Conseil de Bande d'Odanak Band Council
Odanak, October 01, 1997
With this letter, the Band Council of Odanak recognizes the committee that is formed of the following people:
Richard "Rick" O'Bomsawin
Thomas "Tom" Robert O'Bomsawin
Patricia Benedict.
This committee will act on the behalf and for the ABENAKI PEOPLE in regards to land claims and environmental matters in the United States.
This committee is strictly on a volunteer basis and therefor recieves no financial aid from the Odanak Band Council.
We the Band Council and the Abenaki people of Odanak give our moral support and wish the committee all the luck in the months and years to come.
Sincere regards,
Gilles O'Bomsawin, Chief
for the Odanak Band Council
GOB/ sob
RTP.DOC
102 rue Sibosis, Odanak, (Quebec) J0G 1H0 tel.: 514-568-2810
Nidôbak
PO Box 184, N. Stratford, NH 03590
(603) 922-5544
January 9, 1998
To whom it may concern;
This is to confirm that at the annual meeting of Nidôbak, Inc. on December 7, 1997 the board of directors agreed that Nidôbak, Inc. will be the fiscal sponsor of the Alsigunticook Sovereignty Project. The project will submit its budget to the board and all acquired funding will be deposited into and distributed from Nidôbak's bank account.
Patricia Lilly - Treasurer
Daisy Goodman - Secretary
Jim Agawa - Board Member
Tom Obomsawin - Board Member
Karen Lessard - Board Member
Alsigunticook Nation of Abenakis
Proposal Summary
Contact:Thomas Obomsawin, PO Box 184, N. Stratford, NH 03590 603-922-5544 Richard O'Bomsawin, Awassos Street, Odanak PQ JOG-1H0 514-568-0869 Patricia Benedict, 123 Wayland Ave, Waterbury, CT 06780 203-754-0039
Fiscal Sponsor: Nidôbak, Inc., U.S. Federal Tax Identification # 02-0494095
Alsigunticook Nation of Abenakis requests funding to pursue a legal challenge to industrial forestry practices in the northern forest region of northern New Hampshire, western Maine and northeastern Vermont. This challenge will take the form of a claim against title to the headwaters area of the Connecticut and Androscoggin Rivers held primarily by Champion International and Mead-Oxford Corporations. We are a federally recognized group representing the direct descendants of the St. Francis Indians, or Odanak Abenakis, recognized historically as the Native people whose territory extends from the Kennebec River watershed in Maine to Lake Champlain and Southern Quebec.
Our vast territory has been systematically deforested over the past two hundred years. The last areas of wild land within that territory are in greater danger than at any other time in history. Industrial forestry is rapidly destroying what is left through massive clearcutting. Toxic herbicides are applied by helicopter to encourage growth of a biologically simplified monocultural forest of softwoods - the trees most desired for paper production. Drastic erosion, leaching of soil nutrients, water pollution and loss of sensitive species have accompanied this form of forest management. Years of effort by the environmental community have failed to bring about the fundamental changes in forest policy critical to the survival of the northern forest ecosystem.
The northeastern forest is central to Abenaki culture and way of life. Without its survival, in its natural complexity, our traditions and our identity as a people will not survive. We depend on the land, plants and creatures, and they depend on us to live responsibly with them. Until European contact, the forest and our people lived in harmony.
Our goal is to win the return of the remaining nearly wild areas of our territory through a legal challenge to illegal land title held by the region's largest landowners- the forest products industry. To ensure that any reclaimed land will be protected during our lifetimes and forever, by our descendants, we have made a commitment to any forest land returned to us which includes: (1) A ban all commercial logging activities on our territory indefinitely; (2) A ban on the release of pesticides and other pollutants; (3) restoration of polluted areas and aiding the natural return of all indigenous species; (4) Limiting hunting, fishing, gathering wild foods, fuel, and building materials to what is required for subsistence purposes only; (5) Limiting motorized access to the land. hi addition, Alsigunticook will not accept any settlement which exchanges money for land, our goal is to protect our land, not to sell it.
