Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/244

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. i. MAR. 19, 1910.

My statement to which MB. STEVENS takes exception was as follows : "It has never, I think, been ascertained with cer- tainty whether he was an Indian or a negro, or of mixed Indian and negro blood." MB. STEVENS quotes the statement in The Boston Gazette of 12 March, 1770, about " a mulatto man, named Crispus Attacks, who was born in Framingham [not Framlingham, as printed ante, p. 37]," and adds this com- ment :

" Subject to the better knowledge of your American correspondents, I think this is con- clusive as to Attucks's negro blood, as if a native Indian his birthplace and subsequent movements would not be so accurately known or chronicled, and I understand also that the word ' mulatto ' would not have been used unless one of the parents was of negro race."

This, however, is not conclusive. MB. STEVENS understands that ' ' the word ' mulatto ' would not have been used unless one of the parents was of negro race." But what if the other parent was an Indian ? The word " mulatto n comes from the Spanish mulato, young mule. Etymologic ally, therefore, there is no reason why the word should be restricted to those of mixed Europeanand negro blood ; and as a matter of fact it has not been so restricted (see the extract dated 1727-41 in the ' N.E.D.').

Let me now briefly indicate what is known about Crispus Attucks. The Boston Gazette of 2 Oct., 1750, contained an advertisement in part as follows :

" Ran-away from his Master William Brown of Framingham, on the 30th of Sept. last, a Molatto Fellow, about 27 Years of Age, named Crispas, 6 Feet two Inches high, short curl'd Hair, his Knees nearer together than common."

It has been supposed that this Crispas and Crispus Attucks were identical. In 1859C. H.Morse said:

" I learn from a grandson of the above William Browne of Framingham, that Crispus Attucks was a slave of said Browne ; and I do not learn that he ever had any other slave named Crispus. The descendants of Mr. Browne have a pewter drinking cup, worn by Attucks when he fell, which I have seen. They have also his powder horn." New. Eng. Hist, and Gen. Register, xiii. 300.

At the time of the tragedy it was supposed that the man killed was Michael Johnson, and he was so called in the inquest, though the document is filed " Inquest on Body of Mich 1 Johnson Alias Crispus Attucks " (ibid., xliv. 382-3). The postscript to The Boston News-Letter of 8 March, 1770, called him "a Mollatto Man, named Johnson"; but in the supplement to the issue of 15 March it was said that " The Name of the

Mollato killed was Crispus Attucks, not Johnson."

Three important documents were pub- lished in 1770 : ' A Short Narrative of the horrid Massacre,' printed by order of the town of Boston ; ' A Fair Account of the late Unhappy Disturbance,' London ; and ' The Trial,' &c., Boston. S. Bliss deposed : ' ' I saw the body of a person, called Michael Johnson, lying on the ground" ('Fair Account,' App., p. 15). In the 'Short Narrative ' Attucks is invariably alluded to either by that name or as "a molatto " or " a molatto man " (pp. 11, 14 ; App., pp. 30, 53, 58). The same is true of ' The Trial/ except that in one instance we find this question and answer : " Q. Did you know the Indian that was killed ? A. No n (p. 19).

There are in Massachusetts several places famous for their Indians, among them Marshpee (formerly Mashpee), Martha's Vineyard, and Natick, the last of which adjoins Framingham. In 1763 the Massa- chusetts Legislature passed ' An Act for incorporating the Indians and Molattoes, Inhabitants of Mashpee, with their Lands there, into a District, with certain Privi- ledges ; and for their better Regulation l ('Mass. Province Laws,' iv. 639). In 1794 G. Hawley said that " at Marshpee are between eighty and ninety Indian houses, if we reckon those who have affinity with them. This blood is mixed ; but the Indian blood prevails in a very considerable degree.'* In 1807 we are told that the Indians on Martha's Vineyard ' ' are much intermixed with white and negro blood, very few of them being pure Indians" ('Mass. Hist. Collec- tions,' Second Series, iii. 4, 93). In his 'History of Natick,' 1830, W. Biglow, speaking of Caesar Ferrit, said :

" This Caesar was a great natural curiosity. He was born on one of the West India islands, and was accustomed to boast, that the blood of four nations run in his veins ; for one of his Grandfathers was a Dutchman, the other a Frenchman ; and one of his grandmothers an Indian, and the other an African. He married a white New England woman, and they had several children, in whose veins, if Caesar's account of himself be true, flowed the blood of five nations." P. 44.

In TrumbulFs 'Natick Dictionary,' 1803, " ahtuk " is defined as meaning a deer (p. 6). In 1643 the form " attuck " occurs in Roger Williams's 'Key,' p. 106. In 1737 an African negro named Prince Yongey married ' ' Nanny Peterattucks, of Framingham (the name indicating Indian extraction) " (Barry's ' History of Framingham,' p. 64, note). In 1676 " Jno. Auttuck Indian " was sentenced