Part 2

On August 17[42] he marked out, by blazing trees, three necks of meadow for the inhabitants of Huntington, on the south side, in the western part of the present town of Babylon, which necks were afterward in controversy. The village of Amityville now occupies part of the upland bordered by the meadow. It states in the deed "that _Choconoe_ for his wages, and going to marke out the Land shall have for himselfe, one coat, foure pounds of poudar, six pounds of led, one dutch hatchet, as also seventeen shillings in wampum," which, together with pay for the land, "they must send by _Chockanoe_." Our early settlers were always behindhand in their payments, and in this case, as evidenced by a receipt attached, pay was not received until May 23 of the next year, when Wyandance refers to "the meadow I sould last to them which my man _Chockenoe_ marked out for them."

On April 19, 1659,[43] eleven years after the purchase, at an annual town meeting of the inhabitants of East Hampton, held probably in the first church that stood at the south end of the street,[44] "_It was agreed that Checanoe shall have 10s for his assistance in the purchase of the plantacon._" Seemingly a dilatory and inadequate reward for such a service. Money, however, was very scarce and worth something in those days, and we cannot gauge it by the light of the present period. In comparison we can only refer to the fact that Thomas Talmadge at the same period was only paid 20s, or double the amount, for a year's salary as Town Clerk. The record, however, is a valuable one, and is one of the straws indicating the esteem and favor in which _Cockenoe_ was regarded by the townspeople of East Hampton.

That _Cockenoe_ took an active part in marking the bounds of the tract of land between Huntington and Setauket, now comprised in the town of Smithtown, presented to Lion Gardiner by _Wyandanch_ on July 14, 1659,[45] as a token of love and esteem in ransoming his captive daughter and friends from the Narragansetts, is worthy of note, for it is evident that the Sachem had no one else so capable. In confirmation of this surmise and my belief that he had a prominent part in all the land transactions of Wyandanch, my friend William S. Pelletreau, who is preparing the early records of the town of Smithtown for publication, has lately found recorded, in a dispute over the lands of Smithtown, a deposition taken down by John Mulford of East Hampton, dated October 18, 1667, which reads: "_Pauquatoun_, formerly Chiefe Councellor to the Old Sachem _Wyandance_ testifieth that the Old Sachem _Wyandance_ appointed _Sakkatakka_ and _Chekanno_[46] to mark out the said _Rattaconeck_ [_Cattaconeck_] lands, and after that ye sd _Pauquatoun_ saw the trees marked all along the bounds and the Sachem being with him, he heard him [the Sachem] say it was marked right. And there is a Fresh pond called _Ashamaumuk_[47] which is the parting of the bounds of the foregoing lands from where the trees were marked to ye pathway." This "Fresh pond" was at the northwest bounds of the town of Smithtown.

At the same time and year, probably, as it bears no date, he witnessed the sale of "Old Field" by _Wyandance_ to the inhabitants of Setauket in the town of Brookhaven.[48] Also about the same time the sale of "Great Neck or _Cattaconocke_"[49] bounding Smithtown on the east as referred to by _Pauquatoun_.

On February 10, 1660,[50] he marked out, and also witnessed the confirmation of the sale of Lloyd's Neck, in the town of Huntington, by _Wyancombone_, the son and heir of the late Sachem _Wyandanch_, who had passed away, and whose son was then acknowledged by both the Indians and whites as the chief Sachem of Long Island. His name on this copy of a copy is misspelled as _Chacanico_.

In the confirmation deed for Smithtown, dated April 6, 1660,[51] by _Wyancombone_, the land is stated to have been laid out by some of the chief men of the tribe; these men are named in _Pauquatoun's_ testimony. In the copy recorded in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, N. Y., _Cockenoe_ is named as a witness in the corrupt form of _Achemano_. He united on August 16, 1660,[52] with the rest of his tribe at Montauk, in the first Indian deed to the inhabitants of East Hampton for "all the aforesd Necke of land called _Meantaquit_,[53] with all and every parte thereof from sea to sea."

About this time the _Meantaquit_ Indians petitioned the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England for protection from the cruelty of the Narragansetts[54] with the result that the latter were ordered not to come within six miles of the English plantations, and the former not to begin any new quarrels, but to behave themselves quietly, without provocation. The fact that _Cockenoe_ was then living at Montauk is proof that he must have been one of the petitioners.

