynchon noted that “Our Indians much desire the younger fellow. . .may be spared; one being enough to die for one,” but he nonetheless believed that both men should be executed, and sent money to Albany to fund the subsequent prosecution and hanging (Judd, Massachusetts Series Vol. I, 348-358).
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Harry
Harry (tribal identity unknown) was listed as an “Indian servant” to Enos Kingsley in a 1674 probate record, where he is identified as "Harry the Indian." No tribal identity is indicated. Harry signed with a mark resembling an H, a signing practice distinct from the signing of a full name.
Harry made his will when he was sick, as was common at that time. He entrusted Eleazar Hawes to serve as the will's executor; it was witnessed by Enos Kingsley and Sarah King. Harry left his gun to Supply Clapp, his chest to Elizabeth Holmes, and "what is left in the Bay" (including clothes and household items) to Eleazar Hawes "to pay his charges here." The indication of property left in "the Bay" implies that Harry had property located outside of Massachusetts Bay Colony. His will indicated that anything else not listed would be given to Preserved Clapp.
The morning after the will was written, Preserved Clapp wrote an addition, stating that John Kingsley was to have one of Harry's pistols (which was stored at Enos Kingsley's house), and Haynes Kingsley was to have the other (which was stored at Preserved Clapp's house). A last line states that Preserved Clapp would "pay Enos Kingsley for his cost and trouble." It is unclear what this payment was for; perhaps medical treatment or room and board (1674 will of Harry, Hampshire County Probate Records).
We do not know the exact nature of Harry’s relationship to the Kingsley family. Given the amount of personal property that he owned, it is highly doubtful that he was enslaved; he was more likely a hired laborer, or perhaps an indentured servant. What is apparent from this will is that Harry owned a significant amount of property and had significant social ties with non-Native people in the Northampton community. He willed property not just to the family who employed him, but to others, both men and women, whom he held in regard.
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Harry made his will when he was sick, as was common at that time. He entrusted Eleazar Hawes to serve as the will's executor; it was witnessed by Enos Kingsley and Sarah King. Harry left his gun to Supply Clapp, his chest to Elizabeth Holmes, and "what is left in the Bay" (including clothes and household items) to Eleazar Hawes "to pay his charges here." The indication of property left in "the Bay" implies that Harry had property located outside of Massachusetts Bay Colony. His will indicated that anything else not listed would be given to Preserved Clapp.
The morning after the will was written, Preserved Clapp wrote an addition, stating that John Kingsley was to have one of Harry's pistols (which was stored at Enos Kingsley's house), and Haynes Kingsley was to have the other (which was stored at Preserved Clapp's house). A last line states that Preserved Clapp would "pay Enos Kingsley for his cost and trouble." It is unclear what this payment was for; perhaps medical treatment or room and board (1674 will of Harry, Hampshire County Probate Records).
We do not know the exact nature of Harry’s relationship to the Kingsley family. Given the amount of personal property that he owned, it is highly doubtful that he was enslaved; he was more likely a hired laborer, or perhaps an indentured servant. What is apparent from this will is that Harry owned a significant amount of property and had significant social ties with non-Native people in the Northampton community. He willed property not just to the family who employed him, but to others, both men and women, whom he held in regard.
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Mahqualos
Mahqualos (also spelled Moquolas or Mahquolous) (Nonotuck) was also known to the English colonists as Strawberry's Son. Along with many other Native people from the region, he relocated to the Native refugee community in Schaghticoke, New York sometime after 1676. During the 1690s, he was part of a group of about 50 Nonotuck people who returned to the Valley and were living in Indian Hollow, in the part of Nonotuck territory that the English had re-named “Hatfield.”
On August 10, 1695, Mahqualos and a group of about ten other Native men were hunting on the Ashuelot River in Sokoki territory (above present-day Northfield) when they were attacked by a party of about 40 Native men from the north, likely Mohawk allies of the French in New France. Mahqualos, the only member of his party to survive the attack, was seriously wounded, but reached Deerfield safely. After he informed Captain Wells of an impending attack on Deerfield, Pynchon sent Captain Colton out with 24 English soldiers, but found no trace of the enemy (Letter from John Pynchon to Lieut. Governor William Stoughton, August 12, 1695).
