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INDIAN GRAVES ON FORT HILL, MONTAUK
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INDIAN GRAVES ON FORT HILL, MONTAUK
FIRST INDIAN TEACHER AND
INTERPRETER
AND
The Story of His Career from the Early Records
BY
WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER
Member of the Long Island
Historical Society,
Anthropological Society of Washington, etc., etc.
" He was the first that I made use of to teach me words
and to be my interpreter."-Eliot's Letter, 2, 12, 1648.
NEW YORK
FRANCIS P. HARPER
1896
COPYRIGHT, 1896,
By
FRANCIS P. HARPER.
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE SUFFOLK COUNTY (N. Y.) HISTORICAL
SOCIETY BY YOUR FELLOW MEMBER
WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER.
INTRODUCTION.
vii
viii Introduction.
WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER.
SAG HARBOR, L. I., March, 1896,
THE victory
of Captain John Mason and
Captain John Underhill over the Pe
quots on the hills
of Mystic, in 1637, in
its
results was far greater than that of Welling
ton on the field of Waterloo. This fact will
impress itself in indelible
characters on the
minds of those who delve into
the historical
truths connected with the genesis of our settle
ments, so wide spreading were
the fruits of this
victory. As the native
inhabitants of the eastern
part of Long Island and the
adjacent islands
were subjects of, and under tribute to, these
dreaded Pequots,1
they were more or less dis
turbed by the issues of the after conflicts which
ensued in hunting out the fleeing survivors.
But as two of the Long Island Sachems, Yoco,
the Sachem of Shelter Island, and Wyandanch,
the Sachem of Montauk, through
the mediation
of their friend Lion Gardiner
came three days
after the fight, and placed themselves under the
protection of the victors,2 and, as the latter with
his men assisted Captain Stoughton during the
finale at the
" Great Swamp," 3 beyond New
Haven, they did
not feel the effects so severely
as did the immediate allies of the Pequots.
1" The
Pequots were a very warlike and potent people about forty
years since, (1624) at which time they were in their meridian. Their
chief Sachem held dominion over divers petty Sagamores, as over part of
Long Island, over the Mohegans,
and over the Sagamores of Quinapak,
yea, over all the people that dwelt on Connecticut river, and over
some
of the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuk country about Quina
bang."- Gookin's History.
Gardiner's Relation
of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his Descend
ants, by C. C.
Gardiner, 1890) : "Then said he, (Waiandance) I will go
to my brother, for he is the great Sachem of Long Island, and if we
may have peace and trade with you, we will give you tribute as we did
the Pequits."
2 Relation
of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner
and his Descendants,
by C. C. Gardiner, 1890), p. 17.
3 Ibid., pp. 17, 18.
Many of the younger Indians
captured in this
war, especially those taken in Connecticut, were
carried to Boston, and there sold into slavery,
or distributed around the country into a limited
period of servitude4-a period generally termi
nating when the individual
so bound
had
arrived at the age of twenty-five.
Among those so captured and allotted was a
young Indian of Long Island,
who became a
servant in the family of a prominent citizen of
Dorchester, Mass.,5 a sergeant in the same war,
and therefore possibly his captor. This young
Indian having been a native of Long Island,
and on a visit, was perhaps a reason why he was
detained in the colony, for the young male
Pequots, we are told, were all expatriated. 6
4 Morton's New England's Memorial, 1669, Reprint 1855, p. 131:
"We send the male
children to Bermuda by Mr. William Pierce, and
the women and maid children
are disposed about in the towns."
5 "Richard
Collacot was a prominent man in Dorchester. He had been
a sergeant in the Pequot War, and held also at various
times the offices
of Selectman and of Representative." In 1641, with two associates, he
was licensed by
the Governor of Massachusetts, to trade with the Indians,
also to receive
all wampum due for any tribute from Block Island, Long
Island Pequots or any other Indians.-Archreologia Americana, vol. vii.
pp. 67, 434.
6 New England's Memorial, 1669. Reprint 1855, p. 131.
12 Cockenoe-de-Long Island.
In proof of these
findings of fact we have the
testimony of the Rev. John Eliot, than whom
no one is better known for his labors in behalf
of the spiritual welfare of the Indians of eastern
Massachusetts, and for his
works in their lan
guage, including that monumental work
which
went through two editions, Eliot's Indian Bible.
It is thought that Eliot began his study of
the Indian language about 1643, but it is possi
ble that he began much earlier. In a letter
dated February 12, 1649 (2-12-48), he wrote:
"There is an Indian living with Mr. Richard
Calicott of Dorchester, who was taken in the
Pequott warres, though belonging
to Long
Island. This Indian is ingenious, can read, and
I taught him to write, which he quickly learnt,
though I know not what use
he now maketh of
it. He was the first that I made use of to teach
me words, and to be my interpreter."
At the end of his Indian grammar (printed at
Cambridge in 1666) Mr. Eliot gives
us an
account of his method of learning
the language
and some more information in regard
to this
young Long Island Indian. He writes: "
I
FAC·SIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE PRIMER OF 1669,
Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 13
have now finished what I shall do at present;
and in a word or two to satisfie the prudent En
quirer how I found out these new ways of gram
mar, which no other Learned Language (so
farre as I know) useth; I thus inform him: God
first put into my heart a compassion over their
poor souls, and a desire to
teach them to know
Christ, and to bring them into his kingdome.
Then presently I found out, (by Gods wise
providence) a pregnant witted young man, who
had been a servant
in an English house, who
pretty well understood our Language,
better
than he could speak it, and well understood his
own Language, and hath a
clear pronuncia
tion; Him I made my Interpreter. By his help
I
translated the Commandments, the Lords
Prayer, and many Texts of Scripture: also I
compiled both exhortations and
prayers by his
help, I diligently marked the difference of their
grammar from ours ; when I found the way of
them, I would pursue a Word, a Noun, a Verb,
through all the variations I could think of.
We must sit still and look for Miracles; up, and
be doing, and the
Lord will be with thee.
Prayer and pains through Faith in Christ Jesus,
will do anything."
In 1646 Mr. Eliot began to preach
to the
Indians in their own tongue. About the middle
of September he addressed a company of the
natives in the wigwam of Cutshamoquin, the
Sachem of Neponset, within the limits of
Dor
chester. His next
attempt was made among
the Indians of another place, "those
of Dor
chester mill not regarding any such thing." On
the 28th of October he delivered a
sermon
before a large number assembled
in the prin
cipal wigwam of a chief named Waban, situated
four or five miles from Roxbury, on the south
side of the Charles river, near Watertown mill,
now in the township of Newton. The
services
were commenced with prayer, which, as Mr.
Shepard relates, '' now was in English, being not
so farre acquainted with the Indian language as
to expresse our hearts herein before
God or
them." After Mr. Eliot had finished
his dis
course, which was in the Indian language, he
''asked them if they
understood all that which
was already spoken,
and whether all of them in
the wigwam did understand, or onely some few?
and they answered to this question
with mul
titude of voyces, that they all of them did under
stand all that which was then spoken to them."
He then replied to a number of questions which
they propounded to him, "borrowing now and
then some
small helpe from the Interpreter whom
wee brought with us, and who
could oftentimes
expresse our minds more
distinctly than any of us
could." Three more meetings were held at this
place in November and December of the same
year, accounts of which are given by the Rev.
Thomas Shepard in the
tract, entitled, The Day
with the Indians in New England, Lon
don, 1647. I have quoted these letters and
remarks from the interesting
notes on John
Eliot's life, contributed to Pilling's Algonquian
Bibliography,7 by
Mr. Wilberforce Eames of the
Lenox Library, New York.
As Mr. Eliot in the foregoing
letters has
testified to what extent he
was indebted to this
young Indian, there can arise no question what
ever as to the great influence which the
7 Pp. 176, 117.
instruction and information thus obtained must
have had on his subsequent knowledge of the
Indian language. It also
indicates how close
an affinity and how little dialectical difference
existed between the language spoken by
the
eastern Long Island Indians and that of the
Natick or Massachusetts Indians to which his
works are credited.