Cindy Hill, Esq., an experienced environmental attorney well versed in Federal Indian Law, has completed an initial assessment of existing land titles and formulation of
legal strategy. In her opinion, a potentially successful land claim by descendants of the Odanak/St. Francis Indians exists. Such a claim by us with our commitment to protecting any of this reclaimed forest land would effectively protect the headwaters of the Connecticut and Androscoggin Rivers and surrounding watersheds from the forest products industry.
A committee has formed and been approved by the Chief and Band Council of Odanak consisting of the contact people listed at the top of this document. This committee is mandated to pursue land claims and environmental matters in Abenaki territory south of the Canada/U. S border for the Abenaki People. The committee has created the Alsigunticook Sovereignty Project to facilitate the implementation of a successful land claim. Until such time that the Alsigunticook Sovereignty Project obtains its own Tax ID number, Nidôbak, Inc. will be fiscal sponsor for any tax-deductible contributions received.We request funding to complete legal research and litigate through the first Federal District Court (a flat fee of $50,000 US). At this time, applications for funding are pending to the Foundation For Deep Ecology and Sweetwater Trust. We are also seeking funding for grass-roots organizing, public education and administration for the implementation of this project.
Proposal for Funding
March, 1998
Alsigunticook Nation Land Claim to Protect Northern Forest Land
Who are we?
We are direct descendants of the historic Saint Francis Indians, known today as the Odanak Abenaki. Our territory traditionally stretches hundreds of miles from the St. Lawrence river as far south as Massachusetts and from the Kennebec River in Maine the Lake Champlain, however, the past four centuries of European contact have left us a reservation a mere one mile by four miles in size. Close to the mouth of the St. Francis River in Quebec Province, this reservation is known today as Odanak. The traditional name for our village, and the St. Francis River, is Alsigunticook. The Alsigunticook Nation of Abenakis are members of the federally recognized Abenakis of Odanak who are banded together in our ancient tradition. Our Land Claims committee has been recognized and endorsed by the Chief and Band Council of Odanak. (see attached)
Abenaki tradition teaches that the natural world is sacred, and that we have a duty to protect the earth and our people. Our land, although it has been subject to gross exploitation since European contact began, is in greater danger now than at any other time in history. The last large areas of forest land are quickly disappearing because of the activities of a handful of large paper and lumber companies and individuals who value nothing except profit. Toxic herbicides are applied by helicopter to encourage growth of a biologically simplified forest of fir, spruce and jack pine, trees most desirable for paper production. The natural integrity of the forest is devastated, and thousands of species of plants and animals are extinct or in danger as a result of this management. The thin topsoil of our region, which took thousands of years to accumulate, is being washed downstream, and what soil remains is subject to severe nutrient depletion and other changes caused by exposure and the application of herbicides. Because the soil now lacks the capacity to support natural regeneration, the forest products industry in Maine has begun to apply municipal sludge and hazardous mill wastes to forest lands as fertilizer. The NH legislature is considering allowing the same practice. Water contamination is widespread, a direct result of industrial forestry practices.
If the northern forest disappears, our culture, our traditions, and existence as a people will disappear too. The best efforts of Native and non-Native environmentalists to alert state and local governments to this critical situation have failed- the forest products industry is too powerful a force politically. Our territory must be protected and allowed to begin the long process of healing and regeneration. Our legal challenge to industry's ownership of our land is one of our only options. Our committee has identified an area of our illegally ceded territory that most closely resembles unbroken wild land, the northern forest area of eastern Vermont, northern New Hampshire, and western Maine.
Historical Background
When Europeans entered our land several hundred years ago they found a forest that was at least 10,000 years old. This forest provided everything our people needed to survive. In return, our people appreciated and respected the forest. We practiced the principles of sustainability in gathering wild plants, hunting, fishing, choosing village sites, and all other aspects of life. Abenaki culture, like all indigenous cultures, is built around balance and harmony with our natural environment. Our culture is connected to our land in a great circle. We depend on the land, plants, and creatures, and they depend on us to live responsibly with them.Without the same connection to the land, European colonists and the parent governments only saw resources ripe for exploitation, including furs, minerals, timber and potential farm land, of an abundance not seen on their continent for millennia. The French were the first Europeans to contact the Abenaki, sailing up the St. Lawrence in the early 1500s. They were initially interested in establishing a trade in furs and in converting our people to Christianity. By the early 1600s.. the English had become a presence to the south. Their interest was in timber, especially the giant white pines, known to our people as Kchi Koasak. White Pine was especially valuable to the ship-building industry. For two hundred years white pines were cut until not one of the original trees were left, anywhere. The English government eventually established colonies to control the exploitation of our resources. The majority of Abenakis fiercely resisted this invasion of our territory. As a result, sizable bounties were placed on Abenaki scalps by the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the New Hampshire Colony. These bounties remained in effect throughout the 1700s.
