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# I I I Soctomah, Donald

. 2005. Let Me Live As My Ancestor Had: Tribal Life a nd Times in Maine aud New Bnmswick. Passamaquoddy Tribe

- Indian Township . p . 1. 8, 13

. 19 1. 128



# Introduction for 1850 to 1890

The waters ofthe St. Croix River moved like the speed ofan arrow once the grip ofwinter had released it

. Inthe time honored tradition the people ofthe ri ver came to its ancestral spring village sites. One ofthe largest villages was located at the first waterfalls on-tile river for it was here that the people met the arrival ofthe fish from the ocean. Passamaquoddy people have made this springjourney since time immemorial. In honor ofcarrying on thetraditional gathering a fire was lit to symbolize this union ofmany families and it also brought back memories ofthe ancestors. This fire kept burning until the last family left the spring village and then moved closer to the bounds ofthe ocean. This connection to the traditional places and

**~e** cycle oflife continued atthe spring village, now known as Milltown, New Brunswick Canada until the late 1880's when development destroyed this segment ofPassamaquoddy 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, andthe animals killed

. A letter written in 1857 bythe Maine legislature summarizes the general feelings from the public about the Passamaquoddy people and the traditions

.· To the StateAgent of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indians; Sir ; Aprill3 , 1857 Complaint having been made that some of the I ndians of the Pa ssamaquoddy Tribe ar e in the habit of trespassing upon the landandwoodlots of certain inhabitants of Perry, the Executive of the State feels calledupon to askyour parti cular attention to the subject , andto make known to the offending parties the displeasure which such charges are calculat ed to excite

. The acts refe"edto wouldbe at any time and under any circumstances unWorthy o f 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 sixtyyears ago with the agent of our parent Commonwealth. they stipulated

### and promisedto bepeaceable

### andquite inhabitants , without molestingaTI)' other settler s in anyway or means whatsoever. A violation of faith thus solemnlypledged by the most conspicuous chiefs of the tribe is notonlydishonorable to their memory , bu t is viewedbythe Executive as a grave offence deserving severe rebuke , andhe will feel called upon to visit aTI)' repetition of these trespas sers with appropriate animadversion , (anger) andsuch weightier penalties as in his judgment the case mayseem to require. 

## If thepriestwho ,;ayreside among or near the Indians of this Tribe can aidyou in checking orwholly suppr essing the acts complainedof,you are expectedanddesired to solicit his cooperation

. In Augusta Council ChambersJoseph Millians. Meanwhile the State legislature was breaking the Agreement ontheir own by leasing, selling and taking land andresources away from thePassamaquodd y Tribe. Even the New Brunswick government took away some ofthe 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.

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### 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 andthere 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 somepatches for canoes to g_etup 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

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or us. Cookies anddonuts. 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 overhere. We would all get up andpush those logs out
. T o 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 thepattern 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 theplace 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 referencepoint, 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 wouldknow 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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# • • • • • • I I 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 catchi ng 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 I ndians 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 bette r 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~** 

### 1 851 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, 1 885.- ._. , Sockabasi n .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

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### 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 rectangula r 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

191Maine. Copies of their deeds may be found in the Acts and Resolves, 1843; also see treaties of 1792, 1794 and 1 795. 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 goingfishing without bemg harassed by anybody. All thesefreedoms that we had, until that moneypart of it came in, when they developed sports camps andstuff. 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 withpeople and friendship withpeople 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 I ndian 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. 188 7 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 exami ne certain claims of the Passamaquoddy Indians. The 198