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The Housatonic Puritan River
Housatonic, The: Puritan River, by Smith, Chard Powers
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 1, 2018
Although, actually, more like 2 1/2 stars. Powers Smith's central tenant can be off-putting (this history written in the 1940's) but he delivers a history of the settlement of the place I grew up in and answers questions I have had about it since I was a kid. What he asserts is that his central character, the "Yankee", is a chosen people and in this People's various permutations over time the Housatonic Valley has been largely saved from the depredations of industrialism or of the "urban ignoramuses" turning it into a "big Coney Island".
Now, now, he wrote this before political correctness was even a THING. But what really saved the read for me was all the wonderful things I learned. (A sampling. . ) At the time of settlement- starting at the mouth of the river in the now Stratford and Milford (1639), the indigenous people were Mohicans of the Algonkin tribe who had been pushed east by stronger, more aggressive tribes in the recent past. The seven tribes organized along the river were actually all part of a single tribe who called these discretely located villages, hunting-planting and fishing grounds by their place names. For my New Milford friends I'll give you your place name: Weantinock. The upper Housatonic (MA) was mostly deserted when the English settlers came, but once held the central capital or "Great Wigwam" of the People at Great Barrington. The People there: the Housetonucks or people who lived in the place beyond the mountains.
Powers Smith submits that the sales of native lands were mostly instigated by the natives themselves, and were certainly not stolen. He admits that some unscrupulous English settlers may have taken advantage though, with valuable tracts being exchanged for-"useful tools, useless baubles or- when it could be bootlegged to them- firewater." The process of land sales was precipitated by the Pequot War of 1637 where the military expedition to confront a small fleeing group of Pequots led to the discovery of the west coast of the Connecticut River and the crossing of the Housatonic to the showdown at Saco Swamp in Fairfield.
There is so much more, and it is not easy to wade through, so I'll stop, except to tell you I have a couple of historic figures who I now love: the Great Sachem Waramaug who insisted on conditions to land sales (1705) leading to "the two races living amicably in their respective villages (a mile from each other on opposite sides of the river) with no record of any clash or hard feeling until the great chief's death in 1735." Then there is Mum Bett, a slave in a lawyer's home in Great Barrington who listened to the discourse over the constitution as she waited upon the gentlemen and had one of them help her win her freedom in court in 1781 effectively abolishing slavery in Massachusetts before any other state in the Nation.
Enough. Recommended only for colonial history nuts like me.
Now, now, he wrote this before political correctness was even a THING. But what really saved the read for me was all the wonderful things I learned. (A sampling. . ) At the time of settlement- starting at the mouth of the river in the now Stratford and Milford (1639), the indigenous people were Mohicans of the Algonkin tribe who had been pushed east by stronger, more aggressive tribes in the recent past. The seven tribes organized along the river were actually all part of a single tribe who called these discretely located villages, hunting-planting and fishing grounds by their place names. For my New Milford friends I'll give you your place name: Weantinock. The upper Housatonic (MA) was mostly deserted when the English settlers came, but once held the central capital or "Great Wigwam" of the People at Great Barrington. The People there: the Housetonucks or people who lived in the place beyond the mountains.
Powers Smith submits that the sales of native lands were mostly instigated by the natives themselves, and were certainly not stolen. He admits that some unscrupulous English settlers may have taken advantage though, with valuable tracts being exchanged for-"useful tools, useless baubles or- when it could be bootlegged to them- firewater." The process of land sales was precipitated by the Pequot War of 1637 where the military expedition to confront a small fleeing group of Pequots led to the discovery of the west coast of the Connecticut River and the crossing of the Housatonic to the showdown at Saco Swamp in Fairfield.
There is so much more, and it is not easy to wade through, so I'll stop, except to tell you I have a couple of historic figures who I now love: the Great Sachem Waramaug who insisted on conditions to land sales (1705) leading to "the two races living amicably in their respective villages (a mile from each other on opposite sides of the river) with no record of any clash or hard feeling until the great chief's death in 1735." Then there is Mum Bett, a slave in a lawyer's home in Great Barrington who listened to the discourse over the constitution as she waited upon the gentlemen and had one of them help her win her freedom in court in 1781 effectively abolishing slavery in Massachusetts before any other state in the Nation.
Enough. Recommended only for colonial history nuts like me.
December 31, 2020
In-depth history of where I grew up. Interesting take on the formation of the communities that grew in this area and the role Puritanism played in that growth.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews