Praying town

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Hassanamesit historical marker Hassanamesit marker.jpeg
Hassanamesit historical marker

Praying towns were settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity. [1]

Contents

The Native people who moved into the towns were known as Praying Indians. Before 1674 the villages were the most ambitious experiment in converting Native Americans to Christianity in the Thirteen Colonies, [1] and led to the creation of the first books in an Algonquian language, including the first bible printed in British North America. During King Philip's War from 1675 to 1678, many praying towns were depopulated, in part due to the forced internment of praying Indians on Deer Island, many of whom died during the winter of 1675. After the war, many of the originally praying towns which were allotted were never reestablished, however some praying towns remained. Living descendants in New England trace their ancestry to residents of praying towns.

History

John Eliot was an English colonist and Puritan minister who played an important role in the establishment of praying towns. In the 1630s and 1640s, Eliot worked with bilingual indigenous Algonquians including John Sassamon, an orphan of the Smallpox pandemic of 1633, and Cockenoe, an enslaved Montauk prisoner of the Pequot War, to translate several Christian works, eventually including the Bible, into Massachusett. [2] Having learned quite a bit of Massachusett, Eliot began preaching and practicing evangelism among the Neponset band of Massachusetts, but was first well received when preaching at in 1646 at Nonantum in present day Newton , meaning "place of rejoicing" in Massachusett. The sermon led to a friendship with Waban (Nipmuc, c.1604c.1685), who became the first Native American in Massachusetts to convert to Christianity. [3]

News of Eliot's evangelism reached England, and in 1649, Cromwell's Parliament passed an Act creating the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, which would fund the establishment of an Indian College at Harvard and a press in Cambridge for printing Eliot's Christian commentaries in Massachusett.

Between 1651 and 1675, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had established 14 praying towns. The first two praying towns of Natick (est. 1651) and Ponkapoag (est. 1654), were primarily populated by Massachusett people. Wamesit was established for the Pawtucket, who were part of the Pennacook confederacy. The other praying towns were established as Nipmuc outposts including Wabquasset, Quinnetusset, and Maanexit. Quaboag, far from the other settlements, was never established due to the outbreak of King Philip's War. [4]

List of Praying Towns

Massachusetts Bay Colony


  1. Chaubunakongkomun (Chaubunagungamaug)
  2. Hassanamessit
  3. Manexit
  4. Manchaug
  5. Magunkaquog
  6. Nashoba
  7. Natick
  8. Okommakamesitt
  9. Pakachoag
  10. Ponkapoag
  11. Quaboag
  12. Quinnetusset
  13. Waushakum
  14. Wabaquasset
  15. Waentug
  16. Wamesit

Plymouth Colony

The Plymouth, Connecticut, and Rhode Island Colonies also established praying towns. The following list is adapted from a 1674 list by Puritan pastor Daniel Gookin. [2]

  1. Acushnet. A village of Praying Indians in 1698 “Acchusnutt” is said to have been the Indian name of New Bedford. [5]
  2. Ashimuit
  3. Gay Head
  4. Herring Pond (Plymouth)
  5. Potanumaquut
  6. Manamoyik
  7. Sawkattuket
  8. Nantucket
  9. Nobsquassit
  10. Nukkehkummees. Old Dartmouth contained the following praying settlements: Nukkehkummees, Acushnet (New Bedford), Assameekq, Cooxit or Acoaxet (Westport) and Sakonnet (Little Compton). Adjacent was Cooxissett (probably Rochester). [6]
  11. Matakees
  12. Weequakut
  13. Satuit
  14. Pawpoesit
  15. Mashpee
  16. Wakoquet
  17. Codtaninut
  18. Weesquobs
  19. Pispogutt
  20. Wawayontat
  21. Sokones
  22. Cotuhkikut
  23. Namasket

Connecticut

Three praying towns were established in Connecticut: Maanexit (a Nipmuc word meaning "where we gather") is believed to have been located at the site of present-day Fabyan (Thompson, Connecticut). Quinnatisset (meaning "little long river") was located six miles south of Maanexit, and Wabaquasset (meaning "mats for covering the house") was taken over by the development of present-day Woodstock, Connecticut. [1] These three towns held between 100 and 150 Nipmuc tribal members.

Purpose

Eliot Church and a historic plaque on the site of the First Indian meetinghouse in the praying town of Natick, Massachusetts John Eliot and Daniel Takawambait served as pastors there. Eliot Church and John Eliot plaque in South Natick MA USA Site of First Indian meetinghouse built by John Eliot and Natick Indians His disciple Daniel Takawambait succeeded to the pastoral office in 1698.jpg
Eliot Church and a historic plaque on the site of the First Indian meetinghouse in the praying town of Natick, Massachusetts John Eliot and Daniel Takawambait served as pastors there.

The Puritan missionaries' goal in creating praying towns was to convert Native Americans to Christianity and also adopt European customs and farming techniques. They were expected to give up own cultural lifeways, attire, religion, and anything else that the colonists considered "uncivilized." The Massachusetts General Court recognized the work of Eliot and helped to establish additional praying towns.