On October 5, 1696, Mahqualos was out hunting between Mount Warner and Mount Toby, in company with Mahweness, Wenepuck, and Pemequansett. The four Native men were suspected of the murder of Richard Church, an English settler from Hadley who was killed by gunshot and arrow shot on that day. Mahqualos was arrested and taken to Northampton, where he was tried and found guilty. On October 23, he was executed by gunshot in Northampton. The Native community in Hatfield was forced to attend the trial and execution (Judd, Massachusetts Series Vol. I, 348-358).
For a full discussion of this event, see: The 1696 Encounter Between Nonotuck and English Hunters.
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On August 10, 1695, Mahqualos and a group of about ten other Native men were hunting on the Ashuelot River in Sokoki territory (above present-day Northfield) when they were attacked by a party of about 40 Native men from the north, likely Mohawk allies of the French in New France. Mahqualos, the only member of his party to survive the attack, was seriously wounded, but reached Deerfield safely. After he informed Captain Wells of an impending attack on Deerfield, Pynchon sent Captain Colton out with 24 English soldiers, but found no trace of the enemy (Letter from John Pynchon to Lieut. Governor William Stoughton, August 12, 1695).
On October 5, 1696, Mahqualos was out hunting between Mount Warner and Mount Toby, in company with Mahweness, Wenepuck, and Pemequansett. The four Native men were suspected of the murder of Richard Church, an English settler from Hadley who was killed by gunshot and arrow shot on that day. Mahqualos was arrested and taken to Northampton, where he was tried and found guilty. On October 23, he was executed by gunshot in Northampton. The Native community in Hatfield was forced to attend the trial and execution (Judd, Massachusetts Series Vol. I, 348-358).
For a full discussion of this event, see: The 1696 Encounter Between Nonotuck and English Hunters.
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Joseph Maminash Sr.
The family name of Joseph Maminash Sr. (Mohegan/Podunk/Nonotuck) (1727-1767) is variously spelled as Mammanash, Mammanache, Mamenash, etc.. He is identified in colonial records as living in Norwich and East Windsor, Connecticut, and in Southampton and Northampton, Massachusetts. His mother Betty Mammanash (c.1696-1786) lived in Windsor; his sister Hannah (1716-1801) married the Mohegan minister Rev. Samuel Ashbow.
Like many Native men in New England, Joseph mustered in alongside his white neighbors in local regiments for military service. When Native soldiers were recruited for the English campaign against the French at Louisbourg in 1745, Joseph joined Nathan Whiting’s 11th company, along with Mohegan men from the Uncas, Dick, Nanapau, Quaquequid and Wetowomp families (Whiting, “List of Soldiers,” 1745).
Joseph married Elizabeth Occum Maminash (c.1720-1779) and they had three children: Joseph Maminash Jr., Sally Maminash, and George Maninash. When he died in 1767, Joseph was buried on the site above Pancake Plain that is now called “Hospital Hill.” His gravesite was marked with a brown stone bearing the mark of the turtle, the clan totem of the family. During the 1860s, the stone was stolen, and has never been found (Bridgman, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 1936).
For a more detailed discussion of the Maminash family, see “Sally Maminash: Last of the Indians Here.”
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Like many Native men in New England, Joseph mustered in alongside his white neighbors in local regiments for military service. When Native soldiers were recruited for the English campaign against the French at Louisbourg in 1745, Joseph joined Nathan Whiting’s 11th company, along with Mohegan men from the Uncas, Dick, Nanapau, Quaquequid and Wetowomp families (Whiting, “List of Soldiers,” 1745).
Joseph married Elizabeth Occum Maminash (c.1720-1779) and they had three children: Joseph Maminash Jr., Sally Maminash, and George Maninash. When he died in 1767, Joseph was buried on the site above Pancake Plain that is now called “Hospital Hill.” His gravesite was marked with a brown stone bearing the mark of the turtle, the clan totem of the family. During the 1860s, the stone was stolen, and has never been found (Bridgman, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 1936).
For a more detailed discussion of the Maminash family, see “Sally Maminash: Last of the Indians Here.”
