Wangunk

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wangunk (Wongunk) were an indigenous people in what is now the US state of Connecticut . They lived in three main settlements in the Portland area , Middletown and Wethersfield , but were also found in other parts of what are now Middlesex and Hartford Counties . They are also referred to as the Mattabessett in some sources , but Wangunk is the name scholars and descendants of the people use today.

The Wangunk belonged to the Algonquin language group and were permanently related to other Algonquin groups. The Wangunk are not recognized by the US federal government or the State of Connecticut as a separate tribe. Even so, many descendants still identify themselves today as Wangunk and strive to preserve their traditions.

geography

At the time of the first English settlers, the Wangunk lived in what is now the cities of Middletown, Haddam and Portland. They were evicted from their original residential areas at Hartford and Wethersfield and looked for new homes around Oxbow Bend on the Connecticut River . Before the English colonization, there were at least half a dozen settlements on either side of the river. Mattabassett (also: Mattabesseck, Matabesset, today's Middletown) was the name of these that was most clearly identified with the tribe. Other settlements were Pocowset (Portland), Cockaponet (Haddam), Coginchaug, Cononnacock and Machamodus. Occasionally the tribe was referred to as “the River People” because of its settlement area. When the English moored Middletown west of the river, most of the proposed reserve was east of the river. Only a small area near what is now Indian Hill was west of the river. Today the name Wongunk also refers to a pasture in Portland that was part of the reservation. As the Wangunk were more and more harassed, they sold their land piece by piece and either joined neighboring tribes such as the Tunxis in the Farmington (CT) area, or emigrated to more distant areas with other groups of Christianized Indians.

history

Pre-colonial society

As with other tribes, the leadership was probably a sachem , but this information comes from the records of the first settlers. Otherwise most of the well-known social structures in the Algonquin tribes tend to be matrilineal with a pronounced division of labor and the Wangunk also seem to follow this pattern. They lived on seasonal agriculture and moved back and forth between summer and winter camps.

First contacts with Europeans (1614–1673)

The first known encounter with Europeans was recorded by traders from the Dutch East India Company in 1614. The proximity to the Connecticut River made the settlement area a coveted area for European fur traders, which led to initial conflicts with the Pequot even then . The Wangunks allied themselves with the Narraganset and asked the English settlers for help in defense.

At the beginning of the Pequot War in 1637, however, the relationship shifted. According to the colonists' records, the Sachem Sowheage aided the Pequots in their attack on Wethersfield, where he was living at the time. At the same time Sowheage moved to Mattabesett. This move and the turmoil of the war likely resulted in Middletown not being established until 1650, which is much later than other cities in the area. The Pequot War is also known as the Pequot Massacre to highlight the brutal approach taken by the settlers. In the following years there were a number of land sales that culminated in a reservation deed in 1673.

Land sales were handled according to the European legal system, which was based on the ideals of property and "development". The owner was obliged to cultivate the land in order to "improve" it. The settlers often saw themselves as superior to the locals and did not respect their farming methods. For the Wangunk, on the other hand, land was common property. No single person had ultimate entitlement to a limited piece of land and therefore land could not be the subject of purchase. The law of the colonies took no account of this. The Wangunk could only use the contracts to document their former claims.

Period of the Reserves (1673-1767)

In 1650, after the founding of Middletown, the Connecticut government designated approximately 350 acres (100 hectares) east of the Connecticut River as the property of the descendants of Sowheage and the Wangunk tribe. The reservation remained indefinite until 1673 when 13 Sowheage heirs signed a document identifying two pieces of land: one with 50 acres at Indian Hill and a second with 250 acres of hill country east of the Connecticut River. This reservation land was given to the heirs "forever". In Wangunk Meadow , near the reservation land east of the river, there were again various pieces that belonged to individual tribal members, with a total area of ​​approx. 9 acres.

Even during this period, land ownership among the Wangunk remained largely communal. Those who signed the contracts were not necessarily the "owners," so the sales were often challenged by other tribesmen. Most of them were not even able to read English contracts. The establishment of the reserve was an economic disaster for the tribe because they actually needed a much larger area for their traditional farming and hunting. As a result, poverty and debt arose. Some members of the tribe were even imprisoned or kept as slaves.

King Philip's War originated in 1675 as a unified Indian resistance movement. Like many other tribes, the Wangunk remained neutral during this time, but this could also have been due to coercive measures by the settlers. The English passed laws that made economic opportunities and access to weapons more difficult and demanded hostage from some tribes. During this time, some Wangunk sold land, mainly to pay off debts. Middletown's English population grew and in the late 17th century colonists began erecting buildings in Wangunk Meadows on the east bank of the river, adjacent to the reservation. In 1714, these settlers separated from the Middletown community and formed the Third Society of Middletown with its own meeting house and separate administration. As early as 1713, the Wangunk had been forced to leave the Mattabessett portion of the reservation in central Middletown.

