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Montauk Indian Tribe
Location
Montauk. Meaning "uncertain."
Connections
The Montauk belonged to the
Algonquian linguistic family and spoke an r-dialect like that of the Wappinger.
Location
In the eastern and central parts
of Long Island.
Subdivisions
Corchaug, in Riverhead and Southold Townships.
Manhasset, on Shelter Island.
Massapequa, in the southern part of Oyster Bay and Huntington Townships.
Matinecock, in the townships of Flushing, North Hempstead, the northern
part
of Oyster Bay and Huntington, and the western part of Smithtown.
Merric, in the eastern part of Hempstead Township. Montauk proper, in
Southampton Township.
Nesaquake, in the eastern part of Smithtown and the territory east of it.
Patchogue, on the southern coast from Patchogue to Westhampton. Rockaway,
in Newtown, Jamaica, and Hempstead Townships.
Secatogue, in Islip Township.
Setauket, on the north shore from Stony Brook to Wading River.
Shinnecock, on the coast from Shinnecock Bay to Montauk Point.
Villages
Aquebogue, on a creek entering the north side of Great
Peconic Bay.
Ashamomuck, on the site of a White town of the same name in Suffolk
County. Cutchogue, at Cutchogue in Suffolk County.
Massapequa, probably at Fort Neck.
Mattituck, on the site of the present Mattituck, Suffolk County.
Merric, on the site of Merricks, Queens County. Montauk, above Fort Pond,
Suffolk County.
Nesaquake, at the present Nissequague, about Smithtown, Suffolk County.
Patchogue, near the present Patchogue, Suffolk County.
Rechquaakie, near the present Rockaway.
There were also villages at Flushing, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington,
Cow Harbor, Fireplace, Mastic, Moriches, Westhampton, and on Hog Island in
Rockaway Bay.
History
The Montauk were in some sense
made tributary to the Pequot, until the latter were destroyed, when they were
subjected to a series of attacks by the Narraganset and took refuge, about 1759,
with the Whites at Easthampton. They had, meanwhile, lost the greater part of
their numbers by pestilence and, about 1788, most of those that were left went
to live with the Brotherton Indians in New York. A very few remained on the
island, whose mixed-blood descendants are still officially recognized as a tribe
by the State of New York, principally under the name Shinnecock.
Population
Including Canarsee, the Montauk are estimated by Mooney (1928) at 6,000 in 1600. In
1658-59 an estimate gives about 500; in 1788, 162 were enumerated; in
1829, 30 were left on Long Island; in 1910, 167 "Shinnecock," 29
"Montauk," and 1 "Possepatuck." In 1923, 250 were returned, including 30
Montauk, 200 Shinnecock, and 20 Poospatock (Patchoag).
Connection in which they have become noted
The name of the Montauk is
perpetuated in that of the easternmost point of land on Long Island, a post
village in the same county, and one in Dent County, Mo. They were among those
tribes most active in the manufacture of siwan or wampum.
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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