User:Bh597/Hassanamisco Nipmuc

The Hassanamisco Nipmuc, own four and a half acres of reservation land in what is present day Grafton, Massachusetts. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc people are part of a larger tribe that identifies itself as the Nipmuc Nation. This group of indigenous peoples are native to Central Massachusetts, Northeastern Connecticut, and parts of Rhode Island.

In 1647, a Protestant revered by the name of John Eliot created the Hassanmesit "praying town." Through the creation of this town, the Nipmuc people were converted to Christianity. Sarah Robins took possession of the land that is currently referred to as the Hassanamisco Reservation. Sarah began the tradition of female inheritance that lasted for generations. In the mid 1600's there were many intermarriages between the Nipmuc people are African Americans. There marriages were most often found between Native American women and African American men.

Powwows have been held each year at the Hassanamisco Reservation since 1924, which are open to both native and non-native people.

History
The Nipmuc people, also referred to as "fresh water people," were divided into many villages which were connected through alliances and trade. They once had a vast amount of land and were spread throughout eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The people hunted for, and planted food. Since the wetus that they lived in could be moved, they were seen as "wanderers." They took great care of the land in which they lived. The Nimpuc people mostly lived besides rivers and streams.

Not much is known about the Nipmuc people before the arrival of settles, but when the Pilgrims first arrived in Massachusetts in 1620, there were around 6,000 Nimpuc people. The earliest encounter known was in 1621, where the settlers and the Native Americans had a friendly relationship. For example, when the settlers were starving one of the tribe members brought them corn.

After the end of King Phillip's War in the mid seventeenth century, the seven Nipmuc families that returned are referred to now as the Hassanamisco people. The Hassanamisco land was sold by Englishmen to Englishmen. The Nipmuc people were allowed to keep 1,200 acres. That land began to dwindle as some Hassanamisco Nipmuc people started to sell or lease their land to the English. It has been theorized that the reasons behind the sale of the land was due to high mortality rates due to alcoholism or participation in wars. The land kept being sold until 1857 when Moses Printer sold the land to a man names Harry Arnold. Ever since the remaining acres have been Nipmuic land, and is currently known as the Hassanamisco Reservation.

Sarah Robins was a member of one of the original seven Nipmuc families. Sarah took possession of the land in 1727 and began a tradition of female land inheritance that lasted for hundreds of years. The female members of the Cisco family took control over the land in the late nineteenth century. These women became the caretakers of the land, working to ensure its preservation. After 1857, Sarah Arnold Cisco's land became the last original piece of Nipmuc land dating back to before the 1600's, after her uncle John Hector sold his land so he could live with other natives and take advantage of opportunities in Worcester.

During the Revolutionary War, many Nipmuc people fought with the Americans against the British. They also fought with the Union during the Civil War in the 54th and 55th regiment.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, those in the Nipmuc Nation started marrying other Nipmuc people from different tribes.

Conversion to Christianity
In the seventeenth century, a Protestant missionary by the name of John Eliot spoke in Northeastern Connecticut in an attempt to convert the local Native Americans to Christianity. On Nipmuc land and territory, Eliot created seven "praying towns," but throughout Massachusetts, there were fourteen of them in total. The present day Hassanamisco Reservation located in Grafton, Massachusetts was briefly a praying town an 1728 where it was called the town of Hassanamesit. Eliot created these towns in order to convert as many Native American tribes as he was able. These towns had the backing of the Massachusetts government of the time. Eliot believes that the indigenous people not only needed to learn the gospel, but to also the English way of living. While living in these towns, the Native peoples were not allowed to practice any of their traditions. To enforce this way of living, the "Praying Indians" of the towns were given eight rules that they needed to follow and if not, were forced to pay a fine. These rules included restrictions of what one's hair might look like; men were told they could not have long hair and women were required to have their hair pulled back. This was done in an effort to make the indigenous people more like the English. The praying towns in Northeastern Connecticut were shut down after the beginning of King Phillip's war because the residents fled to other more safe towns. Ultimately the Hassanamesit praying town disassembled after the end of King Phillip's war.

King Phillip's War
Main article: King Philip's War

Metacom, also known as King Phillip, recruited many different Native American tribes in New England to fight with him in his conflict with the English. Thousands of Native Americans were killed in this war, including members of the Nipmuc tribe. During the war, the Nipmucs, along with several other tribes, attacked Brookfield and set fire to Springfield, Massachusetts. It was reported that after the attack, both towns were extremely surprised because they believed that they had a relationship built on trust and that they were friends. In 1675, the members of Hassanamesit praying town, along with four other towns were not banned from leaving the settlement under threat of being put in jail or being killed. This was because the colonists were concerned that if they did, they would join King Phillip in the fight against the English. At the end of the war, the Nipmuc tribe members who had joined King Phillip, if they did not manage to escape, were either killed or enslaved.

John Milton Earle and Intermarriage
In the late 1900's, when the tribe petitioned the government so they could obtain federal acknowledgement and they were ultimately denied, it is thought that the reason why came down to John Milton Earle. In 1859 Earle, who was a politician from Worcester, was named the Massachusetts Indian Commissioner. In that time, both Native Americans and African Americans were marginalized groups. Through their mistreatment by the Anglo-Americans, they were brought together. Both groups were spread through the villages in New England and African American men met Native American women while they both worked in their prospective jobs. These meetings often led to marriages between the two. Oftentimes the Native American women would buy their future husbands out of slavery so they could be both free, and wed. That meant that any child they they had would also not be a slave. However, the children of interracial couples were also seen as not truly Native American by many white people in New England. At that time, racial distinction was important for the Anglo-Americans, and it was becoming difficult to tell what race people were because of the number of interracial people. The number of intermarriages especially increased after times of war because of the number of deaths of Native American men. Although Native American men did marry African American women, it was far less common for them to do so.

