Poospatuck Indians, Poospatuck Tribe, Poosepatuck Indians. Also called Uncachogee. One of the 13 tribes of Long Island, New York, probably subordinate to the Montauk. They occupied the south shore from Patchogue Island to the Shinnecock Country. In 1666 a reservation was ceded to their sachem, Tobaccus, on Forge river, a short distance above the town of Mastic, where a few mixed-bloods still survive, with no knowledge of their language or customs, on a state reservation of 50 acres. Elizabeth Joe, their woman sachem and last chief, died in 1832. In 1890 they numbered 10 families, governed by 3 trustees.
For Further Study
The following articles and manuscripts will shed additional light on the Poospatuck as both an ethnological study, and as a people.
- See Patchoag Tribe.
Greetings! I am seeking genealogy information. Is there a recorded genealogy that gives descendants of Tobaccus? Please reply.
Walter was my cousin, and his father was a chief. Thanks for sharing your memory.
As a child, I lived out in Long Island Shirley on Biltmore Dr. and did row boating on the Poospatuck Creek with my brother and Paul Shelby. One day we met with a boy named Walter Treadwell and he told us that he was a Poospatuck Indian and his father was a chief (not sure this was true), but we became friends and paled out together for several years. Walter one day took us to his house which was on the tip of the Poospatuck Creek and the Forge River. As I remember it, it was a beautiful house with a beautiful view of the Forge River looking out into Moriches Bay. Lots of good memories of those years.