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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Pages 39-56 of "Decolonizing the Abenaki: A Methodology for Detecting the Vermont Tribal Identity" Regarding the "St. Francis Sokoki Band/ Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi:

S. 222 § 853. (b) Recognition Criteria:


Missisquoi
St. Francis Sokoki Band/Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi
100 Grand Avenue, Swanton, VT 05488
abenakination.org

Prepared by
Chief (Sogomo) April St. Francis Merrill
and
Prof. Fred Wiseman
Chair, Department of Humnaities
Johnson State College

This document has been prepared by the St. Francis/Sokoki Band to fulfill the recognition conditions as required by Vermont Statute S. 222 § 853. (b). The materials contained herein are for the purposes of legislative recognition by the Vermont Legislature only, and may not be published or otherwise used without permission of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band.

© 2010 St. Francis/Sokoki Band
S. 222/ § 853 (b) For the purposes of recognition, a Vermont Native American tribe must demonstrate that it has:

(1) A physical and legal residence in Vermont.
Tribal Headquarters and Museum
100 Grand Avenue, Swanton, VT 05488
(2) An organized tribal membership roll along with specific criteria that were used to determine membership, including evidence of kinship among tribal members.
Tribal rolls and genealogical descendency charts maintained an organized on
computer, supported hard copy personnel files.
(3) Documented traditions, customs, and legends that signify Native American heritage.
Detailed historical/geographical data compiled by Frederick Wiseman submitted Jan 22. Summary review appended as Appendix 1.
(4) A tribal council, a constitution, and a chief.
(a) Tribal council
St. Francis Sokoki Band Tribal Council
(b) Constitution
Written Constitution
(c) Chief
Chief, St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation
(5) Been and continues to be recognized by other Native American communities in Vermont as a Vermont tribe.
All Tribes are united in an Alliance (The Vermont- Indigenous Alliance) and after a vigorous three year vetting process (2006-2009) each tribe of the Alliance recognizes all others as Indian tribes. See cover letter.
(6) Been known by state, county or local municipal officials, or the public as a functioning tribe in Vermont.
Municipal Officials
Deborah Blom (UVM, Attachment 1)
David Skinas (USDA, Attachment 2)
John Crock (UVM, Attachment 3)
Collaboration with Swanton Village to establish and promote the "Abenaki Heritage Days Celebration" each May.
Worked with Swanton Town Zoning and Planning officials dealing with cultural sites and Burial grounds beginning in 1999.
Public
Known through 38 years of controversy and friendship with Vermonters, hundreds of newspaper articles, books, films, presentations, the Abenaki Tribal Museum etc.
(7) Not been recognized as a tribe in any other state, province, or nation.
The St. Francis/Sokoki Band has never been officially recognized as a trrbe in any other state, province, or natron
(8) An enduring community presence within the boundaries of Vermont that can be documented by archaeology, ethnography, physical anthropology, history, genealogy, folklore and/or other applicable scholarly research. (Appendix 2)
Attachment 1


From: Deborah Blom [mailto:dblom©uvm.edu]
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 1:43 AM
To: Fred Wiseman
Subject: Re: Abenakis

Hi Fred,
I think everything I can say is neatly packaged in the Kerber volume article, which outlines that, through acts like the repatriation of Boucher, UVM has been treating Missisquoi as a sovereign entity in Vermont, in the same way that one would interact with a federally recognized tribe.

Deborah

Deborah E. Blom, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
University of Vermont
Department of Anthropology
Williams Hall 508
72 University Place
Burlington, VT 05405-0168
(802) 656-2932 office
(802) 656-4406 fax
Deborah.Blom@uvm.edu
Attachment 2.


Burial Site Protection with the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenaki Nation at
Missisquoi

David Skinas, Archeologist
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
617 Comstock Road
Berlin, Vermont 05602-8498

My relationship with the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi began in May of 1988. I was working for the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation (DHP) as their survey archeologist and was asked by Chief Homer St. Francis to investigate an eroding bank on the Missisquoi River in Highgate where human bones were reported to be falling out of that bank. The reports were true as I collected several dozen fragments of human bone from the bank and returned them to tribal headquarters. Chief Homer allowed me to bring those remains back to the DHP office in Montpelier for non-destructive analysis. At least four Abenaki individuals were represented by those - remains and they were reburied on-site later that year. Over the next several years Missisquoi community members and I tried to stabilize that eroding bank by installing willow fascines and red osier dogwood. During those planting episodes it became clear to me how the destruction of their ancestor's graves deeply affected the descendants. There was deep anguish in some and tears in the eyes of others as they picked human bone fragments off of the bank while planting the willows and dogwood. Such behavior made me feel that these people were intimately connected with those burials within the Missisquoi homeland and that no peace would come to them until the remains were properly taken care of according to Abenaki custom. The Monument site was purchased by the legislature the following session to prevent further house development and disturbance of that particular cemetery. In the spring of 1989, with the assistance of the USDA Soil Conservation Service, we conducted a ground penetrating radar study of the Monument site and determined that there were many more burial features that remain intact at the site. In 1991 the eroding bank was stabilized with rock rip rap and remains protected to this day.

In 1989 Chief Homer and Missisquoi community members were extremely distraught about UVM continuing to possess the Boucher Cemetery burials and funerary objects in the anthropology office after their removal in 1974 from the burial site on Monument Road in Highgate. Again I felt that these people had a deep connection with the exhumed graves and there was a visible uneasiness by tribal members that these bodies had not yet been repatriated to them so they could rebury their ancestors on-site according to Abenaki custom. I was able to facilitate an agreement between Chief Homer and UVM to repatriate those 80-100 burials to the tribe. For several years I oversaw the storage of those burials in state-owned facilities located in Montpelier while non-intrusive studies of some of the remains and funerary objects were undertaken by professionals prior to reburial in 1996.

I continued working with Chief Homer and Missisquoi over the next several years helping them deal with house development on Monument Road and helping them recover other Abenaki burials that were eroding out of the Connecticut River bank and one that had been exposed during hedgerow removal between two farm fields in Vernon. I left state government in-1994 and began working for the USDA Natural- Resources Conservation Service (formally the Soil Conservation Service). My relationship with the Missisquoi
Abenaki continued and became much stronger in 2000 when house development on Monument Road in Highgate once again exposed an Abenaki burial ground. At least 27 Missisquoi graves had been disturbed before the destruction was stopped. The anguish of tribal members over the continued loss of their ancestral burial grounds was heart breaking and seemingly without end. I suggested to Chief April St. Francis, who took over for her sick father, that perhaps we could use non-intrusive archeological technology, such as ground penetrating radar, to investigate house lots that were slated for development to search for graves before they were disturbed. Chief April was able to convince Monument Road landowners and the Towns of Swanton and Highgate to enact a three year interim zoning that would allow for non-intrusive archeological studies prior to issuing a permit for house development in this study area. We conducted preliminary ground penetrating radar studies in 2002 and 2004, and to this day I at least monitor the excavation of house foundations, septic/leach fields and utility trenches to ensure that no Missisquoi graves will be destroyed by house development along Monument Road. Highgate allowed the interim zoning to sunset after the three year interim period but Swanton formally adopted the special zoning.


During the late summer of 2000 another burial site had been disturbed in a gravel pit located in Alburg. In the spring of 2001 Chief April and I conducted a ground penetrating study at the site but the soils were too alkaline and stony to provide reliable results. After a five year hiatus and exposure of seven total Abenaki burials the state, through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, agreed to purchase the gravel pit to protect the Missisquoi cemetery in perpetuity. Again the anguish that I observed on tribal members faces when viewing the disturbance was tragic.

I was also a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs for six years. - I was initially appointed to my first term by Governor Dean and then the Missisquoi Tribal Council appointed me for two additional terms to serve on this commission that led to the signing of the first Abenaki recognition bill in 2006.

I continue to work with the Missisquoi Abenaki on burial related projects on Monument Road and elsewhere in Vermont. Since late 2007 I have been a member of the Abenaki Self Help Association, Inc. (ASHAI) board of directors. ASHAI is funded by a U.S. Department of Labor grant to provide services to Missisquoi community members to improve their educational and economic opportunities. During my 22 year relationship with the Missisquoi Abenaki I have become impressed with their struggle for recognition, applaud their efforts to save their language that almost became extinct and more importantly I am awed by their dedication to improve the well being and future of their children so they will have better lives.
Attachment 3 (converted from .pdf format by Fred Wiseman)


From: John G. Crock [mailto:john.crock@uvm.edu]
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 1:46 PM
To: Sogomo@comcast.net
Cc: Fred Wiseman
Subject: RE: Letter documenting collaboration

Dear April,
Happy late winter/mud season! Letter attached.
Best regards,
John
________________________________________________
March 6, 2010
Chief April St. Francis-Merrill
jgc%20signature
CAP Letterhead

Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi

Tribal Headquarters
P.O. Box 276
Swanton, VT, 05488

Dear Chief St. Francis-Merrill,

I write to formally acknowledge my long-term collaboration with you and the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi on range of issues including the conduct of the archaeology Native American sites in Vermont, the repatriation of Native American human remains, and public education related to Vermont's 12,000+ years of Native American heritage. This professional relationship began in 2000, when 1 became the Director of the University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Program and has continued ever since. Over this period of time I have had the pleasure-of working with you and other members of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi as the recognized (by the State of Vermont) representatives for Native American interests with respect to federal and State-regulated archaeological projects undertaken in Vermont. For example, in our capacity as a Statewide Archaeological Consultant to the Vermont Agency of Transportation, we have been directed to consult the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi in the context of numerous federally regulated projects that have included the archaeological investigation of Native American sites and have been directed, under contract, to submit final reports to your office.

