State of VT's Response to Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont: Pages 9 to 16:

Maine, and the Algonquian peoples of southern New England. But the Sokokis, the Cowasucks, the Missisquois and their neighbors neighbors only appear only

fleetingly in the French and English records, which offer tantalizing glimpses
rather than a composite picture of Vermont and New Hampshire's Indian inhabitants. (Calloway 1990b:xvi-xvii).

The effect of the paucity of primary sources leads to some degree of speculation and hypothesis by all the scholars who have investigated these people. The dominant feature of the eighteenth century is the ebb and flow of the population of the Indians at Missisquoi. The century ends with their retreat to the safety of Odanak/St. Francis in Canada. The central question for this time period is to what extent was there a permanent settlement of an independent tribal entity at Missisquoi.
The eighteenth century can be divided into roughly five periods to describe the
population changes at Missisquoi. The first period is the one in which Missisquoi was dominated by Chief Grey Lock, from 1711 to 1730. The second period, from 1730 to 1740, is known for an epidemic and its aftermath. The third period, from 1743 through 1760, was marked by the movement of Indians from Missisquoi to Odanak/St. Francis, resulting in an abandonment of the Missisquoi village. The fourth period, from 1763 to 1775, saw a return of Abenakis from Odanak to Missisquoi. Around 1775, with the start of the American Revolution, the Abenakis retreated to Odanak/St. Francis and were largely absent from Missisquoi for the rest of the century.
As one traces the Abenaki population at Missisquoi through the 1700's, it often bears an inverse correspondence to the population at St. Francis/Odanak. That is because when the Abenakis retreated from Missisquoi, they usually went to Odanak (Dickinson Affidavit, Attachment B, 4). At Odanak, they were farther from their English enemies and were surrounded by their French allies. Missisquoi was essentially the Southern frontier for the

French. When wars heated up between the French and the English, it was safer to retreat northward. In their article "Les Populations Amerindiennes de la Vallee Laurentienne 1608-1765," Dickinson and Grabowski examined these movements from the Canadian perspective.

They observed a growth of Indian population at the missions in Quebec (New France) during times of French-British hostilities, and a decrease in those populations as Indians returned to New England during peacetime. (Dickinson & Grabowski 1993:60). 9.
At the end of the eighteenth century, the bulk of the Indians from Missisquoi
Ultimately settled at St. Francis. As Day concluded in his article "Missisquoi: A New Look at an Old Village," the Missisquoi culture and language continued to survive for centuries at Odanak, and nowhere else (Day 1973:56, Day, 1971:passim, especially 121).

Grey Lock's Dominance
The dominant character of the first period in the eighteenth century at Missisquoi was Chief Grey Lock. He was a Worronoco Indian from the Westfield River region of Massachusetts. His Indian name was Wawenorrawot. 10. Historians believe he was a refugee from King Philip's War (1675-76), who was pushed out of Massachusetts and went to the Hudson River region of New York (Calloway 1987, Day 1966). He settled for a time at Schaghticoke in Mahican territory, and was at Missisquoi as early as 1712. (Haviland & Power 1994:230). By 1723 Grey Lock was the leader of a large group of warriors from Schaghticoke who settled with him in the Missisquoi region of Lake Champlain. His base
FOOTNOTES:
9. They wrote: If around 1710, the population of the missions approached 3,000, it shrank to around 2,300 in 1715. But the tensions between Abenakis and British became newly embittered starting in 1722, creating a new wave of migrations [to the missions in New France].
10. Day traces this name to Wahawanulet and Wawanolet at St. Francis/ Odanak, and to the Nolet family at Odanak in the twentieth century (Day 1981b:99).

was a palisaded area, sometimes called Grey Lock's Castle, some distance from the main Missisquoi settlement (Calloway 1986:2 18). Grey Lock continued to attract warriors from Schaghticoke during the 1720's. He was well known to the English for the raids he conducted on their settlements in Massachusetts from 1712-1727. This period of growth at Missisquoi was marked by Grey Lock's dominance and raids on European settlers.

Epidemic and Slow Repopulation: 1730- 1740
In 1730 there was a smallpox epidemic at Missisquoi. 11. As a result, the Indians abandoned the village and went north to St. Francis (Perry 1882:954, Haviland & Power 1994:233, Day 1981b:64). Some of these Indians began to return to Missisquoi in 1731, but the village was not completely resettled until 1740. So, during the decade of the 1730's there was a gradual movement of Indians from St. Francis down to Missisquoi (Day 1981b:38-40, 64). As Professor Dickinson points out, there is no definitive proof as to whether or not the Indians who settled at Missisquoi during this period were originally from the area (Dickason Affidavit, Attachment B, 4).
As a general matter, the French saw their friendship with (indeed, their reliance upon) the Abenakis as the best possible protection against their enemies, the English and the Iroquois (Dickason 1990:91, 93-94). The French encouraged the Indians to return to Missisquoi to provide a buffer between their own settlements to the north and the English settlements farther south (Haviland & Power 1994:233). They undertook several efforts in
FOOTNOTE:
11. One source states there was a plague at Missisquoi in 1725. It is unclear whether this was a separate event from the smallpox epidemic or not. The effect seems to have been the same (Aldrich, 1891:27-28).

this connection. In 1731 they built Fort St. Frederic, at Crown Point, on the southern part of Lake Champlain. There was an Abenaki interpreter employed at the fort (Charland 1961:4).

The French also encouraged the settlement of an Indian village on the northern end of Lake Champlain to prevent the isolation of the fort. And there is evidence that the Abenaki of Missisquoi used Fort St. Frederic for religious purposes. The role of missionaries in furthering the French-Abenaki alliance was key (Dickason 1990:88-89). The French wanted to cultivate ties to the Abenakis at Missisqoui to prevent them from becoming too friendly with the English, and from trading beaver pelts with them instead of with the French (Charland 1961:6-7). The French viewed the Indians at Missisquoi as part of the St. Francis Indians, as evidenced by a French warrior count in 1736 that listed them altogether as if all of one group (Day 1981 b:40, Charland 1961:9). The French efforts to encourage Abenaki migration from Odanak/St. Francis to Missisqoui during the 1730's reflect this.

Missisquoi Villagers Move to Odanak/ St. Francis: 1744-1760
The third period, from 1744 to 1760, saw a general exodus, in varying degrees, from Missisquoi to St. Francis. While the first four years of this period saw two seemingly contradictory trends, the last decade saw the abandonment of the village at Missisquoi. The years of 1744-1748 were the years of King George's War, the wars of the Austrian Succession. Most of the Indians evacuated the Missisquoi village during this war (Calloway, 1986:218). Missisquoi warriors aided the French in military campaigns during these years (Charland 1961:9-10).
At the same time, King Louis XV of France sought to find ways to wean the
Abenaki from the English and keep them at Missisquoi (Day 1973:53). So, the French

established a Jesuit mission at Missisquoi and even built a house for a missionary there (Charland 1961:7). They built a chapel as well, though in Alburg, not Missisquoi (Haviland & Power 1994:234). Father Etienne Lauverjat, formerly missionary to Abenakis at St. Francis and at Old Town, Maine, was sent to Missisquoi and stayed there from 1744 to 1748 (Ledoux 1988:136). In addition to serving the Abenakis who were at Missisquoi, the French also hoped to attract the "Loups from Orange" (Albany, NY), by which they probably meant the Schaghticokes (Calloway 1986:218). These efforts were quite successful, and there was a steady exodus of Schaghticokes from 1744 through 1754 to both Missisquoi and St. Francis (Calloway, 1986:208-210. In addition, one seigneur in Quebec sought to transfer all the Abenakis from his fief to Missisquoi so he could have more land to himself (Day 1973:53, Charland 1961:4-6).

