Waban (Nipmuck leader)
Waban was a prominent leader of the Nipmuck tribe, likely born around the early seventeenth century near present-day Concord, Massachusetts. By 1646, he held the position of chief in Nonantum, where he encountered the missionary John Eliot, who made a significant impact on Waban and his community by preaching in their native language. Waban's name means "the wind," which resonated with him during Eliot's sermon. As white settlers began encroaching on their lands, Waban sought to ensure the survival of his people by requesting land from the Massachusetts General Court, leading to the establishment of one of the first "praying towns" in Natick. Under Eliot's guidance, Waban participated in creating a governance structure inspired by Mosaic law. Despite facing challenges, including a difficult period during King Philip's War, Waban remained committed to his community and spirituality. He eventually became a Christian and expressed a desire for spiritual peace shortly before his death around 1677. Today, Waban is remembered alongside Eliot, with their names commemorated on transportation stations in the area, reflecting their historical significance.
Waban (Nipmuck leader)
- Born: c. 1604
- Birthplace: Present-day Concord, Massachusetts
- Died: c. 1677
- Place of death: Present-day Newton, Massachusetts
Category: Tribal leader and town official
Tribal affiliation: Nipmuck
Significance: Waban adapted his tribal leadership capabilities to serve as town clerk and justice of the peace in the earliest of the Massachusetts “praying towns”
Waban, most likely of the Nipmuck tribe, was born around the beginning of the seventeenth century in or near the present-day site of Concord, Massachusetts. Nothing is known of the first half of his life, but by 1646, when he first encountered the missionary John Eliot, he had become a chief at Nonantum, a few miles west of Boston. There, on October 28, Eliot preached a sermon based on Ezekiel 37:9, beginning, “Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind.” It happened that Waban means “the wind,” a coincidence that impressed him favorably.
Even more impressive to the chief was Eliot’s ability, cultivated over many years, to speak to the American Indians in their own language. Eliot returned about every two weeks from his parish in Roxbury to teach Christianity to Waban and his people. By 1650, however, with white settlers encroaching on Nonantum, Waban asked the Massachusetts General Court for more space and received a tract on the Charles River in Natick; it became the first of Eliot’s “praying towns.” When Waban, who seems always to have been interested in the administration of justice, asked Eliot how the town should be governed, Eliot answered with a scheme he had learned from the Mosaic law: a judge for every ten people, a higher one for every fifty, another for every hundred. An older Indian was chosen the highest ruler, Waban one of the leaders of fifty.
The settlement soon established a church for whose aspiring members a public confession of faith was required, but Waban’s confession struck the white ministers as inadequate, and, although a believer, he did not gain full membership for many years. He was named town clerk, however, and later justice of the peace, as Natick developed into an Indian town of several hundred citizens.
The outbreak of King Philip’s War in 1675 caused serious problems for the Natick Indians. Though only a handful of them were sympathetic to Philip’s goal of reestablishing Indian control of the region by warfare, two hundred Natick Indians, among them Waban, were seized as a precautionary measure by order of the General Court and confined on Deer Island in Boston Harbor throughout the severe winter of 1676. Eliot visited them periodically and did his best to encourage them. Some months after the death of Philip the following August, the Praying Indians were resettled, but Natick never prospered as an Indian village thereafter.
In his seventies, Waban seems to have gone with a small group back to Nonantum. Shortly before his death around 1677, Waban became a full-fledged Christian, expressing his desire “not to be troubled about matters of this world.” Today, two adjacent stations of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line through Newton to Boston bear the names of the missionary and his first important Native American convert: Eliot and Waban.