By the mid 1700s, what is now southern New England was deforested and hundreds of thousands of Native People had been slaughtered or dead from disease. Many survivors had fled north to the Coös region and Alsigunticook (St. Francis/Odanak). Coös or Koas (named for the giant white pines that grew abundantly here) is a large region including northeast central Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northwestern Maine, and extending 50 miles into southern Quebec. This region remained under Abenaki control until the end of the 1700s. Abenaki families traveled freely within the territory, maintaining hunting and fishing territories in the Koas region. The name survives today in northern New Hampshire's "Coös County". Attempts at English settlement of Koas were beaten back repeatedly.
Fraudulent Land Sales
In 1790, the US Congress enacted legislation commonly known as the Trade and Intercourse Act. The Act made illegal any purchase of land from Indians except by the Federal Government, and was in part an effort to prevent any more wars with the Indian inhabitants. From that point on, purchase of Indian land by individuals and individual states was a violation of Federal law.
In 1796 four land and timber speculators approached an aging Abenaki leader by the name of Philip Metallak, known regionally by the white settlers as "King Philip". They induced him to sign a deed relinquishing title to the majority of the Koas region (see
attached). These timber speculators subsequently incorporated in the new State of New Hampshire as the Eastman Land Company. While it is unlikely that Philip could read English, or understood the implications of what he was signing, the deed was immediately used as a basis for land sales by the Eastman Land Company. Two years later, in 1798, a man named Moody Bedel approached another aging group of Alsigunticook Abenakis who had served in his father's regiment during the Revolutionary War, and persuaded them to sign a deed relinquishing the portion of the Koas area falling within the boundaries of present day New Hampshire. Both these deeds remain on the registry of deeds for Coos County, NH, today.
During the early 1800s the deforestation of the Koas region was begun in earnest by the Connecticut River Valley lumber company. White pine was the first to be completely decimated, followed by oak, maple, birch, spruce and fir in order of profitability. Abenaki people watched in horror but could not prevent two centuries of assault on the integrity of the land of our ancestors. By the beginning of the twentieth century most of our territory had been completely stripped of timber. We estimate that most of the Koas region has been deforested at least twice, by a succession of different companies. At present, Mead-Oxford and Champion International are the largest landowners in the area. Champion International has recently announced the sale of all its Vermont holdings and 50,000 acres in New Hampshire. Both companies are currently clearcutting thousands of acres of forested land in this region.
The northern forest ecosystem is already struggling to recover from two centuries of deforestation. Industrial forestry has had a devastating impact on the natural recovery process because of loss of soil nutrients, altered soil microbiology, erosion of topsoil, water pollution, and loss of sensitive species.
Our people can no longer tolerate the loss of our land. Because all aspects of traditional Abenaki culture are intertwined with the survival of our northern forest homeland, our cultural survival is now at stake. Fish, game, berries, other traditional foods, and the water, are contaminated with toxic residues from aerial spraying and hazardous waste. Many of the plants our people have depended on for millennia for food, dyes, cooking utensils, medicines and other needs are disappearing. The areas where sacred plants once grew are filled with ruts and rocks from logging operations. Where can someone find a white birch large enough to make one of the canoes that this region is famous for? Or any tree with bark enough to cover a lodge? As these living things are gradually destroyed, so too is the knowledge and appreciation of their gifts lost to our children, forever. We recognize that the fate of our land is our fate, our only hope for fundamental change is to reclaim industry's title to the land they are destroying and implement a policy that will allow our forests to recover and regenerate.
