Admiral Sir Peter Warren could soon have a companion on the back wall of the council chamber in town hall if all elements of the proposal fall into place.

E. Jenny K. Flanagan, a member of the planning board, made a presentation to the town council at its May 12 meeting to place another portrait besides that of Admiral Warren that currently occupies the position, that of Ousemequin, Massasoit of the Pokanoket peoples.

Under Flanagan's plan, a copy of an Ousamequin portrait, the original painted by artist Ruth DeWilde-Major, would accompany that of the admiral as a show of respect for the Pokanokets, whom were noted during the discussion by renowned local scholar of Native Americans David Weed, resided on the land now known as Warren for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans.

The council gave initial support to the proposal. The reproduction would be purchased with private donations. No municipal funding would be required.

Reading from prepared text, Flanagan recognized the painting of Warren was a gift by the Avila Family to the in 2005. The admiral is considered a hero of the British Navy, having led the capture of the French fortification of Louisbourg, now Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in 1745.

And although Warren never visited his namesake location, many residents of the Sowams area served as soldiers and sailors under his command. That eventually led to them honoring him by formally naming the site "Warren" two years later in 1747.

Warren, however, was a "loyalist" to the crown and fought for the British in the Revolutionay War. As Flanagan and Weed put it, placing a reproduction of Ousamequin beside that of the admiral would be a proper visual retelling of the town's true origins.

As written by Flanagan, in March 1621, the leader or Massasoit of the Pokanokets, Ousamequin, met with and signed a non-aggression treaty with the colonists from the Plimoth colony. Then in 1639, Ousamequin offered shelter to Roger Williams, who had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Ousamequin remained a friend and ally to the Plimoth colony and other colonists until his death in 1661. In 1667, his son, Massasoit Metacomet, sold 500 acres in town to Hugh Cole, one of the first colonial settlements in town.

The treaty was the first pact of its kind between the Natives and the Euros, Flanagan adding "the Pokanokets supported the colonists in the Massachusetts Bay colony, signed the first treaty in the United States between native peoples and colonists. They provided support to the colonists during periods when otherwise they would not have survived and were generally a friend to them during that period."

Said Weed, "This is an opportunity for the town to recognize the original name of the town was Sowams before 1747. So we're just capturing the history that this town has always had. And it's acknowledging the importance of a person who fundamentally changed America. If it weren't for Ousamequin in his agreement in 1621, that's on the front of town hall, we wouldn't be here.

"So, I think it's particularly fitting that we're talking about doing this 350 years after King Philip's War, which essentially ended the domination of people in this territory by native people who had been here for 10,000 years."

Flanagan's connection to the proper citing of Ousamequin also came after a rather recent discovery of some significant information regarding her own family, which actually traced its roots to the original colonists.

"I will admit that I have a little bit of a personal interest in this," she explained. "A couple of years ago that my ninth ancestors were Mary and William Brewster, who were on the Mayflower. And I would not be here today were it not for the support of the Pokanoket people gave to the Massachusetts Bay Colony at that time."

DeWilde-Major's portrait of Ousamequin depicts him wearing the red horseman's coat that he was given as a gift in the spring of 1621 by Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins on behalf of the Plymouth colonists. Flanagan said it was envisioned from some of the artifacts found at his burial site, now Burr's Hill Park in town, and encorporating the physical features of his modern day ancestors.

Of the painting's origins, Flanagan described the items found there were "red materials from the red coat, brass buttons, beads, animal furs, pelts. So what he's wearing is believed to have been what he was buried in. And his features are based on present day Pokanoket peoples. So it's as good a representation as we can have of someone who lived 400 years ago."

Six years ago, the Warren Preservation Society purchased a copy of the Ousamequin portrait from DeWilde-Major, who resides in Vineyard Haven, Mass. It is shown intermittently in the town's George Hail Free Library.

The proposed reproduction would be commensurate with the size of the admiral's portrait, complementing both it and the existing space.