Wabaneki Dancers at Vermont History Expo
July 24, 2008
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: Keeperofthefire
Subject: Bowman –
Obomsawin
From what I've been told, back in the 1700's there was a
bounty put in place to basically erraticate all native peoples. My family
(Obomsawin’s from the Lake George, NY region) fled to Canada where they lived
for many years. After things cooled off, they resettled their original
homeland. In doing so, they took the name Bowman, and told people they were
French, as to alleviate any discrimination they certainly would've faced.
“March toward the
Thunder” by Joseph
Bruchac ©2008. Pages 291 to 293. Pay close attention to
Page 293: “My great-grandfather was Canadian, but a Canadian of Native
descent whose ancestral roots were in what became the United States. Records
list his birth place as St. Francis, the name then used for the Abenaki Indian
reserve of Odanak, a mission village made up largely of refugee Indians
from New England who fled north to escape the English during the eighteenth
century.” … “Like numerous other young Canadian Indian men, my
great grandfather came south to find work because little was available around
the reserve.
And, 1864, it was in
the United States that a recruiter for the Irish Brigade found him.”
October 11 & 12, 2008
Marge Bruchac at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
May 08, 2009
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: Keeperofthefire
Subject: Bowman –
Obomsawin
Surnames:
baughman, Bowman
Unless you can show some records I believe its' fantasy.
The Bowman’s name is actually Baughman, of German descent. There are 500
nations and to make up stories discredits us all. Some very creditable people
have followed this line and unless you have some facts different from theirs
you shouldn’t' post this.
April 13, 2009
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: Keeperofthefire
Subject: Bowman –
Obomsawin
What I'm telling you carollee57us is the truth from what
I know of it! Look up my cousin Joseph
Bruchac, he is a well known writer of several books on Native life
(Abenaki). He also wrote a book called The Bowman's Store (Greenfield
Center).
April 13, 2009
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: Carollee Reynolds
Subject: Bowman –
Obomsawin
I know you are telling me the truth, my daughter Takara Matthews and I used to hang around with
Jesse Bowman Bruchac and we were on the
dance troupe with Marge Bruchac – Kennick … the
only objection I have is, telling people
that your family is related to the Obomsawin family when there is no proof
whatsoever. Its' much better to have the facts then end up with pie on your
face. I could claim to be related to the Watso family because of the surname
Watson but it would not make it so.
(Photo
by Eric Jenks, 2009 Saratoga Native American Festival)
Left
to right: Jim, Joe, Marge, and Jesse Bruchac
May 06, 2009
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: migakawinno [Jesse Bowman Bruchac … Joseph Bruchac’s son]
Subject: Bowman –
Obomsawin
Kwai Doug, Carollee and other
friends I know in this thread.
I hope you are well. Since I've been mentioned a few
times by name and this revolves around my family, as well of course, around
many of ours, I thought I'd share a little of what I know.
As we have always said more is
unknown than known. A great deal of faith and courage went into my father's
decision to embrace his Native heritage. He took a leap and I thank him for
this and for raising me with an awareness and great respect for everything
beautiful about life, Native culture and the earth. This is a respect, Native
or not, we should all have. There is much beauty. My life now centers around
many circles, one of which has remained for almost 20 years now the fight to
keep the Western Abenaki language alive. If you would like to learn more about
it, please visit http://westernabenaki.com
First this thread needs some
clarification. To suggest that the 1700’s were a time when Native people had no
concerns with racism shows a lack of knowledge about Native history. This was
the time of the forced removals and the most likely time for one to hide their
identity if possible as Native in order to literally save their lives. Indians
in the northeast at this time literally had bounties put on their heads.
Secondly what we now call the
Abenaki are in fact a coming together of many diverse groups. Many were from
New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, Massachusetts and from peoples as
diverse as the Mohawk, Wendat (Huron), Nipmuc, Wampanoag, Penobscot, Sokwaki,
Mohican etc.
The term Abenaki simply means
"easterner". Grey Lock himself was Woronoco.
As for the Bowman family, the
Indian blood is there. The full extent will likely never be known. Most of the
family hid their Native ancestry in order to find work and live normal lives in
their homelands without threat of removal or racism. Others likely forgot, or
did not care enough to remember they had Native ancestry at all.
The suggested Bowman/Obomsawin connection has been made by many, but directly
to us by an Odanak elder Maurice Denis who proposed to my aunt and father in
the 1970s that it was a name change.
Maurice Denis was my father’s
mentor at the time and I spent many days as a young child in his kitchen hearing
the Abenaki language as he taught my dad the tradition stories of long ago.
Maurice Denis lived not far from us and ran an Indian village in Old Forge NY
where we spent many summers.
Anyway, he believed we were Obomsawin’s, but this has not and likely
cannot be proven.
In addition, as suggested in
this thread it may not be the case at
all. However, even without a name chage, Bowman itself is a very old Eastern Algonquin family name. On the
record in the 17th century in Massachusetts among the Natick people. To present
it remains a common family name of the Nipmuck, Stockbridge Munsee Mohicans and
is also connected with the Wampanoag families many of whom trace their Native
ancestry through Bowman lines.
The Senical (Seneca, Senecal)
line (Lewis Bowman's mother Sophie Senical) is equally interesting. The Senecal family has a documented history
with Odanak, Yamaska and surrounding communities.
Intermarrying with the Gill's in the 1840’s
and prior to this making some failed business deals together, even selling off
some of the reserve with help of the then Odanak chief Gill. The famous artist,
Charles Gill has a Senecal grandfather. Not
clear if this family is Sophie's family, but Senecal's landed in Three
Rivers, Quebec in 1640ish from France, 40 years before the Abenaki community of
Odanak was established and are still there today.
Other unanswered ancestors in
our genealogy are numerous.
Out of Vermont, the Bedel's on my mom's side, and through the Dunham line (my grandma’s mom), the Mann's and Spear's all
drop off fast and may have Abenaki links.
Like most ancestries, ours has
more questions than answers, but a clear pattern emerges. Close contact with
northeast Native communities and most lines being in the northeast from first
European contact and before.
