The charter of the first English settlers in Massachusetts Bay Colony was "to win and incite the natives of [the] country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of mankind, and the Christian father. The Puritan minister John Eliot, who arrived in Boston in , took those words to heart.
Every time he saw the colony seal, showing an Indian imploring the English to "Come over and help us," he felt moved by "pity for the poor Indians. There were few ministers willing to face the challenges of serving Native people. Christian faith was grounded in the Bible; the Algonquian language spoken by the Indians did not exist in written form. Ministers would need to learn Algonquian, then devise a way to write it, produce a translation of the Bible and finally teach the Indians to read.
Indian converts would also have to be persuaded to disregard their traditional spiritual advisors or "sachems. Furthermore, the Puritans believed that Indians needed to be "civilized. The Native people would have to give up their traditional ways and farm the land the way Englishmen did. They would also have to govern themselves according to laws that reflected Christian principles and live in a permanent community with a church at its center.
Eliot believed that for the Indians to become "real" Christians, they needed a village of their own. John Eliot found an interpreter to help him preach and then to teach him the local Algonquian dialect.
Soon he had mastered the language and developed a written form of Algonquin. He translated the Bible so he could catechize the Indians. In , he and a group of Indian converts located a site that offered fresh water, fertile fields, and woodland on the Charles River 17 miles west of Boston. Eliot also sought and received rights to the land from the original Indian owner, who then joined the new community.
The Natick Indians built a round stockaded fort to protect themselves from hostile tribes; an English-style meetinghouse and a school followed.
They laid out house lots along three long streets. In the spring they planted apple orchards, sowed corn, and set fish traps in the river. The land was granted by the General Court, part of the Dedham Grant. A school was set up, a government established, and the Indians were encouraged to convert to Christianity.
Many died of disease and cold, and the Indians who survived found their homes destroyed. The Indian village did not fully recover, and the land held in common by the Indian community was slowly sold off to white settlers to cover debts, and, by , most of the Natick Indians had drifted away. The names of the Praying Indian soldiers from Natick are memorialized on a stone marker, along with all of Natick's Revolutionary War veterans, on a stone marker on Pond St near downtown Natick.
The town was officially incorporated in Henry Wilson, a U. The homes were built in and the neighborhood remains popular due to the fact that there's no through traffic, and most of the houses have been enlarged with additions.
Walnut Hill is a neighborhood located north of downtown. The Wethersfield area of Natick is a residential neighborhood North of Route 9. It is a typical s development of Campanelli ranch houses, and remains popular with first time home-buyers, due to the relatively inexpensive nature of slab style houses.
This area includes Drury lane and all connecting roads within the boundaries of route 9, Pine st. South of Rte 9, this section began as a summer vacation area, with tiny cottages surrounding Jennings Pond. Over the years, some houses were enlarged, but the area remains quaint, and quiet with no thru-traffic. North of Route 9, other developments of small Cape-style homes were built in the early and mids and these houses remain popular with first-time home buyers due to the affordability of the houses.
There are two Industrial Parks along north Oak St which contain office buildings on one side of the road, and larger warehouses on the eastern side. Homes along Cottage St. The best known landmarks in Little South are a WWII monument dedicated to the fallen soldiers from Natick, and The Tobin School, a private daycare and elementary school that has two large, attractive buildings off of Cottage St. Everett St. Eliot St.
Just before South Natick begins, there is a beautiful Virgin Mary statue on a large rock on the south side of the Charles River, enveloped by graceful pine trees. As of the census of , there were 32, people, 13, households, and 8, families residing in the town. The population density was 2, There were 13, housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the town was There were 13, households out of which The average household size was 2.
In the town, the population was spread out with The median age was 38 years. For every females there were For every females age 18 and over, there were What we believe… He that knows the good he ought to do and does it not sins. James Eliot learned the language of the local Native Americans and then began to preach to them. The Reverend Eliot first suffered an unsuccessful attempt to preach to the Neponsets, a tribe of the Ponkapoag region.
Waban was immediately converted and his people became followers of this path. In the beginning there were 51 inhabitants of the Natick Praying Indian Village which would be the first Christian town in the country.
It was the only church to call its members to prayer service by its drum. Thus begins one of the greatest linguistic feats in history… the translation of the Bible.
The Bible was completed in It must be understood that the Indian language was completely oral. Eliot did not have a key and worked alone on this task with the Native brethren. Eliot needed to understand Native words and their meanings. The Natives needed to understand him.
This would be the first Bible printed in America. Later the people of the Massachusett-Natick Bible would be nearly destroyed on Deer Island as would be their beloved Bibles. Following the King Phillips War Eliot would produce a second printing. Note: Today, because of the linguistic assimilation of this Algonkian language, Eliot's Massachusetts-Natick Bible is referred to as Wampanoag by that nation.
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