Toby, Frederick, 1779 - 1848
Frederick Toby was a part of the Mashantucket Pequot community and was involved in the political affairs of the tribe. He was born circa 1779 and while little is known of his early life or parentage, it is possible that his father was Daniel Toby, a Revolutionary War veteran who resided at Mashantucket.
The earliest records linking Frederick Toby to the Mashantucket community emerge in 1825, when he would have been in his mid-forties. It was then that he put his name to a request for the appointment of a new overseer. He, along with 18 others, petitioned the New London County Court for the discharge of Overseer Elisha Crary and the appointment of Erastus Williams in his stead. In March of that same year, Toby’s name was included in a list of members of the tribe, likely generated by either the incoming or outgoing overseer.
For at least a decade Frederick Toby maintained a household on the reservation and appeared periodically in the records of the State appointed overseer. In 1830 Toby’s household on the reservation was enumerated in the Federal Census for what was then North Groton. He was listed as being between the ages of 36 and 54. A woman, possible his wife or partner, of the same age range, lived with him.
Although far from comprehensive, based on this enumeration, the community consisted of approximately 7 other households, some of which were headed by tribal members other not. Neighbors of Frederick Toby consisted of the families and boarders of Pardon P. Braton, Mark Daniels, Charles Fagins, Cory Buck, Betsey Wheeler, and James Pierce.
On February 7, 1831, Toby, along with eight other men and women from the community, put his name to yet another petition to the New London County Court praying to retain Overseer Erastus Williams whom the tribe considered well suited to the job.
When the Rev. William Apes arrived to live among the Mashantucket Pequots in the early 1830s, Frederick Toby became a supporter. Toby added his name to a December 3, 1832 certification allowing Williams Apes to act as agent for the tribe in raising funds to build a house of worship on the reservation. Together with Lucretia George, Mary George, Lucy Orchard, William Apes, Sr., and Margaret George, Toby agreed that necessary expense for the Apes family might be drawn from the funds raised for the church.
The following year, on December 13, 1833, Frederick Toby was enumerated in a private census of tribal members living on the reservation. Erastus Williams, having just concluded his tenure as overseer, described Toby, in a letter to William Williams, as a 54 years old mixed race member of the tribe. This letter also suggests that Frederick Toby may have fathered two children, John Toby and Henry Toby, ages 5 and 4, respectively, with Betsy Squib.
While he was not listed with the same regularity in the ledgers of the overseer as some other members of the community, Frederick Toby did receive goods and services paid for out of the tribal funds. In August of 1836 Frederick Toby received provisions and in September of following year, Elisha Crary oversaw significant repairs to Frederick Toby’s house. It was around this time that Toby suffered an illness that left him at least temporarily lame, and likely, in need of additional support from the Tribe.
In January 1839, he put his mark, as did ten others from the Tribe, on a memorial to reappoint Erastus Williams, this time to replace Elisha Crary as overseer.
In 1840, once again, the Federal Census for Ledyard, CT, which encompassed the reservation, enumerated the household of Frederick Toby. By now Toby was listed as being between 55 - 100 years old ( closer to his early 60s if Erastus Williams, the former overseer is to be believed) and employed in agriculture. He shared his household with a woman, possible his wife or partner, who was, according to the census enumerator, of the same age range. The reservation community had either grown over the past ten years or the inventory of households was simply more comprehensive. It consisted of 13 households, some of which were headed by tribal members other not. Neighbors of Frederick Toby consisted of Mark Daniels, Betsy Wheeler, Joseph Lawrence, Hiram Lawrence, Amasa Lawrence, George Cottrell, Sullivan Fagins, Charles Fagins, Paul Baker, Basha Holt, Plowden Fagins, and Catherine Oxford.
Toby's last act of political involvement was to put his mark to a February 16, 1841 petition in support of the appointment of Erastus Williams as overseer.
Frederick Toby continued to receive provisions from the overseer periodically through April of 1841. Frederick Toby died in Ledyard, presumably on the reservation, in 1848.
CHS, William Samuel Johnson Papers, III, 100: December 13, 1833 Letter from Erastus Williams to William T. Williams; Brown and Rose, Black Roots, 410; NLCC:PbS, Indians, Mashantucket Pequot; O’Connell, On Our Own Ground, 247-248.
Born:
c.1779Died:
1848Tribes
Ethnicity