Historic Nantucket, April 1976, Vol. 23 No. 4

Historic Nantucket

The Fair Street Rooms and Friends Meeting House The Loan Exhibit — "18th Century Nantucket" Opens July 15 at the Fair Street Rooms and will continue through August 15, as the Nantucket Historical Association's observance of the nation's Bi-Centennial Celebration.

April, 1976

Published Quarterly by Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, Massachusetts

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS

President, Leroy H. True Vice-Presidents, Albert G. Brock, George W. Jones, Alcon Chadwick, Albert F. Egan, Jr., Walter Beinecke, Jr., Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin Honorary Vice-Presidents, W. Ripley Nelson, Henry B. Coleman Secretary, Richard C. Austin Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Leroy H. True, Chairman Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, Miss Mary Gardner, terms expire 1976, Benjamin Richmond, Francis W. Pease, terms expire 1977; Mrs. R. A. Orleans, term expires 1978; Robert D. Congdon, Harold W. Lindley, terms expire 1979 Curator, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole Editor, "Historic Nantucket", Edouard A. Stackpole; Assistant Editor, Mrs. Merle Turner Orleans.

STAFF Oldest House; Chairman, Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird Receptionists; Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Miss Adeline Cravott Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Chairman, Mrs. Phoebe P. Swain Receptionists: Mrs. Irving A. Soverino, Mrs. Alfred A. Hall, Mrs. Henry G. Kehlenbeck 1800 House: Receptionist: Mrs. John Kittila, Sr. Old Gaol: Chairman, Albert G. Brock Whaling Museum: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Receptionists: Clarence H. Swift, Mrs. Herbert Sandsbury, Frank Pattison, Abram Niles, James A. Watts, Miss Lucia Arno.

Peter Foulger Museum: Chairman and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole Receptionists: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth, Mrs. Clara Block, Joseph Sylvia Librarian: Mrs. Louise Hussey Nathaniel Macy House: Chairman, Mrs. John A. Baldwin Receptionists: Miss Dorothy Hiller, Mrs. Henry C. Petzel Archaeology Department: Chairman, Paul C. Morris, Jr. Field Supervisor, Miss Barbara Kranichfeld Old Town Office: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Chairman, Richard F. Swain. Miller: Hugh MacVicar Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Chairman, Francis Sylvia Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Chairman, Mrs. Harding U. Greene Co-chairman, Mrs. Alfred M. P. Amey lightship "Nantucket": Chairman, Benjamin S. Richmond, ship keeper, Richard Swain

HISTORIC NANTUCKET Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a ivhaling port.

Volume 23

April, 1976

No. 4

CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

2

Editorial — Nantucket Should Invest in Nantucket

5

The Association's Bi-Centennial Exhibit

6

"18th Century Nantucket"

7

by Mary Phillips The Macys of Chilmark, England, Nantucket Macy Ancestors

10

Killed by a Whale

12

Sachem Nickanoose of Nantucket and the Grass Contest

14

by Elizabeth A. Little Legacies and Bequests

Historic Nantucket is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts, by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association Members. Extra copies $.50 each.

Membership dues are — Annual-Active $5.00; Sustaining $25.00; Life — one payment $100.00 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

23

Tristram Bunker, oil on canvas, one of the portraits to be displayed at the "18th Century Nantucket" Exhibit. It was painted about 1800. The owner wishes to remain anonymous.

Nantucket Should Invest in Nantucket THE SUCCESS OF any business corporation is measured by the profitable return on its investments. Nantucket has had an economy based for the most part on its functioning as a summer resort, but the experience of recent years has shown its unique appeal attracts visitors during "out-of-season" months as well. However, private enterprise, rather than corporate Nantucket, has featured the investments.

It should be obvious to all who view the modern scene closely that the town has not kept pace with private business. A commission was established for planning, but its functions have been involved with the pattern of growth, and at a recent meeting much time was devoted to the use of land by developers. If there is one type of modern life that can serve as a detriment to the traditional "out of town" appearance of this island it is the housing development, as it destroys the ancient look of the land and this can never be re-claimed.

