Whose Native Place?
Abstract Before there was Amherst, there was Nonotuck. When Emily’s ancestor, Nathaniel Dickinson, and a group of withdrawers from the churches at Hartford and Wethersfield sought to settle a plantation on the Connecticut River, they knew they were requesting land in Nonotuck, one of many Indigenous...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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Oxford University Press
2022
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198833932.013.31 https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/56346620/book_43655_section_365288428.ag.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract Before there was Amherst, there was Nonotuck. When Emily’s ancestor, Nathaniel Dickinson, and a group of withdrawers from the churches at Hartford and Wethersfield sought to settle a plantation on the Connecticut River, they knew they were requesting land in Nonotuck, one of many Indigenous homelands on Kwinitekw, the long river. This essay highlights the prominent role of the Dickinson family in the story of the colonization of the Connecticut River Valley, focusing especially on deeds, negotiations, warfare, and captivity. It also locates Emily Dickinson’s ancestors and the Connecticut River Valley within the larger networks of Native space. The essay focuses on the period 1650–1759, including the Anglo-Abenaki wars and the settlement of Amherst, but touches on nineteenth-century Amherst, as well. |
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