Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Fishers Island: War, Colonial Grant and Inherited Estate

Massachusetts Bay granted Fishers Island to John Winthrop Jr. in 1640 after claiming Pequot land through war. An inherited livestock estate followed. Trace the named colonial actors and the distinction between their claims and continuing Pequot history. The 1640 grant was an act of English colonial government following a war against the Pequots. Naming that mechanism prevents an inherited estate from appearing to begin on empty land. Living Pequot communities and institutions challenge any story that ends with colonial claims of conquest. An island between Native homelands and colonial governments Fishers Island lies off southeastern Connecticut, northeast of Long Island's North Fork, but belongs administratively to Southold, New York. Its place in this map is also a reminder that Native relationships across the waters did not follow today's state boundaries. The island's later history...