| Introduction | Indigenous Genealogy Resources | Native Nations in New England | Land, court, and probate records | Missionaries and Contemporaries | Census Records | Historical Sources | Genealogical Sources | Manuscript Collections | Journals/Periodicals | Need Help? |

Introduction

The history of the Native Nations in New England, particularly their relationship with European settlers is often clouded and distorted by myth. Centuries of conflicts and disease drastically reduced the population of the original inhabitants and contributes to the myth that all Native peoples in New England perished long ago. There are, however, many rich and thriving Native Nations in New England today and their history is one that can be explored through many traditional and perhaps unfamiliar genealogical sources.

The biggest challenge in Native research is that Native nations did not record their history in the same manner as Europeans. Keep in mind that the paper trail you will follow while conducting your research will often be made by the colonizers (European and American) and may not come directly from the native nation itself. Additionally, working with the nation will help provide you with a better sense of what sources they have regarding their history.

If you believe you are eligible for membership in a state of federally recognized Native Nation contact the Nation directly to determine their enrollment procedures and requirements.

Archived Webinar: Researching Native American Ancestors at NEHGS

Indigenous Genealogy Resources

E. Barrie Kavasch, A Student’s Guide to Native American Genealogy, (Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press), 1996.

Most Native Nations have a Tribal Historic Preservation Department or Genealogical Officer that can help address genealogical questions. Locate a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer.

Native Nations in New England

This chart includes the major Native groups in New England at the time of European contact. To assist in researching each group, alternate spellings, their language group, traditional territory, and other Native groups with which they allied or formed a confederacy are included. The contemporary name and link (if available) is also included as each nation may have additional sources on their own history.

Land, court, and probate records

Land rights were at the center of most interactions and conflicts between Native Nations and Euro-American settlers. The documentation of the possession of land can appear in a variety of forms, including deeds, treaties, probate records, and frequently court records when title to land is in dispute.

Land Deeds

Indian Deeds by Jeremy Bangs is a great place to start becoming familiar with how land transferred between Native populations and European settlers. You can often find deeds recorded in county deed books for exchanges or sales from individuals or groups.

Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Indian Deeds: Land Transactions in Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), 2008. NEHGS 5th Floor F68 .B18 2008. View Catalog

Treaties also include details about arrangements for land occupation and use. Look at treaties such as the 1621 treaty between Plymouth and Massasoit Osamequen of Pokanokett or Sowams. Another examples is:

Deed from the Indians of the Natick Indian Plantation, to John Stone]. Mss A 5872, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society. View Catalog
A typescript transcription of a deed concerning the sale of land by William Bowman, Capt. Josiah, Roger, James, and Keaquisan, Indians of the Natick Indian Plantation to John Stone of Sudbury. Recorded on 15 May 1656. Witnessed and acknowledged by Daniel Gookin.

Court Records

When the occupation or use of land was in dispute, the claims were sometimes address within the court system. You can search court records for individuals or groups from a Native Nation arguing that their land had been taken or, the reverse, that Native populations were occupying land granted to a European.

You can also find individuals from Native Nations in court for a variety of other reasons, such as prosecutions for debt, assault, trespass, fornication, paternity, breach of contract, working on the Sabbath, intoxication, or murder. To help navigate using court records, see:

Diane Rapaport New England Court Records: A Research Guide for Genealogists and Historians (Burlington, Mass.: Quill Pen Press), 2006. NEHGS 7th Floor F3 .R37 2006. View Catalog

After the establishment of the United States, you can find state and Federal court cases concerning official recognition as a tribal nation. These proceedings typically include any relevant genealogical information (or transcripts thereof) and census records that may exist for the nation. Example:

Evidence for Proposed Finding against Federal Acknowledgement of the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc., 1985. NEHGS 5th Floor E99.W2 U55 1985. View Catalog

Probate

In some cases you can also find probate records for individuals from Native nations that may include listing of lands, other property, and relatives. You would search for these in county probate records or in a published collection of wills recorded at the National Archive.

Jeff Bowen, Native American Wills and Probate Records 1911-1921: Including 76 Never Before Published Wills, (Baltimore: Clearfield), 2009. NEHGS 5th Floor E98.G44 N4 2009. View Catalog

Missionaries and Contemporaries

By nature of their work, Christian missionaries often had the closest point of contact with Native groups. These men kept diaries of their daily work, sent correspondence to other missionaries and political officials, and published their work in journals and books. Frequently, they also maintained registers of births, marriages, and deaths and even took censuses of the communities where they worked. Many of their writings and papers are in manuscript collections in historical societies and universities. Here is a guide of where you can find some of their records.

