7.Addenda - Bellsouthpwp.net

The Murder of Zoeth Howland
Page 351
Posted to the Internet 6 Jan. 2001 at http://www.genforum.com/howland/messages/964.html by Richard W. Gifford
and reprinted here by permission.
Jane Fletcher Fiske, who is the editor of NEHGR and the foremost living early
Rhode Island genealogist, discovered old court records from Newport County that
had been in storage for over 300 years. Among these are records of the court
martial of various Indians that occurred in the aftermath of King Philip's War.
She published these court records in 1996 (Records of the Rhode Island General
Court of Trials), but since the book is probably not widely available I thought
I would post here some of the records relating to the trial of the murderer[s]
of Zoeth 2 Howland. Since the entry is fairly lengthy I will divide it into two
parts and post the second installment in the near future. Zoeth 2 (Henry 1)
Howland of Dartmouth, MA was waylaid by a group of Indians at what has ever since
been called “Sin and Flesh Brook” in Tiverton, RI. Tiverton was not settled at
the time, and Zoeth was on his way from Dartmouth to Newport to attend a Quaker
meeting, as a meeting had not yet been established in Dartmouth. I will put my
own notes in brackets. These are the entries for 31 August 1676.
"Manasses (Molasses) called and Answered to the name, being Examined, concerning Zow Howland kild at
Pocassett side [Pocasset was an early name for what is now Tiverton; it is a Wampanoag word that probably
means "where the river widens," referring to the widening of the Sakonnet River north of Fogland Point in
Tiverton and Sandy Point in Portmouth] (being an Englishman) and slaine or murdered by the Indians, and
this Molasses being charged or suspected to have a hand in the crime, answers that he did not kill him, but
being up in the woods the Indians came and said such a one was kild and offered to sell the coate of the
person soe murdered or slaine, and that he the said Mallasses bought the coate of the (said dead man) for
ground nutts [these are tubers that grow wild in New England, eaten by both Indians and some early colonists]
and further saith that it was one Quasquomack that killed the said Howland.
Mr. [probably Christopher 2 (William 1)] Almy [he spoke fluent Wampanoag and was one of chief colonial
negotiators with Metacom/King Philip] declared that at Plymouth being, Examination being then upon the
death of Howland [Dartmouth was in Plymouth Colony, as was Tiverton once it was settled] it was declared
there that this Indian now present, with two others one named Ohomm, the other Quasquomock did kill the
said Howland. [In a modern trial none of this would be admissible evidence.]
This Deponant John Cook [John 2 (Thomas 1) Cooke (1631-1691)] aged about forty five years Testefyeth,
being at Punkatest [Punkateest, an early name for the southern part of Tiverton] in the middle of July or
thereabouts, did ask of severall Indians named as followeth, Woodcock, Matowat, & Job, whome they were
that kild Zow Howland the fore-sd Indians answer was that there were six of them in company and Manasses
was the Indian that fetcht him out of the water further this deponant saith not.
This Deponant John Brigs [John 2 (John 1) Briggs (1609-1690)] aged thirty five years or thereabouts
Testefyeth . . . that the said Manasses shot at Joseph Russill...
This deponant William Manchester [William 2 (Thomas 1) Manchester (1654-1718), son-in-law to John 2
Cook above] aged twenty and two years or thereabouts, being at Pocasset asked of Peter Nunoet the husband
of Wetamoe, whoe it was that killed Zow Howland, his answer was, that Manasses fetcht him out of the water
and further saith not. [This refers to Peter Nunuit, supposedly the brother of Awashonks, the "squaw sachem"
of the Sakonnet tribe of Little Compton. Awashonks remained neutral in King Philip's War, but many
Sakonnets fought with Col. Benjamin Church's colonial forces. Wetamoe, the squaw sachem of the Pocassets
of Tiverton, sided with King Philip; she had drowned while trying to escape a colonial raid on her camp. A
recent aquisition of public parkland in Tiverton has been named "Wetamoo Woods," an honor that would
have been unthinkable in 1676.]