CONDITIONS OF PENNYCOOK IN 1 726. 



Upon their advent to Pennycook, the settlers found that some 

 portions of the interval had been partially cleared by the In- 

 dians and were bearing a coarse grass, a fact of great conse- 

 quence to them inasmuch as it allowed the immediate intro- 

 duction of horses and cattle to the settlement. The very year 

 the plantation was surveyed and before a furrow had been 

 turned, Capt. Ebenezer Eastman cut grass and stacked it in 

 Waternummons Field. The old Indian chieftain of that name, 

 who claimed ownership of that land, forbid his doing so at first, 

 but a few potations of the captain's fire-water removed his 

 objections and he was permitted to cut to his heart's content. 1 



While the Indians had subsisted mainly by hunting and fish- 

 ing, their women had practiced a rude agriculture of limited 

 extent and raised small patches of corn, pumpkins, and possi- 

 bly of tobacco. Indeed, some of their corn hills overgrown 

 with grass remained undisturbed down to the memory of aged 

 men now living. 



It is to be inferred from the description of some of the bounds 

 of the interval lots left on record by the surveyors, that the trees 

 then growing upon them were to a large degree similar to 

 those now found upon the adjoining uplands. Many of these 

 bounds are described as a white or red oak, a pitch pine, a 

 birch, a maple, an elm, a poplar, a bass, or an ash tree. Most 

 or all of these, with some others, may be found in small num- 

 bers growing there to-day. Indeed, the upland and the low- 

 land forests of the plantation were largely the same. 



THE INDIANS. 



Up to the death of Passaconaway, and for some years after, 

 perhaps, Pennycook had been the headquarters of the Indians 

 of that name. The cunning and prowess of that great chieftain 

 have been preserved in history and song. He died at some 

 time between 1663 and 1669. 2 His successors were men of 



iBouton's History of Concord, p. 41. 



2 Judge Chandler E. Potter says, " Passaconnaway died prior to 1669, 

 . . The year of his death is not known. He was alive in 1663." — 

 The Farmer's Monthly Visitor, Vol. 12, p. 40. 



