[8] Various spellings for the tribal name have been given at different times by different authors, occasionally even in the same work. Among these occur such forms as Weweenock, Wewoonock, Wewenock, Wewonock; the differences being evidently due to illegible handwriting in the manuscripts and to the usual whims of orthography.
From these sources we can derive a fairly definite idea of the Wawenock habitat and also two of the tribal synonyms.[9] Sagadahoc seems to have been a commonly used designation for both the country and people.
[9] It seems a bit strange in passing along over the literature of this region to note that Maurault, who seems to have known Wabanaki history and ethnology very well, did not mention anything of the term Wawenock in his chapter on the establishment of the Abenaki at Becancour. (Maurault, op. cit., chap. 7.) He does, however, say that the Indians at Becancour were Abenaki and Sokokis who came previously from Damisokantik, which term he correctly derives from Namesokântsik, “place where there are many fish,” later changed to Megantic, the present name of a large lake near the Canadian boundary. It may be remarked that tradition supports this assertion, for the Wawenock informant, François Neptune, says that his grandmother knew that some of her people came from there, and that the families at Becancour formerly had hunting grounds there.
In the matter of the first European contact with the tribe it is probable that Captain Waymouth in 1609, when he encountered the Indians while riding at anchor off the coast of Maine, in what is now thought to be George’s Harbor, encountered men of the Wawenock. The chances are, however, about even that they were Wawenock or Penobscot. We may assume in either case, nevertheless, that some of the descriptions, which the scribe of the expedition, James Rosier, left us, refer to the Wawenock, because subsequently during his sojourn in the neighborhood he met a great many natives, concerning some of whom he has given considerable information.[10]
[10] A True Relation of the Voyage of Captain George Waymouth (1609), By James Rosier, p. 67 et seq. (Early English and French Voyages (1534-1608) in Original Narratives of Early American History.)
Subsequent historical literature contains nothing, so far as I could find, until about a century later when the Wabanaki tribes of Maine had become hostile to the English colonists in Massachusetts. Father Rasles, the Jesuit missionary who took charge of a mission in 1690, founded at Norridgewock several years before, mentions the tribe as the Warinakiens.[11] An estimate for this year states that the Sheepscot (a local name for the Wawenock) had 150 men and the Pemaquid 100.[12] The Wawenock were one of the tribes to be represented in the mission at Norridgewock, which was some 50 miles from the heart of their country.[13] During this period the Wawenock appear to have gradually drifted northward toward the interior, probably in order to associate more closely with the Christian proselytes of the Norridgewock and Aroosaguntacook.[14]
[11] Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 2d ser., Vol. VIII, p. 263 (1819).
[12] New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1866, p. 9.
[13] Rasles, in a letter to his brother written at Norridgewock in 1723 (Jesuit Relations, 1716-1727, vol. 67, pp. 183-195), speaks of a tribe of “Amalingans,” who evidently lived near the sea, whom he converted. Is it possible that he meant the “Warinakiens”?
[14] That the Indians at the mouth of Kennebec River were not always on the best of terms with the bands up river appears from a reference in Jesuit Relations for 1652, quoted by Maurault (op. cit., p. 8), saying that the latter had been on the point of declaring war on them.