To preserve the natural charm of Nantucket's outlying land is to add immeasurably to the future of the island's economy. In years to come the visitor will seek us out in all seasons of the year if we protect our natural appearance, our uniqueness, our traditional appeal. These people do not come here because we have the latest type of motel, the most modern housing development, the plush restaurant or seaside health "club". Our greatest asset is that we represent a seaport town and an island that has retained its 18th and 19th century atmosphere. At present we are clinging desperately to this economic anchor, but the line has become badly frayed.

The Historic Districts legislation has furnished a legal protection for the town against architectural encroachments. Similar legislation should be sought to keep at bay the housing developers who, by building on the stretches of heath and shore front, destroy forever the natural sweep and beauty of our traditional "Commons."

If we await legislation by State or Federal government we must expect an arbitrary solution. If we purchase these sections of land by a vote of a special town meeting, and create true public land, we are making an investment which will have the greatest value for the future. The Nantucket Conservation Foundation has accomplished a remarkable feat in its acquisition of island land, but is a race against time. The Town of Nantucket should invest in itself, purchase what it can salvage, and preserve an asset which, once lost, is gone forever.

6

The Association's Bi-Centennial Exhibit Opens July 15 at Fair Street THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE loan exhibit on Nantucket since 1935 will open on July 15, 1976, at the Fair Street Rooms. Mrs. Harding U. Greene, of'Sconset and Nantucket, is the Chairman of a Committee which has worked diligently over a period of several months to collect and display this unusual collection of furniture, portraits, china, and other heirlooms, the majority of which has never been exhibited before and has been loaned by families both on and off the Island.

The Association is indebted to Mrs. Greene for her painstaking work of research and to her committee members for their individual con­ tributions. Dedicated as it is to "18th Century Nantucket" it will provide both Nantucketers and visitors with an opportunity to examine closely a unique and carefully selected variety of heirlooms, all of which have a Nantucket connection in one way or another.

Of significance will be the publication of a catalogue, containing a description of the articles displayed as well as photographs of many outstanding pieces. This publication will no doubt become a collector's item in the years ahead, as was the case soon after the 1935 Loan Exhibition Catalogue was issued by a committee headed by Mrs. Isabelle Tuttle. This exhibit of over forty years ago, was held in the Main Street mansion built by Charles G. Coffin a century before.

All those who enjoy and appreciate the opportunity to view and study the priceless heirlooms of the Revolutionary War period will find that this exhibit is truly a reflection of 18th Century life, and the Association is proud to have it serve as its contribution to the celebration of the Nation's two hundredth birthday.

1

7

"18th Century Nantucket" — A Loan Exhibition

by Mary Phillips THE FAIR STREET MUSEUM will reflect the flavor and spirit of the Nantucket home in 1776 when the month long exhibit opens on July 15th.

Most of the pieces have been loaned by families who have not shown them before, so this will prove a rare opportunity to see how Quaker families on the Island furnished their houses. Many of the pieces were made in this country, some were imported, some brought back on whaling ships.

Included in this special exhibit will be period furniture, paintings, silver, china and glass.

The creamware pitcher, Liverpool type, points to the humor and ingenuity of the early ceramist. Held upright, Courtship shows a smiling couple turned upside down to Matrimony, the smiles have changed to snarls.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

A chronological study of furniture from 1720 to 1800 will feature a pair of Windsor arm chairs of Eastern Pennsylvania origin (probably Philadelphia area). Paul Madden, who has been in charge of preparing the Museum for the exhibit, and who will also be in charge of setting it up in July, says the chairs are c. 1775, ten to twenty years either way. Made of mixed native woods they have the original undisturbed painted finish.

