Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/130

94 prepared to examine the records as to what Sowams was and where Massassoit had his residence, as all authorities agree that he lived at Sowams. In 1641, Mr. John Brown and Mr. Edward Winslow, both of whom had made intimate acquaintance with Massassoit, purchased of the chief a tract of land eight miles square, known to the Indians as Sinkhunck, but named by the whites, Rehoboth. Prior to this purchase we find in the Plymouth records (vol. 2, p. 5), under date of December, 1640, the following entry:

"The third place from Sowamset River to Patuckquett River, wth Consumpsit Neck wch is the cheefe habitacon of the Indians and reserved for them to dwell upon, extending into the land eight miles through the whole breadth thereof was made choice of by the purchasers or old comers according to order of the court passed March 3, 1639." The "Sowamset River" referred to is the river separating Barrington from Warren and the "Patuckquett" is Providence River from Narragansett Bay to the city of Pawtucket. Mr. Brown and his associates at once began the settlement of their purchase of Seekonk which they named Rehoboth, and in 1645 it was voted at a meeting of the townsmen "that a fence shall be made from sea to sea (Sowamsett River to Patuckquett River) between the Indian lands." This fence was the south line of the Rehoboth purchase.

It is evident from the above record that Sowams was not included in the Seekonk purchase of 1641, as a fence was built along the southern boundary of the town to separate its lands from those of the Indians on the south. As Consumpsit Neck (Bristol Neck) was an Indian reservation and known by that name, it is clear that it was not a part of Sowams. Kickemuit, the Indian village, and the section of territory along the Kickemuit River are not claimed as within the Sowams limit. It must then be accepted that Sowams was a part of the territory lying between Seekonk on the north and the Narragansett Bay and Consumpsit or Mount Hope Neck on the south. Let us now