10:00am - 11:30am, Life of Samuel Treat: Ye Pious & Faithful Pastor of This Church A zoom event

Treat was a giant In early Eastham (from today’s Truro to Chatham). For 45 years, 1672 - 1717, he – as his original headstone said – was “Ye Pious & Faithful Pastor of This Church.” He led both the English who were migrating in, and, having learned the local language, the Nauset who were becoming Christian (“praying Indians”).

Here is a rare opportunity to consider the interaction of colonial and Nauset cultures and communities. Fifty years after the Mayflower, twenty-five years after the first families of colonists took land here, how were the parallel governments and ways life interacting? How did they see their futures? Or future together? We’ll ask these questions through the well-to-do Harvard graduate brought here to preach the Future.

Bob Seay – WGBH journalist – will moderate the panel presentation.

Tom Ryan – senior producer of videos for Eastham 400 – will outline the life of Treat. The state of research and unanswered questions will be identified.

Patty Donohoe – Second Vice President of the Eastham Historical Society – will speak about Treat’s two wives, children, and descendants.

Ron Petersen – chair of the Orleans Historical Commission – will address local particulars of Treat’s ministry, and the aftermath of his death.