Turramuggus

Turramuggus was the son of Sowheage, the Wangunk sachem, and the husband of Keseso.   He and his wife had a daughter, whose name is not preserved, and a son, Peetoosoh, who succeeded him as leader after his death.  Turramuggus was the leader of the Wangunk families at Pyquaug (Wethersfield) and was a signer of several tribal deeds – Middletown (1668), Wethersfield (1671) , Durham (1672), Eastbury (1673).  During King Philip’s War, he was a pledged hostage confined in Hartford prison.  The name Turramuggus was translated by some eighteenth century Wangunk as “digging bear” or “bear of the long river.” Henry Reed Stiles, The History of Ancient Wethersfield (New York: Grafton Press, 1904), 47. Joseph Barrett, Indian Proprietors of Mattebeseck and Their Descendants (n.d.).