ROGER CONANT: ‘TRUE AND STAUNCH FRIEND’ OF THE PEOPLE OF NAUMKEAG (SPRING 2026)

 

‘This land is Naumkeag, or fishing place, where generations of Indigenous peoples lived and passed through for centuries,’ reads a state ment by the organisers of Salem 400+. ‘From the village upon the Naumkeag River (now known as the North River) to Sachem Nanepashemet’s fortification (now known as Castle Hill), the people of Naumkeag farmed, fished, traded, raised families, discovered and invented, created art, and, above all else, honored the lands upon which you stand today.’ 

 ‘This portrait portrays Squaw Sachem and Nanepashemet, two prominent Tribal leaders of the Naumkeag village and the Pawtucket band of the Massachusett Tribe. This artistic representation was created by Indigenous artist, Chris Pappan, in deep collaboration with the Massachusett Tribal Council.’ (https://www.salem400.org) 

 Thus have the city authorities of Salem recognised that, long before European settlers chose the name of ‘City of Peace’ for their community, there were more ancient claims on the land which they occupied. ‘We acknowledge that this is Indigenous land and also acknowledge the Massachusett Tribe, who continue to honor and hold this land into the present,’ continues the statement. 

 

It is intriguing to reflect on the relations between those early European settlers and the native tribe members whom they encountered. Sir Walter Raleigh, born by chance in the same Devon village as Roger Conant, never landed in North America. But his cartographer John White painted charming scenes of North Carolina’s indigenous people like the one seen here. White’s paintings are among the treasures of the British Museum. 

 Tragically, epidemics of smallpox, typhus, influenza, diphtheria and measles swept the Americas subsequent to European contact, possibly killing up to 95% of the indigenous population of the Americas. 

 In New England between1616 and 1619 depopulation was especially severe because of diseases suffered by Native Americans. In the memorable words of King James I, ‘there hath, by God’s visitation, reigned a wonderful plague, the utter destruction, devastation, and depopulation of that whole territory’. 

 Yet in what is now the city of Salem, there were enough indigenous people to be described as enjoying good relations with the English settlers. Sadly, Roger Conant did not keep a journal, but he is thought to have been interviewed by the historian and clergyman William Hubbard, whose account was used in John Wingate Thornton’s book The Landing at Cape Anne. There we read: ‘Governor Conant and his associates, in the fall of the year 1626, removed to Naumkeag, and there erected houses, cleared the forests, and prepared the ground for the cultivation of maize, tobacco, and the products congenial to the soil.’ 

 

In his book, published in 1854, Thornton continues: ‘In after years, one of the planters in his story of the first days of the colony, said, "when we settled, the Indians never then molested us, but shewed themselves very glad of our company and came and planted by us, and often times came to us for shelter, saying they were afraid of their enemy Indians up in the country, and we did shelter them when they fled to us, and we had their free leave to build and plant where we have taken up lands”’. 

 

For the Anglo-American sculptor Sir Henry Hudson Kitson, who was responsible for designing and fashioning the statue of the founder of Salem, Roger Conant was a remarkable man. ‘He was a sort of anomaly in his time—not only a man of peace, but essentially a peace-lover, and these facts alone differentiate him from the strict Puritan element,’ Kitson told the Boston Globe newspaper in an article published on 2 September 1910. ‘He loved peace, he ever strove for it’. 

 ‘Moreover,’ he continued, ‘I have tried to depict in the countenance the kindly nature of this man — one of the very few among America’s early settlers who was ever looked upon by the Indians as their true and staunch friend.’ 

 Photo of Roger Conant statue by B.&E.Photography