Talk:Squanto/Archive 1

pronouncing Tisquantum?
Maybe something added by 67.166.7.92 (talk) 01:28, 17 January 2007 (UTC).

History project
I have this project for history and i have to find out stuff about squanto and this is a really good website.

Isn't it sad that just when you think there's a great story of an American Indian, someone has to twist it leaving his memory to be one of a bad guy?

I've never read anything bad about Squanto threatening pilgrims, but since white men were killing and kidnapping indians all the time, I would understand if he did.Lebite 21:06, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I disagree with the top comment. I see nothing in here that implies Squanto was a "bad guy." It does say his motives are difficult to ascertain and that he may have been acting out of self interest...so what? That's a far cry from "twisting" his story. My guess is Squanto was as complex as any human being--neither the saint you might want to think of him as, nor the "bad guy." Anyway, if it's true, what's the point of getting worked up?24.20.12.73 07:18, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

How in the Hell do we have a PHOTOGRAPH of Squanto, if he died in 1622? This page has a lot of issues, let alone the lack of citations.Mikeythetiger 17:57, 23 November 2005 (UTC)Michael

That's a "likeness"--perhaps a bust.24.20.12.73 07:18, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

BYU has a statue of Massasoit, I am changing it.- tito2000 6 September (UTC)

Early in his life he was captured and sold as a slave in Spain but eventually escaped and went to England. source http://www.nativeamericans.com/Squanto.htm I have read similar reports on other Native american websites that Squanto was sold into slavery in Spain, escaped to England, where he worked as an "indentured servant." More sources are definitely needed Check out http://www.rootsweb.com/~mosmd/squanto.htm

Huh?
The spelling of the name as Squanto came into widespread use in children's textbooks during the 1870s, possibly as a mnemonic aid. What's the mnemoic "Squanto" supposed to aid? Taco325i 13:32, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

The idea that the Indians taught the pilgrims the use of fertilizers, (which had been well known in Europe for thousands of years) seems absurd.

Hi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.25.77.190 (talk) 03:10, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Are we really to believe that Bradford referred to Squanto as a "Native American?" The Wikipedia bent for political correctness ought not to extend to misquoting, and this would qualify as a deliberate distortion if those words weren't used in the original. David Knapp —Preceding undated comment added 16:11, 13 November 2009 (UTC).

The article cites two possible dates for Squanto's birth according to historians. But then the date given in the box is different from both of them. What's up with that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.93.132.9 (talk) 19:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Combined two versions into one
I have been working to add section headings to articles in wikipedia where none exist and making other changes that may be needed once I see the article. I have worked on articles on many topics since this is usually a simple thing to do.

I have no independent knowledge of this subject. I chose to combine the two versions into a single article instead of having him live and die twice in the same article; I moved content so that statements about a given part of his life were grouped together instead, before the article goes to the next part of his life. The one judgment I made was to use only the more detailed account of his kidnappings (captures), since citations were provided.

Further work is needed to clean up this article and I have also added several notes where citations are needed, but I thought I could help by making it into one article instead of two different articles put together.

--EFerington 01:27, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Worst article on Wikipedia?
I nominate this for Worst Article Ever. All of the last 50 revisions are defacements. All of them. Even the reverts contribute to defacing the page. Not a single version of this page I can find is factually correct, and I'm tired of going back into the history to look for one. This article is totally FUBAR, and may as well be deleted as opposed to remaining as it is. --70.131.92.208 (talk) 03:03, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Then please edit the article to improve it :) Kingturtle (talk) 13:53, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Since no one has taken up your gauntlet, I've decided to attempt a re-write, because it really is an article in need of drastic improvement. This will take a week or two because I have to travel to more than one library to consult the principal sources. AnthroMimus (talk) 18:36, 22 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Well, it took much longer than I anticipated but except for another go through for cite checking and copy edits (which will be completed today), I think what I promised is done. AnthroMimus (talk) 18:30, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Rename
Any sources for "The Fighting Squanto"? None of the sources use it. --Pmsyyz (talk) 12:26, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Agree to the move-back. Sorry, but since the lede gave notability to his being called "The Fighting Squanto", I felt that the article should be named as such.  Your revert is good, because, as you say, there is no reliable source for the nickname.  There do appear to be reliable sources for "Squanto".  &mdash;   Paine  Ellsworth  (  C LIMAX  )  01:27, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
 * PS. Sorry about adding the Rcat to the Squanto REDIRECT. I usually don't do that, but for some reason, I felt this move to be uncontroversial.  Hope you didn't have too much of a hassle moving it back.

