Samoset (c. 1590-c. 1653)

Pemaquid diplomat born on Monhegan Island in present-day Maine. He had learned some English from British fishermen who had worked off the coast of Maine, and it was said that he greeted the Pilgrims at Plymouth with ‘Welcome, Englishmen!’ when they arrived in 1620. He then arranged a meeting with them and Squanto and the Wamponoag chief Massasoit and he fostered friendship between the two groups. In 1625 he signed the first deed of land transfer with the whites and he signed another such deed in 1653. After that he disappears from the historical record.