Throughout Indian Country, traditional Indian people have made the same decision, to organize and stop the destruction of our land before it is too late for us and our future generations. What industry does not understand is that they have been taking not only our, and our future generations' share of the Earth's bounty, but everyone else's share as well. Soon the last remaining forests will disappear, without being able to recover, leaving a very bleak future all races of people fixing in our country.
Goals
We would like to see our forests returned to their original balance, a process which may take many life-times to accomplish. To begin this healing, our land must be freed from the vicious cycle of profit-making. In 1996, representatives of a number of Alsigunticook families came together to discuss the severity of the situation, and to consider possible strategic approaches. We saw the necessity of a clear statement of our purpose, to ensure that our land will be protected from further exploitation during our lifetimes, and also forever, by our descendants (below). The second step was the formation of a Land Claims committee to pursue these goals. Our commitment to any forest territory returned to us is as follows:
1. Ban all commercial logging activities on our territory indefinitely.
2. Ban all release of pesticides and other environmentally harmful chemicals and substances on our territory. Restore polluted areas as thoroughly as possible.
3. Facilitate the natural return of all indigenous species of flora and fauna.
4. Hunting and fishing shall be for subsistence purposes only.
5. Gathering of wild foods, fuel, building materials, etc. shall be for subsistence purposes only and for producing traditionally made goods.
6. No new roads will be built on our territory. Motorized access to remaining roads will be severely limited.
7. Our land is not for sale: we will not accept money in exchange for land.
Implementation Strategy
1. Legal Strategy
In early 1997 the Land Claims committee raised $1000 in donations from family members to retain Cindy Hill, Esq., of Middlebury, VT., a well respected environmental attorney who is also knowledgeable of Federal Indian Law. Ms. Hill conducted a preliminary investigation of the validity of land titles in northeastern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northwestern Maine, and made recommendations on several strategies based on her findings. Under the relevant sections of US Federal Indian law, she found that transfer of ownership from the St. Francis Indians/Alsigunticook (the Abenaki at Odanak) to colonial era settlers was illegal, as is all title stemming from these transfers. Specifically, the "Phillips Deed" of 1796 and "Bedel's Grant" of 1798 are in clear violation of the Federal Trade and Intercourse Act, which states that any transfer of land title from "Indians" shall be negotiated by the federal government only and that transfers to individuals or states independently are null and void. In addition, she found that critical elements here resemble those in other precedent setting, successful land claim cases, specifically Passamaquoddy v. Morton (Maine) and Oneida Nation v. County of Oneida
Rather than sue individual, small scale land owners who live in the area, Ms. Hill recommended that we challenge the title held by the larger, corporate land owners who are causing the most extensive environmental harm. Such a strategy eliminates the cost of multiple filings on the thousands of individual land owners as well as the associated political fallout from such an action. If successful, this legal action will effectively protect a large portion of the wild lands surrounding the headwaters of the Connecticut and Androscoggin Rivers.
2. Public Education:
Public Education is an additional, and crucial, aspect of the proposed action. Two distinct communities must be educated about our position and the reasons for the legal action being filed. Until now, the larger environmental organizations, the local northern forest communities, and the continent wide network of traditional Native American groups fighting for land protection have rarely communicated closely or worked together effectively. It is our intention to involve all three communities in the proposed action through clear communication about the impact of industrial forestry on the northern forest and about our goals through the media, in writing, and in person.
We believe that the economic, political, and environmental climate at this point in time is such that both local communities and the larger environmental community are potential supporters of our claim. After years of efforts at forest policy reform, both individuals and representatives of a number of environmental groups have indicated privately that they view our approach as a realistic option and would support us. The growing strength of the traditional Native movement to protect the earth has added to this level of awareness of the non-Native environmental community. Expanding this dialogue is essential to maintain this understanding.
A growing number of north country residents are very concerned about the destructive way forest lands are being managed regionally. Support for the proposed ban on clearcutting in Maine, for legislation against heavy cutting in Vermont, and the ban on herbicide applications in forestry in Vermont are all indicators of public concern about what is happening to the northern forest. The growing movement against herbicide use in forestry in New Hampshire is based in north country communities most affected by the spraying, and has been critical in raising fundamental questions about industrial forest management in this state. Alsigunticook Abenakis have been an active part of these movements. In addition, many members of northern forest communities have Native ancestors, identify as "part Indian", have passed down centuries of knowledge about the land within their families, and feel culturally connected to the fate of the forest. As long as our intentions are clearly communicated, there is significant potential for local support of our goals. Through communication and example, we hope to change the way all communities in our region live on the land we all depend on for survival.
