Assawompsett-Nemasket Wampanoags
The Assawompsett-Nemasket Wampanoag territory is known today as Lakeville and Middleboro. The Assawompsett-Nemasket tribe is recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but not federally recognized. They are the direct lineal descendants of Wattuspaquin the black Sachem of Assawompsett and Mionamie, Daughter of Massasoit (Ousamequin). Throughout the 18th,19th and 20th centuries the headquarters of the band was located at Nateawahmet or the Betty's Neck Reservation on Assawompset Pond.
The Assawompsett-Nemasket Wampanoag territory is known today as Lakeville and Middleboro. The Assawompsett-Nemasket tribe is recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but not federally recognized. They are the direct lineal descendants of Wattuspaquin the black Sachem of Assawompsett and Mionamie, Daughter of Massasoit (Ousamequin). Throughout the 18th,19th and 20th centuries the headquarters of the band was located at Nateawahmet or the Betty's Neck Reservation on Assawompset Pond.
Betty's Neck
Nateawahmet or the Betty's Neck is a 483-acre peninsula that juts into the Assawompsett Pond. The land has a long connection to the Wampanoag Tribe.
Mionamie 1623-1676 English name Aime
Massasoit's second daughter, and the only child to survive the King Philip's War. Monamie (Aime) married Tuspaquin (1630-1676) also known as the "Black Sachem", Chief of the Assawampset Wampanoags.
Tuspequin was the commander-in-chief at the various conflicts with Captain Benjamin Church around the ponds of Middleboro. After Church had taken his wife, children, and upon the promise that if he would surrender he would spare his and their lives, Tuspequin went to Plymouth, and surrendered himself up to the governor and his council. He was soon after tried and publicly executed.
Aime and Tuspaquin had two (2) sons :
1) William Tuspaquin (c. 1646-1722):
Initially thought he has lost his life during King Philip's War, however did survive and moved to the safety of Mashpee and remained there with his family until his death caused by a plague in 1722. There is extensive documentation of his family and descendants, who used both the traditional names of Mantewupt or Mantuwight or variant Sunkason. William's descendants lived at least another two or three generations at Mashpee.
2) Benjamin Tuspaquin I (Squinnaway) (1655-1748) :
He was a distinguished warrior, and had a piece of his jaw shot off in battle. He died suddenly, while sitting in his wigwam. He served under the Captain James Church in King Philip's War and for that service was awarded land in Freetown (now the Wattupa Reservation). There is some doubt concerning the part he played in the war, whether he was fighting with his own people or with the English.
Benjamin and his wife Weecum (1655-1725) had four (4) children:
a) Esther (married Tobias Sampson) no children
b) Hannah (married Quam) had two (2) children : Hope (never married) John (never married, lost at sea).
c) Mary (married Isaac Sissel) had three (3) children : Mercy, Mary, Arbella died in infancy
d) Benjamin II (1679-1745) (married Mercy Felix 1685-1745) had one (1) child Lydia Tusaquin
* Mercy Felix was the daughter of Felix and Assawetough (granddaughter of John Sassamon). Benjamin's sisters were quite disgusted at the act of their brother married the granddaughter of John Sassamon, whom they regarded as the prime betrayer and the cause of the King Philip’s war; a conflict in which their grandfather, had laid down his life, their great uncle Philip had lost his kingdom and life, and the hopes of the red men had perished.
Lydia Squin Tuspaquin 1740-1812
As mentioned above, Lydia Tuspaquin was the only child of Benjamin II and his wife Felix. Both of Lydia's parents died when she was young, and her Grandfather Benjamin I continued to care for her until his death. Lydia attended school and became educated, and became the chief scribe for her people. Lydia claimed a great skill in the healing art and was in act of collecting herbs for medical purposes when she fell from the high bank into the Assawompset Pond and drowned in July 1812.
