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Elizabeth George Plouffe (“Iron Woman”) was born March 19, 1895 at the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Indian Reservation. Elizabeth was the daughter of Cyrus George and Martha Hoxie George.  One of seven children born of Cyrus and Martha, Elizabeth also had four half-siblings from her mother’s subsequent marriage to Napoleon Langevin—including her sister Matt, who became her companion and neighbor. 

A lifelong resident of Mashantucket, Elizabeth was widely known for preserving Pequot land and culture.  She was also the tribe’s ambassador, working alongside others to advocate for the sovereignty of Connecticut tribes.  Occasionally, Elizabeth appeared in the press to fight an injustice or preserve Pequot land rights, such as in 1968 when police arrested Elizabeth for owning unlicensed dogs.  The Hartford Courant chronicled the newsworthy case which Elizabeth fought and won through Connecticut State Court, affirming her right as a Pequot resident of Mashantucket to refrain from licensing her dogs. 

Elizabeth had seven children and was a beloved grandmother of 19; some of whom lived with and learned from her for weeks or months at a time whenever their parents were away for work.  As a young adult, Elizabeth worked as a baker at the historic Wauregan Hotel in Norwich Connecticut, and later as a domestic in the home of a local wealthy family (Brown family, Norwich).  She was an expert at living off the land at Mashantucket; gardening, cooking and preserving foods, and her baked goods were revered by locals for many miles around.  She also learned traditional herbal medicine from her mother, Martha Hoxie George, and practiced cultivating a variety of indigenous plants for their healing uses.  

Martha Ann “Matt” Langevin was born on April 16, 1901 at the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Indian Reservation in Southeastern Connecticut. Matt was the daughter of Napoleon Langevin and Martha Hoxie George.  She was one of four children born of Napoleon and Martha, and she had seven half-siblings from her mother’s previous marriage, including her sister Elizabeth.  Matt’s father Napoleon was a French-Canadian lumberjack, trained baker and snake-handler who captured snakes for local zoos. Her Pequot mother, Martha Hoxie, was a housewife who rented rooms in her home to woodcutters to help make ends meet. Napoleon developed a “snake dance” act while Martha sold hot dogs and ice cream to tourists. The act ended after Napoleon barely survived a bite from a poisonous copperhead in 1909. Matt never liked snakes, and was known to carry a shotgun with her at all times; blasting the head off of every copperhead she’d encounter on the Reservation. 

Although Matt never had children of her own, she was a beloved Aunt to her siblings’ children and many other Pequot children who visited her and her sister Elizabeth when their parents went away in search of work.  Matt’s daily responsibilities included root vegetable gardening, preserving food and watching over the Tribe’s ancestral lands. When state and local government officials would attempt to take the land away, Matt wasn’t afraid to confront them…even to the point of using her trusty shotgun to scare them off. 

Elizabeth and Matt helped each other live efficiently at the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation.  Although life at Mashantucket grew increasingly difficult for Elizabeth and Matt as they aged, they never gave up their passion for holding onto their ancestral lands, and even declined an offer from state officials to give up their Mashantucket homes in exchange for spending their remaining years in comfortable retirement facilities.  Had they accepted the offer, the State of Connecticut would’ve effectively eliminated the Mashantucket Pequots once and for all, which in turn would have enabled the state to transition the Reservation into a state park.

The two sisters’ passion for Pequot history and tribal sovereignty, as well as their determination to hold onto the land, inspired the next generations of Pequots to continue advocating for the Tribe and develop the Reservation.  Today, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is a thriving, successful community of more than 1000 members; an inspiring example of survival, courage and restoration that would not have been possible without the legacies of Elizabeth George Plouffe and Martha “Matt” Langevin.  

Related Links:

Mashantucket Pequot Museum
MPTN Site
Mashantucket Pequot History and Culture eBook