Thematic Contexts Archives - Westport Historical Society

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Jenny ONeill

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) […]

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Jenny ONeill

John Stevens of Annibon Island and Westport, Massachusetts

Written by Betty Slade, 2021 This is the story about John Stevens, an African man who came to America in the mid-19th century not as a slave but as a free man, married a Native woman and raised a family in Westport Point. He arrived just before the Civil War in Westport Point, Massachusetts. He […]

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Jenny ONeill

The Country, Memories of the Wainer Farm on Drift Road by George H. Wortham Jr.

The Importance of the “The Country” Blueberries The Animals Driving Mom, the Great Organizer Baseball The Gardens Springtime The Elders Up on the Hill GaGa’s Medicine The Radio Monday’s The Flag The Wainer Stories The Farmhouses The Graves The Stone The Well The Ancestors About the Author The Farm was known as the Wainer Farm […]

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Jenny ONeill

Paul Cuffe, a Brief Biography

Please visit www.PaulCuffe.org to learn more Paul Cuffe was born on Cuttyhunk Island, at the west end of the Elizabeth Islands chain in Massachusetts, on January 17, 1759. He was the seventh child and fourth son of Cuff Slocum, an emancipated slave from West Africa, and Ruth Moses, a Native American woman from Cape […]

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Jenny ONeill

Native American Place Names associated with locations in Westport MA

This map was compiled from information in the collection of the Westport Historical Society. We welcome corrections and comments. The map dates from 1871. Acoaxet (Accohquesse, Acokus, Cockset) – Place of the small hill or the land on the other side of the little land Cocoest Davol Pond, Westport Harbor Contesawaocsetor […]

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Jenny ONeill

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 […]

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Jenny ONeill

Mission of the Holy Spirit had riveting history in Westport

East Bay Newspapers/October 13, 2004 By Paul Tamburello Westport — “You’re living on holy ground,” a man said to William Wyatt after knocking on the front door of his house on River Road. That was news to Mr. Wyatt, who had purchased the house in 1986. The man, whom Mr. Wyatt describes as “an old […]

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Jenny ONeill

Mission of the Holy Spirit

For a history of the Mission and its doctrines, one should consult the fine: http://site.ifrance.com/mission. The Mission was located on Great Island in the West Branch of the Westport river in the 1920’s, but one of its members ran into trouble with the law, and the Mission abandoned the area. Because of the public interest […]

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Jenny ONeill

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 […]

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Jenny ONeill

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 […]