Massasoit's Town Sowams in Pokanoket, Its History Legends and TraditionsBaker, Virginia
History
Massasoit's Town Sowams in Pokanoket, Its History Legends and Traditions
Baker, Virginia
Massasoit, 1580-1661; Sowams; Wampanoag Indians
destroyed by the same hands that had nurtured it in its infancy. Two
or three miles further on, at the “Narrow of the Neck” on the west
bank of Kickemuit River the soldiers discovered the “heads, hands, and
scalps” of eight Englishmen, murdered at Mattapoisett, “stuck up on
poles near the highway,” close by the spot which must have been
pressed by the feet of Winslow and Hopkins when, journeying from
Plymouth to Pokanoket in 1621, they crossed the “wading-place” at
Kickemuit and entered Sowams for the purpose of continuing the “league
of peace and friendship” with Massasoit, and of securing from the
savage chief the supply of seed corn which the feeble colony of
Plymouth then stood sorely in need of.
The site of English Sowams remained desolate from that eventful June
day until some time after the close of the war which soon followed the
death of King Philip in August, 1676. About 1678, settlers began to
rebuild along the Kickemuit, and the old “ways” and “bridal paths”
laid out “long since” by the Sowams’ colonists were re-surveyed,
descriptions of them being carefully recorded. Most of these ancient
highways are in use at the present day. There being no Indians left on
Mount Hope Neck, the territory now occupied by the town of Bristol and
the compact part of Warren, passed into the possession of the
successors of the original Sowams’ proprietors, by virtue of the deed
executed by Massasoit and Wamsutta in 1653. By an arbitrary act, King
Charles transferred the site of Bristol to Plymouth, but that of
Warren became a part of Swansea. As early as 1671, the last mentioned
district was known by the name of “Brooks’ Pasture,” undoubtedly from
some right of ownership in it possessed by Timothy Brooks.[25]
What that right was the writer has been, thus far, unable to
discover, though a careful and diligent search of the early
records has been made in the hope of solving the mystery. At
different periods, between 1681 and 1725, Brooks’ Pasture――with
the exception of the meadows or marshes divided in 1653 between
Thomas Prince and his partners in the Sowams’ purchase――was laid
out and divided among the proprietors there being, in all, eight
several apportionments of land made.
It is uncertain at what date the first dwelling house was erected in
the western part of Brooks’ Pasture. In 1746, that section of Swansea
now occupied by the two towns of Barrington and Warren was ceded to
Rhode Island, incorporated as a township, and given the name of Warren
in honor of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, the hero of Louisburg and Cape
Breton. Warren’s proximity to the ocean, and its excellent harbor
facilities, early led the inhabitants to engage in maritime pursuits;
and, in course of time, the wharves, and shops, ship yards and
dwelling houses of a flourishing seaport sprang up to replace the
vanished wigwams of Massasoit’s town, Sowams in Pokanoket.
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Appendix
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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