What is known Native-wise is Jesse Bowman's Mohawk ancestry through
his mother Alice Van Antwerp is well documented and multilayered. One line
below is to Ots Toch - Hartell (Snow
Bird). Also another branch of the Van Antwerp line hits Grietje, who has been mentioned.
This might help
some of you:
1. Ots Toch Hartell
2. Elizabeth VanSlyck
3. Cornelius VanBuren
4. Aaltje VanNess VanBuren
5. Hendrikje Fonda VanBuren
6. Douwe VanAntwerp
7. Winant Van Antwerp
8. Daniel Wynet Van Antwerp
9. Alice Van Antwerp
10. Jesse Elmer Bowman
11. Marion Flora Bowman
12. Joseph Bruchac
13. Jesse Bowman
Bruchac
Kwai Mskwamagw [Douglas Lloyd
Buchholz] ta kdagik nid8bak ta nid8baskwak. N'kawachowi kd'agakimziba
aln8baiwi askwa.
Wlalamegw8gan,
Migakawinno [#13]
May 18, 2009
The New York Times
By James Barron
2 Disputed Indian
Wampum Belts Pulled From Auction
Sotheby’s has removed two
ceremonial Indian wampum belts from an auction scheduled for Wednesday
following complaints by the Onondaga nation that the belts were part of their
cultural heritage and should be returned.
Sotheby’s issued a statement on Monday saying that the
estate of a collector that had consigned the belts had decided to withdraw them
“in order to review the information presented” by the Onondaga.
The statement also said the
decision to take the belts out of the Wednesday sale had been made “pending
further discussion with the Haudenosaunee Standing Committee.” The
Haudenosaunee is a confederacy that includes the Onondaga and five other nations.
Sotheby’s had estimated that one
of the belts would sell for $15,000 to $20,000 and the other would go for
$20,000 to $30,000.
Onondaga leaders had threatened
to attend the auction and stand silently in protest as the bidding progressed.
They had sent Sotheby’s a
package of letters from Indian leaders and scholars last week describing the
two items and outlining their objections to the sale. One expert said the two
belts were probably made between 1760 and 1820.
Wampum belts “represent our
sacred history, the founding principles of our laws and life-ways and the
importance of agreements that we have made between nations,” Christine G.
Abrams, a member of the Haudenosaunee Standing Committee, said in a letter to
Sotheby’s. “Wampum belts are our legal documents and records, which also
combine sacred knowledge, forming the basis of our identity today.”
Shannon Keller O’Loughlin, a
lawyer for the Onondaga nation, said the Onondaga considered the belts
community property that were never owned by any one person, and that no
Onondaga had ever had the authority to sell or transfer them. “Therefore,” she
wrote in a letter to Sotheby’s last week, “these belts were originally taken
out of these communities without proper ‘title.’ ”
How that happened remains a mystery, according to the
letters the Haudenosaunee sent Sotheby’s.
“It is not clear how or why these
two wampum belts were removed from native ownership,” wrote Margaret M.
Bruchac, the coordinator of Native American studies at the University of
Connecticut’s Avery Point campus in Groton.
Both belts were once in the
collection of the Museum of the American Indian, a forerunner of the National
Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan, and Ms. O’Loughlin said the
Museum of the American Indian had “de-accessioned” them. De-accession is a term
used by museums to describe the process of taking items out of their
collections and make them available for sale or exchange.
Sotheby’s said the belts had
come from a collection belonging to Herbert G. Wellington Jr., the chairman of
an old-line stock brokerage firm before his death in 2005.
Mr. Wellington’s collection
included objects from a number of North American tribes and was exhibited at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1983.
Sotheby’s said the representatives of the estate declined
to talk about the dispute.
Ms. O’Loughlin also questioned
whether the deaccessioning had been done properly. That issue was investigated
in the 1970s by the state attorney general at the time, Louis J. Lefkowitz.
A trustee of the Museum of the
American Indian, the anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, had complained that art
dealers were permitted to “go shopping” for American Indian rarities at a
museum warehouse in the Bronx.
June 07, 2009
The provenance of the Abenaki
belt is not as clear, but it too made its way into the Museum of the American
Indian where it was wrongfully de-accessioned to Economos, along with seven
other Indian items in 1972, and then into the consignor’s collection.
“The 21st century choice to send these two items to auction … raises
serious questions, given the common understanding in the present day among
scholars, curators and indigenous leaders (also encoded in federal law) that
wampum belts are considered sacred, ceremonial, communal and inalienable items
of cultural patrimony,” Dr. Margaret
Bruchac, Coordinator of Native American Studies at the University of
Connecticut, wrote to Sotheby’s.
July 10-12, 2009
Margaret Bruchac and her husband Justin Kennick perform "Hand
in Hand" at the Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration
in Burlington, VT.
July 13, 2009
Marge Bruchac
My time in
Burlington, Vermont was pretty disconnected. The Diversity Forum was small in
attendance, large in spirit, but I had to rush off to perform on the massive
waterfront stage with way too much competition from the wind, and a very
distracted audience. Preparations for the parade were rain-soaked chaos, but
the Abenaki color guard stepped proudly off in the lead, despite threats of
cancellation, with a fine show of unity. Our gig in the Abenaki Cultural
Village at the Echo Center was small and pleasant. It was immediately followed
by Fred Wiseman and the Abenaki closing with a stinging critique of what the
organizers did wrong. Let's hope this event inspires some kind of lasting
transformation in Abenaki relations in Vermont...
July 19-24, 2009
Marge Bruchac was a Writer-in-Residence for Wabanaki Youth Writers' Camp, sponsored
by the Maine Writers' Guild and Penobscot Nation, near Oldtown, ME.
