How Does The Story End?

Okemesw8’s story, as told by historian Thomas Franklin Waters, is one of betrayal. She dared to defy one of the most powerful families in colonial New England. For this she could not be forgiven. Waters described “the great kindness of Captain Epes [sic] and his good wife” to the grandmother and her grandsons.¹ Waters decried the grandmother’s “thankless return” for Epps’ kindness. This is the story Epps told the jury at the Quarterly Court in Salem.

Gordon Harris, Ipswich’s current Historian, said in a recent post that when his grandmother left Castle Neck “Lionel continued living in Capt. Epes’ family” until he was twelve years old.² In fact, Lyonell never lived in the Epps’ household more than two or three weeks. It was his brother Daniel who lived at Castle Hill. Lyonell indentured himself to Bennett in 1679, when he was ten years old. Five years later in 1684, Epps appers to have recognized that Lyonell was working for Bennett and sought to remove him to Castle Hill.

Waters believed that Bennett failed to pay the price of twenty pounds required by the Court of Assistants to protect Lyonell from removal to Castle Hill. Was Bennett willing to pay this price? He had the resources to do so.

For Bennett, this almost certainly was about more than the value of an indentured servant; it likely was about standing up to his powerful Puritan neighbors. Beyond Bennett’s political differences with Epps, and their boundary dispute, Bennett had another reason to defy Epps.  Harlakenden  Symonds, stepbrother of Daniel Epps, had attempted to swindle Bennett out of an inheritance. Bennett won at the Quarterly Court, but lost at least some of his inheritance on appeal.

Was Bennett’s goal to reveal the failure of Daniel Epps, and perhaps even the extended Winthrop family, to fulfill their Puritan duty to bring Lyonell under their family governance? Was he satified to win a moral victory against the Winthrops at the Quarterly Court? Was Bennet willing to pay to prevent Epps from removing the boy to the Winthrop property at Castle Hill? Did he feel he owed Lyonell this protection? Did he feel an obligation to Okemesw8 for helping him defy his powerful neighbors?

Did Okemesw8’s gamble on Bennett pay off? Did she believe he would be a reliable partner or was Lyonell’s indenture an act of desperation? We can speculate on Bennett’s and Okemesw8’s motives, but we are left only with circumstanial evidence and no reliable verdict.

When Okemesw8 returned to Wigwam Hill in 1669, she would not have felt out of place. Contrary to the misconception that Wigwam Hill was named for her solitary wigwam there, the settlers colonizing Agawam named the hill for the many wigwams they saw when they arrived some 40 years earlier. Okemesw8 was going back to place where she may have gathered with her kin as a child and young mother. She was likely returning to a place where her ancestors experienced great meaning and abundance.

Had Okemesw8 told her own story, she might have spoken of other indigenous children removed from Praying Indian families during the war that began 1675. The Massachusetts General Court distributed children among prominent Puritan families and then threatened to punish those who helped them run away. The court decreed that “their parents or kindred that shall entice or harbor and conceale them if they should run away” would be enslaved and sold outside the Commonweatlh.

On August 10, 1676, as the settlers’ war against Pometacomet was about to end, a government committee distributed 32 “Indian Children” from Praying Indian families on the condition that “the children bee religiously educated and taught the english tounge.” At this time, Daniel was about ten years old and his brother Lyonell was about seven.

Two Ipswich residents received indigenous children. Elizabeth Epps’ father and Daniel’s stepfather, Deputy Governor Samuel Symonds, received a 12-year-old boy named John and a 10-year-old girl named Heather. Thomas Jacob, also of Ipswich who later served as an officer in the company of Captain Daniel Epps, received a 10-year-old boy named Sawoonawuk. In neighboring Rowley, Jeremiah Shepard received a 19-year-old boy named Absalom, an 11-year-old girl named Sarah, and an 8-year-old girl named Jane. In Salem, Edmund Batter received a 16-year-old girl named Abigail. These children were to be indentured until their 24th birthday.

Before Okemesw8 indentured Lyonell to Bennett, she would have seen these indigenous children distributed to the settlers colonizing her homeland. She would have observed Daniel’s assimilation into the Puritan social order. She would have witnessed her kinfolk killed or enslaved in the settlers’ war against Pometacomet. What choice did she have? Would she allow Epps to take Lyonell from her? Would she flee north with Daniel and Lyonell risking capture? Would she risk being sold with her grandsons into slavery in the Caribbean? Could she trust Bennett to protect Lyonell from Epps?

Whatever specifically motivated Okemesw8, she decided to trust that Bennett would honor his commitment to Lyonell. We do not know whether Bennett lived up to the trust Okemesw8 placed in him, but we know she had the courage to defy Epps. She should be remembered not for her ingratitude to Epps but for her determination and ingenuity in the face of overwhelming odds.  She appears to have developed a strategy to educate Lyonell in her language and traditions and prevent Epps from removing him to Castle Hill. Her strategy may well have succeeded.