Comparison to Jesuits in Canada

The idea of a full conversion was in strong contrast to the approach of the Catholic Jesuits in Canada. They worked to add Christianity to the Natives' existing beliefs, as opposed to replacing them. They learned Native American languages and found ways to relate Christian principles to their existing religions (as was also done by Catholic missionaries in China). [7] Some Natives were quick to accept conversion, while others did not like the idea of a full conversion. The process was not always an easy one, and there were many reasons for some to undertake conversion.

Refuge from war

Some Natives converted because they believed it might increase their legitimacy in the eyes of the colonists and thus recognition of their rights to their land. Because of intertribal and intratribal strife and conflict with colonists, some of the Native Americans considered the praying towns as refuges from warfare. Other tribes had been all but destroyed from disease and famine, and possibly looked to Christianity and the Puritan way of life as an answer to their suffering, when their traditional beliefs did not seem to have helped them. Other Natives joined the towns because they had no other option economically or politically. [7]

After King Philip's War in 1677, the General Court disbanded 10 of the original 14 towns. They placed the rest under the supervision of colonists. [4] Many communities did survive and retained their own religious and education systems. [8]

Failed assimilation

While praying towns had some successes, they never reached the level which John Eliot had hoped for. The Puritans were pleased with the conversions, but Praying Indians were still considered second-rate citizens and never gained the degree of trust or respect from colonists which they had hoped conversion would grant them. It has also been argued that the Natives had a difficult time adjusting to the impersonal society of colonial America, since theirs had been built upon relationships and reciprocity, while that of the colonists were more structured and institutionalized. According to this view, this difference made it hard for Natives to see the institutionalized structures as a whole, and John Eliot had failed to see the need for adaptations appropriate for smoother transitions. [7]

Self-governing

Indian Burial Ground in Natick Praying town Indian Burial Ground in Natick MA with iron fence and plaque stating that the burial ground was granted to Oliver Peabody in the year of 1731.jpg
Indian Burial Ground in Natick Praying town

Other historians have noted that the Praying Indian communities exercised self-government by electing their own rulers and officials. This system exhibited a degree of continuity with their precontact social system. While English-style offices, such as constables and Justices of the Peace were introduced, they were often designated with names identical to those of traditional Native American offices. The elected officials were often chosen from the ranks of the established tribal leadership. In some cases, Native hereditary rulers retained power. The communities also used their own languages as the language of administration, producing an abundance of legal and administrative documents that survive to this day. However, their self-government was gradually curtailed in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, and their languages eventually became extinct. Most of the original "Praying Towns" declined due to epidemics and to the loss of communal land property during the centuries after their foundation. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Eliot (missionary)</span> Puritan missionary to the American Indians

John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians who some called "the apostle to the Indians" and the founder of Roxbury Latin School in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1645. In 1660 he completed the enormous task of translating the Eliot Indian Bible into the Massachusett Indian language, producing more than two thousand completed copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Philip's War</span> 1675–78 war in New England between Colonists and Indigenous peoples

King Philip's War was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and the English New England Colonies and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Metacomet, the Pokanoket chief and sachem of the Wampanoag who adopted the English name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Plymouth Colony. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay on April 12, 1678.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusett language</span> Indigenous Algonquian language spoken in the Northeastern United States

The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family that was formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people. The language is also known as Natick or Wôpanâak (Wampanoag), and historically as Pokanoket, Indian or Nonantum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusett</span> Historic Native American tribe from Massachusetts

The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills overlooking Boston Harbor from the south.

Praying Indian is a 17th-century term referring to Native Americans of New England, New York, Ontario, and Quebec who converted to Christianity either voluntarily or involuntarily. Many groups are referred to by the term, but it is more commonly used for tribes that were organized into villages. The villages were known as praying towns and were established by missionaries such as the Puritan leader John Eliot and Jesuit missionaries who established the St. Regis and Kahnawake and the missions among the Huron in western Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nipmuc</span> Indigenous people in Massachusetts and adjoining states

The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

John Sassamon, also known as Wussausmon, was a Massachusett man who lived in New England during the colonial era. He converted to Christianity and became a praying Indian, helping to serve as an interpreter to New England colonists. In January 1675, Sassamon was ambushed and assassinated. A mixed jury of colonists and Indian elders convicted and executed three Wampanoag men for his murder. These events helped spark the conflict known as King Philip's War, in which the New England Colonies defeated the Wampanoag and ended armed resistance by the Native Americans of southeastern New England.