Lydia Squin Tuspaquin and her husband Wamsley had five (5) children
a) Jane Wamsley (Squin) (1771-1794) drowned in Assawompset Pond.
b) Benjamin Wamsley (1773-1799)
c) Zerviah Wamsley (x-1816) (married James Johnson) had one(1) child : Arbella died 3 months old.
d) Paul Wamsley (married Phebe Jeffries) had two (2) children Mary and Jane
e) Phoebe Wamsley (Squin) (1770-1839) (married Silas Rosier) had two (2) children
Martin Rosier (1792-1792) and John Rosier (1793-1851) drown in Assawompset Pond
Phoebe remarried after Silas was lost at sea (married Brister Gould) They had seven (7) children
a) Betsey Gould (1797-1824) (married James Hill) They had two (2) children
Keziah Hill (1818-1845) James Hill (1819-1821)
b) Lydia Gould (1799-1855)
c) Jane S. Gould (1801-1844)
d) Ruby Gould (1803-1851)
e) Malinda Gould (1805-1824)
f) Benjamin Gould (1809-x)
g) Zerviah Gould (1807-1898)
Zerviah (Gould) Mitchell was famous for giving a genealogy of the local leaders of the Wampanoags and of the Indians of Betty’s Neck. While a helpful and often quoted source of information, there are some intentional misrepresentations and deletions in her genealogy. At the time, Zerviah, a recent widow was suing her relatives for land at the Watuppa Reservation (Fall River) claiming decent from John Sassamon. While she may have had a valid claim, some assertions of her genealogy were untrue and misleading as she sought to prove she was the only heir to the land.
In May 1859 Zerviah, after being widowed in March 1859, returned to Betty's Neck to a 15-acre lot. The Mitchell’s move to Betty’s Neck was no small undertaking. The land had to be cleared and tilled; a house, barn and other outbuildings erected, and a source of income had to be created. From this home they went out to earn their livelihood – by selling the baskets, brooms, and beaded work which they had made and the vegetables they had raised.
Betty's Neck Deeds - John Sassamon, Felix and his wife "Assawetough"
In 1673 Tuspaquin "Black Sachem" and his son William, by deed of gift, conveyed to John Sassamon twenty seven( 27) acres of land at Assawamset Neck, then soon after Sassamon deeded the land to his son-in-law Felix.
On March 11 1673, the same parties deeded to Felix another fifty-eight and 1/2 (58 1/2) acres of land. On December 23 1673 Tuspaquin "Black Sachem" and William made by deed of gift to Assawetough of a neck of land at Assawamset, which they called Nahteawamet.
In 1679, Governor Winslow, of the Plymouth Colony, ordered “that all such lands as were formerly John Sassamon’s (murdered in 1675) in our collonie, shall be settled on Felix his son-in-law,” and to remain his and his heirs forever.
Felix died before Assawetough, and she in her 1696 will gave her lands to her daughter, Mercy Felix, wife of Benjamin Tuspaquin II. This now put all the lands in possession of the Tuspaquin Family. Assawetough had received from the English the name of Betty, her lands thus came to be called, and are still known as
“Betty’s Neck.”
In a 1714 Will made by Felix, which was filed incorrectly by the Plymouth Court, lays out how to dispose of the land that Felix owned among his four children by a woman named Abigail. It's not widely known that Felix took a second wife and indeed had four children with her. His children are :
a) Abigail Watamon
b) Sarah Hood
c) Thomas Felix
d) Mehitable Felix
Legal Challenges 1900's
In 1903 legal challenges occurred which ultimately removed 500 acres of land from their ownership and threatened their water rights to Assawompset Pond. Prior to moving back to Betty's Neck, the property sat idle for many years and sections of it had been encroached upon by squatters and others who now considered the area their own. Land disputes arose and other parties turned up with deeds claiming the land was theirs. With the will to settle the controversy,
Melinda filed a petition with the state of Massachusetts in 1904 for the registration of title to certain tracts of land lying within the limits of Betty’s Neck. The purpose was to title certain tracts of land lying within “Betty’s Neck”. Melinda, an educated, and well known authority on Wampanoag history claimed the land in her Indian Rights as being the last remaining property of her Wampanoag ancestors. She argued the land in question “which has never come under private dominion of the white man.”
By 1908, Melinda had become bedridden from tuberculosis and dependent on her sister's care. On February 21 1917 the Massachusetts General Court passed a resolution granting annuities to the daughters of Zeriah G Mitchell who had already passed away, Melinda Teeweleema Mitchell, Charolotte Wootonekanskue Mitchell and Zeriah (Mitchell) Robinson were to receive quarterly installments of $100 beginning on December 1, 1916 to the aged and needy Indian woman of the Wampanoag tribe and residents of “Betty’s Neck” until their death.
