Peter Jethro (also known as Jethro or Animatohu[1] or Hantomush[2]) (c. 1614 – c. 1688) was an early Native American (Nipmuc) scribe, translator, minister, land proprietor, and Praying Indian affiliated for a period with John Eliot in the praying town of Natick, Massachusetts.

Early life

Peter Jethro was born in approximately 1614[3] and was the son of the Nipmuc medicine man Tantamous (also known as "Old Jethro"), although some early records and histories confuse the father and son.[1] Peter Jethro stated that he was "one of the ancient native hereditary Indian proprietors of" Assabet (near what is now Maynard, Massachusetts).[2] By 1635 Peter Jethro resided in Nashobah (near Nagog Pond on the modern day boundary of Littleton and Acton[4]) near Concord and was present with a group of Native Americans to witness the sale of what is now downtown Concord to local colonists.[5] By around 1650 Peter Jethro moved to the praying town of Natick near where his father resided on Nobscot Hill, and while in Natick Peter Jethro studied under John Eliot who stated that "Jethro, after he had confest Christ and was baptized, was sent to preach Christ to" "[p]eople (sundry of them) dwelling at Panatuket-Fort."[6] In 1674 Daniel Gookin, superintendent of the Praying Indians, vouched for Peter Jethro as a "grave and pious Indian" and commissioned him to work as a missionary minister in Nashaway (Lancaster) and Weshakim (Sterling).[7][8] Using his knowledge of English and local Algonquin dialects, Peter Jethro served as a translator and scribe for various land transactions between settlers and Native Americans in Massachusetts. In 1665 he was part of a group of Indians that transferred Quinsigamoge Pond to the settlers.[1]

King Philip's War

In August 1675 Peter's father, Tantamous, and ten other Indians were falsely accused of committing a murder in the first Lancaster attack after allegedly falling under suspicion due to their "singing, dancing, and having much powder and many bullets and slugs hid in their baskets," but they were acquitted when the true murderer, Monoco, a Nashaway, was discovered. King Philip purportedly captured Peter Jethro at the outbreak of King Philip's War, and Jethro accompanied the Indians against the English during their expedition on the Connecticut River and was present at Battle on Beer's Plain in Northfield in September 1675 where he freed an English captive.[9][10] Peter Jethro later communicated with the captors of Mary Rowlandson, a captive taken during the February 1676 Lancaster raid, to obtain her release.[11][12] Peter eventually escaped and turned himself in to the English authorities in response to an offer of a pardon for any Indian who did so.[13] Pardoning Jethro in return for his service was criticized strongly by Rev. Edmund Brown of Sudbury.[14]

During King Philip's War, the government ordered Peter's father, Tantamous, and his family to Deer Island,[15] but Tantamous escaped, and Peter alerted the authorities (with alleged assurances that his family would not be harmed) of his father's whereabouts,[16] but his father was captured at Cochecho (Dover, New Hampshire) and executed on the Boston Common in 1676[2][1][17]: 137 ) [11][18] In his history of the war, Increase Mather referred to the incident, stating, "That abominable Indian Peter Jethro betrayed his own Father, and other Indians of his special acquaintance, unto Death."[19] More recent historians suggest that Peter may have actually been working to turn in only John Monoco, the perpetrator of the Lancaster raid, out of a sense of justice, and Monoco and Old Jethro may have intended to surrender peacefully in return for offering Canonicus, the Narragansett leader, in exchange for their lives.[12] On September 2, 1676 Richard Waldron wrote a letter to Daniel Gookin stating that he never promised amnesty for the Indians which Peter brought in, but only to let the governor know of his service if he helped the colony.[20]

In 1677 Rev. Thomas Cobbett wrote an account of the War stating that "Capt. John Jerthoag a Nipmk Sagamor came in and some with him, and presently after fetched in old Matonas and his son, 120 more."[21] It is unclear if "Jerthoag" is in reference to Peter or possibly another Jethro relative, but it has been interpreted as meaning a member of the "Jethro" family.[22] Similarly, William Hubbard wrote about Peter Jethro's assistance to the colony stating that "young Jethro brought in 40 at one time."[23]

