If we examine the evidence, an arrest warrant was issued for a Mr. Kep of Hampton, dated Westminster 13 July 1640.  See the copy of the manuscript from the House of Parliament Library in the Palace of Westminster reproduced here. 

 

With regard to John being a non-Conformist and baptised at Rothwell Chapel, the institution did not exist in 1640.  Rothwell Independent Church wasn't founded until 1655, and according to Thomas Coleman, "Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire" 1853, the minister, John Beverly, arrived to preach in the town in 1654.  The first church book of Rothwell dates from 1655, and the original is still held at the Rothwell United Reformed Church. Checks have been made at Rothwell United Reformed Church, but there was no reference to any Keeps in the early records; however, this may have occurred at some time before records were kept.

 

JOHN KEEP OF LONGMEADOW IN COLONIAL HISTORY

 

The migration to America by the Pilgrims in 1620 and by those who followed in the next 20 years is a story that is familiar to most school children and others who are interested in the subject.

 

The story involves the inland movement of settlers to the Connecticut Valley, especially to the Springfield area; the early days of Longmeadow,Mass.; and the causes and some of the dreadful events of King Philip's War.  The year 1676 marked the end of that war, just after the death of John Keep of Longmeadow. 

 

So far, records of John Keep's passage from England to America have not been found.  There were some 300 ship landings in Massachusetts and elsewhere between 1620 and 1640--some had that location as the final destination; some had other destinations but dropped passengers off in Massachusetts.  There was little emigration from England from 1640 until after the American Revolution.  This Great Migration ended in the early 1640s at the outbreak of the English Civil War, and also it was affected by stories of intolerance that were carried back to England during that time.

This story will end with King Philip's War and the death of John, and it must begin with a brief examination of the people from whom King Philip, the Indian leader, was descended.  Massasoit was sachem of the Pokanokets when the Pilgrims landed.  The Pokanoket was a tribe of the Wampanoag peoples, and they lived in the Narragansett Bay area near present day Providence, R. I.  Metacom (English name Philip) was Massasoit's younger son.  (Image of Philip by Paul Revere)

 

Despite conflicts and frictions between the Natives and the new colonists, relations were relatively good between Massasoit and William Bradford, the Governor of the Plymouth Colony.  Both men died around 1660, and that successful relationship between the Indian tribe and the colonists began to deteriorate.  New leaderships began, which did not have the same understandings, and it culminated in a terrible and costly war both for Native Americans and the colonists.

If John Keep had been an early arrival, his experience would have been that of the rest of the Pilgrims--early hardships both with food, shelter, and cold weather.  The story of hard work with help and purchases from the Indians is a familiar one, yet almost one-half died the first winter.  In a surprisingly short time, though, the community grew and expanded.

 

While the relations between colonists and Indians were reasonably satisfactory to the 1660s, the colonists were at times insensitive and heavy-handed, especially about the price paid for Indian land.  All Indians did not share the feeling of harmony as they saw their land disappear. Then Massasoit died, and his eldest son Wamsutta became sachem.  Because of a land selling dispute, Wamsutta was taken into custody by the English and regrettably died during that time.

 

Philip then became sachem of the Pokanokets and brought to that position a hatred for the colonists for a number of reasons--the death of his brother Wamsutta, bad economic times, and the increasing land losses that were taking place without purchase or fair purchase.  He felt that war was the only recourse, and despite opposition from his own people and other tribes, he made preparations.

In the meantime, 30 or 40 Puritan pioneers from Roxbury struck out for western Massachusetts to the Connecticut River Valley and Springfield, including the long meadow area in 1636. 

 

 “Reflections of Longmeadow,” published by the Longmeadow Historical Association, describes that area east of the Connecticut River as three types--floodplain, high plain, and the valleys cut by local streams. Before the appearance of man, the area went through periods of ice, inundation, land upheaval, and the depositing of sand and silt, which through the marvel of nature created an inviting place for settlement.

 

From the first, the relationship between the settlers at Springfield with the local Agawam Indians was marked by a fair and just land policy. 

The war began in June, 1675, with an attack on Swansea in the Plymouth Colony, which resulted in the killing of about 10 English by shooting and scalping.  Soldiers in the nearby garrison were ineffective, and four of them were killed practically under the guns of the enclosure in a humiliating fashion, and more were killed later.  Many Plymouth Colony settlements were attacked with loss of life and property.  Middleborough, Dartmouth, and Mendon, near Boston, were burned.  Of literary interest here is that Uncas and his Mohegans remained loyal to the English.

