• Podcast Episodes
  • Blog Pages
  • About This Site
    • Brother Town
      • Construction Plans
      • In Memoriam
      • Children’s Area
  • History
    • Brothertown Wisconsin
    • A Brothertown Chronology
    • Parent Tribes
      • Montauk
      • Mohegan
      • Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island
      • Niantic
      • Pequot from Mashantucket
      • Pequot from Stonington
      • Tunxis
    • Pre-Brothertown
      • Samson Occom
      • Joseph Johnson
      • Surnames and Tribal Affiliations
    • Brothertown New York
    • Thomas Commuck And His Indian Melodies, Wisconsin’s Shape-Note Tunebook
  • Brothertown links
    • Videos
  • Contact me
  • Current Events
    • Brothertown Events Calendar
    • Samson Occom: The Journey of a Lifetime Limited Edition 250th Anniversary Doll Collector’s Page
      • “Samson Occom: The Journey of a Lifetime” 250th Anniversary Limited Edition Doll Display Sets For Museums and Nonprofits
      • “Samson Occom:  The Journey of a Lifetime” Limited Edition 250th Anniversary Doll
  • Brothertown Digital Historical Library
    • Scrapbook

The Life of the Brothertown Indians

~ Brothertown Indian History, People, Stories and Current Events

The Life of the Brothertown Indians

Tag Archives: Otto heller

“What’s In A Name?”

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by A Brothertown Citizen in Brothertown History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

brotherton, Brothertown, brothertown new york, eeyamquittoowauconnuck, Eeyawquittoowauconnuck, occom, Otto heller

 

Part II:  Eeyawquittoowauconnuck

Because of its length and the challenge of reading the original script, Eeyawquittoowauconnuck is commonly spelled several different ways.  For example, on page 536 of The History & Archaeology of the Montauk Volume III, 2nd edition, contributor Russell T Blackwood (a Professor at Hamilton College near old Brothertown in New York) quotes the famous Occom journal entry of November 7, 1785 thus: “…we named our town by the name of Brotherton, in Indian Eeyamguittoowauconnuck.”  Here, an “m” and a “g” are used.  However, it is most common to see the following two spellings:  “Eeyawquittoowauconnuck” or “Eeyamquittoowauconnuck”.

 

Figure 1*: Otto Heller Folder

Otto Heller, the man responsible for gathering the items now found in “The Brothertown Collection”, preferred the latter spelling.  Heller spent a lot of time and money researching and collecting Brothertown knowledge, books, and artifacts.  It is not known for certain, but is very probable that he visited Dartmouth College and read Samson Occom’s journal for himself.  According to Heller, the Indian name of Brotherton appeared to be “Eeyamquittoowauconnuck”(see Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 2*: Otto Heller’s handwritten copy of Occom’s November 7, 1785 journal entry

 

Another person who used an “m” in the name, and perhaps where others have gotten their spelling, is William DeLoss Love in his 1899 book, Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England (https://archive.org/details/samsonoccomchris00love).

Eeyamquittoowauconnuck is probably the most commonly seen spelling of the name although there are plenty who use a “w” instead of an “m”.  For example, in the Joanna Brooks book, The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan, and in Craig Cipolla’s writings, “Eeyawquittoowauconnuck” is used.  This is also how it is transcribed at Dartmouth’s Occom Circle site (https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/diplomatic/785554-diplomatic.html).

Thanks to the Circle site, we are able to see a high quality scan of Occom’s journal for ourselves.  Let’s take a closer look.

 

Figure 3: Closeup of Occom’s November 7, 1785 journal entry

In Figure 3 above, beneath the underlined “Brotherton”, you can see the first 13 letters of the Indian name.  The 5th one could appear to be an “m” or  it may look like a “w”.  Let’s zoom out and look again.

 

Figure 4

Find the name in Figure 4 and look at the “w” after the double o’s midway into “Eeyawquittoowauconnuck”(directly beneath the “n” in “Brotherton”).  Notice that it ends in an upswing which points a bit back toward the left.  Now, look at the letter in question, the 5th letter.  It also hooks back to the left in exactly the same way.

Next, look at the ending letter “m” in the word “form” (middle of the 2nd line from the top) and, at the very bottom of the page, the name “Abraham”.  Both “m’s” end with a rightward slant.  Occom’s “m’s” slant right while his “w’s” hook back to the left.   Judging by the formation of the “m’s” and “w’s” in this sample alone, it seems pretty certain that the original Indian name for Brotherton does not include any “m’s”.  It appears that Occom wrote it as “Eeyawquittoowauconnuck”.

…..to be continued

*The photos in Figures 1 & 2 were taken by Gabriel Kastelle.

Figures 3 & 4 came from the Dartmouth College Occom Circle site.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

Archives

  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
The Big DayJuly 7, 2022
The big day is here.
Follow The Life of the Brothertown Indians on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 44 other followers

Blogroll

  • Discover New Voices
  • Discuss
  • Get Inspired
  • Get Mobile
  • Get Polling
  • Get Support
  • Great Reads
  • Learn WordPress.com
  • Theme Showcase
  • WordPress.com News

Pages

  • “Samson Occom: The Journey of a Lifetime” 250th Anniversary Limited Edition Doll Display Sets For Museums and Nonprofits
  • “Samson Occom:  The Journey of a Lifetime” Limited Edition 250th Anniversary Doll
  • A Brothertown Chronology
  • Blog Pages
  • Brother Town
  • Brothertown Digital Historical Library
  • Brothertown links
  • Brothertown New York
    • Recent Brothertown Articles Appearing In Print
  • Brothertown Tribal Newsletters 1981-2008
  • Brothertown Wisconsin
    • Original Brothertown, WI Tribal Lands
  • Children’s Area
  • Construction Plans
  • Contact me
  • Current Events
  • History
  • In Memoriam
  • Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island
  • Parent Tribes
    • Mohegan
    • Montauk
    • Niantic
    • Pequot from Mashantucket
    • Pequot from Stonington
    • Tunxis
  • Pre-Brothertown
  • Samson Occom: The Journey of a Lifetime Limited Edition 250th Anniversary Doll Collector’s Page
  • Scrapbook
  • Surnames and Tribal Affiliations
  • Surnames and Tribal Affiliations
  • Thomas Commuck And His Indian Melodies, Wisconsin’s Shape-Note Tunebook
  • Videos
  • “Stories of the Brothertown Indians” Podcast Episodes
  • About This Site
    • About Me

No upcoming events

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Life of the Brothertown Indians
    • Join 44 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Life of the Brothertown Indians
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: