Massaw, great grandmother of Wathohuk [Jim Thorpe], was an influential and distinguished chieftess whose presence carried weight in councils, a right customarily reserved for males. She resided within the village of headman Keewawnay; her cabin reserved for the mediation of both Tribal and American dignitaries. Massaw also played host to popular social gatherings that frequently offered numerous and various games of chance. She was an avid card player, highly skilled at poker and euchre; a “gambler of no ordinary ability…often raking men of experience who attended her receptions in the second story of the cabin.”
Mas-sa by George Winter, 1837.