Joe and Jesse Bruchac at Paul Smith's VIC - Simply more appropriation

Adirondack Center for Writing presents Joe and Jesse Bruchac as part of our Native American Writers Series.

Specifically go to 39.43

Joseph Edward Bruchac III ... claims that HIS family did the genealogical work to find Ots-Toch in 2011 at this Native American Writers Series speaking event.

I think not.

This just another APPROPRIATION by the Bruchac's for themselves, without giving credit where credit is due.

March 08, 2016

Jesse Bowman Bruchac: While we have a distant native ancestor who can be traced, it is from the 1600's. That is what we know. It is actually all we have known for sure since May 2009 when you told me of that Mohawk ancestor, Ots-Toch.

In retrospect:

May 06, 2009

"Kwai Mskwamagw [Douglas Lloyd Buchholz] ta kdagik nid8bak ta nid8baskwak. N'kawachowi kd'agakimziba aln8baiwi askwa."
Wlalamegw8gan,
Migakawinno

So, Mr. Joseph Edward Bruchac III and Jesse Bowman Bruchac, want to appropriate for themselves just WHO spent the time, effort, and research time, to find Ots-Toch as it genealogically applies to Lewis Henry Bowman Sr. and his descendants?

Sure as hell, was NOT the Bruchac's who did the effort, the research, that's for sure!

It is interesting that Joseph Edward Bruchac III went after Alex Haley, back in the 1970's ...

On January 22, 1970, Bruchac met Alex Haley and recommended that he read Harold Courlander's 1967 novel The African to get a better understanding of the "African experience." Bruchac even drove home three miles to fetch his own copy of the novel and give it to Alex Haley, who promised to read it "on the plane." Alex Haley later incorporated some passages from The African into his bestselling novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. After Haley settled a plagiarism lawsuit, Joseph Bruchac came forward with this information, explaining that he was "shocked to see someone having used someone else's work ... without giving proper credit."

Jesse Elmer Bowman died January 28, 1970 ...

SO what really happened after Jesse, Joe's Grandfather died? Joe decided to make his Grandpa into an Indian, then later into an "Abenaki" to make himself into an Indian, and then an "Abenaki" too?

Just add water, then shake (for two minutes) and bake (at 350 degrees for some years) = "Abenaki" ... say it and publish it some many times, that the lies become the truth, and the truth becomes the lies ... is that how this works?

So much for credibility. Joseph Bruchac III (and his son Jesse Bruchac stands there as the falsehood is made) in a Guhsto:wa, states, "Our family has done the research back to Ots-Toch, the Mohawk woman" and the son Jesse, whom I shared my research back to that woman, stands silent. 

So much for "working together" ... eh.

http://yakjam.com/alex-haley-from-famous-to-fraud-when-the-truth-came-out/

I agree with the articles content:

"A history and heritage are important, but if you do not know yours then you should not try to invent one, or leave out parts you do not like."

The Bruchac's chose to leave out the "leap of faith", the belief, theory, and the guessing.

Lewis Henry Bowman and Joseph Edward Bruchac Research Time Line Part 8

Specifically, go to 33.55 and also more importantly 39.21 of this event and speaking engagement of Joseph Edward Bruchac III.



I also bought and read Joseph Edward Bruchac's books over the years:



I've also reviewed many published documents by his sister Margaret Marie Bruchac-Kennick:



One more round of applause for the Bruchac's?

I think not.

Let's make this very clear. The ONLY accomplishment they have done, to my thinking, is duping the public and Native People's into believing as they do, that "Jesse Elmer Bowman was an Abenaki."

Which is not true.

It has always been a figment of his grandson Joseph Bruchac' imagination, published in his books.

March 20, 2015
From an Abenaki man from and of Odanak:

"It's not about hating ... it's about the truth. 
A family of cultural profiteer$ to the detriment of my cultural and heritage. 
They [Bruchac's] are not sympathizers to the cause but usurpers for profit$. 
Like the sayings goes, repeat a lie long enough and it becomes a pseudo-truth. 
They say they got the support of Odanak, unfortunately that's not true. 
The only support they got up here is from one family; the vast majority of our band are not duped by them nor will they be.
Saying your Indian at heart doesn't make it so!"

Lewis Henry Bowman and Joseph Edward Bruchac Research Time Line Part 7:

Having done the research, which is ongoing, regarding the Bowman's of Vermont and Saratoga County, New York, and in particular the descendant family of Bruchac, genealogical descendants of Lewis Henry Bowman Sr. through his son Jesse Elmer Bowman ... I have ask myself several questions.

Why was Joseph Edward Bruchac III perpetuating this concocted story of his, that his mother's father Jesse as an "Abenaki"?

Was it simply because he was infatuated with Indians"? 

Clearly he was interactive with the Onondaga people who shared stories with him. 

He began, first, to publish Iroquois stories, not Abenaki stories. 

It was ONLY later, after meeting with Jules Louis Maurice Paul dit Dennis and his wife, Marie Juliette M'Sadoques, and learning that "Maurice" Den(n)is' mother was Marie Cléophée Robert Obomsawin, that Joseph Bruchac III began directing his writing towards Abenaki stories, and which involved his own family narrative, that Bowman derived from O'Bomsawin. 