In fact, the identity
between these two dialects is closer than exists
between either of them and the Narragansett
of Roger Williams, as can
be easily proven
by comparison. Again, Eliot,
in his grammar
twenty years afterward, as I have before quoted,
by so confessing his
obligation to his young
teacher to the total exclusion of Job
Nesutan,
who took his place,8 shows how he appreciated
the instruction first imparted. Eliot having
written, in the winter of 1648-49, that he taught
8 Eliot
wrote October 21, 1650: "I have one already who can write,
so that I can
read his writing well, and he (with some paines and teaching)
can read
mine." The native here referred to was, without doubt, Job
Nesutan, who had taken the place of the Long Island Indian, Eliot's
first instructor in the language. He is mentioned by Gookin in the
History of the Christian Indians as follows: "In this expedition
[July, 1675] one of our
principal soldiers of the praying
Indians was
slain, a valiant and stout man named Job Nesutan;
he was a very good
this Indian how to read and to write, which he
quickly learned, though he knew not what use
he then made of the knowledge, it becomes
apparent to all that he had then departed, to
Eliot's great regret,
from the scene of
Eliot's
labors in Massachusetts; and, as seems to have
been the case, had returned to
the home of his
ancestors on Long Island
sometime between
the fall of 1646, when he was with
Eliot in
Waban's wigwam, and the winter of 1649, when
Eliot wrote.9 Whether his time as a servant
had expired, or whether he longed for the
country of his youth and
childhood, we perhaps
shall never learn.
At this point the
interesting question arises,
Can we identify any one of the Long Island
Indians of this period with the " interpreter" or
"pregnant witted young man" of John Eliot?
linguist in the English
tongue, and was Mr. Eliot's assistant and inter
preter in his translations of the
Bible, and other books of the Indian
language."-Bibliography of the Alqonquian
Language; Pilling (Eames's
Notes, p. 127).
9 In the
summer of 1647 Eliot visited some more remote Indians about
Cape Cod and toward the Merrimack
river, where he improved the
opportunity by preaching to them. It is probable that about this
time
his interpreter left Dorchester.
Here it must be conceded that the
evidence is
entirely circumstantial and not direct; but withal
so strong and so convincing as to
make me a
firm believer in its truth, as I shall set it forth
before you.
I shall begin my exposition with the Indian
deed of the East
Hampton township, dated
April 29, 1648,10 where we find, by the power
acquired by the grantees from
the Parrett mort
gage of 1641,11 that Thomas Stanton made a
purchase from the Indians for
Theophilus Eaton,
Esq., Governor of the Colony of New Haven,
and Edward Hopkins,
Esq., Governor of the
Colony of Connecticut, and their
associates
"for all that tract
of land
lyinge from the
bounds of the Inhabitants
of Southampton,
unto the East side of Napeak,
next unto Meun
tacut high land, with the whole breadth
from
10 East
Hampton Records, vol. i. pp.
3, 45; Chronicles of East
Hampton ; p. 113.
11Thompson's History of Long Island,
vol. ii. p. 311, 312, 313. The
rights acquired by this mortgage are very explicit, and began as soon
the same was
sealed and delivered. Its bearing on the purchases from the
Indians by the
Colonies of Connecticut seems to have been overlooked
by all our historians.
sea to sea, etc.," this
conveyance is signed by
the four Sachems of Eastern
Long Island-to
wit: Poggatacut,12 the Sachem of Munhansett;
Wyandanch,13 the
Sachem of Meuntacut; Momo
weta,14 the Sachem of Corchake; Nowedonah,15
the Sachem of Shinecok, and
their marks are
witnessed by Cheekanoo, who is thereon stated
to have been "their Interpreter." 16
12 This is the
only instance in the early records of Long Island where
we
find the old Sachem of Shelter Island called Poggatacut. I believe
it
to have been rather the name of a place where he lived, either at Cockles
Harbor, or on Menantic Creek, Shelter Island. Poggat-ac-ut = Pohqut
ack-ut, "at the divided or double
place." Cockles Harbor is protected
on the north by two Islands, which during low tides are one Island,
It
was probably the sheltered condition of this harbor which gave the island
its Indian name as well as its English,
It was at this locality that
Govert
Loockmans purchased
two geese from the chief Rochbou [Yoco]
in 1647.
-- Colonial History of New York, vol.
xiv. P. 94.
13 Wyandanch = Wayan-taunche, "the wise speaker
or talker."
14 Momoweta = Mohmd-wetuo, " he gathereth or brings together in his
House."
15 Nowedonah = N'owi-donoh, "I seek him," or" I go to seek him."
This Sachem was formerly
called Witaneymen or Wemagamin,
and he
probably changed
his name when he went to spy out the enemies of the
Dutch in 1645
(Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60), see also Thompson's Long Island,
vol. i. p. 365, Plymouth
Colonial Records, vol.
ix. p. 18, where he is called Weenakamin, i. e., "bitter berry."
16 The original
of this deed has been
stolen from the Town Clerk's
office at East Hampton;
consequently, I am unable to verify the spelling
of these names. On some copies of this deed .this name is printed
Here we find confronting us, not
only a re
markable, but a very
unusual circumstance, in
the fact that an Indian of Long Island,
who is
called "Cheekanoo," is acting as an interpreter
for these four Sachems,
together with Thomas
Stanton,17 another well-known
interpreter of the
Colonies, as an intermediary in making the pur
chase. It is very clear
to me, and I think it
will be to all, that if this Indian was sufficiently
learned to speak English, and so intelligent as
to act as an interpreter, with all such a qualifi
cation would indicate, in r 648, the year before
Eliot commended
his ingenious teacher, and
within the time he seems to have returned to
Long Island, he must have acquired his knowl
edge from someone who had taken great pains
in bestowing it, and
that one must have been
John Eliot. We have found that Eliot does
not mention him by name in
existing letters;
but, as before quoted, simply calls him his "In-
Chectanoo; an
evident error, for in no other instance do I find the k
in his name replaced by a t.
17 See Filling's
Algonquian Bibliography (pp. 396,
397), for a brief
sketch of Thos, Stanton's
career as an Interpreter to the
Commissioners
of the United Colonies of New England.
terpreter"; therefore, let us learn how a transla
tion of his Long Island appellation
will bear on
this question.
This
name, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino,
Chekkonnow,
or Cockoo,--no matter how varied
in the records of Long
Island and elsewhere,
for every Town Clerk or Recorder, with but a
limited or no knowledge of the Indian
tongue
and its true sounds, wrote down the
name as it
suited him, and seldom twice alike even on the
same page,-finds its parallel sounds in the Mas
sachusetts of both Eliot and Cotton, in the verb
kuhkinneau, or kehkinnoo, "he marks, observes,
takes knowledge, instructs, or imitates";18
hence, "he interprets," and therefore indicating
by a free translation "an interpreter or teacher";
this word in its primitive
form occurs in all dia
lects of the same linguistic family-that is, the
Algonquian-in an infinite
number of com-
18 The root kuhkoo or kehkoo,
has simply the idea of
"mark" or a
"sign,"
which in Algonquian polysynthesis is modified according to its grammatical affixes, and the
sense of the passage used, when
translated
into an alien
tongue. But it must be remembered, however, that its
primary meaning was never lost to an Indian-a fact well known to all
students of Indian linguistics.
pounds, denoting "a
scholar; teacher; a thing
signified; I say what he
says, i. e., repeat after
him," etc.19
These I may call inferential marks by the
wayside, and with what is to
follow are surely
corroborative evidence strong enough to enable
me to assume that I am on the
right trail, and
that "Cheekanoo" and John Eliot's young man
were one and the same individual. In its ac
ceptance it becomes obvious that he must have
been so termed before the date of
the East
Hampton conveyance, while still with Eliot in
Massachusetts. Indian personal
names were
employed to denote some
remarkable event in
their lives, and having been a
teacher and an
interpreter of Eliot's,
and continuing in the
same line afterward, which gave him greater
celebrity, it was natural
that he should retain
the name throughout his life.
