On the Massachusetts North Shore
Descendants of the Pawtucket are living in Abenaki, Pequaket, Penobscot, and Micmac communities today in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Nova Scotia.… Continue reading Living Descendants of the Native Americans of Agawam
This site is produced by Ipswich town historian Gordon Harris and is not officially affiliated with the Town of Ipswich, the Ipswich Historical Commission or the Ipswich Museum.… Continue reading About this site (with Index)
This essay is about attributions of ethnic identity in the Indigenous history of Essex County, Massachusetts. Will Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars be able to retell Indigenous history as it was real?… Continue reading Politics of the Archives Redux: Indigenous History of Indigenous Peoples of Essex County, Massachusetts
An estimated 18,000,000 Native Americans lived in North America before the 17th Century. The arrival of 102 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620 and the settlements by the Puritans a decade later were accompanied by the demise of the native population of North America.… Continue reading The Great Dying 1616-1619, “By God’s visitation, a wonderful plague”
It’s hard for people to change their stories—so embedded in deep time and official canon, even when there is a better explanation or a closer truth. I hope it will be possible to change public knowledge about the Native Americans who lived here and get closer to the truth.… Continue reading Who Were the Agawam Indians, Really?
by Mary Ellen Lepionka. Featured image: North Conway, 1907. The White Mountain National Forest was established in 1918. In New England townships, common lands became increasingly smaller with each subdivision through distribution, sale, or inheritance. As commons shrank, conflicts over herding grew. The number and sizes of herds had to be regulated, as some settlers… Continue reading The Tragedy of the Wilderness: The Colonists and Indian Land, Part 4
The idea of private property was alien to Native Americans, but the practice of private ownership apparently was not a feature of colonial life either.… Continue reading “Brought to Civility” — The Colonists and Indian Land, Part 2
In1882, a shell heap on the shore of Treadwell’s Island was observed to contain nearly two quarts of human bones, broken into short pieces.… Continue reading Discovery of native American shell heap on Treadwell’s Island, 1882
In contact situations in the early 17th century, Europeans were quick to grasp the essential humanity of Native Americans and admired their appearance and physical fitness. Soon, upper-class English wore American feathers and furs, Native Americans prized English woven fabrics and garments, especially tailored shirts. … Continue reading Native American Influence on English Fashions
On March 6, 1659 a young man named Robert Cross dug up the remains of the Agawam chief Masconomet, and carried his skull on a pole through Ipswich streets, an act for which Cross was imprisoned, sent to the stocks, then returned to prison until a fine was paid.… Continue reading The Bones of Masconomet
(The following information is provided by Mary Ellen Lepionka of Gloucester. Read: Who Were the Agawam Indians Really? Mary Ellen Lepionka’s Sources Sources for Algonquian place names include Other sources of information about place names: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft set forth his linguistic theories in his 1839 Algic Researches.The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs published his… Continue reading Resources for local Native American history and dialects
Beneath broad acceptance of Indian rights and benign admiration for aspects of Native culture lies inherited hostility toward Native people. Unrecognized, it has gone unchallenged, but locally I have found it evident in these six ways.… Continue reading Ancient Prejudice against “the Indians” Persists in Essex County Today
The Ipswich Town Historian has begun a list of notable people who lived in our community and requests your additional input. These individuals could have resided during any historic time period.… Continue reading Notable Persons from Ipswich history
Many people trace their roots back through several generations to Ipswich, one of the earliest towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. No community in this country is a more fulfilling destination for the genealogy tourist.… Continue reading Ipswich Genealogy Resources
Today, vestiges of the Commons survive here as city parks or conservation lands, such as the South Green in Ipswich, and public gardens, such as Boston Common.… Continue reading Disorder in the Corn Fields: The Colonists and Indian Land, Part 3
More than the concepts of sovereignty and private property, the commodification of nature in the service of mercantile capitalism was the crux of the problem.… Continue reading “That we may avoid the least scrupulo of intrusion” – The Colonists and Indian Land, Part I
Historic Ipswich 