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Who Were The
Wangunk?
by Doris Sherrow, November
1999
The land where you live was probably farmed or fished or hunted by the Wangunk
Indians three hundred years ago.
The picture of the Wangunk that emerges from the scraps of historical
sources shows a strong, enterprising people, fully the intellectual
equal of the invading English. Probably they lived much like the
Mashantucket Pequot Museum's Pequot Village, in harmony with nature,
constructively occupied with the many tasks necessary to their survival.
They fished when the fish ran, hunted when the deer came, and harvested
plants for myriad uses as food, medicine, clothing, or artifacts.
By the later 1600s, they were using the English calendar, and often
signing deeds with an initial or symbol. At least three could write
their names. In addition, their deeds are genuinely chatty with
historical and genealogical detail: "I have been Lawfully Seized
thereof Ever Since ye old Indian warr…" "until it comes to
the Indian Corner tree by the Meeting House…" "from said
Robbins it descended to my grandmother who was sd Robbins daughter and
from her to my uncle James …"
Their reservation consisted of two pieces. The smaller piece was about
30 acres, flanking Indian Hill Avenue, and running down to the
Connecticut River. The larger piece, about 250 acres, ran east from the
rear property lines of the houses along Main Street between Summer and
William streets, as far as where Center Cemetery is now. Tom Robbin,
a Wangunk, described the two pieces in 1741 as "Indian land in the
Woods" and "Indian Hill by the River."
On the northwest side of the Indian Hill piece was the "Hot House
Lot." The "Hot House" was a hollow on the bank of the
Connecticut River, near the end of Indian Hill Avenue. It would have
been covered by animal skins, then heated by stones from the fire, in
sauna fashion, perhaps for the cure of various diseases, perhaps for
ritual, or even simple enjoyment. After sweating a while, the Indian
would rush into the cold waters of the Connecticut to drive away the
evil spirits, or maybe just to cool off.
Indian Hill was also a burial ground. As late as the 1870s, a tombstone
stood there which read, "Here lies the body of John Onekous
who died August the 30th 1722, aged 26 years." Skeletons were
discovered there throughout the 1800s. One house, built in the
mid-1800s, did not have a cellar for a century, because the builder
encountered so many bones! A less-superstitious 20th century owner
finally dug out the cellar and reinterred the bones elsewhere.
In 1728, Bartlett Street was extended east into the Wangunk reservation.
The customary way to lay out a highway was to appoint a team of three
farmers familiar with both surveying and with the land. The team of
surveyors for this project were William Cornwell, who lived in
the meadow on Glastonbury Turnpike, Nathaniel Savage who lived in a
house which stood at or near 609 Main Street, and "Cuschoy in
behalf of ye other Indians." The fact that an official from the
Wangunks would be included strongly suggests that the Wangunks were
considered quite capable by their neighbors.
They were probably involved in many community activities. A diary entry
from 1702 notes an Indian named Sacient delivering a tombstone
for Rebecca Minor to her family in Stonington-Portland's stone
carver James Stanclift had hired him for that job.
More tales of the Wangunks come from the story of Rev. Richard Treat,
who attempted to establish a school for Indian children in 1734. He got
a dozen or so pupils in the four months of the school's existence,
stopping after that time for lack of money or help. Deploring their
ignorance of Scripture, Christian morality, and the English language, he
noted with chagrin that he had to "appeal to their principles of
morality and natural religion" in order to win his arguments. He
failed to see the cultural strength implicit in that statement-obviously
they had a system of morality which could be used to explain Judaeo-Christian
principles!
Probably the Indians tolerated Treat and his stories as they would a
child. On one occasion, as he was telling them of resurrection, one
savage pointed jestingly to a dead pig waiting by the fire to be
roasted, and inquired if it would rise from the dead. After much debate,
Treat finally felt that he had verbally vanquished the Indian.
The summer after the attempted school, a tribal leader died, and there
was a loud funeral ceremony for several days which Treat felt it was his
duty to stop. He interfered persistently but the Indians fended him off
until they had finished the ceremony. Then he was allowed to preach for
a while and they went quietly home, leaving Treat thinking that he had
shown them the error of their ways.
In 1747, a Job Bates and his new wife, Faith, moved to Portland
from Ware, Massachusetts. Bates was a blacksmith, which made him useful
to the boat building industry on Indian Hill, but also probably
intrigued the Indians, as well. The white man's metal objects were among
his nicest attributes! From all appearances, the Wangunks allowed Bates
to take up residence on the northwest corner of Main Street and Indian
Hill Avenue. Eventually he came to own a still and a "cyder
press," which also no doubt served to endear him to the Wangunks.
When the English petitioned finally in the late 1750s to buy the
reservation, Bates added his own line: "through mistake I have set
my house on it." This 1 ˝ story Cape Cod style "mistake"
was over a decade old by that time.
Ebenezer White, who lived at 582 Main Street, charged Benoni
Brown for 36 feet of board in April of 1755. Brown had used it to
build coffins for three members of the Wangunk tribe, all of whom were
still quite alive! Tom Cuschoy, his wife, and fellow tribesman Jo
Simon apparently purchased the great wooden boxes which the whites
were so anxious to use for burials. It wasn't a bad idea, to provide a
little wooden house for the body on its long trip, and they probably
made handy storage chests in the meantime!
In 1765, the Wangunk sold what remained of their reservation. Only a few
older members of the tribe were still living in Portland. The younger
people had gone off to Farmington, to Stockbridge, Massa-chusetts, or
even further west. But the tribe members visited town yearly until the
1830s, gathering at the home of Old Betty, probably on Penny
Corner Road.
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