A little over two
weeks after the East Hamp
ton transaction, by a deed dated May 16, 164820
19 Compare
the various derivates from the Nipissing (Cuoq) kikina and
kikino: Otchipwe (Baraga) kikino;
Cree (Lacomb) okiskino; Delaware
(Zeisberger) kikino, etc.
20 Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 210, office of the Secretary of State, Albany,
(0. S.), Mammawetough, the Sachem of Cor
chauge, with the possible assistance of our inter
preter, who, it seems to me, could not have been
dispensed with on such
an occasion, conveys
Hashamomuck neck-which included all the land
to the eastward of Pipe's Neck creek, in South
old town, on which the villages of Greenport,
East Marion, and Orient
are located, together
with Plum Island-- to Theophilus Eaton,
Stephen Goodyeare, and Captain
Malbow of
New Haven. This is known as
the Indian deed
for the "Oyster Ponds,"
and while Cheekanoo's
name does not appear
on this copy of a copy,
for the original has long been lost,
it is possible
that it may be disguised in the name of one of
the witnesses, Pitchamock.
While we may inf er from the foregoing docu
ments that his
services must have been neces
sarily in constant
demand by the colonists in
their interviews with the natives, during the
four years following
the making of these deeds,
N. Y.
A copy of this deed, from a
contemporary copy made by Richard
Terry, then on sale at Dodd & Mead's, New York, was contributed to
the
Greenport Watchman by Wm. S. Pelletreau, June 6, 1891.
we do not find him again on record until Febru
ary 25, 165221
(0. S., February 15, 1651), when
he is identically employed
as at East Hamp
ton, by the proprietors of Norwalk,
Conn.,
probably on the recommendation of the au
thorities at New Haven ; and
his name ap
pears among the gran
tors, in two places on
the Indian deed for the Norwalk
plantation as
"Cockenoe-de-Long Island."
But, as he did not
sign the conveyance, it shows that he had no
vested rights therein, but simply acted for the
whites and Indians as their interpreter. From
the possible fact that he perhaps erected
his
wigwam there during this winter and spring of
1651-52, thus giving it a distinctive appella
tion, an island in the Long Island sound off
Westport, Conn., near the mouth of the Sauga
tuck river, bears his name in the possessive as
"Cockenoe's Island" to this
day, as will be
noted by consulting a Coast Survey chart.
That the name was bestowed in his time is
proven by the record "that it was agreed (in
1672) that the said Island
called Cockenoe is to
21 Hall's Norwalk, p. 35.
lie common for the use of the town
as all the
other Islands are." 22 This island is one of the
largest and
most easterly of the group known
as the " Norwalk Islands," or as they were
designated by the early Dutch navigators, the
Archipelago.23 The fact that his name is dis
played on this deed for Norwalk, and as the
name for this island, has been a puzzle to many
historians; but that it does so appear is easily
accounted for, when we know what his abilities
were, and why he was there.
On September 2, 1652,24 the fall of the year
that he was at Norwalk, he
appeared before the
Commissioners of the United
Colonies of New
England, then assembled
at Hartford, as their
records bear witness
in the following language:
"Whereas we were informed by
Checkanoe an
Indian of Menhansick Island, on behalf
of the
22 Hall's Norwalk, p. 62.
28 Another island of this group bears
the personal name of an Indian
who was called Mamachimin (Hall's Norwalk, pp. 30, 93, 97. He
joined in the Indian deed to Roger Ludlow of Norwalk,
February 26,
1640, corresponding to March 8, 1641).
The name still survives,
abbre
viated to "Chimons Island."
24 Colonial Records of Connecticut, vol. iv, p. 476.
Indian inhabitants of said island, that they are
disturbed in their possession by Captain Mid
dleton and his agents,
upon pretense of a pur
chase from Mr. Goodyeare of New
Haven, who
bought the same of
one Mr. Forrett, a scotch
man, and by vertue
thereof the said Indians
are threatened to be forced off the said island
and to seek an habitation where they can get
it; the said Indians deny
that they sold the
said island to the said
Forrett; and that the
said Forrett was a poor man, not able to pur
chase it, but the said Indians
gave to the said
Forrett some part of the
said Island and marked
it out by some trees ; yet
never, that them
selves be deprived of their
habitation there,
and therefore they desired that the
Commis
sioners (they being their tributaries)
to see they
have justice in the premises,
the Commissioners
therefore, in regard the said Mr. Goodyeare is
not present, and that he is of New
Haven juris
diction, and at their Court, to hear to complaint
of the said Indians, and
to satisfy the said
Indians if they can, if not to certify
the Com
missioners at the next meeting, the truth of
As the result of this
emphatic protest by Check
anoe, and in evidence
of its truth and fairness,
we find that on
the 27th of December follow
ing,25 Captain Middleton and associates were
obliged to satisfy
the Indians, by purchasing
Shelter Island, or as
it was
called by the
Indians Manhansick ahaquazuwamuck,26 from
the Sachem Yoco, formerly called Unkenchie,
and other of his chief men, among whom we
find one called Actoncocween,27 which I believe
to be simply another
descriptive term for our
hero, for the word signifies "an interpreter,"
or "he who repeats,"
i. e., " the repeat man."
This sale was certified to at
Southold the
25 East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 96-g7.
26 Manhansick ahaquazuwamuck = Manhan-es-et-ahaquazuoo amuck,"
at or about the island sheltered
their fishing-place," or" their
sheltered
fishing-place at or about the island,"
see Brooklyn Eagle Almanac, 1895,
p. 55, "Some Indian Fishing Stations upon Long Island."
27 Compare Delaware
(Zeisberger) Anhuktonheen, "interpreter,
Ekhikuweet, ''
talker"; Lenape (Brinton) Anhoktonhen,
''to interpret";
Otchipwe (Baraga)
Anikanotagewin, "interpreter," or "his work as an
interpreter," Anikanotage, "I repeat what another
says."
following spring,28 but the
deeds themselves
have long been lost,
and the pages of the
volume on which they were
entered despoiled
of
their contents by some
vandal years ago.
These items of record, however,
point to one
conclusion, that if the owners
of Shelter Island
were unable to produce Forrett's
deed from the
Indians in 1652, which they
seem to have been
unable to do, it is not at all likely that it
will
ever be discovered. It also
indicates that
Forrett's title, as well
as that of Mr. Good
yeare, rested on a frail
foundation as far as
the whole island was concerned, and that the
Indians were right in their
protest.
In this year according to tradition, or what is
more in accordance with facts, in
the spring of
1653,29 Yoco
Unkenchie or Poggatacztt, as he is
28 Southold Records, vol. i. p. 158.
29 The
late David Gardiner in his Chronicles of East Hampton, p.
33, and other Long Island historians following him, place
this event
in the year 1651 ; but as Yoco, as he is more often
called, united with
the chief men of his tribe in the deed to Captain Middleton and
associ
ates on the 27th of
December, 1652, a date which was, in accordance
with our present
mode of computing time, January 6, 1653, would
indicate beyond question t3e error of our historians in assigning his death
previous.
variously named, passed away. The tribe,
now
without a head, and weak in tribal organization,
migrated from Shelter
Island. Some went to
Montauk and to Shinnecock, while a few united
with the Cutchogues. During the following
three or four years
much alarm was created
from the rumor that the Dutch were endeavor
ing to incite the Indians against
the English.30
The conduct of the Montauks and Shinnecocks
was such that they were
particularly distrusted,
and they were forbidden without special leave
to come into the settlements.31 It was
for
bidden to furnish them
with powder, shot, or
30 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 31 : "
It is ordered nae Indian
shall Come to the Towne unles
it be upon special occasion and none to
come armed because that the
Dutch hath hired Indians agst the English
and we not knowing
Indians by face and because the Indians hath cast
of their sachem, and if any
of the Indians or other by night will come
in to the towne in despit of eyther watch or ward upon the third
stand
to shoote him or if thay rune away to shoote him"
(April 26, 1653).
