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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

We INTERRUPT this REINVENTION of the ALLEGED Vermont and New Hampshire Abenakis Broadcast, for this BREAKING NEWS:

VCNAA Minutes - October 19, 2010
Posted: 10.28.2010
Members Present:
Luke Willard, Chair
Charlene McManis, Secretary;
Melody Walker Brook; Dawn Macie; Takara Matthews;
David Vanslette;
Fred Wiseman. Absent:
Nathan Pero; Shirly Hook.
Staff:
Diane McInerney, Executive Administrative Assistant, DHP;
Giovanna Peebles, SHPO/State Archeologist.
Guests:
Dave Skinas, USDA/NRCS;
Chief Nancy Millette Doucet, Koasek;
Charles Delaney Megeso, Mazipskiwiki Abenaki;
Diane Mueuller, Burlington; Lisa Rathke, AP; Jeffrey Benay, Indian Education;
Fred Wiseman, Archeologist/Johnson State College.
Luke Willard brought the meeting to order at the State House, Room 11 in Montpelier, Vermont and welcomed everyone.

OLD BUSINESS
1. Approve minutes of September 28, 2010
The minutes were reviewed. Melody Walker-Brooks moved to accept the minutes as written. Fred Wiseman seconded. All agreed.

2. Rules of Procedure
The commission reviewed a draft “General Consensus” Rules of Order model that Luke Willard prepared. He read the rules. Some discussion was held. DHP will mail out handouts to absentee commission members. Fred Wiseman moved to accept the draft of consensus rules as written. Takara Matthews seconded. All agreed.

3. Vice-Chair Luke Willard suggested a Vice-Chair be elected in case he was not available to preside over any meetings held. Otherwise, the moderator would be the secretary who is quite busy recording. Luke nominated Melody as Vice-Chair, stating she has a clear understanding of our process. TK (Takara Matthews) moved to accept Melody as Vice-Chair. Fred Wiseman seconded. Melody Walker-Brooks will
be able to put in more time after March when her schooling is completed and accepted the nomination. The vote was held and all agreed.

4. American Indian Heritage Month in November
Charlene began the discussion with some background. This special month began in 1990 by President Bush. It has been proclaimed every year by Congress and the President. Charlene made some suggestions: create posters promoting Native American Month, ask the local library to set a display of Native American books, or talk about Native Americans at a local school.

Luke suggested the Commission promote this event on their website.

Dave Skinas offered to send posters to Commission members from the USDA promoting Native American Month.

Chief Nancy suggested Governor Douglas sign a proclamation.
Oh, yet ANOTHER Governor's Proclamation? One of about (oh, let's see here....counting on my fingers.....) 7,8,9,10 of them so far that she has solicited over the years. This is a freaking joke to laugh at, if it weren't so pathetically "expected."

TK will be collaborating with the National Guard on this event.
Takara Matthews is or was employed by the National Guard!

Giovanna Peebles suggested media releases through the State of Vermont.

More discussion was held. Luke recommended a work group. Charlene, Fred, David and TK will be on the work group. The group will come back with suggestions for this year and next year.

5. Testimony by Professor Fred Wiseman
Fred shared a deep [notice he shared a supposedly "DEEP" and not a SHALLOW] overview and history of the state recognition issue in Vermont. Fred explained the concept of native identity in the United States. Fred also discussed group identity politics. Fred urged the commission to remember that natives are on their own when applying for recognition. Luke thanked Fred for his testimony. Some discussion was held.

PAY ATTENTION HERE to what Fred Wiseman PhD stated (the S.222 Amendment passed by both the House and the Senate Legislature, MANDATED BY LAW, requires that the VCNAA help ALL NATIVE PEOPLE with petitioning to gain "Vermont State Recognition") and contrary to what and how Mr. Wiseman PhD. stated it in the VCNAA meeting, the S.222 Amendment REQUIRES that these NATIVE PEOPLE whom seek State of Vermont Recogntion are not to be "on-their-own, when applying for recognition" by the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. 

NOW WE SEE
THE TRUE INTENT
OF THIS COMMISSION
~AND~
THIS CONCOCTED
ABENAKI ALLIANCE'S
TRUE FACE.
JUSTICE = JUST-FOR-US.

The "silent" "unspoken" Abenaki Alliance's "internal" Mandate  is to "keep everyone else OUT of the Recognition Process"
but themselves.

