The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-08-16
TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 1s.
The Winthrop Lakes.

To the Editor Of the Press:
Rewriting to the note of DIR. Fillebrown con-
tanned in Thursdays PRESS, allow me to say
that the only sources of information on the SUBJ
ject of the photography of the Winthrop lake
which DR.. Holmes could "look up or which
are available now, SO far as am aware, are
found in certain afiidavits given in regard to
the boundaries Of the Plymouth Patent or
Kennebec Purchase. One of these afidavits
was by Col. VIM. Lthgow, long resident on
the Kennebec river and commander of Fort
Halifax in Winslow. This paper is of special
interest as giving the meaning of several
Indian words applied TO places on this river.
The following is an extract:
''From Kee-dum-cook down the River about two
Miles the West side of Kennebeck is small point
of ani called by the Natives Cav league,
this Spot of Land il the end of an Indian Carrying
Place. which adioineth itself to Kennebeck the In
dams being asked why they cae this Point of Land
-bis-seconteague said because the Sturgeon Fish
jumped into the River Kenne5eck opposite this Point
in great plenty, This Indian Name Caw-bisse-con-
league being engished signifies Sturgeon Land Call
ed the Natives Cav bis-se-con league, is formed
by Stream on its Northerly side, Branch OF the
Kennebeck called by the Indians Caw-his-se-eC n
taetuck being EngliSbed signifies, as | understand
aw-bs-se-cen-teague Stream, which took its name
from the above point of Land, and that up said
Stream is where called by the Indians Cawbis-se
all go by other names. well remember the Names
of three on said Stream which Scoomscook,
Nav :roons keeg, Anne-bre:sook, there are many
Ponds & Islands on said Stream whose Names l
never knew, but the Indians say they never heard
or knew of any Stream, pond or Island called by
the Name of Cav bis-seconteague, except the
above described Point. which Point was Remarka-
BILE for the Indians Encamping thereon as being on
the Ed of Carrying place, or one.of their Paths"
Mr.Jabez Bradbury. also long resident of
this river, well acquainted with the Indians
l,,,
Wit given in Boston in 1865, gives the following
as the nam es of the three ponds referred to by
Col Lit5goW viz: GunScook, AnndbeSc0oL and
MdroonScook Captain Joseph Bane, for eight
years cap i've, confirms this. 1t will be no.
ticed that where the photography differs in
these cases, the or 90 sound prevails and not
the e. That the photography should differ is
not strange, for the Indians did not write the
words, only spoke them, and both Lithgow
and Bradbury, or perhaps the persons who
wrote their atfidavits, would naturally use
such letters as seeined to express the sounds
made by the indians in speaking of these
ponds. The late Hon. Wm. Willis of Port
land, with full knowledge of the spellings of
Lithgow and Bradbury, in his list of Abenaqui
words published in the Fourth Volume of the
Transactions Of the Maine Historical Society,
spells the name of the North Winthrop pond
MdrdRocook, and this has been generally &C.
copied According to Lithgow and Bradbury
the name of the largest of the three ponds
should be "Schoomscook" or better "Gums-
cock, and that the term "Cobboseecon tee"
nov applied to both pond and outlet, really
belongs only to the mouth of the outlet where
it flows into the Kennebec. The venerable
VIM. Noyes, a resident of Winthrop half
century ago, informed the writer last fall that
Matanocook, (acvent on the third sylable) was
the name by which this pond was known in
winthrop when he first went there Other old
residents OF Winthrop also confirm this.
Three years ago the Maine Historical So
Cioty APPOINTED committee. of which the
writer is "A member on the preservation and
perpetuation of Indian names as applied to
rivers. mountains, ponds, &C., in this State,
and this accounts in part for the interest 1
have taken in perpetpatipg the Indian name
of the North Winthrop pond. 1 do not claim
that Mdranocook is absolutely correct, but Mr.
Willis, our best Maine authority on Indian
names, after careful investigation, has so re-
croded it, and believe the record should
stand. w. b. LAPHAM