Wampage I was the Sagamore (or Chieftain) of the Siwanoys, one of the western bands of the great Wappinger-Mattabesec Confederacy, a group of Algonquian-speaking peoples occupying land along Long Island Sound. He was also known as Anhōōke, Ann Hook, Wampus, Wampers, Wamponneage, and later, John White. Circa 1636, there was a paramount chief over the confederacy named Romaneck (or Romanock; known to the English as "Joseph"), a warrior whose authority none dared to challenge. He had one daughter, Prasque, and she became the bride of the Sagamore of the Siwanoys, Wampage I (pronounced wahm-PAH-gee).
Siwanoy territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, and the western bands of the confederacy became embroiled in Kieft's War in 1640. The war, primarily motivated by New Netherland Director-General Willem Kieft's disdain for indigenous people and greed for land, lasted five years, and cost the lives of some 1,600 natives. Thus, tensions between the colonists and the indigenous people of the area were extremely high at this time, and this undoubtedly led to the massacre of Anne Hutchinson and her family in 1643. Anne Hutchinson's home was being built on Siwanoy lands by Capt. James Sands, and construction continued even after the Siwanoys made the repeated gesture of handing Capt. Sands his tools and motioning for him to go away.
The Siwanoys, under the leadership of Wampage I, possibly along with a group of Caribs and Arawaks, murdered the family of Anne Hutchinson in August 1643. It has been written that Wampage himself was the murderer of Hutchinson and that he adopted the name of Anhōōke due to a Mahican custom of taking the name of a notable person personally killed. The name "Ann Hook's Neck" (or "Anne's Hoeck") came to refer to the land where the massacre was believed to have occurred - now called Rodman's Neck. The lone survivor of the attack, Anne's nine year old daughter Susanna Hutchinson, bore a son to Wampage while in Siwanoy captivity - Ninham-Wampage, who would become Wampage II on his father's death. When Susanna was later found by Dutch settlers, she had forgotten her own language and was hesitant to leave the tribe. She later moved to Boston, and married John Cole.
Not long after the 1643 massacre, Wampage I became a close friend of Thomas Pell, who was then the Indian Commissioner at Fairfield, Connecticut. On June 27, 1654, Wampage and 3 other sagamores executed a treaty deeding to Thomas Pell 9,160 acres of land east of the Hutchinson River northward to Mamaroneck, including modern day Pelham, New Rochelle, the Pelham Islands, and portions of The Bronx. The treaty also required that the Siwanoys and English peacefully attempt to resolve boundary disputes over the land in the future. Thomas Pell was thereafter known as the first Lord of Pelham Manor, although he never resided on the estate. On March 10, 1658, Wampage I and Pell negotiated the definitive treaty between the English and the Siwanoys, establishing their territorial claims, which would later keep Wampage and the Siwanoys out of King Philip's War.
Thomas Pell died without heirs in 1669, and Pelham Manor passed to his nephew, Sir John Pell, who maintained a friendly relationship with the Siwanoys. Unfortunately, Sir John's contemporaries were inclined to disregard treaties and engagements made with local tribes. Around 1677, the elderly Wampage went to Fairfield, Connecticut, to collect on a bill of sale of lands to residents of the town, which lands he had inherited from his father in law, the late Romaneck. Major Nathan Gold, then Fairfield's chief magistrate, had Wampage beaten and thrown into jail. Gold argued that the English held all lands by right of conquest and that contracts between the English and Indians had no validity. Sir John intervened on Wampage's behalf, and represented him before the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The Council ruled in Wampage's favor on March 28, 1679, denouncing Gold's "evill practices" and finding that "not only [Wampage] but all such Indians of New England as are [the British monarch's] Subjects and submit peaceably and quietly to his Government shall likewise participate of his Royall Protection." By the time of the ruling, Wampage and Prasque had been baptized, taking the names of John and Anne White, respectively. The Privy Council's ruling referred to him as "John Wampus alias White" and to his wife as "Anne the Daughter of Romanock late Sachem of Aspatuck & Sasquanaugh." Wampage died shortly thereafter, prior to July 1681. While his place of burial is not definitively known, one source claimed that a mound on the northern coast of Rodman's Neck was Wampage's final resting place. Nevertheless, it is known that he was buried in a traditional way, among his people, in his ancestral homeland.