The braced comb-back, the great controlled splay of the legs, the knuckle arms (shaped and curled) all add up to dynamic proportions, according to Mr. Madden, and make the chairs highly desirable. The backs, arms and legs are hardwood, the seat of pine, a soft easy to shape wood. The turned legs have balled feet, and while also known in the Rhode Island area, most authorities feel these chairs are from Pennsylvania.

The chairs will also be featured on the cover of the museum catalog, on posters and a newspaper column in the Inquirer and Mirror. Mrs. Harding U. Greene, chairman of the Loan Exhibition, who has done extensive research for the exhibit, found Windsor arm chairs, clocks, both tall and wall, and Liverpool Pitchers were the items showing up most often in the early probate records for the island.

The Fishing Lady and Boston Common, needlepoint, circa 1765, by Susanna Colesworthy. Gift of Susan Brock, for many years Curator at the Fair Street Rooms. One of the exhibits at the "18th Century Nan­ 4 tucket" exhibit. ' .-4i %>«-

One of a pair of Windsor Chairs presented the Nantucket Historical Association by Mrs. Florence [Ingall] Taylor.

10

The Macys of Chilmark, England, Nantucket Macy Ancestors THE NUMEROUS DESCENDANTS of the Macy Family of Nan­ tucket will be very much interested in a letter recently received by Walter Weston Folger, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, one of our Association's members, which was in response to an inquiry he made to Chilmark, in England. The letter is from Maurice C. Rathbone, County Archivist, and reads as follows: The will of John Macie of Chilmark, made 24 May, 1575, gives the following relatives: 1. Wife Anne.

2. Sons Thomas (who has seven children), Phillipe, William, Richard.

3. Daughter Anstie.

4. Son-in-law Richard Rogers (who has eight children).

5. Daughters Agnes (Roger), Alice (Andrews).

6. 'John Maycie the sonne of Richard Maycie'.

7. 'Agnes Maycie & Helinge (Helen) Maycie' daughters of Thomas Mayeye.

8. 'John Maycie the sonne of Thomas Maycie'.

9. Godsons John Clare, John Snowe.

There is nothing here that assists directly with the parentage either of Thomas Macy (c. 1608-82) or his wife, Sarah Hopcott (1612-1706), whose name is unrecorded in our indexes. There are one or two wills of the seventeenth century, however, the details of which you may care to have, and I give them below:

1.

2.

3.

Richard Macey of Chilmark 1633 Daughters, Elizabeth, Mary.

Brothers John, George, William.

Son Richard.

1.

2.

Alice Macie of Broad Chalke 1648 'Kinsman' William Whitemarshe.

Brother-in-law William Whitemarshe the elder.

Richard Macy alias Banston of Chilmark 1679 1. Widow Anne.

(Inventory taken by John and Richard Macy alias Banston).

THE MACYS OF CHILMARK, ENGLAND

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

11

John Macy of Chilmark 1689 William, son of Dorothy Macy.

William, son of William (1) above.

Elizabeth, daughter of William (1) above.

'Kinsmen' John Macy senior, Thomas Macy, George Macy.

'Kinswoman' Dorothy Macy (elsewhere Dorothy Macy the elder).

'John Macy'.

Margaret, daughter of (6) above.

The parish registers of Chilmark, are not in print, nor have they been deposited in this office. According to the Sarum Diocesan Directory (1959) the living was vacant at that time and may be still, in which case, if you wished to make further enquiries, it might be best to write to the secretary of the Parochial Church Council, F. Flower, Esq., The Cleeves, Chilmark,who should be able to advise you. If a favourable reply were forthcoming and you wished the registers to be searched, Miss T. E. Vernon of Dyer's Leaze, Lacock, Chippenham, undertakes work of this nature from time to time and might be willing to help you.