The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi is the recognized (by the State of Vermont) repatriation coordinator for any Native American human remains discovered archaeologically, incidentally, or within private collections in Vermont. As a result of your community's role in this regard, the UVM CAP has assisted and consulted with you in both the recovery of Native American remains discovered during construction and in the repatriation of discovered remains for reburial.

Lastly, I have had the pleasure to consult with you and other members of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi in the context of numerous educational initiatives. These include, among others, my Natives of the Northeast course here at UVM, the James B. Petersen Memorial Gallery of Native American Cultures at the University of Vermont's Fleming Museum, the Indigenous Expressions Exhibit at the Echo Center in Burlington, and the lndigenous Forum held as part of the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial Program.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi for your willingness to work with the academic community over the years. I look forward to continued collaboration in the future.

Sincerely.
John G. Crock, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Director. UVM Consulting Archaeology Program
john.crock@uvm.edu
APPENDIX 1

Criteria § 853 (b) (3) Documented traditions, customs, and legends that signify Native American heritage.

The St. Francis/Sokoki Band, Abenaki Nation retains a significant fund of traditional knowledge and customs that can be tied to a native heritage through ethnography or folkloric studies, as detailed in Appendix 2. There are large numbers of traditions that have been previously published in Haviland and Power's The Original Vermonters and F. Wiseman's Voice of the Dawn, both University Press of New England, and Against the Darkness, a DVD from Title VII Indian Education (Swanton, VT). Below is a sample of newer data that has become available since 2006 to specifically address criterion § 853. (b) (3) "Documented traditions, customs, and legends that signify Native American heritage."

Traditions
One of the most interesting regional traditions that has been uncovered recently is that on Missisquoi Bay (Highgate, VT), Abenaki ice fishermen warm their fish-eye bait under their tongues. This practice is considered "gross" by their Anglo and Franco-VT neighbors. Every ice fisherman has strong personal feelings, positive or negative of this practice—and these feelings are repeatedly correlated with other familial traces of Native ancestry/tradition. Vera Longtoe Sheehan, the Elnu Tribal Genealogist, recounts a family story from her grandmother (d. 2003) of the use of "Indian clothes" at Missisquoi by "an old Indian woman," Ms. Sheehan's great grandmother (d. 1932). Ms. Sheehan said "I asked my grandmother how did she know she (the 3rd great grandmother) was Indian?" Ms. Sheehan's grandmother described her as having "long braided hair and wearing Indian clothes...She wore old coins in her ears, many beads and a skirt with lots of ribbons. No white women would dress like that." Apparently these articles of clothing were locally made, because Ms. Sheehan's grandmother went on to talk about "the beautiful ribbon and beads that the old women would sew, as they all sat around." In addition, Swanton's elders remember the local Indians with a measure of fondness. Ms. Polly Pane of Swanton, VT still has ash splint materials made for her by the Lapans in the 1950's, a family known to be Indian. In addition, Ms. Lucille Bell said in the January 7, 1996 Burlington Free Press, "I remember we had an Indian family here (Swanton, VT), and the woman made baskets and used to come around door to door to sell them. We didn't make a big thing of it and neither did they."

Customs
Probably the most important and definitive Indigenous customs involve land use. The great ethnologist, Frank Speck studied and published on Indigenous Maine land tenure in his 1940 book Penobscot Man. In it, he described a family-based resource zone partitioning and use pattern that Haviland and Power, used in The Original Vermonters to describe prehistoric VT land use, but without any local confirmation. However, interviews with Missisquoi citizens and the authors' own memories have confirmed the presence of this land tenure system in the Missisquoi River Basin and Missisquoi Bay (Lake Champlain). Each core Missisquoi family band maintains its own distinguishing subsistence grounds along the Missisquoi River Valley; and has protocols for admitting others into these subsistence grounds. Author Fred Wiseman's family's traditional fishing territory was "the reef" a linear, north trending ledge and boulder ridge on the bottom of Missisquoi Bay. It was that family's responsibility to mark the north end of the reef for other fishermen with a red-painted wooden buoy or a plastic gallon milk-jug. This "buoying the reef” tradition was maintained father every May until Wiseman's father's death. Dr. Wiseman's father asked permission of Mr. Hakey, to fish an "above the dam" section of the Missisquoi River, which was not Wiseman's family fishing territory, ritually giving Mr. Hakey a fishing lure, as a sign of respect. Family bands hunted and collected in partitioned floodplain and upland zones of the Missisquoi Valley. These subsistence zones were long-term, spatially consistent and bounded within themselves, yet cut across existing property and town lines, and even the more fluid hunting and fishing areas of Missisquoi's Franco VT and Anglo VT neighbors. These use areas often had seasonally occupied "cottages" or deer camps signing the core of the area -- from the "Grandma Lampman" territory (marked with an historical plaque) at Maquam on the shores of Lake Champlain at least as far upriver as the St. Francis' well-known and attended Berkshire camp. In addition to hunting and fishing, local Native people collected herbs used in traditional medicinal curing from these well-delineated resource use areas. The River Rats (for discussion of their indigenous
ethnicity see Wiseman 2001, Voice of the Dawn: 120-132) collected local plants such skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) in restricted areas of the marshes of the Missisquoi River delta.


Legends
The Elnu Tribe's genealogist, Vera Longtoe Sheehan, recounted a family story from her Missisquoi grandmother (d. 2003). Sheehan's grandmother said "The older folks did the talking... in those days you were quiet, unless spoken to. The older folks would talk to me, but I couldn't understand them...Because they didn't speak English." What did they speak," Sheehan asked her grandmother. "The old language," she answered. Could it be that Sheehan's grandmother was remembering the older folks speaking in the Gaelic/Irish language? "When the older folks did the talking... in those days you were quiet, unless spoken to," is NOT a Native Cultural trait, but a European/ Irish trait! The name Sheehan or Sheahan, sometimes contracted to Sheen or Shean, is the anglicisation of the Irish Ó Siodhacháin, from a diminutive of siodhach, meaning 'peaceful'.
APPENDIX 2

§ 853. (b) (8) An enduring community presence within the boundaries of Vermont that can be documented by ethnography; physical anthropology, history, genealogy, folklore and/or other applicable scholarly research.

These data are derived from the "Something of Value paper delivered to the Senate Committee on Economic Development Housing and General Affairs on Jan 22, •

Introduction
Today, Missisquoi is a distinct Native "town-resident" community historically associated with portions of modern Swanton, Alburgh and Highgate towns in Franklin County, VT. Specifically, Missisquoi was also a historically well-known Abenaki village located about a mile to the northwest of Swanton, Vermont; which figures prominently in the many ethnohistories of early and mid 19th century Northern New England such as Gordon Day's 1981 Identity of the St: Francis Indians or Colin Calloway's 1990 The Western Abenakis of Vermont. In addition, its specific location has been known and mapped as a Euroamerican determination of Indigenous ethnicity (i.e. the "Indian Castle" of the famous 1763 "Murray and Collins Map" of Lake Champlain). This was the period when several Missisquoi families leased sections of their land in the Missisquoi River valley to an Englishman in "Robertson's Lease," a document confirming an Abenaki presence at the "Indian castle" area in the period slightly before our narrative begins. Haviland and Power's The Original Vermonters and Fred Wiseman's Voice of the Dawn, both published by University Press of New England in 2001, and Against the Darkness, a DVD from Title VII Indian Education (Swanton, VT), deal with 19th and 20th century Missisquoi Abenaki culture in detail. However, a few salient, and mostly unpublished, historical references from the post-1790 era are presented below.

The origin of the word Missiquoi is "Masipskoik" a word that means place where there are boulders, more specifically "boulders point." We have enquired among the old Abenaquis and they all agree about this interpretation as a thing known among them for a long time.
Father de Gonzague, Missionary to the Odanak Abenakis
In A study of the etymology of the place name Missisquoi
G. McAleer 1906:p. 8

Old records existing in Swanton, VT (originally found by ethnohistorian John Moody) reveal that in 1790, there were "fifty Abenaki Lodges near Swanton Village..." This site was probably downriver a mile or so from modern Swanton, where their burial ground was discovered in 2000, and where their "Indian Castle” or palisaded village was located thirty years before that. The fact that they were described as "lodges" rather than houses provides evidence of the typical conical, single-family wigwam, although the possibility of "Quonset-hut" style multi-family longhouses cannot be ruled out. This figure also implies a minimum Missisquoi Village population over 100 Native persons if we only assume 2 people per family. If we use the anthropological standard of 5.2 persons/family/wigwam, the Native population would be over 250 persons. The Abenakis seemed to be in a defensive mode at the time, for they were accused of burning a barn that same year in Sheldon, twelve miles upriver from their village. Twenty years later produced the only known painting of Missisquoi Native people. A War of 1812-era oil painting on canvas "Tyler's Farm near Highgate" by a Benson (given name unknown) in the Shelburne Museum collection forms the cover of John Duffy's 1995 book Vermont, an Illustrated History (City Reports). The painting clearly depicts a birchbark canoe on Missisquoi Bay, with two women and a child in the canoe. The women were clearly wearing the ethnically distinct peaked hood characteristic of the Wabanaki (a collective culture group that includes the Abenakis, Penobscots, Maliseets, Passamaquoddies and Micmacs) Native people in the region. This is an important archival painting, in that it is the only known illustration of the traditional beadwork and ribbon-work decorated peaked hood from Vermont. There are a few distinctive ca. 1910-20 Native American artifacts from the area to confirm the identity of the people in the painting. Probably the most applicable period object is a beaded panel made of red "stroud" trade wool edged with (mostly decayed) silk ribbon (Figure 1). Mid 20th century Swanton historian and collector Ben Gravel, said it was found inside of the wall of a house in Swanton. Wiseman remembers that Gravel also had collected a pair of complete local moccasins that have disappeared since his death many years ago.
Figure 1. Red trade wool panel (epaulet or cuff) decorated with 10/0, and 15/0 beads.
Swanton, ca. 1800-1830.

