Chaubunagungamaug - Webster, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 02.771 W 071° 51.773
19T E 263064 N 4658870
Chaubunagungamaug, one of the Praying Indian villages established by Reverend John Eliot, was a community of Nipmuc Indians from about 1674 to around the 1890s.
Waymark Code: WM8R5C
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 05/05/2010
Views: 14
In Webster, at the intersection of Thompson Road (Mass. Route 193) and Lake Street, there is a historical sign on the northeast corner of that intersection. This sign is double-sided with the same text, reading:
Chaubunagungamaug
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Site of Praying Indian town established by John Eliot and Daniel Gookin in 1674 and known as Chaubunagungamaug.
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Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission
According to the Wikipedia entry for Chaubunagungamaug, the "reservation" was established in the 1680s for this band of Nipmuc Indians. This establishment lasted until the 1890s. One family with the surname of Morse carried on the Native American presence. In 1979, Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs recognized this band as well as a band of Nipmuc descendants in Grafton as a nation, but the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs decided that not enough criteria had been met.
A geneology site for Native Americans had historical notes on this and the village at Grafton, MA. The site does support the fact that the village was jointly established by John Eliot and Daniel Gookin in 1674. Unfortunately, the uprising led by Metacomet (King Philip) in 1675-6 split the community along who sided with the uprising and those who sided with the English. Those that sided with the English were later taken to first Marlborough, then to Deer Island where they suffered greatly with Indians from the other Praying Indian towns. While they were gone, the village was burned down. According to this site, in March 1682, the Massachusetts General Court (the legislative body) accepted the purchase of land for the Nipmucs near the Massachusetts-Connecticut border. This might account for the discrepancy in dates between the first two sources.
Other Sources:
Nipmuc/Nipmuck Nation Council:
Visit Site
Massasoit.0catch.com (Notes on the Indian Reservation at...Grafton, MA):
Visit Site
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