Petition of Rebecca Davis to the Massachusetts General Court
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court Assembled
Respectfully presents Rebecca Davis of Boston in the County of Suffolk and as a member of the 1 Ponkapog Tribe of Indians in said Commonwealth, that she is aged and infirm and in need of pecuniary assistance, and that the allowance annually made to her from the “Indian Fund,”2 so-called, is insufficient for her support. Wherefore, she prays that a further sum of fifty dollars may be allowed and paid to her out of the Treasury of the Commonwealth.
And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray,
For Rebecca Davis
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Legislative Action: |
Petition of Rebecca Davis for pecuniary aid. Presented by Mr. Stone of Charlestown. House of Representatives. February 2, 1864. Referred to Committee on Claims. Sent up for concurrence, W. S. Robinson, Clerk. Senate, February 4, 1864. Concurred, S. N. Gifford, Clerk [ erasure ] |
- 1. Deleted Text: Quinniboag
- 2. The Massachusetts Legislature sold off the remaining Ponkapaug land base in 1827. Funds acquired through that and similar early sales of land and wood amounted to the community's Indian Fund. By 1847, these resources had been expended, requiring the tribal poor, sick, and infirm to rely on town or State assistance. Huntoon, History of the Town of Canton, Massachusetts, 44, 82. Bird Report, 44-45.