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30-465: Wamesit was a praying town in 1600s Massachusetts Bay Colony situated at the juncture of the Concord River and Merrimack River , in present day downtown Lowell, Massachusetts . This Massachusetts state location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Praying town The Native people who moved into the towns were known as Praying Indians . Before 1674

60-462: A Marian high school located on historic Thompson Hill. The original Tourtellotte Memorial High School building, which exists today as administrative offices for the school system, was built in the Greek Revival style. The cornerstone was laid in 1907 and the school opened in 1909. The school is named in memory of Dr. Jacob F. Tourtellotte. Tourtellotte was a ship's surgeon in the U.S. Navy during

90-497: A degree of continuity with their precontact social system. While English-style offices, such as constables and Justices of the Peace were introduced, they were often designated with names identical to those of traditional Native American offices. The elected officials were often chosen from the ranks of the established tribal leadership. In some cases, Native hereditary rulers retained power. The communities also used their own languages as

120-668: A friendship with Waban ( Nipmuc , c.  1604 – c.  1685 ), who became the first Native American in Massachusetts to convert to Christianity. News of Eliot's evangelism reached England, and in 1649, Cromwell 's Parliament passed an Act creating the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England , which would fund the establishment of an Indian College at Harvard and

150-605: A full conversion. The process was not always an easy one, and there were many reasons for some to undertake conversion. Some Natives converted because they believed it might increase their legitimacy in the eyes of the colonists and thus recognition of their rights to their land. Because of intertribal and intratribal strife and conflict with colonists, some of the Native Americans considered the praying towns as refuges from warfare. Other tribes had been all but destroyed from disease and famine, and possibly looked to Christianity and

180-400: A household in the town was $ 63,385, and the median income for a family was $ 75,652. Males had a median income of $ 52,716 versus $ 39,362 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 29,044. About 5.1% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line , including 10.7% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over. Thompson has a public school system in which

210-878: A press in Cambridge for printing Eliot's Christian commentaries in Massachusett. Between 1651 and 1675, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had established 14 praying towns. The first two praying towns of Natick (est. 1651) and Ponkapoag (est. 1654), were primarily populated by Massachusett people . Wamesit was established for the Pawtucket, who were part of the Pennacook confederacy. The other praying towns were established as Nipmuc outposts including Wabquasset, Quinnetusset, and Maanexit. Quaboag, far from

240-501: Is located at 934 Riverside Drive, North Grosvenordale. It is combined with the town's Community Center, and contains 20,400 square feet (1,900 m ) holding 55,000 items, including books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, audio tapes, video tapes, and online resources. The library was started in 1902 with 1,370 books in a small building on Thompson Hill , now known as the Ellen Larned Memorial Library. Two branches were created,

270-609: Is a town in Windham County , Connecticut , United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region . The town was named after Sir Robert Thompson, an English landholder. The population was 9,189 at the 2020 census . Thompson is located in the northeastern corner of the state and is bordered on the north by Webster, Massachusetts and Dudley, Massachusetts , on the east by Douglas, Massachusetts and Burrillville, Rhode Island , on

300-531: Is located on the former Ream Estate, built by Norman Bruce Ream, a Director of The Pullman Company, U.S. Steel , and The National Biscuit Company, which is now known as Nabisco . The Estate, including the c.  1900 mansion "Carolyn Hall," named after Ream's wife, was sold to the Marians in 1931, but the Mansion burned down in 1964 and a new main school building was built in its place. The Thompson Public Library

330-742: Is that the Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Thompson. The term " Swamp Yankee " is thought to have originated in Thompson during the American Revolution in 1776. In colonial times, the town was the site of an Indian village, known as Maanexit . Thompson was the site of the Great East Thompson Train Wreck in 1891, one of the worst train wrecks in American history and the only one to involve four trains. According to

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360-515: The French River and Five Mile River , both tributaries of the Quinebaug River , which also runs through Thompson. One of the highest points in Thompson and the surrounding villages is Fort Hill at 649 feet (198 m) above sea level. The city is located 64 miles southwest of Boston and 110 miles northeast of Bridgeport . It is on the 42nd parallel north , putting it on the same latitude as

390-691: The Smallpox pandemic of 1633, and Cockenoe , an enslaved Montauk prisoner of the Pequot War , to translate several Christian works, eventually including the Bible , into Massachusett . Having learned quite a bit of Massachusett, Eliot began preaching and practicing evangelism among the Neponset band of Massachusetts, but was first well received when preaching at in 1646 at Nonantum in present day Newton , meaning "place of rejoicing" in Massachusett. The sermon led to

420-501: The United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 48.7 square miles (126 km ), of which 46.9 square miles (121 km ) is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km ), or 3.51%, is water. Thompson possesses many small ponds, such as Little Pond and Long Pond, as well as two principal lakes: West Thompson Lake and Quaddick Reservoir . Contained within its borders are several moderately sized rivers, including