July 27, 2009-
Margaret (nee: Bruchac) and Justin Kennick traveled to
the Netherlands, Amsterdam, Holland,
Belgium and do their lectures/ presentations/ songs. While there she got on a
computer of a Dutch friend Jans Pietersz (John Peters …
johnpeters@hotmail.com), and sent to nosorigins.com (a genealogical
website in New Brunswick) data that IMPLIED
as ‘fact’ that Lew (Louis) Bowman who had married Alice Van Atwerpt was allegedly the son of Francois-Louis
O’Bomsawin and his wife Agnes Anne Olinass.
John Peters
Language Coach (Dutch)
Maastricht Area, Netherlands
- Education Management
Current : Volunteer
Previous: Ericsson GmbH,
Technical University Eindhoven, Technical University Twente, Enschede,
Netherlands
Education: Technical
University Eindhoven
Since my early pension, end
2011, I work as volunteer in several organizations in the Netherlands and
Belgium. This work is focused around
helping foreigners to master the Dutch language: teaching, coaching,
leading groups, project management.
July 31 – August 02, 2009
Champlain Valley Folk Festival —Kingsland Bay State Park,
Ferrisburgh, Vt.
Joseph and his son
Jesse Bowman Bruchac performed.
August 03, 2009
Re: ABENAKI-BOWMAN
Cynthia Biasca
Posted: 5:44 PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Clement, Werner
Hi - You are essentially right. However, Maria Bradt, bpt
1713, did not marry Isaac Van Valkenburg; she had an illegitimate child by him
bpt. 17 Dec. 1732 at Schoharie Lutheran Ch. However, he used his father's last
name. Isaac the father went on to marry Jannetje Clement in 1737.
Isaac the son married Anna Marie Werner. They had ten
children, three of whom married Bradts. By then they used the name Vollick.
The family did NOT go back to Ots Toch - she was a
myth, which I debunked a few years ago. See my book "Descendents of
Albert and Arent Andriessen Bradt" and the article in the NY Genealogical
and Biographical Record of April 1997 called "Jacques Hertel and the
Indian Princesses."
Cynthia Brott Biasca
Aug 17, 2009
“I am Abenaki Indian,
a traditional singer and storyteller as well as an historical consultant and
scholar. Among many other things, I portray a 19th century Indian Doctress,
Molly Geet, at Old Sturbridge Village Museum in Massachusetts. Justin and I
perform traditional and contemporary Abenaki songs and stories as "Hand
in Hand," and we just released a new album last year called "Zahkiwi
Lintowoganal / Voices in the Woods." Thanks for putting us on the list.
Look forward to hearing more.”
Travel well,
Marge Bruchac
August 18, 2009
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: Patricia A. Bowman
Subject: Bowman -
Obomsawin
My husband’s Great-Grandfather was John (Jack) Bowman
born 1893, died 1973, the son of Louis Bowman. John was married to Catherine
Gray. They had 5 children, Lillian, Earl, John, Otis, Howard. They lived on
Jenkinsville Road in Queensbury, NY. My husband and his dad are also named
Earl. Are you related? My husband remembers his great-grandparents very well.
August 31, 2009
Native American
Studies Gaining Ground at UConn
Professor Margaret Bruchac, Native American Studies coordinator at Avery Point, at Ausable Chasm, N.Y.
Margaret Bruchac, an assistant professor of anthropology at
Storrs and coordinator of Native
American Studies at the Avery Point Campus, says Native studies are a
necessary element of American education. “Educators have an ethical
responsibility to increase our students’ awareness of, theorizing about, and
intellectual engagement with indigeneity
as an essential aspect of American and world history,” she says.
“Native American Studies offers
so many opportunities for interdisciplinary study,” she adds. Bruchac is the
resource coordinator for a new learning community at Avery Point that focuses on indigenous peoples and the environment.
She has also designed a new course, Museum Anthropology that features field
trips to Native American museums in the region.
Students presently engaged in
Native American Studies are benefiting from academic opportunities at the
nearby Mashantucket Pequot Museum and
Research Center, where Kevin McBride
serves as research director. Here, they can participate in on-site
archaeological digs, conduct research in state-of-the-art labs, access an
extensive archival library, or hold internships as tour guides educating the
public.
“A strong component of Native
Studies at UConn is this place; it’s huge in terms of combining academic
experience with an applied experience,” McBride says of the Museum and Research
Center. In fact, the land on which the Museum stands is one of the oldest
continuously occupied landscapes in the country, inhabited by Native people for
more than 10,000 years. McBride calls it “one of the most amazing places you
can imagine in terms of a sense of history and archaeology.”
Further Growth
As far as the Native American
Studies Program has come in recent years, there remains room for growth.
McBride believes that a designated Native American Cultural Center on campus
and funding for scholarships would help attract more Native American students
to the University. There are currently about 100 students of Native American
heritage at UConn.
“We want to be able to attract
Native students here from around the country,” he says. “We really have an
opportunity to build up the program and become very visible.”
Van Alst anticipates strengthening the program over time, adding
graduate students and faculty focused on Native American Studies as well as a
dedicated gathering space for speakers, tribal elders, and families. He also
envisions enhancing the program with an introductory Native American Studies
course, a language component, business classes, and a semester of “Study
Abroad” at the sovereign Pine Ridge Reservation.
In an effort to expand local
outreach and engagement, Bruchac has created a new Native American Advisory
Committee that includes tribal leaders and educators from surrounding Native
American tribes.
“The main thing is letting
students know that Indian people are here. It’s about making that space,” says
Van Alst. “You want to show the communities and the folks around here that if
they send their sons and daughters here, that they can learn about their
culture if they choose to, and even if they don’t, that their culture is
respected and has a place within the academic world. That’s really important.”
Three Native scholars have
graduated with doctorates from UConn in the past few years; a Nipmuc scholar
will soon finish her doctorate; and several Mohegan tribal members will be
among the new students at the University this fall.
September 12, 2009
Hosted by Vermont Story Festival. 11:00 a.m. to 12:30
p.m.
Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, Vermont
This special event features the W’Abenaki Dancers and the Abenaki storytellers ‘Hand in Hand’ with
performers Marge Bruchac and Justin Kennick.
A co-production of the Vermont Folklife Center, Henry
Sheldon Museum of Vermont History and Ilsley
Public Library.