Financial Breakdown:
Based on her initial investigation, Ms. Hill has expressed interest in representing Alsigunticook Abenakis in the proposed action. She has agreed to represent us through to the end of a definitive judgment of the first circuit US Federal District Court
(approximately three years) for a fixed fee of $25,000, with an additional $25,000 to cover filing and other costs. Upon receipt of $27,000 she can begin work. The committee chosen to represent the Alsigunticook Abenaki Nation will be responsible for Public Education, networking with the communities described above, and to provide a basis for legal standing in Federal Court.
As a traditional and sovereign group, Alsigunticook is not and can not be incorporated in any state or province. For the purposes of this request, Nidôbak, Inc., a New Hampshire non-profit corporation, has agreed to act as our fiscal sponsor (please see attached letter).
Alsigunticook Sovereignty Project
Proposed Draft Budget
Legal CostsInitial Investigation and recommendations on the feasibility of a Claim of Rights and Title by the Alsigunticook/Abenaki Nation to unceeded forest land in northern Vermont, New Hampshire, northwestern Maine and southern Quebec.
1,000
Litigate through first Federal District Court (approx. 3 years): 25,000
Filing Fees and related court costs.: 25,000
Sovereignty and Public Education Expenses
Public EducationMedia informational announcements, and
Press Conferences: 20,000
Consultants (per year)
Media Coordinator: 12,000
Newsletter Coordinator: 12,000
Project Coordinator: 16,000
Office Equipment
Computer: 3,000
Photocopier: 2,500
Printer: 2,000
Software: 3,500
Office Expenses
Photocopying: 2,000
Newsletter Publication and Distribution: 2,000
Computer Expenses: 3,000
Supplies: 2,000 Networking
Postage: 1,000
Telephone: 4,000
Travel: 10,000
Grand Total: $148,000
National Museum of Man
Mercury Series
The Identity of the Saint Francis Indians
Gordon M. Day
Photographic copy that was written with a blue ink'd pen identifying the St. Lawrence River, Montreal, Lake Champlain, Kennebec River, Androscoggin River and the Connecticut River.
Alsigunticook Nation of Abenakis
P.O. Box 184 North Stratford, NH 03590
603 922-5544
1092 Awasos
Odanak, PQ J0G-1H0
This is to acknowledge that_________has contributed $________to the Alsigunticook Nation Legal Fund. We thank you for your support.
By supporting this fund you are helping us protect several hundred thousand acres of undeveloped traditional hunting territory in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Contributions made to Alsigunticook Nation via Nidôbak, Inc.,
federal tax ID # 02-0494095 are tax deductible.
5/6/98
Had a few minutes to work on this receipt. This is of course a very rough draft. I'm not certain as to how much information needs to be on this. Perhaps we need a seperate information pamphlet? Feel free to edit or add.
We have wanted to put together a newsletter for all of us relatives on the genealogy file which you now have. As you might expect it is a time intensive project. Rick Obomsawin is very busy running the Odanak Cheese Factory. Patty Benedict is finishing up her college courses.
Daisy graduates this week from nursing school. This should free up some time for me. I'm glad that we finally got together for that talk the other night. I hope we can work together on all that we spoke about. Well, give me a call or a FAX when you get a chance. Bye for now.
Thomas Robert Obomsawin
May-06-98 02:53 PM DAISY GOODMAN 6039225544
LAW OFFICE OF
CINDY ELLEN HILL
POST OFFICE BOX 88
BATTELL BLOCK SUITE 204
MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT 05753
802-388-1317
ALSO ADMITTED TO PRACTICE IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
September 14, 1998
Thomas Obomsawin
P.O. Box 184
North Stratford NH 03590
RE: Odanak/Alsigunticook
Dear Tom:
Thank you for the update on the Abenaki land issue, as to liability of court costs; yes, it is possible that, should the case be lost, the other side would seek court costs. Although it is unlikely that a court would order all the individuals involved in this type of action to actually pay it is indeed possible (as opposed to probable.)