Wampage I was known to have fathered two children: Ninham-Wampage, by tradition said to be his son by Susanna Hutchinson. On the death of Wampage I, Ninham-Wampage inherited his father's title and became Wampage II. He also used the name "Ann Hook" in many transactions with English colonists. His only known child was Anna, who grew up on Hunter Island where the Siwanoys had a stockaded settlement. Anna later married Thomas Pell, third Lord of Pelham Manor and son of Sir John, around 1700. John Wampage White, son of Wampage I by Prasque (Anne), daughter of Romaneck, married Elizabeth French, and their children were Elizabeth, Mary, and Nathaniel White.
REFERENCES:
Barr, Lockwood. "A brief, but most complete & true Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham, Westchester County, State of New York." Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1946. pp. 13, 34-35, plate XVI.
Bell, Blake A. "Thomas Pell and the legend of the Treaty Oak." New York: iUniverse, 2004. pp. 8, 18-20.
Bolton, Robert, Jr. "A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. Vol. I, pp. 131.
Bolton, Rev. Robert. "The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Chas. F. Roper, 1881. Vol. II, pp. 36, 40.
"Foreign correspondence, 1st series, 1661-1748," Connecticut State Archives. Vol. I, p. 14a.
Pell, Captain Howland. "The Pell Manor: Address Prepared for the New York Branch of the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America." Baltimore: 1917. pp. 14-16.
Pell, Robert T. "Thomas Pell II (1675/76 - 1739): Third Lord of the Manor of Pelham." Pelliana: Pell of Pelham. New Series, Vol. I, No. 3. August 1965. pp. 25-48.
Saunders, James B. "The Pelham Manor Story: 1891-1991." Pelham Manor: Village of Pelham Manor, 1991.
Siwanoy territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, and the western bands of the confederacy became embroiled in Kieft's War in 1640. The war, primarily motivated by New Netherland Director-General Willem Kieft's disdain for indigenous people and greed for land, lasted five years, and cost the lives of some 1,600 natives. Thus, tensions between the colonists and the indigenous people of the area were extremely high at this time, and this undoubtedly led to the massacre of Anne Hutchinson and her family in 1643. Anne Hutchinson's home was being built on Siwanoy lands by Capt. James Sands, and construction continued even after the Siwanoys made the repeated gesture of handing Capt. Sands his tools and motioning for him to go away.
The Siwanoys, under the leadership of Wampage I, possibly along with a group of Caribs and Arawaks, murdered the family of Anne Hutchinson in August 1643. It has been written that Wampage himself was the murderer of Hutchinson and that he adopted the name of Anhōōke due to a Mahican custom of taking the name of a notable person personally killed. The name "Ann Hook's Neck" (or "Anne's Hoeck") came to refer to the land where the massacre was believed to have occurred - now called Rodman's Neck. The lone survivor of the attack, Anne's nine year old daughter Susanna Hutchinson, bore a son to Wampage while in Siwanoy captivity - Ninham-Wampage, who would become Wampage II on his father's death. When Susanna was later found by Dutch settlers, she had forgotten her own language and was hesitant to leave the tribe. She later moved to Boston, and married John Cole.
Not long after the 1643 massacre, Wampage I became a close friend of Thomas Pell, who was then the Indian Commissioner at Fairfield, Connecticut. On June 27, 1654, Wampage and 3 other sagamores executed a treaty deeding to Thomas Pell 9,160 acres of land east of the Hutchinson River northward to Mamaroneck, including modern day Pelham, New Rochelle, the Pelham Islands, and portions of The Bronx. The treaty also required that the Siwanoys and English peacefully attempt to resolve boundary disputes over the land in the future. Thomas Pell was thereafter known as the first Lord of Pelham Manor, although he never resided on the estate. On March 10, 1658, Wampage I and Pell negotiated the definitive treaty between the English and the Siwanoys, establishing their territorial claims, which would later keep Wampage and the Siwanoys out of King Philip's War.
Thomas Pell died without heirs in 1669, and Pelham Manor passed to his nephew, Sir John Pell, who maintained a friendly relationship with the Siwanoys. Unfortunately, Sir John's contemporaries were inclined to disregard treaties and engagements made with local tribes. Around 1677, the elderly Wampage went to Fairfield, Connecticut, to collect on a bill of sale of lands to residents of the town, which lands he had inherited from his father in law, the late Romaneck. Major Nathan Gold, then Fairfield's chief magistrate, had Wampage beaten and thrown into jail. Gold argued that the English held all lands by right of conquest and that contracts between the English and Indians had no validity. Sir John intervened on Wampage's behalf, and represented him before the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The Council ruled in Wampage's favor on March 28, 1679, denouncing Gold's "evill practices" and finding that "not only [Wampage] but all such Indians of New England as are [the British monarch's] Subjects and submit peaceably and quietly to his Government shall likewise participate of his Royall Protection." By the time of the ruling, Wampage and Prasque had been baptized, taking the names of John and Anne White, respectively. The Privy Council's ruling referred to him as "John Wampus alias White" and to his wife as "Anne the Daughter of Romanock late Sachem of Aspatuck & Sasquanaugh." Wampage died shortly thereafter, prior to July 1681. While his place of burial is not definitively known, one source claimed that a mound on the northern coast of Rodman's Neck was Wampage's final resting place. Nevertheless, it is known that he was buried in a traditional way, among his people, in his ancestral homeland.