Mr. Folger adds a note to the above: "In Charles E. Banks' History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol. I, page 112, there is a reference to the will of Thomas Maycie of Chilmark, dated in 1575, which, if extant, was not included in the above compilation by Archivist Rathbone. The reference to which I allude is as follows: 'The adjoining parish of Chilmark, disclosed some early Macy stones in the churchyard. It will be remembered that Thomas Macy of Nan­ tucket, who is said to have been from Chilmark, referred to Thomas Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard as "my honored cousin" (N.Y. Col. Mss., Vol. XXV), and while searching for Mayhew wills, I accidentally found the will of Thomas Maycie of Chilmark, dated 1575, which may serve as the basis of some future investigations concerning the well-known family, whose emigrant ancestor first settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts'.

"Unfortuneately, the parish registers of Chilmark are missing prior to 1653."

12

Killed by a Whale — Letter Brings the News A BRIEF NOTATION appearing on a page of the logbook of the ship Winslow, of New Bedford, dated February 21, 1810, related the following incident: "Capt. Silas Swain, ship Lydia, on coast of Patagonia, was killed with a write whale in Lat. 46th 55' South in 65 fathoms of water, the wind at NNW & very rugged. Lost the whale .& part of the boat & oars & c."

In a letter dated March 22, 1810, "Coast of Patagonia," the Mate of the Lydia, Peter G. Chase, wrote to Captain Swain's widow, as follows: "Dear Mrs. Swain: "I now sit down to write a few lines to you to acquaint you of our misfortune, which I make no doubt you will ere this comes to mind. The 21st of last month, about 6 o'clock in the morning, we lowered down our boats for whale. We had the misfortune to have both of our boats stove by one whale, so that we could not help one another, and I surmise that Captain Swain was hurt by the whale, but how bad I cannot judge. But he seemed to be sensible until the last moment. He took off his hat and throwed it toward the boat, and expired without a groan.

"It is very hard to part with one I so much esteemed, the nearest friend I had by sea. I surmise it must be more to you to part with all that was near and dear to you by nature, as it has pleased Almighty God to call from you one that was near by nature. I hope and trust He will direct you through all the changing scenes of life, until you arrive on that peaceful shore where parting will be no more.

"He was thoroughly sensible, I believe, his death was fast ap­ proaching, and I think I can say, as a good man ought, he could meet death with a smile.

"Give me leave to subscribe myself your most sincere friend and sharer of your misfortune.

Peter G. Chase, who is inconsolable."

KILLED BY A WHALE

13

This letter is in the possession of Richard Swain, of Nantucket, but in a photo-copy form, and he permitted its use in Historic Nantucket. If any of our members has ever seen or heard of the original manuscript letter we would be grateful to learn of it.

Captain Silas Swain was the son of Tristram and Rachel (Bunker) Swain, and his widow was the former Lydia Allen. Captain Peter G. Chase, who brought the ship Lydia home, was the son of Reuben Chase and was only 20 years old at the time of Captain Swain's death, the latter being a few months past his 34th birthday.

14

Sachem Nickanoose of Nantucket and the Grass Contest

By Elizabeth A. Little Part 1. The Sachem

THE PEACEFUL RESOLUTION of a land use controversy between approximately 100 English and 1500 Indians on Nantucket stands in remarkable contrast to King Phillip's War on the mainland, where a brutal conflict set back English colonization for many years and virtually eliminated the Indian civilization of New England. The proud and powerful Sachem Nickanoose was a worthy counterpart for the aristocratic Tristram Coffin, leader of the English settlers. With the mediating leadership of two Nantucket half shares men, John Gardner and Peter Folger, a racial and cultural accommodation was reached without violence. The source of the controversy was an agricultural revolution, brought about by the introduction of domestic grass-eating animals into a hunting, fishing, gathering and planting culture. The resolution was accomplished without separation of the races and without the subjugation of the Indians. At the time of Nickanoose's death, the Indians retained ownership of most of the land, and the English had gained ownership and strict control over all of the grass. In addition, the Indians had won the right to join the English land use system; for example, Nantucket Indians could own and pasture horses on the commons, a right that Indians of the Massachusetts Bay never obtained.

