Hung for Robbery - Joseph Peese, Jr., of Yarmouth and Barnstable, and other instances of Pees/Pease/Peese found in records: Episode 3 of Yarmouth Indigenous Project

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A footnote in The History of Cape Cod* discusses the authors’ belief that the sole instance of an indigenous person born on Cape Cod being executed was that of Moses Paul in 1772. Paul was executed in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 2, 1772, for the murder of Moses Cook, a white man, during a tavern fight. While the facts of the event were disputed, Moses did admit to the incident, claiming self-defense. Paul suggested that the entire altercation would never have occurred if not for the abuse of alcohol. At Moses Paul’s request, Reverend Samson Occum, a well-educated Native American minister, delivered the sermon at the execution. This sermon, primarily focused on the evils of alcohol, was Occum’s first published work. The event holds importance and I will discuss the Paul family in a future blog. 

I bring this incident to the fore to refute the notion presented in the History of Cape Cod that, apart from Moses Paul, there were no other instances of indigenous individuals from Cape Cod being executed. The History gives two examples of criminal or legal action. One in 1696 when an indigenous man was condemned as dangerous and subsequently "transported beyond the sea" to be sold.  The other, on September 6, 1717, when “certain Indians from Barnstable and Plymouth Counties having taken themselves to the woods and there living by theft, Joseph Lothrop and Isaac Lothrop, sheriffs of the Counties Barnstable and Plymouth, are ordered to take a posse and seize them.” 

The History of Cape Cod omits mentioning at least two other instances of execution involving Native Americans from Cape Cod, both connected to Yarmouth.  For instance, in 1727, Joseph Quason of Yarmouth was executed for murdering John Peter of Yarmouth while they served together in the military at Cape Porpoise (Maine).  Another case, which may have been related to the 1717 instance actually mentioned in the History involving actions by the sheriffs of Barnstable and Plymouth Counties, resulted in a Native American, one Joseph Pease, being tried and executed at Barnstable for a crime (or crimes) committed at Yarmouth. I believe Pease may have originally been from Yarmouth, but at the very least his main offense(s) did occur there.

Here’s a chronological summary of my ongoing research on the Pees family of Yarmouth and Cape Cod, particularly focusing on Joseph Pees, who was executed at Barnstable in 1720. It’s important to note that the spelling of the name Pees varies across records and family groups, including Pees, Peese, Peas, and Pease. Additionally, there are both white and indigenous people with this surname. My research primarily centers on those of indigenous ancestry, though I initially discuss Charity Pees, whom I believe is not of Native American descent but is sometimes mistakenly portrayed as such. 

Charity Peese/Pease of Yarmouth

Charity Peese, born December 9, 1696 at Yarmouth, was the daughter of Matthew Pees and Hannah Marchant unmarried. Hannah Marchant had another daughter named Tabatha Lewes, born in 1703 at Yarmouth, whose father is unknown.  

While researching across genealogy sites and family trees, I've encountered instances of  Matthew Pees (and therefore Charity Pees) portrayed as Native American. These entries more than likely are based on an October 1727 marriage record for Jacob Paul and Matthew Pees, both identified as Indians, which I believe is a transcription or entry error. 

The fact that both male first names (Jacob and Matthew) are not consistent with their identities makes this claim unlikely.  Additionally, marriage intentions were recorded for Jacob Paul and Martha Pees, Indians, on 18 March 1726/27. It follows that this couple (Jacob and Martha) were married by Peter Thacher, Justice of the Peace, at Yarmouth on 5 October 1727.

Charity Pees married twice: first, Jeremiah O’Killia on August 8, 1717, and second, Isaac Chase on August 3, 1727, both in Yarmouth by Peter Thacher, J.P. 

Joseph Peese of Yarmouth (1714)

Yarmouth's Proprietors Records document that on July 20, 1714, Elisha Nahant of Yarmouth confessed to "abusing Joseph Peese alias Joseph Nahant in a turbulent manner." Elisha Nahant was sentenced to pay a fine to his master, as well as pay costs of bringing the case. 

What the relationship was between Elisha Nahant and Joseph Peese/Nahant I have yet to surmise. Elisha Nahant (Nawhut/Naughaught) is the well known deacon and leader of Yarmouth tribal fame, folklore, and poetry. I have written about him briefly in my blogs on Sarah’s Swamp and Thomas Greenough. Elisha and Joseph could be father and son, related by a wife or mother, or countless other relationships. Note that there are at least two written examples of Naughaught the Deacon being called Joseph Naughaught as opposed to Elisha. A Joseph Pees Jr. is then documented in 1720 Barnstable County Court Records when he is indicted for armed trespass and burglary at Yarmouth.

         

A Further Timeline of Pees/Peese/Pease in Barnstable County Records

1718 October 21 Tom Will and Martha Pees are married at Barnstable by John Otis Esq.

1720 April 22 Joseph Pease Jr. Indian Man is indicted at Barnstable for burglarizing, breaking open, and entering the dwelling house and inn of Rebecca Sturgis at Yarmouth, widow, on 12 April. He pleads not guilty.

