New Britain herald., 1916-10-28
PAGONCHAUMISCHAGE Old Indian Term, First Known Place-Name for This Locality, Which Included New Britain.
CBy James Shepard M. Al

A portion of the territory now in c1uded within the towns of New Bri- tain and Berlin was first called by the name of Pa-gon- chau-m -mis-chage. It was so called by the Indians before it was known by the white man, and was thus called by white settlers from the very first until that name was supplanted by the name of Great Swamp, the first English name ever applied to this locality.
 My attention was called to this sub ject by Judge John H. Kirk ham, Esq, who referred me to certain deed which mentions the said name as re- corded on page 440., vol. 10, of Der lin land records This deed is by Richard Seymour of Pennington in New England" to Jonathan Gilbert Of Hartford, conveying eighteen acres of land situated, lying and being at a place called by the Indian name Of Pagunthammixchaug and in the town of Pennington, bounded south on land belonging to said Jonathan Gilbert and north and east on land at present not laid out but lying in com mon, and west on land belonging to
 
 March 10, 1878 and was recorded May 16, 1915, one hundred and thirty seven years, two months and six days aIter US execution, as stated in @ memorandum immediately following the record of said deed. The consid- eratlon stated in the record is twenty four acres and fifty rods of land con- veyed to said Seymour by the said Gilbert. The town clerk of Farming ton has furnished me with an ab- stract of the companion deed thus referred to- showing that the said Gil- bert conveyed to Richard Seymour twenty-four acres and fifty rods of Hand situate, lying and being at a place called by the Indian name of Pagunchaumischau and is in the township of Pennington butted south on riverlet, then east on other land belonging to me the sd J. Gil-
 bert, west on lott of land layed out to several of Pennington men and North on land belonging to Samuel Hoicock. Pennington land records vol. 3, p. 210. This deed was executed on the same day as the former deed | and recorded March 10, 1714, just 1 thirty-six years after the date of its execution.
 Christian Lane Cemetery. 1 It is stated both in Andrews'and il 1 Camps history that Richard Seymour 1 gave the land for the Christian Ian, l cemetery and was the first perso1 l buried therein. This cemetery i 1 bounded south by what has beer 1 called "Gilberts River" or riverle and hence it is probable that thi deed from Gilbert to Seymour is tha by which MT Seymour acquired tn, land which he gave for the cemetery If so, 1t proves conclusively that tn, Christian Lane vicinity is the place that was formerly called Pagonchau mischauge.
 It is a singular coincident that neither of these companion deed | of both parties thereto. The deed O l Seymour was recorded within a fev 1 years after his death, while the deet | to Gilbert was not recorded until on | hundred and thirty-two years afte 1 his decease. The land that MI. Gil l bert bought of MT. Seymour, descend | ed to Gilbert's son >Ebenezer, of Ken sington, and then passed to Ebenezer'' son, Moses, in the year 1736.
 The original will of Jonathan Gil bert, and the inventory of his estate are now in the files of the Hartford Probate court, which may be seen al the State Library. This will bequeaths to his son Ebenezer "all that soc acres of land I bought of Capt. Daniel Clark in Pennington, also that pur- chase of land I bought of Massecup, commonly called and known by the name of Pagonchaumischage. This will is dated Sept. 10, l674. The in ventory of MT. Gilbert's estate, taken Feb. 12, 16S2-3, includes his farm at Meriden and also This farm at Pa ganshamischaug and buildings on it. " The old brick house on Christian Lane is known as part of the Gilbert farm, and, as it is not in Meriden, we may safely conclude that it is at Pagonshamischaug. It will be mo- ticed that this name has thus been found in four different documents Two of these are original documents, and two are copies of other original documents. No two of the four docu- 1nents have the name in precisely the same form. Jonathan Gilbert, at one time, acted as an interpreter Tn negotiations between the Indians ana the English and must have been fla lniliar with this name. While thls name in each of the four documents refer to the place where a part Of Gilbert's land was situated, the will is the only original document l have found bearing his signature, hence the spelling of this name in the will is more likely to be correct than is the spelling in either of the other dOcum entS.
 An Indian Name.
 The name "Pagonchaumischau is given in pr. Trum bulls Indian James. It is prefixed by an interroga- ton mark, and no interpretation is civ Tn