Beyond the South End

Maine Native American History

This series of blogs was inspired by my brother, Ted, and my niece, Brenda Sylvester Peabody. When Ted was researching his wife’s family history he came to a dead end quickly. His wife, Nat, is of Native American descent and the history of her family just wasn’t there. My niece Brenda, in researching our family history came across a possible Native American connection. Again the information was very sparse.

Therefore, I decided to try a little research of my own. I must say the information I found was overwhelming at first. I cannot call myself a Native American historian by any means based on the information presented here. It will only serve to make us aware of our Indian history in Maine. I will give you further avenues of research if you so desire to further your studies beyond this blog presentation, including information for children to use to learn about Maine Indians.

Some of the information I found was disturbing. As kids in school we were never fully informed of the true life that our Indians led amongst us. Before the Europeans came to North America, the Indians fared quite well. They thought they could trade with the Europeans who came to their shores in the same manner in which they traded amongst themselves. They were wrong and the consequences were not good.

In a later blog I will discuss a very disturbing YouTube video I found comparing what is called the “American Holocaust of the Native American Indians” to Hitler’s holocaust during WWII. It was said that he used our treatment of the Indians as a model for his treatment of the Jews in Europe. I will discuss those comparisons later.

I must say that in viewing several videos, I was struck by the obvious knowledge of the Indian people who were speaking. They presented their point of view in a way that will make you think and respect their culture. They were articulate and were obviously true historians of their own history.

So let’s start at the beginning. Did you know that Indians were living in Maine long before the pyramids were ever built? They traversed the Siberian land bridge and inhabited American continents before the Europeans discovered the area. Here’s some information I found that pre-dates the appearance of Europeans upon our shores. By the way, the name “Indian” was given to the native people by Columbus because he thought he had landed in the East Indies, thus concluding that the people he found here were “Indians.”

Some 40,000 years ago, just after the Ice Age, the Paleo Indians came to the coast of Maine. They were big roamers who roamed from Mexico, through the United States, and Canada. Only traces of them remain in the form of large stone tips presumably used to kill the animals of the Stone Age, like mammoths, giant bisons, mastodons and the like. Some of these artifacts date back 11,000 years. The Paleo Indians roamed in Maine for about 2,000 years.

Then about 8,000 years ago, the Archaic Indians appeared. They used smaller tips because the previous huge animals hunted by the Paleos were now extinct.

The Red Paint (or Red Clay) people lived and flourished here 4,000 years ago. They once lived on Vinalhaven. They were so called because of the red clay found in their graves which was stained red by iron oxide. It is said they carried that clay from Mt. Katahdin. They may have been the first Indians to fish in the choppy ocean. Few skulls or skeletons have been found because of the acidity of Maine’s soil. Their history has been entirely lost.

2,500 years ago saw the Ceramic People arriving and establishing the first year round communities. They were the first peoples to make ceramics and many remnants of their pots have been found. They were farmers and lived inland most of the time, but in the summer they would travel by canoe (they made the first birch-bark canoes) to the islands. Here they would fish for winter food. They were a sociable people and great mounds of ancient oyster shells can be found along the Damariscotta River. On their migration up and down the river they would visit sometimes for weeks enjoying huge reunions.

Some of those Indians came to Matinicus and after the Europeans came there was continued violence, which I have reported before. A struggle for possession ensued with Ebenezer Hall, a squatter, in which he was scalped. There was also a lot of pirate activity.

Brenda’s Indian connection to our family may fit in here. I will quote her: “Mary Bloom is rumored to be a Native American woman who while living on Matinicus was captured and sold, lost touch with her family—all but the son, Joseph. The family all were massacred as retaliation for something her husband had done (he was white). Eventually she found her way back.”

Here is a map of Indian tribes in Maine before the Europeans arrived.

The next blog of Maine Native American History will begin with the arrival of Europeans to North American soil and what that meant to the future of the Indians living here.

Thanks for listening.