A Brief Bio of Peter Tusco, a “Spanish Indian” of Southington
AUTHOR: Katherine Hermes Peter Tusco died in Southington, Connecticut in 1767 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. His origins are not known, but in the probate records, he is identified as a Spanish Indian. He was probably an indigenous person from someplace in the Spanish territories, such as Florida. New England colonists considered Spanish Indians lawful captives under the presumption that they had been enslaved under the laws of New Spain. The desire for captive labor motivated colonial wars…