N FIRST S OW ETT T LE LE R D S D I D E M

S

C

f

E o

N

Y D

T

A

E

N I

C e T

S M O S id NEWSLETTER of hethe SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS , U.S.A. 1650-1700 Vol. 10, No. 2 www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html Fall 2010 A SUMMARY OF RESEARCH Native Americans in Middletown, Part II: Who called it ‘home’ before our ‘First Settlers’?

At left is an illustration By R.W. Bacon published in 1846 that Editor, The Middler depicts a missionary addressing a group of of The feature article in this issue of a Native Americans in The Middler is Part II of “Native Connecticut. In 1734, Americans in Middletown: Who called Richard Treat (1694- 1759), a Yale-educated it ‘home’ before our ‘First Settlers.’” minister, was repeatedly The two-part series was prompted by frustrated in his six- the 2009 passage of SMFSD bylaws month effort to introduce that extend membership eligibility to Christianity to the Wangunk Indians of descendants of any Native Americans Middletown. His or African-Americans documented in experience, related in Middletown before 1700. John W. DeForest’s History of the Indians in Part I appeared in the spring 2010 Connecticut, is summa- issue, and summarized the identifica- rized on page 6. tion of the indigenous tribes, the early European contact, the settlement of Genealogy was just one of many facets of Middletown on both sides of the , the “Indian Deed” Godfrey Library founder Fremont Rider of 1672, and the decline/departure of the Native American population. By R.W. Bacon but also for his compilation of the Accompanying the article were two Editor, The Middler monumental 226-volume American maps showing the range and location Fremont Rider, in name at least, is Genealogical-Biographical Index. of the Wangunk settlements. Part I known to SMFSD members because he But there is so much more to the concluded with an excerpt from the was the founder of Godfrey Memorial man – his accomplishments and Beers & Co. (1884) History of Library in Middletown, Conn., the continued on page 4 Middlesex County about Native nominal headquarters of the organiza- Fremont Rider Americans in Middletown written by tion and holder of its archives. (1885-1962) is local historian Julia Taft Bayne (1845- To genealogists in general, Fremont usually pictured 1933), who tread lightly on the subject: Rider is known not only for his initia- as the serious librarian and “For more than 80 years the Indians tive in establishing a genealogy library, administrator – lived among the whites in this town. consistent with continued on page 6 In this issue . . . the image of his later career. At Native Americans in Middletown, Part II. . 1 left is the young ~ DUES are DUE! ~ Fremont Rider: A Genealogist & More . . . . 1 Fremont Rider – Annual Membership dues ($20) are due Member Notes & SMFSD News...... 2 printer, poet, November 1, 2010. Please send payment to: Notable Books...... 3 editor, publisher, Mike Campbell Tom Smith, SMFSD Officer, 1943-2010 . . . 3 journalist, pulp Do it SMFSD Treasurer Thank Feature Graphic: Middletown in 1835 . . . . 7 fiction writer, Today 3570 Willow Street You Membership Information...... 11 playwright, and much more. !!! Bonita, CA 91902-1226 !!! MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA SMFSD NEWS as the SMFSD membership year runs at the New England Regional from November 1 to October 31. Genealogical Conference April 7, 2011 New members, new • SMFSD directory. At this in Springfield, Mass. The one day event writing our secretary, Marge Piersen, serves as a showcase for genealogical articles, a new is very close to completing work on the societies at the conference, held April 6- member directory, new SMFSD member directory. 10 at both the Sheraton and Marriott Thanks for the great work, Marge! hotels in Springfield. new conferences, • Harris family article in • Middletown History Day. Your NEHGS Register. Middletown first- editor attended Middletown History & new librarians settlers Daniel Harris and William Day at on Sept. • Welcome new members. Harris were the subjects of ample 11, 2010. The presenters, all well- SMFSD welcomes four new members coverage in the July 2010 issue of the known to those who have researched since the last issue of The Middler: New England Historical and Connecticut and Middletown history, Lance Salonia, FR-281, Washington, Genealogical Register. The article, were engaging on their respective D.C. (Friend of SMFSD); Terry “The Brothers William and Daniel topics from start to finish: Richard Thomas Stocking, AM-282, San Harris of Middletown, Connecticut,” Buel, history professor emeritus at Ramon, Calif. (1st settler Samuel was written by Gale Ion Harris, Wesleyan; Dione Longley, former Stocking); Mark Edward Phelps, FASG, coeditor of The Genealogist. director of the Middlesex County AM-283, Annandale, Va. (1st settler • Wetmore family article in CGS Historical Society; Diana McCain, John Blake); and Sanford Hodges Nutmegger. By now it is old news, head of the Research Center at the Wetmore, LM-284, New Milford, but the work of SMFSD member Hal Connecticut Historical Society, and Conn. (1st settler Thomas Wetmore). Whitmore was featured in the Elizabeth Warner, author of A • SMFSD dues. Members are December 2009 issue of The Pictorial History of Middletown. A reminded that annual dues are due, Nutmegger, the publication of the panel discussion followed. The one-day Connecticut Genealogical Society. The event was presented by the Wesleyan 20-page article entitled “The Family of Institute for Lifelong Learning, directed N FIRST S Joseph Wetmore of Middlefield and by emeritus professor Karl Scheibe. OW ETT T LE LE R D S Litchfield, Connecticut” was published • New librarians. In September, D I D E M

S

in The Nutmegger, vol. 42, no. 3. James A. Benn began as new director C

f

E o

N

Y D

T

A • 2011 New England Regional at Godfrey Library. At Wesleyan’s Olin

E N I

C

T

S O S Genealogical Conference. The Library, Pat Tully was named head 1650-1700 SMFSD will exhibit at the Society Fair librarian in March 2010. he Mid e Appropriation of SMFSD web text NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN provokes unprecedented curiosity FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS 1650-1700 – Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.A. An article in the spring 2010 issue refrained from identifying the www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html of The Middler noted that a highly- individual, and also accepted his regarded and prolific genealogist and commitment to either properly Vol. 10, No. 2 Fall 2010 author appropriated 16 paragraphs attribute or withdraw the text. Please send articles, letters, news items, verbatim from the SMFSD web site I am glad to report that there has and corrections to: for his latest book. The article been at least some remedial action. The Middler provoked unprecedented member In the online version of the author’s c/o R.W. Bacon, Editor curiosity about the author’s identity. book, SMFSD and your editor are P. O. Box 489 Newburyport, MA 01950 The author’s appropriations from credited, marginally so, in footnote (E-mail: [email protected]) three local history essays omitted all #2587 on page 919. The footnotes on SMFSD OFFICERS of the original footnotes, and were pages 39-50, however, remain spread over nine pages of a 1060-page unchanged. So, until further notice, President ...... Barbara Stenberg Vice President...... Rita Urquhart genealogy tome. The only attribution (1) the author’s identity will not be Secretary ...... Margery Piersen in footnotes was SMFSD’s cryptic revealed, (2) the fireworks of public Treasurer ...... Mike Campbell URL. However, your patient and notice will remain just a Dudd, and Historian ...... charitable editor chose the high road, (3) for the time being his name will Registrar ...... Donald Brock Middler Editor ...... R.W. Bacon accepted the gentleman’s apology, not be Mudd, and reader’s guessing refrained from using the “P”-word, may continue.

