Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 6)

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 Amos and allied family lines. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Here is a photo from the Plymouth Tercentenary celebration, with reenactors in a scene showing Tisquantum and the Mayflower, August 1921. Tisquantum, aka “Squanto,” was a member of the Patuxet Tribe, a band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation, who worked to broker peaceable relations between the Pilgrims and the local Pokanokets.

Today I resume my “Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe” series featuring generations of the Mashpee Wampanoag families.

To recap: My 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 contains residents of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. The Cahoon Museum in Cotuit, Massachusetts, granted me permission to share the account book’s pages and do further research. For previous stories, see the links listed at the end of this article.

Amos and Allied Family Lines

In the most recent article in this series, I introduced a photo album housed in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) containing four generations of Mashpee Wampanoag families.

The first generation was Reverend Joseph Babcock Amos (1805-1869), also known as “Blind Joe” or “Blind Joseph” Amos, son of Jeremiah and Ophelia (Babcock) Amos. He married Abigail Wickam/Wikam (1804-1853), daughter of Thadeus and Elizabeth Betsey (Isaac) Wickam/Wikam.

Below is a photo of the Mashpee Old Indian Meeting House (church) today, located at 410 Meetinghouse Road, Mashpee, Massachusetts. Established in 1684, the current building was built in 1758. Rev. Amos was one of the pastors of Mashpee from 1810-1835. His name is listed on the historic marker placed between the church doors. Also listed are Simon Popmonet, Solomon Briant, and William Apess.

The great-grandson of Blind Joe Amos, Alfred Leslie DeGrasse (1890-1978), was born to Charles Henry and Ellen W. (Hammond) DeGrasse. His mother Ellen is the daughter of Representative Watson F. Hammond and Rebecca C. (Amos) Hammond.

Alfred, dressed in his school uniform, was photographed in 1904 while attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It was the first boarding school for Native American children in the United States, founded by Brig. General Richard Henry Pratt.

The Waidner-Spahr Library at Dickinson College has digitized the records of the Carlisle School. In Alfred’s file I found the following statement written by him.

Alfred’s statement reads:

When a small boy, I often heard my mother tell the story about my grandfather Watson F. Hammond, a native Indian of Cape Code, who was in the year of 1885 elected Representative to the Massachusetts State Legislature, being delegated to go on business pertaining to affairs connected with the Indian School at Carlisle. And I often wished after hearing the story that I could be a loyal son of Carlisle and to my surprise my time came, and I enrolled in the year 1904 and from then until 1911 I worked to attain the honor of being a graduate of one of the greatest institutions of its kind in the country. Last fall while in Boston I visited the State House and I realized that it was within those walls that my Carlisle started from. Although I have not had [the] chance to show that Carlisle has made me what I am, but as soon as I get my health back, I expect to do my part in showing to the world the kind of men that Carlisle turns out.

Here is a photo of Alfred’s grandfather, Hon. Watson F. Hammond (1837-1916), son of John and Catherine (Auprey) Hammond and a descendant of the Montauk Indian Tribe. He married Rebecca Cecorson Amos (1834-1922), one of the six children born to Rev. Amos and his wife Abigail.

Below is Alfred L. DeGrasse with his graduating class in 1911. In this photo we see (as identified in the attached label): 1) Mazie Skye; 2) Estelle W. Ellis; 3) Elizabeth Keshena; 4) Emma La Vatta; 5) Minnie White; 6) Ellen Lundquist; 7) Nan Saunooke; 8) Edison Mt. Pleasant; 9) Louis Dupuis; 10) James Mumblehead; 11) Louis H. Runnels; 12) Leroy Redeagle; 13) Spencer Patterson; 14) Jefferson Smith; 15) Moses Friday; 16) Francis Coleman; 17) Charles Fish; 18) Alvin W. Kennedy; 19) Robert Tahamont; 20) Fred Leicher; 21) William J. Owl; 22) William J. Ettawageshik; and 23) Alfred DeGrasse.

When Alfred graduated, he was the class salutatorian. The message from his salutatory was published in the newspaper.

Another newsclip on Alfred many years later reveals a successful career man, entering retirement, recalling his years at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and knowing Jim Thorpe. It also explains the health issue he mentioned in his statement above.

This article reports:

Ending a career of 41 years as a post office employee this week, Alfred L. DeGrasse recalled his years in the Carlisle School for Indians at the same time the great Jim Thorpe was a football and track star there.

“But when Thorpe was leading the football team to glory for Coach ‘Pop’ Warner,” DeGrasse said. “I was a member of the Carlisle B team, and in 1911 a ruptured appendix ended my days as a halfback.

“Everyone knows how Jim excelled at everything in athletics, but occasionally I could take him in a game of marbles.”

DeGrasse was born 68 years ago in the Mashpee Tribe in Cape Cod which, he boasts, was the first Indian tribe to greet the Pilgrims. His maternal grandfather served in the Massachusetts legislature.

DeGrasse and his wife live at 6335 Ironwood.

More on this line coming…

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Note on the header image: Ousamequin, or “Massasoit” (Wampanoag term for “Great Sachem”) and Governor John Carver smoking a ceremonial pipe at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Credit: Sutro Library; Wikimedia Commons.

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)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 4)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 5)
• Richard Bourne: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
• Thomas Tupper: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
• The Howland Family Passenger Profile, Mayflower Society