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Sally Maminash
Sally Maminash (Wangunk/Mohegan/Nonotuck) (1756-1883), daughter of Elizabeth Occum and Joseph Maminash Sr., was well-known as an itinerant spinner and weaver, working for various families in town. After her mother’s death, Sally was invited to live in the household of Sophia and Warham Clapp, in their home on South Street. Sophia’s grandson, Sidney E. Bridgman, later recalled that Sally “never attended school, but grew up with native wit and sharpness, and when taken into our family was a wild, passionate, willful, yet a kindly, loving Indian girl” (Bridgman, “Sally Mammanash is Recalled Here”).
In 1816, Sally joined First Church along with several other Native and African American people. Sophia Clapp, who had sponsored Sally’s membership in the church, invited Sally to live with the family, and promised to care for her in her old age. Although the Clapps clearly considered Sally a close family friend, later writers seem to have embellished earlier accounts to make Sally appear more simple, more destitute, and more alone than she was in real life. Solomon Clark, in his Historical Catalogue, described her as “the memorable Sally Maminash, the last of the Indian race in Northampton” (Brewster. “The Last Indian of Northampton”; Clark, Historical Catalogue of the Northampton First Church, 121).
Sally’s gravestone, situated in the Clapp family plot in Bridge Street Cemetary, reads: “Sally Maminash. The last of the Indians here. A niece of Occum. A Christian. Died in the family of Warham & Sophia Clap. Jan. 3, 1853. Aged 88.” Her Bible, which was kept by the family in her memory, is now housed at Forbes Library, and her favorite chair, a low ladder back with its original ash-splint seat, was donated to the collections of Historic Northampton.
For a more detailed discussion of the Maminash family, see “Sally Maminash: Last of the Indians Here.”
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In 1816, Sally joined First Church along with several other Native and African American people. Sophia Clapp, who had sponsored Sally’s membership in the church, invited Sally to live with the family, and promised to care for her in her old age. Although the Clapps clearly considered Sally a close family friend, later writers seem to have embellished earlier accounts to make Sally appear more simple, more destitute, and more alone than she was in real life. Solomon Clark, in his Historical Catalogue, described her as “the memorable Sally Maminash, the last of the Indian race in Northampton” (Brewster. “The Last Indian of Northampton”; Clark, Historical Catalogue of the Northampton First Church, 121).
Sally’s gravestone, situated in the Clapp family plot in Bridge Street Cemetary, reads: “Sally Maminash. The last of the Indians here. A niece of Occum. A Christian. Died in the family of Warham & Sophia Clap. Jan. 3, 1853. Aged 88.” Her Bible, which was kept by the family in her memory, is now housed at Forbes Library, and her favorite chair, a low ladder back with its original ash-splint seat, was donated to the collections of Historic Northampton.
For a more detailed discussion of the Maminash family, see “Sally Maminash: Last of the Indians Here.”
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Abigail Meazon
Abigail Meazon (also spelled as "Meeson" and "Meson") (Pequot/Tunxis), lived in Farmington, Connecticut. She was visiting Northampton in the fall of 1772, when she became severely ill with typhoid fever. She was dropped off at the doorstep of Nathaniel and Ada Marshall Day’s home, and taken into their care for two months. Ada, along with Mrs. Coates and another unnamed nurse, cared for Abigail in September and October of 1772, treating her with rum and Native medicines for her fever and other symptoms. Abigail passed away on October 21, 1772 (Judd manuscript, Northampton Vol. 3, 76; “Abigail Meazon,” Native Northeast Portal).
Since Abigail was impoverished, the Day family requested reimbursement from the selectmen of Northampton for the cost of her room, board, and treatment. The amount of £3, 6 shillings, and 4 pence was approved and paid by the town on November 22, 1772. Since Abigail was not a resident of Northampton, the town selectmen then submitted a request for reimbursal of £five and 3 shillings to the Massachusetts colony public treasury on January 4, 1773. It’s not clear whether the town was ever reimbursed (“Town of Northampton Expenses for the Care of Abigail Meazon,” Yale Indian Papers Project).
Abigail Meazon had a daughter named Sarah Meazon, born on Mashantucket Pequot lands in 1724, who married a Native man named Nannapoom. Although she, too, suffered from poverty and illness, she lived a very long life, dying at the age of 97 (“Sarah Meazon,” Native Northeast Portal).
