Attaquin, Benjamin, 1813 - 1875

Benjamin Attaquin was born in Mashpee on January 2, 1813, the son of Ezra and Sarah Jones Attaquin and, ultimately, one of nine siblings.  Although away from home at the time, he was a signatory on the January 1834 Mashpee petition written by William Apes.  His name was added to that of 288 other Mashpee residents and community members complaining of a number of longstanding grievances against the overseers and the Congregational missionary to the tribe.  He was included, however, in a census of the Mashpee community that same year in his parents' household, aged 20.

Although he likely spent much of his time at sea, Benjamin was a signatory on an 1847 petition to the Massachusetts General Court complaining of the unsustainable hunting practices that some in the larger community were engaged in and their deleterious effects on Mashpee waterfowl harvest.

A much older Benjamin married nineteen- year old Elizabeth by 1848, the year their daughter, Pamela was born. The young family was listed among other Mashpee the same year in a Commission Report generated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Within several years they had another daughter, Peries Attaquin.

In September of 1857, his young bride, Elizabeth, had passed away leaving him a widower, at Mashpee with their two young daughters ages 11 and 8.  While he held 135 acres of land in severalty Benjamin, like many other Mashpee men, was employed, in the maritime trades.  On March 7, 1861, he married Susan Pocknet.   In the 1862 Mashpee census he was listed as 49 years old and she was aged 23.  Both he and Susan and the two girls were listed in a household at Mashpee that same year. Benjamin and Susan went on to have four children of their own, Benjamin Jr., Anna P., Mary L, and Leonard.

He died of pneumonia or, what was then called, lung fever, at Mashpee, November 21, 1875.  He had given up a live at sea and according to his death record was a farmer.  In his will, Benjamin left a third of his estate to his wife Susan and the remaining two thirds to his daughters from his first marriage, Pamela and Peries.  Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Vol. 1, Ancestry; Petition of the Mashpee Indians to the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1834.01.29.00; Petition of Oaks Coombs and Other Mashpee Indians to the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1847.01.25.00; Bird Report, 1849; Elizabeth L. Attaquin, findagrave.com; Earle Report 1861; Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Vol. 2, Ancestry; Massachusetts, Wills and Probates, 1635-1991, Ancestry.  Image courtesy of Sanford-Harris Family, Genealogical Record, Ancestry.