The names of Yarmouth’s earliest settlers are familiar to most - Thacher, Hallet, Howes, and others - but there is another that is equally remarkable in Yarmouth’s history. The name of Thomas Greenough dots many historical accounts, almost as a side note, a reminder of a people who lived here long before the European settlers arrived, who were here to interact and negotiate with the arriving settlers, and whose descendants remained in Yarmouth to contribute to its growth, economy, and way of life. Greenough’s ancestry is represented in equally notable Yarmouth citizen names such as Cobb, Cash, Taylor, Ellis, Nickerson, and others. Thomas Greenough certainly was not the first indigenous person to be noted in Yarmouth records, and he was not the last. Much is still unknown about Thomas, his family before him, and other such citizens who lived and struggled along side him. There are, however, facts that can be pieced together to give a good picture of his life.

The Cook family of Yarmouth Port are descendants of Thomas Greenough.
L to R Walter P. Cook, Susannah (Greenough) Cook, Cora Cook, Abbie Cook and Thomas Greenough Cook. (HSOY collection)

Thomas Greenough was born approximately 1746. His parentage is unknown, yet several Yarmouth accounts call him the son of a Native American mother and a white father.

A list of participants in a society at Potenumicut compiled in 1765 by Reverend Ezra Stiles includes Thomas Greenough of Yarmouth as well as others including Nawhut (Nauhaught) and members of the prominent Ralph family. Potenumicut was the location of an Indian meeting house where members from groups east of Mashpee gathered for worship. This congregation included indigenous men, women and children from Harwich, Eastham and Yarmouth. (Massachusetts Historical Society, miscellaneous bound manuscripts.) It is at meetinghouses like this one that Thomas Greenough was educated and preached to by ministers and teachers both indigenous and white.

Sally Greenough, granddaughter of Thomas and Jane.

Intentions of marriage between Thomas Greenough and Jane Freeman, both of Yarmouth, were recorded 23 October 1768. They lived in a section of South Yarmouth called “Indian Town.” The history of the reservation land has been researched and documented extensively by HSOY President Bob Kelley and can be reviewed here. Jane Freeman’s origins are unknown. It is possible that she was one of the many “servant girls” identified in the probated wills, and other records, of the numerous wealthier citizens across Cape Cod. Thomas and Jane had six children : Susannah, born 1770; Phebe, born 1772; Thomas, born 1781; John, born 1784; Jinne/Jane, born 1787; and Salle/Sally, born 1789. Aside from being identified in records for the births of her children, Jane was a shadowy figure until February 1803 when she was baptized in the Yarmouth Congregational Church. Her death on 3 March 1826 is notable in that at the time of her burial, due to complaints by one or more citizens of Yarmouth, the Town ordered that “Thomas Greenough and other people of colour be requested to remove their dead from the place they are now deposited & bury them in the southeast corner of the burying yard (Ancient Cemetery) as is to be laid out by the Selectmen for that purpose.” Additionally, it was ordered that several constables of Yarmouth be “requested to call on Thomas Greenough and others, and request them to remove their dead to the southeast corner.”

Jane Greenough’s death noted in the First Congregational Church of Yarmouth’s records, 1826

In the mid 1700s smallpox ravaged the area, and on 12 November 1778 the Yarmouth Tribe requested funds to pay for expenses incurred for their care during the epidemic. The Town “having no money” voted to pay for this care by dividing up, selling, or leasing the 160 acres of reservation land in South Yarmouth in order to reimburse the town treasury. The Town did reserve a piece for Thomas Greenough (see map) on which to live which has been identified as on the northern part of the former reservation by Long Pond.

Subsequently in 1779, a dispute arose between Greenough and the Town of Yarmouth which resulted in a writ of ejectment against him for “setting his house and for making improvements on the land that was laid down for the Indian inhabitants to live upon contrary to the direction of the Selectmen’s order at the charge of said Town.”

In 1785, Isaac Taylor leased to Thomas Greenough seven acres of former reservation land along Bass River. Greenough, called a fisherman and then laborer, leased this land in two transactions, dated 1790 and 1797, to David Killey. Again HSOY President Bob Kelly has documented these transactions extensively. Thomas Greenough signed his name on both of these leases, and one lease appears to have been written entirely in his hand. Greenough ultimately moved to the north side of Yarmouth, perhaps in the area of Dennis and Greenough ponds, though more research on the location is needed.

Daniel Wing, in his Description of the Farris Windmill in South Yarmouth, writes that he had been informed that the initials T.G. and the date 1782 were inscribed in black paint on the inner wall of the mill, and that they stood for Thomas Greenough, an indigenous person who had taken part in moving the mill to the area at that time. Several other accounts also note Greenough’s initials in the mill, including The Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of Old Yarmouth written in 1889. These initials and dates are clearly visible in a photograph of the mill now located at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.

In 1820 Greenough and others, calling themselves true heirs to the land, filed a petition with the Governor of Massachusetts requesting the return of their land in Yarmouth (Senate Unpassed Legislation 1820, Petition No. 6568; Unpassed Legislation Relating to Indian Affairs, SC1 Series 592X, Massachusetts Archives, Dorchester, Ma.). Their petition describes the hardship endured by not being allowed access to natural use of land for such things as broom and firewood. They claimed that their land was unavailable to them to use in a way that had been their ancestral tradition. These indigenous petitioners of Yarmouth note that the disputed land now held twenty thousand dollars worth of salt works and mechanics, and many houses, yet they had none on which their own children could settle. The petition was ultimately withdrawn, and while over time most of these individuals moved to other areas, several families remained in Yarmouth. Thomas Greenough, aged 90, died at the almshouse on 8 January 1837.

“Mr. Greenough was a curious and in many respects, a wonderful man. We doubt if many, or even any, of our citizens laboring under the same disadvantages would have displayed more wisdom and good sense than he evinced on many occasions. Endowed with an uncommon share of penetration and capable of a just appreciation of rights, he wore, through the last year of his life, the title of ‘Lawyer.’. He displayed in the management of his business, such tact and skill as few of more pretensions or statesmanship would have blushed to own.” [Excerpt from the obituary of Thomas Greenough in the Yarmouth Register, Yarmouth Port (Mass.), Thursday Evening Edition, January 19 1837, p. 4.]

In 1860, John Milton Earle reported to the Governor on the condition of Native Americans in Massachusetts and listed multiple Yarmouth families identified as having blended into the local economy and fabric of the Town of Yarmouth.

Researched and written by Julie Bear Esposito, a descendant of Thomas Greenough. Top photo of Long Pond, South Yarmouth (HSOY collection)