Wonalancet

Wonalancet (c.1619—1697) — also spelled Wannalancet and Wannalancit and probably Wanaloset and Wanalosett — was a sachem or sagamore of the Penacook Indians. He was the son of Passaconaway.

Biography

Born c.1619, Wonalancet spent most of his time with his tribe in the area known as "Augumtoocooke", which is now modern-day greater Lowell, Massachusetts. Europeans began to settle in the Augumtoocooke area around 1653, and established the town of Chelmsford, incorporated in 1655. In October 1665, Wonalancet's sister Bess, wife of Nobb How, sold Augumtoocooke to Captain John Evered for the sum of four yards of Duffill and one pound of tobacco. King Philip's War broke out in 1675.^[1]

Wonalancet became chief of the tribe when his father died in 1679. In accordance with the deathbed wish of his father, Wonalancet resolved never to fight the English settlers in New England and refused to participate in King Philip's War. Invited to attend a meeting with English settlers, he was treacherously imprisoned after he arrived. Eventually released, he returned home, but despairing of his relations with European settlers in the environs of New Hampshire and Maine.

So, in 1686, he left his home on Wickasee Island, which is now known as Tyngs Island, in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, where Vesper Country Club now sits,^[2] and took his people to Canada.

Wonalancet died in 1697.

Usage of name

The name "Wonalancet" translates to "Pleasant Breathing". His name is or has been preserved by:

• Wonalancet, New Hampshire, a village in the White Mountains
• The Wonalancet River, which flows through the village
• Mount Wonalancet, elevation 2,780 feet (850 m), overlooking the village
• Wannalancit Mills, a textile-mill-turned-office-building which uses a variant spelling of his name, in Lowell, Massachusetts, which was an important fishing ground for the Pennacook
• Wannalancit Street Historic District in Lowell
• Wannalancit Lodge, Order of the Arrow lodge for the Greater Lowell Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Also the name of a former cabin located at Wah-tut-ca Scout Reservation of the Yankee Clipper Council, previously of the Greater Lowell Council.
• 1867 Wannalancet Steam Fire Engine Company #1, Malden, Massachusetts
• USS Wanaloset, also spelled USS Wanalosett, a United States Navy sloop-of-war of 1865 which was never completed, and which was intended to bear what probably is a variant spelling of his name
• USS Wannalancet (YTB-385), later YTM-385, a United States Navy harbor tug in commission from 1944 to 1946 which used a variant spelling of his name

References

1. Silas Roger Coburn, History of Dracut, Massachusetts, called by the Indians Augumtoocooke and before incorporation, the wildernesse north of the Merrimac. First permanent settlement in 1669 and incorporated as a town in 1701. (1922 ed.)
2. https://vespercc.memberstatements.com/tour/tours.cfm?TourID=73576

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. (ship namesake paragraph)
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. (ship namesake paragraph)