Forebears and Bears

.   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 indiv...

If you asked me who my favorite ancestor was, no question it would be Thomas Greenough of Yarmouth, Massachusetts.  Indeed, I wrote a book on him.  While I continue to research in an effort to find everything I can about his life, this ongoing exhaustive search discovers no new information.  Well, a few little items here and there, i.e, notations of payments to Thomas Greenough by the Town of Yarmouth in it's early account books, and the name "Thomas Crno" (I suspect this to be an early phonetic version of Thomas Greenough) on a petition dated 1762 by a group of indigenous people of Yarmouth requesting payment to Thomas Ralph as their minister.  I do have theories and thoughts on who he may have been related to, possibly who his mother might be, but nothing documented.  Thomas Greenough, and his Native American ancestry, is well documented in primary sources - town records, vital records, and leases written and signed in his own hand.  His existence, and hi...