Old John Neptune

John Neptune
Born 1767
Died 1865
Resting place Indian Island
Residence Indian Island, Maine
Nationality Penobscot
Occupation vice-chief
Years active 1816-1867

Old John Neptune (Penobscot, (July 22, 1767 – May 8, 1865) was elected Lieutenant-Governor at Indian Island, Old Town, Maine, in 1816, a life-time position. Born into the Eel clan, John had a powerful father, John (Orsong) Neptune, who had been the tribe's war chief. As the most powerful leader of the Penobscot for almost half a century, he was popularly (but incorrectly) known as "the Governor."[1] Also feared, he had the reputation of being a shaman (m'teoulino, in the Penobscot language).[2]

In The Maine Woods (1864), writer Henry David Thoreau described an 1853 visit to Neptune at his Old Town home.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Prins, Harald E.L.; McBride, Bunny. (2007). Asticou's Island Domain: Wabanaki Peoples at Mount Desert Island 1500-2000, Vol.1. Boston: National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy (1945). Old John Neptune and Other Maine Indian Shamans. Portland, Maine: Southworth-Anthoensen Press. pp. 254–257.
  3. ↑ Thoreau, Henry David (1864). The Maine Woods (Project Gutenberg text). ISBN 978-1420927146. OCLC 437036255. Retrieved 10 October 2009. He told me that he was eighty-nine ; but he was going a-moose-hunting that fall, as he had been the previous one.
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