Petition of George Peters and Other Christiantown Indians to the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives

N^o 1

To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled

Humbly shew the subscribers, Natives and Inhabitants of the Town of Christiantown on Martha’s Vineyard, that on the petitions of Mercy Popenna, now living at Mashpee in the County of Barnstable, and Hannah Pocknet and Basheba Wicket, the said Hannah, being of Mashpee, and the said Bathsheba of Plymouth, in the County of Plymouth, against said petitions of the said Mercy, Hannah, and Bathsheba, your petitioners beg leave to remonstrate and enter their solemn protest for the following reasons, namely:

First, that the whole quantity of Indian land belonging to the tribe is less than two hundred acres improved and one hundred acres unimproved land -- in all, less than three hundred acres, on which there are between forty and fifty inhabitants. The land we hold as joint tenants in common, so long as the individuals thereof remain thereon, beyond the memory of man to the contrary.

Secondly, such is the wandering disposition of our tribe and that, at this time, they are greatly scattered, leaving the poor and destitute to be supported by those who remain in town.

Thirdly, the above-named petitioners, by their own statement, have left the tribe.  Mercy Popenna has been absent more than forty years, and Hannah Pocknet’s and  Bathsheba Wickett’s father, Samuel Hannet, was not a Native of Christiantown.  His wife1 was a Native and has a grandson2 who is an heir of the land they now petition for.   If these and such like petitions are granted, we are undone and must soon call on the State for support. What have these petitioners done to merit the fee of our lands? Was it not the intention of your fathers that the Indians should enjoy their lands forever.  A certain Gentleman brought forward a petition in behalf of Hannah Capa and Betty Auchooch to sell their right. And what is the consequence? A most distressing lawsuit is now pending in the Supreme Court, with us, poor, naked, miserable fallen sons and daughters of Adam, and our poverty has put it out of our power to defend our rights. A Gentleman at the Bar, if he is disposed, may distress us beyond our power to describe. If our lands are sold, we shall be in a still more wretched condition. This being our situation, we humbly invite Your Honourable Body to take our situation into your serious consideration and put an effectual bar against the further sale of any of our land. We invite our absent brethren to return to their tribe and duty and not to harass us further with continued petitions and vexatious lawsuits.

And in duty bound will ever pray,

Colored Peoples' Names

White Peoples' Names

Selectmen of Tisbury

• 1. Possibly Bathsheba Ompany.
• 2. Presumably a son of Samuel Hannet, Jr.