Mamanash Asbow, Hannah, 1716 - 1801

Hannah Mamanash was a member of the Wangunk tribe.  Her siblings most likely included a sister, “Billy” Mamanash, who in her sickness in 1772 was being supported by the Town of Windsor, Connecticut, and a brother, Joseph Mamanash (1727-1767) of Northampton, Massachusetts, who married Elizabeth Occom (c. 1720-1779), the sister of Samson Occom.  Hannah Mamanash married Samuel Ashbow (Mohegan) and their children were John Ashbow (b. 1753), Robert Ashbow (d. 1776), Samuel Ashbow, Jr. (1748-1775), Simon Ashbow (died in the Revolution), James Ashbow, and at least one daughter, Hannah. 

 

In October 1760, Hannah, with other members of the Wangunk tribe, agreed to a proposal by Job Bates and Isaac Waterman to purchase twenty acres of the Wangunk reservation in exchange for other land elsewhere.  In May of 1765, she was among the Wangunk tribal members petitioning to have a committee appointed with power to sell the land and distribute the proceeds to individual members or assign them shares of land, should they wish to hold on to it. 

 

Despite her Wangunk heritage, Hannah's name appears on a list of men, women, and children belonging to the Mohegan tribe in 1771 and on a Mohegan membership list taken in August 1782.  In 1799, she was living alone as a widow at Mohegan and died on July 10, 1801.  Her remains were buried in the Ashbow burial ground at Mohegan. 

 

Margaret Bruchac, “Native Presence in Nonotuck and Northampton,” in Kerry W. Buckley, ed., A Place Called Paradise: Culture and Community in Northampton, Massachusetts, 1654-2004 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2004), 28-33.  PRCC 13: 658.