# Squantz

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{{Short description|Potatuck sachem (died c.1725)}}
[[File:Connecticut Town History Sign - 4207572046.jpg|thumb|Historical marker in [New Fairfield](/source/New_Fairfield%2C_Connecticut) memorializing Squantz]]
'''Chief Squantz''' or '''Squons'''<ref name="Tomaino"/> was a [sachem](/source/sachem) of the [Potatuck](/source/Potatuck) people, later integrated within the [Schaghticoke tribe](/source/Schaghticoke_(tribe)). He lived in western [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut) in the early 18th century. Squantz refused to sell the land his people occupied to a group of twelve colonists called "The Proprietors" who came from [Fairfield, Connecticut](/source/Fairfield%2C_Connecticut) to find land for a new colonial township.<ref name=Simon>{{cite book|last1=Simon|first1=Irving B.|title=Our Town: The History of New Fairfield|date=1975|publisher=New Fairfield Bicentennial Commission|location=New Fairfield, Connecticut|page=5}}</ref> 

Squantz died during the winter of 1724–25, and his four sons and heirs refused to sell the land when The Proprietors returned in the spring of 1725. The land was later sold in 1729 for the equivalent of $300. The parcel of land would become integrated within the towns of [Sherman](/source/Sherman%2C_Connecticut) and [New Fairfield](/source/New_Fairfield%2C_Connecticut).<ref name=Simon/> Squantz' sons [Mauwehu](/source/Mauwehu), Quepy, and Cockenon, as well as 10 other tribal members, signed the deed for the sale.<ref>{{cite news |title=Indians Sold Towns for One Cent an Acre |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32070193/ |access-date=15 August 2025 |work=The Bridgeport Telegram |date=27 April 1959 |language=en|page=20}}</ref>

[Chief Waramaug](/source/Chief_Waramaug) succeeded Squantz in 1725 in sachemship of the Potatuck.<ref name="Tomaino">{{cite book |last1=Tomaino |first1=Peter |url=http://www.newfairfieldlibrary.org/filestorage/92/355/Chronology_Under_Candlewoods_by_Peter_Tomaino___1985_2013.pdf |title=Chronology: Under Candlewoods, Roots at Squantz Pond |date=1985 |publisher=EARTH ONE |location=West Cornwall, CT |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093634/https://www.newfairfieldlibrary.org/filestorage/92/355/Chronology_Under_Candlewoods_by_Peter_Tomaino___1985_2013.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref> One of Chief Squantz's sons, Mauwehu, was said to have "possessed something of energy and commanding character for which his nation was once distinguished"; he succeeded Waramaug.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Ann Soper|title=New Fairfield Indians: Kent 1776|location=New Fairfield, Connecticut|pages=48–49}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[Squantz Pond](/source/Squantz_Pond) was in the area of where Squantz lived and is named in his honor.<ref name="Tomaino"/> [Squantz Pond State Park](/source/Squantz_Pond_State_Park) subsequently bears his name.

It is claimed that Squantz' skeleton was excavated in the early 1920s by Keith Joyce, a land developer in the area. While digging trenches for water pipes, he uncovered a skeleton which was posed in a sitting position, facing east. The burial mound would have been easily visible from {{ill|Pond Mountain|ceb|Pond Mountain (bukid sa Tinipong Bansa, Connecticut, Fairfield County)}}, a lookout point and place of importance for the Schaghticoke. The remains were never positively identified.<ref name="Tomaino"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Squantz, Chief}}
Category:18th-century Native American people
Category:Native Americans in Connecticut
Category:1720s deaths
Category:Schaghticoke tribe
Category:Native American leaders
Category:Year of birth unknown

{{NorthAm-native-bio-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Squantz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squantz) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squantz?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.