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    • Time PeriodsArchaeologists divide the evolution of Native American cultures into the following approximate time periods: the Paleo-Indian Period (12,500-8,000 years ago) the Archaic Period (8,000-3,000 years ago), the Woodland Period (3,000-1,000 years ago), the Late Woodland Period (1,000 years ago-1600AD) and the Early Contact Period (1600AD-1700AD). These periods are marked by specific changes in the material culture that has been revealed in the archaeological sites.
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Biography

  • Nathan Jeffrey Cuffee
  • Mary Rebecca Bunn ( Aunt Becky )
  • William Wallace Tooker
  • Sachem Aquash of the Montaukett
  • Poggatacut, Sachem of the Manhassets of Shelter Island
  • Sunksqua Weany / Pametsechs
  • Ninigret, Eastern Niantic Sachem
  • Worison – Unkechaug Whaler
  • Stephen Talkhouse
  • Mandush, 17th Century Sachem of Shinnecock
  • Sylvester Pharoah
  • Lois “Princess Nowedonah” Hunter
  • Betty Lewis Cromwell (Shinnecock)
  • Jeremiah Pharoah – Montaukett Whaler
  • Wobetom
  • Jeorgkee – Indian Whaler
  • Rev. Paul Cuffee
  • Paucamp
  • Sachem Warawakmy of the Setauket
  • Mocomanto – Shinnecock Sachem 1640
  • Peter John Cuffee
  • Wuchikittawbut – Wife of Wyandanch
  • Chief Mahue / Mayhew of Unkechaug
  • Momoweta
  • Samson Occom
  • Wyandanch
  • Protected: M. Raymond Harrington
  • Cockenoe (de Long Island)

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Worison (also known as Warishone or Waishone) was Worison (also known as Warishone or Waishone) was an Unkechaug Indian who lived in the 17th century. Worison lived on the western edge of Watchogue, a neck of land at East Moriches, Brookhaven Town. His home was likely on a neck of land now called Mamanok (located between Mattuck Brook and Pomiches Creek)  Worison was a kinsman and endorser of land transactions led by Sachem Mahue/Mayhew of the Unkechaug.  Among several other Unkechaug whalers, Worison signed a contract with John Cooper and three other Southampton men to hunt whales for two seasons beginning in February 1676. There were twelve men in the crew, six in each whaleboat. They agreed to launch the boats as soon as whales were spotted. The Unkechaug Indians agreed to butcher the carcass, try out the oil, and pour it into barrels. If they failed to show, they would be fined according to the whaling company's discretion.  The first whaling crew made up entirely of Unkechaug Indians was influenced by Worison. They signed a contract on February 19, 1679, with Thomas Cooper of Southampton for the 1679-80 season. The crew included an Unkechaug named Weumps, Winecroscum, and others.  Image: Kitchaminchok is a sacred place to the Unkechaug people, known for it's drift whaling. Historically, it is part of a boundary marker mentioned in a 17th-century agreement between Sachem Wyandanch and Lion Gardiner that permitted Gardiner to pay five pounds (potentially eight hundred pounds today) for every complete whale carcass that came ashore.
'Weany' (also referred to as Pametsechs) was a mid 'Weany' (also referred to as Pametsechs) was a mid-17th-century Shinnecock Sunksqua who led land transactions with the English colonists. She was among other Sunksquas of Long Island, including Quashawam, Wuchikitaubit, and Askickotantup (all Montaukett).  Weany's supporters included Cobish (Goabes), the husband of Sachem Mandush's widow, Anabackus, Jackanapes, Topobin, and Wetaugon. Following the death of the Grand Sachem Wyandanch, Weany felt that the Shinnecock were freed from any obligation to honor the land transactions made on behalf of the Shinnecock by the Montaukett Sachem.  On February 22, 1666, she signed an agreement to sell land to English Colonist Thomas Topping which was endorsed by 27 fellow Shinnecock people. Topping paid fourscore fathom of wampum beads for the land but also granted himself access to drift whales that beach along that shore of land. The total wampum was 80 fathoms, with one fathom representing six feet of wampum. The land spanned South Sea (now Seatuck Creek) and the bay called Peconnet toward Canoe Place / Niamuck (Shinnecock Canal). The land today is Quogue.  In September 1666, a dissident group of Shinnecock, led by the late Sachem Mandush's daughter, claimed that Weany Sunk did not have the right to initially convey the lands. They asked for compensation as a means to settling the dispute. In the end, the Governor paid the Mandush family the same amount of wampum as they did Weany.