2 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA NOTABLE BOOKS Minutes of the Connecticut Court of Assistants, 1669-1711; Narrow detail … and broad context Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG, are highlights of two recent books editor; NEHGS (2009)

By R.W. Bacon indirectly. The publication of these Editor, The Middler court records is based on 17th-century The publication of the Colony of transcriptions of preliminary notes Connecticut Minutes of the Connecticut done by the clerk of the court now Court of Assistants 1669-1711 by the held by the Connecticut State New England Historic Genealogical Archives. Cases include land disputes, Stories in Stone: How Society in late 2009 made accessible debt resolution, probate issues, hay Geology Influenced Connecticut History 707 pages of valuable Connecticut distribution, and timber harvesting – & Culture, by Jelle genealogical and historical raw plus witchcraft, divorce, murder, Zeilinga de Boer, material to go along with the previ- robbery, fornication, and more. Wesleyan University Press (2009) ously published Hartford County, Two dozen Middletown first-settler Conn., County Court Minutes, Volumes surnames are indexed, from Allyn to How Geology Influenced Connecticut 3 and 4, 1663-1687, 1697, edited and Wilcox and many in between, so it is History & Culture, published in late indexed by the same author (2005); worth consulting at your favorite 2009 by Wesleyan University Press. and the Records of the Particular Court genealogy library. The hardcover book The author is geoscientist Jelle of Connecticut, 1639-1663 (1928). is available for $34.95 from NEHGS Zeilinga de Boer, the Harold T. Stearns The editor, transcriber, and indexer (www.newenglandancestors.org). professor of earth science emeritus at is Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG. If “big picture” context is important Wesleyan University in Middletown, Although the Connecticut Court of to your family history pursuits, Conn. But one does not need to be a Assistants was primarily an appeals Middletown first-settler descendants graduate-level scientist to derive both court, a wide variety of cases wound may want to get to the library or insight and pleasure from this book, up before its magistrates, directly or bookseller to read Stories in Stone: continued on page 12

brothers, two sisters, and many aunts, Tom Smith, valued SMFSD officer uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. & Godfrey Library trustee, 1943-2010 Tom’s high-energy commitment to family also encompassed his extended By R.W. Bacon Structural Restoration & Renovation “family” of genealogy contacts he made Editor, The Middler Co. in New Haven, Conn. He was an during the last 20 years of involvement Tom Smith, avid genealogist, former estimator and special projects man- with family history and research SMFSD treasurer, and Godfrey Library ager, and active in both local and organizations. For SMFSD, especially trustee, died surrounded by his family national trade organizations. In 1987 during difficult long-distance event- at his home on March 31, 2010. He was he and his family built their own log planning, he was known as one of our 66-years-old, and faced cancer in his home in Clinton, Conn. dependable teammates who could last year with the characteristic high Tom is survived by his wife, Toni; always be counted on to get things spirits he brought to every endeavor. his son, Thomas Lloyd Smith; his done on his home turf in Connecticut. Thomas Charles Smith was born in daughter, Toni Marie Smith; and two In addition to service as treasurer Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on October 29, grandchildren. Also surviving are two and historian for SMFSD, Tom was a 1943, son of the late Lloyd Ezra Smith founding member and recently- and Hazel Edith Devereaux. He Tom Smith elected president of the Sackett graduated from F. D. Roosevelt High (1943-2010) joined SMSFD Family Association, coordinating and School in Hyde Park, N.Y., where he in 2003 (as a attending their meetings on both met his future wife, Antonia (Toni) D. descendant of sides of the Atlantic. He was a Mancuso. He later attended the Middletown first-settler member of the Connecticut Society of University of New Haven, studying William Genealogists, the New England business administration and history. Blumfield), Historic Genealogical Society, the Following U.S. Navy service, Tom and went on National Genealogical Society. He was and family moved to the shoreline to serve as the organization’s also a member of the Descendants of Connecticut area, where he began his historian and The Mayflower Society, the Sons of 42-year career with the F. J. Dahill treasurer. continued on page 12

3 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Fremont Rider, founder of Godfrey Memorial Library, was a man of accomplishment – and varied interests continued from page 1 conflicting theories and obscured with the grossest fraud and most deep-rooted preju- influence extend well beyond the field of dice … It is well-written, and should appeal genealogy. What follows is a profile of particularly to the skeptical minded.” At right is the Fremont Rider (1885-1962) that traces his Work as an editor followed, which further dapper Fremont multiple careers and interests long before the Rider of his travel led him into the publishing field, and later, opening of Godfrey Library in spring 1951. guide publishing the printing business. He was editor of the Arthur Fremont Rider was born in days. He wrote Monthly Book Review (1909-17), American Trenton, N.J. in 1885, the son of George A. guides to Bermuda, Library Annual (1912-17), Publisher’s Weekly Rider, an insurance agent, and Charlotte California, (1910-17), and (1914-17). As (Meader) Rider. Fremont and his brother, Washington, D.C., president of his own Rider Press (1914-32), and New York. Perley B. Rider (b. 1886), spent their child- he published a variety of periodicals, includ- hood in Middletown, Conn., and Syracuse ing the International Military Digest (1915- During his 20 years at Wesleyan’s Olin and Oswego, N.Y., as the family moved to 18), and material best described as “pulp Library, Rider was busy with a number of accommodate George Rider’s business career. fiction.” In the 1920s Rider also wrote and other projects – he was known to take very Fremont Rider graduated from Syracuse published travel guides to , little vacation time. In 1933 his excursion (N.Y.) University in 1905 with a Ph.B., i.e. Bermuda, California, and Washington, D.C. into economic theory yielded Dated Currency Bachelor of Philosphy. (Full disclosure: In 1933 Rider was named librarian of - A Safe Substitute for Inflation. In the early Fremont Rider is a fellow Syracuse alumnus Wesleyan University’s Olin Library in 1930s he began compiling his “Rider Index” of your editor … over six decades apart!), He Middletown, Conn. Over the next 20 years he to genealogical publications that would first went on to attend the New York State expanded the library’s resources (174,000 be offered in book form in 1942, and eventu- Library School in Albany, N.Y., but left before volumes to 389,000), introduced technical ally grow into the present 226-volume graduating – in 1907 he seized the opportu- innovations, wrote articles on library policy, American Genealogical-Biographical Index. nity to work on a project with library pioneer and wrote the book for which he is best- In 1936, his book Library Cost Accounting (1851-1931) to revise the known in the field, The Scholar and the was published. In 1937 he took time to accept landmark Decimal Classification System. Future of the Research Library (1944). The an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Also recruited to work on the project was book addressed the crisis of storage space in Syracuse University. The Growth of American Melvil Dewey’s son, Godfrey Dewey (1887- research libraries, and touted how his own College & University Libraries was published 1977). Through this connection Rider met invention, the microcard (an opaque micro- in 1940. In 1944 he completed Melvil Dewey, Godfrey Dewey’s cousin, Grace Godfrey (1873- form), could be used to solve the problem. He a biography of the famously difficult, obses- 1950), 34-years-old to his 22-years. They refused to patent his invention, preferring sive, and eccentric library pioneer. married in October 1908, and had two chil- that it be accessible to any library. In 1946 Rider’s book, The Great Dilemma dren, Leland (b. 1911) and Deirdre (b. 1913). Rider’s own extension of the microcard idea of World Organization, was published, which After the project with Melvil Dewey, Rider was predictive of our miniature e-book world pondered the problems facing the world after worked in the New York City area for the of today. “Why might we not combine the World War II. In this book Rider advanced his next 20 years, and lived in Orangetown, N.Y., micro-texts of our books, and the catalog cards theory that the gap between “civilized” and in suburban Rockland County. His earliest for the same books, in one single entity?” he “uncivilized” nations could be narrowed by writings included short stories, plays, poems, wrote. His logic was that combining both engaging the world’s governments in an and non-fiction. catalog card and text would dramatically “education race” instead of an “arms race.” In 1909, at age 24, his first book was reduce the space and cost of storage. Rider’s published, a dispassionate 372-page study of continued on page 5 microcards became an accepted form of psychic phenomena, telepathy, and spiritual- information storage and retreival by the ism, subjects of especially great interest at 1950s, but in the 1960s the microcards were the time. Provocatively titled Are the Dead supplanted by the introduction of microfiche. Alive?, the book received a glowing review in In addition to his visionary innovations, the New York Times, July 3, 1909: “A highly Rider is credited with practical improvements interesting book … He has endeavored to in the design of book trucks and shelving. But give an impartial presentation of the subject, not all of his ideas were well-received. For tangled perhaps more than any other with example, he once advocated that libraries adopt a standard-size shelving system – suggesting that all books in a library collection have their margins chopped. Alexander Star, in a 2001 New Republic book review that included an overview of library space issues, Arthur Fremont wrote “Fremont Rider was perhaps the most Rider (1885-1962) eccentric of them all … Enraged by all the was born in Trenton, N.J., and white-space in wide-margined books, Rider grew up in had the books cropped. … To minimize the Middletown, Conn., empty space on a shelf, he grouped Wesleyan’s Oswego, N.Y., and books by width and shelved them with their Syracuse, N.Y. bindings facing up.” These two ideas flopped.

