February 29, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on the genealogy of the Wampanoag Tribe, the Indians who were in first contact with the Mayflower Pilgrims, focusing on the Skipper and Mye family lines. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue with my “Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe” series.
To recap: My recent series on the Mayflower lines of Katie Crocker of Barnstable, Massachusetts, has featured a rare account book connected to the business of Zenas Crocker (1761-1807) and his descendants.
The Crocker account book (1790 through 1843) contains residents of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe. (Note: there are two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts: the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee on Cape Cod, and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard.)
The Cahoon Museum in Cotuit, Massachusetts, has given me permission to share the account book’s pages and do further research. You can view this book on Americana-Archives.org.
Two more families – Skipper and Mye – are recorded in the Crocker account book.
Other names on this ledger page include Winslow Crocker, Eben Crocker, Benjamin Marston, Ebenezer Baker, Captain Seth Folger, Joseph Nye, and Cesar Cobb (an African American who married into the Wampanoag Tribe).
Ambrose Asher Pells (1871-1951), born to Silas Parker Pells and Anna Mye, was a gr. great-grandson of Abel Skipper and his wife Mehitable Mye (daughter of James Mye). He married Isadore Jackson and left descendants. (Read Part Two of this series which features James Mye.)
Ambrose served the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in many different offices including the Town Committee.
Historian and “Flying Santa” Edward Rowe Snow recalls a visit he had with Ambrose in a feature entitled “Cape Cod Indians,” part of his “Sea and Shore Gleanings” historical column published in the Patriot Ledger.
This article reports:
Visit with Leader
Many years ago, I called at the home of Ambrose Asher Pells, whose tribal name was Rain-in-the-Face. He was perhaps the last descendant of King Philip [Chief Metacomet] himself. He put on his Indian regalia for me, and we posed for pictures together.
Before I left, I asked him how a recent fire affected Mashpee, and he said it had burned three houses at the northern end of Lake Mashpee. Then he gave me his final message:
“There are about 400 of us living in Mashpee. I am one of the three trustees of the Old Indian Church, and many of my people sleep in the graves around it.
“I wish to invite all people to visit our Indian Church, for its doors are never closed. I am one of the last of the Wampanoag Tribe of Indians. King Philip himself was my ancestor.”
You can view more history and photos of this family line at 125th Anniversary of Mashpee, Massachusetts.
Another descendant of Abel Skipper and James Mye was Clinton Mye Haynes (1894-1966), aka Chief Wildhorse, son of John Haynes and Harriet “Hattie” Gardner Whiting.
Clinton married Daisy Frances Mingo, daughter of Russell Brown Mingo and Mary Lincoln Attaquin (a descendant of Deacon Ebenezer Attaquin, also found in the Crocker account book).
I found an article from the Boston Herald reporting on his burial in 1966.
This article reports:
Mashpee – They buried Chief Wildhorse Wednesday, buried him in the cold at the Old Indian Burial Ground in this village.
There were three Cadillac sedans and a limousine parked nearby. A good share of the town turned out for this funeral, the first genuine Indian burial in this little Indian village, according to the chief’s daughter, Princess Evening Star [Anita Haynes Neilson].
Before he was laid to rest, a friend, splendid in the tribal costume of the Catawba, placed a pine bough on the casket. It was for everlasting life.
Then this brave, Red Thundercloud [aka Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West and Carlos Westez], now of East Hampton, N.Y., raised his head to the Great Spirit above and asked Him to receive Chief Wildhorse, an “Indian’s Indian.”
Following that the people, descendants of the Wampanoags, who were friends of the Pilgrims, stepped forward to pluck flowers from the grave.
And so, Clinton M. Haynes, born in South Mashpee, chief of the Wampanoag Indian Tribe for 17 years, musician, painter, athlete, statesman and leader, had gone on to meet the greatest Chief.
He had gone dressed in the buckskin of his ancestors. Within the confines of the First Pentecostal Church, the Rev. Benjamin M. Green and the Rev. John Shade Franklin of the Baptist Church, paid their final respects.
But it was probably Red Thundercloud who said it best. There was no one left at the Old Burial Ground except this last warrior. The cold swept in from the Sound, and he stood there straight with only an Indian blanket to ward off the winds.
“He understood,” said Red Thundercloud, “that’s the best I can say. He knew about the ridicule when one tries to hold on to an Indian heritage. He knew and understood and forgave.”
There was nothing left to do but place the pine of everlasting life on the casket.
To be continued…
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Note on the header image: Clinton Mye Haynes (Chief Wildhorse) of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe smoking a pipe. Credit: William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives, Cape Cod Community College, West Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Related Articles:
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 9)
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 10)
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 11)
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 12)
- Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 1)
- Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 2)
- Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 3)
