The Dedham Grant Deed was an agreement created by the residents of the colonial settlement, Dedham, Massachusetts in 1667. The land transfer was facilitated between colonial representative John Pynchon of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Pocumtuck sachem, Chauk. The Pocumtuck’s land was contained within the deed yet Chauk willingly signed it off, in English legal terms, to be owned by the Dedham residents. This exchange illustrates the opposing concepts of “ownership” between the natives and colonists.
Natives and colonists have contrasting understandings of land and land ownership. To the Pocumtuck natives, land is a relatively open commodity that cannot be “owned.” They strictly regulated the use of the land -- several different people