Twenty years after the Shelburne Museum painting of women paddling just off of the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, the Green Mountain Democrat of April 3, 1935 explained that there was a "tribe of the Missisques, who live a wandering life on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain." That this "wandering life" was, at least partly, an accommodation to European economics is documented in the coeval Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania (Oct. 3, 1935), which reports ".... Indians from ... Lake Champlain have taken up residence in the city (Philadelphia, PA), dwelling in two birch bark tents, they propose to carry on the basket-making business." The basket making business reappears many times in the Missisquoi narrative, as we see below.

The physical nature of these mysterious early 19th century "Missisques" people was revealed at the Bushey Site, inadvertently uncovered in 2000 by construction of a residential cellar hole adjacent to the old mapped Missisquoi "Indian castle." This site consisted of a historic period graveyard, and, according to archaeologist James Petersen of the University of Vermont; was complete with the remains of softwood (not the traditional birchbark) coffins nailed with 18th and 19th century forged and cut nails. But the oils in the cedar coffins also preserved within them an additional important historical detail. In a December 09, 2002 e-mail, Dr. Petersen said "I looked at the (distinctive cut coffin nails Wiseman suggested he examine) nail and they are not-the single cut type, but the double cut style. I think that they are definitely a mid 19th century type." The artifacts referred to by Prof. Petersen were distinctive "cross-cut" nails found in at least two coffins, that were produced by a machine patented in the 1940's; thereby bringing the internments at Missisquoi into the mid-19th century. Unfortunately, the completely fragmented condition of the coffins precluded determination of how many coffins actually dated to the second quarter of the 19th century or any contextual relation with the human remains. Deborah Blom, the University of Vermont's physical anthropologist, studied the Bushey Site human remains dated by Dr. Petersen's technical analysis of the coffin nails. In her March 3, 2002 technical report Human Remains from Monument Road, Highgate, Vermont Professor Blom noted that the Bushy Site burials' teeth showed "the presence of shovel-shaped incisors and evidence of an edge-to-edge bite on the anterior teeth. None of the incisors were of a blade-form (i.e. non-Native form). These observations are consistent with Native American ancestry." In the 2006 video Against the Darkness (Title VI1 Indian Education), Prof. Blom also noted that the spatial distribution, burial density and relatively large estimated number of internments (approximately 30 as determined by bone analysis) from the construction area indicate that that they were interred in a graveyard. She further indicated that such a burial ground was often considered by anthropologists as evidence of a collective level of control over land resources. This archaeologjeal and physical anthropological information is probably the best independent scientific evidence that we have for an early and mid 19th
century Indigenous population in VT -- distinct in geography and genetics -- from their white settler neighbors.

One generation later, men bearing four discrete local family surnames were listed as "Indians" in October, 1963, Civil War conscription list from the Alburgh, VT Land and Miscellaneous Records Book (16:593/4), only a few miles from the Bushey Site. These explicitly listed VT Native persons (and their "same-parent" siblings) form an important identity baseline that confers documented native descendency to people from the Swanton/Alburgh/Highgate area. For example, Charles Partlow, one of the four conscripts, had a sister, Eliza Covey, née Partlow (b. 1826 of the same parent as Charles, so ethnicity is equivalent) who had daughter, Jenny Covey (b. 1959), who had a son, Herbert Hilliker (b. 1994), who had a daughter, Doris Hilliker (b. 1912) who had a daughter, Betty Reynolds (b. 1929) whose daughter, Cathy Cline (b. 1963) is the mother of Melody Walker, a young VT Indigenous woman pursuing a graduate degree in history at the University of Vermont. In addition, Doris Hilliker had a son Leonard Reynolds (b. 1926) who had a child Carolee Reynolds (b. 1957) whose daughter Takara Matthews (b. 1995), proudly serves in the VT Air National Guard.

Thirty years after Hazard's Register reported Indian Basket makers in Northwestern VT, these craftspeople continued to work in the area; as reported in the St Albans (VT) Messenger, Aug. 4, 1874: "Last Saturday, Josh Spooner saw a man in his woods... who proved to be an old Indian quietly pursuing his avocation of making baskets." An example Indigenous style clothing from this period (dated by the temporally distinctive brass buttons) consists of a beaded brown velvet vest (Figure 2) with added leather-fringe details, a harbinger of the "cut-cloth fringe" clothing style (see below). It was the custom for many Native people in the last third of the 19th century to craft colorful clothing to reinforce an "Indian" identity for their craft-selling, and perhaps Franklin Co.'s "Indian Basket makers" used this particular vest for such a purpose.

Figure 2. Velvet Man's vest with beadwork floral designs and appended animal-tanned leather fringe.
Swanton, VT. Mid 19th century

In the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century, Missisquoi-area people owned more exotic types of specially-made garments in the so-called "cut-cloth fringe" style. Scholars are most familiar with this regionally and temporally distinctive Native American clothing from late 19th and early 20th century
archival photographs of Maine Indians at "Indian Pageants" or crafts enclaves such as the "Indian Village" at Bar Harbor. Although made from locally obtained materials such as tan cotton cloth, it has a distinctive detail at the hems made by repeatedly cutting, ripping or slitting cloth panels to produce a fringed effect. The desired effect was to replicate fringed buckskin clothing in a more available medium. Decoration was typically appliqué or embroidery. Jewelry often consisted of long "flapper length" strands of glass or ceramic beads of various sizes and colors. Occasionally older decorative accessories such as beaded panels are included. Overall the effect was striking and certainly helped craftspeople express their ethnic identity. Vera Longtoe Sheehan, the Elnu Tribal Genealogist, recounts a family story from her grandmother (d. 2003) of the use of such "Indian clothes" at Missisquoi during this time period by "an old Indian woman, "Ms. Sheehan's 3rd great grandmother (d. 1932). Ms. Sheehan said "I asked my grandmother how did she know she (the 3rd great grandmother) was Indian?" Ms. Sheehan's grandmother described her as having "long braided hair and wearing Indian clothes...She wore old coins in her ears, many beads and a skirt with lots of ribbons. No white women would dress like that." Apparently these articles of clothing were locally made, because Ms. Sheehan's grandmother went on to talk about "the beautiful ribbon and beads that the old women would sew, as they all sat around. A Missisquoi outfit of "Indian Clothes" is illustrated in Figure 3. It was found in Highgate Falls, VT in the 1970's by Swanton antique dealer Gordon Winters. It consists of a distinctive trilobate velvet "Indian Princess" crown, decorated with expedient hand-cut glass tube beads; a tan cotton dress with red cut cloth fringe and embroidered panels recycled from a Victorian lambrequin (shelf decoration). Accessories include a red cotton cloth sash and an alternating blue and white ceramic bead necklace (the other necklaces in the illustration are not original to the ensemble). These handmade, often charmingly idiosyncratic clothes are structurally and technologically unlike "Campfire Girl" and "Degree (or Daughters) of Pocahontas" manufactured costume that occasionally turns up in VT. In the early 1990's Wiseman imprudently purchased Campfire, Pocahontas and "Improved Order of Red Man” clothing and fashion accessories before he was able to properly identify the standardized, commercially-produced Euroamerican products.

Figure 3. Missisquoi woman modeling complete woman's cut cloth fringe outfit.
Highgate Falls, VT. Late 19th century/early 20th century

Elaborate handcrafted Indian fashion costuming was often used to help Indigenous people to sell baskets and other crafts at the turn of the 20th century. Figure 4 illustrates an important fancy "Cowiss Style” Missisquoi basket. From the extant collection of baskets with a solid Missisquoi provenance, it seems that
Missisquoi basket makers never practiced the ubiquitous "sweetgrass" basket style sold by the itinerant VT "Gypsies" and the Odanak-based Panadis family -- evidence of a distinctive evolved local "Native" technological tradition. They seemed to focus instead on the distinctive "overlay weave" or "cowiss" basketry style into the 1940's (Figure 5), long after it became obsolete in other indigenous basket making centers. Missisquois never seemed to adopt the more simple bundled, braided or woven sweet grass technique except perhaps for reinforcing basket rims such as that seen on the example in Figure 4.

Figure 4. "Crossed Standard diamond" cowiss style Missisquoi Abenaki ash-splint basket.
Bundled sweetgrass reinforced rim.
Ca 1890-1920 Made by Lapan Family or a close relative

The fact that the Missisquoi region had a remarkably large community of Indian basket makers was described by the June 19, 1893 St. Albans Messenger, "Twenty four Indians have encamped at Kingfisher Bay near Swanton, and are busy plying their trade of basket making to catch the stray nickel." This shoreline encampment was a significant Indigenous seasonal settlement, probably around five families, who would have erected several tents or wigwams, and built fire pits. The Kingfisher Bay occupation was independent of the Panadis family bi-national basket sellers who were headquartered at Highgate Springs. Odanak elder Cecile Wawanolet, who came to Highgate Springs with the Panadis family in the second quarter of the 20th century, said that their temporary camp and display tent was located at Shipyard Bay, where the tour ships and summer camps gave them a good livelihood. During this period, the Lapan family was widely known as the premiere Indian basket making family in the Swanton/Highgate/Sheldon area. Their late 19th and early 20th century utility and fancy baskets (probably Figure 4 and definitely Figure 5) as well as articles of their "Indian Costume" (a Niagara-style "princess crown") and tools (a pine "basket mold") are curated at the Wôbanakik Heritage Center, having been donated by descendent Jesse Lapan and other Swantonians. The latest documented Lapan basket in the Center's collection is of a decadent style unlike those made in elsewhere, and dated 1943 (Figure 5). The old Abenaki basket makers have not been forgotten. Ms. Polly Parre of Swanton, VT still has ash splint materials (woven chair seats) made for her by the Lapans in the 1950's. In addition, Swanton's elderly still remember the local Indians with a measure of fondness. Ms. Lucille Bell said, in the January 7, 1996 Burlington Free Press, "I remember we had an Indian family here (Swanton, VT), and the woman made baskets and used to come around door to door to sell them. We didn't make a big thing of it and neither did they."