In sum, the years 1744-1748 were marked by two movements: (1) the movement of Abenakis out of the Missisquoi village either to aid in the war against the English or to seek shelter, and (2) the movement of Schaghticokes into Missisquoi, often as a pass through on their way to St. Francis. The French were happy to attract the Schaghticoke, and they also attempted to slow down the exodus out of Missisqoui. Their placement of a Jesuit missionary in the area was an attempt to encourage the Abenaki to stay at Missisquoi.
The net effect of these movements by the end of the war was a fairly empty village at Missisquoi, no missionary presence, and no significant buffer against the English. So, in 1748 the French King, granted a seigneury at Missisquoi to Levasseur, the King's shipbuilder. He built a sawmill in 1749 (Haviland & Power 1994:234). In this same year French court documents reveal that the King was once again seeking to establish a mission for the Abenakis at Missisquoi and thereby protect the French by creating a buffer against the hostile

English in New England (Charland 1961:8-9). The Missisquoi village's population was reestablished in 1749 (Charland 1961:9).

The petitioner overstates the size of the Abenaki population at Missisquoi during this period (Petition:32). It asserts that Missisquoi grew at the same rate as Odanak/St. Francis (Petition:32). This theory is unsupported and contrary to other research. As Professor Dickinson explains:

The population counts on page 32 are speculative. There was a lot of population movement, but it is unlikely that the Abenaki of St. Francois and Missisquoi would have grown to more tha[n] 1300-1500 in the period. The Missisquoi population for the 1750s seems very optimistic since the village was on the front line and the growth of Odanak is probably attributable to families moving back there from Missisquoi. The number of hunting bands in the interior would have been based at a permanent settlement (probably St-Francois). (Dickinson Affidavit, Attachment B, 4).

The petition calculates a population of 500-750 at Missisquoi based on Bougainville's count of 100-150 warriors (Petition:33). According to Dickinson, this is a misreading of Bougainville's figure:

Bogainville's report concerns warriors that were with the army and they came from St-Francois as well as from Missisquoi. I believe that it would be wrong to assume that the 100 to 150 men were all from Missisquoi. (Dickinson Affidavit, Attachment B, 4-5).

This resettlement at Missisquoi was short-lived. The Seven Years' War, from 1754 to 1760, caused further upheavals. The French were defeated at Lake George, just south of Lake Champlain, in 1755, bringing the war closer to Missisqoui. In 1757 the British burned the sawmill at Missisquoi (Haviland & Power 1994:236). By 1757 Abenakis stopped going to Fort St. Frederic because it was unsafe: they went north to Chambly or Fort St. Jean in Canada instead (Haviland & Power 1994:236). Then, in 1759, the French blew up Fort Carillon and Fort St. Frederic to prevent their capture and use by the British (Charland

1961:11, Haviland & Power 1994:236). The Abenakis departed Missisquoi in 1758 and early 1759 to seek shelter at the two well-established Abenaki communities in Quebec: St. Francis and Becancour (Calloway 1990a:75, Charland 1961:11, Day 1981b:65). Thus this period ends with the abandonment of the Missisquoi village.

Between the third and fourth periods there is some uncertainty about the village at Missisquoi. Rogers' Rangers attacked St. Francis in October of 1759. While many, many Abenakis were killed in that raid, Day has established that the entire village was not wiped out (Day 1981b:43-46, Haviland & Power 1994: 237). The Abenakis of St. Francis scattered to Maine, St. Regis (Akwesasne), west to the Mississippi, and other places after the raid (Day 1981 b:47-48, Calloway 1990b:189). At the same time, in 1761, Father Pierre Roubaud, a Jesuit priest who had served as missionary to the Abenakis at Odanak/St. Francis for many years, advised the British Indian Officer Sir William Johnson that he would be wise to discourage the association of the Abenaki with the western Indian tribes. He advocated that efforts be made to re-connect them to their homelands:

[N]othing is more prejudicial to the Service as such Journeys of Indns. To strange Nations. That wch. Would make the Abinaquis a faithful People is to draw them to their native Country, some to Acadia & others to Albany where they come from. (Calloway 1990b:191).

He makes no mention of Missisquoi. Although the petition claims (at page 33) that there was a flourishing Indian village at Missisquoi, in 1759, this is highly speculative. The claim is based on the report of an English soldier returning from war in Quebec. Day explained the unlikelihood of this statement being accurate. He concluded it was either incorrectly reported or that it referred to an empty village that the soldier knew to be normally occupied perhaps before he went off to war (Day 1981b:45).

Return to Missisquoi: 1763-1775

By 1763 many Abenakis were back at Missisquoi, and this began a period of relative stability at Missisquoi (Calloway, 1990a:75). Most of the Abenakis remained there until the start of the American Revolution, 1775 or 1776 (Day 1981 b:49). The primary characteristic of this fourth period of time during the eighteenth century was the influx of English settlers into this northern area of New England (Calloway 1986:219). The Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Seven Years' War in 1763 gave most of New France to the British. St. Francis/Odanak was within British territory after the war. Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of the British Indian Department, wanted to contain all the Abenakis at Odanak where the British could keep an eye on them, but this attempt was unsuccessful (Calloway 1990a:75). After all, the British had a history of antagonistic relations with the Abenakis.
The end of the war also created a boundary line between Canada and New York.
12. This created somewhat of a separation between St. Francis and Missisquoi, but a separation that the Abenakis sought to minimize (Day 1973:55). We know that at this time the Abenakis in general were closely affiliated with the Abenakis at St. Francis (Haviland & Power 1994:240). The question of how closely tied politically Missisquoi was to the St. Francis Abenaki is an enduring puzzle. It is one that we put to Professor Dickinson of the University of Montreal. Based on his extensive knowledge of the history of New France and native cultures in the region, he concluded that:

Abenaki movement to Missisquoi clearly fit in with French imperial policy but only in as much as Missisquoi was still a subdivision of the St. Francis Abenaki. Until the American Revolution, nothing disrupted the unity between two villages sharing common family ties and political goals. "Authority" was
FOOTNOTE:
12. Vermont was considered part of New York at this time.

State of VT's Response to Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont: Pages 1 to 8:

INTRODUCTION

This Response to the Petition for Federal Recognition of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont is submitted by the Vermont Attorney General's Office on behalf of the State of Vermont. The response follows the format of recent proposed findings and final determinations issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA"). After an examination of the historical background of Indians in Vermont, the response addresses four of the criteria for federal acknowledgment set forth in the federal regulations at 25 C.F.R. 87.
Two affidavits of experts consulted by the State are attached to this Response to the Petition. Accompanying this filing is a collection of Exhibits comprised of articles, government records, newspapers, and manuscripts that are referred to in the response. 1.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Historic Tribe Elusive
A natural starting point in the historical examination of an Indian tribe would be the identification of the historic tribe. In this case, that is not so easy. The petition itself illustrates the difficulty. The original petition was submitted in 1982 by the St. Francis/ Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont. See "Resolution of Abenaki Tribal Council" (Petition:ii). Later correspondence to the BIA is from the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi. See, e.g., 1995 Certification of Records with re-submitted
FOOTNOTE:
1. To avoid duplication, for the most part, documents cited in the Response which were provided to the BIA's Branch of Acknowledgment and Research by the petitioner have not been included in the State's exhibits.

petition. These two different names for the petitioner suggest three possible historic tribes: St. Francis Abenaki, Sokoki, and Missisquoi.

The St. Francis Abenaki is, and was, a Canadian tribe based in St. Francis, Quebec, also known as Odanak, Quebec. The Sokoki, a tribe within the Wabanaki confederacy, inhabited the Connecticut River Valley along the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they resettled at Odanak. Francis. In fact they may have been the earliest residents of Odanak. Francis (Day 1981 b: 12-15, Haviland & Power 1994:219-27). The Missisquois inhabited the upper Lake Champlain region on the western side of Vermont. They have often been thought to be an offshoot of the Abenaki tribe at Odanak/St. Francis. 2. Even the petitioner admits that "the
Missisquoi villagers were never a tribe," but rather a changing groups of families who hunted in the area (Petition: 15). The confusion in nomenclature in the petitioners own submissions may indicate a more serious ambiguity as to identity and an uncertainty about community and descendancy.

