“River History” by Dr. Eileen Fielding. Simsbury, CT: The Farmington Watershed Association, 2014.
Dr. Fielding, Director of the Farmington Watershed Association, gave a presentation on the history of the Farmington River in 2014. She was kind enough to export that presentation on a disc for future use. Dr. Fielding provides facts on what types of fish live in the Farmington, and also the relationship the natives had with the Farmington River who lived alongside or near it.
Young, William R. Connecticut Valley Indian. Springfield, MA: Museum of Science, 1969.
Young presents important connections between individual tribes/bands and larger native “nations” or loose groups. The Massacoes, and Tunxis, are placed within the Mattabesec-Wappinger group, one of the nine main Algonquian sub-tribes. Young’s conclusions help to imagine the socio-economic relationship these loosely related bands around Simsbury must have had with one another.
Spiess, Mathias. The Indians of Connecticut. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1933.
Mathias writes about Connecticut natives in pre-contact times in relation to dominating outside tribes, and then describes the history behind the different English settlements in the Connecticut and Farmington River Valleys. The author tries to connect each tribe, and is one of the only authors so far who have claimed the Massacoe had absolutely nothing to do with the Tunxis natives.
Roberts, George S. Historic Towns of the Connecticut River Valley. Schenectady, NY: Robson & Adee Publishers, 1906.
In this book, one can find a description of the histories of mostly every major town in the Connecticut River Valley. Roberts specifically provides the history of Farmington and Bloomfield, which used to be called Wintonbury, and included parts of Simsbury. The author mentions an Indian Deed of 1660 that describes the land as wilderness.
DeForest, John W. History of the Indians of Connecticut. Hartford, CT: WM. Jas. Hamersley, 1852.
DeForest tells the history of the natives in Connecticut. Along with giving a greater historical context to the surrounding Farmington Valley region, DeForest includes important facts and speculations about the Tunxis and Massacoe tribes. This includes population and relationship between the two.
Miller, Dana M. Images of America: Canton & Collinsville. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2001.
Miller’s booklet gives a quick overview of Canton and Collinsville history and gives photographs of early homes in the towns. Both the Tunxis and the Massacoe are briefly discussed, and Miller asserts that both were extremely peaceful. The author also mentions Cherry, or Waquaheag, a native of Canton.
Wilcox II, U. Vincent. “The Lewis-Walpole Site of Farmington, Connecticut: A Preliminary Report”. ASC 35 (1967): 5-48.
Wilcox gives details on the finds at the Lewis-Walpole Site in Farmington, Connecticut. The author lists all finds, and describes how many of each item was found.
Trocchi, Jim. Connecticut Indians. Windsor Historical Society.
Trocchi writes informatively about the natives of the Farmington Valley, and in Connecticut. Included are details about types of food, housing structure, language, individual tribes and possible sites in the Northwest corner on Connecticut.
Speck, Frank G. Native Tribes and Dialects of Connecticut. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1928.
Speck provides a very important explanation on native language in Connecticut. Although the Massacoe are not directly mentioned, they instead are lumped in with the Tunxis. Speck describes that Northwestern Connecticut tribes, such as the Massacoe, would have spoken the r-dialect.
Gay, Julius. “The Tunxis Indians: An Historical Address.” Address, Annual Meeting of the Village Library Company, Farmington, CT, September 11, 1901.
The author’s address presents the details of how Farmington was founded through deeds with the natives. Gay proceeds to talk about the legacy of the Farmington Indians up until the 1700’s.