DOCSLIB.ORG

A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775 Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2016 A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775 Gregory Alan Michna Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Michna, Gregory Alan, "A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775" (2016). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6229. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6229 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775 Gregory Alan Michna Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Tyler Boulware, Ph.D., Chair Joseph Hodge, Ph.D. Brian Luskey, Ph.D. Matthew Vester, Ph.D. Edward Andrews, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2016 Keywords: Native American, New England, Religion, Theology, Churches, Praying Towns, Natick, Indian Christians, Half-Way Covenant, Stoddard, Revivals, King Philip’s War, Wheelock, Samson Occom, Race, Community, Puritan, Puritanism Copyright © 2016 Gregory Alan Michna ABSTRACT A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775 Gregory Alan Michna This dissertation advances the study of New England’s religious history by exploring the complex and contested religious discourse surrounding puritan ecclesiology and the conceptual place of Native Americans within physical and imagined communities. While relations between puritan missionaries such as John Eliot and Thomas Mayhew and early “Praying Indians,” or Indian Christians, have been closely studied, this work draws attention to the importance of theology and religious discourse in realms like hermeneutics, ecclesiology, and eschatology in shaping the nature of these exchanges. Despite communal and cultural differences, religious culture frequently served as a means of bridging these gaps to foster amicable and meaningful relationships between English ministers and Algonquian-speaking Native Americans within the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its environs. At the same time, frustrations to actualize missionary communities like Natick in conformity with preconceived English ideals and violent altercations like King Philip’s War were similarly filtered through a milieu of religious ideas to solidify early categories of difference which reinforced the exclusion and marginalization of Native Americans from religious spaces. With the arrival of Separatists at Plymouth in 1620 and the first puritans at Boston in 1630, English settlers entered a region dominated by native power. Anthropological examination of both groups reveals the importance of community dynamics, harmony, and wellbeing to both Englishmen and Native Americans. Both groups faced various challenges during these early contact years in the form of conceptually placing their new neighbors within an ontological schema, navigating trade and diplomacy, and confronting internal challenges of schism and disease. The onset of civil war in England in 1642 created new millennialist impulses for select puritans in New England, who read transatlantic events as a sign of the impending apocalypse and set out to convert Native Americans in fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Native Americans faced tremendous violence and pressure from family members in making the decision to form new religious communities in partnership with these missionaries, which makes the religious impetus a significant factor in explaining indigenous decision-making. The transition from civil polity to ecclesiastical polity took nearly a decade for Natick, and this work argues that these developments paralleled internal debates regarding puritanism and the Half-Way Covenant, validating indigenous religiosity in new ways, though these positive developments proved short-lived with the onset of King Philip’s War and popular rhetoric portraying Indians as Canaanite heathens destined for destruction. The status of Indian Christians proved tenuous as the region entered the eighteenth century, though new developments by Solomon Stoddard created the potential to increase the boundaries of English religious communities to include Native Americans. The period of revivalism that swept New England from roughly 1735 to 1750 also raised questions about indigenous religious experiences and participation, leading to a strong critique from the antirevivalist faction. This long view of religious interaction adds more depth to the failure of mid-century missions by Gideon Hawley, John Brainerd, and Eleazar Wheelock. At the same time, Indian Christians like Samson Occom chafed against and challenged prevailing religious discrimination against their brethren. Acknowledgements To appropriate a proverbial saying, it truly takes a village to raise a young scholar. Working through the challenges accompanying a dissertation-length research project would not have been possible without the aid of good music, conversations with close friends, unyielding support from family, and a steady flow of alcohol. I will attempt to address the people who deserve special consideration in due turn. On the family front I must first thank my parents, Glenn Michna and Karen Stieff, for their support throughout my educational career. I’m proud of all that I have accomplished and none of it would be possible without your emotional and monetary support throughout these years of graduate school. I must also