Later life advocating for Native American rights

Between 1681 and 1685 Jethro (sometimes referring to himself as "Old Jethro") signed documents with other Nipmucs protesting the sale of tribal lands including near what is now Marlborough, Massachusetts and elsewhere in "Nipmuc country" by various parties who acted without authority including Waban, Great James, and John Wampas.[24][25][26] In 1683 several Indians, including Rev. Daniel Takawombait signed a letter to John Eliot requesting that church services in the Natick Praying town continue in the Nipmuc language rather than English, and one of the signatories was "Olt Jetro,"[27] so Peter Jethro or another relative may have used his father's name after his death or may have adopted it as was the practice with other deceased Indians in that era.[28] Also, in 1683 Peter Jethro was living with Jonathan Ting of Dunstable, Massachusetts, and transferred land north of Mount Wachusett to Ting, which Jethro had received from his Uncle Jeffrey of Waymessitt, and Jethro stated that he had no children.[1] In 1684 Peter Jethro confirmed land transfers of family land in Sudbury to colonists, and he deeded land in what is now Maynard to settlers there, and the Sudbury transfer was witnessed by Rev. Daniel Takawombait.[2][29] He also signed documentation in 1684 confirming early land transfers including the Concord purchase.[5] Jethro was involved in land transfers in as far away as what is now Vermont.[30] According to one source, "[i]n the Fall of 1688, Peter Jethro and three other Indians went on an excursion to the upper valley of the Connecticut River, the object of which is not stated. No later notice of him has been found"[10][31] however a Native American referred to as "Jethro, the Indian" witnessed the death of John Wells near the Connecticut River in Connecticut in 1695.[32]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Barry, William, A History of Framingham, Massachusetts (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1847), 19-20
  2. 1 2 3 4 Gutteridge, William H. (1921). A Brief History of the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts. Maynard, MA: Town of Maynard, p. 13-16
  3. ↑ He gives his age as about 70 years old in 1684 per: Barry, William, A History of Framingham, Massachusetts (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1847), 19-20
  4. ↑ Harwood, Herbert Joseph, An Historical Sketch of the Town of Littleton, p. 2
  5. 1 2 Shattuck, Lemuel, History of the Town of Concord, Mass. (Boston, 1835)
  6. ↑ John Eliot’s Brief Narrative (1670) https://www.bartleby.com/43/12.html
  7. ↑ Gookin, Daniel, Historical Collections of the Indians in New England (1792), p. 193
  8. ↑ Cogley, Richard W., John Eliot's Mission to the Indians Before King Philip's War (Harvard University Press, 1999), p. 160
  9. ↑ Temple, J.H., and G. Sheldon, History of the Town of Northfield, Massachusetts, for 150 Years: With Family Genealogies, (1875), pg. 78
  10. 1 2 Temple, Josiah Howard, History of Framingham, Massachusetts: Early Known as Danforth's ... (1887) Framingham, Mass., p. 53-55
  11. 1 2 Butterworth, Hezekiah, Young Folks' History of Boston (1881) pg. 28-33
  12. 1 2 Brooks, Lisa, Our Beloved Kin (Yale University Press, 2018), "Peter Jethro and the Capture of Monoco"
  13. ↑ Pulsipher, J.H., "'Our Sages are Sageles': A Letter on Massachusetts Indian". The William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr., 2001), pp. 431-448, accessed on JSTOR
  14. ↑ Pulsipher, J.H., "'Our Sages are Sageles': A Letter on Massachusetts Indian". The William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr., 2001), pp. 431-448, accessed on JSTOR
  15. ↑ Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the ... (1901) pg. 54
  16. ↑ Provincial and State Papers Volume 1 New Hampshire (Colony) Probate Court (1867) p/ 360
  17. ↑ Drake, Samuel Gardner (1841). The Book of the Indians, Or, Biography and History of the Indians of North America: From Its First Discovery to the Year 1841. Antiquarian Bookstore. ISBN 9780665348549. Retrieved May 10, 2018. Old Jethro.
  18. ↑ Barber, S., Boston Common: A Diary of Notable Events, Incidents, and Neighboring Occurrences (Christopher Publishing House, 1916), p. 32
  19. ↑ Kittredge, George Lyman, The Old Farmer and His Almanack: Being Some Observations on Life and ... (1920), pg. 370
  20. ↑ George Madison Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War: Being a Critical Account of ... (1896), p. 309 (Letter dated Sept. 2, 1676 Massachusetts Archives) (accessible on google books)
  21. ↑ Rev. Thomas Cobbett, of Ipswich, "A Narrative of New England's Deliverances," (written in 1677 to Increase Mather) New England Historical Genealogical Register, (Volume 7, 1853), p. 209 https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/New_England_Historical_Genealogical_Register_Online
  22. ↑ Samuel Gardner Drake, Indian Biography, p. 137 accessible on google books
  23. ↑ William Hubbard, A Narrative of the Indian Wars in New-England, (1814) p. 290 (accessible on google books)
  24. ↑ Mass. General Court Records at State Archives, https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ArchivesSearch/RevolutionaryDetail.aspx?rec=VyiORR2scTyc3Vm6zeEOy55NhOJ1YqEItmfmZWKHVJE%3d
  25. ↑ Mass. General Court Records at State Archives, https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ArchivesSearch/RevolutionaryDetail.aspx?rec=VyiORR2scTyc3Vm6zeEOyyalsZChmfYHGug475AYjpQ%3d
  26. ↑ Mass. General Court Records at State Archives, https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ArchivesSearch/RevolutionaryDetail.aspx?rec=VyiORR2scTyc3Vm6zeEOy8TAaJHbpGpWA3pYjFTZlyE%3d
  27. ↑ Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the Parts Adjacent in America, Some correspondence between the governors and treasurers of the New England Company, 74-75 (accessible on google books).
  28. ↑ Daniel R. Mandell, King Philip's War: The Conflict Over New England, pg. 55
  29. ↑ Land Sales in Nipmuc Country 1643-1724 BYU https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=14&article=1010&context=data&type=additional
  30. ↑ Parsons, Herbert C., A Puritan Outpost: A History of the Town and People of Northfield, ... (2018)
  31. ↑ "Examination of Magsigpin by Stephanus van Cortland," https://findit.library.yale.edu/yipp/catalog/digcoll:1017922
  32. ↑ "Native Archives".
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