What Indian tribes were in northfield MA in 1640?

Answer 1

Northfield was granted township status in 1672, having previously been part of the land occupied by many small independent groups of natives. The Agawams lived in the area that became Springfield; the Nonotucks or Norwuttocks lived along the river towards Sugarloaf; the Pacomptucks occupied the valley of the Deerfield river and the Squakheags lived in the northern part of the state along the Connecticut river. All of these were either subject to or allied with the Massachusett division of the Wampanoag tribe.

In 1640 it is likely that the Pacomptuck (also called Pocomtuc) people were living in the area that became Northfield - they took their name from a distinctive waterfall with a prominent rock formation (pas-ompsk-ut = at the divided [upright] rock) and they called the Northfield area Squenatock or Quanatock. All the small native groups in the area were referred to generally by white settlers as "River Indians" and all spoke dialects of the Natick language.