Waban was a Native American of the Nipmuc group and was thought to be the first Native American convert to Christianity in Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hassanamisco Nipmuc</span>

The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band is the sole state-recognized tribe in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They were recognized in 1976 by Governor Michael Dukakis via Executive Order 126. They were briefly known as the Nipmuc Nation, a union of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc and the Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck bands, during their attempt to receive federal acknowledgment as a Nation. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band owns three and a half acres of reservation land in what is present day Grafton, Massachusetts. The Nipmuc are native to Central Massachusetts, Northeastern Connecticut, and parts of Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians</span>

The Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians, also known as the Chaubunagungamaug, Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck, Pegan or Dudley/Webster Indians, is a cultural heritage group that claims descent from the Nipmuc people. They are a state-recognized tribe by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaubunagungamaug Reservation</span> State Indian Reservation in Massachusetts, United States

The Chaubunagungamaug Reservation refers to the small parcel of land located in the town of Thompson, Connecticut, close to the border with the town of Webster, Massachusetts and within the bounds of Lake Chaubunagungamaug to the east and the French River to the west. The reservation is used by the descendants of the Nipmuck Indians of the previous reservation, c. 1682–1869, that existed in the same area, who now identify as the Webster/Dudley Band of the Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck. Together with the Hassanamisco Nipmuc, both have received state recognition under the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs.

The Wabquisset was a praying town, that is, a settlement for Native American converts to Puritan Christianity, founded in the 1670s near present-day North Woodstock, Connecticut.

Muttawmp was a sachem of the Nipmuc Indians in the mid-17th century, originally based in Quaboag. He participated in King Philip's War, taking part in most of the major engagements as one of the most important chiefs who fought for Metacomet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponkapoag</span> 17th-century Christian Native American settlement in Massachusetts

Ponkapoag, also Punkapaug, Punkapoag, Ponkhapoag or Punkapog, is the name of a Native American "praying town" settled in the late 17th century western Blue Hills area of eastern Massachusetts by persons who had accepted Christianity. It was established in 1657, during the colonization of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States by settlers from Britain. This was the name given to the winter residence of the group of Massachusett who lived at the mouth of the Neponset River near Dorchester in the summer, in what colonists called Neponset Mill.

The Massachusett dialects, as well as all the Southern New England Algonquian (SNEA) languages, could be dialects of a common SNEA language just as Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible languages that essentially exist in a dialect continuum and three national standards. With the exception of Massachusett, which was adopted as the lingua franca of Christian Indian proselytes and survives in hundreds of manuscripts written by native speakers as well as several extensive missionary works and translations, most of the other SNEA languages are only known from fragmentary evidence, such as place names. Quinnipiac (Quiripey) is only attested in a rough translation of the Lord's Prayer and a bilingual catechism by the English missionary Abraham Pierson in 1658. Coweset is only attested in a handful of lexical items that bear clear dialectal variation after thorough linguistic review of Roger Williams' A Key into the Language of America and place names, but most of the languages are only known from local place names and passing mention of the Native peoples in local historical documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quinnatisset</span> Former town in Connecticut, US

Quinnatisset was a Nipmuc village in Connecticut which became a praying town through the influence of John Eliot and Daniel Gookin. The town was located near what is now Thompson, Connecticut or Pomfret, Connecticut possibly near Thompson Hill Historic District. The name "Quantisset" means "little long river."

Black James was a Nipmuc constable and spiritual leader of the Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck at the Chaubunagungamaug Reservation in colonial Massachusetts and Connecticut. Daniel Gookin appointed James to be a constable for the praying towns after he had become a Christian. In 1675, James signed a treaty agreeing not to assist King Philip, but may have supported him during King Philip's War. After the War, Black James deeded various parcels of land to settlers in Nipmuc country including at Quantisset and Maanexit in what is now eastern Connecticut near Rhode Island. His dying speech was recorded by Rev. Daniel Takawambait and later published and by 1686 a deed was signed by his heirs indicating that Black James was deceased, but another Indian used the name "Black James" until 1708.

Magunkaquog was one of the Christian indigenous praying towns established by the missionary John Eliot near the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Magunkaquog was established in 1660. The name came from the oaks and chestnuts which were growing in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Praying Indians of Natick and Ponkapoag</span> Organization in Massachusetts, United States

The Praying Indians of Natick and Ponkapoag is a cultural heritage group that claims descendancy from Praying Indians in Massachusetts, including the Massachusett people, an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands.

The Praying Indians of Natick were a community of Indigenous Christian converts, known as Praying Indians, in the town of Natick, Massachusetts, one of many Praying Towns. They were also known as Natick Indians.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Praying Towns". NativeTech. Nipmuc Indian Association of Connecticut. 1995. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Lepore, Jill (1998). The name of war : King Philip's War and the origins of American identity (1st ed.). New York. pp. 37–38. ISBN   0-679-44686-9. OCLC   36573588.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. Southwick, Arthur M. "Waban, the Wind". Waban Improvement Society. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 Praying Towns, Blackwell Reference Online
  5. Rawson and Danforth (1809). Mass. Hist, Soc. Coll., 1st s., x. p. 129-134.{{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. "The New England Company of 1649 and its Missionary Enterprises". Colonial Society of Massachusetts. 38. 1948.
  7. 1 2 3 John Eliot and Kenneth M. Morrison (Winter 1974). "'That Art of Coyning Christians:' John Eliot and the Praying Indians of Massachusetts", Ethnohistory, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 77-92. doi : 10.2307/481131. JSTOR   stable/481131.
  8. 1 2 Goddard, Ives and Kathleen J. Bragdon (eds.) (1989) Native Writings in Massachusett. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, pp. 2-15.