tion for the division of common lands among the persons
entitled thereto. In spite of argument to the contrary the Supreme
Court of Massachusetts held that the members of the Indian tribes
mentioned in the Act of 1869 acquired both legal and equitable rights
in tenants in common of the undivided lands of the tribe which were
transferable. It was provided in 1878 that the proceeds from the sale
of such lands should be divided among the persons entitled to the land
in proportion to their interests.

In 1870 the Gay Head district also was abolished and incorporated as a
town. The Indians were guaranteed the same rights to lands in
severalty and the division of common lands as in the case of other
Indian communities thus disestablished. The partition of these lands
was to be made in the Probate Court on application of the Selectmen or
ten resident owners of such land. An Indian feeling aggrieved because
of an invasion of his rights could appeal his case, according to the
provision set forth in chapter 117 of the General Statutes of
Massachusetts.[20]

Some of these Negroes from the very beginning of their association
with the Indians took high rank.[21] The most prominent Negro of all,
however, to come out of the Indian plantations was the celebrated Paul
Cuffe, well known in this country and Europe by his efforts in behalf
of African colonization. He was a native of the tribe of Dartmouth
Indians, of mixed African and white descent. His important achievement
was that of exploring the western coast of Africa with ships which he
owned and fitted out and commanded and which he used in the
transportation of Negroes to Africa where he was the first to
undertake the deportation of freedmen from the United States,
preparing the way for the organization of the American Colonization
Society. On one of his voyages he visited England where he was
received with marked attention by the nobility and the royalty itself.
Men who knew Cuffe considered him a man of great character and
respected him because of his being able by dint of energy to
accumulate sufficient property to place himself in circumstances of
pecuniary independence. Some of his descendants remained in the
vicinity of the original Dartmouth Indians but others moved to
California.[22]

Several families of Negroes in Massachusetts trace their ancestry back
to these Indians. According to the Attorney General of Massachusetts,
there are no special records kept at present o