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 Cuffé, 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 Cuffé 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 of Negroes or persons of color who had interbreeded with Indians as regards the receipts by them of pensions from the commonwealth given as the result of having been dispossessed of their lands. Some persons of color assert, however, that they are the direct descendants of King Philip and Massasoit. Because of this close connection with the Indians it was necessary for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on dispossessing the Indians of their lands to give these persons of color the benefits of the acts securing remuneration to the Indians. As these lands were disposed of regardless of the rights of the Indians, the State has assumed the obligation of satisfying these claims by pensioning the complainants.
Mr. William George Butler, of West Medford, Massachusetts, a man now sixty years of age, receives such a pension. Mr. Butler's father came to Boston from Baltimore about 1815 and married a woman of color with an infusion of Indian blood. In looking up her estate this connection was discovered and a petition was sent to the Massachusetts Legislature in her favor. Upon the investigation of her claim, which proved to be just, she was granted a pension of $250 a year, which Butler inherited.[23] In the following list of persons and tribes from which are descended all Indians who are at present receiving pensions from the Commonwealth, of Massachusetts, however, appear several Negroes or persons of color.[24] These are: