The best reading therefore does two things at once.

It takes the colonial sources seriously as evidence.

And it refuses to treat their perspective as the only perspective.

That is especially important when the subject left no surviving written account in his own voice.

A man can become famous while remaining largely silent in the archive.

Tisquantum is one of the clearest examples.

The Name “Squanto” And What Gets Lost In Retelling

Names carry history.

The English rendered Native names according to their own ears and spelling habits.

The man popular culture calls Squanto appears in sources as Tisquantum and in other variant spellings.