31 Southampton Records, vol. i. p. 90
(April 25, 1653) : "At a generall
court Liberty is given to any Inhabitant to sell unto ye Sachem any
manner
of vituals for the supply of his family for a month's time from the date
hereof, Mr. Odell haveing promised to use his best endeavors to see
that
the said Sachem buy not for
other Indians but for his particular use as
aforesaid." It is
probable from the following note that this Sachem
was Cockenoe.
rum; nence we find but little recorded. Again,
the war carried on between the Montauks
and
Narragansetts began in this
year, and con
tinued for some years
with great loss on both
sides. It is very doubtful if Cockenoe took
any
active part in this war, or at least in its
earliest
stages; for, according
to the fragmentary
depositions by the Rev. Thomas James and
others,32 in the celebrated Occabog meadows suit
of 1667,-a quarrel over a
tract of salt meadow
located almost within sight of the village
of
Riverhead, between the neighboring towns of
Southampton and Southold,-Cockenoe was
then residing at Shinnecock with
his first wife,
the sister of the four
Sachems of Eastern Long
Island, who united
in the East Hampton con-
32 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 261 (Munsill's History of Suf
folk County, East Hampton Town, see Facsimile, p. 13), Extract:
"and
the Shinokut Indians had the drowned Deere as theirs one this side
the
sayd River and one Beare Some years since ; And the old squaw Said by
the token shee eat some of it Poynting
to her teeth ; And that the skin
and flesh was brought to Shinnocut as acknowledging
their right to it
to a saunk squaw then living there who was the old fifantaukut Sachems
sister; And first wife to Chekkanow." In the trial
November 1, 1667
(Colonial History of New
York, vol. xiv. p. 601), an Indian testified:
"It was about fourteen
yeares agoe since the beare was
kill'd," which
indicates the year 1653
as the time the Saunk Squaw was living at
Shinnecock.
veyance. She was at this date, in consequence
of the death of her brother Nowedonah, the
Sunck Squaw, that is, the woman Sachem, of
the Shinnecock
tribe-a fact which proves that
by marriage he came into the house
of the
Sachems, and was
entitled to be designated as a
Sagamore, as we find him sometimes called.
In the latter part
of August,
1656,33 Wyan-
33 Hazard's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 359. As this record has never
been quoted in full in our Long Island histories, and Hazard's
work is
quite rare, it would be well to print it at this time, viz.:
"Upon a com
plaint made by Ninnegrates messenger to the Generall Court of the
Massachusetts in May last against the Montackett Sachem for murthering
Mr Drake and some other Englishmen upon ours near the Long Island
shore and seiseing theire goods
many years since and for Trecherously
assaulting Ninnegrett upon block Island and killing many of his
men
after a peace concluded betwixt
them certifyed to Newhaven by the
Massachusetts Commissioners by a Complaints made by Awsuntawney
the Indian Sagamore near Milford and two other western Indians
against
the said 1lfontackett Sachem for
hiering a witch to kill Uncas with the
said Milford Sachem and his son giveing eight fathom of wampam
in
hand promising a hundred or a hundred and twenty more when the said
murthers were committed; Notice whereof being given to the said
Montackett Sachem and hee Required to attend the Commissioners
att this
meeting att Plymouth The said Sachem with five of his men came over
from longe Island towards the latter part of August in Captaine Younges
Barque whoe was to carry the Newhave Commissioners to Plymouth but
the Wind being contrary they first putt in att Milford. The Sachem
then desiring to Improve the season sent to speake with Ausuntawey
or
any of the western Indians
to see whoe or what Could bee charged upon
·,
danch, the Sachem of
Montauk, with five of his
men, on complaint entered against him by the
Narragansett Sachem 1Vinnegrate, presented
himself before the Commissioners, then in ses
sion at Plymouth, Mass. Ninnegrate, how-
him but none came but such as professed they had
nothing against him;
The Commissioners being mett att Plymouth; The said Sachem presented
himselfe to answare but neither
Nimzegrett nor Uncas nor
the Milford
Sachem appeared, only Newcom a cuning and bould Xarragansett
Indian
sent by Ninnegrett as his 1Iessinger or deputy charged the long Island
Sachem first with the murther
of Mr Drake and other
Englishmen
affeirming that one \Yampeag had before severall Indians confessed that
hee hiering under the illontackett
Sachem did it being thereunto hiered
by the said Sachem which said Sachem absolutly deneyinge and Capt
Young professing that both
English and Indians in those partes thought
him Innocent : l\7ecom was asked why himselfe
from lVimugrett haveing
layed such charges upon the long Island Sachem before the Massachu
setts Court hee had not brought his Proffe ; hee answared that Wampeage
was absent but some other Indians were present whoe Could speak to the
case; wherupon an Indian afeirmed that hee had heard the said Wampeage
confesse that being hiered as above hee had murthered the said English
men ; though after the said murther with himselfe that now
spake the
Muntackett Sachem and some other Indians being att Newhaven hee
deneyed itt to Mr Goodyer and one hundred fathome of Wampam being
tendered and delivered to Ir Eaton the matter ended: Mr Eaton
pro
fessed as in the presence
of God hee Remembered not that hee had seen
Wampeage nor that hee had
Received soe much as one fathom of
wam
pam, Nor did hee believe that any at all was tendered him;
wherupon
the Commissioners caled to the Indian for Proffe Mr Eaton being present
and deneying it the Indian answered there
were two other Indians present
that could speak to it; they were called forth but both of them professed
Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 33
ever, not appearing or submitting any proof of
his allegations, Wyandanch
was acquitted of
the charges with much honor. At
the same
time he was relieved from the
payment of the
tribute, then four years in arrears, owing to his
that through themselves and from other Indians
where then att New
haven yett the former afermined
Indian was not there and that there
was nae wawpam att all either Received or tendered
soe that the long
Island Sachem for what yett appeered stood free from this foule Charge;
2 Cond, The said Newcome charged
the Montackett Sachem with breach
of
Covenant in asaulting Ninnegrett and killing divers of
his men att
Block Island after a conclusion of peace, the Treaty whereof was
begun
by a Squaw sent by Ninnigrett to the said Sachem to tender
him peace
and the Prisoners which the said Ninnigrett had taken
from the long
Island sachem upon condition the
said sachem did wholly submitt the
said message, but afeirmed hee Refused to accept the Conditions which
hee said hee could not without advising with the English whereupon the
Squaw Returned and came backe from Ninnigrett
with an offer of the
prisoners for Ransom of wampam which hee saith hee sent and had
his
prisoners Relieved, Newcome affeirmed the agreement between
the said
Sachems was made att Pesacus
his house by two long Island Indians
deligates to the Montackett Sachem in presence of Pesacus and his
brother and others,
two Englishmen being present one whereof was
Robert Westcott ; Pesacus his brother testifyed the agreement as afore
said. The Muntackett acknowlidged hee sent
the said Delligatts but
never heard of any such agreement and deneyed hee gave any such com
mission to his men, Newcome afeirming Robert Wescott would
Testify
the agreement aforsaid and desiring a writing from the commissioners to
Lycence the said Wescott to come and give in his Testimony which was
granted and Newcome departed pretending to fetch Wescott but
Returned
Not : The Commissioners finding much Difficulty to bring theire
thoughts
distressed condition. It is probable that Cocke
noe was one of the five men accompanying him
on this occasion.