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Since Abigail was impoverished, the Day family requested reimbursement from the selectmen of Northampton for the cost of her room, board, and treatment. The amount of £3, 6 shillings, and 4 pence was approved and paid by the town on November 22, 1772. Since Abigail was not a resident of Northampton, the town selectmen then submitted a request for reimbursal of £five and 3 shillings to the Massachusetts colony public treasury on January 4, 1773. It’s not clear whether the town was ever reimbursed (“Town of Northampton Expenses for the Care of Abigail Meazon,” Yale Indian Papers Project).
Abigail Meazon had a daughter named Sarah Meazon, born on Mashantucket Pequot lands in 1724, who married a Native man named Nannapoom. Although she, too, suffered from poverty and illness, she lived a very long life, dying at the age of 97 (“Sarah Meazon,” Native Northeast Portal).
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Pemequansett
Pemequansett (also spelled Pemequenoxet or Pameconoset) (Nonotuck) may have been related to the Nonotuck Sachem Umpanchela, since he sometimes used the name Umpanchela as an alias. He was living among the Nonotuck people who left the valley after King Philip’s War, and may have been born in the Native refugee village at Schaghticoke, New York. In the 1690s, he was living near Hatfield, in the same lands where Umpanchela had worked to retain hunting, fishing, and other settlement rights.
On October 5, 1696, Pemequansett was out hunting between Mount Warner and Mount Toby, in company with Mahqualos, Mahweness, and Wenepuck. The four Native men were suspected of the murder of Richard Church, an English settler from Hadley who was killed by gunshot and arrow shot on that day. Pemequansett was arrested, tried, and found guilty of being an accomplice to the murder. On October 23, Mahqualos and Mahweness were executed by gunshot in Northampton. The Native community in Hatfield was forced to attend the trial and execution. Wenepuck and Pemaquansett were confined by the Sheriff until 1697, when they were freed and returned to Schaghticoke (Judd, Massachusetts Series Vol. I, 348-358).
For a full discussion of this event, see: The 1696 Encounter Between Nonotuck and English Hunters.
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On October 5, 1696, Pemequansett was out hunting between Mount Warner and Mount Toby, in company with Mahqualos, Mahweness, and Wenepuck. The four Native men were suspected of the murder of Richard Church, an English settler from Hadley who was killed by gunshot and arrow shot on that day. Pemequansett was arrested, tried, and found guilty of being an accomplice to the murder. On October 23, Mahqualos and Mahweness were executed by gunshot in Northampton. The Native community in Hatfield was forced to attend the trial and execution. Wenepuck and Pemaquansett were confined by the Sheriff until 1697, when they were freed and returned to Schaghticoke (Judd, Massachusetts Series Vol. I, 348-358).
For a full discussion of this event, see: The 1696 Encounter Between Nonotuck and English Hunters.
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Umpanchela
In July 1657, the sachem Umpanchela (also identified here as Lampancho) (Nonotuck), sold a small parcel of land called Pewonganuck or Capawonke to the town of Northampton for 36 shillings. In September of 1658, he insisted upon being paid an additional 14 shillings to make up the agreed sum of 50 shillings (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 31-32).
In 1658, Umpanchela (here identified as alias Womscom), in company with the sachems Chickwalloppe (alias Wawhillowa), and Quonquont (alias Wompshaw), negotiated a deed with John Pynchon for land including parts of present-day Hadley, Amherst, Belchertown, Pelham, and Shutesbury. This document (assigned in 1663) reserved land for a Native cornfield and promised co ntinued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, etc. on these lands, and included this hopeful phrase: “The Indians desired they might set their Wiggwoms at sometimes wth in ye tract of ground they sold withoute offence & that the English would be kinde & neighborlie to ym” (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 33-36).
Umpanchela conducted a number of trade transactions with John Pynchon in 1659 and 1660, when he purchased several ready-made coats at £1, 5 shillings each, plus waistcoats, caps, cotton stockings, thread, and leather laces. An extensive list of items worth more than 300 fathoms of wampum was detailed in 1659, with the notation that these would be paid for with “land which he pmises [promises] to Sell.” The purchases included: at least 19 coats, 1 waistcoat, 3 pair of breeches, 2 shirts, many yards of red shag cotton cloth, a kettle, and a gun (costing 10 fathoms). Umpanchela agreed to pawn his cornfields at Wequttayag, and on December 25, 1660, Pynchon noted “If I am not pd in Bever when he comes from Heakeg [Squakheag or Sokoki] all his land is to be mine” (Bridenbaugh, Pynchon Papers, 283-288).
