Tidbits of History - Massachusetts
Last updated 17-May-04
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Lowell MA
"A New England Girlhood; Outlined from Memory"
by Lucy Larcom (1824 to 1893)
...
Some time every summer a fleet of canoes would glide noiselessly up the river [Merrimac], and a company of Penobscot Indians would land at a green point almost in sight from our windows. Pawtucket Falls had always been one of their favorite camping-places. Their strange endevors to combine civilization with savagery were a great source of amusement to us; men and women clad alike in loose gowns, stove-pipe hats, and moccasons; grotesque relics of aboriginal forest-life. The sight to these uncouth-looking red men made the romance fade entirely out of the Indian stories we had heard. Still their wigwam camp was a show we would not willingly have missed.
- Contributed by: Judith Ranta
- notes: 1st published in 1889, this source is her autobiography, she lived and worked in Lowell MA. Date of events mentioned probably 1830-1840's.
"Shells from the Strand of the Sea of Genius"
by Harriet Farley (1813-1907), publ. 1847
This passage is from an essay entitled "Scenes on the Merrimac" pg.214-244
I remember also the first time I ever saw the aborigines of our country. They were Penobscot, and then, I believe, upon their way to the city [Lowell MA]. They encamped among the woods of the Newbury shore, and crossed the river (there about a mile in width) in their little canoes, whenever they wished to beg or trade. They sadly refuted the romantic ideas which I had formed from the descriptions of Cooper and others; nevertheless they were to me an interesting people. They appeared so strange, with their birch-bark canoes and wooden paddles, their women with men's hats and such outre dresses, their little boys with their unfailing bow and arrows, and the little feet which they all had. Their curious, bright-stained baskets, too, which they sold or gave away. I have one of them know, but it has lost its bright tints. It was given me in return for a slight favor. I remember also one dreadful stormy night while they were amongst us. The rain poured in torrents. The thick darkness was unrelieved by a single lightning-flash, and the hoarse murmurs of the seething river was the only noise which could be distinguished from the pitiless storm. I thought of my new acquaintance, and looked out in the direction of their camp. I could see at one time the lights flickering among the thick trees, and darting rapidly to and fro behind them, and then all would be unbroken gloom. Sometimes I fancied I could distinguish a whoop or yell, and then I heard nought but the pelting of the rain. As I gazed on the wild scene, I was strongly reminded of scenes which are described in old border tales, of wild banditti, and night revels of lawless hordes of barbarians.
- Contributed by: Judith Ranta
- notes: Judith adds - book is a collection of Farley's writing, many of which were first published in the 'Lowell Offering'. Date of events mentioned probably 1830-1840's.
"Loom and Spindle, or Life among the Early Mill Girls"
by Harriet H. Robinson, publ. 1898
pg. 22-23
"On other afternoons I went to walk with a playmate, who, like myself, was full of romantic dreams, along the banks of the Merrimack River, where the Indians had still their tents, or on Sundays, to see the 'new converts' baptized"
- Contributed by: Judith Ranta
- notes: Judith adds - the passage can be dated to 1835-1840
Diary Entries
by Harriet H. Robinson
Oct. 9, 1865
Went to the Circus with Warrie [her son] at So. Boston. ... A motley crowd was there--as usual when the circus is under a tent, and most of the motley crowd babies. Some real Indians performed Iroquies [sic]. I knew them to be genuine for I have seen real ones in Lowell. When I was a child they used to encamp every year on the banks of the Merrimac near the Lawrence Corporation and we used to run over there and see them make baskets. I remember how smoky their tents smelled.
25 Sept. 1867
[of walking] to the Merrimack, beyond the Lawrence Corp where the Indians always used to encamp and the baptisings were always held.
- Contributed by: Judith Ranta
- notes: Judith adds - The Lawrence was the closest of all the corps to Pawtucket Falls. It was near a bend in the river where an island called Musquash Island was located.
- notes: Harriet came to Lowell with her mother about 1832, so her memories of Lowell would have begun no earlier than that year
Lowell Mercury, 12-Sep-1834
Howard Richardson ... on way to see the Indians, now encamped on "Musquash Island." likely fell & drowned never making it to the camp site.
State Menu
Deerfield MA
Greenfield MA - the Gazette and Mercury
Vol. 7 No. 530, August 15, 1837
A visit - Our people were thrown into a state of considerable emotion last Monday evening and Tuesday, by the encampment of a body of Indians from Canada, about twenty five in number who took up their lodgings in the woods near the house of Samuel Picket Esq. about three miles from the village. They remained there until about four o'clock on Tuesday, when they passed through the village and went to Deerfield where they encamped, and still remain. They appear to be comfortably well off for Indians, having several horses and wagons, and a goodly supply of blankets and buffalo robes. They are of the St. Francis tribe, in Canada, and are descendants of Eunice Williams, daughter of Rev. John Williams, who, it will be recollected, was, with his family, carried captive when Deerfield was destroyed in 1704. One of the party, a woman of 86 years, the mother of the rest, is grand daughter to Eunice. She scorns the effeminate comforts of civilized life as much as her grandmother did when she visited her afflicted Father, and resists every importunity to lodge indoors. They are very hospitably treated by the Deerfield people. We understand they will return to their homes, from which they have been absent nearly a year, by the way of Albany.
Greenfield MA - the Gazette and Mercury
Vol. 7 No. 532, August 29, 1837
Civilization rebuked by the savages - We are informed that a party of men from this town went over to Deerfield Sabbath before last, to make a visit to the Indians who were encamped there. On going into their lodges, one of the "savages" enquired what the party had come for. "To visit you" was the reply, "We don't receive visits on the Sabbath, please to withdraw" - was the answer. They did withdraw with "a flea in their ear," and these "natives of the forest" quietly and decorously attended divine service. Their revered progenitor, Rev. John Williams, would have rendered heartfelt thanks, to have known that his aboriginal descendants would thus respect divine institutions, and so pointedly and justly rebuke those of his own race, who had so far forgotten their duty to their MAKER as to profane his holy day. This party of Indians have demeaned themselves with impudence, and yet with the utmost propriety. They passed through this village last Friday and took the Albany road, on their return to Canada. They will have become extensive tourists by the time they reach home.
- Contributed by Marge Bruchac
- Notes: Eunice Williams remained with her Indian family and married into the Iroquois tribe at Caughnawaga. Here we learn that a group of St. Francis Abenaki are visiting her home and claim to be her descendants. Although they are not identified by name here, we do learn more about these descendants of Eunice through another source, Dr. Stephen William. In 1849 the doctor wrote a paper in which we find the following statement "When the tribe of Indians from Canada were here in 1837, Louis Watso, their doctor, gave me an account of the principal medical plants they use in their practice." So we learn that this is the family of Louis Watso - but it is unclear exactly how this Abenaki family descends from Eunice and her Iroquois husband.
