Person:Medlen Unknown (1)

Ethnicity Montauk Indian. Tribe located in Suffolk, Co., Long Island. Wilhelmina may be a name the English or Dutch gave to her. Medlen, a Montauk Indian, was born in 1624 in what is now Suffolk Co., on Long Island. When Samuel and his father Ralph settled on Long Island in 1649 at what is now East Hampton, they became interpreters to the local Indians. Samuel married Medlen on September 12, 1654 at Southampton. Medlen died (probably of smallpox for which the Indians had little immunity) about 1666 after having eight children by Samuel. The Montauk tribe was largely decimated by 1659 from attacks by other Indian tribes and by Dutch settlers. They fled to the English settlement for protection, probably through Medlen's role as intermediary. One child was drowned in Long Island Sound sometime after Medlen's death. The Montauk tribe was declared extinct in the early 1800's after whites stole their remaining land. Some remnants still living on Long Island recently tried to lay claim to some of the land on Montauk Point on Long Island.