4 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Fremont Rider … done working, and continued on as director continued from page 4 of Godfrey Library. In 1955 the library published his autobography, And Master of His idealized global democratic government Pictured at None. In 1959, the three volumes of would be based on a world legislature propor- right are Preliminary Materials for a Genealogy of the tioned according to the collective educational Fremont Rider (Ryder) Families in the United States attainment of countries, rather than popula- Rider and were published. These volumes also intro- tion rank or economic power. his wife, duced Rider’s genealogy reference system he Having said his piece on global govern- Grace called “The Rider Trace.” His final publica- ment, in 1949 Rider saw the publication of (Godfrey) tion, in 1961, was Rider’s International Rider (1873- his book, Compact Book Storage, as well as Classification, a 1184-page book on a classifi- 1950). his novel, A Pleat of Time. cation system for smaller libraries. It was Fremont Rider’s work on his geneal- of space, Rider was concerned about security Rider’s autobiography, And Master of None, ogy index that led to the establishment of and public access. He decided to build a was written from an oddly-self-conscious Godfrey Library. His goal was to compile a modern fireproof library, one that would third-person point of view. But just a few genealogical and biographical index not only make his work available free to the general paragraphs into the preface, the reader is of more “notable” individuals, but of all public. The two-acre site, formerly part of charmed by Rider’s cheerful and humble tone. individuals who collectively shaped the Rider’s own property, was on a hillside “This book was originally written under the present. “Most of the millions of Americans overlooking Newfield Street in Middletown, pleasant self-deception that my grandchildren, who lived in our first three centuries were not far from Wesleyan University. The etc., might sometime be interested to know a individually of relatively minor importance,” architect for the modern, Bauhaus-inspired, little more about their presumably by then he wrote. “But all of them are of enormous one-floor building?: Fremont Rider. Who else? deceased progenitor,” he begins. But upon importance to the historian, the sociologist, The library was incorporated under the seeing the manuscript, Rider’s two adult the genealogist, and researchers in all sorts of laws of Connecticut on Nov. 26, 1947 to be a children encouraged its publication. In a letter special subject fields.” So Rider and his free library devoted to American genealogy of protest, Rider wrote: “My manuscript states, volunteer indexers set upon the task of and biography. The library was slated to be correctly, that I am a poet whose poems are creating an index drawing names from named after Grace (Godfrey) Rider’s brother, forgotten, a short story writer whose stories hundreds of published genealogical works, Gen. Stuart Chapin Godfrey (1886-1945), are no longer read, a dramatist who never had family histories, local histories, the Boston who died in a plane crash shortly after World a play produced, a librarian of a small college Transcript genealogy columns published from War II. However on June 3, 1950, Grace in a small state, a businessman whose ventures 1898 to 1941, and the 1790 federal census. (Godfrey) Rider died at age age 76 after a brought him nothing but a modest living, an Rider did the bulk of the work himself – half long illness, and Fremont Rider decided to inventor who gave away nearly all his inven- of the six million original index cards are in name the library as a joint memorial to both tions, a real estate operator so lacking in his own handwriting. Between 1942 and 1948, his wife and brother-in-law. perspicacity that he lost on one operation all the index was published in 48 500-plus page Godfrey Memorial Library opened about a that he had made on all his previous ones, a volumes, and sold to libraries by subscription. year later on May 6, 1951. Rider and his genealogist, a printer, a house painter, a farmer, Along the way, Rider collected original second wife, Marie Gallup (Ambrose), were and a ditch digger. Who in heaven’s name source volumes and also received donations married exactly one month later. would have any desire to read such a record?” of genealogy books from interested support- Work on the AGBI continued, with The insistence of family and friends won out, ers. Housing his growing collection – and the Fremont Rider leading the way. For years it however, and the result was an autobiography all-important index cards – became a pressing was the primary purpose of the library. Today with chapters on the above endeavors, plus concern. In his autobiography, written in the index comprises 226 volumes. Equally chapters on his work as editor, publisher, third-person point of view, he wrote “Rider remarkable is that Godfrey Library holds the economist, and architect. “As I read my chapter had been storing this accumulation of book full text of every item referenced in the index. headings I confess I am a little appalled. … and file materials in his succession of In more recent years the library has carried How did I ever manage to do so much?” he Middletown residences, moving twice in a forward Rider’s mission of public accessibility, wrote. “Unfortunately, modest accomplishment single decade simply to keep pace with an becoming a major presence in Internet has been so clogged and overlaid with failure accumulation which was literally forcing him genealogy research with its Godfrey Scholar that it is easy to lose sight of it.” out of house and home.” membership offerings. In his chapter entitled “Genealogist,” The collection grew to overflow five rooms Fremont Rider retired from Wesleyan Rider tells the story of his massive index and plus his attic and basement. Beyond the issue University in 1953 at age 68, but he was not the beginnings of Godfrey Memorial Library. He writes briefly about his own genealogy research on the Rider family, which was published using his alphabetical “Rider Trace,” an organizational format that precludes the need for an index at the back of a genealogy book. He closes with some general observations of family history in his detached third-person point of view: “Rider would be the last to claim that the Colonial ancestors of ours were either gods or saints. He realizes that they were extremely human beings. He sees far more clearly than most of At left is Fremont Rider in his later years. Above is Godfrey those who point to them do, the many dark Memorial Library in Middletown, a modern, single-level, stains on their records – intolerance, witch- Bauhaus-inspired design. The architect? Fremont Rider. continued on page 11 5 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Native Americans 1731. The new Congregational Church in their culture. Richard Treat graduated from Portland purchased 40 acres of Wangunk land Yale in 1719 and served throughout in Middletown, Part II for its new minister, Moses Bartlett, who built Connecticut and western Massachusetts in continued from page 1 his home facing the reservation. By the late his peripatetic career. In December 1734 he 1740s, when church members felt they had was in Middletown, apparently working While they were the most numerous it does not outgrown the meeting house, they turned to temporarily for The Society in Scotland for appear that they ever used their power to the the Connecticut General Assembly to Propagating Christian Knowledge, when he injury of the settlers. There are no bloody determine a fair location for the new, larger embarked on his plan to offer religious traditions of murdered settlers or burning structure. The impartial siting committee instruction to the Indians. cabins. They constantly dwindled in number, decided the best location was directly in the Citing Ecclesiastical Papers Vol. 5, De but remained quiet and gentle, unless under middle of the Wangunk reservation. The Forest wrote: “Indian Hill was the place the influence of undue ‘fire water’ or a frenzied Wangunks insisted on a premium price for where they held their grand powwows, trying ‘powwow,’ amenable to the laws, and treated three acres of land, however, and plans were by dances and incantations to conciliate or with kindness and consideration. Much of this at an impasse for several years. (Eventually communicate with the evil spirit. As they part of their history is necessarily but the faint the General Assembly voted to reserve 500 believed the good spirit was too good to hurt echo of tradition.”27 pounds for any Indians who would depart for anybody, it was not considered necessary to In this issue of The Middler, Part II gathers Stockbridge, Mass.)32 pay so much attention to him, though they 18th- and 19th-century references, records, 1732. Appended to a deed in 1732 were 20 made an annual feast to thank him for and anecdotes about Native Americans in Wangunk signatures: Mamoson, Betty, bountiful harvests, etc. Middletown and presents them in chronologi- Cuschoy, Moses Moxon, James, Charles “As a considerable number of Wangunks cal order. Part II concludes by looking into the Robbin, Young Sean, Long Simon, Young still remained in 1734, a man named Richard whereabouts of Wangunk descendants today. Betty, Sary, Mesooggosk, Shimmoon, Moses Treat conceived the benevolent idea of trying A look at the records. The following Comshot, Jacob, Tom Robbin, Young to improve them by education and religious items are gathered from various sources: Squamp, Muschoise, John Robbin, teaching. He commenced, on the sixth of 1711. Canshamet and his wife, widow of Metowhump, and Mequash Hesk. Siana, January, with a small number of the Indian Massecup, of Middletown and Glastonbury, Sansennk, and Nannemaroos have been children. … He was attended for some time sell their land on the east side of the mentioned as owners of Wangunk Meadow.33 by 12 or 14 of these; and he maintained, also, Connecticut River.28 1734. In 1734 a Yale-educated preacher a weekly meeting, with those of the adults of 1713. Siana Cuschay (Conschoy, Cuschoy) from Glastonbury, Richard Treat (1694-1759) the tribe who would listen to him, for about and Nannamaroos sell a half-acre of meadow spent six months attempting to convert the two months. … At the end of four months, to David Clark of Middletown.29 Wangunks on the east side of the river to having found that no one felt disposed to 1713. The last Indian lands at Indian Hill Christianity. The account in De Forest’s assist or reward him, and that he had to bear and Newfield sold.30 History of the Indians in Connecticut offers a all the expense and trouble alone, Mr. Treat 1715. Conschoy sells two acres of an revealing look at the attitudes of the became discouraged and gave up his efforts. island to David Clark of Middletown.31 “civilized folk” toward Native Americans and “He found the Indians ignorant of the doctrines of the Scriptures … so that quotations from them had no more weight Wangunk 30 acre strip along Indian Hill Rd. “Hot House” extending west to Connecticut River on their opinions than a common proverb or CROMWELL one of his own observations. He was obliged, Home of INDIAN “Old Betty” therefore … to appeal to such principles of HILL SUMMER AVE. Old Portland morality and natural religion as they held Small Portland’s new ST Burying Ground parcel Meeting House . est. 1713 among themselves. He was hindered, also, by on the c. 1750 the broken knowledge which the Indians had 9 GOSPEL Little River BARTLETT STREET of the English tongue, and by their natural Rev. Bartlett’s (approximate (1728) aversion to the humbling doctrines of location only!) 40 acres WILLIAM 1731 L 300 acres Christianity. Once, when he was speaking of STREET ANE extending the resurrection of the dead, one of them east from pointed to a pig which lay by the fire, and between Newfield Summer & asked with a sneer if that pig would rise STREET William Sts. again like one of themselves. It would not do, STREET POR MAIN the preacher thought, to answer this fool TL MIDDLETOWN 66 AND according to his folly … HIGH NEWFIELD COBAL “During the latter part of the summer, T after the school and religious services had PORTLAND (Originally part of Middletown) ROAD been discontinued, the Wangunks held a STREET great funeral dance. One Saturday, Treat Indian Hill STREETMAIN Cemetery TON repaired to the place … with the idea that est. 1850 ASHING STREET his presence might operate as a restraint W 30 acres at Indian Hill SCALE OF MILES upon their extravagances. When he arrived, & strip along the Indians were dancing, singing, and 1 mile Newfield Street yelling; and some of those who knew him gathered around him, and bade him ‘begone, Above is a map of Wangunk lands in Middletown after the Indian Deed of 1672. for he had no business there.’ The map is a smaller reference version of that which appeared with Part I of “Native “‘You come here to see if you cannot preach Americans in Middletown,” and is repeated in this issue of The Middler because of its to us tomorrow,’ said one of them in a rude relevance to the text. (Map by R.W. Bacon, 2010) continued on page 7

