{"id":110305,"date":"2026-08-25T08:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/?p=110305"},"modified":"2026-08-25T13:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:42:43","slug":"photos-from-the-past-wampanoag-tribes-of-mashpee-and-gay-head-aquinnah-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/photos-from-the-past-wampanoag-tribes-of-mashpee-and-gay-head-aquinnah-part-5.html","title":{"rendered":"Photos from the Past: Wampanoag Tribes of Mashpee and Gay Head (Aquinnah) (part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry gives more photos, history and genealogy about the two federally recognized Wampanoag Tribes. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue to look at some of the history of the Wampanoag Tribes of Mashpee and Gay Head (Aquinnah) with some AI enhanced photo features gathered from newspaper clips and archives.<\/p>\n

The Wampanoag, the \u201cPeople of the First Light,\u201d are comprised of two federally recognized tribes: the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe located in Mashpee, Massachusetts; and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) located on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Their people have inhabited this land for 12,000 years.<\/p>\n

Part Four<\/a> covered the familial lines of Captain Solomon Attaquin<\/a> (1810-1895), son of Ezra Attaquin and Sarah \u201cSally\u201d (Jones) Attaquin, and his wife Cynthia (Conet) Attaquin<\/a>, daughter of John N. Conant\/Conet and Phebe (Lindsley) Conant\/Conet, both members of the Herring Pond Wampanoag community.<\/p>\n

Below is a photo of Solomon\u2019s daughter Melissa (Attaquin) Jones<\/a> (1838-1877), who married Samuel Amos Jones, son of William Jones and Aisah (Amos) Jones.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Melissa (Attaquin) Jones. Credit: 1925 edition of \u201cIndian Notes and Monographs,\u201d a series compiled by the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and the Heye Foundation. (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Samuel Amos Jones was active in Mashpee town affairs. Below is the Annual Town Report from 1903 when Samuel served as tax collector.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: 1903 Mashpee, Massachusetts, Town Report. Credit: Harvard University Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a photo of Solomon\u2019s sister Martha Ann (Attaquin) Cooper, wife of Zaccheus Cooper, the son of Thomas Cooper and Susannah (Talknot) Cooper of Gay Head, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Martha Ann (Attaquin) Cooper. Credit: 1925 edition of \u201cIndian Notes and Monographs,\u201d a series compiled by the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and the Heye Foundation. (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Olivia Pocknett<\/a>\/Pognet (1850-1929), daughter of Elijah Pocknett and Phebe A. (Squib) Pocknett, on 10 June 1879<\/a> married Alfred H. Govan, son of James and Louisa Govan. The couple left descendants. Below is a photo of Olivia.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Olivia (Pocknett) Govan. Credit: 1925 edition of \u201cIndian Notes and Monographs,\u201d a series compiled by the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and the Heye Foundation. (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found her obituary in the Boston Public Library Archives.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Olivia (Pocknett) Govan obituary. Credit: Boston Public Library Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It reads:<\/p>\n

Mashpee, June 22 \u2013 Word has been received of the death of Mrs. Olivia (Pocknett) Govan at her home in Boston Friday.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Govan was the last of the family of Elijah and Phebe (Squibb) Pocknett. She was born in Mashpee and after her marriage left to make her home in Boston.<\/p>\n

She is survived by two daughters and a son. Funeral services will be held at the Graham parlors in Boston at 1 P.M. Monday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This next photo is labeled \u201cOld Phebe Pognet,\u201d most likely the mother of Olivia.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: \u201cOld Phebe Pognet.\u201d Credit: 1925 edition of \u201cIndian Notes and Monographs,\u201d a series compiled by the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and the Heye Foundation. (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The photo below shows five men of the Wampanoag Tribe who assisted in the Indian last rites at the funeral for their beloved friend, Eben Quippish, Chief Red Jacket<\/a>, a medicine man and chieftain of the Mission Church. He died on 7 January 1933.\u00a0In this photo we see (left to right): Edmund B. Amos; Cyrus Edwards; Chief Rain in the Face (Ambrose Pells); Chief High Eagle (William L. James); Chief Red Shell (Clarence M. Wixon Sr.).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: friends attending the funeral of Eben Quippish, Chief Red Jacket, 7 January 1933. Credit: Earl Mills. (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This photo caption reads:<\/p>\n

Tom-toms will sound as bucks in colorful costumes with mourning headdress appeal to the Great Spirit according to historic ritual. Chief Red Shell read the eulogy, and the others carried the casket.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chief Red Jacket was born in Mashpee to Joseph Quippish and Jemima (Pocknett) Quippish. He spent considerable time with \u201cBuffalo Bill\u201d in touring the United States and the world. When the Wampanoag Tribe was formed again, he was named to the important post of chief medicine man, which ranked him equal to the chief sachem, or leader, of the tribe.<\/p>\n

In 1929, as one of the last traditional basketmakers of his generation, Quippish taught Mohegan folklorist Gladys Tantaquidgeon<\/a> how to make an offering basket.<\/p>\n

He left a sister, Mrs. Priscilla Pells of Hatchville, Massachusetts, and a first cousin, Edmund B. Amos, son of Lysander Z. Amos and Flora E. (Bearse) Amos, who served as town clerk of Mashpee.<\/p>\n

Below is an image of Daniel Quippish\/Queppish, grandfather of Eben Quippish, Chief Red Jacket. He was a member of the Mashpee community and Wampanoag tribal lands in Massachusetts. Daniel\u2019s Island in South Mashpee is named after him. Daniel was the son of Ebenezer and Sarah Queppish.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Daniel Quippish. Credit: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Frank Speck Collection. (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eben Quippish worked with fellow Mashpee Nelson D. Simmons in the 1910s and 1920s to keep alive various Wampanoag cultural traditions and organizations, culminating in the 1928 powwow meeting of the various Wampanoag branches.<\/p>\n

Here is a photo of Nelson Drue Simmons (1885-1953), son of Isaac Simon\/Simons and Ella Frances (Mingo) Simon\/Simons. Nelson was part of the Class of 1925, the first indigenous person to graduate from Suffolk University Law School.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Nelson Drue Simmons. Credit: Moakley Archive & Institute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found Nelson mentioned in a 1922 Arizona newspaper article.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Copper Era and Morenci Leader (Clifton, Arizona), 17 March 1922, page 5 (AI enhanced)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This photo caption reads:<\/p>\n

Nelson D. Simons [Simmons] is chief of the Pequot Indians, who once were dictators of the country from Massachusetts to Hudson Bay. He is a full-blooded Indian chieftain, and is a descendant of the great Sassacus, who led the Pequot Tribe against the early settlers. Mr. Simons is now in Boston pursuing a course of study at the Suffolk Law school.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simmons also attended the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania from 12 November 1909 through 7 April 1914. You can view his student file here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To be continued\u2026<\/p>\n

Explore your family history by creating your free account<\/a> at GenealogyBank for 7 days, because every life deserves to be remembered, recorded, and rediscovered.<\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Ousamequin, or \u201cMassasoit\u201d (Wampanoag term for \u201cGreat Sachem\u201d) and Governor John Carver smoking a ceremonial pipe at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Credit: Sutro Library; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

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