The settlement of Indian land accelerated from 1732 when the Third Society received a new pastor . He built his house directly in the reserve area. Some Wangunks also converted to Christianity and moved to Christian communities. 1746 asked Third Society , the Connecticut General Assembly for a new meeting house and received for this purpose land from the reserve area. After the meeting house was in place, settlers began to lay claim to Indian land, arguing that the Wangunk were not using the land properly.

In 1757, after two petitions from settlers to the Connecticut General Assembly , Wangunk Richard Ranney , who was not on the reservation, claimed land and was given ten acres. Petitions were again submitted by settlers, and in 1762 several male Wangunks submitted a memorial to the Assembly demanding that all of the reserve land be sold. A committee agreed on the grounds that only women and children were left on the reservation. They are unable to support themselves and a large part of the money from the land sale is used to pay off debts. Around this time, several Wangunk were serving in the Seven Years' War in North America . In 1767 the Third Society officially became the City of Chatham (later Portland ).

Post-Reservation and Diaspora (1767–1813)

The last lot on the Wangunk Reservation was sold sometime between 1772 and 1784. However, the Wangunk community apparently remained an active factor during this period. A census from 1777 recorded 28 Wangunk in Portland. Some Wangunks were still listed as residents in Portland in the 19th century. One such person is Bette Nepash, Old Betty , a Wangunk who held tribal meetings until the 1810s. This developed a long-lasting connection between Wangunk and this area. After the death of Bette Nepash, Jonathan Palmer was known as the last Indian in Middletown when he died in 1813. However, the descendants still live in Middlesex County to this day.

In the 18th century the Wangunk left the reservations. Some of them joined other tribes, such as the Quinnipiac and the Mohegan . Some Wangunk also served in the American Revolutionary War . Still other Wangunk joined the Farmington Indians in Connecticut. This group arose when Tunxis invited other groups of Indians to live with them on their reservation and formed a new tribe. The Farmington Indians were Christian Indians who later relocated to Oneida , New York and later to Brotherton , Wisconsin . Despite the increasing distance from their hometown, the Wangunk identified with their nation, their country and kept returning to the area.

Personalities

Sowheage

When colonists first invaded the Connecticut River Valley , Sowheage (Sequin, Sowheag) was the upper sachem in charge of the Wangunk Territory. Pyquag and Mattabesett also belonged to his sphere of influence. Originally he moved to Pyquag, but after several conflicts with the English, he moved to Mattabessett. It is said that Sowheage was hostile to the English, so it has been linked to the Pequot War. Sowheage died around 1649, but many of his children continued to hold influential positions for a long time. This included Montowese , a leader of the Quinnipiac and Wangunk, and Sequassen, the sachem of Suckiog. The latter had a tense relationship with the colonists in Hartford, challenging the Mohegan sachem, Uncas, but relocated to Massachusetts after his defeat. Sowheages son Turramuggus (* 1623) claimed the leadership role in the area of Wethersfield . He was involved in some large land contracts. Among other things, he signed a contract for 300 acres of land in 1668, with Richard Beckley and two more in 1673 over land in Wethersfield and Eastbury. Turramuggus was also held hostage in Hartford prison during King Philip's War . Turramuggus probably died around 1704 and was succeeded by his son Peetoosh , but there is little information about him in the Colonial records .

Towwehashque

Towwehashque († 1713), the sister of Turramuggus, was a dominant Saunks Squaw in the Haddam and Thirty Mile Island area . Towwehashque (Townhashque, Towkishk) sold part of Wangunk Meadow to John Clark in 1691 . She also tried to sell part of Thirty Mile Island to Samuel Wyllys (1662). However, this transaction was canceled and responsibility for the area fell to her daughter Pampenum in 1697 . As the ruler of the island, Pampenum tried to secure the land for future generations by drafting two wills in which she on the one hand designated Cheehums as successors and on the other hand forbade the land to be sold to non-Indians. Ultimately, the land was sold at the end of the 18th century, but Pampenum went down in history with her resoluteness and her will to preserve the land despite the colonial administration.