6. Review Panel Instructions & Reference Guide
Luke presented a draft entitled, Review Panel Instructions & Reference Guide.
Giovanna suggested the information be placed on our website.
It was agreed to add a line in the draft specifically instructing the review panel to address all criteria in their report to the commission.

Charlene moved to adopt the draft with the added line. Dawn seconded. All agreed. Discussion of a policy to instruct recognition applicants to submit documents relating to genealogy in sealed packets, marked as such, was held. TK moved to adopt the policy. Melody seconded.
All agreed.

7. Testimony by Jeffrey Benay
Jeff passed out to each commission member the New Dawn: The Western Abenaki: A curricular Framework for the Middle Level by Linda Pearo, Fred Wiseman, Madeline Young, and Jeff Benay. A CD/ROM, Against the Darkness: The American Abenaki Experience was also distributed. Jeff gave an overview of Title VII Indian Education in regards to Missisquoi. The main focus of Jeff's testimony focused on networking and partnerships with state agencies and many other organizations and institutions in order to accomplish greater achievements. Discussion was held. The New Dawn binder went out to all the schools in Vermont but has not been implemented. Luke asked “How can we get the
schools to utilize the resources available?” Create educational programs from the ground up instead of the top down.

8. Consider findings of ‘Review Panel’ work group
Melody passed out the list of 8 scholars willing to review recognition applications. Many experts have not committed or are still considering. This is still a work in progress. She discussed her report. Giovanna suggested that there may be a conflict of interest with Scott Dillon because of his employment with DHP.

David Skinas asked if tribes could bring in their own scholars for research. It was decided to have these scholars contact Melody Walker-Brook to be vetted and considered. SEE "MY RESPONSE" BELOW IN THIS POSTING.

Dawn Macie reaffirmed that members of the applicant tribe or anyone affiliated/ or associated with the "Abenaki Alliance" in whole or in part, past tense or present tense cannot be considered or appointed to the applicant's review panel.

Fred Wiseman suggested having bullet points for scholar’s expertise and criteria. Charlene moved to accept the scholar list. Fred Wiseman seconded. Discussion held. Charlene amended the motion to accept the scholar list excluding Scott Dillon until there is a better understanding of Giovanna's concern. Fred seconded. All agreed.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Website
The outline of the contact page the movement of the September 3rd news release to somewhere other than the home page was discussed. Also:
General content on what the commission is.
Calendar of the commission/native activities.
Policies and procedures on tribal recognition.
Consolidated list of native resources.
State email accounts for commission members.

2. Location of the next 3 meetings
Meeting locations were discussed.
Next meeting will be November 16, 2010, 1pm to 3:30pm in Newport. [This is what is said in the Caledonian-Record newspaper article of November 09, 2010 on Page A3 and A6; yet under Vermont Open Meeting Law, all "SPECIAL  MEETINGS" MUST BE "WARNED" REQUIRING A MINIMUM OF 3 PUBLIC POSTINGS OF THE AGENDA and NOTICE...."at the TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE; and in addition to the 3 PUBLIC Postings of the Notice, there also must be required that notification of the Agenda and Notice be given to the LOCAL NEWS MEDIA and ANY OTHER MEDIA that specifically requests such NOTICE, PRIOR TO ANY SPECIAL MEETING. I would think that having a "Public Get-Together" is something of a "platform" in which to create the illusion of Abenaki/Native American input and participation into this Recognition Process.
Making Incorporations INTO Abenaki Tribes is WRONG, and having 80% percent of those appointed to the VCNAA is in conflict with any sort of transparency and fairness to the Recognition Process of Native Peoples, contrary to those that can show genealogical connection to their Abenaki ancestors, and historical connection to a defined Abenaki Community! This whole Recognition Process that has been set up as a sham, moreorless "a Con-Job" of massive proportions, that is continuing to become an even larger absurdity! I have no respect for their "games," manipulations and deceitfulness.

SEE THIS LINK: http://www.sec.state.vt.us/municipal/pubs/openmeeting/intro.html

Which one is the official "warning" or notification of this pending November 16th, 2010 Meeting?...is the VCNAA minutes in which the VCNAA gives a DIFFERENT time for the meeting, the actual "warning"? ~or~ is the "warning"  that was posted in the Caledonian-Record Newspaper article, in which Luke Willard, Chairman, states that the meeting will start at 12 p.m. "unofficially"? the correct time? This will be the first of many “Public Forums” held around the state to more effectively communicate with native communities and other interested parties. Public Forum and a potluck will begin at 12noon.

