Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation

While the Paugusset did not have early direct contact with Europeans, they came in contact with other Native Americans who did, and were exposed to the smallpox epidemic in 1633–35, which caused many deaths. They learned of the English and allies' war against the Pequot in 1637, with the defeat of that nation. English settlers first arrived in Paugussett lands in 1638–39, establishing settlements in New Haven, Guilford, Milford, Stratford and Fairfield.[10]

Within a few years, the Paugussett had been divested by the colonists of the vast majority of their lands. A reservation was set aside in 1639 at Golden Hill, site of a spring sacred to the tribe, in present-day Bridgeport. Another reservation was established at Turkey Hill in present-day Derby. In 1802, the state-appointed tribal overseer sold Golden Hill. A replacement reservation was created at Turkey Meadows in Trumbull in 1841, but it was sold off in 1854. The last of Turkey Hill was also sold by the state in 1826 for the people's "own benefit".[11]

According to Bridgeport City Historian Charles Brilvitch's history of the Golden Hill tribe, beginning in the 1820s a number of Paugussett, under the leadership of Joel Freeman, a Turkey Hill Indian from Derby, relocated to Bridgeport.[12] They settled in the city's South End. The area became known as Ethiope or Liberia. While this community consisted substantially of residents who identified as Paugussett, it included Natives from the Mahican, Shinnecock, Nehantic, and Munsee-Delaware nations as well. Freeman was followed by two of his sisters, Mary and Eliza, who built houses in 1848 that are still standing. They have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[12]

During the antebellum period, the Paugussett and other Native Americans achieved a substantial degree of economic success. Many of the men worked on whaling ships and West Indies trading vessels, while many women residents worked as cooks and waitstaff on the steamboats plying Long Island Sound and the Hudson River. Two churches, a Masonic lodge, resort hotel, school and other community institutions were built in the village.

Only one individual named "Joel Freeman" was recorded in Census and vital records of the state of Connecticut during this period. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Indian Affairs disputed whether the man who led the Ethiope-Liberia community was the same individual listed as a signatory on Turkey Hill Indian deeds. Because the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses identified the builders as African Americans, the BIA disputed whether the sisters and Joel Freeman could be considered members of the Paugusset community.[13][5] However, Charles Brilvitch, who ironically had authored the 1998 nomination, maintains that his African American identification was merely a mistaken attempt to interpret the term "coloured" used in documents of the period[14]

The confusion about cultural identification as Native Americans has affected other communities that have worked to demonstrate cultural continuity. Native American nations were used to absorbing people of other ethnicities and intermarried with neighbors. There has been disagreement among groups over an interpretation of the term "mulatto," which has a primary association of African-European mixed race but has frequently been applied to other people of colour. [13][5]

Around 1857 William Sherman (1825-1886), a whaler by trade withdrew from the Liberia community and settled in the village of Nichols Farms in the Town of Trumbull, Connecticut, the site of the 1841-54 Turkey Meadows reservation. In 1875, he purchased a quarter-acre plot of land that contained a Paugussett burial ground; he used funds from the Golden Hill Tribal Fund to construct a house on it. He is referred to in local histories of the 1880s as the chief of the tribe. Prior to his death in 1886, Sherman turned the property over to the state overseer in trust for the Golden Hill tribe. The land was accepted by the State of Connecticut in that year as an official reservation.

Subsequently, his son George Sherman (b. 1871) took over the leadership of the Golden Hill people; he lived on the reservation and led the people until his death in 1938. He was succeeded by his son Edward (1896-1974), who was known as "Chief Black Hawk." Meanwhile, Edward's sister, Ethel (1893-1993), was installed in 1933 as "Chieftess Rising Star". Ethel was active in the Pan-Indian movement and was a staunch advocate of Indian rights, fighting many battles in the courts of law and public opinion. She named her son Aurelius H. Piper (1916-2008) as "Chief Big Eagle" in 1959. Following the death of Chief Black Hawk in 1974, Piper (Chief Big Eagle) assumed full leadership of the tribe and took up residency on the Trumbull reservation. He obtained grants to purchase land in Colchester, Connecticut for the community in 1978 and 1980. This land was granted formal reservation status by the state legislature in 1981.

On May 1, 1991, due to advancing age, Chief Big Eagle named his son, Aurelius H. Piper, Jr. (b. 1945), as Chief of Chiefs and Hereditary Chief of the Golden Hill Tribe. Known as Chief Quiet Hawk, Piper is an ex-Marine and former social worker who was then serving as executive director of American Indians for Development, Inc. Immediately upon assuming leadership he launched the Golden Hill Indian Development Corporation, with the purpose of economic development of the reservation properties for the benefit of the tribal membership.

In September, 1992, Quiet Hawk filed a lawsuit to reclaim lands taken from the tribe in violation of the federal Nonintercourse Act. The tribe at first sought to reclaim the 12-acre Nimrod Lot and the 8-acre Rocky Hill Lot in the city of Bridgeport, both sold off by the State of Connecticut in 1802 without the stipulated approval of both houses of Congress. In November, 1992, he advanced the claim to include the 19 3/4-acre Turkey Meadows Reservation in Trumbull. Concurrently, the tribe sued for the remainder of the 80-acre Golden Hill Reservation in Bridgeport. Within a few short weeks historic reservation lands in the towns of Milford, Orange, Woodbridge, Stratford, and Shelton were added; intent was made known to press claims in 24 state municipalities, comprising $44 billion worth of property and 640,000 defendants.

An overriding priority of Chief Quiet Hawk's administration has been the quest for federal recognition. A grant for this purpose was obtained from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1992. Another priority has been to utilize modern technology to facilitate interaction among tribal members and to strengthen community bonds and spiritual focus.

In 1993 the tribe made national headlines when it opened a tax-free cigarette shop on the Colchester reservation, asserting its sovereignty in selling the product without taking taxes. An armed standoff with state police ensued that ended without violence when Chief Moon Face Bear (Kenneth Piper) agreed to close the shop.[15] In the resulting state court case, the court ruled in State v. Piper, No. CR21-57349 (May 3, 1996), that the tribe did not have exemption from the state requirement to collect taxes on sales of cigarettes as it was not federally recognized.[2]