The issues of Phillip's War, 1675-1677, are inadequately explained by saying the Indians couldn't learn the meaning of property deeds. See Vaughan (11). Complex and fundamental land use differences separated the Indians and English of early New England. Many of these issues are surprisingly revelant to our own future. Nantucket, because it was selfcontained and has good early records, provides a unique opportunity to understand the conflict between the two cultures. Let us then explore the participants and events of what we shall call the "grass contest" on Nantucket.

Any history of this area must notice first a remarkable man, Thomas Mayhew, Jr., whose missionary efforts, starting in 1643, helped make good will and brotherhood concrete ideals for both races on the islands.

To Peter Folger also is due great credit. He says in 1676:

SACHEM NICKANOOSE OF NANTUCKET

15

"I have bin Interpreter here from the Beginning of the Plantation, when no Englishman but myselfe could speake scarse a Word of In­ dian... And I have ever since bin able by the Helpe of some Antient Men, to keep Peace upon the Island..." (Starbuck 10, p.55) Who were the Indian counterparts of these Englishmen? In 1659, there were four main sachems of Nantucket: Wanackmamack, whose heir was Jeptha; Nickanoose, whose heir was Wawinet; Attapehat, whose heir was Musaquat; and Spotso, who married Nickanoose's daughter. In order to simplify the story and to obtain an Indian viewpoint, we shall focus on Nickanoose, who, as the least cooperative sachem, dominated recorded Nantucket history for 25 years. In Part 1 we introduce Nickanoose and in Part 2 we shall give details of his role in the grass contest.

Appearance By all reports (8) Indians of the islands south of Cape Cod, also known as Indians of the South Seas (6), were good looking and taller than the average Englishman. See Figure 1 for an English view of one such Indian about 1629.

Domain Nickanoose himself emerges from dusty records as a sachem of considerable power, autocratic and yet willing to learn. He shared with Wanackmamack rule of the whole island before the English came, possibly, as tradition has it, having won the land at the western end by a victorious battle with a hostile tribe. His homelands included today's Quidnet, Sacacha, Polpis, and Squam, and he called himself "Sachem of Nantucket", or "Sachem at Wannasquam" (Mass. Archives (3) 32, 385).

Figure 2 shows the Indian sachemships and the lands sold to the English by 1684. The deeds will be listed in detail in Part 2.

Nickanoose sold the English their first piece of land on Nantucket, but in his lifetine (he died about 1684), I don't believe that he sold to the English any of his useful tribal lands, with the almost trivial exception of one acre for a fishing stage at Sacacha to Richard Gardner. The West End, as will be shown, was not indisputably under his rule, and Coatue, Quaise, and Pocomo appear to have been unused by Indians in 1660, a strange situation which may have resulted from intertribal wars.

Nickanoose's sons, Watt Noose and Wawinet, did sell Polpis land to Swain and Cartwright, but this was neither legal by English rules nor authorized by Nickanoose. The most important conclusion to draw from

16

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

2: The Seal of the Colony in 1629.

Its Charter was given on the pretext we would convert the Indians.

The Seal of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1629. There is a tradition that this is a portrait of the Sachem of the Khauds who lived at Squam, Nantucket. Enough of the Indians from Cape Cod and the islands south of there had been to England before 1619 to make the tradition a real possibility. If this is not Nickanoose or his father, it at least gives us a suggestion of their appearance.

the map of Figure 2 is that until Nickanoose's death, Nantucket was still mostly an Indian land with mostly Indian people.

Love and Tribute To read one of Nickanoose's deeds gives a glimpse into the quality of an Indian sachem — direct, simple, and related to his men by love and tribute. Here is a deed of land at Squam to Jutte (Judas), an Indian of Nickanoose's tribe:

18

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

"I Nickanoose unto this Jutte I do give land twenty acres as Wassonuhkattog and so to Pakpannogkahkunnut toward the South East.

