5S FACTS RELATING TO GROTOX, MASSACHUSETTS. 



this for Long Island, N. Y., and shall some day publish the result of 

 my labors. 



There is no question but what Nunnacdquis signifies an earthen pot, 

 but that is not all it means. The terminal coqiiis is the •' earthen pot." 

 In a manuscript vocabulary taken down by Thomas Jefferson in the 

 presence of James Madison and General Floyd in 1794, at Pusspa- 

 tuck, L. I., I find its parallel coqiiees "a pot." The prefix nunna is 

 probably nana, nunoh, nanap or ?iunnaw, as Eliot varies it, " dry," 

 hence " a dry earthen pot.'" The Indians were so ver)' exact and 

 descriptive in their place names that I can hardly beUeve it was ever 

 applied to a natural feature, as suggested by Mr. Bums. It would in- 

 dicate either the personal name of an Indian who hved thereabouts, 

 called '•' dry kettle," or else it has lost its locative affix, and originally 

 signified " a dr)' pot place,'" Nunnacoquis-es-et, which may not refer 

 to a clay vessel but to those made of steatite or soapstone. Is there 

 a soapstone quarry in the locality once frequented by the Indians ? 

 Many such, as no doubt you are aware, have been discovered in 

 Rhode Island, Virginia and elsewhere. 



Has your Society a copy of my Cockenoe-de-Long Island t It is 

 now entirely out of print, and I have forgotten whether I sent one or 

 not. I had only a few for distribution. If the Society has none, I 

 will endeavor to find one. 



Again thanking you for your kindness 



I am very truly yours 



Wm. Wall.-^ce Tooker. 



EARLY GROTOX ITEMS 



We are informed from Groton, that a Man, his Wife and two Chil- 

 dren died there of a Fever, in one Week. 



And that a Woman of that Place, went to one of her Neighbours, 

 for something in a Chest there, on which lay two Pistols loaded, the 

 Woman of the House took them off and gave them to the other, while 

 she opened the Chest • and stooping down to take out what she 

 wanted, one of the Pistols went off in the Woman's hand, and shot 

 her Neighbour through the Head, of which she died in a few Days. 



" The Boston Xews-Letter," October 3, 1723. 



Some Days ago a young Man at Work in a new House at Groton 

 catching hold on a wTong Rope, fell from the Top to the Bottom, and 

 was kill'd in a Moment. 



"The Boston Gazette, or, Weekly Advertiser," November 5, 1754. 



