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COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND

Edition Limited To 215 Copies.

_No. 169._

JOHN ELIOT'S

FIRST INDIAN TEACHER AND INTERPRETER

COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND

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.

+

LONDON: HENRY STEVENS' SON AND STILES.

1896

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE SUFFOLK COUNTY (N. Y.) HISTORICAL SOCIETY BY YOUR FELLOW MEMBER

WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER.

INTRODUCTION.

_This little work is a brief résumé of the career of an Indian of Long Island, who, from his exceptional knowledge of the English language, his traits of character, and strong personality, was recognized as a valuable coadjutor and interpreter by many of our first English settlers. These personal attributes were also known and appreciated by the inhabitants of some parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, and by the Governor of the Colony of New York, all of whom found occasion for his services in their transactions with the Indians. The facts which I shall present in their chronological order, and the strong circumstantial evidence adduced therefrom, will indicate the reasons why I have unraveled the threads of this Indian's life from the weft of the past, and why the recital of his career should be the theme of a special essay, and worthy of a distinctive chapter in the aboriginal, as well as in the Colonial, history of Long Island._

WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER. SAG HARBOR, L. I., _March, 1896_.

COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND.

The victory of Captain John Mason and Captain John Underhill over the Pequots on the hills of Mystic, in 1637, in its results was far greater than that of Wellington 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 settlements, 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 disturbed 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. 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 servitude[4]--a period generally terminating 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]

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 language, 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 possible 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 have now finished what I shall do at present; and in a word or two to satisfie the prudent Enquirer how I found out these new ways of grammar, 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 pronunciation; 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 Dorchester. His next attempt was made among the Indians of another place, "those of Dorchester mill not regarding any such thing." On the 28th of October he delivered a sermon before a large number assembled in the principal 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 discourse, 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 multitude of voyces, that they all of them did understand 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-Breaking, if not the Sun-Rising of the Gospell with the Indians in New England_, London, 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 whatever as to the great influence which the 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 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? 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 Farrett mortgage 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 _Meuntacut_ high land, with the whole breadth from 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_; _Momoweta_,[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]

Here we find confronting us, not only a remarkable, 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 purchase. 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 qualification would indicate, in 1648, 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 knowledge 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 "Interpreter"; therefore, let us learn how a translation 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 Massachusetts 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 dialects of the same linguistic family--that is, the Algonquian--in an infinite number of compounds, 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 acceptance 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 Hampton transaction, by a deed dated May 16, 1648[20] (O. S.), _Mammawetough_, the Sachem of _Corchauge_, with the possible assistance of our interpreter, 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 Southold 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 infer from the foregoing documents that his services must have been necessarily in constant demand by the colonists in their interviews with the natives, during the four years following the making of these deeds, we do not find him again on record until February 25, 1652[21] (O. S., February 15, 1651), when he is identically employed as at East Hampton, by the proprietors of Norwalk, Conn., probably on the recommendation of the authorities at New Haven; and his name appears among the grantors, 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 appellation, an island in the Long Island sound off Westport, Conn., near the mouth of the Saugatuck 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 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 displayed 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 Indian inhabitants of said island, that they are disturbed in their possession by Captain Middleton and his agents, upon pretense of a purchase from Mr. Goodyeare of New Haven, who bought the same of one Mr. Forrett, a scotchman, 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 purchase 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 themselves be deprived of their habitation there, and therefore they desired that the Commissioners (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 jurisdiction, 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 Commissioners at the next meeting, the truth of the premises; that some further order may be taken therein as shall be meet."

As the result of this emphatic protest by _Checkanoe_, and in evidence of its truth and fairness, we find that on the 27th of December following,[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 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. Goodyeare, 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 _Poggatacut_, as he is 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 endeavoring 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 forbidden to furnish them with powder, shot, or rum; hence we find but little recorded. Again, the war carried on between the Montauks and Narragansetts began in this year, and continued 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 conveyance. 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] _Wyandanch_, the Sachem of Montauk, with five of his men, on complaint entered against him by the Narragansett Sachem _Ninnegrate_, presented himself before the Commissioners, then in session at Plymouth, Mass. _Ninnegrate_, however, 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 distressed condition. It is probable that _Cockenoe_ 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_" 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 continue forever." These boundaries are named in the release of the following May, which "_Checknow_" witnesses. The appearance of his name 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 10 he laid out the beach to the westward 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]