with Europeans, they came in contact with other Native Americans who did, and were exposed to the smallpox epidemic in 1633–35, which caused many deaths. They learned of the English and allies' war against the Pequot in 1637, with the defeat of that nation. English settlers first arrived in Paugussett lands in 1638–39, establishing settlements in New Haven, Guilford, Milford, Stratford and Fairfield. Golden Hill and Turkey Hill Within a few years, the Paugussett had been divested by the colonists of the vast majority of their lands. A reservation was set aside in 1639 at Golden Hill, site of a spring sacred to the tribe, in present-day Bridgeport. Another reservation was established at Turkey Hill in present-day Derby. In 1802, the state-appointed tribal overseer sold Golden Hill. A replacement reservation was created at Turkey Meadows in Trumbull in 1841, but it was sold off in 1854. The last of Turkey Hill was also sold by the state in 1826 for the people's "own benefit". Ethiope or Liberia According to Bridgeport City Historian Charles Brilvitch's history of the Golden Hill tribe, beginning in the 1820s a number of Paugussett, under the leadership of Joel Freeman, a Turkey Hill Indian from Derby, relocated to Bridgeport. They settled in the city's South End. The area became known as Ethiope or Liberia. While this community consisted substantially of residents who identified as Paugussett, it included Natives from the Mahican, Shinnecock, Nehantic, and Munsee-Delaware nations as well. Freeman was followed by two of his sisters, Mary and Eliza, who built houses in 1848 that are still standing. They have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. During the antebellum period, the Paugussett and other Native Americans achieved a substantial degree of economic success. Many of the men worked on whaling ships and West Indies trading vessels, while many women residents worked as cooks and waitstaff on the steamboats plying Long Island Sound and the Hudson River. Two churches, a Masonic lodge, resort hotel, school and other community institutions were built in the village. Only one individual named "Joel Freeman" was recorded in Census and vital records of the state of Connecticut during this period. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Indian Affairs disputed whether the man who led the Ethiope-Liberia community was the same individual listed as a signatory on Turkey Hill Indian deeds. Because the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Mary