September 22, 2009
Episode #20:
Gedakina: Revitalizing A Native Way of Life
Join your host, J. Kehaulani
Kauanui, for an episode featuring the community work of a non-profit
organization called Gedakina (g’ dah keen nah), which means, “Our
world, a way of life” in the Abenaki language. Gedakina is a multi-generational
endeavor to strengthen and revitalize the cultural knowledge and identity of
Native American youth and families that are rural, urban and reservation
communities from across northern New England. Our first of two guests on the
show will be Rick Pouliot (Megantiquois
Abenaki), the Chair and Co-founder of Gedakina. Over the past sixteen
years, he has focused on programs and initiatives that positively impact First
Nations youth and families.
The second guest will be Jesse Bowman Bruchac (St Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenaki),
who has worked extensively over the past two decades in projects involving the
preservation of the Abenaki language, music, and traditional culture. In 2009 Jesse launched http://WesternAbenaki.com
–a website offering a keyword searchable database of the language, lessons and
a variety show produced entirely in Abenaki.
October 01, 2009
October 3 and 4, 2009, more than 30 Native American
musicians and storytellers will be walking the good path to Saratoga Springs,
to share their songs and their words at the third Saratoga Native American
Festival at Saratoga Spa State Park, in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Featured musicians include Tomas Obomsawin (Abenaki), the
Nettukkusq Singers (Nipmuc and Wampanoag), the Dawnland Singers (Abenaki) and Kontiwennenhawi (Akwesasne Mohawk),
among others. Folk tales of all description will be shared by Mohawk
storytellers Al Cleveland, Kay Ionataiewas Olan, and David Kanietakron Fadden, and Abenaki
storytellers Jesse Bruchac, Jim Bruchac and Marge Bruchac. The host drum
for powwow-style dancing is the Iron River Singers, and the Shenandoah Dancers
will demonstrate traditional-style eastern dances.
The two groups of Native women
who will be singing at the Saratoga Festival – the Nettukkusq Singers and
Kontiwennenhawi – share similar origin stories. Both groups came together at
sorrowful times, and they determined to reclaim traditions that might otherwise
be lost, and to share the transformative power of women’s voices with their
communities.
The Nettukkusq Singers came
together at the Nipmuc Memorial Social, held on Deer Island to commemorate the
death of many Nipmuc and Wampanoag people who were interned there during King
Philip’s War in 1676. In 1996, Four Native women – Dolores Quartey Hazard,
Deborah Spears Moorehead (Talking Water), Pamela Anaqua Ellis, and Ojetta Silas
– decided to start publicly singing Eastern Woodland traditional songs to keep
the culture alive, to inspire the people, and to teach the children. The group
also includes Jasmine Sunflower Moorehead and Jacqueline Pautauck Moorehead.
Nettukkusq has performed at a
wide range of venues, including Brown University, the Mashantucket Pequot
Tribal Nation Schemitzen Powwow, the Nuweetoun School, the Rhode Island School
of Design, and the Smithsonian Museum. Their music is on the soundtrack of the
movie The Shadow of the Crow, and the PBS movie Exile. The women recently
completed a songwriting grant collaboration with the Tomaquaug Memorial Indian
Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. They have two CDs,
titled Mend the Hoop and Iootash.
The group Kontiwennenhawi, which
translates to “Carriers of the Words,” originated as the Women's Singing
Society in the Mohawk community at Ahkwesahsne (also spelled Akwesasne), which
straddles the border between the US and Canada. In traditional Native
communities, singing societies are responsible for giving assistance and
support to those who have suffered a loss of some sort. Traditionally, men
would have sung many of these songs at events called Six Nations Sing, held
twice annually in the spring and fall.
The Akwesasne women felt a duty
to help the language survive, by singing traditional songs, and writing songs
in the Mohawk language. They tell us, “We believe that if our language dies, so
will we as a Nation of people because without our language we will have no
culture. The songs are shared and taught to children to honor our Mother the
Earth, our Grandmother the Moon, Our Grandparents from every generation, the
teachers in schools who teach the language, the Great Law of Peace for our
life's foundation.”
The women serve two roles as
singers: as the Women’s Singing Society, they offer traditional songs of
condolence and care for Haudenosaunee people; as Kontiwennenhawi, they offer
Mohawk music to other audiences to spread the good will around. The group
includes Kenkiokoktha Theresa Bear Swamp-Fox, Angie Mitchell, Kahentíhson
Elizabeth Swamp-Nanticoke, Jessica Lazore, Katsiítsión:ni Fox, Kaweienón:ni
Margaret Peters, Konwasenná:wi David, Iawén:tas Nanticoke, Tsierihwiióhsta Jean
Square, Rachel Gray, Kawennahén:te Maxine Cole, Sandi Dupree, and
Tewasohkwaténies Yvonne Peters. Kontiwennenhawi has performed at many
festivals, schools, and special events across New York, New England, and
Canada. They have been nominated for a NAMMY (Native American Music Award).
Their new album is called “Ratirista’kehro:non – Skywalkers”.
The third Saratoga Native
American Festival is a collaborative effort of the Ndakinna Education Center
and the NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation. The event is
open to the general public, with activities taking place under shelter, rain or
shine. The Saratoga Native American Festival is taking place on October 3 and
4, from 10 am to 7 pm., at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, on the grounds
of the Saratoga State Park, Saratoga Springs, New York. Admission fees are $10
for adults; $7 for seniors; $5 for children 5-12; children under 5 are free.
For more information and a schedule, go to the on-line site at:
http://www.saratoganativefestival.org/site/ .
The Ndakinna Education Center,
an affiliate of the Greenfield Review Literary Center, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
and charitable organization, based at the Marion F. Bowman Bruchac Memorial
Nature Preserve in Greenfield Center, New York.
For further information, call: Joe Bruchac (518) 584-1728
Ndakinna Education Center (518) 583-9958
October 3-4, 2009
Marge Bruchac performed storytelling and singing with "The
Dawnland Singers" at the "Saratoga Native American
Festival" at Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs, NY.
