The Journal of Negro History Volume V Part 6

The Indians of the Marshpee and Gay Head settlements, however, were made exceptions in this case for the reason that the improvement in their condition was not adequate to justify the extension to them of the same treatment given others; but they were given these same rights in 1870.[19] By the Act of 1870 the district of Marshpee was abolished as such and incorporated as a town by that name. To establish the claim to the rights and privileges guaranteed other Indians in the Act of 1869, the Superior Court of the State was given jurisdiction and a board of Selectmen was const.i.tuted as the authority for making such applications instead of any member of a tribe.

It would seem that this legislation of 1869 and 1870 solved the problem of the wardship of Indians and free persons of color on the reservations. It developed thereafter, however, that all members of these communities were not in a position to maintain themselves. In 1902, therefore, it was enacted that the State Board of Charity upon the application of the overseers of the poor of any town should make provision in the State hospital or elsewhere for the support of Indians who may be unable to support themselves and have not acquired a settlement in any town. Upon the application of an Indian who received aid from the commonwealth prior to the twenty-third day of July in the year 1869, the State Board was obligated to furnish him in the State hospital or elsewhere such aid as it might consider expedient.

The provisions in the law of 1870 for the sale of certain lands in the proceeds of which these persons would share led to further action. In 1870 the probate court appointed commissioners to make part.i.tion of the common lands of the Marshpee Indians referred to in the Act of 1869. These commissioners did not make their report until 1878. In 1870 there was presented to the Superior Court by the Selectmen of Marshpee a pet.i.tion for the division of common lands among the persons ent.i.tled thereto. In spite of argument to the contrary the Supreme Court of Ma.s.sachusetts held that the members of the Indian tribes mentioned in the Act of 1869 acquired both legal and equitable rights in tenants in common of the undivided lands of the tribe which were transferable. It was provided in 1878 that the proceeds from the sale of such lands should be divided among the persons ent.i.tled to the land in proportion to their interests.

In 1870 the Gay Head district also was abolished and incorporated as a town. The Indians were guaranteed the same rights to lands in severalty and the division of common lands as in the case of other Indian communities thus disestablished. The part.i.tion of these lands was to be made in the Probate Court on application of the Selectmen or ten resident owners of such land. An Indian feeling aggrieved because of an invasion of his rights could appeal his case, according to the provision set forth in chapter 117 of the General Statutes of Ma.s.sachusetts.[20]

Some of these Negroes from the very beginning of their a.s.sociation with the Indians took high rank.[21] The most prominent Negro of all, however, to come out of the Indian plantations was the celebrated Paul Cuffe, well known in this country and Europe by his efforts in behalf of African colonization. He was a native of the tribe of Dartmouth Indians, of mixed African and white descent. His important achievement was that of exploring the western coast of Africa with ships which he owned and fitted out and commanded and which he used in the transportation of Negroes to Africa where he was the first to undertake the deportation of freedmen from the United States, preparing the way for the organization of the American Colonization Society. On one of his voyages he visited England where he was received with marked attention by the n.o.bility and the royalty itself.

Men who knew Cuffe considered him a man of great character and respected him because of his being able by dint of energy to acc.u.mulate sufficient property to place himself in circ.u.mstances of pecuniary independence. Some of his descendants remained in the vicinity of the original Dartmouth Indians but others moved to California.[22]

Several families of Negroes in Ma.s.sachusetts trace their ancestry back to these Indians. According to the Attorney General of Ma.s.sachusetts, there are no special records kept at present of Negroes or persons of color who had interbreeded with Indians as regards the receipts by them of pensions from the commonwealth given as the result of having been dispossessed of their lands. Some persons of color a.s.sert, however, that they are the direct descendants of King Philip and Ma.s.sasoit. Because of this close connection with the Indians it was necessary for the Commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts on dispossessing the Indians of their lands to give these persons of color the benefits of the acts securing remuneration to the Indians. As these lands were disposed of regardless of the rights of the Indians, the State has a.s.sumed the obligation of satisfying these claims by pensioning the complainants.

Mr. William George Butler, of West Medford, Ma.s.sachusetts, a man now sixty years of age, receives such a pension. Mr. Butler's father came to Boston from Baltimore about 1815 and married a woman of color with an infusion of Indian blood. In looking up her estate this connection was discovered and a pet.i.tion was sent to the Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature in her favor. Upon the investigation of her claim, which proved to be just, she was granted a pension of $250 a year, which Butler inherited.[23] In the following list of persons and tribes from which are descended all Indians who are at present receiving pensions from the Commonwealth, of Ma.s.sachusetts, however, appear several Negroes or persons of color.[24] These are:

Lemuel D. and Anna Burr Ponkapoag Fannie S. Butler Wampanoag William G. Butler Wampanoag James L. Cisco Ha.s.sanamisco Delia L. Daley Oneida Alice Gigger Ha.s.sanamisco Elbridge G. Gigger Ha.s.sanamisco Angela M. Leach Pegon and Dudley Rebecca C. Hammond Algonquin Teeweleema Mitch.e.l.l Wampanoag {Descendants of King Wontonekamuske Mitch.e.l.l Wampanoag {Phillip and Ma.s.sasoit Sarah B. Pocknett Algonquin Zeriah Robinson Wampanoag Samantha Talbot Oneida

C. G. Woodson

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts during the Session of the Grand Court_, 1861, No. 96, p.

10.

[2] The figures given by _The Centinel_ differed a little from these.

