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Soctomah, Donald. 2005. Let Me Live As My Ancestor Had: Tribal Life and Times in Maine 

aud New Bnmswick. Passamaquoddy Tribe - Indian Township. p. 1. 8, 13. 191. 128 

Introduction for 1850 to 1890 

The waters of the St. Croix River moved like the speed of an arrow once the grip 

of winter had released it. In the time honored tradition the people of the river came to its 

ancestral spring village sites. One of the largest villages was located at the first waterfalls 

on-tile river for it was here that the people met the arrival of the fish from the ocean. 

Passamaquoddy people have made this spring journey since time immemorial. In honor 

of carrying on the traditional gathering a fire was lit to symbolize this union of many 

families and it also brought back memories of the ancestors. This fire kept burning until 

the last family left the spring village and then moved closer to the bounds of the ocean. 

This connection to the traditional places and ~e cycle of life continued at the spring 

village, now known as Milltown, New Brunswick Canada until the late 1880's when 

development destroyed this segment of Passamaquoddy life. The other seasonal cycle 

locations for Native people were also under pressure, the dams were built acmss the 

rivers stopping the fiSh from going upstream, the woodlands were cut down, and the 

animals killed. A letter written in 1857 by the Maine legislature summarizes the general 

feelings from the public about the Passamaquoddy people and the traditions.· 

To the State Agent of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indians; 

Sir; 

Aprill3, 1857 

Complaint having been made that some of the Indians of the 

Passamaquoddy Tribe are in the habit of trespassing upon the land and woodlots of 

certain inhabitants of Perry, the Executive of the State feels called upon to ask your 

particular attention to the subject, and to make known to the offending parties the 

displeasure which such charges are calculated to excite. The acts refe"ed to would be at 

any time and under any circumstances unWorthy of a well disposed person. They are 

especially wrong in an Indian of this tribe, for by the articles of Agreement, which their 

Chiefs made more than sixty years ago with the agent of our parent Commonwealth. they 

stipulated and promised to be peaceable and quite inhabitants, without molesting aTI)' 

other settlers in any way or means whatsoever. A violation of faith thus solemnly pledged 

by the most conspicuous chiefs of the tribe is not only dishonorable to their memory, but 

is viewed by the Executive as a grave offence deserving severe rebuke, and he will feel 

called upon to visit aTI)' repetition of these trespassers with appropriate animadversion, 

(anger) and such weightier penalties as in his judgment the case may seem to require. If the priest who ,;ay reside among or near the Indians of this Tribe can aid you in 

checking or wholly suppressing the acts complained of, you are expected and desired to 

solicit his cooperation. In Augusta Council Chambers Joseph Millians. 

Meanwhile the State legislature was breaking the Agreement on their own by 

leasing, selling and taking land and resources away from the Passamaquoddy Tribe. Even 

the New Brunswick government took away some of the reserves set aside for the 
*The Executive Council of New Brunswick establishes Canoose Reserve. 

*Connecticut doctor, J. Barrett, writes introduction to a Passamaquoddy 

vocabulary and grammar book. 

. . 

1851 Massive log drives occurring from Grand Lake Stream to Princeton 

(Any iime that they brought any logs, you know. Especially, a lot of lumber for these mills here. 

There was a here and there was a mill down here. There was a mill down where my brother, 

Jean, used to live. Back in that area used to be another mill. But there was log drives. I mean, 

they would jam those whole *. They had to leave some patches for canoes to g_et up through for 

people to go fishing. People would very seldom use the road. They'd use the river to get down 

here. But river drives, that's when the Indians worked the most, is on the river drives. Old 

Soctomah down here was a cook on those boats. He used to come and throw donuts for cookies . I 

or us. Cookies and donuts. Don't drop them because they'll dissolve, you know. But ifyou catch 

it, boy I'm telling you, delicious. They used to feed us from the boat. Then they say, go over there 

and pull that, pull all that logs over here. We would all get up and push those logs out. To get 

them through, you know.) JS 

January 1, 1851 Acadia- Land of Plenty 

Of the name Acadia, it signifies primarily a place or a region and in combination with 

other words, a place of plenty or abundance. A name most applicable to a region which 

is richer in the chief things of the ancient mountains, the precious things of the lasting 

hills, and the precious things of the earth and of the deep that lays beneath, than any 

other portion of America of simil~r dimensions. The word comes from aquoddie, which 

has been corrupted by French into Acadia. 

