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When the English Puritans arrived along the
coast in the early 1600’s, the Nipmuc Indians were living in this area fishing along the Blackstone River and lakes, growing corn, beans and pumpkins. The Nipmucs were part of Algonquin nation.
They were not as well off as the coastal Indians, since the sea provided a richer source of food than the inland lakes and rivers.The Nipmucs had reached the point of civilization. That is, they could store enough food for the winter.
Famine and limited supplies of food were pretty much a thing of the past.
The population increased from 41 people per 100 square miles to over 287 individuals per
100 square miles. Over 80% of the Indian population was in southern New England. In areas where Indians were dependent upon only hunting and gathering, the reproductive cycle of the women was affected by this annual winter fasting. We know today that athletic women who train very hard will often experience limited monthly cycles as do women who are anorexic.
There were also those who, because of age or infirmity, probably could not survive
the fasts which could last for 7-10 days. The figure 41 people per 100
square miles was also true of the hunting/gathering Abnecki in Maine who were dependent upon a very short growing season.
The Nipmuc Indians took measures to increase the available game as well. Early descriptions of the woodlands were described by the visitors as (English) “park like” with green grass and open with large trees. Many of these trees were so big that six to eight people holding hands and spreading their arms would have been required to entirely encircle the tree. Perhaps unscientific in their habits of burning the brush and smaller saplings, the result was that the Indians opened the woodlands so that travel for Indians and animals was comparatively
easy, even compare to much of today’s woodlands. This information came from a favorite book of mine,
“The Changes in the Land, Indians, Colonists and the
Ecology of New England,” by William Cronon, published in 1983, by Publishers Hill and Want, New York.
Far from being an empty land waiting to be filled, it was very well cared for. The English Puritans understood only permanent farming as a method of developing the land as well as individual ownership of land, and raising of cattle, sheep, chickens etc. Animal husbandry in the sense of farm animals was not an activity available to the Indians. Nor had the concept of permanent farms entered into Indian society. They planted an area for a while and then moved to a new area when the soil became less fertile, usually in eight to ten years. They did not as the folk tale goes – plant fish with the crops. Without beasts of burden, this task would have been physically energy prohibitive. They did plant corn on little hills and allowed the beans to run up the corn. This provided both a trellis for beans and as beans are nitrogen producing - fertilizer for the corn. They could have easily planted a field where this village now stands. In summer the women moved their portable homes near the fields, while the men left to hunt and fish.
Years of animal husbandry in Europe had been a root cause of many epidemics and, over the centuries, the English developed antibodies against
these diseases. Without these antibodies epidemics of measles, tuberculosis, syphilis, and pneumonia decimated the Indian population in New England so that when the smallpox epidemic in 1630 occurred, the Indian population in New England had gone from an estimated 70,000 to fewer than 12,000. Entire areas of New
Hampshire and Vermont were then devoid of Indian populations. The area where the pilgrims landed was rapidly changing from field to woodland because fields were no longer being used. With neither the Indians nor the English understanding the causes of diseases, it no doubt seemed almost magical to these Indians that the English would be resistant to disease while the Indians fell dead by the thousands. So when the son of the
Sachem, King
Philip (Algonquin name Metacom) died, what would likely be the cause of this: the colonists of course. Further, the continual changes in land from woodland to permanent farms was making life more and more difficult for the Indians. So began King Philip’s war.
By 1667 Philip was dead and while the Indian wars were not over, they were winding down. After the war the Puritans carried out genocide of many of the Indians,
including Philip’s son and even Christianized Indians, killing or sending many into
slavery. By 1690 the few remaining Indians were living in clapboard
houses, wearing English clothing and converting to Christianity.
No amount of the price paid to the few Nipmucs for the eight square miles of Millbury is mentioned and one suspects that it was not very much money. One wonders as was often the case whether the buyers (a group of men in Boston) even bothered to pay the Nipmucs entirely what was owed.
In case anyone is thinking that this writer must have Indian blood or have
a direct relationship with Indians, they would be wrong. In fact my own direct ancestor fought in King Philip’s war and was part of the party responsible for the killings and burning down the village at the great Swamp fight in what is today Rhode Island. The Narragansett Indians had gathered the women, children and the elderly in the swamp in that area for safety. The Puritan’s surprised them, shot them when they attempted to leave their homes and subsequently burnt down the village along with the children and women. The Indians, of course, displayed cruelty and murder when killing the English, yet in the end, already nearly destroyed by disease and hunger, the Nipmuc’s days were numbered. It is not difficult to feel empathy towards these proud people and their doomed way of life.
After the purchase the community established a number of farms and a number of mills along the Blackstone River. This area was slow to settle probably because of the lack of roads to the inland and because the Blackstone river was not an easily navigable river. It took from 1704 to 1813 for the town to incorporate. A number of small water powered mills sprung up along the river, and the land was gradually cleared to make dairy farms. Eventually by the end of the 18th century leather-making and gun-making factories also were added along the river. When the Blackstone canal was completed,
development of the area, especially the mills, increased through the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The trees were cleared off
most of the land in the community so that by the middle of the nineteenth century, people
were beginning to complain about a shortage of firewood.
During my lifetime almost all the mills in New England have disappeared and moved to areas where cheaper labor can be found – first to the South and now into China and foreign parts of the world. Most of the farms have
disappeared and much of the woodlands have returned. Millbury
has become homes for people working in other cities. In my sixteen years living in the
this village I have seen remarkable changes. There were still horses at what was left of the farm next to our village when I moved here. I used to wander the many trails on Potter Hill and that is now covered with homes. And these are not just simple homes of 2,400 square feet of living space but rather homes looking like mansions with 10,000 square feet of living space. The mill on Canal Street has become luxury apartments. The brand new Blackstone Mall now looks down on the town of Millbury. Development of new “McMansions” continues. However, some twenty eight miles of high tension lines crisscross Millbury and will hopefully preclude this town from becoming one tightly packed sprawl.
This will be my last column as I will be moving to an entirely new state soon. I have enjoyed writing this column, and doing the research. Even though I will be leaving New England entirely, I will always be a “Swamp Yankee” (Connecticut Yankee) in my heart and will probably return to the area in some future time. It is time for new adventures, new experiences and new opportunities. I wish everyone in the village well.
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