6 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Feature Graphic #12: A View of Middletown in 1835 A view from the land of the Wangunks? At left is an 1835 view of Middletown from the east side of the Connecticut River. However, by 1835 all but a few Wangunks had sold their lands and departed from “East Middletown.” The engraving, signed by W. C. Butler, was the frontispiece for Dr. David Dudley Field’s Centennial Address published in 1853.

Native Americans tions. Some of them were prodigiously overt symbols. “Everyday life may have thus enraged, and seemed much inclined to functioned between two different poles – that in Middletown, Part II dispatch him on the spot. They finally told visible to Europeans and that shared with continued from page 6 him, that, if he would only go the trees again, other Native people,” explained an article they would certainly follow and listen to him. entitled “Becoming Invisible,” by the tone, ‘but you shall not preach! Tomorrow is Treat did not believe it, and told them so; but Milwaukee Public Museum on the history of our day and you shall not preach !’ still he walked away, to satisfy them, and to the Brothertown/Stockbridge/Munsee Tribe “A number of Nehantics and , see what they would do. As he expected they which includes Mattabesec descendants. “In however, gathered round Treat, and told him, re-commenced their orgies. He ran back and many situations, Native people hid recogniz- that, if he wished to preach, they would broke them up as before. This happened able surviving characteristics of their culture assemble on the following day, at a certain several times; until the Indians, either by appearing, superficially at least, to house nearby, and hear his discourse. On the wearied out with his perseverance, or having assimilate to Euro-American society. During morrow, therefore, which was Sunday, he obtained all the information from diabolical the Great Awakening in the 1740s, many went to the house in question, but found no sources which they expected, gave up the converted to Christianity, shifted to European- listeners, all the Indians being too much contest and desisted from their invocations. style frame houses, while others furnished interested in the dance. Hearing that there He now waited some time, to let them season, their wigwams with American-made chairs, was a sick child among them, he went in as he expressed it, for divine service; and then chests, tools, and other articles, or built D- search of it, thinking that he might be able to made them a discourse to which they listened shaped structures that appeared European do it some service. He had succeeded in without offering any disturbance. from the front but otherwise maintained the finding it, when some Indians came up and “His course on this occasion, singular as it form of traditional wigwams. Aspects of Native attempted to drive him away, although may seem, appears to have been productive dress and material culture were abandoned, without offering violence. Finding this of good effects; for there was but little noise although some traditional ornaments that impossible, they told him, that, if he would go made the following night, while usually, at could be hidden under clothing appear to have to a clump of trees 10 or 15 rods distant, they such times, the Indians kept up an astound- survived. Despite subversion of visible would follow and listen to his preaching. He ing uproar.”34 symbols, distinctive worldviews, oral tradi- complied, but had scarcely reached the trees De Forest, writing in 1852, reported that tions, foodways, and other cultural character- when the Indians commenced a most hideous this was the very last ceremony of this type, istics survived. Kinship and kin relations, noise, beating their breasts, grunting and but Julia Bayne, writing in 1884, reported that seasonal Native observances and celebrations, groaning, by way of an invocation to the devil. “trustworthy tradition says, that after most of oral tradition and oral history, traditional It seems that some Indian was suspected of the Wangunks had scattered among other worldviews, Native foodways and planting having poisoned the deceased Wangunk, and tribes, they would occasionally return and hold rituals, herbal medicines and remedies, place they were now soliciting a revelation from the a powwow under the Great Elm, near St. names and the significance of place, ideas evil spirit as to whether the suspicion was John’s Chapel.”35 about time, weather lore, and the like all just. Horrified and scandalized by the scene, 1740s. After King Philip’s War, Native remained viable traditions.”36 Treat ran back, rushed in among them, and American identity became even more of a 1750s. Death date of Dr. Robbins, a by his energetic corporeal interference put a stigma in southern New England. To give the Wangunk sachem.37 According to the History of very sudden end to their spiritual investiga- impression of assimilation, many Indians hid continued on page 8