He again makes his appearance on record in
1657,34 when he laid out and marked the bounds
of Hempstead in Queens County, by order of
Wyandanch, who had
then acquired jurisdiction
as Sachem in chief over the Indians of Long
Island, as far west as Canarsie.35 " Chegonoe"
to a certaine Determination on
Satisfying grounds yett concidering how
Proudly Ninnigrett and how peaceably the 11:fontackett Sachem hath
carryed it towards
the English ordered that a message
the contents
whereof heerafter followeth bee by Tho Stanton delivered to Ninnigretf
and that for the cecuritie of the English plantations on long Island and
for an Incurragement to the Montackett Sachem the two first particulars
of the order to hinder Ninnigretts attempts on long Island; made last
year att Kew Haven bee continued; Notwithstanding the said English
are Required to
Improve those orders with all moderation and not by any
Rashness or
unadYisednes to begin a broil unless they bee Nessesitated
thereunto; The Montackett Sachem being questioned by the Commis
sioners concerning the Painment of his Tribute Professed that hee had
Payd it att hartford
for ten yeares but
acknowlidged there was four
yeares behind which the Commissioners thought meet to respett in
respect of his present Troubles
; Plymouth Sept 17th 1656."
34 Thompson's Long Island, vol. ii. p. 9.
35 This
protectorship was agreed upon and confirmed May
29, 1645, by
Rochkouw [Yoco] the greatest Sachem of Cotsjewaminck (= Ahaquazu
wamuck). See Colonial
History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60. See also
Plymouth Colonial Records,
vol. ix. p. 18.
witnesses the sign manual of his Sachem, who
was present, on the confirmation deed of July 4,
1657.36 This deed is dated 1647, as given in
Thompson's History of Long Island.37 The
mistake is again repeated
in Munsill's History
of Queens County,38
and has been often quoted
by others quite recently;
but the date will be
found correctly given in the Colonial
History of
New York.39
The records
of Hempstead under date of
March 28, 1658, read: "This day ordered Mr
Gildersleeve, John Hick, John Seaman,
Robert
Jackson and William
Foster, are to go with
Cheknow sent and authorized by the Montake
Sachem, to marck and lay out
the generall
bounds of ye lands, belonging to ye towne of
Hempstead according to ye extent of ye limits
and jurisdiction of ye sd
towne to be known by
ye markt trees and other places of
note to con
tinue forever." These boundaries are named in
the release of the following May, which "Check
now" witnesses. The appearance of his name
36 Thompson's Long Island,
vol. ii. p. 10.
38 P. 145.
37 Ibid., p. 9. 39 Pp. 416, 417.
36 Cockenoe-de-Long Island.
on the records of Hempstead, and on these
deeds, has led some writers to assume that he
was a Sachem of the Rockaways,40 an error
which I find persistently quoted.
The year 1658 was a busy one for our
Indian. The settlements are
rapidly spreading
and land is in demand by
incoming colonists.
On June JO he laid out the
beach to the west
ward of the Southampton settlement, giving
Lion Gardiner the right to all whales cast up
by the sea, and he witnesses the grant by his
Sachem.41
On August 17 42 he marked
out, by blaz
ing trees, three necks of meadow for the inhab
itants of Huntington, on the south
side, in the
western part of the present
town of Babylon,
which necks were afterward in controversy.
The village of Amityville now
occupies part of
the upland bordered by the meadow. It states
in the deed "that Choconoe
for his wages, and
going to marke out
the Land shall have for
40 Indian
Tribes of Hudson's River, Ruttenber, p. 73; Munsill's
His
tory of Queens County, p. 19.
41
East Hampton Records,
vol. i. p. 48.
42 Huntington Records, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.
himselfe, one coat, foure pounds of
poudar six
pounds of led, one dutch hatchet, as also seven
teen shillings in wampum,"
which, together with
pay for the land, "they must send by Chocka
noe." Our early settlers were always behind
hand in their payments, and in this case, as
evidenced by a receipt attached,
pay was not
received until May 23 of the next
year, when
Wyandance refers to "the meadow
I sould last
to them which my man Chockenoe
marked out
for them."
On April 19, 1659,43 eleven years after the
purchase, at an annual town meeting of the
inhabitants of East Hampton, held probably in
the first church that
stood at the south end of
the street,44 "It was agreed that Checanoe shall
have 108 for
his assistance in
the purchase of the
plantacon." Seemingly a dilatory and inadequate
reward for such a service. Money, however,
was very scarce and worth something in those
days, and we cannot gauge it by the light of
the present period.
In comparison we can only
43 East Hampton
Records, vol I, p. 156.
44 Ibid., p. 66.
refer to the fact that Thomas
Talmadge at the
same period was only paid 20",
or double the
amount, for a year's
salary as Town Clerk.
The record, however, is a valuable one, and is
one of the straws indicating the esteem and
favor in which Cockenoe was regarded by the
townspeople of East Hampton.
That Cockenoe took
an active part in marking
the bounds of the tract of land between
Hunt
ington and Setauket,
now comprised in the
town of Smithtown, presented to Lion Gardiner
by Wyandanch on July 14, 1659,45 as a token of
love and esteem in ransoming
his captive
daughter and friends from the Narragansetts,
45 Book of Deeds, vol. ii. pp. uB-19, Office of the Secretary of State,
Albany. The original is now
in the possession of the Long Island Histori
cal Society : "Bee it knowne unto all men, both English
and Indians,
especially the inhabitants of Long Island : that I Wyandance Sachame, of Pamanack, with my wife and son Wiancombone, my
only sonn and heire,
haveinge delyberately considered how this twenty-foure years
wee have
bene not only acquainted with Lion : Gardiner, but from time to
time
have reseived much kindness of him and from him, not onely by counsell
and advise in our prosperitie, but in our great extremytie, when wee wee
were almost swallowed upp of our enemies, then wee say he apeared
to
us not onely as a friend, but as a father, in giveinge us
his monie and
goods, wherby wee defended
ourselves, and ransomd my daughter
and
friends, and wee say and know that by his meanes we had great
comfort
is worthy of note, for it is evident
that the
Sachem had no one else so capable. In
confir
mation of this surmise and my belief that he
had a prominent part in all the land transac
tions of Wyandanch, my friend William
S.
Pelletreau, who is preparing the early records
of the town of Smithtown for publication,
has lately found recorded, in a dispute over
the lands of Smithtown,
a deposition taken
down by John Mulford of East
Hampton,
dated October 18, 1667, which reads
: "Pau
quatoun, formerly Chiefe Councellor
to the Old
Sachem Wyandance testifieth that the Old
Sachem Wyandance appointed Sakkatakka and
and reliefe from the most honarable of the English nation heare about
us ; soe that
seinge wee yet live, and both of us beinge now ould, and not
that wee at any
time have given him any thinge to gratifie his fatherly
love, care and charge, we haveinge nothing left that is worth his accept-
ance but a small
tract of land which we desire him to Accept of
for him
selfe, his
heires, executors and assignes forever ; now that it may bee
knowne how and where that land lieth on Long Island, we say it lieth
betwene
Huntington and Seatacut, the westerne bounds being Cowharbor,
easterly Arhata-a-munt, and southerly crosse the Island to the end of the
great hollow or valley, or more, then half through the Island southerly,
and that this gift is our free
act and deede, doth appeare by our hand
martcs under writ." Wayandance's
mark represents an Indian and a
white shaking hands.
Chekanno 46 to mark
out the said Rattaconeck
[Cattaconeck] lands,
and after that ye sd Pau
quatoun saw the trees marked all along the
bounds and the Sachem being with him, he
heard him [the Sachem] say
it was marked
right. And there is a Fresh pond called
Ashamaumuk47 which is the
parting of the
bounds of the foregoing lands from where the
trees were marked to
ye pathway." This
"Fresh pond" was at the
northwest bounds of
the town of Smithtown.