The word Abenaki (or Wabanaki) refers to a group of Algonquian speaking tribes in Northern New England. Abenaki means "people of the dawn." They are divided into the Eastern Abenaki and the Western Abenaki. The Eastern Abenakis originally inhabited Maine and parts of New Hampshire. The name for these people stems from coastal view of the sun rise. Eastern Abenaki groups or tribes include the Penobscot and Maliseet. Western Abenaki include the Sokokis and Cowasucks of the upper and middle Connecticut River
FOOTNOTE:
2. Indeed, the relationship between the St. Francis Abenaki and the Missisquoi
groups is an intriguing puzzle embedded in this petition. If the Missisquoi was a separate tribal entity from the Abenaki at Odanak/St. Francis, then that historic tribe would have a claim for acknowledgment in the United States. If the Abenakis at Missisquoi were only an outlying temporary settlement of the St. Francis Abenakis then their claim should be directed toward Canadian First Nation status and the reservation

Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire, the Pennacooks and Winnepesaukees of the upper Merrimack River in New Hampshire, and the Missisquoi on Lake Champlain (Calloway 1986:198, Dickason 1990:87).

The petitioner claims its historic origins lie in the northern Lake Champlain Valley,
near Missisquoi Bay in Swanton, Vermont, the same area in which most of its members reside at present. This would suggest that petitioner's members view themselves as descendants of the Missisquoi, not the Sokokis. The history of the Abenakis of Missisquoi and those of Odanak/ St. Francis is extensively intertwined. The inclusion of the St. Francis tribal name in the petitioner's original submission indicates a sense of affiliation with that Canadian tribe. One theme of this Response to the Petition is that the Missisquois drew closer and closer to the Abenakis of Odanak/ St. Francis so that by 1800 they were
indistinguishable.

Major Scholars of the Western Abenakis

The scholar who devoted the most time to studying the Western Abenaki was Gordon Day. He was an ethnolinguist at Dartmouth College and the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization) in Hull, Quebec, where he held increasingly responsible positions over 35 years. Through his efforts to find native speakers of the Abenaki language, he uncovered the history of the people. As a child growing up in Vermont, he was intrigued by stories of Indians. Day spent two decades searching for and
FOOTNOTES:
2. (continued) established in Quebec. As will become evident in this Response, the ultimate significance of this puzzle may not matter, given the post-1800 history of Indians, or the lack thereof, in Vermont.
3. In this historical survey, care has been taken to avoid generalizations about Abenakis, or even Western Abenakis, since it is not clear that the history of the Missisquoi, for example, is the same as the history of the Sokokis, Cowasucks or Penobscots.

interviewing Abenaki speakers in Vermont, New York, Maine, and Quebec in the 1950's and 1960's. He continued his analysis and writing about Western Abenaki through the 1980's.

For details of his life, see the biography of Day in the "Introduction" to In Search of New England's Native Past: Selected Essays by Gordon M. Day edited by Michael K. Foster and William Cowan (1998).
One of the scholars who Day met in his travels was a Catholic priest in Quebec who was himself an expert on the Abenakis. Father Thomas M. Charland made a significant contribution to the understanding of the history of the Abenaki with his work, including his book Histoire des Abenakis d'Odanak, 1675-1937 (1964). Day met Charland during his research trips and described him as a "careful scholar" (Day, 1981b:39).
Among more contemporary scholars, the one who has written and published the most about the Western Abenaki is Colin Calloway. Calloway's contribution lies less in the realm of significant new research, than in his clear and graceful writing. He primarily took Gordon Day's work and put it in a larger perspective or connected it to other events in New England. 4. The only area in which Calloway adds information to Day's work is in his smattering of references to events in the nineteenth century. However, this is not his own research, rather, it is traceable to unpublished writings of John Moody, an advocate for the Abenaki who authored the instant petition (Haviland & Power, 1994: 301, Petition: ii-iii). Moody's writing and his influence will be discussed in the section, Comments on Recent Scholarship.
FOOTNOTE:
4. In his book The Western Abenakis of Vermont 1600-1800 (1990:xix) Calloway wrote: "Anyone familiar with the literature will recognize my indebtedness to the handful of scholars who have published on the western Abenakis. Without the pioneering work of Gordon M. Day, Director Emeritus of the Canadian Ethnology Service, students of western Abenaki history and culture would still be groping in the dark."

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Seventeenth-Century History is Sketchy
We have a sketchy picture of Indians in northwestern Vermont for most of the seventeenth century. As Gordon Day wrote in the Handbook of North American Indians, of an unknown quantity to historians "The Western Abenaki have always been something something of an unknown to ethnographers" (Day 1978b:149). The history of the Indian village of Missisquoi and the identity of the people there have posed particular difficulties for historians over the years. The origins of Missisquoi are unknown (Day 1981 b:64). "This problem is part of a larger phenomenon, namely, a general deficit of ethnographic information for all northwestern New England (Day 1971:116). The movements of the Western Abenaki people "were not the principal concern of historians, either French or English, and this has weakened the record" (Day 1981 b:62).
Most histories have dealt with the lack of direct information about Missisquoi and
Indians in northwestern Vermont by writing around them. For example, in The Original Vermonters, William A. Haviland and Marjorie W. Power approach the seventeenth-century history of Vermont by devoting their discussion of that time period to "places other than Vermont." (Haviland & Power 1994:206-30). The bulk of the histories of Abenakis focus on the Eastern Abenakis of Maine, their migration to Quebec, and the subsequent events surrounding Odanak/St. Francis.
While Samuel de Champlain visited Vermont and the lake that bears his name in

1609, he did not interact with any Indians on the northern end of the lake. His guides told him that the lake's eastern shore and islands had been deserted (Calloway 1990a:71).

Gordon Day believed that the area had been fairly recently deserted—by Abenakis who fled the wars between the Iroquois and Mahicans (Day 1971:117-18).

There seems to be general agreement that Lake Champlain was a boundary between the Iroquois and the Western Abenakis (Day 1971:passim). However, at various times the Iroquois had claimed lands on the eastern side of the lake, and both Iroquois and Abenakis had hunted and traveled through areas east of lake (Calloway 1986:197, 215 & n.59). It is also known that Lake Champlain was used as a major travel route by Iroquois for attacks on New France in the seventeenth century (Day 1971:118).
By 1682 there were probably Pennacook and Sokoki Indians on Lake Champlain.
However speculation remains as to whether they were at the northern most reaches of the lake in Canada, or on parts of the lake in Vermont (Day 1981 b:22-24, 38, Dickason 1990: 87). How many natives lived or hunted in this area is a subject of debate. The petition claims there were as many as 4,000 Abenaki in the Missisquoi region (Petition: 13). Professor John Dickinson, an historian at the Universite de Montreal, disputes this figure (Dickinson Affidavit, Attachment B, 2). 5. Noting the tendency of authors at certain periods to exaggerate population, he states that

[t]only clear evidence available concerns the eighteenth century, and it would seem that the 60 to 80 warriors mentioned in French documents regarding the village Missisquoi relate to an Abenaki community of some 300-400 people. (Dickinson Affidavit, Attachment B, 2).

The petitioner's interest in rejecting the lower figure for population size is evident: if, as they argue, there was a greater number of natives as Missisquoi in the seventeenth century, then that bolsters the argument that the migration to Canada in the eighteenth
FOOTNOTE:
5. Professor Dickinson's affidavit is attached to this Response.

century accounted for only a small portion of their numbers and left a significant

number still at Missisquoi. 6.