November 16, 2009
Compiled by Kristen Cole
Grécourt Gate: News and events for the Smith College
Community
Margaret Bruchac:
In 1998, as an Ada Comstock scholar at Smith, I was engaged in research for my
Smith Scholars project when I signed up for a "Museum Anthropology" course
with Visiting Professor Patricia Erikson. She alerted me to Smith College's
involvement in excavating and displaying local Native American remains during
the early 20th century. After being recruited to pursue graduate study at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, I discovered, to my surprise, that UMass
had more dead than living Native people on campus. That provoked me to do a
great deal of research into museum collecting, and to spur the formation of a
Five College Repatriation Committee to facilitate the process of repatriation.
Gate: Have you
always identified strongly with the Native American culture?
MB: I come
from a family of mixed ancestry (as do most modern Native people). My father
was a hunter, trapper, and trader. My mother's kin were basket-makers and
subsistence farmers on one side, and well-educated lawyers on the other side. I
never identified with the stereotypes of western Plains Indians or
reservations, since they did not reflect my experience of living in the Adirondacks.
I identify most with Native cultures that are
“deeply-rooted,” blending traditional knowledge’s and extended kinship networks
in relation to specific local landscapes with select modern ways and cultural
crossings. This survival strategy typifies what I call "Algonkian
logic," reflecting the ways that Abenaki and other Algonkian people have
always adapted to the changing world around them.
I
come from the Bowman Clan of the Lake
George Region. The original name was
Obomsawin.
Family changed it and
called themselves French to ward off discrimination, according to my cousin Joe Bruchac. I thought I was French till my mid 20's, but
always felt a connection.
Olibamkanni!
March 19, 2011
The Saratogian Newspaper
Obituary Section
Carol (nee:
Worthen) Bruchac of Greenfield Center, N.Y. was born on December 2, 1942 and left this life on March 12th, 2011. She was married on June 13, 1964 is survived by her husband and partner
of 48 years, Joseph Bruchac; their
two sons, James Edward Bruchac and Jesse Bowman Bruchac and their three
grandchildren, Carolyn Rose Bruchac,
Jacob Bowman Bruchac and Ava Rae Bruchac; as well as her sister,
Katherine Humphreys; and her two
brothers, Albert Worthen and Samuel Worthen; she was predeceased by
her brother, John Worthen.
Although her accomplishments were many as a publisher and
editor and a tireless supporter of the arts, women's issues, the disadvantaged,
the American Indian Culture and our
Mother Earth, she was always proudest of her roles as a friend, a wife, a
mother and a grandmother. She truly lived her life by the words of the
philosopher who wrote: "Be kind, for
everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."
At her request, because she wished to return to this
Earth as quietly as a falling leaf or a drop of rain on the surface of a pond,
there will be no viewing or public memorial service. Those who wish to make
some gesture in remembrance of all she gave to others may do so by making a
charitable contribution to the Ndakinna
Education Center, P.O. Box 308, Greenfield
Center, New York 12833.
October 28, 2011
Comment Posted By: Lake Champlain Basin Program
Sub-watershed: Lake Champlain, Poultney-Mettowee/South,
Saranac/Chazy, Winooski
Jurisdiction: NY/VT
Starting in July, 2011 and
ending August 27, 2011, the Adirondack
Center for Writing (ACW) presented five regional Native American
writers—David Fadden, Doug George, Joe Bruchac, Jesse Bruchac, and Robin Kimmere—at four events in New York and Vermont.
December 13, 2011
The Epoch Times (online)
By John Christopher Fine
Joseph Bruchac—an
Uncommon Native American
For his entire life, Joseph
Bruchac has lived on the corner of Middle Grove Road and Route 9N in Greenfield
Center, N.Y., three miles outside Saratoga Springs. The original Tydol gas
station and general store that stood on the same spot were owned by his
grandparents. The house behind the store is where he was brought up by his
mother’s parents.
Being raised by his grandparents
is what made the man. Bruchac’s maternal grandfather, Jesse Bowman, was of
Abenaki descent. While being Native American today may be big business, it
wasn’t when he was a boy at the time of World War II; and it certainly wasn’t
in his grandfather’s time before that.
There were no Foxwoods or
Mohegan Sun casinos, no Indian Bingo, and no Native American Heritage
Festival—mostly only prejudice, poverty, and illiteracy. Ignorance of their own
native culture and roots was often encouraged by force. Ignorance of reading
and writing English was often imposed upon them by the shame and fear whites
encouraged through prejudice.
Grandfather Jesse never spoke of
his Abenaki heritage. Never spoke about being Native American. When asked why
his skin was dark, Jesse replied, “We French is dark.”
Joseph Bruchac learned kindness
from his grandfather. He was never struck or spoken to harshly as a boy. That
wasn’t his grandfather’s way. The love and nurturing of his grandparents formed
the boy who grew from a myopic little kid with thick glasses that nobody liked,
a self-described know-it-all and tattletale, to a college athlete and varsity
wrestler at Cornell University.
Joseph received his B.A. in English then went on to
receive an M.A. in literature and creative writing from Syracuse University. He
later earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Union Institute & University
in Ohio.
He has written some 50 books.
This is a long step for the little boy raised by a grandfather who jumped out
the window and quit school in the fourth grade because the other children
called him a dirty Indian.
There have been difficult times. His wife Carol’s younger
brother died from liver cancer after a two-year struggle, then there was
Carol’s own bout with cancer and the pain of surgery, radiation, and
chemotherapy.
Through it all, the abiding love
that Joseph’s Abenaki grandfather revealed to the small child has sustained
them. Joseph relates that special love and respect for the Earth with
enthusiasm through Native American folktales he tells children. Many of his
books are traditional teachings and stories he’s learned from the pages of
wisdom from the elders—a world view he has learned from Abenaki people of the
dawn land and other people of the Earth.
His enthusiasm never wanes. It
seems to brighten those he encounters whether they’re children in schools where
he is paid to do Native American storytelling programs or with people whose
programs for the protection of animals have crossed paths with his work.
