1p. on bifolium, folio (311 x 197 mm), accomplished at the end of manuscript document dated 22 September 1668, integral blank, docketed on verso ("Indian Deed 1668"), original wax seal, neatly backed, small corner tear, lightly toned, blank soiled on verso, lower portion with signatures unbacked, a few tiny splits to folds, approximately one-quarter of integral blank lacking; folding morocco chemise. Provenance: Rev. Roderick Terry of New Port, RI; Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang (Sotheby's, 26 April 1978, Sale 4114, Lot 14).

DOCUMENT SIGNED BY TWO PILGRIMS AND THE NATIVE AMERICAN SACHEM QUECHATASET, AND ACKNOWLEDGED IN THE HAND OF JOHN ALDEN, THE LAST SURVIVING MALE PASSENGER OF THE MAYFLOWER

In part: "Know all by these presents that I Quechataset of Manamet Sachem have sold unto Richard Bourne of Sandwich a certaine parcell of creek...lying ...at a place called Wauquonchet, the true bounds being called Musquehtaqueest from thence unto the bounds of Mr. Josias Standish...at a place called Puankeguntaseest...I Quechataset promise to keep up the fence when once made to prevent Cattle & horses...and that when the Indians have gathered their Corne it shall bee lawful for Richard Bourne...to putt in there Cattle or horses..." Quechataset is to be fully satisfied and paid by the "...ordiring [sic] of three Indian coats..." The document is signed as witnesses by Elisha Bourne and another member of the Bourne family, while Quechataset executed the deed with his mark and seal. Alden's autograph certification, added when Quechataset formally acknowledged the conveyance before him on 5 March 1668/9: "This deed was acknowledged by Quechataset this 5.1:68:69 before mee Jn. Alden Assist." 

An important early Plymouth Colony deed documenting the complex transfer of Native land to English settlers on Cape Cod. Dated 22 September 1668, the deed records the conveyance by Quechataset, Sachem of Manomet, to Richard Bourne of Sandwich of a parcel of land and meadow at Wonquonshet, its boundaries identified principally by their Native place-names, including "Muscuquehtaqueest" and "Quankeguntaseest." The agreement encompassed rights to food and grass and provided for the construction of a fence "by the help of six Indian men"; in consideration for the land, Quechataset was to be compensated with "three Indian coats."

QUECHATASET, SACHEM OF MANOMET. Quechataset, whose name appears in contemporary records in numerous variant spellings including Quachattasett and Quachatasett, was an important Native landholder in the region south of Plymouth. Surviving Plymouth Colony records document a series of transactions in which he conveyed or confirmed lands during the 1660s and 1670s, often with Richard Bourne or John Alden directly involved. In 1661, Alden had already acted as Bourne's agent in purchasing land from Quechataset, expressly recording that the purchase had been made on Bourne's behalf and with Bourne's money.

RICHARD BOURNE AND THE NATIVE COMMUNITY AT MASHPEE. The grantee, Richard Bourne (1610-1682), was among the principal English figures associated with the Native communities of Cape Cod. Settled at Sandwich, he devoted much of his later life to missionary work among the Native population around Mashpee and sought to secure land there for their use. Contemporary and later records closely associate Bourne with the establishment of the Mashpee community; in 1670 he was ordained minister of its Native church, which became an important center for Christianized Native communities on the Cape. The present deed belongs to this complicated history of negotiation, conversion, landholding, and exchange between the Indigenous inhabitants of southeastern Massachusetts and the expanding Plymouth Colony.

JOHN ALDEN AND THE MAYFLOWER. Alden (ca 1599-1687) was among the most prominent and longest-lived of the original Plymouth colonists. Engaged at Southampton as a cooper aboard the Mayflower, he elected to remain in America and, before coming ashore in 1620, became a signer of the Mayflower Compact, the foundational covenant by which the passengers constituted themselves a "civil body politic." The following year he was among the surviving Mayflower company present at the 1621 harvest gathering traditionally known as the First Thanksgiving. He subsequently became one of the central figures in the government of Plymouth Colony, serving for decades as an Assistant to the Governor and, at times, as deputy governor.

Alden's role in the present deed was not incidental. He had previously dealt directly with both Quechataset and Richard Bourne, having negotiated a purchase of Native land from Quechataset and others on Bourne's behalf in 1661. Nearly half a century after his arrival aboard the Mayflower, Alden appears here again in his official capacity as Assistant. On 5 March 1668/69, Quechataset appeared before him to acknowledge the conveyance, and Alden recorded the act in his own hand beneath the witnesses' signatures. Alden remained active in the government of Plymouth Colony into the final years of his life. At his death in 1687, he was the last surviving male passenger of the Mayflower and the last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact.

The present document was reproduced and discussed in The Mayflower Descendant in 1923. Then in the collection of the Rev. Roderick Terry, it was described as "an original deed of land, from Quechataset, Indian Sachem of Manamet, to Richard Bourne of Sandwich, dated 22 September, 1668," and singled out as being "of especial interest" for bearing the autograph of John Alden in his capacity as Governor's Assistant. The journal reproduced the document in connection with its series devoted to surviving original documents bearing the signatures of the Mayflower passengers. cf. The Mayflower Descendant, vol. XXV (1923), pp.145-147.