Some Noteworthy Events of the Seventeenth-Century
In 1662-64 the Western Abenaki began to retreat, in small numbers, to Quebec due to wars with the Iroquois (Dickason 1990:86 n. 28). During this time, the Iroquois terrorized all the Algonquian tribes as far east as Maine (Haviland & Power 1994:225). The Abenakis,for the most part, were allied with the French, so they tended to seek refuge in New France 7. (Haviland & Power 1994:2119-23). By contrast, the Iroquois were allies of the English. Around this same time, the first settlement of Europeans in the area of Lake Champlain occurred in the form of a French mission and fort of Sainte-Anne on Isle la Motte in 1666 (Huden 1956:116, Calloway 1990a:72).
The year 1675 was a significant one for the Western Abenaki (Dickason 1990:86). In that year, King Philip's War erupted—a war between the British colonists and Indians in southern New England. 8. One immediate consequence of King Philip's War was the creation of the refugee village at Schaghticoke on the Hudson River in New York. Many Indians from the Connecticut River valley, including Sokokis, fled to Schaghticoke at this time (Day 1981 b:29). A further effect of the war was the movement of large numbers of Western Abenakis into Canada (Dickason 1990:86, Calloway 1990:75).
FOOTNOTES:
6. The petition rejects, as low. Day's estimate of 5,000 natives for the larger region encompassing not only Lake Champlain, but also the Merrimack River in New Hampshire and the upper Connecticut River (Petition: 12). Professor Dickinson's own studies of native populations led him to conclude Day's estimate was quite reasonable. (Dickinson affidavit, Attachment B, 2).
7. The alliance of the Abenakis with the French was not entirely consistent and continuous. It required maintenance by the French in order to prevent it from deteriorating (Dickason 1990).

The search for safer regions during King Philip's War in 1675 led some natives to move to Missisquoi as well (Haviland & Power 1994:227, Day 1978b:150-51). Over the next 25 years, the Lake Champlain Valley was visited by hunters from Schaghticoke, and groups of Indians left Schaghticoke and settled for a time at Missisquoi before moving on to settle farther north in Quebec (Day 1981b:30, Calloway 1986:208-10, 216, Haviland & Power 1994:228).

The wars between the Abenakis and the English, coupled with the English alliance with the Abenakis' historic enemy the Iroquois, had the effect of increasing ties between the Abenakis and the French (Dickason 1990:86, Calloway, 1990a:73). The French Jesuits' spread of Catholicism to the Abenakis also firmed up ties between them (Calloway, 1990a:72). The influx of Western Abenakis, from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, filled the French mission at Sillery, near Quebec City. This prompted the Jesuits to establish a new mission to accommodate 600 Abenakis in 1683 at St. Francois-de-Sales on the Chaudiere River (Dickason 1990:88, Calloway 1986:221. Dickinson & Grabowski 1993:59).
In 1700 this mission was transferred to the one on the St. Francis River (Dickason 1990:88).
The latter became the site of the Indian village of St. Francis, also known as Odanak.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Population Movements In and Out of Missisquoi During the Eighteenth Century

Describing both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Calloway wrote: Describing eighteenth Calloway:


Direct documentary evidence of the western Abenakis is scarce in the early historic period. The sources are relatively rich in information about the colonists' dealings with the Iroquois of New York, the eastern Abenakis of
FOOTNOTE:
8. Named for the Wampanoag Indian Chief Philip, King Philips War was the start of a series of wars between the British and the Abenakis, which lasted 85 years (Haviland & Power 1994:227).

State of VT's Response to Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont: Pages i - vii:

STATE OF VERMONT'S RESPONSE

TO PETITION FOR FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

OF THE ST. FRANCIS/SOKOKI BAND

OF THE ABENAKI NATION OF VERMONT

~

STATE OF VERMONT

WILLIAM H. SORRELL, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Eve Jacobs-Carnahan, Special Assistant Attorney General

December 2002

STATE OF VERMONT'S RESPONSE

TO PETITION FOR FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

OF THE ST. FRANCIS/SOKOKI BAND

OF THE ABENAKI NATION OF VERMONT

~

STATE OF VERMONT

WILLIAM H. SORRELL, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Eve Jacobs-Carnahan, Special Assistant Attorney General

December 2002

Second Printing, January 2003

 CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS.v

MAP.vi

LIST OF TABLES.vii

INTRODUCTION.1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.1

Historic Tribe Elusive.1

Major Scholars of the Western Abenakis.3

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.5

Seventeenth-Century History is Sketchy.5

Some Noteworthy Events of the Seventeenth-Century.7

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.8

Population Movements In and Out of Missisquoi During the Eighteenth Century.8

Grey Lock's Dominance.10

Epidemic and Slow Repopulation: 1730-1740.11

Missisquoi Villagers Move to Odanak/ St. Francis: 1744-1760.12

Return to Missisquoi: 1763-1775.16

Abandonment of Missisquoi During American Revolution.22

NINETEENTH CENTURY.28

The Insubstantial Evidence of Continued Tribal Presence in the Nineteenth Century.28

Comments on Recent Scholarship.36

Countervailing Evidence that the Missisquoi Did Not Return to Vermont as a Tribe After 1800.41
Travlers, Historians, and Surveyors of Indians.41
Federal Census Enumerations.46
Sightings of Indian Visitors and the Basket Trade.50
Rowland Robinson's Indian Friends.55
French-Canadian Migration to Vermont.61
Caughnawagha Claims Presented to Vermont Legislature.64

TWENTIETH CENTURY.67
Twentieth Century Claims of Abenaki Continuity.67
The Eugenics Survey of Vermont.67

ANAYLSIS OF CRITERIA.78

CRITERION (A)--IDENTIFICATION BY OUTSIDERS.78
1900 to 1929.82
Researchers Identify Vermont Abenakis of the Past.82
Federal Government Records Identify Only a Tiny Number of Individual Abenakis.87
Records of Vermont Eugenics Survey Do Not Identify Any Abenakis.89
Newspapers Fail to Identify Any Abenaki Tribe in Vermont.92
Swanton Birth Records.93
1930 to 1947.94
External Observers Silent on Existence of Any Contemporary Abenaki Tribe.94

1948 to 1973.96
Researchers Failed to Discover Any Contemporary Vermont Abenaki Tribe.96
Other Material Attests to Absence of Abenaki Tribe From Vermont.108
1974 to 1981.110
External Observations.110
1982 to Present.118
External Observations.118
Summary of Failure of Evidence to Satisfy Criterion (a).119

CRITERION (B) -- COMMUNITY.121
Swanton Church is French Canadian, not Indian.123
No Indian Cemetery was Used by Petitioner's Ancestors in Twentieth Century.126
No Indian School Existed in Franklin County.128
Petitioner's Ancestors Were Active Participants in White Business and Social Groups.128
There Has Not Been a Continuous Georgraphic Concentration of Indians in Franklin County.131
The Petitioner Did Not Immigrate to Vermont as a Group as Any One Time.132
The Abenaki Language Was Not Spoken by Petitioner.140
Cultural Practices Were Not Retained in Any Abenaki Community in Vermont.141
Membership in the St. Francis/Sokoki Abenakis is Loose and Fluid.142
There Were No Social Ties Between the Bulk of Petitioner's Ancestors and the Visible Abenakis in Vermont.144
Summary of Failure of Evidence to Satisfy Criterion (b).147

CRITERION (C) -- POLITICAL AUTHORITY.148
Vermont Abenaki Silence in the Face of 1950's Caughnawagha Land Claims.149
Creation of Abenaki Tribal Council in 1974.152
The Petitioner's Political Organization was Dominated by One or Two Families.154
Summary of Failure of Evidence to Satisfy Criterion (c).160

CRITERION (E) -- DESCENT FROM HISTORIC TRIBE.160
An Overview of the Progenitors.162
Moody's Genealogical Work is Incomplete and Speculative.166
Petitioner's Family Charts Do Not Trace Back to Any Historic Lists of Known Abenaki Indians.169
Petitioner's Family Charts Do Not Include Anyone Identified by Federal Census as Indian From 1870 to 1910.172
Petitioner's Other Lists From Censuses are Speculative.175
Petitioner's Evidence of Indian Births is Contradicted by the Original Records.177
Individual Family Genealogies Contain Unproven Assumptions of Abenaki Heritage.183
Petitioner Self-Identified as White.191
Summary of Failure of Evidence to Satisfy Criterion (e).194

CONCLUSION.194
SOURCES AND AUTHORITIES.196
ATTACHMENTS
Affidavit of John Alexander Dickinson
Affidavit of J. Kay Davis

 ABBREVIATIONS

The following abbreviations are used throughout this Response:

Petition
refers to the Petition for Federal Recognition as an American Indian Tribe submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the Abenaki Nation of Vermont dated October 1982

Petition Addendum
refers to the Addendum to the Petition for Federal Recognition as an American Indian Tribe submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the Abenaki Nation of Vermont, January 10, 1986, in Response to the Letter of Obvious Deficiencies and Significant Ommissions (6/14/83), Part B.

