Nedson, Leonard, 1823 - 1905
Leonard Nedson, alias Leonard Brown, was an Eastern Pequot Indian from what is now the Town of North Stonington, Connecticut. His parentage is uncertain, but his mother may have been Thankful Nedson. In June of 1846 Thankful Nedson and Leonard Brown of Stonington served as witnesses in the case of State v. Mark D. Babcock.1
The state appointed overseer for the Eastern Pequot Indians, Elias Hewitt, was contacted in March of 1850 by the Town of Stonington about compensation for the care of Thankful Nedson and Leonard Brown. Leonard first appeared in the records of the state appointed overseer for the Eastern Pequot in October of 1854 as receiving goods and services from the tribal funds and continued to be mentioned in those records for decades
Leonard Brown or Nedson lived the majority of his life on the tribe's Lantern Hill reservation. In 1870 he was enumerated in one of six household on the reservation. Working as a farmhand, he shared a house with fellow Indians Isaac Tracy, Charles Bostwick, George Baker, and Phebe Baker. A decade later, still a farmhand, he shared a house on the reservation with Eliza A. Simpson. 2 Leonard and Eliza were recorded as being a widower and widow, respectively. By June of 1900, he lived on the reservation with two elderly Pequot women, Lucy Hill and Eunice Gardner
Sometime around the turn of the century Leonard Nedson was befriended by Everett Ingram who visited his reservation home. Ingram described Nedson as "a dealer in copperheads" who sold specimens of the snakes to zoos and museums. According to Ingram, Nedson was, " a man appearing to be a 100 years or more of age, with deep furrows vividly marking his copper colored face." Nedson recounted to Ingram how he had been bitten years earlier by a copperhead. This incident rendered Nedson's right leg useless and required him to rely on a crutch for mobility. Leonard Nedson described his method for catching copperheads and allowed Ingram to accompany him on such a trip up Lantern Hill. Nedson would use a forked stick in order to pin the snakes head against the ground and use his free hand to handle the snake and place it into a bag. According to Nedson the copperheads spent the winters in a hibernaculum near Candlewood Hill in Center Groton and migrated in the warmer weather to the ledges and talus slopes of Lantern Hill. Nedson remarked that "copperheads don't agree with civilization."
Leonard Nedson died unmarried in North Stonington on May 29, 1905. His death record indicated that he was 82 years old and died as a result of the combined effects of the grippe and tuberculosis. His last occupation was that of a farmer.
Brown and Rose, Black Roots, 265- 266; CSL, NLCC, Files, November 1838, Box 3, Folder 26; NLCC: PbS, Indians, Eastern Pequot; 1870, 1880, and 1900 Federal Censuses for the Town of North Stonington, CT; Westerly Sun, Town Talk, July 10, 1934
