[1] J. A. Maurault, Histoire des Abenakis, Quebec, 1866, p. VII, gives Wolinak as the native name of Becancour, offering his idea of its meaning as “river which makes many detours.”
Notwithstanding the fact that we have nowhere any definite information on the exact boundaries of the Wawenock in their old home, it is evident from Penobscot sources that the Wawenock territory began where the Penobscot family claims[2] ended, a short distance west of the waters of Penobscot Bay. This would give the Wawenock the environs of St. George’s Harbor and River, and all the intervening coast as far as the mouth of Kennebec River, since the latter is mentioned as their western boundary. A difficulty confronts us, however, when we try to determine how far northward into the interior the Wawenock claims extended. From geographical considerations, since the region which is typical of the coast extends inland about 30 or 40 miles, we might infer that the hunting grounds of the tribe extended at least as far. The additional fact that the Penobscot territory spread out westward as we go toward the interior, and that they knew the Norridgewock and Aroosaguntacook as their immediate western neighbors, would then leave the general tract from the headwaters of St. Georges, Medomac, Damariscotta and Sheepscot Rivers and Togus Stream, all east of the Kennebec River, and southward to the coast, to be regarded as Wawenock territory. The Wawenock have been already definitely assigned to the Sheepscot and Pemaquid,[3] which would seem to have been at about the center of their habitat. That their territory was also known as Sagadahock (Sαŋkəde´łαk, Penobscot) is shown by a statement giving different local names to parts of the Kennebec River—names which corresponded more or less to the names of local bands—as follows: “Aransoak, Orantsoak,[4] Kennebec River from the lake (Moosehead Lake) to Norridgewock. Below Skowhegan it was called Canebas or Kenebas[5] to Merrymeeting Bay, thence to the sea, Sagadahock.”[6]
[2] These were the Penobscot families of Mitchell (Lobster) and Susup (Crab), who held the immediate shores and surroundings of Penobscot Bay.
[3] Maine Historical Society Collections, Vol. IV, p. 96, 1858. “The Abnaquies occupied country between Penobscot Bay and Piscataquis River and were divided into four principal tribes, viz, (1) the Sokokis on the Saco River, (2) the Anasagunticook on the Androscoggin, (3) the Carribas or Kenabes on the Kennebec, (4) the Wawenocks on the Sheepscot, Pemaquid, etc.”
[4] Norridgewock, Nalα´djəwak, “Rapids up the river” (Penobscot); Nawαdzwa´ki (St. Francis Abenaki); Nawi´·djəwak (Malecite), Nashwaak River, N. B.; and also what may be evidently another form of the name Newichewanock in New Hampshire. The proper name for the band is Nalαdjwa´kiak (Penobscot), Nawαdzəwakia´k (St. Francis). A. E. Kendall (Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States in 1807-8, Vol. III, N. Y., 1809) gives the term as “Nanrantawacs” (p. 52), which he says implies “still water between two places at which the current is rapid.” J. D. Prince (Some Passamaquoddy Documents, Annals New York Academy of Science, XI, no. 15, 1898, p. 376) translates nanrantsouack as “stretch of still water.”
[5] Kwun·i·begᵂ “Long water” (Penobscot). The form of the proper name would be Kwun·i·begwiak “people of the long water,” but we do not encounter this in the documents. Maurault (op. cit., p. IV and 89) has an interesting and very probable opinion on this term. He suggests as an origin Kanibesek, “qui conduit au lac,” chaque année au temps de la grande chasse de l’hiver les Canibas se rendaient en grande nombre au “lac à l’original” (Moosehead Lake) en suivant la rivière Kénébec. C’est pour cela qu’ils appelaient cette rivière “le chemin qui conduit au lac.”
[6] Sαŋkəde´łak, “where the river flows out” (Penobscot). See also Father Rasles (Jesuit Relations, 1716-27, vol. 67, p. 197), Sankderank. Kendall, who traveled this country in 1807 (E. A. Kendall, op. cit., pp. 143-144), gives the same names Schunkadarunk and Zaughe’darankiac and translates them correctly as “mouth of the river” and “people of the mouth of the river.” Maurault (op. cit., p. 77) differs from others in giving the form “‘sakkadaguk’ à l’endroit où le terrain est plat et uni.” The proper name Sαŋkədeławiak, “people of where the river flows out,” is known among the Penobscot to-day and has been frequently used by authors in referring to Indians at the mouth of the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers, or better, as Kendall states, to “the people of the common mouth of Kennebec and Amariscoggin, that is the Sagahoc of the early colonists.” (Kendall, op. cit., vol. III, p. 144.)
Bearing upon this is the fact that part of the St. Francis band residing near Durham, Province of Quebec, until recently preserved the local name kwən·a·´mwiak, “long point people.” This has been thought to be possibly connected with the term just given. Joseph Laurent[7] assigns the same name (Kwanahômoik) to Durham and gives the meaning “where the turn of the river makes a long point.” It is evidently, however, a later name acquired by these St. Francis families after they had settled at Durham.
[7] New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues, Quebec, 1884, p. 210.
In ancient times the tribes on the coast of Maine extended into the interior, but were more or less locally identified with the mouths of the rivers and the large bays. The Wawenock were then located southwest of the Penobscot, whose proper territory on the coast only surrounded Penobscot Bay. According to tradition among the Penobscot, their nearest relatives, the Wawenock, as we shall henceforth call them on preferred authority,[8] are definitely remembered as Wα̨li·´naki·ak, “People of the bay country,” because they were located on the shores and in the country back of what is now known as Sagadahoc. This country lies southwest of Penobscot Bay and includes a number of smaller bays from St. George’s Bay, in Knox County, westward to the mouth of the Kennebec River, embracing Lincoln and part of Sagadahoc Counties. The Penobscot also refer to the inhabitants of this region as Sα̨ŋkədeła´wiak, “People of the mouth of the river” (Sagadahoc), the term being evidently another name for the Wawenock. At the present time, not having held any contact with the Wawenock since their removal to Canada early in the eighteenth century, they know the tribe only by name. There is some evidence, however, in one of the family names, Neptune, which occurs among both the Penobscot and Wawenock, that during this period some of the latter may have joined the Penobscot or vice versa.