Figure 5. "Standard diamond" style Basket, Missisquoi, VT, dated "1943," in ink on bottom.
The latest well-documented Lapan ash-splint basket

As an allied alternative to the almost ubiquitous ash-splint basket crafting, local Native people collected and/or marketed medicinal herbs. The earliest local evidence of this Indigenous medicinal herbal collecting and processing activity is an artifact from John Colson, the "Indian Nurse" who lived between Swanton and St. Albans. He sold "Indian medicines" in well printed glass bottles, some of which still remain (Figure 6). It is interesting that the label is bilingual, indicating sales to local francophone Vermonters. This is a 19th century "anchor" documentation of an active, long-term herbal collecting activity by people of professed Native identity in Franklin Co. VT.

Later, the Swanton "River Rats" (for discussion of their Indigenous ethnicity see Wiseman 2001, Voice of the Dawn: 120-132) used to collect local plants as a source of income at least into the 1860's. As a child, Dr. Fred Wiseman helped his adult "River Rat" friend Monkey Drew gather skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) in the marshes of the Missisquoi River delta. He remembers that there was a man who would show up in the parking lot across from Swanton's "Merchant's Row" and would pay for skullcap and other herbs. Wiseman remembers "making a dollar as my cut of the profits."
Figure 6. John Colson "Indian Nurse" bottle, ca 1860 with "St. Albans, VT" label.


By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Euroamerican ethnic signifier of Swanton-area Indigenous people had evolved from the Green Mountain Democrat's "Missisques" to Abbe Hemmingway's 1993 "St. Francis Indians" in the VT Historical Gazetteer (Vol. IV:945). Documentation that this ambiguous "St. Francis Indians" ethnic signifier was geographically tied to the Missisquoi region (rather than referring to Quebec Mission villages such as Odanak) is literally "engraved in stone" on the 1909 Monument to the Catholic Missisquoi mission. This inscription, still standing today on Monument Road, Highgate, VT, names local Christianized Indians as "St. Francis Indians." In the second quarter of the 20th century, the State of Vermont's Eugenics Survey records (as recently published by the VT Attorney General) listed a mixed French/Indian sub-community called today "the Back Bay" in Swanton, VT, and census-listed residents of this geographically restricted community are the grandparents of a local population of living people who consider themselves Native American. In the first half of the 20th century, the Back Bay (as well as a few isolated families elsewhere in Swanton/Highgate towns) was composed of a set of "core" family bands. There was apparently some kind of formal leadership of these core bands. This fact was hinted at in a mid 20th century quote by Swanton collector and historian Ben Gravel.

I remember when I was a kid (in the late 19th century), we had a chief in (Swanton) town.
Ben Gravel, June 1969 (Wiseman, 2001, Voice of the Dawn
p. 144)

There is evidence that the Abenaki language was used by Missisquoi elders during this period. Years ago, Swanton historian Ben Gravel told author Fred Wiseman that the Abenaki language was spoken in Swanton into the 1950's. The Elnu Tribe's genealogist, Vera Longtoe Sheehan, confirms this anecdote; recounting a family story from her Missisquoi grandmother (d. 2003) of the use of the Abenaki language by the
Missisquoi Indian community in the late l9th or early 20th century. Sheehan's grandmother said "The older folks did the talking... in those days you were quiet, unless spoken to. The older folks would talk to me, but I couldn't understand them...Because they didn't speak English." What did they speak," Sheehan asked her grandmother. "The old language," she answered.

According to former Chief Homer St. Francis, when he was a child, "the older folks," the heads of these family bands used to meet around his father's, and other kitchen tables, to discuss issues of mutual concern. St. Francis remembers free Canadian/American border crossing by Indians as being one of the issues discussed. Although the young St. Francis was not privy to the intricacies of the (1940's-early 1950's?) discussions, he remembered that decision-making seemed to be informal, respectful (usually) and by consensus.

In addition, each core family band had, and in some cases maintains, its own distinguishing subsistence grounds along the Missisquoi River Valley; and protocols for admitting others into these subsistence grounds. Dr. Wiseman's grandfather, used to visit Mr. Ed Hakey, a Missisquoi patriarch, in the 1950's, whenever he wished to fish an "above the dam" section of the Missisquoi River. Wiseman's grandfather (and father after him) used to bring Mr. Hakey a present of a fishing lure, or some equivalent item of value as a sign of respect. Wiseman's family's traditional fishing territory was "the reef' a linear, north trending ledge and boulder ridge on the bottom of Missisquoi Bay. It was that family's responsibility to mark the north end of the reef for other fishermen with a red-painted wooden buoy (?-1979), or later (1979-1985) a plastic gallon milk-jug. This "buoying the reef” tradition was maintained father every May until Wiseman's father's death. This history is evidence of resource partitioning and protocols for gaining permission from community leaders to use the resource zones -- persisting into living memory.

In addition, family bands hunted and collected in partitioned floodplain and upland zones of the Missisquoi Valley. These subsistence zones were long-term, spatially consistent and bounded within themselves, yet cut across existing property and town lines; and even the more fluid hunting and fishing areas of Missisquoi's Franco VT and Anglo VT neighbors. These use areas often had seasonally occupied "cottages" or deer camps signing the core of the area -- from the "Grandma Lampman" territory (marked with an historical plaque) at Maquam on the shores of Lake Champlain, through the uplands between Swanton and Highgate (Wiseman's grandmother's family [the Ouimets'] area was Woods Hill/Marble Quarry Hill on the south shore of the River), and at least as far upriver as the St. Francis' well-known and attended Berkshire camp. In addition, there remain enduring nuances of hunting and fishing practice that signal Native heritage. On Missisquoi Bay (Highgate, VT), Abenaki ice fishermen warm their fish-eye bait under their tongues, a practice considered "gross" by their Anglo and Franco-VT neighbors. In Wiseman's classes at Johnson State College, "I tell of this practice, and ask if my students or their families warm the fish-eyes in this way. Many do not, but some, even from the Northeast Kingdom, share this practice." Every ice fisherman has strong personal feelings, positive or negative of this practice and these feelings are repeatedly correlated with other familial traces of Native ancestry/tradition. In addition, a unique subsistence tool also remains as evidence of local Native identity.

Almost every museum in the Northeast has at least one of the distinctive Wabanaki-style three pronged fish spears used by the Micmacs, Maliseets, Passamaquoddy Native People of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. Apparently, this device was unknown at the Odanak, QC Abenaki settlement – so Wiseman donated one from Western Maine to the Museé des Abenakis so Odanak would have an example. This spear has a central bone or metal spike and two wood "guides" to direct the fish onto the central barb. Mr. Hakey of Swanton had a wooden example that he "used before the war (WWII) below the dam in Swanton" to spear eels (Figure 7). This example is almost identical in construction to other traditional fish spears and completely different than any other type of Euroamerican eel or fish spear, which has all-metal heads with several barbed prongs, and lack the distinctive "guides".
Figure 7. Wabanaki-style fish spear.
Maple wood with iron wire skewer, wrapping is new.
Ed Hakey Swanton, VT, early 20th century.

This old geographic subsistence pattern may extend farther afield and calls for future research. For example, Peter Miller's Vermont People (Silver Print Press) has a "biopic" of a Mr. Larry Benoit, a modern-era, regionally renowned deer hunter originally from the Montgomery, VT area. Mr. Benoit freely credits his hunting prowess, in part, to an admitted Indian ancestry. The Montgomery Benoits may be the "tip of the iceberg" of yet another, still unstudied regional partitioning family band. This distinctive, family band-based subsistence pattern is similar to that described by anthropologist Frank Speck in pp. 203 – 212 of Penobscot Man; a persistent Indigenous land use and tenure pattern that is repeated in other VT cultural regions.

It was in Swanton's Back Bay where the family band leaders met around the kitchen tables that began Missisquoi's well documented cultural revival in the 1960's (Figure 8). Research done for the St. Francis/Sokoki Band recognition petition to the federal government, showed a statistically significant rate of endogamy (in-marriage) in the Back Bay community at this time – evidence of mid-century ethnic/cultural distinctness and a communal separation from the larger Franklin County, VT community. For ease of communication, this indigenous community abandoned the "St. Francis Indian" appellation (except-for political purposes), and adopted the Euroamerican term "Abenaki" with the English (Ā-ben-aki) rather than Quebequois (A-ben'-aki) pronunciation. The "A-ben-aki" accenting became a cultural code for VT polity, and so has been a functional political/geographic separator of local Indigenous people, lineages and polities from their Quebec brethren and their supporters. As the early focus of the VT Abenaki renaissance, Missisquoi became a cultural magnet for other Vermont families and communities that retained a Native identity or memory of antecedent familial Native identity. Before the 1990's, it was the sole externally recognized Abenaki political entity in Vermont, and so attracted citizenship throughout the state and beyond its borders. It was a huge influence on other VT Indigenous regional leadership such as Nulhegan's Nancy Cote, or Koasek's Nancy Doucet, as they have repeatedly told scholars over the years. Since the 1970's there have been political splinter groups and schisms at Missisquoi caused by interpersonal rivalries and philosophical differences. These sub-groups either disintegrated (such as the Traditional Bands of Mazipskoik) or are family-based, and were therefore not a "tribe" in the political/legalistic sense we use in this paper. As the only 21st century "tribal" polity at Missisquoi; the St. Francis/Sokoki Band, with a proud history, a well established tribal census roll, headquarters and museum, as well as cultural and economic programs, and well represents its legacy.
Figure 9. 1950's-60's Hand loomed beaded leather brow-band.
This particular item is Fig. 42 Page 153 of Chapter "The Darkness Ends"
of Frederick Matthew Wiseman's book "The Voice of the Dawn"
The earliest known artifact of the Missisquoi Abenaki renaissance.
In the Voice of the Dawn Pg. 258-259 Wiseman states:
"42. Artifacts of the early Missisquoi Abenaki Renanissance.
Man's loom-beaded headband on leather
(St. Albans, Vermont ca. 1968)
NOTICE HOW HIS SCHOLARLY OPINION
HE "PUSHES" the "artifact" back into the "1950's"

In this section we have provided rich and layered forensic evidence of a community that was seen as Native by European observers over the years. It has left internally consistent archaeological and physical anthropological evidence of a corporate entity that had enough collective control over land resources to maintain a multi-generation 19th century burial ground. Missisquoi exhibits an extended riverine land use and tenure system that mirrors that of other regional native peoples. Missisquois were specifically described as Indian craftspeople throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, confirmed by remaining ethnically-distinctive baskets and tools. There remains abundant anecdotal memory in the community of distinctive "Indian" artifacts and language. The modern "St. Francis/Sokoki Band" polity is composed of tribal rolls of community members whose ancestry descends from these 19th and 20th century "Indians," exercises internal political power, and represents its citizens in local and state Euroamerican politics. It is our judgment that the St. Francis/Sokoki Band meets the cultural geographic and historical criteria for political designation as an Abenaki tribe.

