Chickataubut, - 1633

Obtakiest (Abbadakest, Aberdecest, possibly known after 1622 as Chickataubut (“Thankful Fire” or “House Afire”) (d. 1633) was a Massachusett sachem of Wessagusset and the brother of Wassapinewat.  He had provided land to Thomas Weston and the Wessagusset Colony settlers in 1622, but became disillusioned with the English after they had desecrated his mother’s grave at Passonagessit.  As a result, he was part of a plan to kill the settlers at Wessagusset and Plymouth in 1623.  Obtakiest narrowly escaped a preemptive attack by Miles Standish and, fearing the English, reportedly roamed from place to place afterwards.  It is believed by some scholars that he changed his name to Chickataubut around this time, and if that is accurate, he was brother to Cutshamekin of Neponset and held significant territory in the lower Neponset, from Wanamampuke (the head of the Charles River) to Weymouth.  Before the plagues of 1616-1618, Chickataubut commanded 3,000 warriors, but his people were greatly reduced by the sickness.  He died of smallpox in 1633 and was succeeded by his son, Josiah Wampatuck (White Deer).  Samuel Gardiner Drake, The Book of the Indians; or, Biography and History of the Indians of North America, 9th Ed. (Boston: Benjamin Mussey, 1841), 36-37.  Erik R. Seeman, Death in the New World: Cross-Cultural Encounters, 1492-1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 151.