The Myth of George Danson

Often, it is difficult to determine where myth ends and history begins. One of the most fertile sources of local myth has been King Philip's War (1675-76), partly due to the lack of any comprehensive contemporary sources documenting Middleborough's experience during that conflict. And among the most persistent myths to have emerged from that war has been the legend of George Danson, which has come to be accepted as an historical fact.

The myth of George Danson was given widespread credibility with the 1906 publication of Thomas Weston's redoubtable History of the Town of Middleboro. Weston relates that Danson "was shot by the Indians upon the breaking out of King Philip's war, at the brook which bears his name [in East Middleborough]. He had been urged by John Tomson the night before to go to the garrison, but waited until morning. After starting, he stopped for his horse to drink when he was shot."

Weston seems to have culled this information from Samuel G. Drake's 1865 notated edition of Reverend William Hubbard's The History of the Indian Wars in New England, originally published in 1677. Drake, in turn, took the tradition from an earlier genealogy of the Thompson family which recorded: "The house of John Thomson was burnt by the Indians a certain evening. On the same evening a Mr. Danson, his neighbor, was shot on his horse and killed as he was letting his horse drink at a brook." This information, itself, is said to have been based upon a letter from John Thompson to Governor Winslow of Plymouth written about the time of the original incident in July, 1675.

Though Drake states that he is uncertain whether the Mr. Danson reportedly killed in 1675 is the same person as George Danson, Weston clearly believed them to be one and the same. Weston was untroubled by the fact that George Danson's name appeared on a list of Middleborough proprietors dated June 28, 1677 (nearly two years after Danson's presumed death in July, 1675), and he dismissed this inconsistency simply as carelessness on the part of the clerk who failed to make a timely record of the death.

Yet, there is one piece of information which completely subverts the Danson myth. It is an innocuous notice dated November 25, 1675, which originally was recorded in the Boston town records, and later was reprinted in Incidents of the First and Second Settlements of Worcester (1884) and the genealogical column of the Boston Evening Transcript in 1912. It reads: "George Danson & his wife quakers, haveinge a house burnt at Midleborowe in Plymouth patent lodgeth at John Warrens."

Clearly, George Danson was not killed during that early summer of 1675, and he removed to Boston with his wife following the evacuation of Middleborough, seeking refuge with John Warren. Later Boston records indicate that Danson engaged in trade as a "loaf-bread baker", petitioning with two other bakers for a loosening of the regulations governing the baking trade. Danson also appears in later records, being an early proprietor of Worcester where he became involved in a legal dispute in the mid-1680s over the control of certain property.

Who then, if anyone, was killed at Danson's Brook in July, 1675? Middleborough histories predating Weston, such as E. W. Peirce (1884) and Pratt & Eddy (1867), state uncategorically that the victim was Robert Danson. Pratt & Eddy write that "but one man was killed from Middleboro, in King Philip's War. His name was Robert Danson." Later, Ebenezer W. Peirce in his own History of Middleboro repeats Eddy’s claim. “Middleboro’ is said to have lost only one man, slain in King Philip’s war, and whose name was Robert Dauson [sic].” (Unfortunately, this statement fails to jibe with Hubbard's 1677 assertion that a J. Marks of Middleborough died at the outset of the war of complications resulting from a broken thigh bone, the result of a shot from a Native marksman).

Probably, we will never know the full truth behind the Danson myth. However, as is the case with many myths, the story behind George Danson's legend is equally fascinating and illuminating.

Most revealing is the fact that Danson and his wife were Quakers. At the time, Quakers in Plymouth Colony, and generally throughout New England, were reviled and rabidly persecuted. A 1658 meeting of the Commissioners of the United Colonies (which included Plymouth) labelled the Quakers "an accursed and pernicious sect of heretics," and proposed a range of punishments for various Quaker transgressions, including corporal punishment, imprisonment, branding, banishment and death. Though the laws against Quakers were rarely prosecuted to their full extent, being a Quaker meant almost always being an unwelcome outsider in a hostile Congragationalist-dominated society.