The Last Descendants of Massasoit on Betty's Neck.
Melinda Mitchell Teweeleema 1836-1919
Melinda was proud of her ancestry and always appeared in public in tribal clothing including feathers, beaded gown, and moccasins. Melinda was of the strong opinion that the government had failed to show her and her sister the respect due them. She claimed to her dying day that there were two hundred (200) acres of Indian lands in Fall River which rightfully belonged to the descendants of the Tuspaquin but that they had been scaled down to twenty-seven (27) acres. She claimed that five hundred (500), or six hundred (600), acres of land in Lakeville belonged to the descendants of Massasoit by right, of which there were only eleven (11) left. On October 7, 1919, Melinda died in the family cottage on the shore of Betty's Neck.
Charlotte L. Mitchell Wootonekanuske 1848-1930
Charlotte Mitchell highest triumph of her life came when she was chosen to unveil the statue of Chief Massasoit on Labor Day 1921, which is on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, much to her later regret. Charlotte was keenly aware of her history. She was descended from Massasoit and respected her great uncle Metacom (King Philip) for his effort to resist the injustices done to their people. She so admired Metacom that she took his wife’s name, Wootonekanuske, as her own. Of her ancestors she once said, "He signed the doom of my people right there [at Plymouth]. Although King Philip tried to right our wrongs, by that time the white men were too strong for us."
In December 1921 Librarian Minnie E. Burke sought to clarify the purpose of the statue. “The statue is a memorial to Massasoit himself, in recognition of his kindness to the Pilgrims and not a commemoration of the first settlement.”
The last seven (7) years of her life she spent, due to failing health at a home of friends in Middleboro. On April 29 1930, at age 82, Charlotte, the last of the Wampanoags and direct descendant of Massasoit, died. Charlotte Mitchell held legal title to a 15-acre tract until her death, whereupon the estate went to her sisters, Lydia Mitchell and Emma J. Safford. Massasoit’s lineage surrendered this land finally and completely in October, 1943, for nonpayment of back taxes.
The First White Inhabitants of Betty's Neck.
In 1714 the first white man, Thomas Nelson, purchased land on Betty's Neck. Three (3) years later in 1717, he and his family moved there.
Betty's Neck Changes Owners
The land was later owned and farmed for more than 50 years by Decas Cranberry Products, Inc.. In 2000 negotiations between the state, the cities of Taunton and New Bedford, and the town of Lakeville resulted in the purchase of the Betty’s Neck property from the Decas family and the protection of nearly 4,000 acres of land around the Assawompsett Pond Complex. Total cost $9 million.
Nateawahmet or the Betty's Neck is a 483-acre peninsula that juts into the Assawompsett Pond. The land has a long connection to the Wampanoag Tribe.
Mionamie 1623-1676 English name Aime
Massasoit's second daughter, and the only child to survive the King Philip's War. Monamie (Aime) married Tuspaquin (1630-1676) also known as the "Black Sachem", Chief of the Assawampset Wampanoags.
Tuspequin was the commander-in-chief at the various conflicts with Captain Benjamin Church around the ponds of Middleboro. After Church had taken his wife, children, and upon the promise that if he would surrender he would spare his and their lives, Tuspequin went to Plymouth, and surrendered himself up to the governor and his council. He was soon after tried and publicly executed.
Aime and Tuspaquin had two (2) sons :
1) William Tuspaquin (c. 1646-1722):
Initially thought he has lost his life during King Philip's War, however did survive and moved to the safety of Mashpee and remained there with his family until his death caused by a plague in 1722. There is extensive documentation of his family and descendants, who used both the traditional names of Mantewupt or Mantuwight or variant Sunkason. William's descendants lived at least another two or three generations at Mashpee.
2) Benjamin Tuspaquin I (Squinnaway) (1655-1748) :
He was a distinguished warrior, and had a piece of his jaw shot off in battle. He died suddenly, while sitting in his wigwam. He served under the Captain James Church in King Philip's War and for that service was awarded land in Freetown (now the Wattupa Reservation). There is some doubt concerning the part he played in the war, whether he was fighting with his own people or with the English.