Second Addendum
refers to the Second Addendum to the Petition for Federal Recognition as a Native American Indian Tribe, Genealogy of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, Vermont, December 11, 1995.

Family Descendancy Charts
refers to genelaogical charts submitted by petitioner as part of the Second Addendum in December 1995.

 MAP

Ontario-Quebec-New York-Vermont-

New Hampshire-and Maine

 LIST OF TABLES

1. Summary of Indian Population in Vermont as Shown in Federal Census Reports.48

2. Dates of Immigration of Families on Petitioner's Family Descendancy Charts.133

3. Continuity of Generations in Canada with Pattern of Immigration of Individuals in Petition Addendum.138

4. Analysis of Swanton Birth Records Cited in Petition Appendix E.180

Preliminary Report on Abenaki Petition for Tribal Recognition - [Exhibits]: March 12, 2002: Exhibit 9:

Exhibit 9

PRA-12 (Page 01)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERATION I (CONTINUED).

A#2. Antoine Phillips. (Old Antoine).

On the death certificate of his son Peter Phillips his name is given as Anthony. On the marriage certificate of his daughter Philemon his name is given as Alvine. Antoine's name is also spelled Antwine.

Matilda Leopard Phillips, IV, #138, states that Old Antoine and his children lived in Highgate, Vt. She seems to think that Old Antoine did not travel the way his children did but that he lived for a long time in Highgate and then somewhere out toward Fort Ethan Allen, Burlington.

Antoine Phillips was born in Canada about 1787. Matilda Leopard Phillips (Young Matilda) says that the reason Old Antoine came to Vermont from Canada was because of a war with the Fenians (Irish LINK: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/021019/f2/021019-1402.7-e.pdf). She says that Old Antoine had Indian blood and had something to do with the Kickapoo Indians. (Agent H.E.A. Harriett E. Abbott thinks that the above statement is probably rather doubtful except for the fact that Old Antoine did have Indian blood and probably was related to some of the inhabitants of an Indian reservation in southeastern Canada. (The Mohawk Community of Kahnawà:ke, an Indian reserve on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal).

Old Antoine married a woman by the name of Catherine Cadaive. Antoine and Catherine must have been living in Highgate, Vt. in 1846 as their daughter Philemon was born there at that time.

Antoine and his wife had the following children:--

Mike Phillips.

Peter Phillips.

Antoine Phillips.

Jane Phillips Peters.

Julia Phillips Shadrick Bissette.

Mary Phillips _________.

Philemon Phillips Trueheart.

Viso Phillips.

There is no real evidence to show that Old Antoine Phillips married twice. (Matilda Phillips Bissette speaks of a certain Margaret Codaire as being Antoine's first wife, and speaks of this wife as dying in Foster Hill up from Essex, Vt. There is no real evidence of this statement. Old Matilda was a little confused in her statements and at one time she spoke of Old Antoine's first wife as being Louise Myers. She stated that Old Antoine Phillips married a Myers and that Aiken Lesser (See Lessor Pedigree) married the sister of Antoine's wife).

Matilda Phillips Bissette said that Old Antoine's grandmother or great grandmother was a Trueheart and that her great- ... 

(Page 02)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERATION I (CONTINUED).

...great-great grandfather came from St. Regis, Canada.

Antoine Phillips died in South Burlington on September 1, 1885. The cause of his death is given as Old age.

(Page 03)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERATION II (CONTINUED).

CHILDREN OF CATHERINE CADAIVE AND ANTOINE PHILLIPS (CONTINUED).

A#2. Peter Phillips, the first.

The name of this individual is recorded in the vital statistics of his children in the following ways:--

In the birth record of his son Joseph his name is recorded as Pierre Philip.

In the marriage record of his daughter Selina, his name is given as Antoine Phillips.

In the marriage record of his daughter Rosana (or Louise) his name is given as Phillip Phillips.

In the marriage record of his son Peter the son's name is given as Felix Phillips and the father's name is given as Felix Phillips. (There are several explanations as to the various names. One is that the general public seem to have had the habit of calling all these older "Gypsy Phillipses' by the name of Peter. Another is that when Peter was in prison Peter's brother Antoine "took" Peter's wife so that Peter's brother Antoine may really be the father of Selina. Selina however says that her father's name was Peter. We do not know the explanation of the name Felix but there are several reasons for believing that that name was given in order to prevent people knowing of the marriage of Young Peter.

Peter Phillips was probably born in Canada. On his death record it is stated that he was born in Montreal in 1809. According to the vital statistics of most of his children Peter Phillips was born in Canada but in the birth record of his son Fred Phillips it is stated that Peter was born in Highgate, Vt. According to the marriage record of his daughter Louise he was born in Swanton, Vt., and according to the marriage record his son Jacob he was born in Burlington, Vt.

We know that Peter Phillips the first was married twice. His first was Delia Bone.

As some time Peter and Delia must have been living in Canada as their daughter Selina was born there. Somewhere about 1847 they were living in Highgate Falls, Vt. In 1865 they were living in Rutland. Some time between 1878 and 1885 they were living in Quechee, Vt.

Peter Phillips the first was part Indian, part French, and part negro. On his death certificate he is recorded as colored. He was very decidedly negroid in appearance. Chief Russell of Burlington remembers Old Pete Phillips who looked like an Indian. He was very fleshy like most of the Phillips.

Redacted Document from the Exhibit 9 (Page 04)

The Middle English word (from Latin redactus and it's first known usage was in the 15th century) "Redact" means: to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release. To edit.

Unredacted Document Pertaining to Exhibit 9 (Page 4)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERATION II.

CHILDREN OF CATHERINE CADAIVE, AI, #1, AND ANTHONY PHILLIPS, AI, #2.

A#1. Delia Bone.

This individual goes by a great variety of names. The vital statistics of her children record her name in the following ways:--

Rosella Bonne, Caroline Bone, Delina Bonno, Lemas Beam, Delina Bones (or Boner), Delina Benware, Rose Dellabaum, Delia Bowman, Delorne Bon.

Cora Stark Phillips, III #15, says that Lemas Bone was part Indian and part French. She came from an Indian Reservation Caughnewaga, sixteen miles from Montreal. The same informant says that Lemas Bone had a sister living at that reservation. She also has half/brothers, Tom and Frank Benway, living in Burlington on Winooski Road. Matilda Leopard Phillips (Young Matilda) said that Delia Bone Phillips has a sister, Lucy Bone Pecor, wife of Louis Pecor, a Civil War veteran. "Aunt Lucy" and her husband lived in Charlestown, N.H. Louis Pecor has a Government Pension. Lucy was really a half-sister of Lemas (crossed out). Delia Bone was the first wife of Peter Phillips the first.

