SOME NATIVE-AMERICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONNECTIONS OF THE WAINER FAMILY

 Written and researched by Richard Gifford This research is ongoing. Please contact Westport Historical Society with comments/questions. GENEALOGICAL TABLES (SIMPLIFIED) — Individuals with Biographical Entries in Boldface Type   QUEBBIN-WAINER Dorcas (—) married  Nathaniel Quebbin                Resided: Slocum’s Neck, Dartmouth    –Margaret Quebbin married (—) Wainer           Resided: Division Road, Dartmouth                 —Michael Wainer (ca1748-1815) m.  3) […]

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Native Americans in 19th-century Westport

“Like the fleeting years and days, Like all things that soon decay, Pass the Indian tribes away.”  (Daniel Ricketson, History of New Bedford, 1858) This lamentation was written by Daniel Ricketson, local historian, in 1858. Was Ricketson unaware of the many Native Americans living at the time in Dartmouth, whose ancestors had survived war and […]

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Wampanoag Families of Westport by R. Andrew Pierce

Native Americans of Dartmouth and Westport A Presentation by R. Andrew Pierce Westport Historical Society January 13, 2018 Select Bibliography Akin, Benjamin of Dartmouth, Mass. Account Book. Ms 204, Dubois Library, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass. Boston Evening Post, 26 May 1738, story about Dartmouth squaw killing her infant daughter, she was committed to Bristol […]

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Captain Pardon Cook of Westport

The best-known citizen of Westport is Paul Cuffe, a master mariner with African and Indian roots who rose to prominence as a captain, ship-builder, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and advocate for civil rights and school integration. Less well known is Pardon Cook, also an accomplished master mariner from Westport, who commanded more whaling voyages than any other […]

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Over view of Native American presence in Westport

Westport’s recorded histories contain numerous references to Native American settlement and activity areas and the existing archaeological record for the town supports this presence.  Native people who utilized Westport’s abundant natural resources most likely remained in the area well into the historic period, especially given the slow and highly dispersed colonial settlement within the present-day […]

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Contact and Pre Contact Period

Contact Period (1500–1620) The first documented accounts of Native and non-Native interactions along the shores and harbors of Old Dartmouth (the original territory from which Westport was subdivided) indicate that these areas were inhabited by Native American groups affiliated with the Wampanoag tribe (Denison 1879; Ellis 1892; Howland 1907). The MHC (1982) notes a large […]

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Recent Archaeological Excavations at the Waite-Kirby-Potter Site

This project was supported by Community Preservation Act funds granted by Westport Community Preservation Committee http://www.westport-ma.com/cpc/index.html Project work completed by Christa M. Beranek and Katharine M. Johnson Fiske Center for Archaeological Research, University of Massachusetts Boston Introduction The Waite-Kirby-Potter House has long been considered important as one of Westport’s oldest buildings, and it is depicted […]

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Westport Roads

Westport Roads We drive them all the time, but rarely give a thought to the roads of Westport. And yet they are of historical interest for a number of reasons. A quick glance at the map on p. 23 of A look at Westport through four centuries (available through the Historical Society or at Partners […]

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