Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation
The Paugussett are Algonquian -speaking Indians in western Connecticut northward formerly lived on the east side of the Housatonic River to about the present city of Waterbury. They belonged to a large number of small tribes from the Mattabesic group in western Connecticut who have been displaced by British colonists at an early stage of their settlement area. Like other New England tribes were semi- sedentary and migrated seasonally between relatively stable places. Their main diet was grown by women corn, and fish and game.
Historical tribes of the Paugussett
The Paugussett were divided once into four major tribes or sub-groups:
- Actual Paugussett (also called Milford Indians, lived on the east bank of the Housatonic River in the vicinity of today's Milford, Derby and Shelton in southeastern Connecticut )
- Pequonnock or Pequannock ( "cleared field" or "opened ground", inhabited approximately 80,000 to 90,000 acres along the Pequonnock Rivers to the Atlantic coast of Connecticut, sacred place and one of its main villages was the present-day Bridgeport )
- Pootatuck, Pohtatuck or Potatuck ( inhabited approximately 280000-320000 acres in the vicinity of today's Newtown, Woodbury and Southbury in western and southwestern Connecticut )
- Weantinock or Wyachtonok ( "where the water swirls around", also called New Milford Indians, inhabited an area of approximately 340000-380000 acres on both sides of the Housatonic River and along the Still River in the extreme southeast New York States and to the west and northwest Connecticut, named after their main village Weantinock, now New Milford, later joined as Wawyachtonoc the Mahican Confederacy to )
History
Before the first European settlers arrived, the Paugussett inhabited the area east of the lower Housatonic River, roughly between today's cities Orange and Woodbridge in the south to today's Waterbury in the north. The Paugusset divided in 1731 after the death of their sachems Konckapotanauh and many of them joined other tribes. The remaining Paugussett were assigned to three reserves: Turkey Hill in Derby, Coram Hill in Huntington and Golden Hill, Bridgeport. Golden Hill was the first reserve in Connecticut on 80 acres in size and was founded in 1659 on the local situation of the present city of Bridgeport. In 1760 an attempt was made to expel the Paugusset forcibly from the land And they had only six acres ( 24 282 sqm). Although the Indians won the lawsuit, but the whites settled against payment and the Indians lost yet the reservation rights on much of their land. In 1842 they sold the rest of their land, then settled again in a reserve in the area of Trumbull, which was also called Golden Hill.
The Paugussett were dissatisfied from the start with their country in Coram Hill, because it was too rocky and lean, to grow corn. That's why they sold in 1714 20 acres ( 80 940 sqm) and the rest of it around 1735. In Golden Hill, there was better land. Around 1760, lived there only four Indian families who had obstinately refused to leave the country. From its original 80 acres ( 0.324 km ² ) or 6 ( 24 282 m²) were left. Up to a half acre ( 2,024 m²) was also distributed this land among the colonists, with the claim that the Golden Hill Indians were extinct soon anyway!
However, some whites wanted to not wait until all the inhabitants Golden Hills had died, and in August 1763 they destroyed the last wigwam and forced the inhabitants to leave the town. The Parliament of Connecticut ( engl. General Assembly) then commissioned a committee to find a solution to the problem. The first recommendation of the committee was to give the Golden Hill residents another country as a compensation for the distributed land to the colonists. This application was rejected by the Parliament and also a second recommendation was no majority, which provided the Paugussett return all 80 acres. In 1765, the Paugussett finally got assigned 20 ( 80 940 m²) from the original 80 acres: 12 acres in Lot Nimrod and 8 acres in Rocky Hill Lot.
In the mid-18th century state overseers were appointed by the government, which should defend the rights of Paugussett. These inspectors often wirtschafteten into their own pockets. Records and documents prove that the guards regularly selling Indian land, but the Paugussett rarely received money for it. So they had only received a total of about $ 1000 to 1841.
In the middle of the 19th century came a Paugussett named William Sherman, who had gone to sea, back to his old home. In 1875, he received $ 800 from the Golden Hill Foundation and bought a plot of land in Trumbull from a quarter acre, exactly 0.26 acres ( 1,052 m²) in size, just enough for a family home. He wrote about this land the tribe and thus it became the current Golden Hill Reserve, the oldest and smallest Indian reservation in the United States.
Current situation
In 1980, the government of Connecticut once again that the Golden Hill Tribe of the Pagussett nation was in fact a legitimate Indian tribe and told them money to buy a state reserve to, they could use a 106 acre ( 428 982 m² ) acquire large area in Colchester. Currently the tribe has 350 active members, but many of them are, like most Indian -born residents of New England to the economically and socially disadvantaged citizens. They live mainly in the region, which is adjacent to the newly acquired reserve.
In order to improve the situation of the tribals, chief Quiet Hawk has filed as chairman of the tribal council for her complaint to court, in which it comes to former areas of Paugussett in Bridgeport and six other neighboring towns. The federal recognition (English: Federal Recognation ) of the strain was applied in 1982 in Washington, but has been decided negative. The explanatory memorandum states that clear evidence of their descent from the Golden Hill Pagussett missing.