Sagaponack is an Algonquian word for the locally f Sagaponack is an Algonquian word for the locally found indigenous groundnuts, also called the potato bean, hopniss, Indian potato, hodoimo, America-hodoimo, American groundnut, or simply groundnut. The tubers grow about three inches under soil and were part of a daily diet by Native people. They were sometimes dipped in racoon fat and taste like sweet potatoes. They were also eaten raw, boiled, roasted in coals, and dried.  At a general court in Southampton held on March 6, 1654, it was ordered that "noe Indians shall digg for ground nuts in the plain, or digg in any ground, uppon penalty of sitting in the stocks"  The harsh punishment of public humiliation in the stocks for the first offense and a whipping for the second offense may have been a result of a challenge to the boundaries of colonial land claims. The colonists also fined the local Indians if cattle broke their legs falling into Indian cellar holes and other pits.  Variations of the word include Sagabonock, Sagaponack, Sagaponach, Sagaponock, Saggaponack, Sagabunnuck, Sagabonock, Sagabonna, and Saggapenack.  The town of Sagg was renamed Sagaponack on February 21, 1890, after being known as Sagg since April 23, 1878.
Sonnquoquas is the original Indigenous name of Tom Sonnquoquas is the original Indigenous name of Tom's Creek in Southold on what is traditionally Corchaug ancestral territory which spans Long Island's North Fork.  Sonquoqua was an Indian who lived at this place, and from his English name of Tom, the creek perhaps derived its name, although the common supposition is that it was derived from Thomas Benedict, one of the early inhabitants of Hashamomuk. Sonquoqua was one of the Sachems of the Manhansett tribe; his name appears on the deed to Sylvester and Company for Shelter Island in 1652, as ” Sonquoequahesick. ”  The affix –esick, “of the brook,” probably refers to his residence at Tom’s Creek.  Sonnquoquas was first mentioned as a placename in a confirmatory deed of Hashamomuk Neck, February 20, 1660, "All that land lying and being neere or adjoining Tom's Creek, in Indian Sonnquoquas"
On February 19, 1684, a deed was signed between Ma On February 19, 1684, a deed was signed between Matinecock Sachems Suscaneman, Werah, and an Oyster Bay settler named Henry Bell. Bell had married a Narragansett woman who had taken the English name "Jane." The Matinecock Sachem gave the Bells a gift of fifty acres of land because Jane was "one of our own nation."  The land itself is located at a stream called "Chagechageing Swamp" and situated on ancestral Matinecock land.  Image: Matinecock Way is a street co-named in 2015 to honor the Matinecock Indian Tribe who once lived in villages throughout the towns of Flushing, Pomonok, College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston, and Little Neck. The naming ceremony was attended by local members of the Matinecock tribe, Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, and historian Jason D. Antos.
The street marker is located on the corner of Northern Boulevard and Marathon Parkway.
The Mid-Winter feast, held in January or February, The Mid-Winter feast, held in January or February, is a less formal social event for the Shinnecock Nation. All Shinnecock people are invited, along with guests from the non-Native communities who are to be honored by the Nation. The celebration, which may vary slightly from year to year, includes traditional drum and singing ceremonies, dancing, and tobacco smoking. Food is prepared in the homes and carried to the community center where it is shared in common.  Image: Bessie David (Unkechaug, c. 1900.) Although Indigenous regalia was not commonly displayed in the early decades of the twentieth century, some Indigenous people did dress in traditional styles for family gathering. Photo from David Bunn Martine and Karla Miller. Text from John Strong's We Are Still Here pp 28.
Thank you for tonight's program! #Repost @cshwhali Thank you for tonight's program! #Repost @cshwhalingmuseum
• • • • • •
Tomorrow at 6pm, join us virtually for "On This Site"- a talk with Jeremy Dennis, one of the artists in our newest exhibit "Shinnecock Artists and Long Island's First Whalers" funded in part by Suffolk County Arts & Film and @humanitiesny
Register at cshwhalingmuseum.org/events  #shinnecock #onthissite #longisland
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