There is also a possibility of a counter-suit, popularly called a SLAPP suit (although I can't recall off hand what the acronym is for) alleging things like tortuous interference with private contracts. You will have to collectively decide whether it is time to take the rope in your teeth and jump over the side. I do feel strongly about the merits of your claim, but make no mistake about it - it may hurt, and it involves taking big risks.
As to the NARF materials, I get the sense that any funding from them would come with serious strings attached. My experience with this type of funding resource. Albeit in other areas of law, has not been favorable, even if specific requirements are not stated up front they tend to appear later coupled with the threat to withdraw funding. I would guess that straight-up fund-raising from a variety of diverse sources, so that everyone involved and benefitting from the suit would have a stake in it, would be best in the long run. Do you have a head count on the number of people in the families listed? Even $20.00 from each person would get this action underway, without being indebted to an outside organization. I realize this is easier said than done, but it's one possible solution. I suspect once we got filed, other donations would come in. Keep me posted.
Very Truly Yours,
Cindy E. Hill, Esq.
One point of interest in this documentation that caught my awareness was when Thomas O'Bomsawin wrote, "As a traditional and sovereign group, "Alsigunticook Nation of Abenakis" is not and can not be incorporated in any state or province....so what it seems to me is that Thomas Robert O'Bomsawin a known Odanak Abenaki "with Canadian First Nations Status" recognized as a "representative of the committe created by (or acknowledged at least) Odanak (a known documented historical "Abenaki" community) is that to become "incorporated," under State sanction, represents an action representing a legal loss of that "sovereignty" as a group.
Yet, Thomas Robert O'Bomsawin created the Nidôbak, Incorporated Buisness ID No. 235748, between August 22, 1995 and September 20, 1995 ... BEFORE the "Alsigunticook, Inc." Committee was brought into reality before or on October 01, 1997.
So what does this mean, when April St. Francis-Merrill and all these "other groups" and their "spin-off groups" of alleged and re-invented "Abenakis" claim repeatedly, "to be sovereign," "a Sovereign Nation," or that they continue to retain "sovereignty" .... and yet they have "incorporated" under the State of Vermont, New Hampshire (or any other State for that matter)? Do these "groups" of self-proclaiming "Abenakis" in VT, NH, MA, etc REALLY retain their "sovereignty" AFTER these groups have retrospectively incorporated "under State Laws"; or are these "Chiefs" of alleged and re-invented Abenakis, simply delusional in their claims of being the "Sovereign Abenaki Nation"? Reality says these people are not "sovereign" at all. Reality and documentation indicate the very strong possibility that these groups in Vermont etc are even delusion is claiming that they are "Abenakis".
The Alsigunticook Abenakis Committee's "Land Claim's" regarding Philip's Grant of 1796, never went anywhere judicially-speaking or otherwise, for seeming "lack of funding" for it. Yet, I am quite aware to this day, of at least $2,600.00 USD having come from the Grass-Roots "something or other" organization, which was located in Montpelier, VT that was solicited by "Nidôbak, Inc.", for the amount of the aforesaid amount of funding, for an Abenaki Language Colouring Book, to be used for the New Hampshire School's. Where is that "Abenaki Language Colouring Book", then or today? No where, thats where. They may have used Alice Stevens Colouring Book that she created, and easily obtained at any New England Pow-wow to claim that such a Colouring Books in Abenaki was done by "Nidôbak, Inc."? Where did that $2,600.00 dollars in monetary funding go, that was received at Karen Lessard's residence in Gorham, N.H.? The answer is that such funding went very likely into "someone's pocket" for "other" possible "personal expenses". Whom was the Treasurer? Whom was the Secretary of Nidôbak, Inc.? I have the documents (including a photocopy of the check) and to this day, there is NO "Abenaki Colouring Book to be found in the New Hampshire Educational system. How much other funding was solicited for one purpose, and got "sidetracked" into "personal usage"?
