PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD - NATIVE AMERICANS
Pre-Colonial Period - Native Americans
Woodland Period
Prior to the arrival of English colonists, the native people called Abenaki lived in a territory now including parts of Quebec and the Maritimes of Canada and northern sections of the New England region of the United States.
The native roots of the Abenaki covered every inch of our state and were composed of numerous smaller bands and tribes who shared many cultural traits.
The Abenaki practiced a subsistence economy based on hunting, fishing, trapping, berry picking and on growing corn, beans, squash, potatoes and tobacco. They also produced baskets, made of ash and sweet grass, for picking wild berries, and boiled maple sap to make syrup.
The native people known as the Suncook (seni kok), which translates, “to the rocks” lived along an area of the Suncook River that would become Gilmanton Iron Works.
The Suncook, a subset of the Abenaki, were descendants of natives that arrived 11,000 years ago. They did not own but accessed this ancestral land according to custom and seasonal need. Eventually war, colonization and disease permanently displaced the Suncook.
Contact Period
Before the Abenaki had contact with the European world, their population may have numbered as many as 10,000 in their Western range. The arrival of settlers permanently changed the Abenaki way of life.
Multiple epidemics arrived a decade prior to the English settlement of Massachusetts in 1620, when three separate sicknesses swept across New England and the Canadian Maritimes. Some groups were able to co-exist for a time through the exchange of goods and knowledge. Goods such as pelts, guns and tools and the knowledge of growing crops suited to the region such as tobacco and corn sustained them.
In time, however, the settlers expanded their reach taking over the best farmlands and hunting grounds.
By 1776, fewer than 1,000 Abenaki remained in northern New England.
The French & Indian Wars: 1688-1763
1722-25: Lovewell’s Battle
The French had longstanding trade relations with the Indians in the region and thus an alliance was formed to prevent British encroachment. This was a factor which led to the French & Indian wars.
From 1688-1763, six wars within the campaign were fought over control of territory from Canada, through Maine and south to Massachusetts which at the time included New Hampshire. Although the British were successful in gaining territory, they were war weary. This led to the formation of ranger groups who acted as independent soldiers in the removal of Indians.
One such ranger was John Lovewell, a British soldier living in Dunstable Massachusetts (Nashua). In 1722 with the blessing of the Massachusetts Legislature and the promise of a bounty on scalps, Lovewell set out on a series of three expeditions. On the third and final expedition, Lovewell and his rangers traveled through the Lake Winnipesaukee region and built a fort on Ossipee Pond. Lovewell’s target was Chief Paugus and the Pequawket.
Pequawket territory spanned from Conway to Fryeburg, Maine and it was in Fryeburg on May 9th, 1725, that a raid ensued resulting in the death of both Chief Paugus and Lovewell.
With the loss of their Chief, many of the Pequawket moved farther into Maine and Canada. Memorials to both men are well known in their communities.
Paugus Bay in Laconia is named for Chief Paugus and Lovewell’s Pond in Nashua
The Long Pause to Settle
1727-1761: Although the Suncook largely retreated from the area prior to its English settlement, the ongoing French & Indian Wars were responsible for the 34-year pause between the incorporation and settlement of the town.
During this time, Gilmanton’s founding fathers continued to live and conduct the business of the town from their coastal settlements from which most violent skirmishes occurred.
In 1732, surveyors were hired to run the boundary lines and apparently did so without incident.
In 1736, perhaps in an abundance of caution or due to native populations on our bounded area known as “the Weirs,” our Proprietors saw fit to construct two blockhouses as fortification.
The author has done extensive research and found no recorded incidences of violent interactions between the settlers of Gilmanton and the Suncook natives.