Wampage I was known to have fathered two children: Ninham-Wampage, by tradition said to be his son by Susanna Hutchinson. On the death of Wampage I, Ninham-Wampage inherited his father's title and became Wampage II. He also used the name "Ann Hook" in many transactions with English colonists. His only known child was Anna, who grew up on Hunter Island where the Siwanoys had a stockaded settlement. Anna later married Thomas Pell, third Lord of Pelham Manor and son of Sir John, around 1700. John Wampage White, son of Wampage I by Prasque (Anne), daughter of Romaneck, married Elizabeth French, and their children were Elizabeth, Mary, and Nathaniel White.
REFERENCES:
Barr, Lockwood. "A brief, but most complete & true Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham, Westchester County, State of New York." Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1946. pp. 13, 34-35, plate XVI.
Bell, Blake A. "Thomas Pell and the legend of the Treaty Oak." New York: iUniverse, 2004. pp. 8, 18-20.
Bolton, Robert, Jr. "A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. Vol. I, pp. 131.
Bolton, Rev. Robert. "The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Chas. F. Roper, 1881. Vol. II, pp. 36, 40.
"Foreign correspondence, 1st series, 1661-1748," Connecticut State Archives. Vol. I, p. 14a.
Pell, Captain Howland. "The Pell Manor: Address Prepared for the New York Branch of the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America." Baltimore: 1917. pp. 14-16.
Pell, Robert T. "Thomas Pell II (1675/76 - 1739): Third Lord of the Manor of Pelham." Pelliana: Pell of Pelham. New Series, Vol. I, No. 3. August 1965. pp. 25-48.
Saunders, James B. "The Pelham Manor Story: 1891-1991." Pelham Manor: Village of Pelham Manor, 1991.
Wampage I was the Sagamore (or Chieftain) of the Siwanoys, one of the western bands of the great Wappinger-Mattabesec Confederacy, a group of Algonquian-speaking peoples occupying land along Long Island Sound. He was also known as Anhōōke, Ann Hook, Wampus, Wampers, Wamponneage, and later, John White. Circa 1636, there was a paramount chief over the confederacy named Romaneck (or Romanock; known to the English as "Joseph"), a warrior whose authority none dared to challenge. He had one daughter, Prasque, and she became the bride of the Sagamore of the Siwanoys, Wampage I (pronounced wahm-PAH-gee).
Siwanoy territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, and the western bands of the confederacy became embroiled in Kieft's War in 1640. The war, primarily motivated by New Netherland Director-General Willem Kieft's disdain for indigenous people and greed for land, lasted five years, and cost the lives of some 1,600 natives. Thus, tensions between the colonists and the indigenous people of the area were extremely high at this time, and this undoubtedly led to the massacre of Anne Hutchinson and her family in 1643. Anne Hutchinson's home was being built on Siwanoy lands by Capt. James Sands, and construction continued even after the Siwanoys made the repeated gesture of handing Capt. Sands his tools and motioning for him to go away.
The Siwanoys, under the leadership of Wampage I, possibly along with a group of Caribs and Arawaks, murdered the family of Anne Hutchinson in August 1643. It has been written that Wampage himself was the murderer of Hutchinson and that he adopted the name of Anhōōke due to a Mahican custom of taking the name of a notable person personally killed. The name "Ann Hook's Neck" (or "Anne's Hoeck") came to refer to the land where the massacre was believed to have occurred - now called Rodman's Neck. The lone survivor of the attack, Anne's nine year old daughter Susanna Hutchinson, bore a son to Wampage while in Siwanoy captivity - Ninham-Wampage, who would become Wampage II on his father's death. When Susanna was later found by Dutch settlers, she had forgotten her own language and was hesitant to leave the tribe. She later moved to Boston, and married John Cole.