1720 April 22 Rebecca Sturgis, widow of Yarmouth, appeared before Samuel Sturgis, Justice of the Court at Barnstable, and testified that on the 12th of April 1720 "she being in bed at night and hardens all being made fast her house was broken into by the stones and pavement of the cellar door being dug up and the under pinning being pulled away and a whole being made under the side of the cellar door big enough for a man to croop in and the door unbolted from inside." Taken in the theft was a large glass bottle containing about two quarts of rum, a “pritty many cakes," and her change box with ten shillings of paper money and pennies. Rebecca stated that she suspected Joseph Peese an Indian man to be the perpetrator. She was ordered to appear at the next court to be held at Plymouth on the last Tuesday of April to give evidence as to what she had just presented to the jurors on that day. (Case No. 14762, Pages 52-54)

1720 April 23 Nathaniel Lambert and Indian Ham both of Barnstable, David Hallet and Sarah Allmaquitt Indian of Yarmouth, appeared before Justice Sturgis and "... became bound ... to attend Plymouth at last Tuesday of the month and give their evidence of what they know related to Widow Sturgis and her house being broken into in a burglarious manner by Joseph Pease who is now in jail in Barnstable and who is suspected of committing this theft on the 12th..." I have currently found no record of their testimony, if any.

1720 April 23 A transcription of Pease's examintion taken at Barnstable:

Question    How did you get out of Capt Freeman's vessel.

Answer      I broke out

Question    Where did you go then:

Answer      I came away to Yarmouth.

Question    What was the first thing you stole after you came back to Yarmouth:

Answer      It was rhum out of the house of Widow Sturges.

Question    How did you get into the house

Answer      I got into the cellar and so went up into the barr room and took a quart pot and filled it with rhum out of a bottle

Question    And was that all you took out of the house at that time.

Answer      I took seven cakes and two bills & eighteen pennies one of the bills was a two shilling bill and I don't know what the other was

Question    And was that all you stole at that time

Answer      Yes that was all

Question    When was it you stole these things

Answer      Some time last March.

Question    Where did you steal the next time

Answer      At Mr. Otises

Question    What did you steal there

Answer       two lambs

Question    Where did you take them from

Answer       out of the yard and says it was in the night time

Question    Where was the next place you stole from

Answer       Mr. Millers

Question    which Miller

Answer       Josiah Miller

Question    what did you steal there

Answer       one sheep

Question     what color was the sheep

Answer        a white one and he sayeth that the same night he stole one sheep out of Capt Thacher's yard and he sayith two boys was with him to help catch them.

Question    which was the next place you stole from

Answer       from Josiah Miller's again

Question     what did you steal there

Answer        two lambs

Question    which was the next place you stole from

Answer      Widow Sturges' again

Question    How did you get into the house

Answer      I broke into the cellar by digging up the stone of the wall

Question    what did you steal then out of that house

Answer      a bottle of rhum of about two quarts & some cakes about ten & half

Question    was it in the night time or day time that you broke into this house

Answer       it was night time a little before day

Question    did you take anything more out of the house at that time

Answer      Yes I took two bills and some pennys I suppose three shillings

Question    was anybody with you this time

Answer       No body

1720 April 28 Rebeckah Sturgis of Yarmouth, Innholder in Yarmouth, testifies at Plymouth Court basically reiterating her earlier words at Barnstable.  She was in bed asleep on Tuesday, April 12th, when her dwelling house was broken into through a hole that was dug under the cellar door. Large stones had been hauled away, and a hole big enough for a man to crouch through was made allowing him to get into her cellar where there was a door into her bar where she kept some drink and cakes and change box with ten shillings.  

The Jury found Pease guilty of feloniously burglarizing Sturgis' home with force and arms.  After the verdict Pease was brought from prison before Chief Justice Samuel Sewall who "demanded" of Pease what he had to say as to why a sentence of death should pass against him. The record states "Pease offering nothing more than what he had said at trial, the chief justice proceeded to pass judgment against him - you must go from hence where you now came and from there to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck." 

The Jurors were:  Abiel Shurtleff , James Barnabee, Joseph Prince, Thomas Fish, Michael Pratt, Nehemiah Cushing, Benjamin Alding, John Wood, Thos Nicolson Jr., and John Talman, Robt Wapuit, and Simon Stephens - Indians.

30 April 1720 Warrant for the Execution of Joseph Pease at Barnstable is issued.

17 May 1720, Isaac Lothrop Sheriff of Plymouth removes Joseph Pease out of the jail at Plymouth and takes him to Sheriff Joseph Lothrop of Barnstable who committed him to jail.

18 May 1720  On Wednesday the 18th between the hours of two and four in the afternoon "I caused the Sd Joseph Pease to be carried from the jail to the place of execution in barnstable and there he was hanged by the neck until he was dead." Sheriff Joseph Lothrop was not the actual executioner.