Thomas Revell, a merchant of Barbadoes, and a resident of Oyster Bay, L. I., was engaged with Constant Sylvester, one of the owners of Shelter Island, together with James Mills of Virginia,[55] and John Budd of Southold, in the West India trade. Through his partners, or otherwise, he became well acquainted with our friend _Cockenoe_, and employed him as an interpreter in buying some land from the Indians in Westchester County, N. Y. We find that Cockenoe was with him at Manussing Island, at the head of the Long Island sound, where he gave Revell a deed, witnessed by John Budd and others, dated October 27, 1661, which reads: "I _Cockoo Sagamore_ by vertue of a full and absolute power and order unto him and intrusted by _Mahamequeet_ Sagamore & _Meamekett_ Sagamore & _Mamamettchoack_ & Capt. _Wappequairan_ all Ingines living up Hudson River on the Main land for me to bargaine & absolutely sell unto Thos Revell.... And fardder more I doe promise and ingauge myself in behalf of the prenamed Ingaines & ye rest of those Ingains which I now sell this land for and them to bring suddenly after ye date hereof, for to give unto Thomas Revels or his order quiet and peacable possession," etc., etc. This tract of land thus conveyed was in the present township of Mamaroneck, Westchester County, N. Y. The power of attorney given to _Cockenoe_ by these Indians reads: "One of our Councill _Cockoo_ by name an Ingaine the which we do approve of and do confirm whatsoever the said _Cockoo_ shall doe in bargaining and selling unto Thos Revell of Barbadoes," etc. This power of attorney by some means was dated two weeks after the execution of the deed, and in the litigation which ensued over the purchase this fact ruined the case for Revell. This deed and the power of attorney were both recorded at Southampton, L. I.,[56] and are quoted in full, with particulars of the suit, in Sharf's History of Westchester County, N. Y.,[57] and are too lengthy to dwell upon at this time.

_Cockoo_, _Cokoo_, _Cockoe_, or _Cakoe_, as his name is variously given in the papers relating to this affair, is evidently an abbreviated form of _Cockenoe_.[58] All the facts recorded in connection with it point to him and to no one else. From the context of the papers, he was a strange Indian, not living up the Hudson river, where it is stated all the other Indians dwelt. That he was acting as an interpreter is evident--a fact which, as I have before observed, was a very rare qualification for an Indian of that period. Humphrey Hughes, whose name appears as one of the witnesses on Cockoo's power of attorney, was a seaman in the employ of Revell, and in his various capacities as a sailor, trader, fisherman, or an inhabitant, is frequently mentioned in the records of both South[59] and East Hampton towns;[60] hence _Cockenoe_ was no stranger to him. Two years afterward Hughes witnessed the renewal of the Montauk Squaw Sachem's whaling grant to John Cooper; therefore, taking all these items of fact into consideration, it is not at all strange that _Cockenoe_ should have been employed by Thomas Revell in buying land from the Indians in Westchester County.

On February 21, 1662[61] (February 11, 1661) _Chekkonnow_ again united with his tribe in the deed known as the "Hither Woods" purchase, "for all the piece or neck of land belonging to _Muntauket_ land westward to a fresh pond in a beach, on this side westward to the place where the old Indian fort stood, on the other side eastward to the new fort that is yet standing, the name of the pond (Fort Pond) is _Quaunontowounk_ on the north, and _Konkhonganik_ on the south,"[62] etc. At this date, as is proven by the above wording of this deed, the Montauks were encamped at the southern part of East Hampton village[63] under the protection of the settlers, in order to escape the invasions of the Narragansetts, and Montauk was temporarily abandoned.

In the same year _Checkanow_ was sent with _Tobis_, another Indian, by order of the _Sachem Squaw_, widow of _Wyandanch_, to mark out John Cooper's whaling limits on the beach to the westward of Southampton.[64]

Some of the boundaries of Huntington, laid out in 1658, being disputed by their neighbors of Oyster Bay, it became necessary to send for _Cockenoe_ that he might identify his former marks. At a town meeting held at Huntington March 8, 1664[65] (26-12-1663). "It was voted that when _Chiskanoli_ come that Mr Wood shall have power to agree with him, and the town to gratifie him to show the boundaries of the necks of meadow at the south bought by the town."

