Norwich bulletin., 1917-06-20
LETTERS TO HE EDITOl
The Last of the Mohesans

MT. Editor: The opening of the Mo- | began Trail has brought forth interest 1 in the Mohegan tribe of Indians, who ] formerly roamed the not far distant
 woods at pleasure, trapping the ami mals and snaring the fowl and if the l circumstances demanded it of them
 marching forth in bright array to l battle with their wa arlike enemies ] Those brave first settlers of what we like to term our lands have long 1 since passed to their happy hunting grounds, but there are few remaining g descendants among whom is Mrs. Mary Tracy Fielding Story of Groton borough, formerly of Mohegan, who proudly traces her ancestry back to the noble sachem, Uncas. Mrs. Story was born in Mohegan 77 years ago, Francis Fielding and Rachel Hoscott, the granada tighter of Isaiah Hoscott and Cynthia TocoOmwos. the great granddaught of Peter Tocoomwos and Lucy Dante Quidgeon, the great great grandchildren of John Dantequidgeon and Lucy Occum great great great granddaughter of Joshua Occum and Hannah Wequot Uncas and great great great-g great gra nd daughter of Uncas, first sachem of Mohegans.
 Her grandmother. Cynthia Hoscott and her grandmother Lucy Tocoom- wos, gave the land for the Mohegan chapel.
 Mrs. Story has in her possession the
 
 Lucy Tocoomwos, in which she men tions the lot of land which she gave by deed for the meeting house.
 Previous to the year 1881, the year in which the chapel was completed, the Mohegans were not without knowledge of the principles of the Christian be- lief, for they numbered as one of their tribe the peculiarly gifted and wonderfully spiritually minded Sam son Occun, who was closely associat- ed with Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, in the founding of Dartmouth College. Sam son Occum, a preacher of remarkable member of the same tribe could not help having a great influence over the people and labored faithfully among them realizing their need of spiritual uplift. After Occum with about twen ty families hoved to Brothertown, New York, a period Of decline in religious matters followed At this point in the religious condition of the tribe Miss Sarah Huntington of Norwich, a wo- man of deep piety, felt called to labor among them. Tradition says that she was guided through the thickly wood ed country by the sound of the wood found shelter in the house of Lucy Occum Dantequidgeon, sister of Sam l son Oecum, wife of John Dante | quidgeon and great great grand | Miss Huntington first taught the In- ! dians the rudiments of learning, then | later a Sabbath school was formed. l Lucy Dantequidgeon did not live to | see the chapel built. She died in 1880 | at the advanced age of 9S and Miss | says of her Cher memory i Is precious to her descendants, and> her children, two at least give evidence l of piety." Many interesting stories 1 have been handed down from generation | to generation. from the days when the i tribe roamed the forests, deep and | dark, lived in wigwams and spoke 1 what is now an unknown tongue. The lar reaching plains and deeply wooded forests were theirs by long years pos- session. Hundreds of years before the Mayfiower sailed into Plymouth liar DOT frightening the Indians who be- ieVed it to be a great White Bird sent oy the Great Spirit, these red men ived peacefully in their wigwams hunting the beasts of the forests for ood and clothing. That these lands were theirs we cannot dispute Will am Penn, the noble Quaker who bought in an honorable way the great erritory of Pennsylvania from the lative Indians had a deper sense of ustfce than probably any other white nan who ever dealt with the Indians or he told King Charles of England hat he intended to buy their land or them at its value. contending that hey had as much right to- their pos ession a S Englishmen-h had to Lon lon and asked him if Re would con