The Pawtucket Confederacy was a group of Abenaki people who ranged over land from what is now modern-day Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to the White Mountains, through the Marblehead/Salem area and throughout what is now Greater Boston. Their Great Sachem Nanepashemet was a powerful and respected a ruler in his own right as Massassoit of the Wampanoag. He and his wife had three sons, whose English names were John (Wonohaquaham), James (Montowampate), and George (Wenepoykin). His wife's name was unknown. Nanapashemet had consolidated his power by 1607 but still had to deal with a band of Abenaki known as the Tarrantines. They were a warlike Mikmaq band from Maine who did not farm as did most other surrounding tribes. They made their living hunting, gathering, and raiding from others. Nanapashemet built a fort on the Mystic River, sent his wife and young children further inland to a friendly tribe for safety and spent his remaining years battling them. Though the 1618 epidemic struck down hundreds of his people, Nanapashemet escaped the disease, but fell in battle with the Tarrantines a year later, leaving his wife a widow with presumably young sons to raise. The Lady Sachem came into her own right. Though not from a chiefly family herself, and with no precedent for succeeding her husband, she took in hand a tribe that was in the midst of several crisis. Repeated epidemics had drained the supply of warriors, leaving them open to invasion by the Tarrantines and by any other tribes further north along the coast. They were also vulnerably should Massassoit or the leader of any other powerful tribe or group decide to flex their muscle. And all the Natives in New England were about to be hit with waves of more Settlers than they could possibly have imagined. In the wind-up to the English Civil War, the Crown's repressive measures against Puritans forced more of them to head for Massachusetts in what became known as the Great Migration. The Lady Sachem decided that the most diplomatic gesture would be to make the newcomers as welcome as possible and did cede to Governor John Winthrop the land on which Boston and the surrounding environs now stands. In the years to come, the English would have several dealings with her and come to respect her. So much so that no one would have dared ask her personal name. She was known as the Squaw Sachem in the sense that she was a female Sachem and that was all they needed to know.
Her sons also respected her, as they accepted positions under her and never attempted to usurp her power. Sources differ on whether the title Sagamore is a corruption of Sachem or a lesser title or rank. John, according to Governor Thomas Dudley in 1631, controlled only about 30-40 warriors at a time. He governed the area around what is now Charlestown, Medford, Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea. He was friendly to the Colonists, as was his mother, and would warn them of any tribes with warlike intentions toward them. He did in a smallpox epidemic in 1633. A monument to him stands in Medford.
His next brother, James controlled the area of Saugus/Swampscott, Lynn and Marblehead. He, too, died in he smallpox epidemic.
George survived both his brothers and his mother, since he later consolidated her power to himself. He received the nickname of "No Nose" from the English, perhaps from a deformity suffered during the epidemic of 1633 or some other reason. He allied with Massassoit's young son King Phillip during the rebellion which bears Phillip's name. Taken into captivity with other Native warriors and sold into slavery on the island of Barbados, George was able to escape slavery and return home. His descendants ceded the land where Salem now stands.
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