1614 Contradiction
The Thomas Dermer (TD) page indicates that TD didn't meet Squanto until after arriving in New England in 1614. However, if this page is correct, they would have already met each other on their trip from England to New England because John Smith is credited with bringing Squanto back to NE in the 1614 expedition. I can't find any sites backing the idea that it was John Smith who returned him to NE.JoanOfArkansas2 (talk) 21:19, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

I Agree! Squanto was not kidnapped in 1611 and then again in 1614. The 1611 date and citations are from a discredited account by Gorges 'remembering' what happened 40 years ago as he wrote an account. The 1611 kidnaping was in Maine. Squanto was kidnapped in 1614 at Patuxet (Plymouth), taken to Spain, removed to England, went over to Newfoundland, met Dermer there, went back to England with Dermer to confer with Gorges, and then Dermer took him back to Maine and New England where he stayed until his death in 1622 -- 4 Atlantic crossings, not six. This article needs the 'PC K-6 whitewashed history' removed and the real history to be inserted. This article needs a re-write. jeessh! Calixte 19:53, 30 May 2015 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Calixte (talk • contribs)

Roman Catholic?
On the basis of a radio broadcast by Watergate felon, turned born-again evangelist Charles Colson, the info-box claims that Squanto was a Roman Catholic. Even if it were acceptable to cite Colson's homily about "the amazing story of the way God used an Indian named Squanto as a special instrument of His providence" published in the right wing Christian Post (a homily by the way which posits a contrary "revisionist, politically correct version of history"), Colson doesn't even say Squanto converted to Roman Catholicism, only that Squanto was bought by "a well-meaning Spanish monk, who treated him well and taught him the Christian faith." It really boggles the mind how Squanto from this (imagined) beginning practiced the Catholic faith back in New England, living among the strictly Calvinist puritans, who would equate Romanism with devilry. These were the people, after all, who would soon banish Anglicans and Quakers and burn witches for the slightest deviation from their decidedly narrow orthodoxy. AnthroMimus (talk) 18:38, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
 * As part of an overall re-write I have eliminated this assertion in the infobox. AnthroMimus (talk) 21:23, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
 * One of the things I find most interesting, speaking as someone coming to this article for answers and not as an authority, is the Bradford quote at the end, "He begged the Governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishman's God in heaven." I find it fascinating to speculate about Squanto's actual personal beliefs as he crossed over Patuxet, English, Spanish, Wamanoag, and Puritan surroundings. In some ways, ever since he was abducted, he was an outsider everywhere. Anyway, even if the Bradford quote is to be taken at face value as accurate, it speaks volumes: someone whose religious culture has been impacted by his time among Europeans, but someone who still thinks of it as "the Englishman's God." Not that any of that has any bearing on a Wikipedia article; just my musings this morning. Btw, as a user, I'd love to see more specific citations to primary sources. I tried to find the reference to "pp. 203-40" in the Ferdinand Gorges source, but either the page numbers do not in fact fit the 1890 edition (at least the one at https://archive.org/details/sirferdinandogo02baxt), or else those 37 pp are full of material that has nothing to do with the topic, and after a half hour of investigation I gave up. AbdiViklas (talk) 16:57, 24 November 2016 (UTC)
 * I think you are quite right, and I will be removing the two instances of the citation and the assertion is is supposed to support. In fact, almost all historians say that nothing is known about his stay in Spain, or even how long it was. I think you are also right that he remained a pantheist even at his death. AnthroMimus (talk) 05:28, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

squanto
Is Squanto related to Sacagawea? I was in the middle of my bio report and then I paused was Squanto in this I was not sure so I started with Lewis and Clark after I had to do a report on princess X which I made up it was all fake that was just a book  I needed to ask my friend if I could borrow her Squanto book but I did not want to so I just said I lost it, it was horrible I had no book about Squanto so I said not due and I got a F  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:18C:C900:C530:D88D:D097:DB4B:4639 (talk) 23:58, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Unencyclopedic
Way too much tangential background, as well as, unsourced opinion and interpretation. Under "Early years and abduction" there are about six prefatory sections before you even get to the subject of this article. This is almost 300k (see WP:AS). Who's going to bother reading all this, when they came here looking for information on the individual? I expect they'll give up and go straight to the movie. Someone has done a lot of work, but whole sections should be moved to the appropriate Main with a link. Manannan67 (talk) 19:21, 27 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I agree 100 percent. The article appears to alternate between someone's thesis research and someone else's original research. It is absolutely clogged with extraneous background on just about everything from European exploration of America to disease and plagues to etymological theorizing. I've been going through and removing most of this material, but I've arrived at the "Mayflower" section and am utterly overwhelmed by the depth of the clogging material. Talk about "Piled higher and Deeper"! I'm going to take a break from this and let someone else have a go at digging down through the PhD debris and finding where Squanto has been buried. Feel free to dig in, if you're up to it. —Dilidor (talk) 17:23, 6 December 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your recent comprehensive edits. However, the article is still someone's personal thesis or dissertation research project, and it contains a huge amount of original research. It goes into incredible depth on the background of inter-tribal relations and other utterly irrelevant topics, most of which is pure speculation. I guess the only way to salvage this mess is to slog through with a machete and mercilessly cut out the overgrowth. I'll keep at it, but this is going to take some time. —Dilidor (talk) 17:52, 9 December 2019 (UTC)