June 6, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on the genealogy of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, 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.
Today I continue my “Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe” series, featuring Mayflower descendants and more 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, and 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.
In Part five of this series I introduced Solomon Crowell “S. C.” Howland (1813-1878), a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. He served in many offices working with the Mashpee Indians.
Another Pilgrim scion who worked with the Wampanoag people and shared familial lines was Charles Churchill Bearse (1812-1889), born to Moses and Rebecca (Hinckley) Bearse and a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, and Joseph Rogers.
Charles married Penelope Percival Crocker (1821-1905), the daughter of Braddock and Temperence (Hallett) Crocker, and a descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, William Brewster, and Joseph Rogers.
The cranberry business was a successful enterprise in Mashpee. I found various newspaper sources that reference Howland and Bearse engaged in business with the Mashpee tribal members. Below is one example, published in the Barnstable Patriot.
The above listed director Matthias Amos (1816-1885) was active in politics as well. Besides the Mashpee Cranberry Association, Deacon Amos was one of the organizers of the Mashpee Manufacturing Company.
Matthias married Clarissa Quippish (1818-1896), born to Daniel and Love (Amos) Quippish. They had several children including a son, Lysander Z. Amos, who married Flora Bearse, the daughter of Nathaniel D. S. and Olive Gould (Pells) Bearse. This is a Mayflower line and full lineage will be in the next story.
More Amos Lines
In Part five of this series I referred to a cranberry screen patented by the Hon. Watson F. Hammond.
His son Lorenzo Tandy Hammond, aka Chief Small Bear, was credited for inventing a Berry Separator & Cleaner. (Specifications and Drawings of Patents Issued from the United States Patent Office, p. 2097.) Below is an image of his patent filed 15 March 1897.
Below is a photo of Lorenzo T. Hammond taken August 1929 when members of the Wampanoag Nation gathered for a three-day powwow of their tribes at Mashpee.
In this photo we see (left to right): Chief Standing Rock of the Herring Pond Tribe; Chief Red Shell of the Wampanoags; Lorenzo T. Hammond aka Chief Small Bear of the Mashpee Tribe; and Chief High Eagle, medicine man of the Wampanoags.
Lorenzo is also credited for patenting a triple-piston deep-well pump.
I found Lorenzo’s obituary in the Boston Herald.
This article reads:
Funeral services for Lorenzo T. Hammond, 88, who was injured Monday in a fire at his home at 57 School St., and died Wednesday at Cape Cod Hospital, will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Mashpee First Baptist Church.
A native of Mashpee, he was a grandson of “Blind” Joe Amos, Mashpee’s first Indian preacher, and a descendant of the Wampanoag Indian Tribe. He bore the Indian title of Chief Small Bear.
Mr. Hammond was a master plumber until his retirement several years ago, and was an artist of local fame for his oils and watercolors. He was a member of the Cotuit Federated Church.
He leaves two sons, Alcott, of Ada, Mich., and Clinton Hammond, of Mashpee; a daughter, Mrs. Pearl Tobey of Pocasset; a stepson; and four stepdaughters.
I will cover the descendants of this line after more research. What I have found to date:
On 5 July 1897 Lorenzo married Florence “Flossie’ G. Whiting (1881-1958), born to Bethina L. Whiting. Her father was John H. Thompson. I have not found a record of marriage for Flossie’s parents. Flossie was the mother of Pearl Hammond Tobey, Alcott Lorenzo Hammond, and Clifton Belmont Hammond.
On 7 November 1909 Lorenzo married 2nd Mrs. Lillian Rose (Avant) Brown, daughter of John and Susan (Lowe) Avant and former wife of Isaac H. Brown.
In my last story I featured a grandson of Watson F. Hammond, Alfred Leslie DeGrasse (1890-1978), born to Charles Henry and Ellen W. (Hammond) DeGrasse.
Below is a photo of Alfred and his parents which is part of an album collection of four generations of the Mashpee Wampanoag families housed in the National Museum of the American Indian.
In this photo we see (left to right): Alfred Leslie DeGrasse; his parents Ellen W. (Hammond) DeGrasse (1868-1948), daughter of Watson F. and Rebecca Cecorson (Amos) Hammond; and Charles Henry DeGrasse (1869-1930), son of Elias and Triphosa (Pocknett) DeGrasse.
More 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)
- Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 6)
- Richard Bourne: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
- Thomas Tupper: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
- The Howland Family Passenger Profile, Mayflower Society
