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Exceedingly rare manuscript document in the Massachusett language, one page both sides, 8.5 x 12.25, circa 1715. On the front is a certification of property rights at Sanchekantacket [Satgontakit] on Martha's Vineyard, in part (translated): "Know ye all men of Satgontakit: You [shall] not have any more trouble regarding the late former sachem who was named Wompamok, what he set up, and what was satisfactory, and what he promised by God, and that lan that he divided up for those that were from there or were born there…for them to be able to be given a share of the land. And they have already been given a share of it in friendship, and to all their posterity forever. I Joseph Chasnin and my cousin Pety, we are both satisfied with this…Johnnaos should not have any trouble regarding his shares of his lands…I Joshua Taknsh and Tachel Taknsh, we are satisfied with it. We do not intend to alter this share of property."
On the reverse is a statement given by Joseph Josnin [Chasnin] and Betty [Pety] to Johnnaos, placing land at Upper Lagoon Pond (Waquatukquaak) under his care. In part (translated): "No more (shall) anyone meddle with the land that Wampamok delivered to Mr. Newcom's hands, that lies at Waquatukquaak…I Joseph Chasnin and I Pety Chasnin, we deliver this land to Johnnaos for him to watch over it…no one (shall) meddle with the land or the trees." Preserved in conservation mylar and in good to very good condition, with creasing, soiling, and some paper loss to the edges which affects some of the text.
This Massachusett-language manuscript was one of just 106 such manuscripts known to survive at the time of the publication of Native Writings in Massachusett by Ives Goddard and Kathleen Joan Bragdon (American Philosophical Society, 1988). These few documents, collected and translated by Goddard and Bragdon, represent the only corpus of manuscripts in a native language generated in colonial North America. This example, one of very few in private hands, is cataloged as no. 58 and 59 in Native Writings in Massachusett (pp. 202–209).
Massachusett is an extinct Eastern Algonquin language spoken during the colonial period in southeastern Massachusetts. It is best known through John Eliot''s monumental translation of the Bible, the first Bible in any language to be printed in the New World. Per Ives and Goddard: 'The Massachusett texts are witness to one of the most significant and least understood periods of southern New England native history. These texts, written by native speakers of Massachusett, an Eastern Algonquin language, were created as part of one of the earliest instances of widespread vernacular literacy in native North America. They reflect aspects of everyday life among the Massachusett speakers from the 1660s to the 1750s, a period when they formed largely self-governing, self-sufficient Christian communities. As such, these records document a phase of Indian history between the period of early contact and that of the Indians' emergence as a modern political entity."