Mr. Joseph Bruchac III has a Ph.D., and is a learned man, of some intelligence. 

He BELIEVED his leap of faith, his theory and his guess that his own grandfather's father Lewis Henry Bowman was an Abenaki (later conjectured but stated as fact that the man's father was from Odanak (formerly known as St. Francis), a mission community of Abenakis stretching back into the historical past to ca. 1675). Simply based on Jesse's dark complexion initially. Joe's estranged father, allegedly TOLD Joe III, that Marion's father was an Abenaki. 

But again, this is based on what Joe III SAYS post-1975. The merit of this story? Probably none.

He did not attempt to be aware of anything further than what he could perpetuate in his stories, that fit into his narrative, throughout the years from 1975 to 2016. Anything questioning of that perpetuated narrative, and the resulting action of the Bruchac family was:

http://westernabenaki.com/bowman.php

Simply "fishing" and implying that the Bowman's the Bruchac's descend from, MUST BE NATIVE.

And yet there are Bowman's in New England, from Germany, Scotland, England, and even Switzerland.

There most definitely are ethical considerations in claiming indigenous identity or relationships with particular indigenous peoples. To falsely claim such belonging is absolutely indigenous identity fraud. It is theft. 

Jack Lynch (brother-in-law to Joe Bruchac)

http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/bowman/4772/

There presently is a family group from this line that is circulating unfounded genealogical information for their personal economic benefit, so be careful.

In 2007, there was a Message Board conversation, http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ethnic.natam.nations.abenaki.abenakinat/240/mb.ashx in which some posted messages were for and against Bowman being from the Obomsawin Abenaki family. Within these posted messages, was one response received by a Ibgen1 of Queensbury, NY (where some of the Bowman's descended of Lewis H. Bowman reside to this day) who had some interesting details shared, but never really clarified genealogically speaking. 

We're working with what details were posted by this submitter, in our research now.

Also during this long thread of messages,  Carollee Reynolds also attempted to claim that her Partlow ancestors were identified as Abenakis/Indians in the Civil War Era at the time of enlistment. This is also not true. Those four Indians of Alburg, were Akwesasne Mohawk men. Had they really done their research, they would have known this. But of course, they along with Professor Wiseman simply didn't show the original records because the truth didn't fit their manipulated narrative for the Colonizer State of Vermont of whom these fake Abenakis were proffering up unsubstantiated un-vetted "evidence" and "proof. Certainly the genealogical evidence of alleged "Abenaki" ancestor was NEVER evaluated transparently! 

In the Ancestry.com Message Board Postings particularly on the date of May 06, 2009, migakawinno [Jesse Bowman Bruchac … Joseph Bruchac’s youngest son] wrote a response. 

It was then that I began to smell BS. Joe Bruchac's son was stating that "his father took a leap?" etc.

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.

June 24, 2015

From: "Irene" an Odanak Abenaki member

Always, and I appreciate your efforts, a style different then mine, but we are on the same page. I have been away, but not hidden, never hidden, following from a safe distance. After these long years I am finally able to pursue my Vocation and embracing both my heritage and talent for the first time ever. I was able to register at Odanak after my grandmother passed, my mother wanting to retire to Odanak, someday soon maybe. Then seeing what has become of Cecile Wawanolett's legacy and Elie Joubert, makes me cry, not sick, but just cry. I walk a fine line between both worlds, trying to make sense of how things can be fixed, if at all. 

My only pain has always been with Jesse Bruchac and his aunt Marge for making my relative upset, and for stealing our stories, downright making them up. Others are also watching /fighting the battle on our turf. So I watch my actions, I have to, but I am not naive. But it is hard to be Abenaki anywhere; when the first question is … 

Do you know that 'ole Joe'? 

Defenseless in numbers of those who agree, all I can respond with is, "Who? Never heard of him"

I have recently come across one of Don Stevens Jr.'s posted comments on the internet regarding Saints and Strangers, a video that Mr. Jesse Bowman Bruchac was involved in. 

November 01, 2015

http://www.channelguidemag.com/tv-news/2015/11/01/walking-the-talk-how-saints-strangers-native-american-cast-learned-to-speak-abenaki/

By Lori Acken

Walking the talk – how Saints & Strangers’ native American cast learned to speak Abenaki

“I grew up in a family where everybody was involved in our family history that dates back to this period,” said Jesse Bowman Bruchac, 43, whose father, Joseph Edward Bruchac III, penned the well-received “Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving.”

“I saw the language being lost, and my father struggling to gain fluency because his own grandfather [Jesse Elmer Bowman] and mother [Marion Dunham Bowman – Bruchac] didn’t want to speak it.

One does have to question whether or not Joseph Edward Bruchac III's grandfather, Jesse, and or Jesse's own daughter Marion EVER KNEW OR SPOKE THE ABENAKI LANGUAGE AT ALL.'

To imply that either of them had the ability to speak the Abenaki language, and just "didn't want to" ... is yet another concocted implied statement by Jesse Bowman Bruchac. I doubt that either Jesse Elmer Bowman or his daughter, knew of the Abenaki language, let alone could speak it.