Danson seems to have spent only a short time in Middleborough - no more than two years - though records are scant. At the time he was elderly, describing himself in 1677 as "antient". What brought Danson to Middleborough, and what the reaction of his Congregational neighbors was to this Quaker are not known, but their attitude was probably not a disposing one. In October, 1674, Danson was fined forty shillings by the court at Plymouth for failing to keep the Sabbath, an offense which must have been reported by one of his Middleborough neighbors. Later, despite his age, in 1677 he would be twice whipped at Boston (where he died about 1692) for attending Quaker services.

Quakers never figured in Middleborough history as they did in such other towns as Rochester and Dartmouth. However, the history underlying the myth of George Danson reveals the forgotten presence of Quakers in Middleborough, prompting us not only to question the previously assumed religious homogeneity of the 17th century community of Middleborough, but to confront the community's capacity for religious tolerance, as well.

The folklore generally states that Danson failed to heed his neighbor John Thompson’s urgings to take refuge in the garrison house at what is now Middleborough center. Equally noted is the fact that Danson also remained behind when the Thompsons made the weekly journey to Plymouth on the Sabbath. Given Danson’s Quakerism, it is not surprising that he failed to accompany the Thompsons to Congregational worship at Plymouth and remained behind in Middleborough.

Quakers and Puritans held conflicting world views at the time. While many Quakers saw the hostility of the Natives as a consequence of Puritanical persecution of Quakers and other Dissenters who failed to fall in line with the Puritan orthodoxy, Puritans contrarily regarded Quakers as heretics who provoked the wrath of God Whose punishment came in the form of Native violence.

Seen in such a context, Thompson’s encouragement of Danson to seek shelter in the Middleborough garrison reflects a more realistic world view on the part of Thompson who clearly understood that the coming conflict would be one largely drawn upon racial lines between English and Native, with the English Dansons being regarded as enemies to the Natives despite their Quaker leanings. Further, Thompson’s petitions indicate a compassion and moral responsibility on his part that would not permit him to abandon a neighbor in danger, despite his holding views likely to have been deemed heretical.

Additionally, the Dansons’ adherence to Quakerism also explains their delayed decision to join the remainder of the town at the Middleborough garrison. Quakers, at the time, tended to take a relatively benign view of local Natives, refusing to regard them as threatening or hostile, and in the Quaker world view, the English (or at least the English Quakers) had little to fear from the Native people. Unfortunately, this view was perhaps naïve, given the rapid deterioration in relations between the English and the Natives. By 1675, this faith on the part of Danson may have appeared misplaced, seemingly culminating in his son’s death, and leading inevitably to the creation of the Danson myth.

For an original source on the persecution of Quakers, see Edward Burrough, A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution and Martyrdom of the People of God, Called Quakers, in New-England, for the Worshipping of God. London: 1661.

Illustrations:

Burning of Brookfield, Massachusetts, engraving, date unknown.

Both before and particularly after King Philip's War (1675-76), the vast majority of English regarded the Native peoples as savages, depicting them as such in engravings like the one above meant to document the war. Holding a contrary view were Quakers like George Danson who undoubtedly sympathized with the Natives as a fellow persecuted minority.

.

Danson's Brook and Thompson Street, Middleborough, photograph, c. 1904

The scene captures Thompson Street looking north from Danson's Brook, the course of which is marked in the foreground by the wooden railings on either side of the roadway. It is reputedly at this spot that Robert Danson was killed by Natives while watering his horse at the start of King Philip's War.

Title Page, A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution and Martyrdom of the People of God, Called Quakers, in New-England, for the Worshipping of God, 1661.

Edward Burrough's 1661 work was written as a rebuttal of the Massachusetts General Court's defense of its persecution of Quakers. The pamphlet constitutes a stark expose of the harsh treatment meted out to religious minorities by the Massachusetts Bay Colony up to 1661, with punishments including death.

Sources:

Blake, Francis E. Incidents of the First and Second Settlements of Worcester. Worcester, MA; Franklin P. Rice, 1884.

Celebration of the Two Hundreth Anniversary of the Naming of Worcester, October 14 and 15, 1884. Worcester, MA: City of Worcester, 1885.

Hubbard, William. The History of the Indian Wars in New England. Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1845.