It shall be measured unto him when he desires to have it measured. He hath forever. I give it him freely. He shall not have trouble about his land because this Jutte is my man. I love him and he often gives me victuals and goods freely. 1676.

Nukanoos Mark" (3-42)*.

Genealogy Deeds give us accurate information about family relationships.

Nickanoose's family, as shown in Figure 3 and documented in Table 1, differs substantially from that of tradition, which appears to be based on the memories of Zaccheus Macy (9). We are grateful to Macy, however, for recording his memories, because in them we find clues to otherwise mysterious puzzles. For instance, he tells of a sachem's son at Squam who was angry and left the island for many years because his father took a new wife, the mother of the Nooses. The records show that this son of Nickanoose was probably Jethro, who returned from Harwich to claim his share of Nickanoose's sachemship 45 years after the death of Nickanoose (4-79).

The father of Nickanoose at present appears to be unknown.

Traditionally it was Wawinet, but, since Wawinet was definitely the son of Nickanoose, it seems best to pause a bit before assuming there were two Wawinets. A reference to "Nickanoose his father" who gave land to "Spotso his father" (2-1) supports the tradition that it was bad manners to mention the name of a deceased father. King Phillip was supposed to have come to Nantucket in 1665 in order topunish John Gibbs (Assassamoogh) for naming Phillip's dead father, Massasoit. This Indian courtesy to the dead raises substantial obstacles to the reconstruction of an Indian history as we might hope to know it.

Shipwreck, Murder, and Hanging According to Gookin (7), a Harvard student, Joel, the son of Hiacoomes, "took a voyage to Martha's Vineyard to visit his father and kindred, a little before the commencement; but upon his return back in a vessel, with other passengers and mariners, suffered shipwreck upon the island of Nantucket; where the bark was found put on shore; and in all probability the people in it came on shore alive, but afterwards were murthered by some wicked Indians of that place; who, for lucre of the spoil in the vessel, which was laden with goods, thus cruelly destroyed the people in it; for which fault some of those Indians was convicted and

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executed afterwards." The Plymouth Colony Records (6) of February 1664-5 show the following order; "if the Natuckett Indians suspected for murther...bee found within this govment, that...they bee sent to the govment of the Massachusetts..."

Further details are given by William Worth of Nantucket, who testified: "in or near the year 1666 that Nickanoose being accused of being privy to a Murder committed by Indians on Englishmen at Coatue and being in grate fear he hired or otherwise got Quaquachwinnit to go with him to Plymouth in the winter to ask council of Nickanoose's had (head) Sachem. . ." (PR-97).* The year was probably 1665 as shown in Figure 4, a deed from Nickanoose to Quaquachwinnit in payment for his services at that time. This is quite interesting because it implies that Nickanoose's head sachem was King Phillip (Metacomet), Sachem of the Wampanoags, who, probably not by coincidence, was said to have visited Nantucket in that same year, 1665. Nickanoose himself does not appear to have been incriminated in this episode, but very likely some of his men were hanged.

Lifestyle Indians had lived on Nickanoose's lands for at least 2000 years. A knowledge of their prehistoric lifestyle must come from archeology.

However, for a glimpse into the Indian life on Nantucket in the 1660's and 70's, we report details from the town records and deeds.

One is impressed at the mobility of the Nantucket Indians. The records mention frequent trips or semi-permanent moves to Martha's Vineyard, the Cape, Plymouth, Boston, and even New York.

Important land decisions were made by large gatherings of old men, who interspersed their deliberations with formal "smorks". Zaccheus Macy describes the dignity and grace of the Indian ceremonial use of the tobacco pipe. As to the value they placed on age, one of their objections to the English during the grass contest was that the English magistrates were young. "They cannot believe that Young Men. . .can understand Things like old Men", according to Peter Folger (Starbuck, p.55).