At some time Peter and Delia must have been living in Canada as their daughter Selina was born there. Somewhere about 1847 they were living in Highgate Falls, Vt. In 1865 they were living in Rutland. Some time between 1878 and 1885 they were living in Quechee, Vt.

According to the marriage record of her daughter Louise, Delia Bone was born in Quebec, Canada.

Delia Bone had sixteen children by Peter Phillips and some of these children are the following:--

Celia Phillips.

Jerry Phillips.

Joe Phillips.

Peter Phillips.

Antoine Phillips.

Selina Phillips Lessor.

Napoleon (Paul) Phillips.

Josephine Phillips Blake.

Melinda Phillips Myers.

Delia Phillips Bissette.

Eliza Phillips.

Louise Phillips.

Louisa Phillips Baker Martin.

Delia Bone is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Burlington. We have not verified her death. Vermont redacted this following section: Delia's sister, Mrs. Louis Pecor, stated that Peter Phillips beat Delia so just before her child was born that she died at the birth of the child.

Redacted Document from the exhibit 9 (Page 05)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

A#3. Eliza Way.

Unredacted Document from the Exhibit 9 (Page 05)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERATION: II (CONTINUED).

CHILDREN OF CATHERINE CADAIVE AND ANTOINE PHILLIPS (CONTINUED).

A#3. Eliza Way.

Eliza Way goes by a number of names:-- Louisa, Loisa, Lisa, Eliza, etc. Eliza's parents were Jacob Way and Diantha Smith of Peacham, Vt. Her father was often known as "Devil Jake" Way. The family lived in Paradise Alley, Peacham, Vt. This place was in Peacham but was nearer to the center of West Danville than to the center of Peacham. Paradise Alley was a rendez-vous for the Philipses and Ways to come to when they wanted to rest from their travels.

Eliza was probably born in Peacham, Vt. but according to the birth record of her daughter Mabel, Eliza was born in New Hampshire. According to the birth record of her son Fred she was born in Hardwick, Vt., and according to the marriage record of her son Jacob, she was born in Malone, N.Y. According to the marriage record of her son Hollis, she was born in Danville, Vt.

Eliza Way was the second wife of Old Peter Phillips the first. According to the vital statistics of her children she must have been living with Pete Phillips in South Burlington in 1887, in St. Albans in 1889, in Danville, Vt. in 1901, and Peacham, Vt. about 1903.

Vermont redacted this following section: Old Pete Phillips is said to have been very cruel to his wives and as a result of this Eliza left him and ran off to Canada with a man named "Jockey Jim," leaving three young children, Isaac, Freddi and Agnes to be cared for by the Town of Peacham.

Eliza Way Phillips was illiterate. Her sister-in-law, Cora Stark Phillips says that Eliza was light in complexion. Eliza has the following siblings:--Helen Way Burbank Woodward Sweetser, Ivy Way who married Pete's son Joseph, making Ivy Way both Eliza's sister and her step daughter-in-law, and Newton Way.

Eliza Way's father, "Devil Jake" Way was the black sheep of a fairly good family. Degeneracy perhaps began with "Devil Jake's" father Nathan Way. We have nothing seriously anti-social against the record of Nathan Way. Reports merely mention him as being very poor and not being prosperous like his brothers. He did not marry as well as his brothers (Nathan Way married to Sarah Jane Woodward) and he had a terribly large family. His brothers assisted him in....

Redacted Document from the exhibit 9 (Page 06)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

CONTINUED....A#3. Eliza Way.

Unredacted Document from the Exhibit 9 (Page 06)

PHILLIPS GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERATION II (CONTINUED).

CHILDREN OF CATHERINE CADAIVE AND ANTOINE PHILLIPS (CONTINUED).

Vermont redacted this following section: various ways so that he managed to get along. Some of his many children did fairly wall but most of them were not up to the standard of the other Ways in Peacham, some of whom are among the best citizens, but his son "Devil Jake" Way became notorious. He drank, was shiftless, dishonest, and was always getting into trouble. His home, known as Paradise Alley, in North Peacham, was the rendez-vous for all the ne'er-do-wells. Practically all of his children were sex offenders. The better members of the Way family lay Devil Jake's downfall to his marriage with Diantha Smith, but Dianth came of a fairly good family in Hardwick, and the good Smith's in Hardwick consider that it was Diantha who made the bad marriage. The whole Jake Way's family lived at the Poor Farm for some time when the children were little and some Frenchman taught the whole family to make baskets. After the Phillipses stayed in Paradise Alley with the Way 's, the two families traveled together as gypsies making baskets and selling them. One of Devil Jake's daughters, Sarah, married a man names Samuel Sweetser. She was Eliza's sister. Sarah Way was very popular with the summer people. She died, and although her daughters still make baskets the summer people say that no one can make them as well as the old lady did.

Peter Phillips and Eliza Way had the following children:--

Willie Phillips.

Mabel Phillips.

Freddie Phillips.

Jacob Phillips.

______Phillips (female), II

______Phillips (female), II

Hollis Phillips.

Isaac Phillips.

Agnes Phillips Russell.

 Chart B

PEDIGREE: ST. FRANCIS

GENERATION : I

DEFECT:

INDIVIDUAL: Clara Hoague  #2

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: [redacted...by State of Vermont A.G.]

HUSBAND: Nezer St. Francis

Nationality: French

Death: Died spring of 1922 (?) of shock. At the time of her death, it is record that she died of paralysis.

Chldren:

Nezer St. Francis

Louisa St. Francis

Nellie St. Francis

Jean St. Francis

Ida St. Francis

Leo St. Francis

Julia St. Francis

Chart B 

PEDIGREE: ST. FRANCIS

GENERATION: I

DEFECT:

INDIVIDUAL: Nezer St. Francis  #1

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: [redacted by State of Vermont A.G.]

WIFE: Clara Hoague

Nationality: French

Occupation: Laborer

Mentality: [redacted by State of Vermont A.G.]

HABITS: [redacted by State of Vermont A.G.]

RESIDENCE: In 1924--Swanton, Vt.

CHILDREN:

Nezer St. Francis

Louise St. Francis

Nellie St. Francis

Jean St. Francis

Leo St. Francis

Ida St. Francis

Julia St. Francis

File in family St. Francis folder next after Bushey

PEDIGREE:

GENERATION:

DEFECT:

INDIVIDUAL: -------

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Mr. Bartoo, principal of the High School in Essex Junction, who formerly was located in Swanton for four years, gave the names of the following people who could give information about families in Swanton.

Dan Furman.

Attorney Fred Webster.

C. A. Webster, lumberman.

Mr. Bartoo says that Back Bay, Swanton, was settled by the French when they thought they were settling in Canada. The result is a French and Indian mixture. He says that the St. Francis Indians are French and Indian mixture.

END OF EXHIBIT 9

At this point, as follows, is what I have in my possession documentarily. The late (now deceased) so-called "Chief" or "Grand Chief" Homer St. Francis Sr., his daughter April Ann (nee: St. Francis) Rushlow - Merrill have repeatedly stated "that their relatives were targeted, and sterilized by the Eugenics Survey..." THIS IS A MYTH PERPETUATED BY THESE INCORPORATION'S CLAIMING TO BE ABENAKI TRIBES, when IN FACT, the documentary evidence from the Eugenics, indicates and points quite clearly and convincingly, to a different conclusion altogether. Homer Walter St. Francis's relatives were NOT STERILIZED by the Eugenics Survey. REMEMBER, the Field Researchers were...

S-U-R-V-E-Y-I-N-G

...researching as a genealogically-oriented person would do then, and just as any genealogically-minded person would do such research today in November 2010.

--HOAGUE--ST. FRANCIS--CHART A--

DEFECTS, INSTITUTIONS, ANTISOCIAL, BEHAVIOR, ETC.