7 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Native Americans and an associate of the more well-known “Christianizer” of Indians, Samson in Middletown, Part II Occum. Ashpo married Hannah Mamnack, a continued from page 7 Wangunk, who had rights to Mattabesett lands. Four of their six children were soldiers Middlesex County (1885), “The only son of his killed in the Revolution. One was the first daughter (not his son as has been said), was Native American killed at the battle of Richard Ranney, ‘positively the last’ sachem of Bunker Hill in 1775. Samuel Ashpo preached the Wangunks. He was brought up among the and established Indian schools throughout whites, who taught him to read and write the New England and New York.47 English language. He learned the joiner’s trade, 1771. Mary Cuschoy was living in was baptized (perhaps with the name of his Chatham, Conn. (originally part of benefactor), and became a professor of Middletown) as late as 1771.48 38 religion.” Charles Collard Adams, in 1774. Two Indians reported living in Middletown Upper Houses, under Richard Chatham.49 Ranney (1705-1759), notes that one of his sons 1775-1783. Benjamin Cuschoy served in was also named Richard, b. Sept. 8, 1732: Rev. Samson Occum (1723-1792), above, the Revolutionary War.50 “There was in East Middletown a very was a Mohegan who was a missionary to 1777-1781. Stephen Tom, a Wangunk Native Americans and, in 1786, a founder intelligent Indian called Richard Ranney, a known as Indian Thomas, was a soldier in member of the Congregational Church. He of Brothertown in Oneida County, N.Y., a 51 new home for Wangunks and other tribes. the Revolution, and a pensioner. Doris applied for and obtained through the Sherrow, in her 2002 article, “Stephen Tom Legislature his share (10 acres) of the Indian 1756. Settlers asked the Connecticut of Chatham,” looks into the identity of this Reservation. He resided in Newtown, Conn. individual. She found “Steaphen Thomas” on when he sold it. The Massachusetts Muster General Assembly for permission to buy the remaining Wangunk land in Portland. the Revolutionary War lists in 1777, 1780, Rolls show that Richard Ranney of Stockbridge and 1781. He was taken prisoner in was a private in Capt. William Goodrich's (Permission in these matters was required from state of Connecticut, which still Horseneck, N.Y. and spent over seven months Company of Indians and enlisted Aug. 9, in a prison camp before he was released in 39 exercised protective authority in Indian 1775.” (Editor’s note: The Public Records of January 1781. He returned to Portland, the Colony of Connecticut 1636-1776, on pg. affairs.) The settlers’ claim was that (1) it included the approved site of the new meeting Conn. and married a widow with five 158, state that Ranney was living in Newton, in children. Pension records reveal that they Fairfield County, in 1758 when he claimed his house, (2) it was tillable land, (3) it was currently generating no taxes, and (4) the were living in Oneida, N.Y. in 1818. He died interest in the land, citing his descent from Dr. in Oneida in 1831 at age 93. His widow, Ann, Robbin.) land was under-utilized, as “Indian owners are dispersed – few live on said land.” The reapplied for the war pension from The Robbins family is also mentioned in the in 1840. She died in 1844 at age 100.52 appendix of DeLoss Love’s biography of elderly sachem, Cuschoy, admitted that he had no more than 12 or 13 descendants, most of 1785. A committee was appointed by the Samson Occum: “ROBBINS, ROBBENS, Connecticut Legislature to collect all the ROBIN, tribe, Farmington, Conn. This whom were dispersed and would be difficult to locate to sign off on any sale.41 (Cuschoy is money due on Indian lands, then locate and family originally came from Middltown, and pay the money to the dispersed proprietors. belonged to the Wangunk tribe. David Robin, of mentioned in official documents as the “only sachem left” of the Wangunk tribe, “a lame “Thus ended the national existence of the Farmington, was interested in the emigration 53 man and not able to travel much.”42) Wangunks,” wrote De Forest with finality. in 1773, but probably died before 1777. His 1808. In the spring of 1808, three graves wife Hannah owned land there at that date. 1763. Approximate death date of Cuschoy, 43 were opened on Indian Hill, Portland. “The She removed to Brothertown, N. Y., with her the last sachem of the Wangunks. 1764. The Wangunks numbered about 30- man was placed sitting, wrapped in a blanket daughter Rhoda, and received lot 116. Rhoda (which was not entirely consumed, but upon died about 1814, and her mother in 1827.”40 40 persons, but only five were living on the reservation, two women and their three exposure to the air, became as brunt straw); children. One woman, Mary Cuschoy, was in his lap were two small brass kettles, the widow of Cuschoy, the last sachem. probably filled with soup or succotash at the Known as “Tike” in the town records, she time of burial, one of which had sunk down was blind and infirm, and was supported by into the other, in which were a spoon, knife, the town for the previous year.44 vial, and pipe. His arm extended round the 1765. After visiting Portland, the General kettles, and where the flesh came in contact Assembly voted to allow the Third Religious with the brass, from the elbow to the wrist, Society to purchase the remaining Wangunk the flesh was preserved. In the hand of one of lands. From out of the woodwork – or the the children was found a brass cup, of the size woods – came 30 descendants of the now- of a teacup, and here again the flesh on the deceased Cuschoy back to Middletown to fingers was preserved, where they came sign the deed at this transaction.45 against the brass. Around the wrist was 1769. Samuel Ashpo and nine other wampum, strung on deer string, and nearby Wangunks living at Farmington, Conn., beads, supposed to have been placed about the neck. In the grave of the other child was a including James Wowowous and David 54 Towsey46, sold their remaining lands in coffee box containing wampum.” Reference to the Wangunks today is Middletown (Portland). Samuel Ashpo (1718- 1819. Death date of Jonathan Palmer evident in the Indian names of numerous (1756-1819), who was referred to as “The geographic features. Above is the sign for 1795) was a Mohegan peacher and govern- ment interpreter who was a product of Dr. Last of the Wangunks” in Carl F. Price’s the 647-acre Wangunk Meadows Wildlife book, A Yankee Township (1941), a collection Management Area in Portland, Conn. Eleazar Wheelock’s Indian Charity School continued on page 9 8 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Native Americans 1850s. Contemporary historian Elizabeth Warner, in A Pictorial History of Middletown, in Middletown, Part II notes: “While historical accounts lead one to continued from page 8 believe that by 1750 all Native Americans had disappeared from the Connecticut of local history articles about East Hampton, towns, several local residents recall family Conn. (formerly part of Middletown). From stories about small Indian enclaves in our 21st-century viewpoint, the story is Middletown well into the 19th century. As a intended to be oddly humorous, but it is little girl in the 1850s, Jane Baldwin impossible to ignore the insensitive stereotyp- Roberts learned herbal remedies from ing of Native Americans. The gist of the true Indians living on a hill overlooking Kelsey story: A country doctor, John Richmond Street. A small tribe resided near Crystal (1767-1821), wanted to have a skeleton that Lake in the mid-century on land owned by he could use to teach anatomy to his medical the Brock Family (Howard Baldwin, 1989).”58 students. He decided to make a proposal to 1853. In Dr. Field’s Centennial Address, Above is a mid-19th-century Wangunk “Jonathan Indian” of East Hampton, a he wrote: “In closing these remarks about basket, 12" x 19" x 13", woven of black ash. laborer who was known for his affection for the Indians, it is but simple justice to add, Ethno-historian Eva Lutz Butler (1897- strong drink. The doctor offered to purchase that bad as Sowheag and his men were 1969) documented the craft in Wangunk a pint of rum per month for Jonathan for life thought to be for a time, it is not known that Basket Makers, one of her many manu- scripts held at the Indian & Colonial – in return for Jonathan’s skeleton upon his they were unusually troublesome to the Research Center in Old Mystic, Conn. natural death. Jonathan eagerly signed the English after the settlement commenced. agreement, enjoyed his modest but regular But they are gone from this region, long Beaumont is known to have sold baskets in supply of rum, and less than two years later, since extinct as a tribe, and who knoweth the Middletown and Durham area through the doctor got his skeleton. The story was that their blood runs in the veins of any the mid- and late-19th century. 59 told to author Carl F. Price in 1902 by John living creature?” Scholar and author Laurel Thatcher W. B. Smith (1806-c. 1902) of East Hampton, 1900. At the 250th anniversary of Ulrich, in her book, The Age of Homespun who noted that Jonathan Indian was married Middletown, the plaque placed at Founders (2001), devotes an entire chapter to Native to a white woman; his son, Bill Indian, was Rock at the entrance to Riverside Cemetery American basket makers of New England, married to an African-American; and “their included the names of 13 “Indian Grantors”: and the “disappearing Indian of Connecticut” descendants, a blend of the three races, are Sepunnamoe, Hameghize, Wesumpsha, motif found in 19th-century literature.62 living in town today.” (This story is corrobo- Spunnoe, Taccumshuit, Massekump, Native American and Wangunk rated in the July 1903 issue of the Medical Pewampsskin, Joan Alias Wecpesick, presence today. In Connecticut as of 2006, Library and Historical Journal, in an article Wamphanch, Sachamas, Paskunna, Robin, Native Americans make up 0.2% of the 60 about the “uncouth and unrefined” Dr. and Rachiask. population. In comparison, Alaska is first at Richmond by William Browning, M.D., “Dr. Artifacts of the Wangunk. Several 13.1% and New Mexico second at 9.7%. The John Richmond of East Hampton Parish: An museums are known to have Wangunk 55 only state with a lower Native American Episode of an Old-Time Practitioner.” artifacts in their collections. Some have come population is Pennsylvania. (Along with The Palmer family is mentioned in the from archaeological excavations, while others Connecticut at 0.2% are Georgia, Illinois, appendix of DeLoss Love’s biography of are utilitarian or decorative objects made Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Samson Occum: “PALMER. The tribe of this and sold by Wangunk artisans as an New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, family is unknown. Joseph Palmer was at important source of income. and West Virginia.63 Brothertown, N. Y., in 1818, having lot 92. He Frank G. White, in Of Burls, Knot Bowls, As mentioned previously, many of the married Martha Waukeet, a Niantic Indian, and Split Brooms: Native American dwindling number of Wangunks departed the removed to Wisconsin in 1834, and was Woodworking in the Old Sturbridge Village Middletown area for Farmington, Conn.; murdered by a Stockbridge Indian July 3, Collections (2002), writes of “splinter 56 Kent, Conn.; or Stockbridge, Mass. in the mid- 1836.” brooms” made from yellow birch by a 18th century. Family groups from different 1830. Recollections of “Old Betty.” When Mattabesec-Wangunk in Portland, Conn. tribes merged and moved to Oneida, N.Y