thank my sisters Emily and Gina for your support and willingness to talk about things far outside the bounds of my work over games of Cards Against Humanity during holidays. I also want to mention my brother Stephen, who did not live to see my completion. The time that you came up to West Virginia after Nathan was born was one of my best memories and I am glad that we have pictures of you holding him for the future. I think you would have felt a kindred connection to the struggle for community and acceptance that threads throughout this work, and I miss you dearly. A special thanks to my extended family as well for providing support from afar and conversation about my research during the times that we’ve been fortunate to all share the same room. Thank you Lacy for trading off childcare duties with our son Nathan during my frequent writing and research days, and special thanks for shouldering the burden of household maintenance while I have traveled to many archives and conferences. I must also thank the scholarly community at West Virginia University, beginning with Tyler Boulware as the chair of my committee and director of my research project. Your affability and good-natured interest in a subject far outside the geographic and conceptual bounds of the colonial South has been greatly appreciated. I must also thank other faculty members who have served on my committee for your support, insightful reading and comments, and model as researchers and scholars. Thanks to Joe Hodge for pushing me to think broadly about British imperial history across the Atlantic, which has deepened this study tremendously. Thanks to Brian Luskey for serving as such a wonderful mentor during my time as a GTA and as a committee member. Though we vary greatly in our interests within the domain of cultural history, I greatly appreciate you introducing me to Kariann Yokota’s book over the course of your graduate seminar, which led me to think at length about colonial anxiety. Special thanks to Matt Vester. You are probably one of the most intimidating and formidable scholars that I know, and I thoroughly appreciate your passionate support of my work and desire to push it to be the best work possible with your thorough markup of my draft. A special thanks is in order for Ted Andrews as an outside reader and authority in my field. I greatly appreciate your insight into my work and support of the project in looking to the future and a wonderful book manuscript. Thanks to all the wonderful graduate students in G14 and G13 for being awesome friends and classmates, especially Jake Ivey, Hal Gorby, Karina and Josh Esposito, Justin Power, Adam Zucconi, Katie Thompson, Kenny Kolander, Zac Cowsert, Chuck Welsko, Brandon Roos, Cassie Auble, Megan McGee, and Lindsey McNellis. I am sad that the days of First Friday sociability at the Morgantown Brewpub must now come to a close. iii Thanks also to Jan and Roger Wishau for opening your house to me in Naperville, IL while I spent an incredibly fruitful month at a short-term fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and thanks to all of the summer fellows I met there for your insightful comments on my work, especially John Hunt. I must also thank Priscilla Connors, Justin Power, and Jeff Wiesner for reading drafts of chapters and providing comments on aspects of the project throughout its course. A very special thanks is due to Jake Blosser at TWU for continuing to open your office and house to me as a friend and colleague throughout this process. I must also thank the archival staff members at the various libraries and repositories that have made this research possible. The Jack Miller Center Short-Term Fellowship to the Newberry Library put me in touch with a number of scholars and staff members who were tremendously helpful in fetching secondary texts and countless primary sources for the reading room.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Resource 2 Mayflower Passenger List
    Resource 2. Mayflower passenger list A full list of passengers and crew are listed in this booklet: Edward Tilley, Pilgrim separatist Saints Agnus Cooper, Edward’s wife John Carver, Pilgrim separatist Henry Sampson, servant of Edward Tilley Humility Cooper, servant of Edward Tilley Catherine White, John’s wife John Tilley, Edwards’s brother, Pilgrim separatist Desire Minter, servant of John Carver Joan Hurst, John’s wife John Howland, servant of John Carver Elizabeth Tilley, John’s daughter Roger Wilder, servant of John Carver William Latham, servant of John Carver Jasper More, child travelling with the Carvers Francis Cook, Pilgrim separatist A maidservant of John Carver John Cook, Francis’ son William Bradford, Pilgrim separatist Thomas Rogers, Pilgrim separatist Dorothy May, William’s wife Joseph Rogers, Thomas’ son Edward Winslow, Pilgrim separatist Thomas Tinker, Pilgrim separatist Elizabeth Barker, Edward’s wife Wife of Thomas Tinker George Soule, servant of Edward Winslow Son of Thomas Tinker Elias Story, servant of Edward Winslow Ellen More, child travelling with the Winslows Edward Fuller, Pilgrim separatist Gilbert Winslow, Edward’s brother Ann Fuller, Edward’s wife Samuel Fuller, Edward’s son William Brewster, Pilgrim separatist Samuel Fuller, Edward’s Brother, Pilgrim separatist Mary Brewster, William’s wife Love Brewster, William’s son John Turner, Pilgrim separatist Wrestling Brewster, William’s son First son of John Turner Richard More, child travelling with the Brewsters Second son of John Turner Mary More, child travelling