In 1861, John Earle released a report stating that the Native Americans could no longer be considered a tribe because of the intermarriages with African Americans. He stated that the tribe was no longer culturally distinct and and not autonomous. This report was used by the Office of Federal Acknowledgement in 2004 to deny the Nipmuc people federal recognition as a nation.

Current Status
Today, there are nearly 600 Nipmuc tribe members living in the community, making it one of the largest Native American nations in New England. The land that the people currently own is the only land remaining of the original Hassanamesit settlement. The reservation land is both open and wooded. Although they are a "state acknowledged tribe" by the state of Massachusetts, they are not recognized as a nation at the federal level. In 1980, they filed a petition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order to gain recognition, but were ultimately denied because the tribe did not meet several of the criteria. Each year in July, the tribe holds the annual Nipmuc Powwow, where there is singing, dancing and a naming ceremony. Both Native Americans and non natives come to this event. In 2011 the reservation was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in an effort to preserve the land for Native Americans.

Cisco Homestead
The Cisco Homestead is the central building of the Hassanamisco Reservation and is currently being restored by members of the tribe. Around 150 years ago the building was given its name after the Cisco family, but it had been standing long before it had received its name when it was built in 1801. It is thought that the Cisco Homestead is the oldest timber framed structure that is still used by Native Americans to this day. To the Hassanamisco Nipmuc people, the homestead and the reservation land are reminders of all of the struggles that the people have overcome, and are symbols of hope that they will survive in the future. Having a historic building on Nipmuc land has helped in insuring that the reservation land will not be sold to those who are not in the Nipmuc tribe.

See also[edit]

 * Chaubunagungamaug Reservation
 * State recognized tribes
 * List of Indian reservations in the United States
 * National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts

References[edit]

 * 1) PEZZAROSSI, HEATHER LAW, and STEPHEN A. MROZOWSKI. “The Archaeology of Hassanamesit Woods.” Historical Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration: Discovering Histories That Have Futures, by D. Rae Gould et al., 1st ed., University Press of Florida, Gainesville; Tallahassee; Tampa; Boca Raton; Pensacola; Orlando; Miami; Jacksonville; Ft. Myers; Sarasota, 2020, pp. 101–124. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvx06zcw.10. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.
 * 2) GOULD, D. RAE, et al. “Threads of Continuity: Cultural and Temporal Intersections across Nipmuc Homelands.” Historical Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration: Discovering Histories That Have Futures, by D. Rae Gould et al., 1st ed., University Press of Florida, Gainesville; Tallahassee; Tampa; Boca Raton; Pensacola; Orlando; Miami; Jacksonville; Ft. Myers; Sarasota, 2020, pp. 27–48. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvx06zcw.7. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.
 * 3) Pulsipher, Jenny Hale. “Massacre at Hurtleberry Hill: Christian Indians and English Authority in Metacom's War.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 3, 1996, pp. 459–486. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2947201. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.
 * 4) "NIAC Publications ~ The "PRAYING TOWNS"". Nativetech.Org, 2020, http://www.nativetech.org/Nipmuc/praytown.html . Accessed 24 Oct 2020.
 * 5) ^ [1] Ibid.
 * 6) "Martin Issues Final Determination to Decline Federal Acknowledgment of The Nipmuc Nation". U.S. Department of the Interior. June 18, 2004. Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
 * 7) Mandell, Daniel R. “Shifting Boundaries of Race and Ethnicity: Indian-Black Intermarriage in Southern New England, 1760-1880.” The Journal of American History, vol. 85, no. 2, 1998, pp. 466–501. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2567748. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
 * 8) Hauptman, Laurence M. Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 18, no. 1, 1998, pp. 141–143. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27502399. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020
 * 9) Thee, Christopher J. “Massachusetts Nipmucs and the Long Shadow of John Milton Earle.” The New England Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 4, 2006, pp. 636–654. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20474497. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
 * 10) Carroll, Brian D. “The Effect of Military Service on Indian Communities in Southern New England, 1740–1763.” Early American Studies, vol. 14, no. 3, 2016, pp. 506–536. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/earlamerstud.14.3.506. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
 * 11) GOULD, D. RAE. “The Cisco Homestead and Hassanamisco Reservation: Past, Present, and Future of the Nipmuc Nation.” Historical Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration: Discovering Histories That Have Futures, by D. Rae Gould et al., 1st ed., University Press of Florida, Gainesville; Tallahassee; Tampa; Boca Raton; Pensacola; Orlando; Miami; Jacksonville; Ft. Myers; Sarasota, 2020, pp. 149–175. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvx06zcw.12. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
 * 12) "Martin Issues Final Determination to Decline Federal Acknowledgment of The Nipmuc Nation". U.S. Department of the Interior. June 18, 2004. Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
 * 13) Web.Archive.Org, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20060929073126/http://www.doi.gov/news/nipmuc.html . Accessed 24 Oct 2020.
 * 14) "NIAC Publications ~ The "PRAYING TOWNS"". Nativetech.Org, 2020, http://www.nativetech.org/Nipmuc/praytown.html . Accessed 24 Oct 2020.
 * 15) Hauptman, Laurence M. Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 18, no. 1, 1998, pp. 141–143. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27502399. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.