Lincoln’s First Inhabitants

Man first moved into eastern Massachusetts while hunting caribou with spears, probably in the post-glacial period about 11,000 years ago when temperatures were colder than now. After another 3,000 years or so, the climate had modified, and Indians were actively fishing, gathering berries, and seasonally settling down at fixed sites. About 1,000 years ago, they had acquired use of the bow and arrow. They were also building large wigwams, which had a framework of poles joined together and covered over with bark or bullrushes. Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, and squash were introduced to the area around this time, as hunting, fishing, and gathering were supplemented by planting done by women. These settlers were Algonkin Indians.

John C. MacLean, A Rich Harvest: The History, Buildings, and People of Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1987

The Algonquin culture and languages were shared by peoples living in separate communities scattered from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes. What the arriving Europeans labeled as “tribes” were loose confederacies of closely related local communities that sometimes came together to act as larger groups. These communities often referred to themselves by a feature of the territory they occupied. The local Massachusett people, for instance, took their name from Algonquian words for “the Great Hill,” referring to the Blue Hills south of Boston, and the Wampanoag—living on Cape Cod where the dawn of day first breaks—called themselves “the People of the First Light.”

The peoples who inhabited eastern Massachusetts had their first contact with European ships decades before Europeans settled on the land. That contact brought diseases which decimated the native population. A settlement that survived in the Concord area, led by Squaw Sachem, was known as Musketaquid, their name for the grassy meadow of the Concord-Sudbury River.

In 1635, the colonial government granted a six-mile square tract at Musketaquid to English settlers. The first settlers began occupying the land two years before seeking formal accommodation with the native inhabitants. When a written agreement was finally signed with Squaw Sachem and others, it granted the settlers “all the planting ground which hath been formerly planted by the Indians,” in exchange for “a parcel of wampum, hatchets, hoes, knives, cotton cloth, and shirts.”

The original agreement was subsequently lost, but the colonial government took depositions fifty years later from a few surviving participants in the signing:

The Testimony of William Buttrick, aged sixty-eight years, or thereabouts, sheweth; — That about the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, there was an agreement made by some undertakers for the town since called Concord, with some Indians, that had right unto the land then purchased of them for the township. The Indians' names were Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, sagamore, Nuttunkurta, and some other Indians that lived and were then present at that place, and at that time; the tract of land being six miles square, the centre being about the place where the meeting-house now standeth. The bargain was made and confirmed between the English undertakers and the Indians then present and concerned, to their good satisfaction on all hands.— 7: 8: 84 [7th. Oct. 1684]. Sworn in court, Thomas Danforth. Entered in Register at Cambridge, Liber 9. page 105, by Thomas Danforth.

The Deposition of Jehojakin, alias Mantatukwet, Christian Indian of Natick, aged 70 years or thereabouts. This Deponent testifieth and saith, that about 50 years since he lived within the bounds of that place which now called Concord, at the foot of an hill, named Nahshawtuck [Lee's], now the possession of Mr. Henry Woodis, and that he was present at a bargain made at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley (now Capt. Timothy Wheeler's) between Mr. Simon Willard, Mr. John Jones, Mr. Spencer, and several others, in behalf of the Englishmen who were settling upon the said town of Concord, and Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod, Indians, which said Indians (according to their particular rights and interest) then sold a tract of land containing six miles square (the said house being accounted about the centre) to the said English for a place to settle a town in; and he the said deponent saw said Willard and Spencer pay a parcell of Wampumpeage, hatchets, hoes, knives, cotton cloth, and shirts, to the said Indians for the said tract of land. And in particular perfectly remembers that Wibbacowet, husband to Squaw Sachem, received a suit of cotton cloth, an hat, a white linen band, shoes, stockings, and a great coat, upon account of said bargain. And in the conclusion, the said Indians declared themselves satisfied, and told the Englishmen, they were welcome. There were present also at the said bargain Waban, Merchant; Thomas, his brother-in-law; Notawquatuchquaw; Tantumous, now called Jethro. — Taken upon oath the 20th of October 1684, before Daniel Gookin, sen. Assistant, Thomas Danforth, Dep. Gov. Entered in the Register at Cambridge, Lib. 9. page 100, 101; 20: 8: 84 [20th Oct. 1684] by Thomas Danforth.

The Deposition of Jethro, a Christian Indian of Natick, aged 70 years or thereabouts: This Deponent testifieth and saith, that about 50 years since, he dwelt at Nashobah, near unto the place now called by the English Concord; and that coming to said Concord was present at the making a bargain (which was done at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley, which now Capt. Timothy Wheeler liveth in) between several Englishmen (in behalf of such as were settling said place) viz., Mr. Simon Willard, Mr. John Jones, Mr. Spencer, and others, on the one party; and Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod, Indians, on the other party; and that the said Indians (according to their several rights) did then sell to the said English a certain tract of land containing six miles square (the said house being accounted about the centre) to plant a town in; and that the said deponent did see the said Willard and Spencer pay to the said Indians for the said tract of land a parcell of Wampumpeage; and that after the bargain was concluded, Mr. Simon Willard, pointing to the four quarters of the world, declared that they had bought three miles from that place, east, west, north, and south; and the said Indians manifested their free consent thereunto. There were present at the making of the said bargain, amongst other Indians, Waban, merchant; Thomas, his brother-in-law ; Natawquatuckquaw ; Jehojakin, who is yet living and deposeth in like manner as above.

The willingness of Squaw Sachem and the others to surrender “all the planting ground which hath been formerly planted by the Indians” may have stemmed from the decimation of their people by disease. The survivors were unable to occupy all the land they had previously farmed, and they may have hoped an alliance with these English settlers would protect them from encroachment by other inland tribes. More to the point, Squaw Sachem had little choice in the matter. The English were already taking possession of the land.

Whether the Indians understood the extent in English miles of a six-mile square tract, and that this was to be permanent English possession rather than a temporary lease, is an open question. In any case, the colonial government soon granted large tracts of land well beyond the original six-mile square to other English settlers, apparently without any formal agreement.

Some of the original Massachusett people remained on the land, and some would even find justice in colonial courts. In 1676, two men of the Goble family living in what would become Lincoln were tried and hanged for murdering an Indian women and children near the Goble farm. But by the end of King Philips War in 1678, the few remaining original habitants had been driven from their homes.

By the time Lincoln was formed in 1754, all this portion of Musketaquid had been claimed and settled by Europeans.