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1605-1614
Although it is difficult to determine the exact course of events, he tentatively has been identified as Tisquantum, one of five Indians of the New England Coast taken to England in 1605 by Captain John Weymouth who was employed by Sir Ferinando Gorges of the Plymouth Company.
This Indian, with four others, was taken by Capt. George Weymouth in 1605, and carried to England where he had remained for several years. Capt. Weymouth had been sent out to discover the
north-west passage.1
Captain Weymouth returned to Plymouth, Devon (in England) without having found the North West Passage, but he did bring interesting stories from his voyage along the New England coast. He also brought the five Indians that he had captured. He had kidnapped two of the Indians in a very brutal manner grabbing them by the hair. The three other Indians were lured to the ship through bribery . He reported:
"We gave them a can of peas and bread, which they carried to the shore to eat. But one of them brought back our can presently and staid aboard with the other two; for he being young, of a ready capacity, and one we most desired to bring with us into England, had received exceeding kind usage at our hands, and was therefore much delighted in our company."2
The Indian he was describing was most likely Squantum.
He turned all the Indians over to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, then commander of the fort at Plymouth on the coast of England. Gorges kept three of the Indians, and sent the other two to Chief Justice John Popham. Some sources content that one of the Indians that Gorges kept was Squantum, who would have been about fourteen years old at that time.
Gorges had a large financial stake in the Plymouth Company. That company, in the First Virginia charter of 1606, was granted the southern part of Maine. He was determined to search the area for valuable resources, as a result, he was eager to learn all he could about the New World. Gorges took Squantum into his own home, teaching him some English, so that Squantum could "communicate to him a knowledge of their (the Indians') county."3 As well, Georges hoped he would be a guide and interpreter for his sea captains and New World explorers.
1.Information is taken from the following book, Ebenezer W. Peirce, Indian History, Biography and Genealogy Pertaining to the Good Schem Massasit of the Wampnoag Tribe and His Decendants. Book 3, 1878, which is reproduced on the "Indian History and Genealogy Web Site
2. Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Page in "The History of Tisquantum"
3. John A. Garraty, "Tisquantum" Dictionary of American Biography, 703, quoting J.P.Baxter, "Sir Ferdinando Gorges," Prince. Soc. Pub. 18-20 (1890)
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