3. Testimony by Chief Nancy Doucet, Koasek
Chief Nancy Millette-Doucet gave a passionate testimony regarding concerns that tribal rolls and specific street addresses as public records could bring harm to tribal members. Luke Willard mentioned that he did a brief search online and could not find any tribe's current rolls, much less the street addresses of each member. After much discussion, it was apparent that more information must be gathered on the topic of personally identifiable information.

Here we see "Chief" Nancy Millette-Doucet giving a passionate [and not a deep] testimony concerning that so-called "tribal rolls" and specific addresses, as public records could bring harm to tribal members. I am still trying to figure out what possible harm could come of their names and addresses being in a public forum such as this blog, to the specific persons identified. Hmmm, lets see here, I really don't condone nor recommend any harm come to any so-called self-identifying "Abenaki" person. Then again of course, I would hope that the Federal and or State Judiciary would bring a truck load of silver industrial strength duck-tape and shut these Vermont and New Hampshire Incorporations up for once; and allow the REAL GENEALOGICALLY AND HISTORICALLY CONNECTED ABENAKIS, HAVE SOME SAY IN THE ABENAKI RECOGNITION PROCESS IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Yet, regardless of my hope, I won't be holding my breath "for that to happen" either from Odanak, any other legitimate Native Communities that neighbor Vermont, and neither from the Fed's or State's of N.H./ VT (since according to Fred M. Wiseman and his pathetic incorporated groups which comprise this so-called "Abenaki Alliance" who consider Odanak's Abenaki descendants living in Vermont, etc., as "Ex-Patriots." etc.)


But isn't it interesting, that Nancy Millette-Doucet would "run her mouth" complaining yet again, about what is on this blog, at this particular VCNAA meeting this previous October, with her croonies Chairman Luke Willard etc....and then subsequently "run her mouth some more" to even more people, yesterday on November 09, 2010? Yes, I do believe someone could get really rich if they invest in some silver industrial-strength duck-tape, for the likes of all these Wanna-be Abenaki Chiefs, Tribes, and so on!


FACT is, I posted those so-called "tribal roll" documents pertaining to these various Incorporations created by Nancy Millette-Doucet, Brian Chenevert, Howard F. Knight Jr, Karen Majka aka "Karen Mica," etc., back on January 07, 2010 on this blog....10 months ago.

Nancy Doucet is just now, in October and November 09, 2010, deciding that "vocalizing her concerns of possible harm to members of these incorporations," is to her (and their Alliance's benefit) in their "bitching" about "old" already-Judicially-Resolved-complaints on June 06, 2009 in a North Haverhill, Grafton County, N.H. District Court? This Court Audio is on this blog, if anyone wishes to listen to such again. Perhaps Nancy Millette-Doucet should listen to the Judge 1 More Time, just in case she is confused about the conclusion of the matter?!


I find that "too bad," "too sad," and "a bit too late," for this self-appointed and self-declared "Koas of the Koasek Chief" and this concocted "Indigenous Vermont Alliance", in their trying to act all passionately concerned over some public addresses of an Inc. Membership list, that btw, Nancy Millette-Doucet herself who was the person whom emailed to Eric Scott Floyd of Pittsfield, MA these very documents in an email to him, in her seeming "malice and bullying" fit towards the former Incorporation group she'd claimed to be a "Chief" of. So much for her "declaration of confidentiality" !!


It seems pretty simple to figure out, that with a paid-subscription to Intellius.com, or any other website "for-a-fee" to access information on people, that these addresses of Nancy Millette-Doucet's Incorporation members/ follower's/ supporters, are pretty much ALREADY in the PUBLIC DOMAIN, right along with their other records!

All I have been doing, regarding this blog, is putting everything into one location. Of course, Nancy Millette-Doucet and this Alliance, will say that is an Invasion of Privacy; that the documents and details therein are "sensitive" "personal" etc. That to do this research, it is a vendetta, a "Personal Attack". And even more absurd, is that these people who are claiming to be "Abenaki" seeing their names and addresses etc on this blog, will be harmed i.e. Identity Theft inside or outside of the U.S.A. It's the delusional paranoia "that the Sky Is Falling" and the "End Times" for all of them....just because their supposed "Personal" "Sensitive" "Genealogical" "Private" "Stolen" information and documents are here on this blog. Obviously, someone is mentally paranoid, confused and upset that I am posting these PUBLIC RECORDS on this blog, and or the doucments they themselves have given to someone else, and in turn, those very documents have arrived on this blog!