MY RESPONSE:


What are the SOURCES for these baskets and other items/ "artifacts" Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD cites in this "Decolonizing the Abenakis..."?
 
"Stories" are nice that he has placed with these items, yet what are the actual SOURCES for these particular items? Why has Mr. Wiseman PhD cited this "Something of Value paper" and not provided it as part of the record? Why are people able to "see" this "Decolonizing the Abenaki...." write-up and yet, people are unable to "see" (and review) the source of data, that went into creating this secondary (alleged scholarly) work of Mr. Wiseman's?
 
It appears that Mr. Frederick M. Wiseman is showing what is in his right hand, but hiding what he indicates is in his left hand (supposedly). He cites Calloway's "The Western Abenakis of Vemront, 1600-1800, War Migration , and the survival of an Indian Poeple" © 1990, that of William A. Haviland and Marjory W. Power's "The Original Vermonts, Native Inhabitants-Past and Present"  © 1994(both books were HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY JOHN MOODY), and of course Mr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman cites HIMSELF, his books such at "The Voice of the Dawn, An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation" © 2001.
(Yet, from what has been and is yet to be, posted, on this blog, is NOT in any of the afore-mentioned books regarding the so-called "Abenakis" in Vermont).
 
Did he buy them at auctionhouse(s), garage sale(s), eBay.com and or did he and/ or his sutdents acquire these baskets by some other method?
 
A good scholarly piece of work has verifiable SOURCES for EVERYTHING.
 
Since, in my thinking, these items Mr. Wiseman has cited (in this supposed scholarly work), are NOT PROPERLY SCHOLARLY SOURCED, the question begs to be inquired (and answered): 
 
Did Mr. Fred Wiseman Sr. just appropriate someone else's cultural items and/or heritage (to fulfill his own created VT "Abenaki Recognition" Criteria? Do these items "belong" to the LaPan family, and he "used" these items without permission? Is the LaPan family members of the SAME group that Mr. PhD Wiseman is a member of? 
 
No one even knows if these baskets (and other items) actually belong to families that belong to Missisiquoi (most of these items/ cited "artifacts" do not seem to have been kept WITHIN a so-called "Abenaki" family). Perhaps Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD could very well be making up conclusions as he goes along (?), collecting these items at garage sales, estate's, auctionering events (one of these two baskets herein Mr. Wiseman bought at-auction from a Colleen Brow in or around Swanton, VT), and even obtaining items off from eBay.com with questionable/ dubious provenance!

Pages 24-38 of "Decolonizing the Abenaki: A Methodology for Detecting the Vermont Tribal Identity" Regarding the "Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck" led by Luke Andrew Willard:

S. 222 § 853. (b) Recognition Criteria:

Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck
190 Cross Road

Newport, VT 05855
Prepared by
Chief (Sogomo) Luke Willard
and
Prof. Fred Wiseman
Chair, Department of Humanities
Johnson State College

This document has been prepared by the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck Tribe to fulfill the recognition criteria as required by Vermont Statute S. 222 § 853. (b). The materials contained herein are for the purposes of legislative recognition by the Vermont Legislature-only, and--may not be published or otherwise used without permission of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck.

© 2010 Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck
S. 222/ § 853 (b) For the purposes of recognition, a Vermont Native American tribe must demonstrate that it has:


(1) A physical and legal residence in Vermont.
Headquarters, Abenaki Nation at Nulhegan
190 Cross Road
Newport, VT 05855

(2) An organized tribal membership roll along with specific criteria that were used to determine membership, including evidence of kinship among tribal members.
Genealogical census of families; ongoing registration of births, marriages, and deaths. Census committee oversees new registrations based upon documentable descendency from known Abenaki families within Nulhegan/ Memphremagog/ Coos ancestral territory.

(3) Documented traditions, customs, and legends that signify Native American heritage.
Detailed historical/geographical data compiled by Frederick Wiseman submitted Jan 22. Summary review appended as Appendix 1.

(4) A tribal council, a constitution, and a chief.
(a) Tribal council
Legislative: Tribal Council
Judiciary: Elders Council
(b) Constitution
Written Constitution
(c) Chief
Chief (Sogomo)
Asst. Chief (Sogomis)

(5) Been and continues to be recognized by other Native American communities in Vermont as a Vermont tribe.
All Tribes are united in an Alliance (The Vermont Indigenous Alliance) and after a vigorous three year vetting process (2006-2009) each tribe of the Alliance recognizes all others as Indian tribes. See cover letter.

(6) Been known by state, county or local municipal officials, or the public as a functioning tribe in Vermont.
Officials:
Fred Wiseman (Researched post-1790 history of Nulhegan; Attachment 1).
Our "First nations Powwow and Heritage Weekend" in June is co-sponsored by the City of Newport. Worked with City of Newport on various projects (Attachments 2 & 3)
Public
Our yearly Pow-wow in the Newport, VT area, is our main public awareness/ public relations event where the local and regional public learn of our distinct local Native culture and heritage. We have been featured in local newspaper articles (Attachment #4)

(7) Not been recognized as a tribe in any other state, province, or nation
The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck has never been officially recognized as a tribe in any other state, province, or nation

(8) An enduring community presence within the boundaries of Vermont that can be documented by archaeology, ethnography, physical anthropology, history, genealogy, folklore and/or other applicable scholarly research. (Appendix 2)
The Abenaki Tribal Museum and
The Wôbanakik Heritage Center
17 Spring St. Swanton, VT 05488

Where the past points to the future

Memo

To: Who It may Concern

From: Frederick M. Wiseman, Ph.D
Director
Date: 02/28/10
RE: Nulhegan Band
February 20, 2010

I am writing this. letter of support for the Nulhegan Band of the Abenaki Nation. Although I have known Nulhegan elders, such as the recently deceased Nancy Cote, for many years, I was unaware of the tribal structure and local history of the Nulhegan band until 2006, when it became obvious that I had to study and understand this group in order to resolve political friction that was occurring between Nulhegan and Missisquoi. It has been a joy to work with Chief Luke Willard and Band members such as Ms. Cote's daughter Dawn Macie over the last several years in helping design their cultural center, assisting with grant writing for their social services wing AHA, Inc. (Abenakis Helping Abenakis), and completing a research project (with Chief Willard) concerning their local band history for my upcoming book Against the Darkness (to be published by University Press of New England). I was also present at the opening of the VT Quadricentennial "Indigenous Celebration" where Chief Willard proudly represented his people before the crowds of tourists at the Burlington Waterfront.

I am entirely convinced that the Nulhegan Band is currently and has been a functional Indian Tribe in Vermont. The Band exercises a measure of political oversight of their population, and relate to their Vermont neighbors in cultural, historical and other ways in a positive manner. l know that Nulhegan has been an enthusiastic partner in the Vermont Indigenous Alliance, and has initiated contact with the Elnu Tribe to have them participate in their pow-wow, so I expect that Nulhegan will be a growing and positive influence in the VT Native world.
(802)868-3808 / wisem@vtlink.not
Attachment 2. (see #8)


NEWPORT CITY COUNCIL MEETING
AGENDA
Monday, 3 March 2008

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING 7:00 PM PUBLIC HEARING
CITY COUNCIL ROOM
City Council: Ellwood Guyette, Mayor
Paul Monette
John Wilson
Richard Baraw
Charlie Elliott - John Ward, Jr., City Manager
James D. Johnson, City Clerk/Treasurer

1. Call the Meeting to Order
2. Approve Minutes of February 4, 2008
3. Consider Approval for March of Dimes Walk America on Sunday May 4, 2008
4. Consider Approval of Resolution for VCDP Senior Housing Grant
5. Consider Appointment to Development Review Board
6. Consider Appointment of Town Service Officer
7. 7:30 Public Review and Comment on the City of Newport Solid Waste Implementation Plan
8. Discussion of AEA, Inc Cultural Museum & Education Center Project
9. Consider Landfill Leachate Proposal
10. Request to Replace Flooring in Police Department
11. Discussion on Boat Storage at Water Tower
12. Request to Approve Grants Management Contract with Northeast Kingdom Learning Services Inc.
13. Review Income/Expenses thru January 08
14. New Business
15. Old Business
16. Set Next Meeting Date
17. Executive Session – Personnel Issue
18. Executive Session – Union Issue
19. Executive Session – City Manager Evaluation
20. Adjourn
Attachment 3. (see #10)


