Waban, - 1684

Waben, possibly Mistwaben, was a Natick Indian leader and the husband of Tasunsquaw, daughter of Pawtucket sachem Tahattawan.  The couple had at least one son, Weegramomenit (Thomas).  Waban was one of John Eliot's initial converts and with Eliot helped create the first Indian Praying Town at Natick in 1651.  He rose to be a leader at Natick and Nonantum.  During King Philip's War, he warned the English of Metacom's intent to attack.  Despite his assistance, Waban, his family, and members of his community were interred at Deer Island.  After the war, he reestablished Natick as a Praying Town, where he continued as a leader and councilor.  In 1681, he and others petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for restitution for Natick land and contested the land sales of John Wampus.  Drake, Biography and History of the Indians of North America, 83-84.  O'Brien, Dispossession by Degrees, 43, 52.  Daniel Mandell, "'Standing by His Father': Thomas Waban of Natick, circa 1630-1772," in Robert Grumet, ed., Northeastern Indian Lives, 1632-1816 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996), 167, 169-170, 172-173, 176.