In addition, we learn from the records that the Indians kept dogs, burned their planting fields in April, planted corn, harvested in October, used reeds and flags and beach grass for making mats and baskets, caught fish in weirs, owned bows and guns and canoes, and divided up, sometimes with controversy, drift whales and other fish washed up on the beaches. They lived in mat covered sapling-framed wigwams. So far I have found no mention of deer.

SACHEM NICKANOOSE OF NANTUCKET

21

We can conclude from the documentary record that, aside from the mats and baskets, there is no evidence that the swamp grass, salt marsh grass or any other grass was much used by the Indians of Nantucket prior to 1659. In Part 2 we shall see how the arrival of the English, for whom grass was valuable and scarce, precipitated the events of the grass contest.

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Deed of Nickanoose in the Nantucket Indian language.

Sources 1. Dukes County Records, Registry of Deeds, Martha's Vineyard.

2. Land Records, Registry of Deeds, Martha's Vineyard.

3. Massachusetts Archives, State House, Boston.

4. Nantucket County Records, Registry of Deeds, Nantucket.

5. Nantucket Proprietors' Records, Registry of Deeds, Nantucket, Vols. 1 & 2.

6. Plymouth Colony Records, Boston 1855, 4, 80.

7. Gookin, Daniel, "Historical Collections of the Indians in New England", Mass. Hist. Soc. Series 1, 1 (1792)

22

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

8. Howe, H.F., Prologue to New England, Kennikat Press, Inc., Port Washington 1969.

9. Macy. Zaccheus, Mass. Hist. Soc. Series 1, J (1792).

10. Starbuck, A., The History of Nantucket, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., Tokyo 1969.

11. Vaughan, A.T., New England Frontier, Puritans and Indians 16201675, Little, Brown & Co., Boston 1965.

Table 1.

DOCUMENTATION FOR FIGURE 3.

"Nickanoose, his father" (2-1), deceased before 1659 (Mass. Archives 32, 271).

Sachem Wawinet, son of Nickanoose "of good memory", 1684 (3-73).

I interpret this deed as written after the death of Nickanoose especially because of the respect with which his name is used.

Sachem Isaac Wawinet, son of Wawinet 1690, and deceased 1691 (P.R.97), (P.R.-99), (P.R.-59), and (2-59).

Sesapana Will and Takas (Titus?, a common Indian name in Polpis), heirs and kinsmen of Isaac Wawinet (P.R.-59).

Benjamin Birdkeepers Brother (of Sesapana Will?) obtains land willed to kinsmen of Isaac Wawinet (P R.-147) and (2-59).

Spotso, sachem, married Askamapoo (Martha's Vineyard Land Records (2) ID, 122).

Askamapoo was the sister and heir of Wawinet (Martha's Vineyard Land Records ID, 134).

Daniel Spotso, sachem, was the son of Spotso (3-109), (2-37), and (3-39).

Joshua Spotso was the son of Spotso (1-85) and (2-37).

Barney Spotso, sachem 1741, was the son of Daniel Spotso (5-17).

Josiah Spotso was a cousin of Barney Spotso (5-147), and a son of Askamapoo (Martha's Vineyard Land Records ID, 134).

Keattohquen and Wohwaninwat were brothers of Nickanoose (Martha's Vineyard Deed (1) 1, 38).

Watt, Paul, James and Puttumpantanum Noose were sons of Nickanoose (Martha's Vineyard Deed 7 44).

Paul Noose was Woweatton, brother of Wawinet (3-4).

Rachel Pedwegin, daughter of Paul Noose, and Beriah, her son (5-11).

Jethro is named as an equal heir with Wawinet in 1675 (2-4).

Jethro Joshua of Harwich, 1730, sold his part of the sachemship of Nickanoose (4-79).

Pompasson (3-44), possibly Yompashom (see Worth), claimed heir of Puttumpantanum Noose (Mass. Archives 32, 168).

Isaac Noose (?) sold horse common deeds (3-47) and (3-49).

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Pewter Plate [English] and Liverpool Pitcher [George Washington Memorial], originally in family of Micajah Coffin. Now privately owned.