Not long after the 1643 massacre, Wampage I became a close friend of Thomas Pell, who was then the Indian Commissioner at Fairfield, Connecticut. On June 27, 1654, Wampage and 3 other sagamores executed a treaty deeding to Thomas Pell 9,160 acres of land east of the Hutchinson River northward to Mamaroneck, including modern day Pelham, New Rochelle, the Pelham Islands, and portions of The Bronx. The treaty also required that the Siwanoys and English peacefully attempt to resolve boundary disputes over the land in the future. Thomas Pell was thereafter known as the first Lord of Pelham Manor, although he never resided on the estate. On March 10, 1658, Wampage I and Pell negotiated the definitive treaty between the English and the Siwanoys, establishing their territorial claims, which would later keep Wampage and the Siwanoys out of King Philip's War.
Thomas Pell died without heirs in 1669, and Pelham Manor passed to his nephew, Sir John Pell, who maintained a friendly relationship with the Siwanoys. Unfortunately, Sir John's contemporaries were inclined to disregard treaties and engagements made with local tribes. Around 1677, the elderly Wampage went to Fairfield, Connecticut, to collect on a bill of sale of lands to residents of the town, which lands he had inherited from his father in law, the late Romaneck. Major Nathan Gold, then Fairfield's chief magistrate, had Wampage beaten and thrown into jail. Gold argued that the English held all lands by right of conquest and that contracts between the English and Indians had no validity. Sir John intervened on Wampage's behalf, and represented him before the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The Council ruled in Wampage's favor on March 28, 1679, denouncing Gold's "evill practices" and finding that "not only [Wampage] but all such Indians of New England as are [the British monarch's] Subjects and submit peaceably and quietly to his Government shall likewise participate of his Royall Protection." By the time of the ruling, Wampage and Prasque had been baptized, taking the names of John and Anne White, respectively. The Privy Council's ruling referred to him as "John Wampus alias White" and to his wife as "Anne the Daughter of Romanock late Sachem of Aspatuck & Sasquanaugh." Wampage died shortly thereafter, prior to July 1681. While his place of burial is not definitively known, one source claimed that a mound on the northern coast of Rodman's Neck was Wampage's final resting place. Nevertheless, it is known that he was buried in a traditional way, among his people, in his ancestral homeland.
Wampage I was known to have fathered two children: Ninham-Wampage, by tradition said to be his son by Susanna Hutchinson. On the death of Wampage I, Ninham-Wampage inherited his father's title and became Wampage II. He also used the name "Ann Hook" in many transactions with English colonists. His only known child was Anna, who grew up on Hunter Island where the Siwanoys had a stockaded settlement. Anna later married Thomas Pell, third Lord of Pelham Manor and son of Sir John, around 1700. John Wampage White, son of Wampage I by Prasque (Anne), daughter of Romaneck, married Elizabeth French, and their children were Elizabeth, Mary, and Nathaniel White.
REFERENCES:
Barr, Lockwood. "A brief, but most complete & true Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham, Westchester County, State of New York." Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1946. pp. 13, 34-35, plate XVI.
Bell, Blake A. "Thomas Pell and the legend of the Treaty Oak." New York: iUniverse, 2004. pp. 8, 18-20.
Bolton, Robert, Jr. "A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. Vol. I, pp. 131.
Bolton, Rev. Robert. "The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Chas. F. Roper, 1881. Vol. II, pp. 36, 40.
"Foreign correspondence, 1st series, 1661-1748," Connecticut State Archives. Vol. I, p. 14a.
Pell, Captain Howland. "The Pell Manor: Address Prepared for the New York Branch of the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America." Baltimore: 1917. pp. 14-16.
Pell, Robert T. "Thomas Pell II (1675/76 - 1739): Third Lord of the Manor of Pelham." Pelliana: Pell of Pelham. New Series, Vol. I, No. 3. August 1965. pp. 25-48.
Saunders, James B. "The Pelham Manor Story: 1891-1991." Pelham Manor: Village of Pelham Manor, 1991.
Siwanoy territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, and the western bands of the confederacy became embroiled in Kieft's War in 1640. The war, primarily motivated by New Netherland Director-General Willem Kieft's disdain for indigenous people and greed for land, lasted five years, and cost the lives of some 1,600 natives. Thus, tensions between the colonists and the indigenous people of the area were extremely high at this time, and this undoubtedly led to the massacre of Anne Hutchinson and her family in 1643. Anne Hutchinson's home was being built on Siwanoy lands by Capt. James Sands, and construction continued even after the Siwanoys made the repeated gesture of handing Capt. Sands his tools and motioning for him to go away.