NEWPORT CITY COUNCIL MEETING
AGENDA
Monday, 5 February 2007
7:00 PM CITY COUNCIL ROOM

City Council: Ellwood Guyette, Mayor Paul Monette
John Wilson
Richard Baraw
Karin Zisselsberger
John Ward, Jr., City Manager
James D. Johnson, City Clerk/Treasurer

1. Call the Meeting to Order
2. Approval Minutes of January 22, 2007
3. Approval Minutes of January 29, 2007
4. Approval Minutes of January 30, 2007
5. City School Board Budget Presentation
6. Causeway Traffic Light Discussion with Passumpsic Savings Bank
7. Review Passumpsic Savings Bank Traffic Access Plan New Building Consider Moving Location of Gardner Street
8. Consider Coin Drop Requests
9. Community Justice Center Legislation
10. Consider Cultural Museum Proposal from The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki People (previously tabled)
11. Action City of Newport SRF Loan Documents (Arsenic Mitigation) Resolution and Certificate
General Obligation Bond
Certificate of Registration
Tax Certificate
Loan Agreement
IRS Form 8038-G
12. New Business
13. Old Business
14. Executive Session – Personnel Issue
15. Set Next Meeting Date
16. Adjourn
Attachment #4 Newspaper article photo of Nulhegan Band leadership in 2002


Some of the members of the Nulhegan Band, Cowasuk Abenakis, who are petitioning the Vermont legislature for state recognition. From left to right, rear, Luke Willard, Dawn Macie (Dancing Light), front row, left to right: Nancy Cote, Silent Thunder, Sparkling Water. (Photo by Anne L. Squire)

The Express (Newport, VT) May 16, 2002

Mr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD I guess, forgot (?) to INCLUDE, the article that attached to this particular photograph in The Express Newspaper of Newport, Vermont. Here is the LINK: http://reinventedvermontabenaki.blogspot.com/2010/02/nulhegan-group-article-in-express.html so that people can KNOW exactly the FULL DETAILS and CONTEXT of the photograph itself.
APPENDIX 1

§ 853 (b) (3) Documented traditions, customs, and legends that signify Native American heritage.

The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck retains a significant fund of traditional knowledge and customs that can be tied to a native heritage through ethnography or folkloric studies, as detailed in Appendix 2. Below is a sample of data to specifically address criterion § 853. (b) (3) "Documented traditions, customs, and legends that signify Native American heritage." Many of these data have been abstracted from the more detailed Appendix 2

Traditions and Customs
At Nulhegan it is hard to separate traditions and customs of modern and recent band citizens and so both will be considered together. According to tradition recounted by both Nulhegan and Koasek (see below) citizens, a well-known Derby Line, VT family ("The Ramos") was accepted as Abenaki by everyone "before it became cool to be Abenaki" (in the 1950's). The most important modern tradition/custom at Nulhegan involves land use. Author and Nulhegan Band Chief Luke Willard noted in an e-mail to Wiseman that "Each branch (i.e. "core" family band) has land on their respective bluffs (of the Clyde/Nulhegan Rivers) and each branch is separated by approximately 3-4 Miles of river. Relations between the branches are strong among the older ones... not so much in the younger ones." These "branches" evolved slightly different life ways: one "branch" was involved in commerce, one in tribal affairs, another was known for its hunting and trapping, and one for gardening and fishing. This family-based geographic (and to a certain extent economic/political) segregation is identical to the Indigenous Wabanaki land tenure system described by Frank Speck on pages 212-229 of his Penobscot Man, to reconstruct Indigenous land tenure and use but heretofore without local VT confirmation. One of the most complete examples of "Northern Indigenous Horticulture" agricultural custom is the "Curtis family branch" garden of bean, corn, and squash at Salem Lake. It was planted in traditional large mounds illustrated as "a typical Indian corn hill" on page 71 of Kerry Hardy's 2009 book Notes on a lost flute: A field guide to the Wabanaki (Downeast Press). According to family oral history recorded from several Nulhegan Band members; heirloom seed varieties, a few of which may still remain, were also planted there. This geographic and environmental information on Abenaki family distributions and adaptations makes the Nulhegan zone one of the few regions in VT that we can trace ancient Indigenous-style, family-based land use zones that remained functional into 20th century living memory. In addition to land-use, there are traces of distinctive local water-based Native customs, such as an enigmatic steel apparatus -- a recycled, 1920's tubular steel fishing rod tipped with a very sharp spring wire spike, flanked by two outward curved spring wire prongs and lashed together with two diameters of flex steel wire. Unfortunately, we have missed its customary use by one generation in that the modern owner of the spear did not know what it was used for, but only that it came from his father's house in Lake Park (North Derby, VT). This contraption was clearly an Indigenous Wabanaki style fish spear (see Appendix 2 for more detail), one of only two documented examples that have come from anywhere west of Maine in the last 20 years!

Legends
Unfortunately the only documented legend from the area was recounted to Wiseman in Magog, QC, of an underwater creature in Lake Memphramagog that is probably the supernatural creature tatoskok, the underwater serpent. More cannot be said to this matter.
APPENDIX 2

§ 853. (b) (8) An enduring' community presence within the boundaries of Vermont that can be documented by archaeology, ethnography, physical anthropology, history, genealogy, folklore and/or other applicable scholarly research.

Introduction
This information is extracted from the "Something of Value" paper delivered to the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs on Jan 22, 2010.

The most northern locus of Vermont Indigenous presence is a zone on the southeastern side of Lake Memphremagog, extending to Salem Lake and the Clyde/Nulhegan Rivers and down to Wells River in Orleans, Essex, and Caledonia Counties. This Abenaki cultural zone has a "Crossroads Before and Beyond" exhibit at the Memphremagog Historical Society of Newport (in the State Office Building); but does not have a published detailed history, like Missisquoi's Voice of the Dawn, or The Original Vermonters. Years ago, local Abenakis complained about this lack of published history to historian Mariella Squier (Squire). On page 155 of her 1996 dissertation, Contemporary Western Abenakis, she quotes a young man: "I just finished reading Haviland (The Original Vermonters' first author) and he doesn't mention us at all. If we're not in Haviland, do we really exist?" So obviously, much more ethnographic and historical detail is necessary.

A scanned "pdf" document on file in the Wôbanakik Heritage Center (Swanton) archives shows that in 1796 a Chief "Philip," Chief of Upper Coos, as well as Molley Messel (a.k.a Marie Michel/Mitchell) and Ms. Mooselek Sussop signed an important document called the "Deed of the Coos Country." This deed gave up the indigenous land legal ownership of the "Coos Country," but reserved rights of taking fish in all waters forever by Indians who used this tract of land, as well as the "liberty of four bushels of corn and beans." In addition to being a good place to begin the historical narrative, it geographically lays out the "Upper Coos" region. The deed explicitly noted that Lake Memphramagog (then called Mamsloobagogg), the carrying place (canoe portage) to the Clyde River, then the upper Nulhegan (called Nulpeageawnuk) River and the east side of the Connecticut south to the mouth of the Ammunoosuck (Ammonoosuc River, more or less at modern Wells River, VT), are Upper Coos territory.

Historian Gordon Day pointed out on pages 58 and 59 of his 1981 The Identity of the St. Francis Indians, that this deeded area encompassed persistent Indian settlements, often of traditional birch bark wigwams, in the post 1780 period -- at Salem Lake, Lake Seymour, Crystal Lake, Lake Elligo (still retaining its Native name derived from eligo-sigo), and near Craftsbury. This is the region I consider in this section of the narrative. And so, unlike the more well-known Missisquoi, or even Koas, the foundation of this culture zone's confirmation of collective Vermont Indigenous identity rests not on a settled, widely known village, but instead on mapping ancestral residency, supported by a rich legacy of artifacts, ethnobotanical knowledge and photographs that have descended in modern Nulhegan Band leaders', and members' possession; and whose kind sharing of these materials and genealogies is the basis of this historical geography.

Historical "players" in the Upper Coos
The Upper Cowass area has a long subsequent history of Indigenous settlement, especially on or near the significantly named "Indian Point," a high bluff land jutting into the Vermont portion of Lake Memphramagog from the East. It was here that historian Gordon Day, in pp. 58-59 of his Identity of the St. Francis Indians asserted that Captain Sozap (Pierre Joseph Wawanolet) positioned his band's main village -- where first known Roman Catholic Mass in the area was performed in 1840 (see also catholicparishesofnortheastvermont.com/stmary/history_htm). Another important locus of Indigenous presence is Salem Lake, just to the east of Derby, VT, that was formerly known as "Lac d' Abenaquis." Vermont Historian Katherine Blaisdell in her 1979 book Over the River and through the Years (Courier Printing Company), notes that at least one traditional bark wigwam was on the shores of Salem Pond in the mid 19th century; home to "Old Joe Indian," and his wife Mary. V. Downs, in his 1960 Vermont Life (14 11 14) "Indian Joe" article, noted that his hunting grounds apparently extended south-to Cady's Falls, near Morrisville, VT. There is a slight possibility that he was Captain Sozap of Indian Point, but more
likely he was Joseph Sabattist, or one of the six other "Josephs (or Suseph, which is "Joseph" in Abenaki) from the Newbury VT, "Company of Indians" who fought in the Revolutionary War (or possibly a child of one of these men). "Old Joe Indian," was apparently a prodigious fisherman. It seems that he was well liked in the nascent Euroamerican community, trading fish for whiskey, sharing their pork and beans, and listening to Euroamerican music. Another important local early 19th century Abenaki individual was "Old Swassin," a well-known Indian guide on Lake Memphramagog. This was probably Swassin Otondosonne, who was buried (after 1805 and before 1813) in Barton, VT (http://www.avcnet.org/ne-doba/cs_d08_1.html). Incidentally, Barton, VT was reported by Gordon Day on page 59 of his 1981 Identity of the St. Francis Indians as having "numerous wigwams at Crystal Lake" in 1790. These recorded "town characters" are the local VT Abenakis who chose to interact as Indians with their Euroamerican neighbors. We can rest assured that there were many others left unrecorded, except in the many 19th century descriptions of their "Indian camps." According to Abenaki Historian Mariella Squier (Mariella R. Squire) on page 176 of her 1996 dissertation, The Contemporary Western Abenakis, Joe and Mary's daughter, a Polly Sosap, had many modern descendents in the area: Old Swassin's daughter, Helen Totoson stands as an important matriarch of the modern Nulhegan Band's genealogical records. Later residents of Salem Pond (Figure 12) baptized their children at St. Francis (Odanak), and retained other Indigenous characteristics that we discuss below.


