Nesahegen
Nesahegen and his sisters, Patakhouse and Amannawer, were members of a prominent Poquonnock family. His wife, from the nearby Podunk community, was kin to Cutshamekin. The couple had a least two sons, Sepanquat and Wenammcomepon (Warun-Compound), and lived on the east side of the Connecticut River between Scantick and Namareck. Nesahegen succeeded his uncle Sehat as sachem of the Poquonnocks around 1635, co-ruling with his cousin Coggerynosset, until the latter’s death in 1680.
One of his first recorded acts as sachem was granting land between Poquonnock and Masscoe to John Mason, then of Windsor, in 1642. Subsequently, his name appeared on deeds at Windsor, Hartford, Chatham, Middletown, Wethersfield, and Simsbury. In 1666 Nesahegen signed an agreement with Uncas, establishing the boundary between the Indians at Hartford and the Mohegan. During King Philip’s War, a number of River Indians served under him in relieving the Town of Springfield. In 1680, an elderly Nesahegen filed a complaint in the Harford County Court against colonists who had stolen some skins. He died before September 26, 1687 and was survived by his grandson, Toto, of Windsor.
Henry Reed Stiles, The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Vol. 1 (Hartford: Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1891), 110, 124-126-129. Deforest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, 53.
Alias(es)
Nessaheagan
Nessahegen
Born:
Before 1610Died:
Before September 1687