At the same time and year, probably, as it
bears no date, he witnessed
the sale of "Old
Field" by Wyandance to the inhabitants of
Setauket in the town of Brookhaven.48 Also
about the same time the sale of "Great Neek
or Cattaconocke," 49 bounding Smithtown on the
east as referred to by Pauquatoun.
46 These two chief
men of the Montauk tribe were frequently sent
together by Wyandanch, and
were possibly the Delegates sent to Pesacus
at Rhode
Island as stated in Note 33. Sakkataka
or Sasachatoko was
at one time chief counselor of the Sachem of the tribe. He
was still
living in 1702-03, as the Montauk conveyance of that date bears witness.
47 See Brooklyn Eagle Almanac, 1895, p. 55.
48Brookhaven Records, vol. i. p. 16.
49" The Name of the Neck aboves'd; is Cataconocke, March 8 1666"
On February
10, 1660,50 he
marked out, and
also witnessed the confirmation of the sale of
Lloyd's Neek, in the
town of Huntington, by
Wyancombone, the son and heir of the late
Sachem Wyandanch, who had passed away, and
whose son was then acknowledged
by both the
Indians and whites as the chief Sachem of
Long Island. His name on this copy of a copy
is misspelled as Chacanico.
In the confirmation deed
for Smithtown, dated
April 6, 1660,51 by Wyancombone, the land is
stated to have been laid out by some of the
chief men of the tribe; these
men are named in
Pauquatoun's testimony. In the copy recorded
in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany,
N. Y., Cockenoe is named as a witness in the
corrupt form of Achemano.
He united on
August 16, 1660,52 with the rest of
his tribe
(Brookhaven Records,
vol. i. p. 16). The Indian name, of which
"great neck " is probably a popular translation,
signifies "a great
field," Kehte-Konuk.
50 Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 20.
51 Book of Deeds, vol. ii.
p. 118, office of the
Secretary of State,
Albany, N. Y.; George R. Howell in Southside Signal, Babylon,
June 30, 1883.
52 East
Hampton Records, vol. i. 172.
at Montauk, in the first Indian deed to the
inhabitants of East Hampton
for "all the
aforesd
Necke of land called Meantaqu£t,53
with
all and every parte thereof from sea to sea."
About this time the Meantaqu£t Indians
petitioned the Commissioners of the United
Colonies of New England for protection from
the cruelty of the Narragansetts
54 with the result
that the latter were ordered not to come within
six miles of the English
plantations, and the
former not to begin any new quarrels, but to
behave themselves quietly, without provocation.
The fact that Cockenoe was then living at Mon
tauk is proof that he must have been one of the
petitioners.
Thomas Revell, a merchant of
Barbadoes,
and a resident of Oyster Bay, L. I., was engaged
with Constant Sylvester, one of the owners of
Shelter Island, together with James Mills of
Virginia,55 and Joho Budd of Southold, in the
63 "The Signification of the name Montauk,"
Brooklyn Eagle
Almanac, 1896, pp. 54, 55.
64 East Hampton Records, vol. i.
p. 175; Southold Records, vol. i.
p. 363.
56 Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 14, 20, 209.
West India trade. Through his partners, or
otherwise, he became well acquainted
with our
friend Cockenoe, and employed
him as an inter
preter in buying some land from the Indians
in Westchester County, N. Y. We find that
Cockenoe was with him at Manussing Island, at
the head of the Long Island sound, where he
gave Revell a deed,
witnessed by John Budd
and others, dated October 27, 1661, which
reads: "I Cockoo Sagamore by vertue of a
full and absolute power and order
unto him
and intrusted by Mahamequeet Sagamore
& Meamekett Sagamore
& Mamamettchoack
& Capt. Waj>j>equaz"ran all Ingines living up
Hudson River on the Main land for me
to bargaine & absolutely
sell unto Thos
Revell . . . And fardder more I doe promise
and ingauge myself in behalf of the prenamed
Ingaines & ye rest
of those Ingains which I
now sell this land for and
them to bring sud
denly after ye date
hereof, for to give
unto
Thomas Revels or his order
quiet and peacable
possession," etc., etc. This tract of land thus
conveyed was in the
present township of
Mamaroneck, Westchester County, N. Y. The
power of attorney given to
Cockenoe by these
Indians reads : "One of our Councill
Cockoo by
name an Ingaine the which
we do approve of
and do confirm whatsoever the said
Cockoo
shall doe in bargaining and selling unto Thos
Revell of Barbadoes,"
etc. This power of attor
ney by some means was dated
two weeks after
the execution of the deed, and
in the litigation
which ensued over the purchase this fact ruined
the case for Revell. This deed and the power
of attorney were both
recorded at Southampton,
L. I.,56 and are
quoted in full, with particulars
of the suit, in
Sharf's History of Westchester
County, N. Y.,57 and are too lengthy
to dwell
upon at this time.
Cockoo, Cokoo, Cockoe,
or Cakoe, as
his name
is variously given in the papers relating to
this affair, is evidently an abbreviated form of
Cockenoe.58 All
the facts recorded in connection
with it point to him and to no one else. From
56 Southampton Records,
vol. ii. pp. l 5, 16.
51 See Mamaroneck, by Edward Floyd DeLancey, Esq.; chap. 23,
pp. 850, 851,
58 See Note 18.
the context of the papers,
he was a strange
Indian, not living up the Hudson river, where it
is stated all the other Indians dwelt. That he
was acting as an interpreter is evident--a fact
which, as I have before observed, was a very
rare qualification for an Indian
of that period.
Humphrey Hughes, whose name appears as one
of the witnesses on Cockoo's power of attorney,
was a seaman in the employ
of Revell, and in
his various capacities as a sailor,
trader, fisher
man, or an inhabitant, is frequently mentioned
in the records of both South 59 and East Hamp
ton towns ; 60
hence Cockenoe was no stranger
to
him. Two years afterward Hughes witnessed
the renewal of the Montauk
Squaw Sachem's
whaling grant to John Cooper ; therefore,
taking
all these items of fact
into consideration, it is
not at all strange that Cockenoe should have been
employed by Thomas Revell in buying land
from the Indians
in Westchester County.
On February 21, 1662 61 (February 11, 1661)
59 Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15S, et seq.
60 East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. I 59, r6o, et seq.
61 From the original
in possession of the owner of Montauk,
Frank
Sherman Benson, Esq.
Chekkonnow again
united with his tribe in the
deed known as the "Hither Woods" purchase,
"for all the piece or neck of
land belonging to
Muntauket land westward to a fresh pond in
a beach, on this side westward to the
place
where the old Indian fort stood, on the other
side eastward to the new fort that is
yet stand
ing, the name of the pond (Fort Pond) is
Quaumontowounk on the north, and Konk
honganik on the south," 62 etc. At this date,
as is proven by
the above wording of this deed,
the Montauks were encamped at the southern
part of East Hampton village 63 under the pro-
62 Quaunontowounk =
Quaneuntoounk (Eliot),
"where the fence is,"
and refers to the
"sufficient fence upon the north side of the pond."
Compare "the Indian
fence at Quahquetong," Trumbull's Names
in Connecticut, p. 58; Konklzonganik "at the boundary place," Kuhkunhtmkganash, " bounds" (Eliot), Acts xvii.
26. The agreement,
Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 123, office of Secretary of State, Albany,
N. Y., dated October 4, 1665, says:
"That the bounds of East Hamp
ton to the East shall be
ffort Pond, the North ffence from the pond to
the sea shall be kept by the Towne. The South ffence to the sea by
the Indyans." Askikotantup.
daughter of the Sachem
\Vyandanch, was
Sachem Squaw of Montauk at the date of this agreement.
63 This passage reads : " The cruel
opposition and violence of our
deadly enemy Ninecraft Sachem
of Narragansett, whose cruelty hath
proceeded so far as to take away the lives of many of our dear friends
and relations, so that we were forced to flee
from the said Montauk for
tection of the settlers, in order to escape
the
invasions of the Narragansetts,
and Montauk
was temporarily abandoned.
