10lb for a horse
As I said two weeks ago after my wife and I visited the museum dedicated to the local tribes that lived in the area when the English arrived 400 years ago, my family was part of that arrival.
And, we probably were involved in the Pequot War of 1638 that destroyed that tribe.
I’ve been able to find 6 different ancestors on my father’s side that lived in that area at the time. Might have been more as I don’t have details on everyone in the tree.
Going through the various records I could fine, only one is listed as having anything to do with that war directly. An ancestor of mine named Eltweed. (That was his first name. I won’t put out his last as it isn’t the same as mine now, and I don’t want web searches thinking I know more about this than I do…)
As far as I can tell, Eltweed was on his farm during the war when a Pequot war band showed up raiding English settlers.
They took his horse and went away.
My family has been around for a lot of wars. But, at least based on my father’s actions in WWII, I think Eltweed’s actions typical of how my family reacts to such things.
Eltweed went to the courts and sued the destroyed Pequot nation for the cost of his horse.
For 20 years, he continued this lawsuit.
Finally, they gave him ten pounds and told him to go away.
I don’t know what horses cost then. It’s about equal to $1500 these days. Probably not enough for a horse.
So, in the war with the natives where there were massacres, battles, murders and all sorts of stuff, my ancestor proudly shouted “Hey, you have to pay for that!”
There are worse histories…