Mitchell, Charlotte Eveline L., 1848 - 1930

Charlotte Eveline Mitchell was the daughter of Thomas Mitchell and Zerviah Gould of Abington, Massachusetts and a lineal descendant of the Wampanoag leader Massasoit.  A graduate of public schools in Abington and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Charlotte worked as a fancy basket maker in a family-run business.  She, her mother and her sister Melinda removed to ancestral land at Assawompsett (Betty's Neck) in 1849, where they built their home and established a farm.  To support themselves, the two sisters sold baskets, flowers, herbal remedies, and produce, rented cabins along the lakefront, told fortunes, and took in boarders.  In 1903 and for several years later, Charlotte and Melinda fought legal challenges for their land and fishing rights.  By that time, Charlotte had become caregiver to Melinda, who was suffering from tuberculosis.  After the loss of her land, Charlotte received a modest state pension until her death in 1930.  For more information and photographs, see "Teweelema, Betty's Neck and Wampanoag Rye-straw Basketry," Historic Iroquois and Wabanaki Beadwork.  Abington, Massachusetts Birth Records (1946), Ancestry.  Federal Census of the Town of Abington, Massachusetts (1870).  "New England Royalty: Descendants of Massasoit Claim Much Land," Times-Picayune, October 19, 1903, 2.  Patricia Rubertone, "Archaeologies of Native Production and Marketing in 19th Century New England," in Craig Cipolla, ed., Foreign Objects: Rethinking Indigenous Consumption in American Archaeology (Tuscon, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 2017), 207-208.  "Indian Princess Fights for Lands,"  The Boston Herald, March 13, 1905.  "The Last Indian Princess in Bay State Now Gardener," Boston Post, March 18, 1917, 40.  " asks Aid for Last Indian Princess,"  The Springfield Daily Republican, February 16, 1927, 3.  Image of Charlotte Mitchell from Pierce, Indian History, Biography, and Genealogy.

Photograph of Charlotte (left) and Melinda Mitchell (right) c. 1905, Charles T. Scott, “The Last of the Wampanoags,” New England Magazine (1905-1906) 33:393.