Wepitanock (also known as Momojosbuck or Wettamozo or Aquawoce) (died after 1651) was an Eastern

Niantic Niantic may refer to: * Niantic people, tribe of American Indians * Niantic, Inc., mobile app developer known for the mobile games ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go'' Ships * ''Niantic'' (whaling vessel), relic of San Francisco Gold Rush *USS ''Ni ...

chief

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...

. Wepitanock was likely

Canonicus Canonicus (c. 1565 – June 4, 1647) was a chief of the Narragansett Indigenous Peoples. He was wary of the colonial settlers, but he ultimately befriended Roger Williams and other settlers. Biography Canonicus was born around 1565,Benjami ...

' nephew and was the older brother of

Ninigret Ninigret (also known as Juanemo according to Roger Williams) (c. 1610 This source confirms 1662 as the date of his land sales.-1677 This source suggests a date of 1667 for his land sales and a 1647 war against the Mohegans.) was a sachem of the ea ...

with whom he shared power. His sister was Queen

Quaiapen Quaiapen (born July 2, 1676, and also known as Magnus, Matantuck, Old Queen, or Watowswokotaus) was a Narragansett-Niantic female sachem (saunkskwa) who was the last sachem captured or killed during King Philip’s War. Early leadership and fam ...

. Wepitanock had at least one wife (whose name is unknown but who may have been a Pequot as she is referred to as a "stranger").

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

describes Wepitanock as

Miantonomi Miantonomoh (1600? – August 1643), also spelled Miantonomo, Miantonomah or Miantonomi, was a chief of the Narragansett people of New England Indians. Biography He was a nephew of the Narragansett grand sachem, Canonicus (died 1647), with whom h ...

's brother in law. Wepitanock had at least four sons and one daughter, who married her uncle Ninigret. Wepitanock's sons were

Harman Garrett Harman Garrett (c. 1610 – c. 1678) (also known as Cashawashett or Wequashcook II or Herman Garrett or Harmon Garrett) was a Niantic sachem and then governor of the Eastern Pequots slightly east of the Pawcatuck River in what is now Westerly, Rh ...

and

Wequash Cooke Wequash Cooke (also known as: Wequash Cook or Weekwash or Weekwosh or Wequashcuk) (died 1642) was allegedly one of the earliest Native American converts to Protestant Christianity, and as a sagamore he played an important role in the 1637 Pequot ...

and Tomtico and another unnamed son who died in 1650 according to

. After Wepitanock's death Ninigret contested the claims to power of Wepitanock's sons because they were only half Niantic.Benjamin Bussey Thatcher, ''Indian biography, or, An historical account of those individuals who ...'' - Indians of North America (1832) https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw0TAAAAYAAJ

References

{{reflist People of colonial Rhode Island Native American leaders Niantic people 17th-century Native Americans