Robin

Robin (Dr. Robin, Robbins, Robins, Puccaca) is possibly another son of Sowheage and may have been a sachem in the late 17th century through the 18th century. He is listed in the Confirmatory deed of 1673 as one of the " heirs and descendents of Sowheag ", where 300 acres of land were reserved for the Wangunk east of the Connecticut River. Robin was a medicine man and received the title of "Doctor" from the English for his ability to heal scrofula . A skill that was passed on in his family. Robin died around 1750, but many of his descendants appear on Colonial Records . For example, his son Samuel Robin of Tunxis signed a petition to the General Assembly in 1762 stating that he, his wife Moll, and the other Native American signatories were forcibly selling their tribal land.

Richard Ranney

Richard Ranney was born on September 8, 1732. He was the son of a daughter of Robin and died after 1775. He was probably raised in Newtown by a settler of the same name. He received a Christian upbringing, learned English and writing and was trained as a carpenter. It is not clear why he grew up with the settlers. Possibly he was something of an indentured servant. In 1756, Ranney wrote a petition to the General Assembly requesting the purchase of 10 acres of the Wangunk area of ​​Cushoy, and in 1758 his application was approved. After that, its track is initially lost. He did not appear again until 1775 when he was mentioned in Capt. William Goodrich's Company of Indians volunteered.

Cushoy

Cushoy was a son of Towwehashque and grandson of Sowheage. He was recognized by the colonists as the leader of the Wangunk from the time he signed a treaty in 1713 until he died in 1763. In the 1728 Highway Construction Records, the colonists write that "Cushoy spoke on behalf of the other Indians." In the 1756 Memorial of Selectmen of Middletown, the Selectmen of Middletown state that Cushoy "has no relatives to help him." because his children are all dead and his grandchildren are too young. ”You write that Cushoy could not look after himself and would have starved to death if the Selectmen had not supported him. They state that over the course of a year they had spent about 57 shillings on him and his son Tom, and that this debt could be happily paid by the country. This petition was denied, but the Selectmen still got access to the land and settled the debt among themselves. He, his wife Tyke or Mary Cushoy, and his son Tom all died in succession in 1755, 1763, and 1771.

Jonathan Palmer

Jonathan Palmer (Jonathan Indian; d. 1819) was a Wangunk who lived in East Hampton, where his descendants are still resident. In 1818 a doctor, Dr. John Richmond, looking for a "complete skeleton" to teach his students the intricacies of anatomy. He chose Jonathan Palmer and offered Jonathan "a pint of rum every month" in exchange for "having his body after death for." medical purposes. "As early as 1819, Jonathan was dead, likely as a result of his assisted alcoholism. When the family began the funeral, Dr. Richmond appeared at the door with the signed contract for possession of her grandfather's body. Despite protests from the family, the Dr. insisted His contract and abducted the body. He happily dissected the Indian in front of his students Palmer's skeleton was subsequently exhibited in several universities and museums. Today his remains are lost.

For the Wangunk important landscape elements

Lake Pocotopaug

Lake Pocotopaug is a place that appears in various reports as a fishing spot or a hunting spot. Today the area is called East Hampton and is approximately 9 mi (14.5 km) in circumference. Many arrowheads have been found along the river and the settlers have made up many stories about the Indians in this area.

Indian Hill Cemetery

Indian Hill was part of the reservation in the "reservation period". At the gate of the cemetery there is a picture of the “noble savage”, one of the few monuments of colonial history. The cemetery was re-established only later, considering that Indian Hill played an important role in the life of the Wangunk. The cemetery itself was created in the context of the Rural Cemetery Movement . Sarah Schneider Kavanagh writes: When American citizens realized that their Republican government experiment had the potential for an "unlimited future", they were faced with the pressing task of creating an "immense past" for themselves.

When the cemetery was founded, the following poem was read:

On this high place, that swells so fair,
O'er town and river, grove and lea,
We stand, O God, with song and prayer.
To give these grounds to Death and Thee.
To Death, thy servant, who, of old,
With tomahawk and arrowy spear,
As by our fathers we are told,
Hath reaped a bloody harvest here.

On this high place that rises so beautifully,
Over city and river, grove and field,
we stand, O God, with song and prayer.
To give this reason to death and you.
Death, your servant, who since ancient times,
with tomahawk and arrow spear,
As was told by our fathers
, had harvested a bloody harvest here.

Wangunk Meadows

Wangunk Meadows was one of the areas that the Wangunk inhabited after the settlers arrived in 1650. There are records of soil fertility and Indian corn crops in this area. Today the area stretches between the Connecticut River and Route 17. There are many inquiries from settlers looking to purchase parcels in the area. In his analysis of the land distribution, Timothy Ives notes that the Indians kept the higher areas as common land, but kept selling off village land and pasture land in small pieces.

Family Cemetery in East Hampton

A cemetery.