Benjamin and his wife Weecum (1655-1725) had four (4) children:
a) Esther (married Tobias Sampson) no children
b) Hannah (married Quam) had two (2) children : Hope (never married) John (never married, lost at sea).
c) Mary (married Isaac Sissel) had three (3) children : Mercy, Mary, Arbella died in infancy
d) Benjamin II (1679-1745) (married Mercy Felix 1685-1745) had one (1) child Lydia Tusaquin
* Mercy Felix was the daughter of Felix and Assawetough (granddaughter of John Sassamon). Benjamin's sisters were quite disgusted at the act of their brother married the granddaughter of John Sassamon, whom they regarded as the prime betrayer and the cause of the King Philip’s war; a conflict in which their grandfather, had laid down his life, their great uncle Philip had lost his kingdom and life, and the hopes of the red men had perished.
Lydia Squin Tuspaquin 1740-1812
As mentioned above, Lydia Tuspaquin was the only child of Benjamin II and his wife Felix. Both of Lydia's parents died when she was young, and her Grandfather Benjamin I continued to care for her until his death. Lydia attended school and became educated, and became the chief scribe for her people. Lydia claimed a great skill in the healing art and was in act of collecting herbs for medical purposes when she fell from the high bank into the Assawompset Pond and drowned in July 1812.
Lydia Squin Tuspaquin and her husband Wamsley had five (5) children
a) Jane Wamsley (Squin) (1771-1794) drowned in Assawompset Pond.
b) Benjamin Wamsley (1773-1799)
c) Zerviah Wamsley (x-1816) (married James Johnson) had one(1) child : Arbella died 3 months old.
d) Paul Wamsley (married Phebe Jeffries) had two (2) children Mary and Jane
e) Phoebe Wamsley (Squin) (1770-1839) (married Silas Rosier) had two (2) children
Martin Rosier (1792-1792) and John Rosier (1793-1851) drown in Assawompset Pond
Phoebe remarried after Silas was lost at sea (married Brister Gould) They had seven (7) children
a) Betsey Gould (1797-1824) (married James Hill) They had two (2) children
Keziah Hill (1818-1845) James Hill (1819-1821)
b) Lydia Gould (1799-1855)
c) Jane S. Gould (1801-1844)
d) Ruby Gould (1803-1851)
e) Malinda Gould (1805-1824)
f) Benjamin Gould (1809-x)
g) Zerviah Gould (1807-1898)
Zerviah (Gould) Mitchell was famous for giving a genealogy of the local leaders of the Wampanoags and of the Indians of Betty’s Neck. While a helpful and often quoted source of information, there are some intentional misrepresentations and deletions in her genealogy. At the time, Zerviah, a recent widow was suing her relatives for land at the Watuppa Reservation (Fall River) claiming decent from John Sassamon. While she may have had a valid claim, some assertions of her genealogy were untrue and misleading as she sought to prove she was the only heir to the land.
In May 1859 Zerviah, after being widowed in March 1859, returned to Betty's Neck to a 15-acre lot. The Mitchell’s move to Betty’s Neck was no small undertaking. The land had to be cleared and tilled; a house, barn and other outbuildings erected, and a source of income had to be created. From this home they went out to earn their livelihood – by selling the baskets, brooms, and beaded work which they had made and the vegetables they had raised.
Betty's Neck Deeds - John Sassamon, Felix and his wife "Assawetough"
In 1673 Tuspaquin "Black Sachem" and his son William, by deed of gift, conveyed to John Sassamon twenty seven( 27) acres of land at Assawamset Neck, then soon after Sassamon deeded the land to his son-in-law Felix.
On March 11 1673, the same parties deeded to Felix another fifty-eight and 1/2 (58 1/2) acres of land. On December 23 1673 Tuspaquin "Black Sachem" and William made by deed of gift to Assawetough of a neck of land at Assawamset, which they called Nahteawamet.
In 1679, Governor Winslow, of the Plymouth Colony, ordered “that all such lands as were formerly John Sassamon’s (murdered in 1675) in our collonie, shall be settled on Felix his son-in-law,” and to remain his and his heirs forever.