Name - Generation and No. - Defect - Cause of Death - Institution

Leo (?) St. Francis

Generation and Number: II #1

Defect: Delinquent

Cause of Death: [Blank]

Institution: V.I.S. (Vermont Industrial Reform School)

Raymond St. Francis

Generation: #2

Defect: Delinquent

Institution: V.I.S. (Vermont State Industrial Reform School)

--HOAGUE--ST. FRANCIS--CHART B--

DEFECTS, INSTITUTIONS, ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIORS, ETC.

Nezer St. Francis

Generation: I  #1

Defect: "Not bright," Alcoholic

Cause of Death: [Blank]

Institution: [Blank]

Clara Hoage

Generation: #2

Cause of Death: Shock

------- [no name]

(male)

Generation: #5

Defect: Sex offender

[NOTE: The Eugenic Field Researcher used this term or label "Sex offender" somewhat freely when "studying" "particular" families, including the Sweetser families, and various other families.]

Nellie St. Francis

Generation: #5

Defect: Sex Offender, Two illegitimate children

-------- [no name given]

(male)

Generation: #7

Defect: Sex offender

Institution: V.S.S. [crossed out] (Vermont State School for the Feeble minded)

Ida St. Francis

Generation: #9

Defect: Feeble minded, Town Pauper, I.Q. 44

Institution: V.S.S. (Vermont State School for the Feeble minded)

Leo St. Francis

Generation: #10

Defect: Delinquent, Feeble minded, I.Q. 60, Town Pauper

Institution: V.I.S. and V.S.S.

-------[no name given]

(sex unknown)

Generation: III #1

Defect: Illegitimate

-------[no name given]

(sex unknown)
Generation: III #2
Defect: Illegitimate

--HOAGUE--ST. FRANCIS--CHART C--

DEFECTS, INSTITUTIONS, ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIORS, ETC.

William Morits

Generation and No: II #1

Defect: Alcoholic

Mary Hoague

Generation: #2

Defect: "Not Bright"

Francis Hoague

Generation: #8

Defect: Truant

Institution: V.I.S.

Frank Morits

Generation and No: III #1

Defect: Larceny

Institution: V.I.S.

William Morits

Generation: #2

Defect: Larceny

Institution: V.I.S.

So, as one can evaluate from the actual Eugenics Survey documents, the people "targeted," "investigated" and eugenically-studied were NOT in the Eugenics Survey because of this contemporarily perpetuated DISTORTION repeated in the media, in the various books related to the alleged and re-invented "Abenakis" nor the "environment" of Vermont, by such people as "Chief" or "Grand Chief" Homer St. Francis Sr., his daughter April St. Francis-Rushlow-Merrill, Charles Lawrence "Megeso" Delaney, John Scott Moody, and numerous other persons affiliated with these "Abenaki" Incorporate groups throughout Vermont and or New Hampshire.

What the Eugenics Survey Record documents to indicated and point out, quite clearly, is that the Field Researchers employed by Henry Farnham Perkins, under the University of Vermont, pulled Burlington Free Press newspaper articles, etc and began studying the "social histories" of various persons that were delinquent, truant from educational institutions (i.e. schools), or because they were mentally defective and had been placed already in Institutions (such as the Brandon State School for the Feebleminded; Vergennes, Vermont State Industrial School, etc. i.e. "Reform Schools"), or for their apparent "criminality" and anti-social behaviors within the perspective communities in which the subject family lived.

What the Field Researchers of the Eugenics Survey did, was use what was already available pertaining to the particular family and or person, from the various Agencies and institutional intake records etc, such as the records from
the "Children's Aid and Protective Societies" found throughout New England (the Eugenics-allied Agencies in various States, then was called the "Children's Aid and Protective Society." It was when that agency was actually the early development and creation" that it was allied with the Eugenics Survey of Vermont. It is what we, in 2010, know today, as the "Children's Protective Services" Department, a.k.a. Department of Child and Youth Services, and in Vermont the State had retrospectively used the acronym S.R.S. for C.P.S. / and it was a.k.a. .... D.C.Y.F.)
Before I end this particular posting I want to add this particular email that I received recently, to clarify a few "points of concern from others", that I have become aware of.

From: Greg Sanford gsanford@sec.state.vt.us

To: 'douglaslloydbuchholz@yahoo.com'
Subject: Eugenics Records
Monday, November 1, 2010 1:55:29 PM

Mr. Douglas Lloyd Buchholz:

This is a follow-up to our conversation of a few minutes ago by telephone.

The records you have that were drawn from relatives and other non-government sources are outside our legal custodianship. You collected some records in May of 1996 from the then Vermont Public Records Division within the Department of Buildings and General Services and were not asked to sign any non-disclosure form about the release of Personably Identifiable Information (PII). Based on conversations with the Attorney-General’s Office the State of Vermont has limited, if any, jurisdiction over those copies. The Attorney General’s Office and the Archives agree that HIPPA does not apply to these records.

I will re-iterate the points I made in our conversation.

Our interest is not in promoting any claim of State secrecy, but rather a concern for any lasting stigma attached to families that were subject to the Eugenics Study. We ask that researchers not disclose personal names to protect the subject families. In this specific case we can do no more than ask.

The Vermont State Archives and Records Administration (VSARA), which gained custody of the Eugenics records as part of the Archives Act of 2003, does have a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which we will review in light of the current case. We continue to believe that 1 V.S.A. §317 (c)(7), the personal information exemption, may apply, though not in the case of copies that you made 14 years ago without a non-disclosure agreement. We will look at that as part of our review of these policies.

You also asked about microfilming the records given their fragility (deterioration due to handling by the public). At this point it is really a resource problem and even if we gain the resources, it will probably be to digitize, rather than microfilm, them.

Gregory Sanford
Vermont State Archives and Records Administration
(802) 828-2369

MY RESPONSE:
I have, at this point in time only, concluded that I have addressed enough of the Eugenics Survey documents in my possession (for the present time) to make my point.

The woman, "Dear Miss Harriett E. Abbott" who was a eugenically-trained Field Researcher at Cold Springs Harbor, New York (who had previously worked in the Children's Aid and Protective Society) was not hunting down Abenakis with a scalpel, surgical sewing thread and needle, with a pair of medical scissors in hand....across Vermont or anywhere else (she used a typewriter and a fountain pen). To believe otherwise (like author Beth Kanell for example and her book "Darkness Under the Water") is to not understand really the period of time the Eugenics mind-set swept the country, as it had been sweeping across Germany; nor does believing that the Eugenics Survey "sterilized" Abenaki men, women and children" does anyone any real healing....because it is based on a distortion (which has been perpetuated again and again by the likes of the St. Francis/Sokoki group led by the St. Francis family members up in Swanton, Vermont) based not a PURE VERMONT YANKEE MYTH, but on PURE CONJECTURE that has no factual documentary evidence (in these "Abenaki" Inc. groups' hands or otherwise) to support their mythical claims!

Harriett Abbott and the other Eugenics Field Researchers were SURVEYING "eugenically" (as they had been "trained" to do) the "mix-blood" descendants of families in Vermont (or who had come into Vermont) that were self-identifying as "French," etc., who were deemed "Feeble minded" "Diseased" "Retarded" "Syphilitic" and or numerous other "Defects" such as having T.B. or Tuberculosis Bacillus (which is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by various strains of Mycobateria, usually Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in humans).

Remember, the American Society as a whole was traumatized by the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 (where literally whole families were dieing, literally in a matter of days, and weeks, and no one knew if the epidemic would claim more victims or not. Aside from the sudden death rates in communities and Cities across America, there was WW1 and WW2 where Town "coffers" were constantly being "drained" by the poor, and the sick. Transients were living on Poor Farms. Remember, they had no Social Security nor 401K Plans, and monetary nest eggs were usually "only for the rich." Everyone "in the upper crust of society, who lived "up on the hill" in the fancy homes, with the neatly dressed children (who got in trouble too, but were "saved" by wealthy parents who contributed to the educational institutions, to the banks, and to the Town coffers) wanted a Utopia, and a PURE YANKEE VERMONT "Norman Rockwell" scenic State.