 

In another month, the war extended to the Connecticut Valley where more villages and settlements were destroyed by fire, during which time many Indians were killed or sold into slavery by their captors. In a two-day period, the worst to that point, 78 English were killed near Northfield and Deerfield.

 

While weakened by loss in fighting and desertions, Philip nonetheless continued to expand the war wherever he went from Connecticut to Maine by gaining the support of native tribes.

 

In October, 1675, Springfield was attacked and thirty-three houses were burned along with 25 barns, leaving 15 houses standing.  The long meadow was not involved.

 

On December 19, 1675, one of the most terrible events of the war occurred when the Great Swamp Narragansett winter camp was attacked and hundreds of Indian women, children, and elderly were burned to death in their wigwams, along with many warriors.  The English losses were as terrible as any time in the war.

 

In February, 1676, Philip's forces returned east and threatened Boston itself.  A bit past midyear, however, the condition of the Indians and the death of Philip ended the war, but not before the Indian related death of John Keep and part of his family.

 

Before describing John’s death let us consider the facts that we do know about his life in Longmeadow. According to “Reflections of Longmeadow,” in 1645, twenty-five plots of land were created in the low land of the long meadow, and John was one of the first to build a home there when a new road was built in 1647.  However early maps of Longmeadow do not list John or his house during that period.

 

 

John married Sarah Leonard, daughter of John and Sarah Leonard, on 31 December 1663. Their children were:

 

Sarah, b. August, 1666, m. Benjamin Parsons

Elizabeth, b. 15 November 1668, d. 2 September 1675

Samuel, b. 22 August 1670, m. Sarah Colton

Hannah, b. 28 June1673, m. Ebenezer Miller

Jabez, b. 11 November 1675, killed by Indians

 

The danger from the Indians was so great that all that winter no one at Longmeadow attempted to travel to Springfield to church; however, in early spring a party of sixteen men on horseback with their women and children riding on pillions started out from Longmeadow to attend church under the escort of Captain Nixon and a party of soldiers. On that fateful day, Sunday, 26 March 1676, whilst en route to church for the baptism of his son, John was killed by Indians. 

 

Sylvester Judd’s account of the incident was recorded in the History of Hadley:

 

 "On Sunday, the 26th. of March, some of the people of Longmeadow, men and women, with children, ventured to ride to Springfield to attend public worship, in company with several Colony troopers. There were 16 or 18 men in all, but some had women behind them, and some had children in their arms, and when they were near Pecowsic Brook 7 or 8 Indians in the bushes fired upon the hindmost and killed a man and a maid, wounded others, and took two women with their babes, and retired into a swamp.  Six are said to have been slain or mortally wounded. John Keep, his wife Sarah, and his infant son Jabez are three of them.  (The names of the others are not in the Spring Field records.)  Those forward rode some distance towards Springfield, set down the women and maids, and then returned, but could not find the two women and children.” A letter from Major Savage [to the Governor’s Council] dated at Hadley, 28 Mar 1676, states “On the 26^th inst.  we had advice from Springfield that 8 Indians assaulted 16 to 18 men besides women and children as they were going to meeting from a public place they call Longmeadow, and killed a man and a maid, wounded 2 men and carried away captive 2 women and 2 children. In the night I sent 16 horse in pursuit of them, who met with some that were sent from Springfield, and overtook the Indians with the captives, who as soon as they saw the English, killed the 2 children and sorely wounded the women in the heads with their hatchets and so ran away into the swamp where they could not follow them. The scouts brought back both the women and the children. One of the women remained still senseless by reason of her wounds and the other is very sensible and rational”

A contemporary rhyme describes the events:

“Seven Indians and one with a gun,

Caused Captain Nixon and forty men to run.”

 

John, his wife Sarah, and their youngest son Jabez were killed and buried in Springfield.  The settlement of John’s estate is held in the Probate records at Northampton.  The inventory of his estate shows that he accumulated a very respectable property for the time--the total of the estate amounted to £329 11s 7d.

The DNA Project 

There is an old family oral tradition that a member of the Northamptonshire Keep family had fled to America and had been murdered by Indians.  John was purportedly an agent of the Parliamentarians who escaped to America in 1640, just before the English Civil War started, when an arrest warrant was issued against him by the Earl of Strafford. He was ardently opposed to the monarchy, and championed a call for an Independent State.  According to the legend, John was a non-Conformist who had been baptised at Rothwell Chapel in Northamptonshire.  It was also claimed that John’s death was the result of the British paying the Indians to kill him because of his involvement in harbouring and assisting the Regicides (Major-General Whalley, and Colonel Goffe).  There is another school of thought that because of his activity in England his killers were actually the English dressed up as Indians.