Felix died before Assawetough, and she in her 1696 will gave her lands to her daughter, Mercy Felix, wife of Benjamin Tuspaquin II. This now put all the lands in possession of the Tuspaquin Family. Assawetough had received from the English the name of Betty, her lands thus came to be called, and are still known as
“Betty’s Neck.”
In a 1714 Will made by Felix, which was filed incorrectly by the Plymouth Court, lays out how to dispose of the land that Felix owned among his four children by a woman named Abigail. It's not widely known that Felix took a second wife and indeed had four children with her. His children are :
a) Abigail Watamon
b) Sarah Hood
c) Thomas Felix
d) Mehitable Felix
Legal Challenges 1900's
In 1903 legal challenges occurred which ultimately removed 500 acres of land from their ownership and threatened their water rights to Assawompset Pond. Prior to moving back to Betty's Neck, the property sat idle for many years and sections of it had been encroached upon by squatters and others who now considered the area their own. Land disputes arose and other parties turned up with deeds claiming the land was theirs. With the will to settle the controversy,
Melinda filed a petition with the state of Massachusetts in 1904 for the registration of title to certain tracts of land lying within the limits of Betty’s Neck. The purpose was to title certain tracts of land lying within “Betty’s Neck”. Melinda, an educated, and well known authority on Wampanoag history claimed the land in her Indian Rights as being the last remaining property of her Wampanoag ancestors. She argued the land in question “which has never come under private dominion of the white man.”
By 1908, Melinda had become bedridden from tuberculosis and dependent on her sister's care. On February 21 1917 the Massachusetts General Court passed a resolution granting annuities to the daughters of Zeriah G Mitchell who had already passed away, Melinda Teeweleema Mitchell, Charolotte Wootonekanskue Mitchell and Zeriah (Mitchell) Robinson were to receive quarterly installments of $100 beginning on December 1, 1916 to the aged and needy Indian woman of the Wampanoag tribe and residents of “Betty’s Neck” until their death.
The Last Descendants of Massasoit on Betty's Neck.
Melinda Mitchell Teweeleema 1836-1919
Melinda was proud of her ancestry and always appeared in public in tribal clothing including feathers, beaded gown, and moccasins. Melinda was of the strong opinion that the government had failed to show her and her sister the respect due them. She claimed to her dying day that there were two hundred (200) acres of Indian lands in Fall River which rightfully belonged to the descendants of the Tuspaquin but that they had been scaled down to twenty-seven (27) acres. She claimed that five hundred (500), or six hundred (600), acres of land in Lakeville belonged to the descendants of Massasoit by right, of which there were only eleven (11) left. On October 7, 1919, Melinda died in the family cottage on the shore of Betty's Neck.
Charlotte L. Mitchell Wootonekanuske 1848-1930
Charlotte Mitchell highest triumph of her life came when she was chosen to unveil the statue of Chief Massasoit on Labor Day 1921, which is on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, much to her later regret. Charlotte was keenly aware of her history. She was descended from Massasoit and respected her great uncle Metacom (King Philip) for his effort to resist the injustices done to their people. She so admired Metacom that she took his wife’s name, Wootonekanuske, as her own. Of her ancestors she once said, "He signed the doom of my people right there [at Plymouth]. Although King Philip tried to right our wrongs, by that time the white men were too strong for us."
In December 1921 Librarian Minnie E. Burke sought to clarify the purpose of the statue. “The statue is a memorial to Massasoit himself, in recognition of his kindness to the Pilgrims and not a commemoration of the first settlement.”
The last seven (7) years of her life she spent, due to failing health at a home of friends in Middleboro. On April 29 1930, at age 82, Charlotte, the last of the Wampanoags and direct descendant of Massasoit, died. Charlotte Mitchell held legal title to a 15-acre tract until her death, whereupon the estate went to her sisters, Lydia Mitchell and Emma J. Safford. Massasoit’s lineage surrendered this land finally and completely in October, 1943, for nonpayment of back taxes.
The First White Inhabitants of Betty's Neck.
In 1714 the first white man, Thomas Nelson, purchased land on Betty's Neck. Three (3) years later in 1717, he and his family moved there.
