Sepinnamo His Marke & Seal
Wangunk. Their homelands in and around so-called “Wethersfield, Connecticut,” and south along the Kwinitekw or Connecticut River. Sepinnamo’s name has also been spelled as Sepunnamo and Spunnoe.
This document addresses land at present-day Weathersfield, Connecticut, formerly, and perhaps still known by Algonquian-speaking people as Poquioag. The document suggests that it is to serve as an official and legal agreement between settlers and the Wangunk and others, to “prevent future troubles'' because the “Lands as aforesaid hath Been quietly Possessed by the English Now for Severall years passt, but in as much as there is no written deed to be found under the Hand of the Said Sowheag”. Sowheag, the document says, previously granted settlers access to Poquioag, now Weathersfield, for “12 yards of trading cloath.”
Sepinamo’s kin: Their father, Sowheag, sachem of the Wangunk; siblings and other relations as listed in the document: “Turramuggus Sepuynamaw Squaw daughter to Souheag,: Spunno: Nabowhee Weseunshiee Waphancke True Heires of and Rightfull Successessors To the aforsaid Souheag[.]”
We have previously posted another Wangunk leader with a similar name: Supunnemoe or Sepimamaus, who was Sepinamo’s sister. However, the documentation of each person in across various records brings more confusion than clarity, so more work needs to be done here!
Deed signed December 25, 1671. [What seems to be] A copy of the original seen at Newberry Library.