Nidôbak, Inc. is today, a defunct (dead) incorporation in New Hampshire as of March 01, 2006 by Administrative Dismissal LLP-CC-NP with a last Annual Report filed on March 20, 2000. The "Land Claims" regarding Indian Chief or King "Philip" went the way of "King Philip" himself. Tom & Daisy Obomsawin left North Stratford, Coos County, New Hampshire for the Farmington, Maine area. Whether the historical Indian "Philip" was indeed actually "Metallak" has been up for debate. Another few questions or dynamic within the historical context, is this:
Why wasn't Metallak one of the signer's on his alleged father Old Indian Philip's Land Grant of June 28th 1796?
Metallak was well known to MANY people, non-native and native throughout the geographical area.
Why didn't the alleged fact, that Metallak was "the son of" Indian Philip of Coos County, New Hampshire?
According to Winifred Yaratz book page 2 (of which I have labeled as "Z19.jpg" "someone" has alleged that Metallack and Antoine Phillips Sr. were siblings. Both were the children of Old Indian Philip and his wife Molly Messel/ Missile (Marie Mitchell). So, Metallak was born in ca. 1730. If Antoine Phillips were a son of Old Indian Philip, born in ca. 1787, that boy would have been around 8 to 10 years old. Yet, both women who were documented Angelique Joseph (Mooseleck Sussop) and Mary Messell, were both in their elderly years, seemingly far past their child-bearing years of life. So again, a lot of supposition and conjecture and not much substantiation or convincing evidence that Antoine Phillips Sr. born in ca. 1787 was the son of Philip the Indian, who signed the Land Grant of June 28th, 1796. Of course Metallak, could have been "away" (it is written in Alice Daley Noyes book Prince of Darkness on Page 63) that in 1800 Louis Wawanolette "wintered at Double Pont in Salem, VT with Metallak". In all the writings concerning Old Indian Philp of Coos County, Metallak, or about these two women, it would appear that no one mentioned or indicated "young people" living with or around these "elderly Abenakis". Why not? Old Phillip "the last of...." Metallak "the last of...." Well, people get the picture.... Where were the Upper Coos Abenakis? Apparently they went to Odanak, Quebec, Canada and points west.... BEFORE June 28, 1796 and "old Indian Philip" and Metallak were simply Native People who were left behind in the Coos region, to live out their remaining elderly years.
Why wasn't Metallak one of the signer's on his alleged father Old Indian Philip's Land Grant of June 28th 1796?
Metallak was well known to MANY people, non-native and native throughout the geographical area.
Why didn't the alleged fact, that Metallak was "the son of" Indian Philip of Coos County, New Hampshire?
According to Winifred Yaratz book page 2 (of which I have labeled as "Z19.jpg" "someone" has alleged that Metallack and Antoine Phillips Sr. were siblings. Both were the children of Old Indian Philip and his wife Molly Messel/ Missile (Marie Mitchell). So, Metallak was born in ca. 1730. If Antoine Phillips were a son of Old Indian Philip, born in ca. 1787, that boy would have been around 8 to 10 years old. Yet, both women who were documented Angelique Joseph (Mooseleck Sussop) and Mary Messell, were both in their elderly years, seemingly far past their child-bearing years of life. So again, a lot of supposition and conjecture and not much substantiation or convincing evidence that Antoine Phillips Sr. born in ca. 1787 was the son of Philip the Indian, who signed the Land Grant of June 28th, 1796. Of course Metallak, could have been "away" (it is written in Alice Daley Noyes book Prince of Darkness on Page 63) that in 1800 Louis Wawanolette "wintered at Double Pont in Salem, VT with Metallak". In all the writings concerning Old Indian Philp of Coos County, Metallak, or about these two women, it would appear that no one mentioned or indicated "young people" living with or around these "elderly Abenakis". Why not? Old Phillip "the last of...." Metallak "the last of...." Well, people get the picture.... Where were the Upper Coos Abenakis? Apparently they went to Odanak, Quebec, Canada and points west.... BEFORE June 28, 1796 and "old Indian Philip" and Metallak were simply Native People who were left behind in the Coos region, to live out their remaining elderly years.
NEXT
I WILL PROCEED TO SHOW
THE 2ND STAGING OF DOCUMENTATION
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WHICH WILL BE REVEALING....