1720/21 Jan 19 Joseph Lothrop Sheriff's account of charges incurred for the execution of Joseph Pease Indian was allowed. The specific fees included seizing and jail delivery, making a gallows, the rope to hang him, money spent for guarding, additional monies, paying the executioner, his own time, trouble, and attendance, and court fees.

1720 November Nathaniel Clark of Yarmouth and Thomas Deane late of Barnstable whale fishermen on behalf themselves and company filed suit in Barnstable Court against Shubael Moses of Yarmouth and Thomas Pees of Barnstable Indians whale fishermen regarding their neglect or refusal to pay them their one sixteenth part of a whale fish which was killed by the them and others mated with them in Cape Cod Harbor. The whale had been brought on shore within Barnstable and cutup sometime in November 1720. The whale was dried out and the bone and oil brought to market and sold. The plaintiffs claim they and the boat company were due one sixteen part as they were helpful in killing and securing the whale. Note Clark and Deane were being by Joseph Hardin Jr and Samuel Smith of Chatham in connection to the same sale of whale oil for their 16th part, and in turn they sued the Indian men for a 16th part.

1724/5 Jan 2 Moses Pease and Isabel Paul marriage recorded at Barnstable.

1726/7 March 18 Marriage Intentions for Jacob Paul and Martha Pees; marriage for Jacob Paul and Martha Pees October 5 1727 (record says Matthew Pees).  More research needs to be done for Martha Pees.  A Martha Paul married Experience Moses 22 June 1730; A Martha Moses married George Cyprus 22 February 1777, and a Martha Cyprus married Tony Moses 31 Jul 1773. (It is possible this is the same woman throughout these records as I have found instances of marriage well into significant older age; these instances are also recorded in notes by Gideon Hawley as well as vital records.)

1730 September 27 Hannah Pease and Simon Pognit marriage (intentions) recorded at Barnstable.

1753 March 8 Peter Negroo and Elce/Alice Pees were married by Judah Thacher Justice of the Peace at Yarmouth in the night. Intentions filed 1753 February 17 for Peter, servant of John Thacher Jr., to Alice Pease.  [Note that a record shows that on December 24, 1743 Peter and Melle, servants to John Thacher Jr., were married at Barnstable.]  Although I do not claim to trust the entry, Find-A-Grave shows that an Alice Pease is buried in an unmarked area for people of color in the Lothrop Hill Cemetery in Barnstable. Find-A-Grave also notes Melle (Thacher) buried in the same cemetery location and appears to note the information came "from the Estate of Thacher."  This needs further review on my part.

1758 September 13 In his Last Will and Testament dated this date (probate date 30 September 1758), James Bearse (son of Joseph) leaves to his wife Thankful Bearse his Indian maid servant named Abigail Pees.

1763 According to Gideon Hawley, Sue Pease died this year at age 90. Hawley also notes that a year or two before her death there was a snow storm with a great wind which blew the roof off of her house (says wigwam). A neighbor checked in on her the next day to find her in bed completely covered in deep snow. When called to however, she came out from under in full vigor and health and cheerfulness.

Follow up to continue on the individuals from Yarmouth involved with the Joseph Pees case itself, their relation to each other, and the "servants" involved. Note that Rebecca Sturgis was daughter of John Thacher.  She also had a court case/probate about the same time as the breaking and entering case at her home/inn involving this home and land as part of the estate of her husband James. One of her daughters married a Captain Freeman, etc.  Josiah Miller, Sturgis, all had servants. I'd love to look into this group and let you know what I find out.

Sources - currently being updated.

*The History of Cape Cod: The annals of Barnstable County, including Mashpee, by Frederick Freeman, 1799-1883, published 1858, Boston printed by the author by Rand & Avery, Boston Public Library, Archive.org., p. 714. 

Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, Yarmouth, Town and Vital Records, 1670-1773, Vol. 3, Jacob Paul and Mathew Pees (Indians), Image 130, Ancestry.com.  

         Yarmouth Proprietor Records, Film 008297230, Image 200 (p. 320/321), film no 945517,                     Familysearch.org.

MA Superior Court, Suffolk County, Film No. 007943510, Image 64-65, Court Records, 1686-1799, Court Records 1721-1729.

Court Records, 1686-1799, Minutes 1702-1730, Film No. 007943007, Image 53; Court Records 1715-1721, Film No. 007943509, image 447 and Film No. 008296519, images 0328-3331, Familysearch.org.

MA Court Files, Suffolk County, V. 765, Cases 122699-122817,  Familysearch.org.

Suffolk County Court Files, v. 134, Cases 14703-14851, 1720-1721, Film No. 00829833, image 203, Familysearch.org.

November 1720 Thomas Pees Indian of Yarmouth, court case https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSZV-X9WH-R?lang=en&i=64. 

         Barnstable Probate Records, 1749-1781, accessed on Familysearch.org.

         Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, accessed on Familysearch.org.

         Congregational Church Records, History Matters, Gideon Hawley

         U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Yarmouth, Town Records, 1670-1773; Vol 3.                     Image 139; also Yarmouth Laserfiche, Image 293 of 346.