Cockenoe

{{Short description|17th century Native American translator}}

File:Cockenoe and Sherwood Islands (9206764535).jpg]]

Cockenoe (also known as Cockeno, Cockenow, Chachaneu, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, Chekkonnow, Cockoo) (born before 1630 and died after 1687) was an early Native American translator from Long Island in New York where he was a member of the Montaukett. He helped to translate the earliest parts of the Eliot Indian Bible, the first Bible published in America.Margaret Ellen Newell, Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery (2015)

In 1637 Cockenoe was captured during the Pequot War by a Massachusetts militia unit.William Wallace Tooker, John Eliot's First Indian Interpreter: Cockenoe de Long Island: The Story o His Career from Early Records (N. Y., Francis P Harper, 1896), p. 11 https://archive.org/details/johneliotsfirsti00took After being captured and brought back to Massachusetts, Cockenoe became a servant to Richard Callicot, a fur trader, in Dorchester, Massachusetts.Tooker at 11 John Sassamon, a prominent Native American translator, also grew up as a servant in Callicot's household in Dorchester.Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity. 1st ed. (New York: Knopf, 1998), 22. Similarly, Cockenoe became an early American translator and interpreter, and one of the first people who mastered English and several Algonquian languages, including the Massachusett language. Cockenoe helped translate the Eliot Indian Bible, the first Bible printed in America. John Eliot stated that Cockenoe assisted Eliot in translating "the Commandments, the Lords Prayer, and many Texts of Scripture: also I compiled both exhortations and prayers by his help."George Parker Winship, The Cambridge Press, 1638-1692: A Reexamination of the Evidence Concerning the Bay Psalm Book and the Eliot Indian Bible, (2016), p. 277 At some point between 1646 and 1649, shortly after Eliot began preaching, Cockenoe returned to the Long Island area where he served as an interpreter for many land transactions between local tribes and colonists.George Emery Littlefield, The Early Massachusetts Press, 1638-1711 - Volume 1 p. 171 In 1667 he married "“Sunksquaw” of the Shinnecock; "a female Sachem, the sister of Nowedonah" or possibly "Wyandanch."{{Cite web|url=https://www.jeremynative.com/onthissite/wiki/cockenoe/|title=Cockenoe (De Long Island)}} Cockenoe died after 1687 when his name last appears in the records in a Montauk deed.George Emery Littlefield, The Early Massachusetts Press, 1638-1711 - Volume 1 p. 171

There is currently a Cockenoe Island (pronounced "kuh-KEE-nee") near the Connecticut shore in the Norwalk Islands of Long Island Sound named after him.{{Cite web | url=https://connecticuthistory.org/the-battle-for-cockenoe-island/ | title=The Battle for Cockenoe Island - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project | date=15 November 2020 }}