Betty's Neck Changes Owners
The land was later owned and farmed for more than 50 years by Decas Cranberry Products, Inc.. In 2000 negotiations between the state, the cities of Taunton and New Bedford, and the town of Lakeville resulted in the purchase of the Betty’s Neck property from the Decas family and the protection of nearly 4,000 acres of land around the Assawompsett Pond Complex. Total cost $9 million.
Indian Shore Cemetery History
Down an old access road on Betty's Neck was the grave site of Wampanoag tribal members that resided in the area. In 1998 the gravestones were uprooted, moved and left leaning against a tree. The exact location of the cemetery was a few hundred yards from where the gravestones were discovered.
Limited records exist however, research located some records. Interred are:
Thomas S. Smith x-1872 and his wife Pamelia Sepit Hector Smith 1802-1887
William Smith x-1875, Martin Rosier ( 1792-1792), John Rosier (1793-1851) John Sassamon (x-1675) , Patty (Johnson) Long (1790) daughter of James Johnson and Zerviah Squin, and the granddaughter of Lydia Squin.
In Jan 2009 The Lakeville Police received a report that the foot stone with the initials T.N.S. (Thomas N Smith) had been stolen from the cemetery. It is believed the stone was stolen between Sept 20 and Oct 17 2008. In March 2009 the foot stone was recovered. The Wampanoag tribe has since decided to take possession of the remaining stones and have removed them from the site.
According to Indian legend.... "The repercussions of this (theft and disturbance) are that bad energy will come because people are unsettled. When you disrupt something it is unsettled and it is out of our hands, it's in the hands of the elements,"
Mourn not for me, my friends so dear,
Although in death I slumber here
My days are past, my grave you see
Therefore prepare to follow me
— Grave inscription for Thomas N. Smith, Lakeville, 1872
Down an old access road on Betty's Neck was the grave site of Wampanoag tribal members that resided in the area. In 1998 the gravestones were uprooted, moved and left leaning against a tree. The exact location of the cemetery was a few hundred yards from where the gravestones were discovered.
Limited records exist however, research located some records. Interred are:
Thomas S. Smith x-1872 and his wife Pamelia Sepit Hector Smith 1802-1887
William Smith x-1875, Martin Rosier ( 1792-1792), John Rosier (1793-1851) John Sassamon (x-1675) , Patty (Johnson) Long (1790) daughter of James Johnson and Zerviah Squin, and the granddaughter of Lydia Squin.
In Jan 2009 The Lakeville Police received a report that the foot stone with the initials T.N.S. (Thomas N Smith) had been stolen from the cemetery. It is believed the stone was stolen between Sept 20 and Oct 17 2008. In March 2009 the foot stone was recovered. The Wampanoag tribe has since decided to take possession of the remaining stones and have removed them from the site.
According to Indian legend.... "The repercussions of this (theft and disturbance) are that bad energy will come because people are unsettled. When you disrupt something it is unsettled and it is out of our hands, it's in the hands of the elements,"
Mourn not for me, my friends so dear,
Although in death I slumber here
My days are past, my grave you see
Therefore prepare to follow me
— Grave inscription for Thomas N. Smith, Lakeville, 1872
Royal Wampanoag Cemetery 1676-1812 History
This cemetery is located on Route 105 along the shoreline of Little Quittacas Pond "Cheksuquetoquash". Identifying those interred here is nearly impossible, as graves are marked with Wampanoag artifacts. It has been claimed all those who are busied here are descendants of Wampoag Chief Massasoit.
Research has been able to identify three (3) individuals interred here. Records indicate there maybe as many as twenty-three (23) graves.
Lydia Squin Tuspaquin (1740-1812) Drowned in nearby Assawompsett Pond
Jane Squin Wamsley (1771-1794) dau of Lydia
Benjamin Squin Wamsley (1773-1799) son of Lydia
Important Note :
The property surrounding the cemetery is owned by the City of New Bedford as part of the watershed. The area is heavy patrolled by law enforcement. Out of respect, photographs of the burial sites aren't posted. Photography of Native American cemeteries is considered disrespectful.