    [Show full text]
  • Conference Native Land Acknowledgement
    2021 Massachusetts & Rhode Island Land Conservation Conference Land Acknowledgement It is important that we as a land conservation community acknowledge and reflect on the fact that we endeavor to conserve and steward lands that were forcibly taken from Native people. Indigenous tribes, nations, and communities were responsible stewards of the area we now call Massachusetts and Rhode Island for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, and Native people continue to live here and engage in land and water stewardship as they have for generations. Many non-Native people are unaware of the indigenous peoples whose traditional lands we occupy due to centuries of systematic erasure. I am participating today from the lands of the Pawtucket and Massachusett people. On the screen I’m sharing a map and alphabetical list – courtesy of Native Land Digital – of the homelands of the tribes with territories overlapping Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We encourage you to visit their website to access this searchable map to learn more about the Indigenous peoples whose land you are on. Especially in a movement that is committed to protection, stewardship and restoration of natural resources, it is critical that our actions don’t stop with mere acknowledgement. White conservationists like myself are really only just beginning to come to terms with the dispossession and exclusion from land that Black, Indigenous, and other people of color have faced for centuries. Our desire to learn more and reflect on how we can do better is the reason we chose our conference theme this year: Building a Stronger Land Movement through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Exchange of Body Parts in the Pequot War
    meanes to "A knitt them togeather": The Exchange of Body Parts in the Pequot War Andrew Lipman was IN the early seventeenth century, when New England still very new, Indians and colonists exchanged many things: furs, beads, pots, cloth, scalps, hands, and heads. The first exchanges of body parts a came during the 1637 Pequot War, punitive campaign fought by English colonists and their native allies against the Pequot people. the war and other native Throughout Mohegans, Narragansetts, peoples one gave parts of slain Pequots to their English partners. At point deliv so eries of trophies were frequent that colonists stopped keeping track of to individual parts, referring instead the "still many Pequods' heads and Most accounts of the war hands" that "came almost daily." secondary as only mention trophies in passing, seeing them just another grisly were aspect of this notoriously violent conflict.1 But these incidents a in at the Andrew Lipman is graduate student the History Department were at a University of Pennsylvania. Earlier versions of this article presented graduate student conference at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies in October 2005 and the annual conference of the South Central Society for Eighteenth-Century comments Studies in February 2006. For their and encouragement, the author thanks James H. Merrell, David Murray, Daniel K. Richter, Peter Silver, Robert Blair St. sets George, and Michael Zuckerman, along with both of conference participants and two the anonymous readers for the William and Mary Quarterly. 1 to John Winthrop, The History ofNew England from 1630 1649, ed. James 1: Savage (1825; repr., New York, 1972), 237 ("still many Pequods' heads"); John Mason, A Brief History of the Pequot War: Especially Of the memorable Taking of their Fort atMistick in Connecticut In 1637 (Boston, 1736), 17 ("came almost daily").
    [Show full text]
  • Francis Billington
    Francis Billington: Mayflower passenger The names of those which came over first, in the year 1620, and were by the blessing of God the first beginners and in a sort the foundation of all the Plantations and Colonies in New England ; and their families... "John Billington and Ellen his wife, and two sons, John and Francis." William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647, ed. Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Knopf, 1991), p. 441-3. "The fifth day [of December, 1620] we, through God's mercy, escaped a great danger by the foolishness of a boy, one of ...Billington's sons, who, in his father's absence, had got gunpowder, and had shot off a piece or two, and made squibs; but there being a fowling-piece charged in his father's cabin, shot her off in the cabin; there being a little barrel of [gun] powder half full, scattered in and about the cabin, the fire being within four foot of the bed between the decks, and many flints and iron things about the cabin, and many people about the fire; and yet, by God's mercy, no harm done." Mourt's Relation, ed. Jordan D. Fiore (Plymouth, Mass.: Plymouth Rock Foundation), 1985, p. 27. Francis Billington and the early exploration and settlement of Plymouth "Monday, the eighth day of January ... This day Francis Billington, having the week before seen from the top of a tree on a high hill a great sea [known today as Billington Sea, actually a large pond], as he thought, went with one of the master's mates to see it.
