Sunksqua Weany / Pametsechs
Introduction
‘Weany‘ (also referred to as Pametsechs1)(b. ca 1620) was a mid-17th-century Shinnecock Sunksqua who led land transactions with the English colonists. She was among other Sunksquas of Long Island, including Quashawam, Wuchikitaubit, and Askickotantup (all Montaukett).
History
Weany’s supporters included Cobish (Goabes), the husband of Sachem Mandush‘s widow, Anabackus, Jackanapes, Topobin, and Wetaugon. Following the death of the Grand Sachem Wyandanch, Weany felt that the Shinnecock were freed from any obligation to honor the land transactions made on behalf of the Shinnecock by the Montaukett Sachem.
On February 22, 1666, she signed an agreement to sell land to English Colonist Thomas Topping which was endorsed by 27 fellow Shinnecock people. Topping paid fourscore fathom of wampum beads for the land but also granted himself access to drift whales that beach along that shore of land. The total wampum was 80 fathoms, with one fathom representing six feet of wampum. The land spanned South Sea (now Seatuck Creek) and the bay called Peconnet toward Canoe Place / Niamuck (Shinnecock Canal). The land today is Quogue.1
In September 1666, a dissident group of Shinnecock, led by the late Sachem Mandush’s daughter, claimed that Weany Sunk did not have the right to initially convey the lands.2 They asked for compensation as a means to settling the dispute. In the end, the Governor paid the Mandush family the same amount of wampum as they did Weany.