Census Records

Census records for Native populations in New England were sometimes collected by missionaries in the colonial era and as part of government-led reports in later years. It is important to note that while in New England you can often find Native individuals recorded on the United States Federal Census after 1870, yet records of specific Native nations were not consistently recorded over the years. The list below includes census or census-type records of Native groups in New England and where you can locate the records.

• 1764 census of Fall River Indian Reservation, “A Schedule of the Lotts of the Indians Land and to whom they Severally Belong Lying in Freetown in the County of Bristoll”, in Hugo A. Dubuque, Fall River Indian Reservation, (Fall River, 1907). NEHGS 5th Floor F74.F2 D9 1907. (original in Mass. Archives, Vol.33, pp.269-273) View Catalog
• 1792 census of Gay Head by Moses Howwaswee – The original is the property of the Massachusetts Historical Society (Call Number: Misc. 1792 Mar. 19).
• 1823 census of Martha’s Vineyard – This is included in the Lemuel Shattuck Papers (Mss 1060) folder 1H a, “Historical & Statistical.” Sent to Rev. James Freeman D.D., Boston, March 3, 1823 at NEHGS. View Catalog
• 1827 Report Number 68 on the condition of the Native Americans and Descendants, in this Commonwealth – State Library of Massachusetts
• Briggs Report 1849 (Briggs Report – MA Legislative Reports- house Report #46, 1849) – Massachusetts Archives
• Earle Report 1861 (Earle Report-MA Senate Report #96, 1861) – Massachusetts Archives
• John Milton Earle Papers – American Antiquarian Society
• People of Color in the Massachusetts State Census, 1855-1865 – NEHGS database. View Database
• 1871 Pease Report – Richard L. Pease, “Report: of the Commissioner appointed to complete the examination and determination of all questions of title to land, and of all boundary lines between the individual owners, at Gay Head, on the Island of Martha's Vineyard.” (Boston: Wright and Potter, State Printers, 1871). Available digitally at the State Library of Massachusetts
• In New England members of Native Nations are likely included on the Federal Census by 1870

Historical Sources

Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Indian Deeds: Land Transactions in Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), 2008. NEHGS 5th Floor F68 .B18 2008. View Catalog

David J. Silverman, Faith and Boundaries: Colonists, Christianity, and Community among the Wampanoag Indians of Martha's Vineyard, 1600-1871, (Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press), 2005. NEHGS 5th Floor E99.W2 S54 2005. View Catalog

Russell M. Peters, The Wampanoags of Mashpee: An Indian Perspective on American History, (Somerville, Massachusetts: Media Action), 1987. NEHGS Oversize E78.M4 W35 1987. View Catalog

Ronald Dale Karr, editor, Indian New England 1524-1674: A Compendium of Eyewitness Accounts of Native American Life, (Pepperell, Massachusetts: Branch Line Press), 1999. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.N5 I53 1999. View Catalog

Indian History of Harwich, Massachusetts, compiled by the Harwich Historical Commission (Harwich, Massachusetts: Harwich Historical Society), 1972. NEHGS 5th Floor E99.W2 I63 1972. View Catalog

Patrick Frazier, The Mohican’s of Stockbridge, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press), 1992. NEHGS 5th Floor E99.S8 F72 1992. View Catalog

Samuel Orcutt, The Indians of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Valleys, (Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company), 1999. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.C7 O73 1882. View Catalog

Robert S. Grumet, editor and foreword by Anthony F.C. Wallace, Northeastern Indian lives, 1632-1816, (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press), 1996. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.E2 N67 1996. View Catalog

Esther K. Braun and David P. Braun, The First Peoples of the Northeast, (Lincoln, Massachusetts: Moccasin Hill Press), 1996. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.E2 B73 1996. View Catalog

Neil Rolde, Unsettled Past, Unsettled Future: The Story of Maine Indians, (Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House), 2004. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.M2 R65 2004. View Catalog

Emerson W. Baker, American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press), 1995. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.M2 A74 1994. View Catalog

Bruce J. Bourque, Twelve thousand years: American Indians in Maine, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press), 2001. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.M2 B684 2001. View Catalog

Siobhan M. Hart, Colonialism, Community, and Heritage in Native New England, (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida), 2019. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.N5 H37 2019. View Catalog

Margaret Ellen Newell, Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery, (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press) 2015. NEGHS 5th Floor E98.S6 N49 2015. View Catalog

Gordon M. Day with Michael K. Foster and William Cowan, editors, In Search of New England’s Native Past: Selected Essays by Gordon M. Day, (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press), 1998. NEHGS 5th Floor E99.A13 D39 1998. View Catalog

Jean M. O’Brien, Dispossession by Degrees: Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts, 1650-1790, (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press), 1997. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.M4 O27 1997. View Catalog