(That would have been fun. One of the things that I noticed in the pattern of a lot of the words is 

the technology built into our language to describe geography. A good example is anickdowigug, 

in the fork of a river and there are other ones that are in the place names and their fairly generic 

to that· they could be anywhere but because of the source. For example one of the sources was 

probably Lola Sockabasinfrom here at Township and so he's reference point, of course, it's 

where he lived all of his life and how he got the, to define the geography based on characteristic 

of the land or the land marks and -everybody that would live in the area would know that because 

of the thing. The thing is, if you go a hundred miles away or if you go to Maliseet, you would 

also have those same terminology for their locals so their the names of places where you could 

replicate them as you went the different ways.) WN 

January 8, 1851 The Great Spirit - Ketchinwesk 

There was one Supreme ·Befng who was called Ketchinwesk, he was the master of and 

ruler of all and superior to all spirits both good and bad. There was knowledge of the 

good hunting grounds-where all the hunting was good for the people who followed, that 

road, and there was also a middle ground. They thought to do some good to the souls 

of the dead by setting fire to their wigwams, where they had died, by killing the best 

dog, by burying or hanging to some tree the bows and arrows belonging to the 

deceased, by carrying victuals to the graves, by singing, dancing, and crying by cutting 

their flesh. They preformed these things with great and strict scrupulosity; they were 

truly impressed with the ·idea of doing some good to their departed friend. 

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driving and farming, quite a number of these are now engaged in clearing farms and 

many have now considerable crops of Hay oats Potatoes Beans &c [.]There will be 

potatoes enough groun [grown] on the Township by the Indians to last them through the 

winter and for planting in the spring - Their condition is far before any other portion of 

the Tribe - Those who live at Robbinston procure a living by fishing and catching 

Porpoise although some of them have worked considerably about the Ship yards and 

have received good pay[.] The Perry portion of the Tribe live entirely by shooting 

Porpoise[,] fishing and Basket making and are very poor[,] very few of them making any 

provision for the winter, they are chiefly enabled to drag through the winter by the sale 

of Baskets..:.. Those, ofthe Indians on the Township are each year turning their attention 

more & more to farming, there· are now quite a number of small farms commenced most 

if not all of these have some crops, Potatoes, corn, Beans &c, one farm on Whites 

Island has about 20 acres of mowing land in addition to some number of acres of 

tillage, another at Louis Island Bridge cut from 15 to 20 Tons of English Hay 30 or 40 

tons of meadow hay besides Potatoes Beans Corn oats &c. · 

The Difference which exists between the two parties (new & old) is fast being brought to 

an issue by the old party moving on to the Township & merging into the new, in fact 

there cannot be now.more than.one hundred in all of the old party- Those of the old 

. party (Perry) are fast finding out that the new party are in a much better condition and 

more prosperous than themselves that they are better fed, better clothecj & enjoy 

themselves much ·more in tilling their small patches of land in the summer & lumbering 

winters than they do - I have paid out yearly since I have been Agent three hundred 

. dollars Poor Money[.] I have made it a practice to visit the Indians once every two 

months to inquire into their condition & pay them their proportion of the Poor Money, 

this has been given to the widows, the sick & the needy in such sums as I deemed 

necessary, there has been .yearJy .two hundred Dollars distributed in seed to such of the 

Indians as would plant[.] I have also paid out each year Five hundred Dollars (or as 

near that amount as I could conveniently divide) as a Dividend or yearly annuity: this 

has been divided among the families in proportion to the number of Females & male 

children under twelve years of age[.] I would suggest the propriety of the state selling all 

the Timber lands on the Indian Township, reserving the settling lands a portion to each 

family, let the lots be run out marked and bounded so there can be not mistake in each 

families lot, force all the Indians that are now scattered about to settle on their lands[.] 

Those now at Perry are in a witched conditi.on .& suffer much from want of food and 

wood during the winter months, .all of them in one or two years will be forced to go on 

their Township & turn their attention to farming in order to subsist at all[.] The selling of 

the timber lands and lotting out small farms will hasten this much, when the Indians will 

be in a much better condition than at present[.] Yours Respectfully, Peter Avery, Agent 

September 20~ 1851 A Look at the Census 

The census of 1851 combined all locations of residence for the P.Eissamaquoddy 

Tribe, whicti.included.Machias, New .Harbor, Lewey Lake, Head Harbor, White's Island, 

Peter Dana's Point, Long Lake, Clark's Point, Robbinston, Pleasant Point, and 

Pembroke. The Passamaquoddy who lived in Canada were not counted in this census 

report. A total number of tribal members counted totaled 433, with 224 males and 209 

females and a total number of 101 families. This averages to 4.3 people per family, with 

13 
February·2, 1885.- ._. , Sockabasin .Snowshoe Club .. 

The Sockabasin Snowshoe Club made its first appearance on Monday 

afternoon. The usual mishaps occurred and considerable language, not found in the 

Indian language, was indulged in by some of the male members. All spent a pleasant 

afternoon. 

February. 19, 1885 Doctor Joseph Mitchell 

A Pleasant Point Indian, named Joseph Mitchell, is practicing medicine in 

Portland, Maine. He graduated recently from the Lewiston Eclectic Medical College. 

