An Algonquian-speaking tribe, they were more closely related to the Abenaki tribes to the west, north and east such as the Penobscot, Piguaket or Pawtucket than to the other Algonquian tribes to the south, such as the Massachusett or Wampanoag.
Lydia was bartered immediately by her captors as they fled north along the Merrimack River: sold to the Pennacook Indians, whose settlement was located in what is today Concord, New Hampshire, probably in exchange for food.
At the time of the first visits of John Prescott, the appointed minister to the tribe, power was passed from Sachem Nashawhonan (Sholan) to a Pennacook chieftain descended from Passaconaway by the name of Nanomocomuck (Monoco).