Deer Island

The Haddam Iceland State Park , formerly as Deer Iceland and Wangunk Iceland was called, belonged to the late 18th century to the reserve.

religion

Originally the Wangunk cultivated animistic traditions as an ethnic religion (Algonquian Religious Traditions). In the course of the English colonization, there were repeated measures of conversion and missionary attempts. The conversion to Christianity was often associated with the negation of the traditional language, culture and family. Rev. Richard Treat founded a school for Wangunk children in 1734 with the aim of teaching Biblical teachings and morals in addition to English. However, due to a lack of funds, the school was closed again after four months.

Wangunk today

Political Challenges

Van Thomas Green

In 2003, Van Thomas Green, who claims to be a descendant of Wangunk, sued the City of Portland, Wesleyan University, and others. He asked for $ 10 million to be returned to the Wangunk descendants of 300 acres and his family to be recognized as a corporation. The case was soon closed for lack of evidence. In his complaint, he had complained that several burial sites in Glastonbury and Portland had been desecrated and that from 1799 to 2003 tribal land had been sold in violation of 25 USC § 177 and that the agreements for 300 acres of land for the Wangunk heirs were not in Honors have been held. However, the court was unable to confirm any connections between the individual claims or Van Thomas Green's claim to be a descendant of the Wangunk himself. The process was traced in the documentary "The Last of the Wangunks". In addition to the portrayal of Green, Gary O'Neil and the genealogist Vicki Welch from Seven Generations Research have their say, who question Green's identity.

