NUGGET #65
Taporneck was an American Indian leader, about whom little is known; his signature or “mark” is included on the first deed from the natives to the settlers in 1708; he is also the top signatory on deeds in 1727 and 1729 for land mostly in western Ridgefield — much was ceded to New York in the Oblong; Taporneck lived at Wepack or Long Pond; name variously spelled in records: Tapornick, Tappornik, Topornick, Tawpornick, and Tapporneck; George L. Rockwell (History of Ridgefield, 1927) misread early settlers’ handwriting in transcribing deeds, calling him Japorneck.