In the same year Checkanow was sent with
Tobis, another Indian,
by order of the Sachem
Squaw, widow of Wyandanch, to mark out
John Cooper's whaling limits on the beach to
the westward of Southampton.64
Some of the
boundaries of Huntington, laid
out in 1658, being disputed by their neighbors
of Oyster Bay, it became necessary to send for
Cockenoe that he might identify
his former
marks. At a town meeting held
at Huntington
March 8, 1664 65
(26-12-1663). "It was voted
that when Chiskanoli
come that Mr Wood shall
have power to agree with him, and the
town to
gratifie him to show the boundaries of the
necks of meadow at
the south bought by the town."
shelter to our beloved
friends and neighbors of East Hampton, whom
we found to be friendly in our distress, and whom we must ever own
and acknowledge as instruments under God, for the preservation of our
lives and the lives of our wives and children
to this day."
64 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 199.
65 Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 58,
In the following spring 66
"Att a Generall
meeting of ye Deputyes of Long
Island held
before ye Governer
at Hempstedd, March 6th
1664 (March 16, 1665), It
is this day ordered
yt ye Towne of Huntington shall possesse &
enjoye three necks of meadow land in Contro
versy between ym and Oyster bay as of Right
belonging to them, they haveing ye more anncient
Grant for them, but in as
much as it is pre
tented that Ch£ckano marked
out fouer Necks
for Huntington instedd of
three, if upon a
joynt view of them
it shall appeare to be soe,
then Huntington shall make over the outmost
neck to Oyster
bay," etc.
In the affirmation by John Ketchum
and
townsmen, who went with Cockenoe
to these
meadows according to the
foregoing order of
the assembly, we find the following interesting
record: 67 "When wee
came to the south to
our meadows wee went ovar too neckes to our
naybours who had called massapeege Indians,
About the number of twentie, whoe opoased us
About the space of an ower and would not
66 Huntington Records,
vol. i. p. 58. 67 Ibid., p. 90.
suffer the Indian [ CockenoeJ
to goe and shew
us the marked tree, then we
show the
Sachem [ TackapoushaJ the
writing to which hee had
set
his hand which was our acquitance, and yet
hee would not suffer the Indian to goe, when
wee see nothing would prevaile,
wee took our
leave of them and said wee would
carry backe
this anser to them that sent us; but they
not
willing that wee should, tooke up the matter
as wee did apprihend spake to the Indians
whoe after gave leave to the Indian who was
Chickemo to goe and shew us the tree,
many
off massapauge Indians went with us. Thomas
Brush went before and not taking
notise off the
tree went past it then
a massapauge Indian
called him backe and shewed him the tree be
fore Chickenoe came neare it,
when Chickenoe
came to the tree
hee said that was the tree
hee marked, as his master Commanded him.
Massapauge Sachem said by his Interpriter that
hee told muntaulke Sachem
that hee was grived
at his hart that hee had sould that necke upon
which then wee was,
but muntalket Sachem
tould him that it was sould and it could not bee
helped and therefore bid him goe and Receve
his paye and so hee said hee did: and alsoe
massapauge sachem owned his Land and that
he had Receved the goods."
Thomas Topping
of Southampton and Wil
liam Wells of Southold,
two of the Deputies,
who were in Huntington at this time by order
of the Assembly,68 "touchinge three necks of
meadowe, whch Huntington had formerly pur
chased of Muntaukatt Sarchem, and he informs
true properieF as also in
responsion to Oyster
Bay inhabitants, who lay a claime to part of the
said three Neeks, saying thare are fouer necks
& one thereof
belongs to them, the
said
Chickinoe now did playnly
and cleerly demon
strate before them that the Tree he first marked
by his Master Muntakett Sachems order, and
hath a second tyme denied according
to order,
is noe other but that whch ought justly to be
owned by him and soe marked as
aforesaid,
and comprehends only Huntingtons
just Pur
chase of three Neeks of Medow and in truth
is
three necks of medowe & not four according
68 Huntington Records,
vol. i. pp. 91, 92.
Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 51
to the present relation of Chick-inoe." The
Huntington men, it seems, were rather greedy,
and Cockenoe, true
to their interest, and having
been "gratified," was trying
to give them all
they claimed.
The Massapeag Sachem Tackapousha, who
has put on record "
that it grived his hart" to
make this sale, was a thorn in the flesh of the
settlers of these two towns_ as long as
he lived.
It
was utterly impossible to satisfy his demands,
The records show that both the English
and
Dutch were obliged
to buy him off time and
time again.69 He is one
of the most selfis
h and turbulent characters we find in the whole
aboriginal history of Long Island.
Had he
and his tribe been more powerful
than they
were, they would have left a bloody page on
the annals of Long Island; as it was,
it was
his weakness alone that prevented it.
On November
3, 1669, at East Hampton,
before the Rev. Thomas James and others,70
"Checkannoo," with other
chief men of the
69 Colonial History
of New York, vol. xiv. Index, under Tackapousha.
70 Ibid., p. 627.
Montauk tribe, made an acknowledgment in
"utterly disclayming any such vassalage
as
Ninecraft did declare to the Governor at Rhoad
Island & doe protest against it in our owne
names & in the name of ye
rest of ye Indians at
Montaukett & doe further declare that he shall
have no more wampom of us without approba
tion of ye Governour
of this place & that we
acknowledge ye Governour at New Yorke as
our chiefest Sachem."
The same year, with his associates, Cockenoe 71
gave a certificate that many years before
they
heard the old Sachem Wyandanch declare,
in a
meeting of the Indians,
that he gave to Lion
Gardiner and Thomas James
all the whales
which should come ashore, at any time, on
Montauk.72
On
December 1, 1670,73 together with Pon
iuts, alias Mousup, grandson of Wyandanch,
and
other chief men of the tribe,
" Chekonnow"
11 East Hampton Records,
vol. ii, p. 33.
12 The date of this gift to Gardiner
and James was November
13, 1658,
See East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 150.
13 From the original
deed in possession of Frank Sherman Benson, Esq,
There is an imperfect copy in Ranger's
Deeds of Montauk, 1851.
joined in the Indian deed for the
land between
the ponds, to John Mulford, Thomas James, and
Jeremiah Conkling. This
conveyance took in
all the land to the southward
of Fort Hill be
tween the " Ditch
plain" and the "Great plain,"
and is remarkable for its Indian names of bound
ary places.74
By an entry of July 4, 1675,75 Cockenoe was
one of the crew engaged by James Schellinger
and James Loper of
East Hampton, as the
record states, "uppon the Designe of whalleing
. . . During ye whole season next ensuing,"
then a growing industry on the south side. This
service included the carting and trying out of
14 These boundaries are as follows
: " bounded by us, the aforesaid
parties [i.e., the Indians] Wuchebehsuck, a place by the
Fort pond, being
a valley southward from the fort hills pond, Shahchippitchuge being
on
the north side, the said
land, midway between the great pond and fort, so
on a straight line to Chabiakinnauhsuk from thence to a
swamp where
the haystacks stood called Mahchongitchuge, and so through the
swampe
to the great pond, then straight from
the haystacks to the great pond, so
along by the said pond to a place called Manunkquiaug, on
furthest
side the woods, growing on the
end of the great pond eastward, and so
along to the sea side southward, to a place called Coppauhshapaugausuk,
so straight from thence to the south sea," etc. See
Indian Names in
the Town of East Hampton,
Tooker, East Hampton Records, vol. iv.
p. i-x.
16 East Hampton Records, vol. i, p. 379.
the oil at some convenient place,
for which the
crew were to receive, " one half e of one share
of all profit what shall bee by us gotten
or
obtained During ye said terme of time."