Figure 1. Ms. Nancy Snow, a mid 19th century Upper Cowass matriarch
She is wearing early 19th century silver "ball and cone" earbobs.


This ethnic enclave was on the divide between the larger north trending St. Francis River drainage, and the smaller, east trending Clyde/Nulhegan River. This place was such an important canoe trail between the St. Francis and Connecticut River that it was called the "Indian Stream" in the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty that set the US Canadian border. Although St. Mary's parish (Newport) was founded in 1873 when Rev. J.S. Michaud became its first resident pastor, many local Indigenous people continued to register their children's baptisms at St. Francis, a 19th century affirmation of ethnic connection. For example; one of Totoson's turn-of-the 20th century descendents from Derby, VT who was genealogically well-documented in the Nulhegan Band's tribal record files; had most of his children baptized at St. Francis. But most importantly for a claim of VT residence -- they all died in Derby or Newport; VT -- documenting an American, rather than Canadian residence of these people during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of those children was born in modern Stanstead, Quebec in 1905 when it was Derby, VT (the border was
 
farther north in the 19th century, which is why most 19th century Stanstead records are now held in Derby, VT); and married and died at Salem Lake in modern Derby Town, VT. Family tradition states that she never crossed into Canada after age 5, because she was "afraid that she may not be able to re-cross the border back into the United States." Yet another important ethnic identifier was a collective remembrance held by the Euroamerican community concerning local Native identity. According to tradition recounted by both Nulhegan and Koasek (see below) citizens, a well-known Derby Line, VT family ("The Ramos") was accepted as Abenaki in the 1950's "before it became cool to be Abenaki." While US Census data did not record non-reservation (VT) Indian people as Native; the 1880 Canadian Census classified "born in the USA" Ramos' then residing in Ontario, as being Native. This is empirical evidence of an American rather than Canadian family origin of the surname, gives a measure of independent confirmation to the local tradition of Native acceptance. This is an example of documentary, genealogical and oral history evidence locating Indigenous lineages in Vermont during the 1860-1920 period. It is also critical for the argument of VT Indigenous identity, to note that these 19th century people did not re-settle in Quebec Native communities, or spend large amounts of time there, like the Champlain Valley's Obomsawin, Panadis and families, but stayed in the United States to beget large numbers of socially organized American descendents who still live in the region today.

Artifacts and imagery
In addition to "Indian Characters" and kin-group geography, there is other, more empirical evidence of cultural continuity in the Upper Cowass. Probably the most telling image of regional, mid 19th century Indigenous life in Vermont is Cornelius Krieghoff's famous 1854 painting "Indian Encampment, Lake Memphramagog" (Figure 2), complete with important pictorial data on local canoe construction, clothing styles and an atypical conical bark lodge.

Figure 2. "Indian Encampment, Lake Memphramagog," 1854, Cornelius Krieghoff

Canoe maker and scholar of the craft, Aaron York has found an early canoe (late 18th or early 19th century) from the Lake that he considers evidence of a discrete canoe building tradition at Lake Memphramagog. This canoe served as the basis of his 2007 recreation of a 1609-era canoe now curated at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. York notes that the thwart and gunwale construction is distinct from the typical 19th century "St. Francis" (Odanak) canoes such as the ca. 1880 example (probably made by the binational Panadis family) as curated at the Abenaki Tribal Museum in Swanton, VT. York infers that these design differences are evidence of a technological tradition that is distinct from Odanak, an important point that supports a culturally separate Indigenous technological tradition in the Lake Memphramagog area.

Independent evidence of local Native lacustrine (lake) adaptation is an enigmatic steel apparatus found in a garage sale in Newport, VT. It is basically a recycled, 1920's tubular steel fishing rod tipped with a very sharp spring wire spike, flanked by two outward curved spring wire prongs. The whole assembly is wired together with two diameters of steel wire (Figure 3). This is a diminutive version of the highly distinctive Wabanaki fish spear (see Missisquoi Appendix, Figure 7) executed in metal rather than wood. It shows the
creative adaptation of the guide-technology that is the hallmark of the Wabanaki spear, and brings this technology into the second quarter of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the owner was dismissive of the spear, and did not know what it was used for, but only that it came from his father's house in Lake Park (North Derby).


Figure 3. Steel eel or ice-fishing spear, near Newport, VT. Ca. 1930-40.

LINK: http://www.nedoba.org/topic_wiseman.html

There are minor 19th and early 20th century material indicators of a local ash-splint basket making and selling tradition in the area. The main evidence for the practice is a wooden basket gauge (Figure 4) from Troy, VT; and a well-documented horse-feed basket (curated at the Wôbanakik Heritage Center, Swanton, VT), made and sold in Newport, VT, which points to a local tradition. In addition, a unique regional "fancy basket" characteristic pointed out to Dr. Fred Wiseman years ago by VT ethnographer John Moody, is the incorporation of over-weave of cherry root as a design motif in an early 20th century example. At this time, there are no written records of north-central VT basket makers to date, describe or otherwise corroborate evidence of this economic activity. However, given the abundance of evidence for Native-style behaviors in other media and cultural realms, a basket making component would be expected.

Figure 4. Pine "Basket gauge," used to split ash wood splints to standard widths
19th century Troy, VT
Recently deceased Nulhegan Band Archivist and elder Nancy Cote deposited a copy of an important photograph at the Wôbanakik Heritage Center (Swanton, VT) of the Curtis Family of Salem Lake VT, of whom there is a wealth of allied data.


Figure 5. The Curtis Family, Salem Lake VT (Nancy Cote photo).

Not only are the family members phenotypically native, the matriarch wears a blanket in the historical Indian style for the photograph illustrated as Figure 5. Ms. Cote also donated a copy of ca. 1930 photograph of her relative (unfortunately unnamed, but probably Antoine Cote according to author Chief Luke Willard) in typical Eastern Native, early 20th century "cut cloth fringe" interpretation of Plains-style regalia that we illustrate as Figure 6.

Figure 6. Man (Antoine Cote) in cut-cloth fringe "Plains-style" clothing, Ca. 1930
(Nancy Cote photo).

Also from Ms. Cote was a ca. 1910 beaded belt with tassets, illustrated in Figure 7. This distinctive article of clothing was worn all over the Northeast by Native people who sold baskets in "Indian costume."


Figure 7. Niagara style 8/0 polychrome beaded velvet belt w/tassets and leather fringe. Ca. 1910

There is an important digital copy of a tin-type photograph in the Wôbanakik Heritage Center in Swanton, labeled "Chief old Antoine (Anthony) Phillips Sr. Born 1787 at Lake Memphramagog, Vermont." His Native ethnicity (and VT residency!) is validated by the VT Eugenics Survey as having "French and Indian Blood" (Vermont State Archives Case B, Drawer 4; in Phillips Pedigree folder Page 2). This annotated photograph is one of only three 19th century records that exist of an Indian "chief" in Vermont (the others are Ben Gravel's chief at Swanton (See Missisquoi petition appendix); and the dying chief of Bellows Falls (mentioned in the Elnu appendix). The Phillips family is still resident in the Lake Memphramagog area. Author Chief Luke Willard acknowledged in an e-mail to Wiseman, "Yes, there is a bunch of Phillips over here (north-central VT). They're definitely Abenaki and they know it." In addition, "Chief” Antoine was himself the direct forebear of numerous VT Indigenous people. For example Chief Phillips had a son, Pierre Phillips (b. 1809), who had a daughter, Rosa Delphine Phillips (b. 1868) who had a daughter; Lillian "Delia" Bessette (b. 1909) who had a daughter, Margaretia Burbo (b. 1931), who has a son, Donald Stevens (b. 1966), who is an active member of the Vermont Indigenous community, most recently having been Chair of the VT Commission on Native American Affairs. An interesting detail is that the tintype (detail, Figure 8) distinctly shows "Chief Antoine" wearing moccasins that have the ethnically distinct vamp-top that forces the front bottom sole to rise; as well as pointed side-flaps of a type made by many Indigenous peoples throughout the Northeast in the late 19th century.

Figure 8_ Detail, Antoine Phillips' moccasins with distinctive "raised toe," wide vamp, and side flaps.

There is a pair of almost identical construction at the Wôbanakik Heritage Center from Lac Brome, Eastern Townships; only 20 miles from Lake Memphramagog. (but of course in Canada). In the 19th century Far

Below is the actual FULL PHOTOGRAPH

Grandpa Antoine Phillips
NOTICE the two different ink writings
Photographic Image 
"Brief History of the Abenaki Phillips and Blake Families and Genealogy"
By Winifred ("Morning Star) (Jerome) Yaratz
1st Printing January 2006 by Elk RIver Buffalo Press.
2nd Printing 2006.
Notice how someone has "implied"/concluded that this is "Old" Antoine Phillips (1787-September 01, 1885) but could this be his son Antoine Phillips (ca. 1828-March 11,1918), or Antoine Phillips, son of Peter Phillips and Delia nee: Bone (March 04, 1947-October 25, 1924)?
Northeast, the wearing of native-style moccasins was an indicator of Indian status -- or a hunter or fisherman who collected "Indian curios" from his guide — obviously not the case here. Mr. Phillips is also wearing a two-stranded necklace of some kind over his waistcoat and under his suit coat. Few late 19th century Euroamerican men openly wore necklaces.