450-600: The Civil War. The school also houses a small museum, called the "Memorial Room" which contains portraits of Tourtellotte and his family, and some of their possessions. It is maintained by the local historical society, and is usually open to the public for tours one Sunday per month. Marianapolis Preparatory School was established in 1926, sponsored by the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception. The school

480-620: The Puritan way of life as an answer to their suffering, when their traditional beliefs did not seem to have helped them. Other Natives joined the towns because they had no other option economically or politically. After King Philip's War in 1677, the General Court disbanded 10 of the original 14 towns. They placed the rest under the supervision of colonists. Many communities did survive and retained their own religious and education systems. While praying towns had some successes, they never reached

510-605: The approach of the Catholic Jesuits in Canada. They worked to add Christianity to the Natives' existing beliefs, as opposed to replacing them. They learned Native American languages and found ways to relate Christian principles to their existing religions (as was also done by Catholic missionaries in China). Some Natives were quick to accept conversion , while others did not like the idea of

540-488: The colonists were more structured and institutionalized. According to this view, this difference made it hard for Natives to see the institutionalized structures as a whole, and John Eliot had failed to see the need for adaptations appropriate for smoother transitions. Other historians have noted that the Praying Indian communities exercised self-government by electing their own rulers and officials. This system exhibited

570-514: The elementary, middle, and high school buildings are connected. The Mary R. Fisher Memorial Elementary School has students in Pre-K through 4th grade, Thompson Middle School consists of grades 5–8, and Tourtellotte Memorial High School has students in grades 9–12. Also in town are several private schools, the Catholic St Joseph's School, currently serving grades Pre-K–8, and Marianapolis Preparatory,

600-463: The language of administration, producing an abundance of legal and administrative documents that survive to this day. However, their self-government was gradually curtailed in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, and their languages eventually became extinct. Most of the original "Praying Towns" declined due to epidemics and to the loss of communal land property during the centuries after their foundation. Thompson, Connecticut Thompson

630-464: The level which John Eliot had hoped for. The Puritans were pleased with the conversions, but Praying Indians were still considered second-rate citizens and never gained the degree of trust or respect from colonists which they had hoped conversion would grant them. It has also been argued that the Natives had a difficult time adjusting to the impersonal society of colonial America, since theirs had been built upon relationships and reciprocity , while that of

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660-574: The northern suburbs of Rome, Italy. A minor point of geological interest is the Wilsonville Fault, created during the breakup of Pangaea nearly 200 million years ago. Thompson is composed of ten villages: As of the census of 2010, there were 9,458 people, 3,730 households, and 2,587 families residing in the town. The population density was 201.7 inhabitants per square mile (77.9/km ). There were 4,171 housing units at an average density of 88.9 per square mile (34.3/km ). The racial makeup of

690-468: The other settlements, was never established due to the outbreak of King Philip's War. The Plymouth, Connecticut, and Rhode Island Colonies also established praying towns. The following list is adapted from a 1674 list by Puritan pastor Daniel Gookin . Three praying towns were established in Connecticut: Maanexit (a Nipmuc word meaning "where we gather") is believed to have been located at

720-402: The site of present-day Fabyan ( Thompson, Connecticut ). Quinnatisset (meaning "little long river") was located six miles south of Maanexit, and Wabaquasset (meaning "mats for covering the house") was taken over by the development of present-day Woodstock, Connecticut . These three towns held between 100 and 150 Nipmuc tribal members. The Puritan missionaries' goal in creating praying towns

750-544: The town was 95.6% White , 0.6% African American , 0.4% Native American , 0.7% Asian , 0.04% Pacific Islander , 0.6% from other races , and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population. Of the 3,730 households: 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.6% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who

780-564: The villages were the most ambitious experiment in converting Native Americans to Christianity in the Thirteen Colonies , and led to the creation of the first books in an Algonquian language , including the first bible printed in British North America. During King Philip's War from 1675 to 1678, many praying towns were depopulated, in part due to the forced internment of praying Indians on Deer Island , many of whom died during

810-416: The west by Woodstock, Connecticut , and on the south by Putnam, Connecticut . Thompson has the highest-banked race track ( Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park , a 5/8 mile oval and a restored 1.7 mile road course) in New England. This speedway holds one of the biggest race programs in New England, The World Series of Auto Racing , where 16 divisions and about 400 cars show up each fall. Another claim to fame

840-485: The winter of 1675. After the war, many of the originally praying towns which were allotted were never reestablished, however some praying towns remained. Living descendants in New England trace their ancestry to residents of praying towns. John Eliot was an English colonist and Puritan minister who played an important role in the establishment of praying towns. In the 1630s and 1640s, Eliot worked with bilingual indigenous Algonquians including John Sassamon , an orphan of

870-452: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.98. In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.8% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 31.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males. The median income for

900-408: Was to convert Native Americans to Christianity and also adopt European customs and farming techniques. They were expected to give up own cultural lifeways, attire, religion, and anything else that the colonists considered "uncivilized." The Massachusetts General Court recognized the work of Eliot and helped to establish additional praying towns. The idea of a full conversion was in strong contrast to

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