The Richard C. Owen Publishers’ book recounts Bruchac’s
life as a writer for children. There were many things that formed him, molded
him, changed him, and caused him to create. Most of all, it seems, his
grandfather Jesse was the major influence in directing his life.
Stories his grandfather never
told him, a heritage always kept from him and never spoken about, a culture
suppressed by their family—all found rebirth in Joseph’s adult life. After
almost 30 years of studying, teaching, and traveling, he returned to Bowman’s
Store and discovered his roots.
For Joseph Bruchac
today, having a Native American heritage is both a business and a passion.
Both his sons have immersed themselves in Abenaki folklore and teachings. His
son Jesse has studied the language with elders in Canada and is a fluent
Abenaki speaker. This is no easy task. Even Joseph, who pronounces words in
Abenaki, admits he is not fluent in the language of his maternal grandfather’s
ancestors.
At meals, when Bruchac links
hands in the circle to give thanks and speak words to the Creator, energy
radiates from his hand. Sometimes more intensely, sometimes less, but clearly
felt through his palms and fingers.
It’s hard to say that he looks
like the classical Native American depicted in those dramatic photographs of
yore—black and white pictures of proud and noble people looking stoically at
the camera with determined expressions and fixed eyes. It’s hard to know
there’s even a resemblance to his grandfather Jesse whose ruddy features and
weathered skin appear in photographs that grace their home.
It’s also hard to see great
resemblance to people of the long house in photographs of his two sons. Yet
there is a resemblance in the one criterion traditional Native Americans hold
dearest—their relationship with people and the Earth.
They align their minds and
spirits with Nature to respect all living things, the Earth, and waters. In that
regard of traditional belief, it’s the spirit that is good which makes the ugly
handsome, the lame whole, the slow fast, and the weak strong.
It takes dedication to follow
that path but Bruchac and his wife share consideration for the Earth as they
compost everything they can so as not to waste. They work their gardens
organically, and establish environmental easements for their land
so developers of future generations cannot turn the soil where Native
American ancestors lived into profitable shopping centers.
Joseph Bruchac exercises, blends his berry and fruit concoction
that is thick with healthy things, and writes. Most of all, he is free of the
stressful life that his busy business at the store brings.
There is a paradox in the life of Joseph Bruchac, but it
is only there if someone else takes the trouble to notice. It is akin to the
corner where Bowman’s Store still stands. Cars and trucks race by at great
speeds. “Grandmother called it the road of death,” Bruchac said. “Until the
road was rebuilt recently, there was a fatal accident at that corner every
year,” he said.
The paradox is the same. At the store Bruchac is speeding
along, making business deals, book deals, selling deals, booking his travels to
perform storytelling, publishing books and the extensive catalog of the
Greenfield Review Press.
Joseph Bruchac has merged the spirit of the old with the new,
the need to live, and the need to love what is living.
Dr. John Christopher Fine is the author of 24 books on a variety of subjects. His articles and photography appear in major magazines and newspapers in the United States and Europe.
May 08, 2012
Comment Posted By: Lake Champlain Basin Program
Sub-watershed: Winooski
Through a $10,000 grant from the CVNHP/LCBP, the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center developed the “Indigenous Expressions: Contemporary Native Peoples of the Lake Champlain Basin Audio Project.” Using QR codes and cell phones, the new interpretation brings the spoken voice to a collection of photographs of contemporary Native Americans in the Champlain Valley.
ECHO has worked in close collaboration with the Native American community in Vermont and New York since 2007 in preparation for the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial commemoration. The museum/community partnership developed an exhibit: “Indigenous Expressions: Native Peoples of the Lake Champlain Basin,” which is a collection of thirteen Native American exhibits and a contemporary Portrait Gallery with twenty photographs of self-selected families and individuals from throughout the Basin.
The partnership also developed and presented a wide variety of Native American public programs for all ages in 2009-2010, including “Materials of Culture: 10,200 years of Abenaki Clothing, Ceremony, and Implements,” a 1609 Abenaki Encampment, a photo-ethnography program and dance performances with “The Circle of Courage” dancers from Swanton, VT, and lectures from Native scholars.
During the 13-day International Waterfront Festival in July 2009, ECHO and the Native community welcomed 8,604 guests to our Native American events, and over 275,000 visited the exhibits. Inspired by this amicable partnership, and with previous permission, ECHO expanded its work with the Basin’s Native community to collect, share, and archive interviews, traditional cultural and natural sounds, and music, to produce a myriad of audio from Native soundscapes (a combination of sounds that form an immersive environment) to first-person stories. The audio project extends cultural interpretation and programming that began during the Quadricentennial and brings to life the material culture and life-way traditions that ECHO currently shares with its guests.
June 13, 2012
Ancestry.com Message Board
From: jacklynch2833 [Jack Lynch]
Subject: Re: Mary and Alice Vanantwerp, Bowman, Saratoga Co. NY
Louis Bowman was born in East Farnham, Quebec to Charles and Sophie Bowman. At this level there is no sure connection with Abenaki lineage. If it exists, it is further back. After Charles death in the 1840s, Sophie married a man with the last name Senecal. This link has caused some native ancestry suggestions to be raised, but it does not go to the Bowman line.
Neither Louis’s father nor Louis ever lived in Vermont.
As a child, Louis lived in East Farnham, Brome-Missisquoi County, Quebec and after his mother remarried, in West Shefford, Shefford County, Quebec, Canada, at the age of 20 years he volunteered for Civil War duty, was wounded and after discharge he then moved to Saratoga County. He subsequently married Alice Van Antwerp of neighboring Wilton, N.Y. and the rest you all know.
July 12, 2012
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture
Workshop: Living on the Edge of Empire: Alliance, Conflict and Captivity in Colonial New England.