Peirce, Ebenezer W. "History of Middleboro'" in D. Hamilton Hurd. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia, PA: J. W. Lewis & Co., 1884.

Pratt, Stillman B. and Zachariah Eddy. "Middleboro." in The Plymouth County Directory and Historical Register of the Old Colony. Middleborough, MA: Stillman B. Pratt & Co., 1867.

Weston, Thomas. History of the Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts. Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1906.

Hand Rock

One of Middleborough's genuine pieces of folklore centers about the Hand Rock, a granite rock which sits atop Indian Hill off East Main Street in Middleborough. Incised into the surface of the rock is the imprint of a hand, its fingers splayed wide. One of the best known Native petroglyphs (stone carvings) in the area of Middleborough and Lakeville, the impression of the hand upon the rock is held by local legend to have been created when a Native was shot and killed, his hand striking the rock and mystically leaving the depression.

A handwritten record in the possession in 1952 of Alice H. Cornish, a descendant of John Tomson, recounts the circumstances of the folk tale. At the outbreak of King Philip's War in the summer of 1675, most Middleborough residents had sought refuge in the relative safety of the garrison or fort located in the vicinity of the rear of the former Memorial Junior High School on North Main Street. The growing hostility of the Natives towards the garrison and their increasing boldness eventually became intolerable for the English sheltered inside.

The Indians would daily appear on the south side of the Nemasket river, opposite the fort, and taunt those in the garrison with insulting gestures. Lt. [John] Thompson ordered Isaac Howland, a distinguished marksman, to take the long gun and shoot one of the Indians. This he did while the savage was on the rock insulting them. The distance from the garrison to the rock was 155 rods, nearly half a mile.

Though neither this record, nor the numerous other historical accounts of the event make specific mention of the hand print in connection with the shooting, local folklore has always connected the two, the handprint being the consequence of the shooting.

In a recent more scientific study of the Hand Rock, Edward J. Lenik author of Picture Rocks: American Indian Rock Art in the Northeast Woodlands describes the rock in question:

The boulder is a glacial erratic composed of fine-to-medium grained granite. It measures 2 meters (6.8 feet) in length from north to south and 2.5 meters (8.5 feet) wide from east to west. On its north side, the boulder is 110 centimeters (42 inches) in height, but the rock slopes downward to a height of 80 centimeters (30 inches) at its south end. The hilltop on which this petroglyph rock sits is generally clear at the top, but the side slopes are wooded.

The handprint-and-wrist symbol has been pecked into the surface of the rock. The design is naturalistic and represents a right hand. It measures 26 centimeters (10 inches) in length from the tip of the middle finger to the bottom edge of the wrist. The fingers are extended and splayed and point to the north. The maximum width of the handprint is 21 centimeters (8 inches) when measured between the thumb and small finger. The depth of the pecked design ranges from 4 to 6 millimeters (0.2-0.25 inches).

When Lenik visited the site in 1978 to document the Hand Rock, he found that "the boulder and handprint carving have been considerably defaced. The rock has been splattered with paint, and intials have been carved into its surface. The handprint-wrist symbol was reportedly enhanced in the mid-1930s by local boys who "deepened it a bit" to make it more visible but did not change its outline".

The imprinted hand has long held a certain local fascination, mainly from the folk tale which describes its creation. While Lenik writes that "the existence of the petroglyph boulder has been known since at least 1906", certainly the Natives knew about it when they chipped the hand pattern into it. Similarly, non-Native knowledge of the petroglyph also predates 1906, though with no certainty can we ascertain as to who first became aware of the rock or when.

The Barden family may have been among the earliest to be familiar with the rock, owning much land in the vicinity if not the rock itself. Nehemiah Bennett left a description of Middleborough dated 1793 in which he mentions "a rock on a high hill a little to the eastward of the old stone fishing weir, where there is the print of a person's hand in said rock". [Massachusetts Historical Collections Vol. 3d 1810] It is likely that by that time the land atop the hill had been cleared, exposing the rock with its handprint to all who cared to look.