Historical geography of Indigenous subsistence zones
In the early twentieth century, there were several major extended Indigenous family bands in the "Upper Cowass," each with its own exclusive culturally semi-autonomous regions; that still form the core of the modem Nulhegan Abenaki community. This community lay at a "continental divide," with direct access to the St. Lawrence River, Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River. From west to east, the family groups were located in a trend from 1.) Troy (originally "Mesesco," a geographic variant of "Missisquoi" from the Abenaki language), below the Big Falls of the Missisquoi River (Lake Champlain Drainage), to 2.) Newport, on Lake Memphramagog (St. Lawrence River drainage), to 3.) Salem Lake, between Lake Memphramagog and the Clyde River (Connecticut River Drainage), to 4.) Pensioner Pond in Charleston, VT (Connecticut River Drainage), and 4.) nearby Seymour Lake in Morgan, VT (Connecticut River Drainage). There is another important active Upper Cowass focal point -- just to the south -- in the Brownington and Barton VT area. All of these families knew each other and, as repeatedly documented in the modern Nulhegan Band's genealogical files, routinely intermarried. Author and Nulhegan Band Chief Luke Willard noted in an e-mail to Wiseman that "Each branch has land on their respective bluffs and each branch is separated by approximately 3-4 miles of river. Relations between the branches are strong among the older ones... not so much in the younger ones." It is also interesting that these "branches" seemed to also have evolved slightly different life ways based on cultural and natural environment. One regional "branch" was involved in Euroamerican commerce, one was involved in tribal affairs, another (in the poorer uplands) was widely known for its hunting and trapping expertise, and one (which was located on good lakeside soil) was more involved with gardening and fishing. This family-based geographic (and to a certain extent economic/political) segregation is identical to the Indigenous Wabanaki land tenure system described by Frank Speck on pages 212-229 of his Penobscot Man, a source used (e.g. Haviland and Powers, 1994 The Original Vermonters) to reconstruct VT Abenaki land tenure and land-use but heretofore without local VT confirmation. This pattern is confirmed for at least three areas in Vermont. The last "branch" listed above has always been located on the shores of Salem Lake (formerly Lac des Abenaquis), VT, and was widely known for its gardening prowess. Its oral history, as recounted by modern Nulhegan Band members, gives good ethnobotanical evidence of longstanding local Indigenous tradition. One of the most complete descriptions of the persistence of "Northern Indigenous Horticulture" into the mid 20th century is the technologically unique garden of a "Curtis family branch" at Salem Lake. They maintained a "huge" garden of beans, corn, and squash planted in traditional large mounds -- mechanically different from the row cropping as practiced by contemporaneous Euroamericans This ethnically distinct "horticultural mound" system is illustrated as "a typical Indian corn hill" on page 71 of Maine ecologist Kerry Hardy's 2009 book Notes on a lost flute: A field guide to the Wabanaki (Downcast Press). According to family oral history recorded from several Nulhegan Band members; heirloom seed varieties, a few of which may still remain, were also planted there. Modern Nulhegan Band citizens garden this same plot of land with smaller, residual "corn hills," but distinct enough to show clear evidence of ethnobotanical continuity. This geographic and environmental information on Abenaki family distributions and adaptations makes the Nulhegan zone one of the few regions in VT that we can trace ancient Indigenous-style, family-based land use zones that remained functional into 20th century living memory. However, there was exogamy (out-marriage) of these family bands with family bands in other tribal areas. In 2006, Wiseman learned from Nulhegan Band Elder and tradition keeper Nancy Cote that his grandmother's "Ouimet lineage" grandfather is Cote's Nulhegan ancestor.

The Upper Cowass/Nulhegan Renaissance
The Upper Cowass renaissance was spurred in the third quarter of the 20th century by Nancy Cote (who reported much Nulhegan area history to me in the early 1990's), and to a certain extent, Elsie "Moonbeam" Davis (a close friend of Missisquoi Chief Homer St. Francis) in the 1970's. This unique, long-standing female-centric tradition is expressed in one of the modern Nulhegan Band's governing polities, the Ladies' Judiciary (now the Elder's Council). At first Cote, Davis and other locals participated with Missisquoi in their regional renaissance. In the early 1980's the re-coalescing political community became included in the more regionally restricted Abenaki bands that were forming, dividing and reconfiguring in the
Northeast Kingdom during the tumultuous early phase of the Abenaki renaissance. In the late 1990's and early 2000's the core "branches" discussed above, began the process of re-separation from this political mishmash to become its own more locally-focused political entity; concentrating on the Newport and Northeast Kingdom area of VT – now called the "Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck Abenaki." Chief Luke Willard stated in a February 2010 e-mail to Wiseman that the Nulhegan Band maintains tribal-rolls and has explicit criteria for citizenship that is shared with applicants to become citizens. There is still much to learn in this region. For example, there are outlier lineages, such as one living on the banks of the Clyde River in Charleston, VT that are known to Odanak Abenakis to not be linked at all with that Canadian Abenaki village. There is also a local person of obvious VT Abenaki identity; who has had, at this point, no known genealogical work done on him.


Conclusion
In this section we have provided internally consistent evidence of a long-term Vermont Indigenous settlement area in the Troy, Newport and Derby VT area in the 19th and 20th centuries. They divided the area into subsistence/settlement sectors, as was done by the Penobscots and other allied bands in Maine. Like their more eastern Native neighbors, the micro-regional bands, such as the Curtises of Salem Lake, communicated and intermarried to create an integrated river-based autonomous region covering many square kilometers. There is a wealth of genealogical, material, oral-historical, botanical and other evidence of a cooperative, kinship-based entity – an entity that maintained collective control over territories during the critical post-1790 period, adapting to European land tenure – so much so that modem descendents retain deeded title to their lands. We have material and oral history evidence of distinct basket making, fishing and horticultural technologies that can be stylistically or technologically related to known "Indian" examples from neighboring areas. The modem "Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck Abenaki" polity evolved from an inter local assembly composed of citizens from these micro-regional bands, and exercises political power internally, as well as represents its citizens in local and state Euroamerican politics. We therefore contend that Nulhegan is a regional autonomous VT Native community that meets the criteria for political designation as an Abenaki tribe.

MY RESPONSE:
Within this blog, documents retrospectively show and provide the conclusive evidence that Luke Andew Willard (whether Sackett or Pike is his paternal father matters not to me particularly, yet he does carry his mother's surname) is NOT who he appears or claims to be. Documentarily, he is shown to have been (retrospectively-speaking) a part of Ralph Skinner Swett's "Clan of the Hawk, Inc." (of which Mr. PhD Wiseman claims "in his opinion" that such incorporation does not constitute an "Abenaki Tribe or Band") as was Nancy Lee Cote and her daughter Dawn Macie. Also, Luke Andrew Willard was retrospective part of the late David Andrew Hill's group (and also David Hill's Inc. successor Reynold Choiniere's group "North American People of the Dawn, Inc.)"

LINK: http://reinventedvermontabenaki.blogspot.com/2010/02/bank-checking-account-0115908-at-first.html
Financial chief and treasurer for North American People of the Dawn, Inc., Luke Willard, said they recently rented a new office and offer six social service programs, including tribal registration and genealogy research. He said he encourages people to join the tribe, "but it has to be certified, without error, and backed up. Eventually, we'll go for recognition, and they are going to ask for all these files."
June 16, 2006 Newport Daily Express
What Mr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD does not convey in this "Decolonizing the Abenaki: A Methodology of Detecting Vermont Tribal Identity" is that none of what is in this write-up, is really of HISTORICAL merit.

It IS an HYSTERICAL attempt at RE-WRITING ABENAKI HISTORY.

To my thinking, Mr. PhD Wiseman tried retrospectively-speaking, to bullsh** the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (B.I.A), and was not successful in that attempt. Now, he bullsh**'s the State of Vermont Legislature with the VERY SAME TACTICS, SCHEME'S and FALSEHOOD'S. Why doesn't the PhD, show and provide the "Something of Value" paper supposed submitted to the January 22, 2010 Committee? Why didn't he accurately and truthfully show and provide the article that went with the Attachment #4 Photograph he cited?

Obviously, Fred M. Wiseman & Company (this so-called "Vermont Indigenous Alliance of these 4 groups in Vermont) MUST assume that if it is NOT SHOWN or PROVIDED, then people in Vermont and elsewhere will be blind, stupid, and ignorant of the truth....about who they really are....where they truthfully come from....and truthfully what it is they are attempting to do FRAUDULANTLY and BY USAGE OF DECEPTION AND OMMISSION, accomplish, against the Abenaki Ancestors and those Abenaki Ancestors' descendants!

THE FACT THAT RECENTLY LUKE ANDREW WILLARD AND DAWN MACIE (ALL OF THEM, THAT WERE APPOINTED TO THE VCNAA ARE CONNTECTED TO THESE 4 INCORPORATION GROUPS OR SUPPORT THE "ALLIANCE" IN THIS DECEPTION AND DECEIT THESE 4 GROUPS ARE PERPETUATING) WERE APPOINTED TO THIS NEWLY RE-CONSTRUCTED VERMONT COMMISSION ON NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS IN MONTPELIER, BY THE OUTGOING GOVERNOR JIM DOUGLAS, IS BLANTANTLY HYPOCRITICAL OF THE LACK OF TRUTHFULNESS, HONESTY, INTEGRITY OF THIS WHOLE "ABENAKI RECOGNITION PROCESS" IN VERMONT! SHAME ON ALL OF THEM!

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