According to its census in 1765, Barnstable had 516 Indians instead of 515; Bristol had 401 Negroes and 167 Indians; Ess.e.x 977 Negroes instead of 1,070; Middles.e.x 871 Negroes and 37 Indians; Nantucket 93 Indians instead of 149; Norfolk 420 Negroes instead of 414; Plymouth 223 Indians instead of 227; Suffolk 891 Negroes instead of 844; Worcester 304 Negroes instead of 267. See J. H. Benton's _Early Census making in Ma.s.sachusetts_.

[3] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, pa.s.sim.

[4] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate of Ma.s.sachusetts, 1861_, No. 96, p. 84.

[5] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, p. 10.

[6] _Ibid._, p. 34.

[7] The Laws of Ma.s.sachusetts, 1811.

[8] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, pp.

38-39.

[9] Laws of Ma.s.sachusetts, 1828.

[10] "Sixty-six out of the whole number of the tribe, at the time of the enumeration, were not residents of the District; but 52 of them were considered as retaining their rights in the tribe, and more than half of the 66 were understood to be only temporary residents abroad, expecting, at some time, to return to Marshpee, and make it their permanent place of residence. A few others, as a matter of personal convenience, are now residing just over the line, and are so returned, but they consider themselves as identified with the tribe in all respects, and are so considered by the tribe. Fourteen individuals, included in the above 66, whose names are in the 'Supplementary List,'

own no land in the District, but have been gone so long from it, that they are not now recognized by residents as members of the tribe."

_Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, p. 40.

[11] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, p. 47.

[12] _Ibid._, pp. 73-74.

[13] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, p. 84.

[14] _Doc.u.ments printed by order of the Senate, 1861_, No. 96, p. 101.

[15] _Ibid._, p. 109.

[16] _Ibid._, pp. 131-132.

[17] _Ma.s.sachusetts Acts of 1884, 1890, 1892, and 1893._

[18] _Ma.s.sachusetts Acts of 1869_, Chapter 463.

[19] "A method was also provided through which his t.i.tle might be established. This was through Commissioners which were to be appointed by the Probate Court who were to act under the direction of the Court and determine all necessary questions and make their report from which the Court could make its order or decrees. Any person who deemed himself aggrieved had the right to appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court. The right of the Indians became vested and forcible the moment the statute took effect." See a statement from the present Attorney General of Ma.s.sachusetts, dated December 1, 1919.

[20] "Section 5, chapter 463 of the Acts of 1869 provided that the general agent of the board of state charities shall take charge of the house, and all property connected therewith, in the town of Webster, belonging to the Commonwealth and permission was given him to lease the same to persona heretofore known as members of the Dudley tribe of Indians, upon terms substantially like those upon which they have heretofore occupied it; or to sell the same at public auction under the direction of the state board of charities and pay the proceeds of such lease or sale into the Treasury of the Commonwealth." Statement of present Attorney General of Ma.s.sachusetts, submitted December 1, 1919.

[21] Samuel A. Drake, _History of Middles.e.x County. Ma.s.sachusetts_, pp. 194, 280.

[22] John W. Cromwell, _The Negro in American History_, 98-103.

[23] These facts were obtained from Mr. Butler himself.

[24] This list was obtained from the office of the Attorney General of Ma.s.sachusetts.

DOc.u.mENTS

To meet the demand for an enlargement of the liberty granted the Indians and the mixed breeds living on the reservations, the Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature enacted in 1861 the following measure intended to offer every ambitious one of these groups a way of escape from the wardship of the State and at the same time safeguarding the interests of those who objected to having turned loose upon society a large number of dependents who could not function as persons having a permanent attachment to the community and primarily concerned with the welfare of the body politic.

COMMONWEALTH OF Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.

IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE.

AN ACT

CONCERNING THE INDIANS OF THE COMMONWEALTH

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court a.s.sembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:_--

Sect. 1. All Indians and descendants of Indians in this State are hereby placed on the same legal footing as the other inhabitants of the Commonwealth, excepting those who are supported, or have been, in whole or in part, by the State, and excepting also, those residing on the Indian plantations of the Chappequidd.i.c.k, Christiantown, Gay Head, Marshpee, Herring Pond, Fall River, and Dudley tribes, or those whose homes are thereon and are only temporarily absent.

Sect. 2. Any Indian or person of color, belonging to either of the tribes before mentioned, and residing within the limits of any town or city of this Commonwealth, to whom the right of citizenship is not extended by the first section of this act but who wishes to exercise that privilege, may certify the same in writing to the clerk of the town or city where he resides, who shall make record of the same: and upon paying a poll tax, he shall become, to all intents and purposes, a citizen of the State, and shall not, thenceforward, return to the legal condition of an Indian. And settlement shall be required, by those who become citizens, under the provisions of this act, in the same manner they are acquired by other persons, under the General Statutes of the Commonwealth.

Sect. 3. It shall be the duty of the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the council, to appoint an able, discreet, and suitable person, to be Indian commissioner, who shall hold his office for the term of three years, unless sooner removed by the governor and council. And the governor and council shall fill all vacancies which shall happen in said office, by death, resignation, expiration of said term, or otherwise. It shall be the duty of said commissioner to exercise a careful supervision over the affairs of all the Indians of the Commonwealth, not endowed by the provisions of this act, with the rights of citizenship, and to aid them, by advice, counsel, and whatever other suitable means may be within his control, to promote their welfare, to improve their general condition, and to qualify themselves, judiciously, and with safety to themselves and others, to be placed, at as early a time as may be, on the same legal footing as the other inhabitants of the Commonwealth. He shall exercise all the powers, perform all the duties, and be subject to all the restrictions, responsibilities and liabilities, which now by law appertain to the treasurer of Marshpee, and to the guardians of other tribes except so far as they may be charged or varied by the provisions of this act; and he shall give bonds, to the satisfaction of the governor and council, for the faithful performance of such trust.