For over a decade the Deerfield Teachers' Center has delivered high-caliber American history and humanities content to over 900 educators. Our programs delve into topics presented by leading scholars in combination with sessions assisting teachers to integrate historical and cultural understandings into engaging and meaningful K-12 lessons. For a century from 1660 to 1760 the bucolic New England village of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was a crossroads where differing visions and ambitions of diverse Native American nations and European colonial empires interacted peacefully and clashed violently. We are excited to explore with NEH Summer Scholars the historic sites and topics which illuminate the actual and intellectual terrain of the complex early American colonial period and the many cultural groups who comprised it.
Professor Margaret Bruchac, a Wôbanaki and scholar, (University of Pennsylvania) will provide an overview of early Native history, including the important understanding that indigenous peoples were and are separate nations and cultures. This discussion of Native American 18th century culture and life ways will help participants better understand Native perspectives of interaction among Native groups and Europeans. The discussion will include spiritual beliefs, economic and political world views, and gender roles and their impact on events, including those preceding the Deerfield Raid and its aftermath.
November 14, 2012
“Found Back Again: Mounded Earth and Ancient Memory in the Northern Netherlands.” Paper presented in “Indigenous Spaces: Pushing the Borders and Boundaries of History, Bodies, Geographies, and Politics” session at the American Anthropological Association Conference, San Francisco, CA.
July 13, 2013
Douglas Buchholz
“Native American history is thus the history of all Americans,” quote is utter new-agey, wannabiak dogma and a mindset of revisionist thinking, of INSERTING themselves INTO.... sort of like Marge Bruchac insterting herself into being Abenaki, and inserting herself and her brother's grandfather, and by way of that, into themselves INTO the Obomsawin Family, connecting themselves to Odanak, an Abenaki Community in Quebec. My question is WHY is Marge Bruchac self-promoting her classes at Penn since September 2012? Where is the PROOF legitimately and accurately, genealogically to their alleged connections to the Abenakis, to the Obomsawin's and to Odanak? Does it even exist at all? Is it just yet another propped up "story" by her and her brother Joe Bruchac? I mean, seriously, where is the clear and convincing evidence, since they are profiting off of, and educating the children of tomorrow's parents with this re-vision-istic "hiding-in-plain sight" nonsense. WHERE is the evidence that Margaret Bruchac is a descendant of First Nations People?
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/02/06/university-pennsylvania-working-native-studies-minor-147473
October 13, 2014
Tulsa Library to honor award-winning author Joseph Bruchac
Written by John Fancher, Tulsa Public Library Media Release
TULSA, Okla. – Joseph Bruchac will receive the Tulsa Library Trust’s “Festival of Words Writers Award” March 7, 2015, 10:30 a.m., at Hardesty Regional Library’s Connor’s Cove, 8316 E. 93rd St. His award presentation will be followed by a day of educational American Indian family events from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
The award, presented every other year, consists of a $5,000 honorarium and an engraved crystal. Previous winners include: 2001, Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek); 2003, Vine DeLoria Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux); 2005, Leslie Marmon-Silko (Laguna Pueblo) 2007, Carter Revard (Osage); 2011, LeAnne Howe, (Choctaw) and 2013, Sterlin Harjo, (Seminole/Muscogee Creek).
Bruchac is a traditional storyteller and author of more than 120 books often reflecting his American Indian (Abenaki) ancestry and the Adirondack Region of northern New York. He lives in the house that he was raised in by his grandparents. It was in this house, which his grandmother filled with books, where his love of storytelling began. His Abenaki grandfather would take him into the woods and quietly teach him about the natural world in ways that were connected to their native heritage. He would tell a young Bruchac about logging, working with horses and hunting. Bruchac uses these memories as the foundation for his books and storytelling that serve in the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills.
“The only time he even mentioned the word ‘Indian’ was when he told me, more than once, how he left school in the fourth grade, jumping out the window and never coming back because they kept calling him a ‘dirty Indian,’” recalled Joseph Bruchac. “I had to go outside my own immediate family to hear those stories, which for some reason I was always eager to hear. Because of his dark skin and very Indian appearance, he dealt with prejudice often during his life and that made him reticent to speak directly about being Indian.”
Bruchac’s poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from National Geographic and American Poetry Review to Smithsonian Magazine. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee National Prose Award among others. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.
Sponsors for the American Indian Festival of Words include the Tulsa Library Trust, Tulsa City-County Library’s American Indian Resource Center, the Maxine and Jack Zarrow Family Foundation, the Mary K. Chapman Foundation and George Kaiser Family Foundation.
See September 26, 1986
See September 26, 1986
The Schenectady Gazette
Newspaper, Page 11
Indian Stories Program will held Sunday
GLOVERSVILLE – A program of
American Indian storytelling will be presented at 12:15 p.m. Sunday at First
Congregational Church of Christ.
The first in a year-long
series of cultural programs to be offered by the church, Sunday’s program
features Joseph Bruchac, a poet of Abenaki Indian ancestry from
Greenfield Center whose stories were told to him
by his grandfather, Jesse Bowman.
December 18, 2014
PENN INTRODUCES
NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES MINOR
By Susan Ahlborn
Assistant Professor Margaret
Bruchac is building an interdisciplinary program on long-term strengths.
A new minor in Native American
and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) gives Penn students not just another academic
option but another way of looking at the world. Assistant Professor of
Anthropology Margaret Bruchac says,
“I try to teach students to be aware of the cultural positions they bring to
their studies, to be sensitive to multiple possibilities and perspectives and
interpretations, and to carefully consider how these fit together.”
Margaret Bruchac, of Abenaki Indian ancestry, came to Penn in the
spring of 2013 as the first Native American faculty member in the Department of
Anthropology. As Coordinator of NAIS, she found, “Penn had the relevant
intellectual grounding and many of the courses, but not the cohesion to pull it
all together.”
The University’s history of
engagement with indigenous students and Native American studies reaches back to
1755, when Benjamin Franklin recruited Jonathan and Philip Gayienquitioga of
the Mohawk nation to attend classes at the Academy of Philadelphia. Engagement
with Native American communities continues now in the form of recruitment,
outreach, consultation, exhibition, and repatriation projects.