November 02, 2015

Chief Donald Warren Stevens Jr. – Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe stated:

“I want to thank Jesse, National Geographic, and everyone who has allowed the Abenaki language to be used and heard. The Bruchac’s are a very important line to the preservation of the language. I hope this movie will inspire other companies to use the Abenaki Language. It is also nice to see that the native perspective will also be shown in the film. 

There is still a lot of ignorance and hate out there toward Native people.

Thank you and keep up the great work!

So, according to the Phillips descendant of Antoine Philips Sr. (Haplogroup: M-181 ... and a Black man of African descent and NOT ABENAKI at all) continues to imply that the Native people are hated and that there is a lot of ignorance out there towards such ethnicity ... just like he and his bastardizing manipulative ilk have claimed that this blog is a "hate-blog") 

Here's what I think, this blog is no more about HATE, than these people are really Abenaki Indians.

The ignorance is what these pretenders and "fakers" rely upon, just like the Bruchac's have relied on the narrative of their concocted ancestral stories about Jesse Bowman and his father Lewis Henry Bowman to perpetuate their appropriate of Abenaki stories, etc. and "circulating unfounded genealogical information for their personal economic benefit", as Jack Lynch stated in his March 2002 post on the genealogical Genforum.com ...

The Bruchac Ph.D, Margaret Marie Bruchac - Kennick (and or their ally 'John Peters', in or near Amsterdam intentionally or not on his part) went online, and attempted to 'attach' the Bowman ancestry to Francois Louis Obomsawin and Agnes-Anne Onlinass's family (from and of Odanak) ... IMPLYING that Lewis Henry Bowman Sr. was their son born in July of 1844.

Who does this sort of thing? Was it honest? Was it transparent? Was it backed up in genealogical merit? 

It is NOT HATEFUL to do the necessary research to confirm or deny the merits of those that would and have perpetuated ETHNIC FRAUD within the State of Vermont, or surrounding states.

This also includes Donald Warren Stevens Jr. of the "Abenaki" fakers group, the Nulhegan Wannabiiak "Tribe" of Orleans County, Vermont.

These "fakers" and wannabiiak (wanabe's) rely on the public's IGNORANCE to perpetuate their "Abenaki" persona's and their blatant Ethnic Fraud ... 

This Blog AIMS TO EXPOSE THEM to the Public with the FACTS.

Now will the Public HOLD the Bruchac's and Margaret Marie Bruchac-Kennick, Ph.D. to the SAME ACCOUNTABILITY as Rachel Dolezal, Ward Churchill, Andrea Smith, and Susan Taffe-Reed? How about Donna (nee: Carvalho) Charlebois - Moody? And the many other "fakers" out there here in the Northeast?

Do you stand up against Ethnic Fraud? Or do you ignore this dynamic happening to the Cherokee's, the Abenaki's, etc? Obviously, the Colonizer State of Vermont, and other states advocate and help perpetuate the Abenaki Ethnic and Culture Theft against the Abenaki People.

Colleges and Museums, and those associated with NAGPRA here in the N.E. right along with the VCNAA, and the Departments of Historical Preservation of VT, NH etc, as well as the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts (as well as in Vermont) ALLOWS the continued Ethnic Fraud to be perpetuated and condoned.

The Bruchac are no more Abenakis than Gérard (Jerry) “Tsonakwa” Rancourt (or his wife Marilyn Bernadet (nee: Sciolé) a.k.a. Yolai’kia Wapita’ska) were or are.

The perpetuated ancestral scam, scheme, "leap of faith" has been accepted as true, by many, as if were founded in fact. Mr. Joseph Edward Bruchac III and Margaret Marie Bruchac - Kennick sought to have the public BELIEVE their stories as to how they narrated the story.

Was it truthful? Was it founded on facts, historically - genealogically - genetically - socially?

Bowman: Predicted: M269 Confirmed: R-Z2109

Haplogroup R-M269 is the dominant lineage in all of Western Europe today. It is found in low frequencies in Turkey and the northern Fertile Crescent, while its highest frequencies are in Western Europe.

Obomsawin: Q1a3a1

Bowman:

12-23-15-10-11-17-12-12-13-14-13-30-15-9-10-11-11-24-15-18-28-14-17-17

Obomsawin:

13-23-13-10-15-17-12-12-12-14-14-31-14-9-  9-11-10-27-14-21-30-13-18-19

And yet, Louis Henry Bowman Sr. was the son of Francois Louis Obomsawin and his wife Agnes-Anne Onlinass? 

Who tried to perpetuate the genealogical LIES about Lewis Henry Bowman Sr? 

Sure as hell wasn't Jesse Elmer Bowman nor his siblings, or his wife, or their descendants, other than the Bruchac's themselves all these years.

It's not 'hate' that drives this blog forward. It's the researched FACTS.

Let's have a big round of applause for the continual perpetuation of Abenaki Identity and Culture Theft by the advocates, perpetrators, and their allies of the 1-Drop-Rule throughout N'dakinna.

Or the 'no-drop-at-all' pseudo-"Abenaki Tribes" here in Vermont.