Sarah Dewey

The Mattabesick, or Mattabesetts, or Black-hill Indians in- habited Middletown and neighborhood. This word, which was written by Roger Williams, Metewemesick, is derived from Mete- wis, meaning black earth. It is generally supposed that the great chief of the Mattabesetts was named Sowheag, but in fact, this was the name of the sachemdom and not of the sachem, Sow- heag meaning. South-country, or kingdom. This great Sachem, whom the white settlers feared, was named Sequasson (or lengthened to Sunckquasson and sometimes shortened to Sequin, or Sequeen) and Dr. Chapin thought this word might be a modi- fication of Sachem. Sequasson means, hard-stone, Sunckquas- son, cold-stone, from siokke, hard, and hussum, stone. Giving Sachem its English equivalent, the Indian's full title — Sequasson- Sequin-Sowheag, means, Hard-stone, King-of-the-South-country. Sequasson's son took the name of Manittowese, or Mantowese (from which Montowese, near New Haven, is probably derived) meaning Little-god and his totem was a large bow with arrow, its nock fitted to the string ready for shooting.

equasson — erroneously called Sowheag — in Europe would have been a great political leader ; in the New World he was a Sachem, whose will was obeyed over an extensive territory. As Great Sachem of the Mattabesetts, he was supreme over the Indians on both sides of the Connecticut River, including several tribes besides his own immediate tribe. From Indian Hill, where he lived, he was accustomed to summon the tribe by blowing on a famous conch shell. This was believed to have magical powers because its tones could be heard at so great a distance by the chiefs and warriors of the Mattabesett and subordinate tribes, whom he wished to summon for council or defence. Sequasson was held in profound reverence by the In- dians and was respected and somewhat feared by the white settlers for, while he was not an open enemy of the settlers, he was far from being friendly. They were treated by him with the dignified reserve and contempt of a great chief. He regarded them as interlopers and inferiors, who had encroached upon his birthright. The Indians of the tribe kept his burial place a pro- found secret from the settlers and when questioned by them in regard to the location of his grave, they showed anger and remained silent. To the north of Middletown, near the Sebeth River, was a field called after him, in which many stone arrow- heads and spearheads were found.

Not far from Middletown, in what is now Glastenbury,

THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Sachem of the Tribe, complained to the white magistrate of the Colony, that the Pochmks were hiding the murderer and that they were protecting him from the punishment he deserved. Sequasson also told his troubles to Uncas and obtained a promise of assistance from him. Uncas then complained to the magis- trates that Tontonimo had protected an Indian who had mur- dered a Mohegan. The magistrates summoned all the parties concerned before them. Sequasson and Uncas demanded that ten of Weaseapano's friends should be delivered up to them for slaughter, as the murderer was a worthless Indian and the mur- dered man a great Sachem. Tontonimo regarded the price as excessive and brought in a counter claim, that the dead Sachem had killed Weaseapano's uncle. The Governor of the Colony, fearing trouble from direct interference, suggested that the de- mand was too great and told Uncas and his friend that the white men were content to punish the murderer.

GEDCOM Note

Biography

Baptism: "Sarah ROOT d. John Oct 5, 1680 Baptism"≤ref>Westfield, MA: Baptisms Performed in the Church of Christ, 1679– 1836 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, 2003.), p. 2662.≤/ref>
A daughter Esther will marry Aaron Gunn, son of Quartermaster John Gunn (b. 1647) . Brother Samuel will marry Mary Gunn, a daughter of John. She is a cousin of Capt. John Ashley.

Sources

• WikiTree profile Root-363 created through the import of AustinMoserJohnsonStover Tree.ged on Oct 16, 2011 by Ken Austin.See the Changes page for the details of edits by Ken and others.
• Source: ≤span id='S-1855645572'>S-1855645572≤/span> Repository: #R-1855645573 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. * Repository: ≤span id='R-1855645573'>R-1855645573≤/span> Name: Ancestry.com Address: http://www.Ancestry.com Note:

≤references />

See also:*Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 40143_270827__0002-00054
::Sarah Root
::Birth Date 27 Sep 1670
::Birth Place Westfield, Massachusetts
::Father Name John Root
::Mother Name Mary*New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. [https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/rd/21174/447/426921051]
::Sarah ROOT
::Marriage 1689
::Location Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States ::Original Text DEWEY, Abijah/?Adijah (1666-1741) & Sarah ROOT (1670-); by 1689; Westfield {Dewey 242; Root 317; NYGBR 6:65; Reg. 6:269}
::Spouse Abijah, Adijah DEWEY
::Volume Name Volume 1 Page 447

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Dr. Ted Vandevis
http://familysearch.org/

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