    [Show full text]
  • The Decline of Algonquian Tongues and the Challenge of Indian Identity in Southern New England
    Losing the Language: The Decline of Algonquian Tongues and the Challenge of Indian Identity in Southern New England DA YID J. SIL VERMAN Princeton University In the late nineteenth century, a botanist named Edward S. Burgess visited the Indian community of Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard to interview native elders about their memories and thus "to preserve such traditions in relation to their locality." Among many colorful stories he recorded, several were about august Indians who on rare, long -since passed occasions would whisper to one another in the Massachusett language, a tongue that younger people could not interpret. Most poignant were accounts about the last minister to use Massachusett in the Gay Head Baptist Church. "While he went on preaching in Indian," Burgess was told, "there were but few of them could know what he meant. Sometimes he would preach in English. Then if he wanted to say something that was not for all to hear, he would talk to them very solemnly in the Indian tongue, and they would cry and he would cry." That so few understood what the minister said was reason enough for the tears. "He was asked why he preached in the Indian language, and he replied: 'Why to keep up my nation.' " 1 Clearly New England natives felt the decline of their ancestral lan­ guages intensely, and yet Burgess never asked how they became solely English speakers. Nor have modem scholars addressed this problem at any length. Nevertheless, investigating the process and impact of Algonquian language loss is essential for a fuller understanding Indian life during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and even beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • American Baptist Foreign Mission
    American Baptist Foreign Mission ONE-HUNDRED-NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT Presented by the Board o f Managers at the Annual Meeting held in W ashington, D. C., M ay 23-28, 1933 Foreign Mission Headquarters 152- Madison Avenue New York PRINTED BY RUMFORD PRESS CONCORD. N. H. U .S . A - CONTENTS PAGE OFFICERS ................................................................................................................................... 5 GENERAL AGENT, STATE PROMOTION DIRECTORS .................... 6 BY-LAWS ..................................................................................................................................... 7 -9 PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... 11 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEAR .................................................................1 5 -5 7 T h e W o r l d S it u a t i o n ................................................................................................ 15 A r m e d C o n f l ic t in t h e F a r E a s t ..................................................................... 16 C iv i l W a r in W e s t C h i n a ...................................................................................... 17 P h il ip p in e I ndependence ....................................................................................... 17 I n d ia ’ s P o l it ic a l P r o g r a m ..................................................................................... 18 B u r m a a n d S e p a r a t i o n ............................................................................................. 18 R ig h t s o f P r o t e s t a n t M is s io n s in B e l g ia n C o n g o ............................... 19 T h e W o r l d D e p r e s s io n a n d M i s s i o n s ........................................................... 21 A P e n t e c o s t A m o n g t h e P w o K a r e n s ...........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Moravian Church and the White River Indian Mission
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1991 "An Instrument for Awakening": The Moravian Church and the White River Indian Mission Scott Edward Atwood College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the History of Religion Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Atwood, Scott Edward, ""An Instrument for Awakening": The Moravian Church and the White River Indian Mission" (1991). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625693. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-5mtt-7p05 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "AN INSTRUMENT FOR AWAKENING": THE MORAVIAN CHURCH AND THE WHITE RIVER INDIAN MISSION A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements-for the Degree of Master of Arts by Scott Edward Atwood 1991 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Author Approved, May 1991 <^4*«9_^x .UU James Axtell Michael McGiffert Thaddeus W. Tate, Jr. i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • (King Philip's War), 1675-1676 Dissertation Presented in Partial
    Connecticut Unscathed: Victory in The Great Narragansett War (King Philip’s War), 1675-1676 Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Major Jason W. Warren, M.A. Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: John F. Guilmartin Jr., Advisor Alan Gallay, Kristen Gremillion Peter Mansoor, Geoffrey Parker Copyright by Jason W. Warren 2011 Abstract King Philip’s War (1675-1676) was one of the bloodiest per capita in American history. Although hostile native groups damaged much of New England, Connecticut emerged unscathed from the conflict. Connecticut’s role has been obscured by historians’ focus on the disasters in the other colonies as well as a misplaced emphasis on “King Philip,” a chief sachem of the Wampanoag groups. Although Philip formed the initial hostile coalition and served as an important leader, he was later overshadowed by other sachems of stronger native groups such as the Narragansetts. Viewing the conflict through the lens of a ‘Great Narragansett War’ brings Connecticut’s role more clearly into focus, and indeed enables a more accurate narrative for the conflict. Connecticut achieved success where other colonies failed by establishing a policy of moderation towards the native groups living within its borders. This relationship set the stage for successful military operations. Local native groups, whether allied or neutral did not assist hostile Indians, denying them the critical intelligence necessary to coordinate attacks on Connecticut towns. The English colonists convinced allied Mohegan, Pequot, and Western Niantic warriors to support their military operations, giving Connecticut forces a decisive advantage in the field.
    [Show full text]
  • Jamestown, Rhode Island
    Historic andArchitectural Resources ofJamestown, Rhode Island 1 Li *fl U fl It - .-*-,. -.- - - . ---... -S - Historic and Architectural Resources of Jamestown, Rhode Island Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission 1995 Historic and Architectural Resources ofJamestown, Rhode Island, is published by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, which is the state historic preservation office, in cooperation with the Jamestown Historical Society. Preparation of this publication has been funded in part by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior. The contents and opinions herein, however, do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior. The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission receives federal funds from the National Park Service. Regulations of the United States Department of the Interior strictly prohibit discrimination in departmental federally assisted programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, or handicap. Any person who believes that he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of federal assistance should write to: Director, Equal Opportunity Program, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127. Cover East Fern’. Photograph c. 1890. Couriecy of Janiestown Historical Society. This view, looking north along tile shore, shows the steam feriy Conanicut leaving tile slip. From left to rig/It are tile Thorndike Hotel, Gardner house, Riverside, Bay View Hotel and tile Bay Voyage Inn. Only tile Bay Voyage Iiii suivives. Title Page: Beavertail Lighthouse, 1856, Beavertail Road. Tile light/louse tower at the southern tip of the island, the tallest offive buildings at this site, is a 52-foot-high stone structure.