In July 1660, Umpanchela (alias Womscom) negotiated a deed with Pynchon for parts of present-day Hatfield and Williamsburg. He reserved a Native planting ground called Chickons or Cottinyakies (now called Indian Hollow), and also reserved continued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, set up wigwams, harvest wood, etc. on these lands. A Native man named Woassomehuc (alias Skejask) (tribal identity unknown) witnessed the deed (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 37-39).
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In 1658, Umpanchela (here identified as alias Womscom), in company with the sachems Chickwalloppe (alias Wawhillowa), and Quonquont (alias Wompshaw), negotiated a deed with John Pynchon for land including parts of present-day Hadley, Amherst, Belchertown, Pelham, and Shutesbury. This document (assigned in 1663) reserved land for a Native cornfield and promised co ntinued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, etc. on these lands, and included this hopeful phrase: “The Indians desired they might set their Wiggwoms at sometimes wth in ye tract of ground they sold withoute offence & that the English would be kinde & neighborlie to ym” (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 33-36).
Umpanchela conducted a number of trade transactions with John Pynchon in 1659 and 1660, when he purchased several ready-made coats at £1, 5 shillings each, plus waistcoats, caps, cotton stockings, thread, and leather laces. An extensive list of items worth more than 300 fathoms of wampum was detailed in 1659, with the notation that these would be paid for with “land which he pmises [promises] to Sell.” The purchases included: at least 19 coats, 1 waistcoat, 3 pair of breeches, 2 shirts, many yards of red shag cotton cloth, a kettle, and a gun (costing 10 fathoms). Umpanchela agreed to pawn his cornfields at Wequttayag, and on December 25, 1660, Pynchon noted “If I am not pd in Bever when he comes from Heakeg [Squakheag or Sokoki] all his land is to be mine” (Bridenbaugh, Pynchon Papers, 283-288).
In July 1660, Umpanchela (alias Womscom) negotiated a deed with Pynchon for parts of present-day Hatfield and Williamsburg. He reserved a Native planting ground called Chickons or Cottinyakies (now called Indian Hollow), and also reserved continued Native rights to freely hunt, fish, set up wigwams, harvest wood, etc. on these lands. A Native man named Woassomehuc (alias Skejask) (tribal identity unknown) witnessed the deed (Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County, 37-39).
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The 1696 Encounter Between Nonotuck and English Hunters
summarized by Margaret M. Bruchac, August 2022
In all of the deeds transacted between Nonotuck and English people in the mid-1600s, the Native signatories reserved full rights to freely hunt, fish, and harvest wild foods on the lands identified in those deeds (1). But in practice, colonial leaders never intended to honor those rights, and Native people who tried to exercise them did so at their peril. So, when English settlers went off to hunt in forested areas that Native people depended upon for sustenance, conflicts were inevitable.
On October 5, 1696, three English settlers from Hadley – Richard Church, Samuel Bowen, and Ebenezer Smith – went hunting in the forested lands north of the town, near Mount Warner. Around sunset, after his companions split off, Church appears to have crossed paths with four Native men – Maqualos, Mahweness, Wenepuck, and Pemequansett – who were started to see an Englishman hunting in an area that they considered to be their rightful territory. An altercation ensued, and Church was killed, with a gunshot to the head and an arrow to the body (2).
When Church’s companions realized that he had not returned home, a search party was formed. Forty colonists from Northampton and Hadley, accompanied by 9 Nipmuc men, located Church’s body and followed the tracks until they came across the four Native men, walking through the woods near Mount Toby, nine miles north of Hadley. The search party took Pemequansett captive, and shot and wounded Mahweness, who escaped with Wenepuck and Mahqualos. When the three came into Hatfield on their own, they were arrested.