This is the first instance of a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe entering one of the 

learned professions, but with the progress, which the Indians have made in education 

within a few years, it will not be surprising if Pleasant Point turns out a lawyer or a 

clergyman occasionally. 

March 15, 1885 Moore's Mills Deer Hunt 

The closed season for deer hunting in New Brunswick began on the first of 

February. The Basswood and Scotch Ridges seem to be the favorite place of the 

hunters and many deer have been shot since closed season. The group from Pleasant 

Point also prefers Moore's Mills and has been very successful in the hunt. Another 

favorite area where the tribal deer hunters have a good time is between Tomah stream 

and the St. Croix River. 

October 1, 1885 Herring Fishina bv Torch Cight 

It appears that the practice of driving herring by torchlight is being indulged in by 

some of the Passamaquoddy fishermen. The law is very strict on this matter, and its 

enforcement would make it hard for the offenders. 

October 20, 1885 Lodging of the Passamaquoddy 

While in contact with the Passamaquoddy Indians on the coast of Maine, the 

Director and Mr. Cushing had opportunity for studying certain primitive industries yet 

retained by these people. Conspicuous among these were the industries connected 

with the building and furnishing of the homes. The long persistence of domiciliary 

industries among these Indians may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that the 

birch bark wigwams are remarkably serviceable and economical, so that they were only 

slowly displaced by the little more commodious and much more expensive houses of 

civilization. At the same time, there are strong indications of ceremonial observances 

in connection with the erection of habitations, which doubtless serve to prolong the 

retention of th~ aboriginal type. 

There is a single model for the dwellings of this branch of the Algonquian 

Indians. The structure is rectangular in plan, about twelve by fifteen feet, with a narrow 

doorway in one end. The end walls stand vertical, while the sides, after rising vertically 

for five or six feet, are continued upward to form a curved roof, interrupted by an orifice 

over the center of the earthen floor for the exit of smoke. The framework is of light 

arbor_vitce poles, neatly cut and shaped by stone implements and fire, the uprights set 

in the ground and lashed to the horizontal pieces by means of withes or splints. The 

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Maine. Copies of their deeds may be found in the Acts and Resolves, 1843; also see 

treaties of 1792, 1794 and 1795. In the Laws of Massachusetts and Maine, at the· 

separation, they were guaranteed the right to hunt and fish forever, or so long as they 

remained a nation. In proof of this, reference is made to volume 3, Historical Records of 

Maine. The Act of Separation between Maine and Massachusetts, provides as follows: 

The new State shall as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made for that 

purpose assume and perform all the duties and obligations of this Commonwealth 

towards the Indians within the District of Maine, whether the same arise from treaties or 

otherwise; and for this purpose shall obtain the assent of said Indians, and their release 

to this Commonwealth of claims and stipulations arising under the treaty at present 

existing between this said Commonwealth and said Indians .. 

Whether or not the State had legal authority for so doing, is not for your 

committee to decide, but certainly it is better for these Indians that the State has 

managed their affairs in this way, and your committee is of the opinion that, as · 

heretofore, no objection has been raised to this mode of procedure on the part of the 

State and these Indians have annually received the income from the money received 

from the sale of timber and grass and the leasing of lands, without any protest or 

objections, they are in equity, and good morals stopped from making any complaint. .In 

Council, Sec. of State_ Dec. 2.9, 1886 

(As a youngster we had opportunities, like going fishing without bemg harassed by anybody. All 

these freedoms that we had, until that money part of it came in, when they developed sports 

camps and stuff. That's when they start to tell Indians,-you can'tfish, you can't go hunting, and 

you can't do all these things. So, what do we do, we sit there and starve. A lot of people are like 

that. There's always that nasty thing, that money that will rule. Even today, money is a big thing. 

To me, it don't mean much, money don't mean much. I think my relationship with people and 

friendship with people and having a good living.) JS 

1887 

In 1887, it occurred that: 

*The average price of a basket is $0.40 and cost of a stick of ash is $1.50. 

*Lewis Mitchell delivers an emotional speech to Maine Legislature. 

*"The Tribe is poorer than it ever has been," states Lewis Mitchell. 

*Report of Special Committee Executive Council on Passamaquoddy claims. 

*State fires Indian agent Porter for helping the Tribe in his reports. 

*Land· investors try to purchase Pleasant Point and have the people moved to 

Indian Township. 

*The Legislature passes a law allowing for sale/lease of Passamaquoddy 

reservation lands. 

*J. Prince meets with Lewis Mitchell in Bar Harbor to discuss Tribal history. 

*Demand for hemlock bark decreases due to the burning of the Grand Lake 

Stream Tannery. 

Januarv 18. 1887 Carrying Place Cove and Pleasant Point Land Deal 

We are indebted to Mr. Bradish, for a copy of the Report of the Passamaquoddy 

Tribe of Indians for 1886, arid the Report of Special Committee of the Executive 

Council appointed to examine certain claims of the Passamaquoddy Indians. The 

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