Non-Indians of Stockbridge, MA: Josiah Jones

In 1730 Jonathan Belcher, the Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, conceived the notion of an "Indian Town" where just a few white families would live. The idea was that, in addition to a minister and a teacher; tradesmen and housewives would also demonstrate "civilized" Christian living to a predominantly Native community. The previous "praying towns" of New England had not been integrated that way and as a result, those early Christian Indians were vulnerable to attacks from both whites and Indians.

Belcher's plan appears to have worked for about three years. But when Ephraim Williams moved his family to Indian Town it was the beginning of the end. At Williams' urging, "Indian Town" became incorporated as "Stockbridge" in 1739. The incorporation of the town (including the name change that went with it) was just one of many steps towards a segregated and secular town. And segregation and secular goals (also known as prosperity and/or greed) were exactly what pushed the Stockbridge Mohicans out of town after about fifty years.

I understand that Indians lost their land to whites over and over across the course of American history. But a good historian will tell you that just because something happened doesn't mean that it had to happen.

This is where Josiah Jones comes in. Jones and his wife, Anna, were two of the very first whites to settle at Indian Town and they really were the kind of pious Christians that Governor Belcher had in mind when he conceived his plan. As Electa Jones (probably not a relative) puts it in Stockbridge, Past and Present (149), Josiah Jones

learned the Indian language and was long remembered by a few of their tribe. They always spoke of him as "Good man, always kind to Indian."

He was in his early thirties when he first came to Indian Town. And we know that Josiah Jones lived into his eighties because he was still around when the poor Indians - dispossessed of their land - knew it was time to leave the town that was set up for their benefit.

[caption id="attachment_7052" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Josiah and Anna Jones had a son whose name was also Josiah, and this is the son's gravestone.[/caption]

When the tribe left Stockbridge, they presented him, as a token of their affection, the Old Conch Shell which had always been used to summon them to their place of worship, and also a beautiful belt of wampum (Jones, 149).

Josiah Jones and his family appear to have been exceptionally "good" people. But Ephraim Williams and his family seem to have been exceptionally "bad" people.  I often think of the overall failure of the mission at Stockbridge, Massachusetts as a triumph of bad over good. What do you think?