Nathaniel Philbrick, Abram's Eyes: The Native American Legacy of Nantucket Island, (Nantucket, Massachusetts: Mill Hill Press), 1998. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.M4 P56 1998. View Catalog

William Apess, On Our Own Ground: The Complete Writings of William Apess, a Pequot, (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press), 1992. NEHGS 5th Floor E78.N5 A64 1992. View Catalog

Colin G. Calloway, The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994). NEHGS 5th Floor E99.A13 C35 1990. View Catalog

Kathleen J. Bragdon, Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650. (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996). NEHGS 5th Floor E78.N5 B73 1996. View Catalog

Laurence M. Hauptman & James D. Wherry eds., The Pequots in Southern New England: The Fall and Rise of an American Indian Nation, The Civilization of the American Indian Series No. 198, (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993). NEHGS 5th Floor E78.N5 P47 1993. View Catalog

Senier, Siobhan, Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England, (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2014). View Catalog

Colin G. Calloway, ed., After King Philip’s War: Presence and Persistence in Indian New England, (Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1997). View Catalog

David J. Silverman, Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2016). View Catalog

Lisa Brooks, The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008). View Catalog

Jack Campisi, The Mashpee Indians: Tribe on Trial, (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1993).

David J. Silverman, This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019). View Catalog

Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, (Yale University Press, 2018).

Paula Peters, Mashpee Nine: A Story of Cultural Justice, (Mashpee, MA: SmokeSygnals, 2017).

Genealogical Sources

Jeff Bowen, Native American Wills and Probate Records 1911-1921: Including 76 Never Before Published Wills, (Baltimore: Clearfield), 2009. NEHGSN 5th Floor E98.G44 N4 2009. View Catalog

Jerome D. Segel and R. Andrew Pierce, The Wampanoag Genealogical History of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts: Referenced to Banks' History of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, (Volume 1: Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2003; Volume 2, Parts A-B : Berwyn Heights, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2016). NEHGS 5th Floor E99.W2 .S44 2003. View Catalog

Earl Mills Sr. and Alicja Mann, Son of Mashpee: Reflections of Chief Flying Eagle, a Wampanoag, (North Falmouth, Massachusetts: Word Studio), 1996. NEHGS 5th Floor E99.M4 M565 1996. View Catalog

Will Ottery, A Man Called Sampson: The Ancestry and Progeny of Sampson, a Mashantucket Pequot Indian (Camden, Maine: Penobscot Press), 1989. NEHGS 7th Floor CS71 .S189 1989. View Catalog

Will and Rudi Ottery, The Sampson Photo Album, (Manchester, New Hampshire: New England Duplicator), 1989. NEHGS 7th Floor CS71 .S189 1989a. View Catalog

Manuscript Collections

Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the Parts Adjacent in America records, Mss 1193, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society. View Catalog

This collection contains meeting minutes (1731-1784) and treasurers accounts (1729-1785) for the Boston Commissioners, correspondence between the Boston Board and the London Board (1751-1887), and loose documents (1685-1787) including bonds, deeds, receipts, and correspondence concerning the Boston Commissioners, missionaries, schoolmasters, and/or Native Americans, particularly those living in Freetown, Martha's Vineyard, Mashpee, Natick, and Stockbridge, Mass. Individuals prominently represented in this collection include Gideon Hawley, Elisha Tupper, Stephen Badger, Andrew Oliver, William Phillips, and Isaac Smith.

[Deed from the Indians of the Natick Indian Plantation, to John Stone]. (Mss A 5872). R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society. View Catalog

Typescript transcription of a deed concerning the sale of land by William Bowman, Capt. Josiah, Roger, James, and Keaquisan, Indians of the Natick Indian Plantation to John Stone of Sudbury. Recorded on 15 May 1656. Witnessed and acknowledged by Daniel Gookin.

Historical notes on Native Americans and treaties, 1620-1691. American Antiquarian Society. View Catalog

“This volume is a compendium of historical notes on the English and French settlement of North America and the "state" of the tribes of North America from 1620-1691. Of particular interest in this volume are minutes of treaty negotiations between the English and Iroquois and Mahicans. These minutes appear to be based on a lost record book of the Albany Commissioners for Indian Affairs and cover the years 1677-1691.”

Indenture of Jonathan Humphry to William Russell (Mss C 1362). R Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society. View Catalog

Terms by which Jonathan and Sarah Umpry [Humphry], "Indians of Natick", apprentice their son, Jonathan, to carpenter William Russell of Cambridge.

Joseph Twitchells Book of Indian accounts (Mss C 4953). R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society. View Catalog

Original account book for the associate guardian for Natick Indians (as appointed by the General Court). First page has "Joseph Twitchells Book of Indian accounts". Entries include debts and credits concerning the selling of property and estate settlements performed by Twitchell on behalf of the Natick Indians. Entries also include his acquisition of clothing and food.

