Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

[383] protection, however, he ‘went along with us, to bring us to the squaw-sachim.’ Crossing the bay to its northerly side, ‘we went ashore, all but two men, and marched in arms up in the country. Having gone three miles, we came to a place where corn had been newly gathered, a house pulled down, and the people gone. A mile from hence, Nanepashemet their king in his life-time had lived. His house was not like others, but a scaffold was largely built, with poles and planks some six foot from ground, and the house upon that, being situated on the top of a hill. Not far from hence in a bottom, we came to a fort built by their deceased king, the manner thus: there were poles some thirty or forty foot long, stuck in the ground as thick as they could be set one by another, and with these they enclosed a ring some forty or fifty foot over. A trench breast high was digged on each side; one way there was to go into it with a bridge; in the midst of this palisado stood the frame of a house, wherein being dead he lay buried. About a mile from hence, we came to such another, but seated on the top of an hill; here Nanepashemet was killed, none dwelling in it since the time of his death.’¹After his decease, his widow administered the government of the tribe as squaw-sachem, and married Webcowits, her principal powwow, conjurer, or medicine man. By this marriage, however, he did not become a sachem, or king, but merely a prince-consort.

In the ‘First General Letter of the Governor and Deputy of the New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay, to the Governor and Council for London's Plantation in the Massachusetts Bay in New England,’ dated ‘In Gravesend the 17th of April, 1629,’ is this important direction,—--‘If any of the salvages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our pattent, wee pray you endeavour to purchase their tytle, that wee may avoyde the least scruple of intrusion.’² Accordingly, at the session of the General Court, March 13, 1638-9, ‘Mr. Gibons was desired to agree with the Indians for the land within the bounds of Watertowne, Cambridge, and Boston.’³ The deed of conveyance, or release of title, I have not been able to find; yet there is sufficient evidence that the purchase was made of the squaw-sachem, and that the price was duly paid. The General Court ordered, May 20, 1640, ‘that the 13l. 8s. 6d. layd out by Capt. Gibons shall bee paid him, vid.: ’