In 1651 the Massachusetts Legislature granted Natick ("Place of Hills") as the home of a major group of Reverend John Eliot's converted Native Americans, brought together from various tribes in eastern Massachusetts. These Natick Praying Indians and Eliot, their original leader, developed the Natick Dictionary and the first Native American written language, and used them to create The Natick Bible ("Up Biblum"), the first Bible printed for Indians (James Quannapohit, a.k.a. James Rumneymarsh, a.k.a. James the Printer). They produced the first Native American minister, Daniel Takawambpait. The Praying Indians remained friends of the English settlers and arguably saved the Massachusetts Bay Colony during King Philip's War (1675-76), yet received harsh treatment during and after that uprising. Their descendants still reside in eastern Massachusetts, and Natick welcomes them back for its (their!) 350th Anniversary.

A. Richard (Dick) and Jill Miller of Natick are creating this Web page with help from a lot of friends, including the Natick Praying Indians under Caring Hands, their Clan Mother. We are delighted to find this small tribe of Native Americans still practicing the blend of Puritan and traditional teachings that their forefathers and John Eliot evolved 350 years ago!

We are working to give the Natick Praying Indians their own presence on the Internet. Meanwhile, this site can serve to welcome them back to Natick, and to tell interested readers a little about them and their participation in the Natick 350th Anniversary events.

Natick Praying Indian events (2003):
  April 12th, South Natick, participating in
     Natick Indian Plantation Minute and Militia Companies
     Patriots' Day Encampment
     (Bacon Library, South Natick; 1 PM Saturday
     to 7 AM Sunday).
  April 26th at the New England Folk Festival
     (Natick High School; 1:00 PM Saturday,
     in the Auditorium). This is their (and perhaps
     any local Native-American) second group
     performance at NEFFA!
  September 27th-28th with other tribes at annual
     Harvest Moon Pow-Wow in Cochituate State Park
     (10AM-5PM).

Natick Praying Indian events (2002):
  January 31st, 2002 at Memorial School in South Natick:
     2nd-grade presentation by Caring Hands and friends
     (photos by Maxine Klein of Memorial School).
  April 13-14th, South Natick, participating in
     Natick Minutemen Patriots' Day Encampment
     (Bacon Library, South Natick; 1 PM Saturday
     to 7 AM Sunday).
  April 20th at the New England Folk Festival
     (Natick High School; 11:30 AM Saturday,
     in the Natick Room). This is their (and perhaps
     any local Native American) first group
     performance at NEFFA!
  April 22nd, Natick Selectmen after 7PM. Natick
     Praying Indians, the Natick Historical Commission and
     others asked that the name of Pegan Cove Park be
     left intact in honor of the Pegan family, an original
     Praying Indian family of Natick. (Instead, the Natick
     Selectmen voted to ask their legislators to change the
     name to Tony Anniballi Memorial Park at Pegan Cove.)
  October 12th-13th with other tribes at annual
     Harvest Moon Pow-Wow in Cochituate State Park
     (10AM-5PM).

Our History

The Eliot Bible (Up-Biblum God; The Natick Bible):
The Dartmouth Copy of John Eliot's Indian Bible (1639): Its Provenance, by Dick Hoefnagel.
John Eliot and America's First Bible, by Dr. Herbert Samworth.
John Eliot's Indian Bible. Cambridge, 1663, 1665, 1685, University of California, Berkeley.
The Word; Striking Gold Among the Stacks, by Chad Galts.
More images of the Eliot, or Natick, Bible from U.S. Library of Congress, University of Pennsylvania, .

Massachuset-Natick-Wampanoag Language:
The Indian Grammar Begun: or, An Essay to Bring the Indian Language into Rules, for the Help of Such as Desire to Learn the Same, for the Furtherance of the Gospel Among Them, by John Eliot, 1666. (text; images; reprint)
The Natick Dictionary, by John Eliot (1903 USGPO edition "by James Hammond Trumbull", with introduction by Edward Everett Hale)
Wampanoag Electronic Text Project
An Introduction to Wampanoag Grammar

Other:
Natick song (Audio, lyrics) and 1984 album by Rick Lee, Natick songwriter
     (Note: Before the late 1990s, Rick and most of Natick thought the Natick Praying Indians had disappeared.)
Natick Passages, a poem by Elizabeth Donovan 
About Powwows

Some words from today's Natick Praying Indians: The first Christian town in America was "Natick", the Indian words for "My Home". It was created for the Natick Praying Indians. This "place of many hills" is the same Natick, Massachusetts in existence today. Also, the first Bible and book ever printed on American soil was in the Natick-Massachusett Indian language.      Today the Natick Praying Indian Tribe, under the leadership of the Grand Squaw Sachem Silva and Clan Mother Caring Hands, contributes to the local community and beyond by educational sharing of its unique spiritual and traditional culture. In acknowledgement of the Creator's wishes, the Tribe strives toward healing contributions for the Great Tribe, the Tribe of the Human Race. It does so with "the ointment of understanding, necessary to all true healing." --Caring Hands Silva, Clan Mother Natick Praying Indians 48 Tenth Street, Stoughton, MA 02072 Phone: unlisted E-mail: PrayingIndians@natickprayingindians.org Official web site: http://natickprayingindians.org/

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