The Siwanoys, under the leadership of Wampage I, possibly along with a group of Caribs and Arawaks, murdered the family of Anne Hutchinson in August 1643. It has been written that Wampage himself was the murderer of Hutchinson and that he adopted the name of Anhōōke due to a Mahican custom of taking the name of a notable person personally killed. The name "Ann Hook's Neck" (or "Anne's Hoeck") came to refer to the land where the massacre was believed to have occurred - now called Rodman's Neck. The lone survivor of the attack, Anne's nine year old daughter Susanna Hutchinson, bore a son to Wampage while in Siwanoy captivity - Ninham-Wampage, who would become Wampage II on his father's death. When Susanna was later found by Dutch settlers, she had forgotten her own language and was hesitant to leave the tribe. She later moved to Boston, and married John Cole.
Not long after the 1643 massacre, Wampage I became a close friend of Thomas Pell, who was then the Indian Commissioner at Fairfield, Connecticut. On June 27, 1654, Wampage and 3 other sagamores executed a treaty deeding to Thomas Pell 9,160 acres of land east of the Hutchinson River northward to Mamaroneck, including modern day Pelham, New Rochelle, the Pelham Islands, and portions of The Bronx. The treaty also required that the Siwanoys and English peacefully attempt to resolve boundary disputes over the land in the future. Thomas Pell was thereafter known as the first Lord of Pelham Manor, although he never resided on the estate. On March 10, 1658, Wampage I and Pell negotiated the definitive treaty between the English and the Siwanoys, establishing their territorial claims, which would later keep Wampage and the Siwanoys out of King Philip's War.
Thomas Pell died without heirs in 1669, and Pelham Manor passed to his nephew, Sir John Pell, who maintained a friendly relationship with the Siwanoys. Unfortunately, Sir John's contemporaries were inclined to disregard treaties and engagements made with local tribes. Around 1677, the elderly Wampage went to Fairfield, Connecticut, to collect on a bill of sale of lands to residents of the town, which lands he had inherited from his father in law, the late Romaneck. Major Nathan Gold, then Fairfield's chief magistrate, had Wampage beaten and thrown into jail. Gold argued that the English held all lands by right of conquest and that contracts between the English and Indians had no validity. Sir John intervened on Wampage's behalf, and represented him before the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The Council ruled in Wampage's favor on March 28, 1679, denouncing Gold's "evill practices" and finding that "not only [Wampage] but all such Indians of New England as are [the British monarch's] Subjects and submit peaceably and quietly to his Government shall likewise participate of his Royall Protection." By the time of the ruling, Wampage and Prasque had been baptized, taking the names of John and Anne White, respectively. The Privy Council's ruling referred to him as "John Wampus alias White" and to his wife as "Anne the Daughter of Romanock late Sachem of Aspatuck & Sasquanaugh." Wampage died shortly thereafter, prior to July 1681. While his place of burial is not definitively known, one source claimed that a mound on the northern coast of Rodman's Neck was Wampage's final resting place. Nevertheless, it is known that he was buried in a traditional way, among his people, in his ancestral homeland.
Wampage I was known to have fathered two children: Ninham-Wampage, by tradition said to be his son by Susanna Hutchinson. On the death of Wampage I, Ninham-Wampage inherited his father's title and became Wampage II. He also used the name "Ann Hook" in many transactions with English colonists. His only known child was Anna, who grew up on Hunter Island where the Siwanoys had a stockaded settlement. Anna later married Thomas Pell, third Lord of Pelham Manor and son of Sir John, around 1700. John Wampage White, son of Wampage I by Prasque (Anne), daughter of Romaneck, married Elizabeth French, and their children were Elizabeth, Mary, and Nathaniel White.
REFERENCES:
Barr, Lockwood. "A brief, but most complete & true Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham, Westchester County, State of New York." Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1946. pp. 13, 34-35, plate XVI.
Bell, Blake A. "Thomas Pell and the legend of the Treaty Oak." New York: iUniverse, 2004. pp. 8, 18-20.
Bolton, Robert, Jr. "A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. Vol. I, pp. 131.
Bolton, Rev. Robert. "The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time." New York: Chas. F. Roper, 1881. Vol. II, pp. 36, 40.
"Foreign correspondence, 1st series, 1661-1748," Connecticut State Archives. Vol. I, p. 14a.
Pell, Captain Howland. "The Pell Manor: Address Prepared for the New York Branch of the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America." Baltimore: 1917. pp. 14-16.
Pell, Robert T. "Thomas Pell II (1675/76 - 1739): Third Lord of the Manor of Pelham." Pelliana: Pell of Pelham. New Series, Vol. I, No. 3. August 1965. pp. 25-48.
Saunders, James B. "The Pelham Manor Story: 1891-1991." Pelham Manor: Village of Pelham Manor, 1991.
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