Julia Bayne compiled her history of known as “Old Sarah” in the mid-18th (Brothertown) in the 1770s, and later, in 1831, Portland, Conn, for Beers & Co. in 1884, she century. She and her family were known to to Wisconsin. Wangunk descendants may yet interviewed older residents who remembered have made and sold baskets and brooms be among the 1650 Brothertown tribal “Old Betty” as the last member of the throughout the vicinity c. 1700-1760. Also members living on the reservation along the Wangunk tribe who lived “at Pequin Hill as known as “Indian brooms,” they were made shore of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. This late as 1830, bent, white haired, her dark by splintering the end of a stick and peeling group continues to pursue federal recognition. skin almost blanched by age. Every year, back thin strips of wood with a knife, so that The Stockbridge-Munsee tribe, which arrived while she lived, the Indians of the tribe living one end of the stick was converted to a brush in Wisconsin in the 1820s via stops at New 61 in other places used to visit her. They and the other shaped into a handle. York and Indiana, is federally recognized, and brought large stones to the house and heated The Portland (Conn.) Historical Society today has 900 members living on its own Lake them red hot, them placed them in their and its Ruth Callander House Museum hold Winnebago reservation.64 But some interest kettle, filled it with water, which immedi- artifacts from the Wangunks of centuries remains in Middletown. ately boiled, and poured from sacks which past. The museum, which opened in 2003, On April 12, 1999 an official letter of they had brought on their shoulders an displays a glass case full of arrowheads, a intent to petition for federal recognition was abundance of young turtles; which, when collection built by a longtime Portland filed by the Grasmere Band of Wangunk cooked, they scraped from the shells and ate. resident. The Durham Historical Society Indians of Glastonbury, which identified An Indian named John Cutchoyue is holds a shallow basket made by Esther itself as “formerly known as the Pequot remembered to have visited from Long Beaumont (1797-1893), whose mother was a 57 Mohegan Tribe, Inc.” and claimed 125 Island in 1822.” Wangunk and father a Narragansett. Esther continued on page 10 9 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Native Americans cism abounds. For example, how can one not (38) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- be at least a bit skeptical of the leader of one 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 496. (39) Charles Collard Adams. Middletown Upper Houses. in Middletown, Part II Connecticut tribe who rhapsodizes about his (New York, N.Y.: Grafton Press, 1908), pg. 168. continued from page 6 visceral connection to New Haven, but whose (40) DeLoss Love. Samson Occum and the Christian headquarters is in Indiana, and who for Indians of New England. (Chicago, Ill.: The Pilgrim members. They are one of 11 tribes pursuing decades has run his recognition campaign Press, 1899), pg. 358. federal recognition. In Connecticut, two from his jail cell in Texas?67 (41) Sherrow. “What Happened to the Wangunks?, Part II,” in Portland On the Move. tribes are federally recognized, the Summarizing the summary. In (42) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- Mashantucket Pequot Indians (in 1983) and presenting this summary of the Native 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 496. the Mohegan Tribe (in 1994). Americans of Middletown, your editor has (43) DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. A Hartford Courant article in 1999 tried to steer clear of the two extremes of 367. mentions a proposal brought before the interpretation: (1) the cruelly dismissive (44) DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. Middletown selectmen to survey the depiction of the aboriginals as subhuman 367. population to determine what percentage of barbarians by some early observers, and (2) (45) Sherrow. “What Happened to the Wangunks?, Part II,” in Portland On the Move. Middletown residents might claim Wangunk the overly-exalted depiction of the aboriginals 65 (46) DeLoss Love. Samson Occum and the Christian ancestry, but there was no further action.) as spiritually superior nobles of the wilder- Indians of New England. (Chicago, Ill.: The Pilgrim In 2005, Running Deer Van Thomas Green, ness by some later writers. In my view, both Press, 1899), pg. 70. a Wangunk descendant, brought suit against extremes miss the mark. Yes, Native (47) Love, Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of Wesleyan University, a tennis club, and a used Americans were victims of invasion and New England, pg. 75. car dealer, alleging that Indian burial grounds runaway colonialism. But unfortunately we (48) DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. 368. seldom have the Native Americans speaking in Portland and Glastonbury were desecrated, (49) DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. that from 1799 to 2003 tribal lands were for themselves in telling the story – it is 368. unlawfully transferred, and that agreements mostly a parade of myopic observers, (50) United States Revolutionary War Rolls, Connecticut regarding 300 acres of land set aside for breathless apologists, dreamy myth-makers, - Box 20. native heirs of the Wangunk were not and agenda-driven revisionists, along with (51) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- honored. The plaintiff’s suit included petitions the honest interpreters. With Part I & II of 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 496. (52) Doris Sherrow. “Stephen Tom of Chatham,” in to the Bureau of Indian Affairs that detailed this article, your editor adds a category: Portland On the Move, Jan. 2002 (Portland, Conn.: Town the history of Indian land transfers, deeds, compiler. Today, those who are interested in of Portland, 1999). and tribal and family history. The plaintiff the Native Americans of Connecticut are (53) DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. included documentation that his grandfather, fortunate to have the resources of excellent 368. George W. Cohen, had owned several parcels research libraries and museums, the most (54) David D. Field. A Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex, in Connecticut. (Middletown, Conn.: Conn. of original Wangunk land in Glastonbury that well-known and well-endowed being the Academy of Arts & Sciences, 1819), pg. 5; DeForest, was later foreclosed upon and subsequently Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. 369. sold several times. In February 2006 U.S. Center in Mashantucket, Conn. Trudie Lamb (55) Carl F. Price. “The Last of the Wangunks,” chapter District Judge Alvin W. Thompson dismissed Richmond, the museum’s Director of Public in A Yankee Township. (East Hampton, Conn.: Citizens the case, ruling that the plaintiff had no Programs, wrote in Enduring Traditions: the Welfare Club,1941), pg. 23-32. (56) Love, Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of constitutional or statutory standing, either as Native Peoples of New England, that “Native New England, pg. 355. an individual or as representative of a tribe, people’s histories and stories have been told (57) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- 66 and ordered the case closed. by others – rather dispassionately at times 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 496. In 2005, filmmaker Eliot Gray Fisher, then and not always with accuracy. Something is (58) Elizabeth A. Warner. A Pictorial History of a student at Wesleyan University, produced a missing when we cannot and do not know Middletown. (Virginia Beach, Va.: The Donning Co., 68 1990), pg. 19. 13-minute documentary film, The Last of the our true past.” So even at the local level, (59) Field, Centennial Address, pg. 38. Wangunks, which earned the Leavell there is more research to be done, more to be (60) List of “Indian Grantors” on plaque mounted on Memorial Prize in Film. This film told the discovered, and ultimately, more to be Founders Rock at the entrance to Riverside Cemetery, story of R.D.V.T. Green’s ultimately unsuccess- gathered – for the next compilation. Middletown. Conn. ful effort to recover his tribe’s ancestral lands. (61) Frank G. White. Of Burls, Knot Bowls, and Split “Coming from New Mexico, I was intrigued Endnotes for Part II Brooms: Native American Woodworking in the Old Sturbridge Village Collections. (Sturbridge, Mass.: Old about how different and complex issues of (28) J.H. Beers. A General History of Middlesex County Sturbridge Village, 2002). Native identity are on the East Coast than in 1635-1885. (New York, N.Y.: J.H. Beers & Co., 1884), (62) Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The Age of Homespun. the Southwest,” wrote Fisher, looking back at (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 495. (New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001), pg. 340-373. his project. “Because of the unique history of (29) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- (63) United States Census Bureau statistics, 2006. 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 495. colonization in New England, it was much (64) Milwaukee Public Museum. History of the (30) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- more difficult to ‘prove’ one’s identity as a Stockbridge-Munsee tribe at the museum web site: 1885, pg. 62. http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-159.html. Native American – which only became (31) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- (65) “Tribal Group Asks City’s Help,” by Bill Daley, The important after the Indian Gaming 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 495. Hartford Courant, Hartford Conn., Oct. 5, 2000. Regulatory Act of 1988 created the possibility (32) Doris Sherrow. “What Happened to the Wangunk?” (66) U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; of gambling casinos.” The film can be seen in in Portland On the Move, Dec. 1999 (Portland, Conn.: Running Deer Van Thomas Green, Plaintiff, v. Wesleyan Town of Portland, 1999). its entirety here: http://vimeo.com/11147316. University, Town & Country Auto Sales, Inc., Cushman & (33) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- Wakefield of Conn., and Glastonbury Tennis Club; Lead As mentioned in Part I, with so many 1885, pg. 62. Consolidated Case No. 3:03CV00601 (AWT). tribes in Connecticut jockeying for position as (34) John W. DeForest. History of the Indians of Connecticut. (www.ctd.uscourts.gov/ they prepare petitions for federal recognition, (Hartford, Conn.: Hamersley, 1853), pg. 365-367. Opinions/022106.AWT.Green.pdf) it is difficult to predict any outcome. There is (35) Beers, A General History of Middlesex County 1635- (67) Algonquian Confederacy of the Tribal Council (web site: http://acqtc.org/Main/HomePage). so much at stake for every tribe, the petitions 1885, (Portland section by Julia Bayne), pg. 497. (36) Milwaukee Public Museum. “Becoming Invisible,” (68) Laurie Weinstein, Ed. Enduring Traditions: the are often decades in preparation. The article on Native American assimilation at the museum web Native Peoples of New England. “A Native Perception of atmosphere is so politically charged and site: http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-159.html. History,” by Trudie Lamb Richmond. (Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 1994) pg. 123-150. money-driven, it is no wonder that skepti- (37) DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pg. 367.