Bruchac surveyed every school
and department at Penn to determine what courses and programs already had
Native American components. She then formed a faculty working group with
representatives from anthropology, history, linguistics, and religious studies,
as well as the Schools of Graduate Education, Law, and Nursing.
The resulting interdisciplinary
minor requires one core course, “Introduction to Native American and Indigenous
Studies,” taught by Bruchac. Students must also take three thematic classes,
with topics including Native American Literature, Decolonizing Methodologies, and Public Policy, Museums, and the Ethics of Cultural Heritage. They also
complete two related courses, which range from Caribbean Culture and Politics
to the art history class Facing America, which explores the visual history of
race in America.
Bruchac sees NAIS as an exchange
of knowledge that goes beyond cultural voyeurism, and rejects the stereotypical
view of primitive versus advanced knowledge. She gives as an example the Arctic
Inupiaq, who have an intimate understanding of the science, weather, and
wildlife in their region. “You cannot survive an arctic environment without
deep knowledge of that landscape. … So why are we not learning from people who
have done that for millennia?” She eventually wants to create exchange programs
between Penn and students from Native American nations, and bring in more
Native American scholars.
“I don’t think of Native American studies as an
interesting sideline,” she says. “I think of it as a source of foundational
knowledge that can alter education in very productive ways.” The NAIS
curriculum, she explains, can help to generate “more reflexivity, more empathy,
more understanding of difference, and more insights into how conflict
happens—and why—between different ethnicities and cultures.”
March 17, 2015
Ancestry.com ‘Abenaki – Bomwan’ Message Board
From: mlevet98
Subject: Bowman -
Obomsawin
Hi Pat- There were actually 8
Bowman siblings of that generation: Lillian, Earl, Howard, Otis, John, Edith,
Myrtle, and Ralph. I'm fairly confident Ralph died around age five. Myrtle died
before age five, and I believe (but am not entirely sure) around birth.I know this thread is old. I
wanted to leave my email address (mlevet@outlook.com) in case anyone
is interested in Bowman genealogy. I am a descendant of John (Jack) Bowman (son
of Lewis Bowman) through his son Earl K. Bowman and daughter-in law Margaret
Allegra Merrick. My mother, Margaret, was mentioned earlier in this thread. I
have done a fair amount of digging into the Bowman genealogy, albeit building
out the family tree rather than tracing back.
July 05, 2015
Ancestry.com Messaging System
I am approaching you in the hopes that you might be
willing and able to help me discern the lineage of Lewis/Louis Bowman who
married to Alice Van Antwerp, great-greatt Grandfather of Joseph Bruchac the
author of many books. Here is my proposal:
Find a Direct-Male-Bowman Descendant. Do a yDNA through
FTDNA.
Find a Direct-Male-Obomsawin Descendant. Do a yDNA
through FTDNA.
See if the Haplogroup and yMarkers match. In this way, it
will either validate or negate the oral history perpetuated by Joseph Bruchac
and his sister Margaret.
I have done the yDNA Study with my own father Fisher /
Buchholz vs. Smith male testers, as well as Phillips vs. Metallic lineages.
I am thinking that since the paper trail going back to
Lewis Bowman's ancestry is so uncertain, this MIGHT be a way to solve the
mystery.
What do you think? Do you know of a
direct-male-descendant from the Bowman lineage that might be willing to do this
testing? It is a two minute check swab.
Kindly,
Douglas Buchholz
(603) 788-2330
December 02, 2015
7:56PM
From: Douglas Lloyd Buchholz
(To Jesse Bowman Bruchac)
So, what sayeth you
about doing a FTDNA atDNA "Family Finder" test to help figure out
Lewis Bowman etc?
(From: Jesse Bowman Bruchac)
I can't wait! Just
need the time
24 South Greenfield Road
Greenfield Center NY 12833
1 Lewis Henry Bowman
& Alice Van Antwerp
2 Jesse Elmer
Bowman & Marion Edna Dunham
3 Marion Flora
Dunham & Joseph Edward Bruchac II
4 Joseph Edward
Bruchac III
5 Jesse Bowman
Bruchac
December 11, 2015
Douglas Lloyd Buchholz mailed to Jesse Bowman Bruchac,
two FTDNA kits:
Jesse Bowman Bruchac Kit: 460663
Joseph Edward Bruchac Kit: 460664
These two DNA kits were mailed to 24 South Greenfield,
Road in Greenfield Center, NY 12833.
Tracking Number: 9500 1141 8142 5345 0271
27
460663 Return Tracking: 9500 1141
8142 5345 0271 10
460664 Return Tracking: 9500 1141
8142 5345 0271 03
December 14, 2015
Jesse Bowman Bruchac received the two FTDNA kits in the
mail. One for his father, and another for his father, Joseph Edward Bruchac III.
January 05, 2016
From Littleton, Grafton County, New Hampshire’s Post
Office, a FTDNA kit 460662 was mailed to by Douglas Lloyd
Buchholz.
1 Lewis Bowman & Alice Van Antwerp
2 John “Jack”
Bomwan & Katherine Gray
3 Mr. Bowman (son of ... father of No. 4)
4 Mr. Bowman (FTDNA Tester No. 1)
January 07, 2016
Mr. Bowman (Tester No. 1) received the FTDNA kit
460662 from Douglas Buchholz of Lancaster, N.H.
January 09, 2016
Mr. Bowman (Tester No. 1) mailed the completed FTDNA kit 460662 back to Douglas Buchholz of Lancaster, N.H.
January 11, 2016
Douglas Lloyd Buchholz of Lancaster, N.H. received the
completed FTDNA kit 460662 from Mr. Bowman (Tester No. 1)
January 11, 2016
Bowman descendant (Tester No. 2) mailed the completed FTDNA kit back to Douglas Buchholz of Lancaster, N.H.
1 Lewis Bowman & Alice Van Antwerp
2 John “Jack”
Bowman & Katherine Gray
3 Child of Mr. Bowman No. 2
4 Bowman Descendant (Tester No. 2)
More to be continued ...