    [Show full text]
  • Andrew H. Hedges
    Andrew H. Hedges, “The Light Shall Begin to Break Forth,” in Prelude to the Restoration: From Apostasy to the Restored Church (Provo, UT and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University and Deseret Book, 2004), 99–114. “The Light Shall Begin to Break Forth” Protestant Missions to the Indians in Colonial America Andrew H. Hedges Andrew H. Hedges was an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University when this was written. The restoration of the knowledge of the gospel to the Lamanites is a recurring prophecy in the Book of Mormon, occupying the attention of prophets from Lehi to Moroni and constituting one of the books central themes. Today, with thousands of missionaries preaching the gospel to the descendants of Book of Mormon peoples, and with several million of these descendants claiming membership in the Church, we can see how literally this prophecy is being fulfilled. It is important to remember, however, that Latter-day Saint efforts and successes in this regard have often built on the work of missionaries from other faiths who had previously introduced American Indians to Christianity through the Bible. That these earlier efforts to teach Lamanite remnants about Christ were neither accidental nor unimportant is demonstrated by the prophet Nephi, who, through vision and angelic tutoring, learned that the latter-day restoration of Book of Mormon peoples to the gospel would involve “the book of the Lamb of God”—the Bible—going forth “from the Gentiles unto the remnant of the seed of my brethren,” after which “other books” would go forth that would “establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (1 Nephi 13:38–40).
    [Show full text]
  • Colonial America Saturdays, August 22 – October 10 9:30 AM to 12:45 PM EST
    Master of Arts in American History and Government Ashland University AHG 603 01A Colonial America Saturdays, August 22 – October 10 9:30 AM to 12:45 PM EST Sarah Morgan Smith and David Tucker Course focus: This course focuses on the development of an indigenous political culture in the British colonies. It pays special attention to the role of religion in shaping the American experience and identity of ‘New World’ inhabitants, as well as to the development of representative political institutions and how these emerged through the confrontation between colonists and King and proprietors. Learning Objectives: To increase participants' familiarity with and understanding of: 1. The reasons for European colonization of North America and some of the religious and political ideas that the colonists brought with them, as well as the ways those ideas developed over the course of the 17th-18th centuries 2. The “first contact” between native peoples and newcomers emphasizing the world views of Indians and Europeans and the way each attempted to understand the other. 3. The development of colonial economies as part of the Atlantic World, including servitude and slavery and the rise of consumerism. 4. Religion and intellectual life and the rise of an “American” identity. Course Requirements: Attendance at all class sessions. Presentation/Short Paper: 20% o Each student will be responsible for helping to guide our discussion during one session of the courses by making a short presentation to the class and developing additional focus/discussion questions related to the readings (beyond those listed in the syllabus). On the date of their presentation, the student will also submit a three page paper and a list of (additional) discussion questions.
    [Show full text]
  • Massasoit of The
    OUSAMEQUIN “YELLOW FEATHER” — THE MASSASOIT OF THE 1 WAMPANOAG (THOSE OF THE DAWN) “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY 1. Massasoit is not a personal name but a title, translating roughly as “The Shahanshah.” Like most native American men of the period, he had a number of personal names. Among these were Ousamequin or “Yellow Feather,” and Wasamegin. He was not only the sachem of the Pokanoket of the Mount Hope peninsula of Narragansett Bay, now Bristol and nearby Warren, Rhode Island, but also the grand sachem or Massasoit of the entire Wampanoag people. The other seven Wampanoag sagamores had all made their submissions to him, so that his influence extended to all the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, all of Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and the Elizabeth islands. His subordinates led the peoples of what is now Middleboro (the Nemasket), the peoples of what is now Tiverton (the Pocasset), and the peoples of what is now Little Compton (the Sakonnet). The other side of the Narragansett Bay was controlled by Narragansett sachems. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE MASSASOIT OUSAMEQUIN “YELLOW FEATHER” 1565 It would have been at about this point that Canonicus would have been born, the 1st son of the union of the son and daughter of the Narragansett headman Tashtassuck. Such a birth in that culture was considered auspicious, so we may anticipate that this infant will grow up to be a Very Important Person. Canonicus’s principle place of residence was on an island near the present Cocumcussoc of Jamestown and Wickford, Rhode Island.
    [Show full text]