In 1853, the editor of the Namasket Gazette Samuel P. Brown visited the site and published a description of the rock in his newspaper, the account indicating that by the mid-19th century the Hand Rock was well known among local residents. Curiously, however, Brown makes no mention of the obvious handprint upon its surface.

It may not be new to most of our readers, that the rock on which the Indian was killed by the "long gun," away back in the "Old Colony times," is within about half a mile of the "Four Corners," and is within sight from many points in Main street. With a friend we went on Monday last week, to see it. It is not as large as our imagination had made it: but it is on the top of a pretty good sized hill, and was not so mean a prominence for the sharp shooting marksman, as it was unfortunate for the Indian who so impudently and imprudently mounted it to be shot down. The place where the aim was taken, we visited too, or what is said to be the place. It is on this side of the Namasket, and at nearly the same elevation from it, as the rock upon the other side. The gun is now the property of Captain Zadock Thompson, of Halifax, and is one of the old English guns, of the longest make. ["Indian Rock", Namasket Gazette, May 20, 1853, p. 2].

At the time, the incident of the shooting of the Native was one which was frequently commemorated. About 1820, "the performance of shooting the Indian was celebrated here in grand style, the English occupying this side of the river and the mock Indians the other side, the same gun being used for the occasion, and an Indian feinted the process of tumbling from the rock. An oration suitable for the occasion was delivered ...." ["Indian Rock", Namasket Gazette, May 20, 1853, p. 2]. Likewise, the centenary celebration of the town in 1869 once more witnessed the reappearance of the Tomson gun which was displayed with much reverence. The rationale behind these commemorations was largely one of historical identity as the episode was seen as "one link between the present and the past history of the town."

Increasingly, however, less attention was paid to the shooting incident than to the handprint itself, which was recognized as but one of several petroglyphs in the immediate area. Although Weston refers to the rock as the "hand rock", he makes no assertion regarding the imprint's origin. As awareness and appreciation for Native history accelerated in the 20th century, new perspectives, including that of Lenik, began questioning both the origins and meanings of these carvings.

Ultimately, the petroglyph is less supernatural in origin than local folklore would have it, having been chipped slowly into the boulder over a period of time. Lenik himself suggests that "the handprint is that of a shaman who has marked the area as a sacred site. The boulder, standing alone on the hilltop, may have been seen as a source of spiritual power. The carving of the handprint may have been a shaman's attempt to derive power from the site."

Lenik is likely right in his surmise that there was some enduring connection between the hill and the Native population. The English choice of the name "Indian Hill" for the location of the Hand Rock indicates that even they recognized (though perhaps did not understand) the deep connection between the Natives, the hill and the Hand Rock.

Illustrations:

Hand Rock, photograph, from Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1906), p. 77.

Louise Pratt and Rose Standish Pratt, with the Hand Rock in the background, photograph, c. 1910.

Louise Pratt and her brother, Ernest S. Pratt, grew up on the Pratt Farm on East Main Street (now the Pratt Farm Conservation Area) and were undoubtedly familiar with the Hand Rock as Indian Hill was a favorite coasting site for residents of the area.

.

Tomson Long Gun, etching, from Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1906), p. 76.

The gun belonging to Lieutenant John Tomson was described in Weston's history as being "seven feet, four and a half inches long; the length of the barrel, six and one half feet; the size of the caliber twelve balls to the pound, and the length of the face of the lock ten inches. This gun, weighing twelve pounds, was probably brought from the old country." The gun remained in the Thompson family for a number of generations and is now part of the collections of the Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton, MA.

Sources:
"Data Shows Isaac Howland Responsible for Indian's Death", Brockton Enterprise, July 21, 1952

"Indian Rock", Namasket Gazette, May 20, 1853, p. 2.

Edward J. Lenik, "Sacred Places and Power Spots: Native American Rock Art at Middleborough, Massachusetts", 25-37, in Occasional Paper 2, Rock Art of the Eastern Woodland, Charles H. Faulkner, ed., American Rock Art Research Association, 1996.

Edward J. Lenik, Picture Rocks: American Indian Rock Art in the Northeast Woodlands (Hanover, NH: University of New England Press).

Massachusetts Historical Collections, Volume 3d, 1810.

Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1906).