Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/329

Rh in upon the cornfields of the red men; and Eliot, caring for his charges, procured the passage of an act by the General Court reserving a good part of the land on which Lowell now stands to the exclusive use of the Indians.

The towns of Chelmsford and Billerica were incorporated May 29, 1655.

In 1656, Major-General Daniel Gookin was appointed superintendent of all the Indians under the jurisdiction of the Colony. By his fair dealing he won their entire confidence. They had good friends in Judge Gookin and the Apostle Eliot, who were ever ready to protect them from encroachments of their neighbors.

In 1660, Passaconaway relinquished all authority over his tribe, retiring at a ripe old age, and turning over his office of sachem to his son Wannalancet, whose, headquarters were at Penacook. Numphow, who was married to one of Passaconaway's daughters, was the chief for some years of the village of Pawtucket. In 1669, Wannalancet, in dread of the Mohawks, came down the river with his whole tribe, and located at Wamesit, and built a fortification on Fort Hill in Belvidere, which was surrounded with palisades. The white settlers of the vicinity, catching the alarm, took refuge in garrison-houses.

In 1674, there were at Wamesit fifteen families, or seventy-five souls, enumerated as Christian Indians, aside from about two hundred who adhered to their primitive faith in the Great

Spirit. Numphow was their magistrate as well as chief, his cabin standing near the Boott Canal. The log chapel presided over by the Indian preacher, Samuel, stood at the west end of Appleton Street near the site of the Eliot Church. In May of each year came Eliot and Gookin: the former to give spiritual advice; the latter to act as umpire or judge, having jurisdiction of higher offences, and directing all matters affecting the interests of the village. Wannalancet held his court,