The Peabody and Badger records transcribed from the original (Mss A 8197). R Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society. View Catalog

Handwritten copy from the records of the Church of Natick recorded by Oliver Peabody and Stephen Badger: extracts from meeting minutes 1729-1745, admissions into the Church 1754-1798, baptisms by Peabody 1726-1752, baptisms by Badger 1753-1798, record of those who have been received in to full communion 1729-1751, and a record of those that have dyed of the Indians belonging to Natick 1722-1771.

Records of the Trustees of the Indians of Hassanamisco (Grafton) from 1718 to 1857. American Antiquarian Society. View Catalog

Journals and accounts of the Trustees of Hassanamiscoe. Records include records divisions of land, payments to the Indians at Hassanamisco, and the expenses of trustees. The accounts include the names of many Native American (Nipmuc) individuals.

Journals/Periodicals

Boissevain, Ethel. 1956. “The Detribalization of the Narragansett Indians: A Case Study.” Ethnohistory, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 225-245.

Cogley, Richard W. “A Seventeenth-Century Native American Family: William of Sudbury and His Four Sons,” April 1999 Register at pages 173–179. View Database

Coombs, Linda. 2002. “Holistic History: Including the Wampanoag,” Plimoth Life 1:2 (2002): 12-15.

DeLucia, Christine. 2012. “The Memory Frontier: Uncommon Pursuits of Past and Place in the Northeast after King Philip’s War.” Journal of American History, Vol. 98, No. 4, pp. 975-997.

Hoff, Henry B. “Thankful (Will) Jolly of Cape Cod and Her Descendants: A Family of Native Ancestry,” Register 168 (July 2014):201–205. View Database

(https://www.americanancestors.org/DB201/i/11771/48/0) McAleer, Beth, and Robert V. Rice. “Y-DNA Secures Identity of Rice Mohawk Native American with Edmund Rice Haplotype,” New England Ancestors 6:4 (Fall 2005):48–50.

Nash, Alice. 2000. “Still Pequot After All These Years,” *Common-place: The Interactive Journal of Early American Life* 1:1 (September 2000). View Journal

Pierce, R. Andrew. “A Primer on New England Native American Genealogy,” New England Ancestors 8:1 (Winter 2007):25–29. View Database

Pierce, R. Andrew. “Joseph² Daggett of Martha’s Vineyard, His Native American Wife, and Their Descendants,” Register 161 (Jan. 2007):5–21. View Database

Rapaport, Diane. “Coe’s Case: Indians in Colonial Courts,” New England Ancestors 6:2 (Spring 2005):52–53. View Database

Rapaport, Diane. “Native Americans and Africans in Nantucket Court Records,” New England Ancestors 9:4 (Fall 2008):54–55, 58. View Database

Salls, Timothy G. X. “Ethnic Manuscript Collections at NEHGS,” New England Ancestors 6:2 (Spring 2005):48–49 [Brotherton Indians]. View Database

Silverman, David J. “Indians, Missionaries, and Religious Translation: Creating Wampanoag Christianity in Seventeenth-Century Martha’s Vineyard.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 62 (2005): 141-75. View Catalog

Speck, Frank. 1943. “Reflections Upon the Past and Present of the Massachusetts Indians.” Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society. Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 33-38. View Catalog

Walsh, Dennis P. “King Philip (Metacom) Redux: Massasoit’s Son or Grandson?” Register 157 (April 2003):116–123. View Database

Need help?

Want to maximize your research? The experts at NEHGS can help! We offer a number of services that can help you break down brick walls and expand your research.

Meet one-on-one with our genealogists

Want research guidance from a professional genealogist? Our experts provide 30-minute to two-hour consultations in person or by phone.

• Find elusive ancestors—Whether you are searching in the U.S. or abroad, in the 17th or 20th century, our genealogists have the knowledge to assist you.
• Locate and use records—Vital records, military records, deeds, probate, and more—if you’re wondering where to look for them, how to read them, or what data you can find in them, we can guide you.
• Get more out of technology—Feel like you could be making better use of your genealogy software? Curious about websites and databases that might be relevant to your research? Let us help!

Schedule your consultation today or contact consultations@nehgs.org.

Hire our experts in Research Services

Whether you are just beginning your family research or have been researching for years, NEHGS Research Services is here to assist you. Our team of experts can:

• Conduct hourly research
• Break down “brick walls”
• Retrieve manuscript materials
• Obtain probate records
• Research and prepare your lineage society application
• Organize your materials and files
• Write narrative biographies about your ancestors
• Create customized family charts

Hire Research Services today or contact research@nehgs.org, 617-226-1233.