The Indian Heritage of New Hampshire and Northern New England

Years before Jamestown was settled, European adventurers and explorers landed on the shores of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts in search of fame, fortune, and souls to convert to Christianity. Unbeknownst to them all, the “New World” they had found was actually a very old one, as the history of the native people spanned 10,000 years or more. This work is a compilation of old and new essays written by present-day archeologists, by explorers and missionaries who were in direct contact with the Indians, and by scholars over the last three centuries. The essays are in three sections: Prehistory, which concentrates on the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Woodland phases of the native heritage, the Contact Era, which deals with the explorers and their experiences in the New World, and Collections, Sites, Trails, and Names, which focuses on various dedications to the native population and significant names (such as the Massabesic Trail and the Cohas Brook site).

Tadeusz Piotrowski is a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester where he also teaches courses in anthropology and the Holocaust, and where he served as the Associate Dean of Faculty. He has received many awards including the Outstanding Associate Professor Award. He lives in Manchester.

Edited by Thaddeus Piotrowski
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 231
Bibliographic Info: maps, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009 [2002]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4252-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1408-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      vii

Introduction, Thaddeus Piotrowski      1

PART I: PREHISTORY

1. New Hampshire’s Prehistoric Settlement and Chronology, Victoria Bunker      23

2. Ancient Lifeways at the Smyth Site, Donald W. Foster, Victoria B. Kenyon, George P. Nicholas II      34

3. The Neville Site: 8,000 Years at Amoskeag, Dena F. Dincauze      44

PART II: CONTACT ERA

4. An Investigation into the Cause or Causes of the Epidemic Which Decimated the Indian Population of New England, 1616–1619, Billee Hoornbeek      49

5. The Manners, Customs, and Some Historical Facts About the Indians of Northern New England (Excerpts from Explorers and Missionaries, 1524–1657), Compiled by Harlan A. Marshall      58

6. Monuments and Relics of the Indians, Jeremy Belknap      80

7. The History of Manchester, Chandler E. Potter      85

8. Aboriginal Tribes of New Hampshire, Austin J. Coolidge and John B. Mansfield      92

9. Character of the Penacooks, the Rev. Edward Ballard      95

10. Contributions to the History of Derryfield (Manchester), William E. Moore      101

11. Indians of New Hampshire, Janine A. Carson      108

12. The Pennacook Lands and Relations: Family Homelands, David Stewart-Smith      119

PART III: COLLECTIONS, SITES, TRAILS, NAMES

13. Provenience of Artifacts by New Hampshire Towns, Patricia Hume and Donald Foster      137

14. Indian Sites in the Manchester-Auburn, New Hampshire, Area, Thaddeus Piotrowski      141

15. Cartagena Island, Eugene D. Finch      147

16. Historic Indian Trails of New Hampshire, Chester B. Price      154

17. Ancient Indian Places, Chester B. Price      175

18. Indian Names in New Hampshire, Thaddeus Piotrowski      178

Bibliography      193

Index      203

“preserves historical accounts of these native peoples and includes archaeological investigations of prehistoric sites…informative…recommended”—Library Journal; “a fascinating collection”—University of New Hampshire Magazine; “definitive”—The Union Leader, (Manchester, New Hampshire).