Tantamous, - 1676

Tantamous, alias Jethro, was a prominent Natick powwow, healer, and spiritual leader who lived at Assabet.   He had at least one son, Peter Jethro (Animatohu).   Apparently Tantamous had several land holdings, for in 1651 he mortgaged a tract to colonist Harmon Garrett.  Eight years later, John Smith of Charlestown unsuccessfully petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to grant him Tantamous’ land near Sudbury as payment for a debt.  In his old age, Tantamous' family consisted of twelve individuals who lived on Nobscut Hill.  At the outbreak of King Philip’s War, Massachusetts authorities ordered them to Deer Island.  Although Tantamous escaped from his captivity, he was betrayed by his son, recaptured, and executed on September 26, 1676. William Barry, A History of Framingham, Massachusetts (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1847), 19-20.  Drake, The Book of the Indians, 80.