The one aspect of this article that strikes me as interesting, is that "Chief" April St. Francis - Rushlow - Merrill says these are "her" or "their" ancestral remains that are being disturbed; etc. BUT ARE THEY REALLY HER OR THEIR ANCESTORS? Now to some folks, that might seem a bit harsh to even inquire such a question, but then again, it goes back to genealogical merits and standands. It has been said that the St. Francis family were made aware of the burials by the Lampman family years ago. Just because these contemporary people, such as the St. Francis family lay claim that the burials "are their ancestors", genealogically speaking without documented connectedness to those that were living at one time, seems doubtful at best. David Skinas, a previous archaeologist with the Vermont Division for Historical Preservation who (at the time of this article in mid-January 2001, worked for the U.S. Dept. of Argriculture, stated, "the evidence suggested the people of the Boucher site are the predecessors of today's Abenaki," said Skinas. So what was he saying, "that these remains that were buried as early as 885 B.C. up to 2,500-2,000 years ago, are the direct and or indirect ancestors of the contempory people claiming to be Abenaki"? Hmmmmm. Genealogically, Historically, Socially where is the PROOF and EVIDENCE that this is the reality. 2,500 years ago until 2001 one is a bit of a leap, to say one burial area is related genealogically or otherwise to those that claim to be Abenaki, but may not be Abenaki at all.
I could go to Germany and go to a Berlin Cemetery, where there are Buchholz buried there, and say those are my ancestors just because the burial stone's say Buchholz, yet perhaps they are not my ancestors at all. Just because I say I am a Buchholz by surname doesn't mean I am related to ALL BUCHHOLZ descendants living today.
April St. Francis - Rushlow, in this article claims, "that the taking of bodies out of the ground has got to stop. I view it as my responsibility to my ancsetors and my children and grandchildren and those not yet born". So was April Rushlow implying that the human remains in these burials were HER ancestors? I have to ask myself, where was her Grandfather, his father and his father (her ancestoral people) to make sure that these Burials were PROTECTED from day one to the present tense, documented in the Town Records, the local Swanton Library, and with the State of Vermont?! IF the St. Francis family KNEW of this Burial Area on Monument Road from day one, they ought to have stepped away from "hiding in plain sight" and at least documented the burial area so that the burial area wouldn't have been disturbed in the first place! And who says these "archaelogists" don't PLANT something while their "investigating" a certain piece of land, like a Chert Flake or something"? Indeed, April St. Francis-Merrill can look at a green and silver metal plaque stating that the Jesuits had built a Christian mission in 1744..... but that does not mean or even show evidence clearly and convincingly to anyone that she, nor her family or "group" calling themselves "Missisquoi Abenaki" are descendants of the Abenaki of Missisquoi there were there in 1744, 1760, or even later. If they were legitimately descendants from those buried on Monument Road, you would think that they would have respected their ancestors enough to document the area as a burial ground of their ancestors BEFORE ANY HOUSES, etc., were built on that land in the first place. Then again, perhaps these people claiming to be Abenaki from and of the area, are not who they purport to be, genealogically speaking or otherwise?