This cemetery is located on Route 105 along the shoreline of Little Quittacas Pond "Cheksuquetoquash". Identifying those interred here is nearly impossible, as graves are marked with Wampanoag artifacts. It has been claimed all those who are busied here are descendants of Wampoag Chief Massasoit.
Research has been able to identify three (3) individuals interred here. Records indicate there maybe as many as twenty-three (23) graves.
Lydia Squin Tuspaquin (1740-1812) Drowned in nearby Assawompsett Pond
Jane Squin Wamsley (1771-1794) dau of Lydia
Benjamin Squin Wamsley (1773-1799) son of Lydia
Important Note :
The property surrounding the cemetery is owned by the City of New Bedford as part of the watershed. The area is heavy patrolled by law enforcement. Out of respect, photographs of the burial sites aren't posted. Photography of Native American cemeteries is considered disrespectful.
Ben Simonds History
“In Memory of Ben Simon, the last male of the native Indians of Middleboro. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Died May 1831, aged eighty years.”
Ben Simonds 1751-1831
Ben was known as the last of the full-blooded Wampanoag man who resided around Assawampsett Pond in the 1800s. Most local Native Americans from the area had been killed or displaced by war or intermarried with other people of color in the region. A few Wampanoag families still lived at Betty’s Neck in the late 1700s, but Simonds reportedly spent most of his time later in life on Ben’s Island, a small dot of high ground in the northern end of the pond, near the mouth of the Nemasket River
Simonds was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was known as a dependable soldier in six years of service in the Massachusetts infantry regiments of the Continental Army.
Simonds spent some of his time with the army at Valley Forge serving as an aide-de-camp to the commander in chief, General George Washington. As an aide-de-camp, he would have served as a kind of butler and valet for General Washington. He would have cleaned his uniform, cooked his food for him, and taken care of all his personal needs in camp. During battle he would have carried a musket, and carried messages for the general and would assist the general with his needs.
In his later years, Simonds came home to Lakeville, and was recognized for his military service, being among the thousands of living veterans granted government pensions in the early 1800s. Simonds received an annual pension of $96 from the government until his death in 1831.
Legend has it that he was buried on his island, and his grave was exhumed by some academics or archaeologists who dug up and took away his remains for study. The “History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts” reports he was buried in Thompson Hill Cemetery, in Lakeville, and a small granite obelisk was erected by Mr. Levi Reed.
“In Memory of Ben Simon, the last male of the native Indians of Middleboro. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Died May 1831, aged eighty years.”
Ben Simonds 1751-1831
Ben was known as the last of the full-blooded Wampanoag man who resided around Assawampsett Pond in the 1800s. Most local Native Americans from the area had been killed or displaced by war or intermarried with other people of color in the region. A few Wampanoag families still lived at Betty’s Neck in the late 1700s, but Simonds reportedly spent most of his time later in life on Ben’s Island, a small dot of high ground in the northern end of the pond, near the mouth of the Nemasket River
Simonds was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was known as a dependable soldier in six years of service in the Massachusetts infantry regiments of the Continental Army.
Simonds spent some of his time with the army at Valley Forge serving as an aide-de-camp to the commander in chief, General George Washington. As an aide-de-camp, he would have served as a kind of butler and valet for General Washington. He would have cleaned his uniform, cooked his food for him, and taken care of all his personal needs in camp. During battle he would have carried a musket, and carried messages for the general and would assist the general with his needs.
In his later years, Simonds came home to Lakeville, and was recognized for his military service, being among the thousands of living veterans granted government pensions in the early 1800s. Simonds received an annual pension of $96 from the government until his death in 1831.
Legend has it that he was buried on his island, and his grave was exhumed by some academics or archaeologists who dug up and took away his remains for study. The “History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts” reports he was buried in Thompson Hill Cemetery, in Lakeville, and a small granite obelisk was erected by Mr. Levi Reed.
Assawompset Pond History
Today Assawompset Pond and the other four (4) ponds, Pocksha Pond Chippopoquet, Little Quittacas Pond Cheksuquetoquash, Long Pond Lake Apponequet and finally Great Quittacas Pond "Wampanquettooquash" or"Quittuwashett" make up the Assawamposett Pond Complex.
