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COUNTY**dmdayisidetutuwascommission Is appointed overseer of “say tribe of Indiana Inlitihfleld 000017 which appUe* »fai as known only to the remnant ol the Schaghtieoke tribe and iu reset- neetVaiion in the town of Kent. dcclunderstood to! teeicontain about 350 acres, mostly rough mountain slopes with a few acres of bottom land on the right bank of the Housatonic river in the southern part of the town. Us western boundary is the New ' ork state line, at or near the top ofliaghticoke mountain.itoilAsIi•ei.e! tmimimiiKhnbnagwaciithiitsiii:e*8fillISit*li*liceinE.. — ^The tribe was formed by Gideon =Mauwehu. a Pequot, rrom scattered joi remnants of former tribe*, about1730, with its seat at the fork? of [ Ytin Housatonic and Ten Mile rivers, I twe the word Sehaghticoke being the In-1 par dian name for such a fork. . ft *\ The settlement of Kent began in j Jlu ! 173S, and titles were granted by the,™1' colony, which however reserved some two thousand acres for use of the^ Indians, who were treated as squat- a* tera, without valid title, but allowed Ion to remain. The first overseer of the j anlt; tribe was Jobez Smith, appointed by tlu colony In 1757.Ff-om time to‘ time the reservation was diminished by sales authorised by the colony or the state authority which succeeded it, the proceeds being applied to the benefit of the tribe, which however steadily decreased In numbers. In 1849 De Forest found eight or ten full bloods and thirty or forty half-breeds on the reservation. The outline above is drawn mostly from his “History of the Indians of Connecticut, published in 1850, which contains references to original records searchedat that time.From the statements of pe ForestIt would appear that title to the 350 j acres remaining is invested in the] state* which however for nearly two, hundred years has recognized a right of use by the tribe.It is not of course a state park, but could apparently be made so by act of the assembly.The Schaghticoke Indians have never received the rights of citizenship, except as acquired by the issue of marriage with citizens.There are five small houses here and there and they are all in great need of repairs to keep them in liveable condition.Three are how occupied; we have shingled the roof of one, and in another the kitchen has been painted and fixed up a little; but it would be well to confine all of our repairs to keeping wind and water out, leaving the interior repairs and up-keep tothe tenants.There are, according to the bestreport I can obtain, seme fifty people who claim relationship to thistribe scattered through the statesbut there are only three on the re-* ,h-**abya.,ffryedednyissid.lisa,rs,hynkev.iry?ebtyR.hisingbeledservation:Charles W. Kilson is an old man and beyond doing much, even to carefor himself.Frank Cogswell is a younger man, who works steadily and is takingcare of himself.Mrs. Reilly is a relative of Kilson. Her husband is a steady worker but she has recently been very sick and it has been necessary to help them with doctor’s bills arid to buy provisions for them at times.—From StatePark Commissioner’s Report.* « ■(led
Newspaper Details
Watertown News
Watertown, Connecticut, US
Fri, Mar 18, 1927
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CT, USA 09 Jun 2023
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