10 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA SMFSD Membership Information If you descend from a pre-1700 settler, we welcome you to join us The following are individuals (and presumably spouses & families) said to have settled in Middletown, Conn. before 1700. The list is from The History of Middlesex County (Henry Whittemore, Beers Co., 1884), which itself was derived in part from the List of Householders & Proprietors, Middletown, March 22, 1670. Names in boldface are the original 1650-54 settlers. N.B.!: This list is known to be incomplete! If you descend from a pre-1700 settler not on this list, please contact our Registrar about submitting lineage and references. Not a descendant? Join us in the Friends category! Josiah Adkins . . . . . 1673 Samuel Cotton. . . . . 1697 Edward Higby . . . . . 1667 Daniel Pryor ...... 1696 Samuel Stow . . . . 1651 Obadiah Allyn . . . . . 1670 Samuel Doolittle . . . 1693 Thomas Hill...... 1678 Thomas Ranney . . . 1660 Thomas Stow...... 1669 Thomas Allen. . . . 1650 George Durant. . . . . 1663 Thomas Hopewell . . 1662 William Roberts. . . . 1680 William Sumner . . . 1687 Nathaniel Bacon . 1650 Samuel Eggleston . . 1663 George Hubbard . 1650 Joseph Rockwell . . . 1693 James Tappin . . . . . 1662 William Briggs . . . . . 1677 John Elton ...... 1677 John Hulbert ...... 1669 Alexander Rollo . . . . 1697 Matthias Treat . . 1659 John Blake...... 1677 Thomas Ferman . . . 1679 Isaac Johnson . . . . . 1670 Noadiah Russell. . . . 1696 Edward Turner . . . . 1665 William Blumfield1650 Edward Foster . . . . . 1670 Francis Jones...... 1672 David Sage ...... 1662 John Ward ...... 1664 John Boarn ...... 1677 Jonathan Gilbert. . . 1672 John Jordan...... 1678 John Savage . . . . 1650 William Ward...... 1659 Alexander Bow . . . . 1660 John Gill ...... 1676 John Kirby...... 1653 Arthur Scovill . . . . . 1671 Andrew Warner . . . . 1667 Nathaniel Brown. . . 1655 Richard Goodale . . . 1671 Isaac Lane ...... 1664 Edward Shepard . . . 1687 Robert Warner. . . . . 1655 Thomas Burk...... 1670 George Graves . . . . 1650? Thomas Lewis . . . . . 1687 Joseph Smith ...... 1675 Robert Webster . . 1650 William Cheney . . . . 1655 John Hall ...... 1650 William Lucas . . . . . 1667 William Smith . . . 1650 Benjamin West. . . . . 1698 Samuel Clark...... 1676 Richard Hall . . . . 1650 Daniel Markham . . . 1677 William Southmayd. 1674 Thomas Wetmore 1650 Jasper Clements . . . 1670 Samuel Hall . . . . . 1650 Anthony Martin. . . . 1661 Comfort Starr . . . . . 1673 Nathaniel White . 1650 Henry Cole ...... 1650? Giles Hamlin . . . . 1650 John Martin. . . . . 1650 James Stanclift . . . . 1686 Francis Whitmore . . 1674 Nathaniel Collins . . 1664 Benjamin Hands . . . 1678 Thomas Miller . . . 1650 Samuel Stocking . 1650 John Wilcox ...... 1654 Samuel Collins. . . . . 1665 Daniel Harris. . . . 1653 John Payne ...... 1676 John Stow ...... 1667 James Wright...... 1690 William Cornwell 1650 William Harris. . . 1650 George Phillips . . . . 1680 Nathaniel Stow . . . . 1676 Membership benefits . . . Membership is a simple 1-2-3 procedure . . . When you join the Society of Middletown First If you are a descendant of any pre-1700 Middletown settler, and would like to join SMFSD, here is Settlers Descendants, you will receive: the easy procedure: • Two issues per year of The Middler, the (1) Send an outline/worksheet of your lineage to the Registrar. The applicant shall do their own SMFSD newsletter full of information useful genealogical research, and the resulting lineage should be accompanied by copies of reference for research about Middletown’s first settler material by generation. The Registrar seeks to verify submitted information, but does not families and local history. research family lines. • Access to the SMFSD web site which includes (2) Send a check payable to the Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants (1650-1700) for first settler profiles, genealogy resources, local the non-refundable $10.00 application handling fee. history articles, a custom-prepared annotated (3) The Registrar will review the application for approval. Documentation is required only bibliography for Middletown research, and an through the line of descent from the 1650-1700 settler. If needed, guidelines will be sent that help archive of past Middler issues. document descent by generation. (The Society will return an application if more documentation • The annual membership roster enabling you to is needed. It is the applicant’s responsibility to complete any gaps in the records.) When network with Middletown “cousins” and approved, the new member can choose to pay annual or lifetime dues: researchers across the country. (A) Annual dues (Nov. 1 to Oct. 31) are $20.00 (in addition to the initial $10.00 handling fee). • The opportunity to attend SMFSD meetings (every three years) in Middletown that include (B) A new member may elect to pay lifetime dues (instead of annual dues) based on age: Age 0-50, genealogy research, cemetery tours, library/ $300; Age 51-70, $200; Age 70+, $100. Life Members receive a certificate suitable for framing. museum visits, networking, and social events. Friends of SMFSD. Are you a history enthusiast? Would you like to receive The Middler? Join • The opportunity to participate in the us at $20 per year! organization, suggest/plan meeting activities, Please send membership inquiries & lineage information to: Donald H. Brock, Registrar, and vote on SMFSD business. Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants, 10 Windy Hill Rd., Glen Arm, MD 21057.