All four Native men denied their guilt when they were initially questioned by three magistrates and two ministers. The youngest of the Native men, 18 year old Pemequansett, was then ordered to go with several English men to the place where Church’s body was found. There, after interrogation, he stated that he and Wenepuck, while standing at a considerable distance away, saw Mahweness and Mahqualos shoot the man. Two of the magistrates, Justices Hawley and Parsons, then took Mahqualos and Wenepuck to the same place, where they identified the same trees and blamed Mahweness. Mahweness, in his turn, blamed Mahqualos (3).
On October 21, 1696, a special court session of Oyer and Terminer was held in Northampton, where testimony from the English search party and other witnesses was heard, and the four Native suspects were examined. The members of the Native community living near Hatfield (about 50 men, women, and children) were disarmed and brought to Northampton, where they were required to attend the proceedings. Members of the search party described the scene, and recounted taking the Native men into the woods to examine them separately. An indictment was prepared against Mahweness, and a jury of 12 English men found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to be shot. The court records state that when the Hatfield Native community members were asked: “what they has to say why sentence of Death ought not to pass against him; they by their chief men answered that it was right & ought to be so.”
The same indictment was then brought against Mahqualos. One English witness, Martha Wait of Hatfield, testified that “about a fortnight before the man was killed the said Mahqualos said he would kill an English man in Hadley because they were unwilling they should hunt in their woods” (4). Mahqualos was also found guilty and sentenced to be shot. Mahweness and Mahqualos were publicly executed by being shot on October 23, 1696, around 2 pm (5). They were the first people executed by an English court in western Massachusetts.
Pemequansett and Wenepuck were tried separately as accessories. Samuel Partrigg testified that “They had no hand in the murder – were in no plot to murder & knew not till it was done” (6). They were turned over to the Sheriff and placed in confinement.
In the wake of the executions there were protests from the Nonotuck and other Native refugees living in Schaghticoke, New York. The sachem Soquons had doubts about the verdict, and he wrote to New York Governor Fletcher, stating that all four men were innocent (7). Although the English had denied using any force to interrogate witnesses, Fletcher was told that the English search party had lost track of the actual culprits, mis-identified the suspects, and then tortured and whipped Wenepuck and Pemequansett to extract confessions from them (8).
In an April 5, 1697 letter to Massachusetts Governor Stoughton, Fletcher further stated that another Native man had killed the murderer. He wrote that:
“English & Indians followed the track, found the buttons by way of the coat of the murdered man [Church]; & overtook an Onogungo [Abenaki] Indian (9) who confessed the murder, & that the Indian before him had the [Abenaki] man’s clothes, gun & scalp, which Indian the party knocked on the head.”
Stoughton was skeptical; he suggested that perhaps the Nipmuc scouts in the search party had actually tried to help the four accused men to escape, and were now making excuses for them. Fletcher insisted that he had further eyewitness testimony from a Native man named Cotonaugh, which “proves the innocence of the executed Indians.” He pressed for the release of Pemaquansett and Wenepuck, since they, and the entire community, “have promised to be quiet & do no wrong” (10).
Even after the trials and executions, Church’s murder was used as an excuse by English colonists to push for the removal of the Hatfield Nonotuck community. Governor Stoughton wrote, on May 17, 1697, that he “Thinks the River Indians ought not to complain any longer about execution of the two – says many of these Indians are our former enemies and owe us a grudge” (11). Shortly thereafter, Samuel Partrigg reported that only 40 Native people were still remaining in Hatfield (8 men, 9 women, and 23 children); “We propose to have them removed, to Albany or elsewhere.” He also noted that one of the Nipmuc Indians, Peter Aspinal, had recovered the community’s firearms from the Sheriff’s possession and, while he was at it, helped Pemaquansett and Wenepuck escape, and led them to safety at Schaghticoke (12).
Return to Mahqualos' Profile.
Return to Mahweness' Profile.
Return to Pemaquansett's Profile.
Return to Wenepuck's Profile.
Endnotes
1. See examples in Harry Andrew Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County (Springfield, MA: Harry Andrew Wright, 1905).
2. A heavily biased account of this incident can be found in James Russell Trumbull, History of Northampton (Northampton, MA: Gazette Printing Company 1898), 1898), Volume I, 441-443.