In the following spring[66] "Att a Generall meeting of ye Deputyes of Long Island held before ye Governer at Hempstedd, March 6th 1664 (March 16, 1665), It is this day ordered yt ye Towne of Huntington shall possesse & enjoye three necks of meadow land in Controversy between ym and Oyster bay as of Right belonging to them, they haveing ye more anncient Grant for them, but in as much as it is pretented that _Chickano_ marked out fouer Necks for Huntington instedd of three, if upon a joynt view of them it shall appeare to be soe, then Huntington shall make over the outmost neck to Oyster bay," etc.

In the affirmation by John Ketchum and townsmen, who went with Cockenoe to these meadows according to the foregoing order of the assembly, we find the following interesting record:[67] "When wee came to the south to our meadows wee went ovar too neckes to our naybours who had called _massapeege_ Indians, About the number of twentie, whoe opoased us About the space of an ower and would not suffer the Indian [_Cockenoe_] to goe and shew us the marked tree, then we show the Sachem [_Tackapousha_] the writing to which hee had set his hand which was our acquitance, and yet hee would not suffer the Indian to goe, when wee see nothing would prevaile, wee took our leave of them and said wee would carry backe this anser to them that sent us; but they not willing that wee should, tooke up the matter as wee did apprihend spake to the Indians whoe after gave leave to the Indian who was _Chickemo_ to goe and shew us the tree, many off _massapauge_ Indians went with us. Thomas Brush went before and not taking notise off the tree went past it then a _massapauge_ Indian called him backe and shewed him the tree before _Chickenoe_ came neare it, when _Chickenoe_ came to the tree hee said that was the tree hee marked, as his master Commanded him. _Massapauge_ Sachem said by his Interpriter that hee told _muntaulke_ Sachem that hee was grived at his hart that hee had sould that necke upon which then wee was, but _muntalket_ Sachem tould him that it was sould and it could not bee helped and therefore bid him goe and Receve his paye and so hee said hee did: and alsoe _massapauge_ sachem owned his Land and that he had Receved the goods."

Thomas Topping of Southampton and William Wells of Southold, two of the Deputies, who were in Huntington at this time by order of the Assembly,[68] "touchinge three necks of meadowe, whch Huntington had formerly purchased of _Muntaukatt_ Sarchem, and he informs true properiety as also in responsion to Oyster Bay inhabitants, who lay a claime to part of the said three Necks, saying thare are fouer necks & one thereof belongs to them, the said _Chickinoe_ now did playnly and cleerly demonstrate before them that the Tree he first marked by his Master _Muntakett_ Sachems order, and hath a second tyme denied according to order, is noe other but that whch ought justly to be owned by him and soe marked as aforesaid, and comprehends only Huntingtons just Purchase of three Necks of Medow and in truth is three necks of medowe & not four according to the present relation of _Chickinoe_." The Huntington men, it seems, were rather greedy, and _Cockenoe_, true to their interest, and having been "gratified," was trying to give them all they claimed.

The _Massapeag_ Sachem _Tackapousha_, who has put on record "that it grived his hart" to make this sale, was a thorn in the flesh of the settlers of these two towns as long as he lived. It was utterly impossible to satisfy his demands. The records show that both the English and Dutch were obliged to buy him off time and time again.[69] He is one of the most selfish and turbulent characters we find in the whole aboriginal history of Long Island. Had he and his tribe been more powerful than they were, they would have left a bloody page on the annals of Long Island; as it was, it was his weakness alone that prevented it.

On November 3, 1669, at East Hampton, before the Rev. Thomas James and others,[70] "_Checkannoo_," with other chief men of the Montauk tribe, made an acknowledgment in "utterly disclayming any such vassalage as _Ninecraft_ did declare to the Governor at Rhoad Island & doe protest against it in our owne names & in the name of ye rest of ye Indians at Montaukett & doe further declare that he shall have no more wampom of us without approbation of ye Governour of this place & that we acknowledge ye Governour at New Yorke as our chiefest Sachem."