Fremont Rider … from page 5 the preface of his autobiography, written in Actions. Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C., 1955, he wrote: “Even if I could I would alter October, 1996. New York Times, New York, N.Y. June 5, 1950 (obituary of craft, greed, drunkenness. He has read army no part of the story. Whatever the final result Mrs. Fremont Rider) & October 27, 1962 (obituary of rolls that seem to have on them more desert- is, I enormously enjoyed the doing of it. It is Fremont Rider). ers than heroes. But he knows too, that with undoubtedly true that I have had too many Rider, A. Fremont. And Master of None. Godfrey Memorial all their faults, these ancestors of ours were Library, Middletown, Conn., 1955. interests. But, had I had but a single interest, Star, Alexander. Review of Double Fold, New Republic, not whiners or quitters. … Rider sees these life would not have been half as much fun.” Washington, D.C., May 28, 2001. forebears of ours as not merely a few great Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research men, but as millions of the commonest of Sources Center. Fremont Rider Autograph Collection - An Inventory common folk. He sees the amazing accom- Baker, Nicolson. Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on of the Collection at Syracuse University. Syracuse, N.Y., 2001. Paper. Vintage Press, New York, N.Y., 2002. (Fremont Rider donated his autograph collection to Syracuse plishment that these very common men and Godfrey Memoral Library (Middletown, Conn.) web site: U. in 1954. The finding aid includes a biographical sketch: women wrought. … So to make what they www.godfrey.com. http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/print/rider_f_prt.htm). wrought, and how they wrought it, even a Jamison, Martin. “The Microcard: Fremont Rider’s Pre- Yunker, James A., “Beyond Global Governance: Prospects for Global Government,” International Journal on World little better appreciated, seems to him a task Computer Revolution,” Libraries & Culture, Austin, Texas. Winter 1988. Peace, St. Paul, Minn., June 2009. worthy of whatever effort and means he is Meyerink, Kory L. “Genealogy’s Best-Kept Secret: American Photographs able to devote to it.” Genealogical-Biographical Index,” Ancestry Magazine, Arthur Fremont Rider died at his home in Provo, Utah, March 20, 2000. Thanks to Godfrey Library Acquisitions Librarian Nancy Molyneux, Robert E., “Fremont Rider's Legacy,” ARL: A Thurrott for supplying the photographs of Fremont Rider Middletown on October 26, 1962 at age 77. In Bimonthly Newsletter of Research Library Issues and for this article. (Photo of Godfrey Library by R.W. Bacon.) 11 MIDDLETOWN NEWSLETTER of the SOCIETY of MIDDLETOWN FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS he Mid e CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. CONNECTICUT, USA Notable books … however, ‘New’ England’s soils were not how the clays and silts that settled on the continued from page 3 kind to European crops,” writes de Boer. bottom of large glacial lakes led to the The adaptation was difficult, but relatively fertile soils that were ultimately which, in 228 tightly-written pages, thanks to the geology of the valley that adapted to European farming practices. explores the relationship of the state’s extends from Deerfield, Mass. south to Stories in Stone, 228 pages, 68 illustra- geology to centuries of human events. New Haven, Conn., the difficulties were tions, $24.95, is published by Wesleyan In the introduction, the author writes of overcome. The author explains the University Press, and available through the adaptation of the earliest settlers who geological formation of the valley, and your favorite bookseller. dealt with a land and ecology different from their native England. “The soils in Editor’s Note: I met Tom Smith at ‘old’ England’s agricultural south, where Tom Smith, 1943-2010 continued from page 3 the SMFSD Triennial Meeting in 2003. most of these people originated, contain a Traveling that day without our non- lot of lime, derived from soft bedrock that the Union Veterans, and the Sons of genealogist spouses, we chatted during had formed in warm, shallow seas,” he the American Revolution. explains. “Such soils are chemically basic the midday cruise on the Connecticut Aside from genealogical and civic River, comparing notes on ancestors, and provide much-needed nutrients for pursuits, Tom – and Toni – were avid raising grain. Soils throughout glacially- philosophizing on genealogy in general, and well-traveled scuba divers, having ravaged New England, on the other hand, and trying to make one beer last the derive from hard, quartz-rich formations; made multiple trips to the Caribbean. entire afternoon. Later that day I had they are acidic and frequently very rocky.” Tom was a certified Master Diver with the pleasure of meeting Toni, who Without familiarity with native crops, numerous additional certifications. joined Tom for dinner. In the ensuing the early settlers pressed on to try to Donations in Tom’s name may be years Tom was always a supporter of grow the cereals and grasses native to made to Middlesex Hospice & Palliative efforts with The Middler and the web England. “Without the annual addition of Care in Middletown, Conn., or to any site. His encouragement, good humor, copious amounts of lime and fertilizers, animal rescue organization of choice. and positive energy will be missed.

12

01950 MA Newburyport, • 489 Box . O . P • Editor Bacon, . R.W c/o

U.S.A. , CONNECTICUT

ANTS DESCEND SETTLERS FIRST MIDDLETOWN of SOCIETY the he of NEWSLETTER id M e SO TS C N IE A T D Y N

E o f

C

S

M

E

I

D D

D S

L

R

E

E

T

L

O

T

T

W

E N S

T F S R

1650-1I 700