3. Records of the Hampshire County Court, County Oyer and Terminer held in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1696, in Sylvester Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series (Forbes Library, Northampton, Massachusetts c. 1850s), Volume I, 348-349.
4. Sworn testimony of Martha Wait of Hatfield, from the Records of the Hampshire County Court, County Oyer and Terminer held in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1696, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 354.
5. From the Records of the Hampshire County Court, County Oyer and Terminer held in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1696, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 348-351.
6. “5 Reasons of Samuel Patrigg, why the 2 Indians convicted as accessories in the murder of Richard Church should be reprieved or released.” Note appended to the Records of the Hampshire County Court, October 1696, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 356.
7. James Spady, “As If In a Great Darkness: Native American Refugees of the Middle Connecticut River Valley in the Aftermath of King Philip’s War,” Historical Journal of Massachusetts 23 (2), 135.
8. March 4, 1697 report from John Pynchon et al. Note appended to the Records of the Hampshire County Court, October 1696-1697, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 352.
9. Onogungo is one of many terms used in the 1690s to 1740s to refer to Abenaki Indians. Variant spellings include Onogungos used by the Governor of Canada in 1695, Onogonguas used by Captain Stoddart in 1753, and Onogongoes used by Col. Schuyler in 1724. For multiple other examples, see Frederick Webb Hodge, Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology 1912), 5.
10. April 23, 1697 letter from Fletcher to Stoughton, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I , 358.
11. May 17, 1697 letter from Stoughton to Fletcher, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 358.
12. Undated (c. May 1697) letter from Samuel Partrigg to Stoughton, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 358.
On October 5, 1696, three English settlers from Hadley – Richard Church, Samuel Bowen, and Ebenezer Smith – went hunting in the forested lands north of the town, near Mount Warner. Around sunset, after his companions split off, Church appears to have crossed paths with four Native men – Maqualos, Mahweness, Wenepuck, and Pemequansett – who were started to see an Englishman hunting in an area that they considered to be their rightful territory. An altercation ensued, and Church was killed, with a gunshot to the head and an arrow to the body (2).
When Church’s companions realized that he had not returned home, a search party was formed. Forty colonists from Northampton and Hadley, accompanied by 9 Nipmuc men, located Church’s body and followed the tracks until they came across the four Native men, walking through the woods near Mount Toby, nine miles north of Hadley. The search party took Pemequansett captive, and shot and wounded Mahweness, who escaped with Wenepuck and Mahqualos. When the three came into Hatfield on their own, they were arrested.
All four Native men denied their guilt when they were initially questioned by three magistrates and two ministers. The youngest of the Native men, 18 year old Pemequansett, was then ordered to go with several English men to the place where Church’s body was found. There, after interrogation, he stated that he and Wenepuck, while standing at a considerable distance away, saw Mahweness and Mahqualos shoot the man. Two of the magistrates, Justices Hawley and Parsons, then took Mahqualos and Wenepuck to the same place, where they identified the same trees and blamed Mahweness. Mahweness, in his turn, blamed Mahqualos (3).
On October 21, 1696, a special court session of Oyer and Terminer was held in Northampton, where testimony from the English search party and other witnesses was heard, and the four Native suspects were examined. The members of the Native community living near Hatfield (about 50 men, women, and children) were disarmed and brought to Northampton, where they were required to attend the proceedings. Members of the search party described the scene, and recounted taking the Native men into the woods to examine them separately. An indictment was prepared against Mahweness, and a jury of 12 English men found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to be shot. The court records state that when the Hatfield Native community members were asked: “what they has to say why sentence of Death ought not to pass against him; they by their chief men answered that it was right & ought to be so.”
The same indictment was then brought against Mahqualos. One English witness, Martha Wait of Hatfield, testified that “about a fortnight before the man was killed the said Mahqualos said he would kill an English man in Hadley because they were unwilling they should hunt in their woods” (4). Mahqualos was also found guilty and sentenced to be shot. Mahweness and Mahqualos were publicly executed by being shot on October 23, 1696, around 2 pm (5). They were the first people executed by an English court in western Massachusetts.
Pemequansett and Wenepuck were tried separately as accessories. Samuel Partrigg testified that “They had no hand in the murder – were in no plot to murder & knew not till it was done” (6). They were turned over to the Sheriff and placed in confinement.