The Indians of Long Island were disarmed
in this year on account of
King Philip's war,
and on October
5 76 Mosup the Sachem, grand
son of Wyandanch, with Pekonnoo [ an
error for
Chekonno], Counselor, and others, made suppli
cation by a letter written
by Rev. Thomas
James to Governor
Andros at New York,
"Alledging the fact that
they had always been
friends to the English and their
forefathers
before them, and this time of war fighting with
the English Captains,
desired that their guns
might be returned, as it was the
usual time of
hunting." Owing to an
indorsement on the
back of this letter,
written a week after by
James, on mature consideration, the request in
its entirety was not granted.77
76 Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. pp. 699, 700.
77 James wrote: "The
lines upon the other side I
wrote upon
the desire of
the Sachem & his men, they were
their owne words & the substance thereof they also had expressed
before Mr Backer, but since
my writeing of them wch was almost
a week since, I perceive
that
On June 23, 1677,78 Cockenoe appeared
before
Governor Andros
and Council at New Yark, in
behalf of the inhabitants
of Hampstead, who
were having trouble
with the Indians
in their
neighborhood, regarding land
laid out by him
in 1657, twenty years before, to which I have
previously referred. At the same council he
interpreted the speech of Weamsko, the Sachem
of Seacotauk in Islip, who claimed the Nesquak
[Nissequogue] lands ; also the speech of Swa
neme, who
pretended to own the land called
Unchemau [Fresh Pond] near Huntington. In
the copy from which this has
been taken he is
called Checkoamaug, an evident
error of some
transcriber.
We find him occasionally employed
by the
delivering up the armes
to the Indians doth not relish well
with
the English, especially since of
late we heard of the great slaughter, they
haue made upon the English in other parts of the country; I per
ceive att Southampton ye English are much troubled ye
Indians haue
their armes & I thinke it doth much disturbe ye
spirits of these haue
them not ; as for these Indians for
my owne part I doe thinke they are
as Cordiale freinds
to the English as any in ye Country & what is
written by ym is knowne to many to be ye truth,
though God knows
their hearts," etc.
78 Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 728.
proprietors of Montauk, especially in the year
1682, when he is
"paid 9s for keeping
the
Indian corne," 79 and as much "for burneing
Meautaztk," 80 which was done every spring to
free the land from underbrush and weeds.
The years are now rapidly
fleeting, and
Cockenoe is advancing in years with the
settle
ments. The power of the Montauks
is a thing
of the past; they exercise no control over
the rest of the Long Island Indians,
who con
vey land without
the assent of the Montauk
Sachem. As most of
the younger generation
of the natives can speak English,
probably as
well as he, there is no necessity for him to inter
pret. He is now about the
last of his genera
tion still exercising the right as a member of
the house of the Sachems,
in the councils of the
clan; and, on August 3, 1687,81 he unites once
more with the members of his tribe in the Mon
tauk conveyance to the inhabitants
of East
Hampton: "For all our tract of land at Man-
79 East Hampton Records, vol. ii. p. 109.
80 Ibid., p. 111.
81 The originals of the Montauk Indian deeds are in the possession of
Frank Sherman Benson of Brooklyn.
tauket, bounded by part of the Fort Pond, and
Fort Pond Bay west; the English land south
by a line from the Fort
Pond to the Great
Pond ... to the utmost extent of the Island
from sea to sea," etc., and then he retires from
our view forever
on the records of the past.
At the time
of making this deed, half a cen
tury had elapsed since the conflict on the hills
of Mystic-fifty eventful
years in the history of
our Colonies. If he was twenty-five years of
age when he parted from Eliot in 1646 or 1647,
he had then reached threescore years and five;
not by any means an aged man, but, for all
we know, he may have lived for some years
afterward.82
There may be other
recorded facts relating
to his life which I have overlooked, or they
may lie buried in the time-stained archives of
other Long Island and New England towns-
82 As his
name does not appear among the
grantors on the confirma
tion deed for Montauk,
dated March 3, 1702-03, we must
accept it as
sufficient evidence that he
had passed away before that date; although
his associate and companion Sasachatoko
was still living, an aged man.
Rev. Thomas James died June 16, 1696, after a ministry of about forty
five years.
inaccessible, undecipherable, and unpublished-
which some future historian may unfold and
bring to light.83 The
seeds of knowledge planted
by Eliot on the
fertile field of this native's mind
bore good fruit, even if his preceptor did write
at an early day he knew not
what use he then
made of it. For
the
part he took in the
rise
83 It is to be regretted that we
have left us so little relating to the Rev.
Thomas James and his knowledge of the Indians of Montauk. The few
depositions and letters he left show that his knowledge of Indian tradi
tions and customs must have been quite extensive. In September,
1660,
he informed the Commissioners of the United Colonies, then in
session
at New Haven,
that he was "willing
to apply himself, to instruct
the
Indians" of Long
Island, "in the knowledge of the true God." An
allowance of £
IO was therefore made for him
"towards the hiering of an
Interpreter and other Charges." In 1662 he was paid £20 "for Instruct
ing the Indians on
Long Island," and the same allowance was continued
for the two following years. In
a letter from Governor Lovelace to Mr.
James (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. pp. 610-11,
we find:
"I very much approve of yor composure of a Catechisme.. .
That wch
I shall desire from you at p'sent is the Catachisme with some few select
chapters & Lauditory Psalms
fairly transcribed in the Indian Language
wch I will send over to England
& have quantityes of them printed & if
you thinke it necessary I conceive a small book such as shal only seme
to
the instructing ye Indians to
read may likewise be compiled
& sent with
them," etc. The Catechism refeJTed to above
was probably never
printed (Pilling's Algonquian Bibliography, p. 569). It cannot be pos
sible that James neglected
to avail himself of Cockenoe's knowledge.
The facts presented in this
paper would indicate, from James' reference
to him, that he found him a valuable assistant
for many years.
and development of our settlements-a life
work, unparalleled by that of any other Long
Island or New England Indian-he deserves to
be enrolled upon the page of honor.
And now, amid
the rolling hills of
Montauk,
which he loved so well, and within
sound of
the everlasting murmur of the mighty ocean,
which he so often heard, in
a grave unmarked
and unknown,84 he sleeps to await
the resurrec-
84 The
numerous valleys and hilly slopes of the " North Neek," to the
northeast of Fort Pond, are dotted in many places by Indian graves.
The pedestrian will meet with them
in the most isolated spots; but
generally near swamps and ponds in proximity to wigwam or cabin sites.
The two principal are located at
" Burial Place Point," on
the eastern
shore of Great Pond, and on the top of Fort Hill. The outlines of the
Fort still visible (which was yet standing in 1662) now inclose forty
graves, each marked by cobblestones laid thickly along the tops. The
tramping of cattle has obliterated all traces of mounds, and the stones
are generally on a level with the surface. On the outside, in close prox
imity to the others, are ten more, while on the slope of the hill to the
northwest-the hill not being so abrupt in its descent at this
point--are
eighty-six more graves ;
making a total of one hundred and thirty-six
buried on this hill. All are
marked in the same manner, the last being
covered by a thick growth of blackberry vines and bayberry bushes,
and would not be noticed by the careless observer. One of the graves,
inside the outlines of the Fort, has an irregular fragment of granite
for a
headstone; on it is carved very rudely 1817/BR.
This is evidence that the
graves on this hill were all subsequent
to the erection of
the Fort, and
tion morn. A scarred and battered fragment
from nature's world-a glacial
bowlder, typical
of the past-should be his monument 85--on one
side a sculptured entablature, inscribed:
are not very ancient. Those at "Burial Place Point"
look much older,
and some of the
graves there are simply depressions not marked by any
stones. In the" Indian
Field," to the northwest of Great Pond, are many
more.
85 I would suggest placing this at the top of Fort Hill, and thus pre
serving the hill and graves forever as a memorial.
THE END.