Webster TIMES
90th Anniversary Issue
March 17, 1949

LAST REMNANT OF INDIAN LANDS SOLD BY
AUCTION HERE, HAD DWINDLED TO 26 ACRES
Sale on Nov. 22, 1887, All that was left of the Nipmucks'
Vast Domain

Auctioneer H. M. Clemence came to Webster Nov. 22, 1887 to sell 26 acres and 58 rods comprising the last remnant that the Nipmucks or Pegans, the so-called Dudley Indians, possessed on the vast, indefinite tract of country over which their progenitors roamed. The sale which took place at 2 p.m. was made in accordance with a decree granted by the Probate Court, Dec. 22, 1886, at the request of the Indians and their counsel, F.M. Morrison, Esq., of Worcester.

The petition was drawn under the provisions of Chapters 469 of the Acts of 1869, and the court appointed as the required commissioners Thomas Harrington and Charles Stevens, and ordered that the sale was "for the advantage of the tribe." The land is situated about a half mile from the Norwich and Worcester railroad station and consists of sprout land and includes a small cemetery in which there are 30 or 40 Indian graves. The location is not very far from the St. Louis Church.

The land was valued at $500, and as the sale averaged exactly $25 an acre and aggregated over $650, the auction must be considered a success. the land was sold in five parcels of five or six acres each, to as many different people. the purchasers were Rev. Father Quan, F.M. Morrisson of Worcester (for Chas. Haggerty), Dr. Fred Brown, Ladislaw Jonakowski and H.J. Potter of Webster. A right of way was reserved 18 feet wide through the land.

The story of the Indians since the time of John Eliot and his missionaries has been peculiar, and it may turn out that they have title to more land than that which has just been sold, under the hammer. The territory over which the tribe roamed is not very well defined, and their political relation towards neighboring tribes is not much clearer.

The Nipmucks early came under the influence of the Gospel. Before Philips war, which lasted from 1675 to 1677, there were reported to be 60 "praying Indians" at Manchaug (Oxford), 45 at Chaubunagungamaugg (Dudley), about as many at Maanexit (Dudley Hill), 100 at Woodstock, a town which originally belonged to Massachusetts, and 150 at West Dudley.

On the east side of Dudley Hill was the best conditioned Indian village. It belonged to the Pegans. The missionaries writeof the Indians as being "God fearing men". They could read and they had translations of such religious works as Baxter's "Call", Sheperd's "Sincere Convert". "The Sound Believer", "The Practice of Piety", etc. The second Indian church in the country was established among them.

Daniel Gookin, one of the original settlers among them and one of Eliot's missionaries, writing of his visit to the Indian says: "There are about nine families and forty five souls. (Now Webster). The people are of sober deportment, and better instructed in the worship of God than any of the new praying towns. Their teacher's name is Joseph who is one of the church of Hassanamesit, a sober, pious and ingenious person and speaks English well." The Indians of pure blood died out as soon as they were put upon a reservation.

The legislature passed a law forbidding them to leave it, and forbidding the sale or purchase of the land. Guardians were appointed by the legislature to care for them.

In May, 1681, the General Court appointed William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley as commissioners to treat with the Nipmucks who had had some grievances. The commissioners bought of the sachem, Black James, all of the Nipmuck country lying beyond the Kuttatuck, Nipmuck or Blackstone River. Near the center was the village of Manchaug or Oxford. The price paid was 50 pounds and a black coat for Black James.

There was, however, a reservation of five square miles for the Indians to be laid out in two sections. One of the sections was in the vicinity of what is now Webster, and other was near Woodstock, Conn. In 1682, half the reservation was sold to Stoughton and Dudley and in 1707 the remaining half was sold to the whites, "saving always and reserving a liberty of hunting and planting upon said ground in such places as may be necessary for their support." A deed dated June 1724, to John Chandler and Samuel Morris defines the boundaries as follows:

At a heap of stones on the east bank of a brook called Mekamoro-ocachaug, being the northeast corner of Isaac Newell's farm; thence extending south 5 degrees east 272 perch, by a line of marked trees, to a heap of stones in a north line of the land of the Hon. Paul Dudley, called his Maanexit farm; from thence it extends east, 5 degrees north, adjoining said Maanexit farm 361 perch to another heap of stones, which is the southest corner of said tract; from thence it extends north 5 degrees west 272 perch, to another heap of stones, being the northeast corner, and from thence by a line running west 5 degrees south 361 perch to the heap of stones first above mentioned. The boundaries included about one square mile.

June 16, 1797, the general court granted the prayer of the Indians for leave to sell the reservation, and in that year the Indians gave a deed to Levi Davis of Charlton, 201 acres, in consideration of $1667 in money and the remission of a debt of $300. The money was to constitute a fund, the interest was to be used by the guardians for the support of the Indians.

The accounts of the guardians have never been audited, and what investigation has been made has revealed traces of some rather un-business like transactions, and possibly a more offensive adjective might be truthfully used. The property of the tribe suffered somewhat from time to time by the encroachments of outsiders, or by questionable bargains. In 1857, the state legislature appropriated $3000 for a road and for houses for the Indians' descendants. The money was to be expended under direction of the selectmen of the town. They took the money, bought land and built a house thereon. In 1870 the board of state charities voted to sell this property. Thomas McQuaid of Webster was the purchaser and $1790 the price paid. In 1732 the Indians gave four acres for a common church and a school, on condition of being allowed "convenient seats".

As only 201 acres of the square mile of reservation was sold, there must have been a large tract remaining. Only 26 acres and 58 rods has been accounted for. Where is the remainder? Nobody knows.

In 1886, when it was desired to run a road through a certain tract of land at Woodstock, Conn., it was found that the owners of the land had no title to it. John and Joseph McClellan, cousins of Gen. George B. McClellan, and residents of the town, say they remember the Indians owned land there, not so very long ago, between Woodstock and Thompson, Conn.

The town of Webster was incorporated in 1832 from portions of Dudley and Oxford, and a tract of land known as the "Oxford South Gore" which belonged to the state and was not part of any township. An old deed mentions the fact. William Dudley allowed the Indians to improve land south of Powder Horn Brook, so much west of the road from Woodstock to Oxford, as said Indians may have occasion for subsisting cattle, not exceeding 15 acres, for a period of 20 years and for such further time as may be agreed upon. The rent agreed upon was "one salmon trout in the month of May, annually, if demanded on the premises." Dudley once bought land of the Indians, having forgotten about the law forbidding its purchase and he was compelled to get an act passed to ratify the sale.

Chapter 463 of the Acts of 1869, under which the petition for sale of the land granted, made the Indians citizens, and after that date, of course, no guardians were appointed.

.