Montauk Indian Tribe Location
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Montauk. Meaning "uncertain."
Connections

The Montauk belonged to the Algonquian linguistic family 
and spoke an r-dialect like that of the Wappinger.
Location

In the eastern and central parts of Long Island.
Subdivisions

Corchaug, in Riverhead and Southold Townships.
Manhasset, on Shelter Island.
Massapequa, in the southern part of Oyster Bay and Huntington Townships.
Matinecock, in the townships of Flushing, North Hempstead, 
    the northern part of Oyster Bay and Huntington, 
    and the western part of Smithtown.
Merric, in the eastern part of Hempstead Township. 
    Montauk proper, in Southampton Township.
Nesaquake, in the eastern part of Smithtown and the territory east of it. 
    Patchogue, on the southern coast from Patchogue to Westhampton. 
    Rockaway, in Newtown, Jamaica, and Hempstead Townships.
Secatogue, in Islip Township.
Setauket, on the north shore from Stony Brook to Wading River.
Shinnecock, on the coast from Shinnecock Bay to Montauk Point.
Villages

Aquebogue, on a creek entering the north side 
    of Great Peconic Bay.
Ashamomuck, on the site of a White town of the same name in Suffolk County. 
Cutchogue, at Cutchogue in Suffolk County.
Massapequa, probably at Fort Neck.
Mattituck, on the site of the present Mattituck, Suffolk County.
Merric, on the site of Merricks, Queens County. 
    Montauk, above Fort Pond, Suffolk County.
Nesaquake, at the present Nissequague, about Smithtown, 
    Suffolk County. Patchogue, near the present Patchogue, Suffolk County.
Rechquaakie, near the present Rockaway.
There were also villages at Flushing, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, 
    Huntington, Cow Harbor, Fireplace, Mastic, Moriches, Westhampton, 
    and on Hog Island in Rockaway Bay.
History

The Montauk were in some sense made tributary to the Pequot, 
until the latter were destroyed, when they were subjected to 
a series of attacks by the Narraganset and took refuge, 
about 1759, with the Whites at Easthampton. 

They had, meanwhile, lost the greater part of their numbers 
by pestilence and, about 1788, most of those that were left 
went to live with the Brotherton Indians in New York. 

A very few remained on the island, whose mixed-blood descendants 
are still officially recognized as a tribe by the State of New York, 
principally under the name Shinnecock.
Population

Including Canarsee, the Montauk are estimated by Mooney (1928) at 6,000 in 1600. 
In 1658-59 an estimate gives about 500; in 1788, 162 were enumerated; 
    in 1829, 30 were left on Long Island; in 1910, 167 "Shinnecock," 
    29 "Montauk," and 1 "Possepatuck." In 1923, 250 were returned, 
    including 30 Montauk, 200 Shinnecock, and 20 Poospatock (Patchoag).
Connection in which they have become noted

The name of the Montauk is perpetuated in that of the easternmost 
    point of land on Long Island, a post village in 
    the same county, and one in Dent County, Mo. 
They were among those tribes most active in the manufacture of siwan or wampum.

Additional Resources
    *

      New Your Indian Tribes
    *

      Iroquois History of the Aborgines
    *

      New York Indian Honored War Dead, World War II
    *

      New York Indians Wounded in Action, World War II
    *

      Champlain's Expedition of 1615 Against the Onondaga 

 

Notes About the Book:


Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.


Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual output.

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