# Waban > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Waban > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Waban.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waban > Source revision: 1345350601 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{other meanings|Waban (disambiguation)}} '''Waban''' ({{circa|1604}} – {{circa|1685}})Namesake information for [steamer](/source/Steamboat) USS ''Waban'' in the ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/waban.htm dates Waban's death at late 1676 or early 1677 was a [Native American](/source/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) of the [Nipmuc](/source/Nipmuc) group[https://web.archive.org/web/20040329013548/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/waban.htm U.S. Naval Historical Center, ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'': USS ''Waban''] ship namesake paragraph and was thought to be the first Native American convert to [Christianity](/source/Christianity) in [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts).[http://www.wabanimprovement.org/waban%20early%20days/wabanwind.htm Waban, the Wind] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20040329013548/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/waban.htm ''Dictionary of Amwerican Naval Fighting Ships'': USS ''Waban''] ==Early life and first contact with the English== Little is known about Waban’s youth. By the 1640s he was recognized as the principal man of the Nonantum Native American tribe on the [Charles River](/source/Charles_River). On 28 October 1646 Eliot preached the first recorded Massachusett-language sermon in Waban’s wigwam.{{cite book |last=Eliot |first=John |title=The Day Breaking, If Not the Sun Rising, of the Gospel with the Indians in New-England |url=https://archive.org/details/daybreakingingos00elio/page/n3 |year=1647 |publisher=London: Rich. Cotes |pages=1–8}} Invited to ask questions, Waban responded not with theology but with a request for written confirmation “of all the compasse of that hill, upon which the wigwams then stood,” aiming to secure land for his people.{{cite thesis |last=Lopenzina |first=Drew |title=Red Ink: Native Americans Picking up the Pen in the Colonial Period |type=PhD thesis |publisher=University of Massachusetts Amherst |year=2006 |pages=146–148}} He also volunteered his eldest son to be educated in the nearby English town of Dedham—an early instance of calculated engagement with colonial power.{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Kieran |title=Education and Empire in Early New England |year=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=72–74}} ==Role in founding the praying towns== Puritan chroniclers credited Waban’s land petition with catalyzing Eliot’s plan for a settled Christian community. Around 1651 many Nonantum families relocated to [Natick](/source/Natick%2C_Massachusetts), the first officially recognized praying town.{{cite book |last=Shepard |first=Thomas |title=Clear Sunshine of the Gospel Breaking Forth upon the Indians in New England |year=1648 |publisher=London: Richard Cotes |pages=30–33}} While English leaders viewed the move as a tool of conversion and social control, Waban leveraged it to preserve Massachusett territory amid accelerating colonial encroachment.{{cite journal |last=Fitzgerald |first=Michael P. |title=Praying Towns and Indigenous Land Strategies in 17th-Century Massachusetts |journal=New England Quarterly |volume=95 |issue=2 |year=2022 |pages=175–204}} In Natick he served as constable and counsellor, mediating disputes between Native and English jurisdictions. ==Christian profession and political stance== Although lionized by missionaries as a model Christian, Waban’s own 1652 confession remained ambivalent—he admitted he “did not truly pray to God in my heart,” a statement that satisfied Puritan authorities while preserving personal agency. Later fictional dialogues published in the so-called Eliot Tracts exaggerated his zeal, reflecting colonial expectations more than Native realities. ==King Philip’s War and later years== During [King Philip's War](/source/King_Philip's_War) (1675–1676) Waban, his family, and hundreds of other “praying Indians” were forcibly confined to [Deer Island](/source/Deer_Island_(Boston_Harbor)) in Boston Harbor.{{cite book |last=Schultz |first=Eric B. |author2=Michael J. Tougias |title=King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict |year=2000 |publisher=Countryman Press |pages=119–122}} Released in the spring of 1676, the aging leader—then ill with dysentery—recovered and spent roughly his final decade near Cambridge on land granted by colonist Thomas Oliver.{{cite book |last=Leach |first=Douglas Edward |title=Flintlock and Tomahawk: New England in King Philip's War |year=1958 |publisher=Macmillan |pages=241–242}} He likely died about 1685/86. ==Family and successors== Waban’s son, commonly known as '''Thomas Waban''' (also ''Weegramomenit''), emerged as town clerk and leading figure in Natick from the 1690s into the 1720s.{{cite journal |last=Mandell |first=Daniel R. |title=Thomas Waban and the Politics of Natick, 1690–1728 |journal=Historical Journal of Massachusetts |volume=43 |issue=1 |year=2015 |pages=4–28}} A younger namesake continued to hold local office into the 18th century, illustrating the family’s sustained influence. ==Legacy== * The village of '''[Waban, Massachusetts](/source/Waban%2C_Massachusetts)''', a neighborhood of Newton, is named in his honor. * Waban’s interactions with Eliot remain central to scholarship on Indigenous literacy and cultural negotiation in colonial New England. ==Namesakes== One of the villages of the city of [Newton](/source/Newton%2C_Massachusetts), Massachusetts, is named [Waban](/source/Waban%2C_Massachusetts), while [Nonantum](/source/Nonantum%2C_Massachusetts) is another village in the city. A lake in [Wellesley](/source/Wellesley%2C_Massachusetts), Massachusetts, partially on the grounds of [Wellesley College](/source/Wellesley_College), is named Lake Waban. [Waban Hill](/source/Waban_Hill) is a geologic feature in the village of [Chestnut Hill](/source/Chestnut_Hill%2C_Massachusetts), Massachusetts, in the eastern part of Newton, Massachusetts.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/praying.html |title=Praying Indians |access-date=2007-07-30 |archive-date=2006-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613231358/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/praying.html |url-status=dead }} One [U.S. Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) ship, [USS ''Waban''](/source/USS_Waban_(1880)), a [steamer](/source/Steamboat) in commission from 1898 to 1919, has been named for Waban, and kept the name (as ''SS Waban'') while in post-Navy mercantile service from 1919 to 1924. ==See also== * [Praying Indian](/source/Praying_Indian) * [Waban (MBTA station)](/source/Waban_(MBTA_station)) * [Waban, Massachusetts](/source/Waban%2C_Massachusetts) * [USS ''Waban'' (1880)](/source/USS_Waban_(1880)) ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== *Jennings, Francis. ''The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest.'' New York: W.W. Norton, 1975. *Tinker, George (Tink). ''Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide.'' Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040329013548/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/waban.htm U.S. Naval Historical Center, ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'': USS ''Waban''] (ship namesake information) ==External links== *[http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/praying.html ''Praying Indians''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613231358/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/praying.html |date=2006-06-13 }} *[https://www.wabanimprovement.org/oldsite/waban%20early%20days/wabanwind.html ''Waban, the Wind'', by Arthur M. Southwick] {{DEFAULTSORT:Waban}} Category:Converts to Protestantism from paganism Category:17th-century Native American leaders Category:Newton, Massachusetts Category:People from colonial Massachusetts Category:1600s births Category:1680s deaths Category:People from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Category:Massachusett people Category:Native American history of Massachusetts Category:Native American people from Massachusetts --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Waban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waban) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waban?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.