The Praying Towns

Settlers hadn't been in New England long when efforts began to convert the local Native populations to Christianity.  While some efforts may have been well-intentioned, most faiths believe they have the path to God and want to share it with others, it may also have been a way of ridding the local tribes of practices that the Puritans considered of the Devil, including Native ceremonies and dress.  Puritan preacher John Eliot learned the local Nipmuc language and began a missionary campaign among the local Nipmuc tribe.  In 1646, he began preaching at what is now Newton, Massachusetts.  Progress was slow but some Natives did eventually convert.

To encourage more Natives to convert and give up their traditional ways, Puritans conceived the idea of the Praying Town.  They wanted to encourage Christianized Natives or Praying Indians, to live in towns, farm, dress and behave as the English did.  Their hope was that, the more Natives who saw the benefits of English living, the more they would convert and the less tension would be in the colony as a whole.  By 1660, Eliot had established 7 Praying Towns.  There would be a total of 14 in all, including but not limited to Natick, Gay Head, Punkapog, Nantucket, Mashpee, and what is now Grafton, Plymouth and Dartmouth.  Three of the towns were located in Connecticut, including the present-day town of Woodstock.  While some Natives may have converted out of genuine belief, others may have been forced to or felt compelled to as they saw their traditional beliefs attacked by the English as evil.

Praying Indians were in the minority and many Natives clung steadfastly to their old traditions.  They saw no need to congregate in English towns and resented the constant demand for lands, foodstuffs and criticisms of their way of life.  This resentment flared into King Phillip's War in 1675.  Though most of the Praying Indians remained neutral or loyal, fear and resentment of the Natives forced the colonial legislature to disband some of the towns and placed the rest under more direct supervision, becoming more insistent that Natives forsake their traditional practices and fully adopt Christianity Puritan-style.