The Eugenics Survey was merely a concocted and planned "stepping stone," for removing  the "unwanted" which were looked upon as "the smudge" in the imagined Utopia of Rural Vermont Development painting. Rural Development, City Design, and Vermont Tourism, all conflicted with the reality, that in particular "geographically-perceived area's (such as the Burlington Waterfront) "perculiar" families lived in places that were called "Stove Pipe City" "Paradise Alley" "Rouser's Town" that "got in the way" of the "Good Families" (that is to mean, the richer families) plans.

"Nazism"....it's ideations, concepts and thoughts in Amerika were just as much a reality as it was in Europe during the time. "The Cost To The State" still is heard in some circles of conversation today.... really it was and is all about Control, Power, and Ego. People attempting to control other people.

Now these so-called "Abenaki" groups (who are merely incorporation's sanctioned under Vermont and or N.H. State Laws) are "whoring themselves out," and attempting to give themselves Official "Vermont State Recognition," to themselves (and just for themselves) while sitting on that Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs today. Their excuses for the lack of genealogical, historical, and social connection(s) to the Abenaki Communities, and the reality that they only began self-identifying as "Indians" or as "Abenakis" on any record after 1976, is simply....."the Eugenics Survey caused us all to hide-in-plain-sight."

Well, what about BEFORE the Eugenics Survey occured? Where is the clear and convincing Abenaki genealogical connection(s) between 1630-1750-1799-1820-1850-1890-or 1900 for the members in these Incorporations? (Silence?)

No wonder these so-called and self-identifying "Abenaki" people are "concerned" about my putting out on this blog, these actual Eugenics Survey documents. Because just as the genealogical dynamic (requirement) doesn't work for these Vermont and New Hampshire Inc. groups (just like that alleged "Abenaki" Watch Mr. Fred M. Wiseman PhD. used, and that RPPC meaning a Real Photographic Postcard)...didn't work for that group's retrospective B.I.A./O.F.A. Recognition Petition in 2005 nor in 2007....... the Eugenics EXCUSE isn't going to work as an EXCUSE for the lack of Abenaki genealogical connections regarding these groups either!
Anyway, I will "address" and post these photocopied Vermont Eugenics Records  in the blog (later on when I get to that point). Reviewing the Exhibit material, I could not simply place this documentation up on the blog, without, first explaining WHY I was going to post this redacted and then the subsequent un-redacted documents. The reason the St. Francis family (in part) was looked at, and investigated in the Eugenics Survey of Vermont, was because those particular family members were living in particular geographical locations (such as a specific tenement housing in Burlington for example), that the City wanted to redevelop. So the Eugenics Survey would come along, take down a name of the tenant, and begin to "study" that person, where they came from, etc. Then they would travel to, or write to the "home" location of the person (such as Swanton, Vermont or Peacham, Vermont) and begin to "map" out the family ancestry, ask questions of Town Clerks, Institutional Caretakers, School Truancy Officers, Poor Farm managers, and so on.

What strikes me as very particularly odd, is that...out of thousands of people in a particular family, not a one of them mentioned being "Abenaki" or being of "Abenaki descent" and that such declarations weren't recorded by the Eugenics Survey? Not one of the people interviewed, and who were repeatedly questioned by the Eugenics Field Researchers (such as Miss Abbott or Mrs. Webster)....not a single School Teacher, Prison Administrator, Poor Farm manager, nor a Town Clerk that KNEW THESE various families, ever mentioned, that these particular families and or persons were descended or connected to the Abenaki?

Right now, I want to begin posting next.....the State of Vermont's Response To Petition For Federal Acknowledgement of the St. Francis/ Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont which was compiled and created by the State of Vermont Attorney General, Mr. William H. Sorrell and Eve Jacobs-Carnahan, Special Assistant Attorney General, that was published in 2002 and 2003.

So, for right now, I will set aside the Eugenics documents of these particular families afore-mentioned (but in the near future, I will work with those materials in a more in depth way on this blog). I know some people have been sending inquiring emails and making phone calls to the State, "as if the sky were falling on their heads," in their concern about my intentions to placing the actual Eugenics Survey Records (redacted and un-redacted) onto this blog. I going to expose these Eugenics Records to the light of day, whether some alleged and re-invented "Abenakis" like it or not. Just not-right-now. I will also be placing the un-redacted Woodward Eugenics documentary material as well, onto this blog (right along with the rest of the material) because such relates to the other families that were "studied eugenically" too, from ca. 1914 up into the 1930's.

I fully acknowledge and do relate to the feelings of other's apparent anxiety, hesitation, and mental anguish....in realizing what I am going to do with these particular documents, pertaining to the Vermont Eugenics Study. How long are we all going hear and talk about the Vermont Eugenics with such a distorted lens (where relatives who seek these records, are asked to perpetuate this so-called "de-identification" of historical record documents) pertaining to those persons and families who were subjected to the likes of Harriett Abbott's (including Josephine Webster, and Henry Farnham Perkins) distorted "scientific study" of Eugenics, here in N'dakinna/ New England?

I refuse to let the State of Vermont seemingly attempt to "bury" these Eugenics documents using the HIPAA Law, as if these records are "medical", or that these historical records mean nothing to the present generation or to the future generations within Vermont.

As with any sharp piece of obsidian (volcanic glass), which can cut life-sustaining meat from the body of a moose, deer or rabbit, that very same tool can be used to cut the fingers of the hunter as well, depending on the attention of the person doing the cutting. I understand, acknowledge and respect that duality.

My family's Woodward ancestors descendants (and kinship relatives) were partially investigated, labeled, harassed, institutionalized )and yes documentarily some were very likely "surgically sterilized" before leaving the Pembroke Sanitarium and or the Concord, N.H. State Hospital in the early 1920's to mid-1930's). But not because they were self-identifying or having been identified as "Abenakis," "Indians" or "Native Americans" or "Mixed Bloods."

The Eugenics Field researchers were also "looking their noses down" on women who had become divorced, had allegedly committed adultery, etc. Young girls (particularly if they were pretty) and Miss Harriett Abbott paid particular (nearly obsessively) attention, in "keeping their attention on these young women like Christie May nee: Phillips Collins Sargent Sweetser Place Ingerson.

Harriett Abbott and the Eugenics Survey were simply creating a "Repository" (much like a library would be for books). In these Eugenics Office(s) repositories, there would be "indexed" Master Name cards (and the accompanying eugenic files) on the identified "good" families (good traits and genes) which were to be promoted....and even more importantly, the identified and labeled "bad" families (bad traits and genes), of whom were to be institutionalized, housed, gotten rid of, and or sterilized. After the Eugenics closed down for lack of funding, it simply took on a new name (it didn't go away btw)....because now-a-days Eugenics is called "GENETICS" .... and Cold Springs Harbor is still open for business, as is I.B.M. too.

Perhaps Nancy (nee: Millette) Doucet might like to sit back and perhaps re-think the retrospective reality of her participation in the National Genographic Project? But then again, allegedly testing her own DNA, she has (retrospectively-speaking) finally found that elusive [very distant 30,000 year old?] "Indian" DNA, so now she can be Chief of a supposed bonefide Koasek of the Koas Abenaki...considering that everything else from the retrospective "Koasek Abenaki Academy", the "Abenaki Village" in Jefferson, New Hampshire, where her ancestors Flora Eunice Ingerson-Hunt and Almira Rines-Ingerson-Polluck allegedly were born, and lived.....were merely concocted, unsubstantiated half-baked "stories" that have been proven to be just that....stories. Nothing more and nothing less. 

Oh that's right, the VCNAA there in Vermont is already calling Nancy Doucet a CHIEF!
Even on some websites on the Internet, Nancy Doucet's group has already been claiming to be Vermont State Recognized, right along with the St. Francis/ Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont being led by April Merrill !!!