Niantic, Western

Western Niantic Tribe

Variant Names         

Nehantic, Nayantaquit, the Seaside Indians

Meaning                    

People of the “point of land on a tidal river” (Trumbull, Indian Place Names, 36)

Location

Between the Thames and Connecticut Rivers, mostly at the mouth of the Connecticut River, around Niantic Bay and Niantic River, and in parts of modern East Lyme and Waterford, Connecticut

Language

Algonquin. Y-dialect similar to the Pequot, Mohegan, Narragansett, and Montauk

Traditional Villages

Niantic, Old Lyme, and Oswegatchie

Inter-Tribal Affiliations

Mohegan, Wangunk, Quinnipiac

Deposition of Susanna Waukeet about Property on an Island in the Connecticut River

Susanna Waukeet of lawful age testifies and says that Daniel Cyrus and Ann Tantapan was brother and sister, children of Cyrus, and grandchildren of [ crossout ] Cobcozen.

Tribes

Deposition of Joseph Smith about Property on an Island in the Connecticut River

Deacon Joseph Smith of Haddam of lawful age testifies and says that in his youthful days he knew an Indian man called and known by the name of Cobb, who lived on Thirty Mile Island in Haddam, who he ever understood was one of the principal owner of said island, and he understands that Cobb and his heirs have always rented said island and that no person hath ever pretended to molest the said Cob or his heirs.

Tribes

Deposition of John Lewis about Property on an Island in the Connecticut River

John Lewis of Saybrook, formerly of Haddam, of lawful age, testifies and says that when he was a lad he lived with Deacon Joseph Arnold of Haddam and while there an Indian man known by the name of Cob came there to receive rent for the Island called Thirty Miles Island.  Deacon Arnold kept a public house at that time and the Indian, wanting more liquor than the Deacon thought he needed, refused him anymore, told him he had enough for that time,

Tribes

Deposition of Joseph Bates about Property on an Island in the Connecticut River

Joseph Bates of Haddam of lawful age testifies and says that when young he remembers an Indian known by the name of Cobb, who lived on Thirty Miles Island, which Indian was the owner of said island as he ever understood and he understood that he was the person who received the yearly rent of said island in his lifetime, and he never heard of any other person that claimed said island and further the deponent
Tribes

Cyrus, Daniel

Daniel Cyrus was the son of Cyrus Cobb and the husband of Sarah Wright.  He and his wife had several children, but they, as well as Sarah, died before 1788.  Daniel Cyrus survived them all.

Deposition of Anne Chesnoe about Property on an Island in the Connecticut River

Anna Chesno of Lyme in the County of New London of lawful age testifies and says that one Cyrus Cobb (an Indian), according to the best of her remembrance about forty or fifty years past, owned part the island in Connecticut River called Haddam Island1 and that she, the deponent, understood that the said land cam

Tribes

Petition by Guilford Selectmen about Ann Tantapan

To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Connecticut to be Holden at Hartford on the Second Thursday of May 17891

Tribes

Resolution by the Connecticut General Assembly for a Continuance upon the Petition of the Mohegan and Niantic Tribes

Upon the memorial of the Niantic and Mohegan Tribes of Indians shewing to this Assembly that they have right with a seine and otherwise to fish in and about the mouth of Connecticut River, and that they are hindered in the use of said right by sundry persons living near the mouth of said river, praying this Assembly to define and secure to them the enjoyment of their said1 right of

Tribes