The same year, with his associates, _Cockenoe_[71] gave a certificate that many years before they heard the old Sachem Wyandanch declare, in a meeting of the Indians, that he gave to Lion Gardiner and Thomas James all the whales which should come ashore, at any time, on Montauk.[72]

On December 1, 1670,[73] together with _Poniuts_, alias _Mousup_, grandson of _Wyandanch_, and other chief men of the tribe, "_Chekonnow_" joined in the Indian deed for the land between the ponds, to John Mulford, Thomas James, and Jeremiah Conkling. This conveyance took in all the land to the southward of Fort Hill between the "Ditch plain" and the "Great plain," and is remarkable for its Indian names of boundary places.[74]

By an entry of July 4, 1675,[75] _Cockenoe_ was one of the crew engaged by James Schellinger and James Loper of East Hampton, as the record states, "uppon the Designe of whalleing ... During ye whole season next ensuing," then a growing industry on the south side. This service included the carting and trying out of the oil at some convenient place, for which the crew were to receive, "one halfe of one share of all profit what shall bee by us gotten or obtained During ye said terme of time."

The Indians of Long Island were disarmed in this year on account of King Philip's war, and on October 5[76] _Mosup_ the Sachem, grandson of _Wyandanch_, with _Pekonnoo_ [an error for _Chekonno_], Counselor, and others, made supplication by a letter written by Rev. Thomas James to Governor Andros at New York, "Alledging the fact that they had always been friends to the English and their forefathers before them, and this time of war fighting with the English Captains, desired that their guns might be returned, as it was the usual time of hunting." Owing to an indorsement on the back of this letter, written a week after by James, on mature consideration, the request in its entirety was not granted.[77]

On June 23, 1677,[78] _Cockenoe_ appeared before Governor Andros and Council at New York, in behalf of the inhabitants of Hampstead, who were having trouble with the Indians in their neighborhood, regarding land laid out by him in 1657, twenty years before, to which I have previously referred. At the same council he interpreted the speech of _Weamsko_, the Sachem of _Seacotauk_ in Islip, who claimed the _Nesquak_ [_Nissequogue_] lands; also the speech of _Swaneme_, who pretended to own the land called _Unchemau_ [Fresh Pond] near Huntington. In the copy from which this has been taken he is called _Checkoamaug_, an evident error of some transcriber.

We find him occasionally employed by the proprietors of Montauk, especially in the year 1682, when he is "_paid 9s for keeping the Indian corne_,"[79] and as much "_for burneing Meautauk_,"[80] which was done every spring to free the land from underbrush and weeds.

The years are now rapidly fleeting, and _Cockenoe_ is advancing in years with the settlements. The power of the Montauks is a thing of the past; they exercise no control over the rest of the Long Island Indians, who convey land without the assent of the Montauk Sachem. As most of the younger generation of the natives can speak English, probably as well as he, there is no necessity for him to interpret. He is now about the last of his generation still exercising the right as a member of the house of the Sachems, in the councils of the clan; and, on August 3, 1687,[81] he unites once more with the members of his tribe in the Montauk conveyance to the inhabitants of East Hampton: "For all our tract of land at Mantauket, bounded by part of the Fort Pond, and Fort Pond Bay west; the English land south by a line from the Fort Pond to the Great Pond ... to the utmost extent of the Island from sea to sea," etc., and then he retires from our view forever on the records of the past.

At the time of making this deed, half a century had elapsed since the conflict on the hills of Mystic--fifty eventful years in the history of our Colonies. If he was twenty-five years of age when he parted from Eliot in 1646 or 1647, he had then reached threescore years and five; not by any means an aged man, but, for all we know, he may have lived for some years afterward.[82]

There may be other recorded facts relating to his life which I have overlooked, or they may lie buried in the time-stained archives of other Long Island and New England towns--inaccessible, undecipherable, and unpublished--which some future historian may unfold and bring to light.[83] The seeds of knowledge planted by Eliot on the fertile field of this native's mind bore good fruit, even if his preceptor did write at an early day he knew not what use he then made of it. For the part he took in the rise and development of our settlements--a life work, unparalleled by that of any other Long Island or New England Indian--he deserves to be enrolled upon the page of honor.