Gary O'Neil

Some people are descendants of the Wangunk in the ancestral line of Jonathan Palmer. This includes Gary O'Neil, who draws his ancestors through his paternal line. He is the family genealogist of the remaining Wangunks in Middlesex County. He was the leader and organizer of the Wangunk since the 1970s. He is a potter and former art teacher at Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut. O'Neil has hosted exhibitions with his daughter, Kyle O'Neil, who is a multimedia artist. She has had exhibitions at Connecticut Woman Artists , the United Nations, and other institutions.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Paul Grant-Costa: Wangunk . Yale University. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Timothy Ives: Reconstructing the Wangunk Reservation Land System: A Case Study of Native and Colonial Likeness in Central Connecticut . In: Ethnohistory . 2011. doi : 10.1215 / 00141801-2010-064 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Kaitlyn Schroyer: Father encourages disabled daughter's artistic passion . In: The Middletown Press , July 3, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2015. 
  4. ↑ a b c d e f R. W. Bacon: Native Americans in Middletown: Who called it 'home' before our 'First Settlers'? . In: The Middler . 10, No. 1-2, 2010.
  5. ^ A b c d Jack Campisi, Alexandria Maravel: A Wongunk Women's Community and Connecticut Law . In: Katherine Hermes: Eighteenth Century Native Communities of Southern New England in the Colonial Context . Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, Mashantucket, Conn. 2005.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Paul Grant-Costa: The Wangunk Reservation . Yale University. 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  7. ↑ a b Karen Coody Cooper: They Have Seized Upon Our Country: The Wangunk of Wethersfield . In: Artifacts . 14, No. 2, 1986.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Karen Coody Cooper: Ill Deeds of the Past . In: Artifacts . 14, No. 3, 1986.
  9. ↑ Lucianne Lavin: Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples: What Archeology, History, and Oral Traditions Teach Us about Their Communities and Cultures . Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven 2013, p. 242.
  10. ↑ Lavin: Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples 2013, p. 194.
  11. ↑ Lavin: Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples 2013, p. 202.
  12. ^ A b c d e Amy E. Den Ouden: Beyond Conquest: Native Peoples and the Struggle for History in New England . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2005.
  13. ↑ Den Ouden: Beyond Conquest 2005, p. 73.
  14. ↑ Katherine Hermes, By Their Desire Recorded: Native American Wills and Estate Papers in Colonial Connecticut . In: Connecticut History . 38, No. 2, 1999, pp. 150-173.
  15. ↑ Lavin: Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples 2013.
  16. ↑ Paul Grant-Costa: Towsey, David . Yale University. 2015. Accessed December 16, 2015.
  17. ↑ Joseph Barratt: Indian Proprietors of Mattebesseck . In: Indian Hill Cemetery Dedication 1850.
  18. ↑ Doris Sherrow: Old Betty . In: Portland… On the Move . No. March 2001. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  19. ↑ Avery Trufelman, Jim Sarbaugh, Gary O'Neil: The Wangunk Native Americans of Middletown . 2010. Accessed December 16, 2015.
  20. ^ Paul Grant-Costa: Mamanash, Hannah, 1716-1801 . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  21. ^ Paul Grant-Costa: Adams, Solomon . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  22. ^ Barbara Austen: Samson Occom and the Brotherton Indians . Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and Connecticut Historical Society. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  23. ^ Julius Rubin: Tears of Repentance . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2013, p. 260.
  24. ↑ Doris Sherrow: What Happened to the Wangunks (Part 2) . In: Portland… On the Move . 1999. Accessed December 16, 2015.
  25. ↑ a b c Timothy Ives (2004). "Expressions of Community: Reconstructing Native Identity in Seventeenth-Century Central Connecticut Through Land Deed Analysis." paper presented at the 5th Annual Algonquian Peoples Conference, March 14, Albany, NY
  26. ^ A b Paul Grant-Costa: Sowheage, - 1649 . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  27. ^ Paul Grant-Costa: Montowese, 1618-1668 . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  28. ^ A b c Paul Grant-Costa: Turramuggus . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  29. ↑ Hermes and Maravel (2005). "A Wongunk Women's Community and Connecticut Law." 75-77.
  30. ^ Paul Grant-Costa: Seventeenth Century Wangunk Leadership Family Lines . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  31. ↑ a b Doris Sherrow: What Happened to the Wangunks? . In: Portland… On the Move . 1999. Accessed December 16, 2015.
  32. ^ A b Paul Grant-Costa: Robin (Puccaca) . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  33. ^ Paul Grant-Costa: Robin, Samuel . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  34. ^ A b Paul Grant-Costa: Ranney, Richard . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  35. ^ A b Paul Grant-Costa: Cushoy . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  36. ↑ Cushoy spoke "on behalf of ye other Indians." Doris Sherrow: Who Were the Wangunk? . In: Portland ... On the Move . 1999. Accessed December 15, 2015.
  37. ↑ "not having any [relative] to help him, as his children, all being dead, his grandchildren young." Paul Grant-Costa: Memorial of Selectmen of Middletown . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  38. ↑ "been unable to support himself and would have perished for hunger and want of clothing had he not been relieved by the selectmen of said town."
  39. ↑ Paul Grant-Costa: Cushoy, Mary . Yale University. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  40. ^ A b Carl F. Price: Yankee Township . Citizens' Welfare Club, East Hampton, Conn. 1941, p. 29.
  41. ^ "A complete human skeleton with which to demonstrate to his students the fine points of anatomy.
  42. ^ "What a fine skeleton Jonathan Indian would make!"
  43. ↑ in exchange for "the possession of his body after death for medical purposes."
  44. ^ Price: Yankee Township 1941, p. 30.
  45. ↑ . "Fondly [dissect] the Indian before his students.. Each organ or muscle or bone [coming] to light under his skillful knife.
  46. ^ Price: Yankee Township 1941, p. 3.
  47. ↑ Lake Pocotopaug Shapes the Growth of East Hampton . Connecticut Humanities. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  48. ↑ Sherrow, Doris (1999). “Who Were the Wangunk?” (PDF). Portland ... On the Move. [1] Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  49. ^ A b Colleen E. Boyd, Coll-Peter Thrush: Haunting Remains . In: Phantom Past, Indigenous Presence: Native Ghosts in North American Culture and History . Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2011, pp. 151-78.
  50. ^ "As American citizens realized that their experiment in republican government had the potential for a" limitless future, "they were faced with the daunting task of constructing for themselves an" immemorial past "".
  51. ↑ Rev. J. Pierpont: The Addresses, Delivered at the Dedication of the Indian Hill Cemetery: With the Articles of Association, by-laws, & c., & C. . Indian Hill Cemetery Association, Middletown, Conn. 1850.
  52. ^ Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut. 1881. V, 213
  53. ↑ Sherrow, Doris (1999). “Who Were the Wangunk?” (PDF). Portland ... On the Move. [2] Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  54. ↑ Running Deer Van Thomas Green, Plaintiff, v. Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut, Glastonbury Tennis Club, Wesleyan University and its president, Douglas Bennett, and Michael Augeri d / b / a Town & Country Auto Sales, Inc., Defendants . Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 16, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / narf.org
  55. ↑ Running Deer Van Thomas Green, Plaintiff, v. Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut and Glastonbury Tennis Club, Defendants .
  56. ↑ Eliot Gray Fisher: Last of the Wangunks .
  57. ↑ Kehaulani Kauanui: Indigenous Middletown: Settler Colonial and Wangunk Tribal History . December 1, 2015. Accessed December 16, 2015.
  58. ^ Susan Dunne: Father And Daughter Create Art Together . In: Hartford Courant , June 16, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2015.