I lived the first 21 years of my life in New Haven, in southwest Connecticut, a stone’s throw from the Paugusset Indians of Trumbull. And I never knew it. Through reading and schooling, I thought American Indians lived in the West, period, in states like Wyoming and Montana. Here they were practically next door to me! I am truly ashamed of my ignorance and the education that failed to inform me.
The tribal chief of the Paugusset, Aurelius H. Piper, Sr., 92, has just died on the tribe’s reservation in Trumbulll, the smallest reservation on record. He was known as Big Eagle. His mother, Chieftess Rising Star, named him chief in 1959 whence he assumed responsibility for the tribe’s quarter-acre reservation. The Paugusset (120 in toto) now live on two reservations in Connecticut, the second in Colchester, northeast of Norwich.
In mourning, I feel that an uncle, a family member, has died and I never knew of him. If I had had the honor of knowing him, I would have asked him, in all due respect, wherever did he get that name, Aurelius H. Piper, Sr.
AgeBuster 