These ponds serve as the public water supply for the cities of New Bedford and Taunton.
Near Assawompset Pond is a pre-historic archaeological site called The Wampanucket Site. It's a major Wampanoag site, discoveries included projectile points and evidence of human habitation. The area was occupied by a subgroup of the Wampanoag Tribe. "Wapanucket" written by Maurice Robbins in 1980, the first Massachusetts State Archaeologist, details the excavation of this important Native American site on the shore of Assawompset Pond.
Assawompset Pond Petroglyphs
The rock carvings (see below) are located between Indian Shore and Jeremy's Point on the shoreline of Assawompset Pond. The name Israel Felix is carved into the rock and is clearly visible. In the carving a tepee can be seen to the left of the date 1932. The hand imprints and other marks that are supposed to have been made by the Wampanoags, and a foot imprint (not seen) is said to be made by Betty Assowetough.
Who is Israel Felix?
Israel Felix is the son of Thomas Felix, who was the son of Felix Nanauatauate and Abigail. In 1759 he served under Captain Thatcher in a unit composed of many other Middleborough men. In 1768 he successfully petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for permission to sell ten acres of his land because of the debts he incurred by nursing and lodging his late Aunt Sarah Hood.
Squin's Brook
Daniel Ricketson describes it in his History of New Bedford (1858): “Our river takes its rise near the south shores of two of the beautiful Middleborough ponds, Apponequet or Long Pond, and Aquitticaset, in a richly wooded dell, about ten miles from New Bedford, and for some distance on its course is known by the humble name of ‘Squin’s Brook,’ so called from Tuspaquin (Watuspaquin), a noted sachem of the Nemasket or Middleborough Indians."
Squin Brook rises in a swamp approximately south of Little Quittacas Pond in Lakeville and flows south into the New Bedford Reservoir (Lake Street). The river then flows to the village of Acushnet, where is changes names to the Acushnet River and flows through New Bedford out into Buzzards Bay.
Today Assawompset Pond and the other four (4) ponds, Pocksha Pond Chippopoquet, Little Quittacas Pond Cheksuquetoquash, Long Pond Lake Apponequet and finally Great Quittacas Pond "Wampanquettooquash" or"Quittuwashett" make up the Assawamposett Pond Complex.
These ponds serve as the public water supply for the cities of New Bedford and Taunton.
Near Assawompset Pond is a pre-historic archaeological site called The Wampanucket Site. It's a major Wampanoag site, discoveries included projectile points and evidence of human habitation. The area was occupied by a subgroup of the Wampanoag Tribe. "Wapanucket" written by Maurice Robbins in 1980, the first Massachusetts State Archaeologist, details the excavation of this important Native American site on the shore of Assawompset Pond.
Assawompset Pond Petroglyphs
The rock carvings (see below) are located between Indian Shore and Jeremy's Point on the shoreline of Assawompset Pond. The name Israel Felix is carved into the rock and is clearly visible. In the carving a tepee can be seen to the left of the date 1932. The hand imprints and other marks that are supposed to have been made by the Wampanoags, and a foot imprint (not seen) is said to be made by Betty Assowetough.
Who is Israel Felix?
Israel Felix is the son of Thomas Felix, who was the son of Felix Nanauatauate and Abigail. In 1759 he served under Captain Thatcher in a unit composed of many other Middleborough men. In 1768 he successfully petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for permission to sell ten acres of his land because of the debts he incurred by nursing and lodging his late Aunt Sarah Hood.
Squin's Brook
Daniel Ricketson describes it in his History of New Bedford (1858): “Our river takes its rise near the south shores of two of the beautiful Middleborough ponds, Apponequet or Long Pond, and Aquitticaset, in a richly wooded dell, about ten miles from New Bedford, and for some distance on its course is known by the humble name of ‘Squin’s Brook,’ so called from Tuspaquin (Watuspaquin), a noted sachem of the Nemasket or Middleborough Indians."
Squin Brook rises in a swamp approximately south of Little Quittacas Pond in Lakeville and flows south into the New Bedford Reservoir (Lake Street). The river then flows to the village of Acushnet, where is changes names to the Acushnet River and flows through New Bedford out into Buzzards Bay.