And now, amid the rolling hills of Montauk, which he loved so well, and within sound of the everlasting murmur of the mighty ocean, which he so often heard, in a grave unmarked and unknown,[84] he sleeps to await the resurrection morn. A scarred and battered fragment from nature's world--a glacial bowlder, typical of the past--should be his monument[85]--on one side a sculptured entablature, inscribed:

"_To the Memory of a Captive in the Pequot War, the first Indian Teacher of John Eliot; A firm friend of the English Colonists; Cockenoe-de-Long Island._"

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "The Pequots were a very warlike and potent people about forty years since, (1624) at which time they were in their meridian. Their chief Sachem held dominion over divers petty Sagamores, as over part of Long Island, over the Mohegans, and over the Sagamores of Quinapak, yea, over all the people that dwelt on Connecticut river, and over some of the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuk country about Quinabang."--Gookin's History.

Gardiner's Relation of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his Descendants, by C. C. Gardiner, 1890): "Then said he, (Waiandance) I will go to my brother, for he is the great Sachem of Long Island, and if we may have peace and trade with you, we will give you tribute as we did the Pequits."

[2] Relation of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his Descendants, by C. C. Gardiner, 1890), p. 17.

[3] _Ibid._, pp. 17, 18.

[4] Morton's New England's Memorial, 1669, Reprint 1855, p. 131: "We send the male children to Bermuda by Mr. William Pierce, and the women and maid children are disposed about in the towns."

[5] "Richard Collacot was a prominent man in Dorchester. He had been a sergeant in the Pequot War, and held also at various times the offices of Selectman and of Representative." In 1641, with two associates, he was licensed by the Governor of Massachusetts, to trade with the Indians, also to receive all wampum due for any tribute from Block Island, Long Island Pequots or any other Indians.--Archæologia Americana, vol. vii. pp. 67, 434.

[6] New England's Memorial, 1669. Reprint 1855, p. 131.

[7] Pp. 176, 117.

[8] Eliot wrote October 21, 1650: "I have one already who can write, so that I can read his writing well, and he (with some paines and teaching) can read mine." The native here referred to was, without doubt, Job Nesutan, who had taken the place of the Long Island Indian, Eliot's first instructor in the language. He is mentioned by Gookin in the History of the Christian Indians as follows: "In this expedition [July, 1675] one of our principal soldiers of the praying Indians was slain, a valiant and stout man named Job Nesutan; he was a very good linguist in the English tongue, and was Mr. Eliot's assistant and interpreter in his translations of the Bible, and other books of the Indian language."--Bibliography of the Algonquian Language; Pilling (Eames's Notes, p. 127).

[9] In the summer of 1647 Eliot visited some more remote Indians about Cape Cod and toward the Merrimack river, where he improved the opportunity by preaching to them. It is probable that about this time his interpreter left Dorchester.

[10] East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 3, 45; Chronicles of East Hampton; p. 113.

[11] Thompson's History of Long Island, vol. ii. p. 311, 312, 313. The rights acquired by this mortgage are very explicit, and began as soon the same was sealed and delivered. Its bearing on the purchases from the Indians by the Colonies of Connecticut seems to have been overlooked by all our historians.

[12] This is the only instance in the early records of Long Island where we find the old Sachem of Shelter Island called _Poggatacut_. I believe it to have been rather the name of a place where he lived, either at Cockles Harbor, or on Menantic Creek, Shelter Island. _Poggat-ac-ut_ = _Pohqut-ack-ut_, "at the divided or double place." Cockles Harbor is protected on the north by two Islands, which during low tides are one Island. It was probably the sheltered condition of this harbor which gave the island its Indian name as well as its English. It was at this locality that Govert Loockmans purchased two geese from the chief Rochbou [Yoco] in 1647.--Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 94.

[13] _Wyandanch_ = _Wayan-taunche_, "the wise speaker or talker."

[14] _Momoweta_ = _Mohmô-wetuó_, "he gathereth or brings together in his house."

[15] _Nowedonah_ = _N'owi-dónoh_, "I seek him," or "I go to seek him." This Sachem was formerly called _Witaneymen_ or _Weenagamin_, and he probably changed his name when he went to spy out the enemies of the Dutch in 1645 (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60), see also Thompson's Long Island, vol. i. p. 365, Plymouth Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 18, where he is called _Weenakamin_, _i. e._, "bitter berry."

[16] The original of this deed has been stolen from the Town Clerk's office at East Hampton; consequently, I am unable to verify the spelling of these names. On some copies of this deed this name is printed _Chectanoo_; an evident error, for in no other instance do I find the _k_ in his name replaced by a _t_.