In the wake of the executions there were protests from the Nonotuck and other Native refugees living in Schaghticoke, New York. The sachem Soquons had doubts about the verdict, and he wrote to New York Governor Fletcher, stating that all four men were innocent (7). Although the English had denied using any force to interrogate witnesses, Fletcher was told that the English search party had lost track of the actual culprits, mis-identified the suspects, and then tortured and whipped Wenepuck and Pemequansett to extract confessions from them (8).
In an April 5, 1697 letter to Massachusetts Governor Stoughton, Fletcher further stated that another Native man had killed the murderer. He wrote that:
“English & Indians followed the track, found the buttons by way of the coat of the murdered man [Church]; & overtook an Onogungo [Abenaki] Indian (9) who confessed the murder, & that the Indian before him had the [Abenaki] man’s clothes, gun & scalp, which Indian the party knocked on the head.”
Stoughton was skeptical; he suggested that perhaps the Nipmuc scouts in the search party had actually tried to help the four accused men to escape, and were now making excuses for them. Fletcher insisted that he had further eyewitness testimony from a Native man named Cotonaugh, which “proves the innocence of the executed Indians.” He pressed for the release of Pemaquansett and Wenepuck, since they, and the entire community, “have promised to be quiet & do no wrong” (10).
Even after the trials and executions, Church’s murder was used as an excuse by English colonists to push for the removal of the Hatfield Nonotuck community. Governor Stoughton wrote, on May 17, 1697, that he “Thinks the River Indians ought not to complain any longer about execution of the two – says many of these Indians are our former enemies and owe us a grudge” (11). Shortly thereafter, Samuel Partrigg reported that only 40 Native people were still remaining in Hatfield (8 men, 9 women, and 23 children); “We propose to have them removed, to Albany or elsewhere.” He also noted that one of the Nipmuc Indians, Peter Aspinal, had recovered the community’s firearms from the Sheriff’s possession and, while he was at it, helped Pemaquansett and Wenepuck escape, and led them to safety at Schaghticoke (12).
Return to Mahqualos' Profile.
Return to Mahweness' Profile.
Return to Pemaquansett's Profile.
Return to Wenepuck's Profile.
Endnotes
1. See examples in Harry Andrew Wright, Indian Deeds of Hampden County (Springfield, MA: Harry Andrew Wright, 1905).
2. A heavily biased account of this incident can be found in James Russell Trumbull, History of Northampton (Northampton, MA: Gazette Printing Company 1898), 1898), Volume I, 441-443.
3. Records of the Hampshire County Court, County Oyer and Terminer held in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1696, in Sylvester Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series (Forbes Library, Northampton, Massachusetts c. 1850s), Volume I, 348-349.
4. Sworn testimony of Martha Wait of Hatfield, from the Records of the Hampshire County Court, County Oyer and Terminer held in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1696, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 354.
5. From the Records of the Hampshire County Court, County Oyer and Terminer held in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1696, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 348-351.
6. “5 Reasons of Samuel Patrigg, why the 2 Indians convicted as accessories in the murder of Richard Church should be reprieved or released.” Note appended to the Records of the Hampshire County Court, October 1696, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 356.
7. James Spady, “As If In a Great Darkness: Native American Refugees of the Middle Connecticut River Valley in the Aftermath of King Philip’s War,” Historical Journal of Massachusetts 23 (2), 135.
8. March 4, 1697 report from John Pynchon et al. Note appended to the Records of the Hampshire County Court, October 1696-1697, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 352.
9. Onogungo is one of many terms used in the 1690s to 1740s to refer to Abenaki Indians. Variant spellings include Onogungos used by the Governor of Canada in 1695, Onogonguas used by Captain Stoddart in 1753, and Onogongoes used by Col. Schuyler in 1724. For multiple other examples, see Frederick Webb Hodge, Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology 1912), 5.
10. April 23, 1697 letter from Fletcher to Stoughton, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I , 358.
11. May 17, 1697 letter from Stoughton to Fletcher, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 358.
12. Undated (c. May 1697) letter from Samuel Partrigg to Stoughton, in Judd Manuscript, Massachusetts Series, Volume I, 358.