4. On Site Burial regulation.
Giovanna passed out the newest on-site burial regulation policy for review.
Anything passed out for review and discussion in the VCNAA meetings, MUST BE ATTACHED to the minutes of such meetings by the VCNAA! Why? Because it's in the Open Public Meetings Law!

The meeting was adjourned at 3:55pm.

Respectfully submitted by,
Charlene McManis, Secretary
The Caledonian-Record Newspaper
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Page A3
Around the Region
"Native American Panel Meets First in Newport"
Luke Willard of Brownington wants to hear from people in his own county about the needs of Native Americans.
A member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe of Orleans County, Vermont [ SO, WHEN WAS IT BEEN DETERMINED BY Vermont Law or Legislation,THAT AN INCORPORATE ENTITY has become a legitimate defined "ABENAKI" TRIBE BEFORE THESE INC. GROUPS ARE RECOGNISED BY THE LEGISLATURE?, Willard has his own personal experience growing up as a Native American to draw upon. [B.S. STORIES]
He is coming, as chairman of the newly reformed Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, to Newport City to find out what others have to say.
The commission holds its first meeting Nov. 16 at Goodrich Memorial Library in Newport City with a potluck luncheon at noon to meet and greet those involved in or interested in Native American affairs.
The commission will the conduct a business meeting at 1 p.m.
The Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs has been charged with establishing a process for state recognition of Native American tribes in Vermont. The Senate Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs, chaired by Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, introduced the commission's mission in the past year.
Illuzzi said he welcomes the commission to Newport City, noting the area has a relatively large number of residents of Native American descent.
"I hope that the commission will help Native Americans around Vermont continue to document their heritage and rebuild their cultures and traditions," Illuzzi said.
Willard wants to devote the noon hour to hear about the needs and concerns of local Native people and to answer questions.
He also hopes that local educators will attend the meeting to learn
See Native American Panel, Page A6

Native American Panel A6
Continued from Page A3
more about Title VII Indian Education, a federal program that could bring money to local schools in the county. The commission intends to focus on education and public awareness.
"I think they go hand in hand," Willard said. "There are many Abenaki students in the schools in Orleans County. But I think most are afraid to embrace, and in some cases admit, their own heritage because it could bring teasing from other students who are only taught a small piece of Abenaki history, and literally nothing about the contemporary Abenakis who sit at the desk right beside them."
"This was a problem when I was a student and now I hear about it from my own children," Willard said. USING HIS OWN CHILDREN to perpetuate his own "Abenaki" agenda to bring Title VII monies POSSIBLY into Orleans County, Vermont so these Incorporations can "legitimate" themselves as being "authentic" Abenakis, and to "Double Dip" into the Federal Funding for Indian Education? Interesting Ploy isn't it? Especially when one remembers how (when the Former appointed VCNAA members began to ask for Title VII Funding for Orleans County, Vermont etc and were told "NO" by Jeff Benay) Next thing you know, Luke and Company (his appointed "Chief" Donald Warren Stevens, Jr. will be applying for Department of Labor Monies each year as well, just like April Merrill has been doing for years now!)
The Newport meeting is the first of many throughout Vermont for the commission.
For Immediate Release
Contact
Chief Nancy Millette Doucet
Koasek of the Koas
603-728-9646
The State of Vermont at the present time does not have any laws or provisions in place to protect security and privacy of State citizens. There is no such thing as Privacy anymore, just ask anyone with a cell-phone, with a memory card! Vermont Law states that Vital Records, Court Divorce Records etc are PUBLIC RECORDS. Currently, any party has unlimited access to Vermont birth and death certificates INDEED, THAT IS TRUE since the Vital Records are again, a MATTER OF PUBLIC RECORD, therefore, these DOCUMENTS can be reviewed and obtained by the PUBLIC, with no tracking WHY would these documents NEED to be tracked? or purpose required IF the Vital Records are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD, then a person of the PUBLIC, does not need a purpose to review and obtain the PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, which also pertains to Vermont Birth, Marriage, Divorce, and Death Records, including Court Divorce Records. This allows anyone from within or outside of the U.S. to obtain a certified copy of a birth or death certificate, which may ["may" is the operative word here] then be used to obtain U.S. passports, driver’s licenses, federal benefits (e.g., Medicaid), and for a variety of other purposes This is a half-truth, because a person OUTSIDE the USA, would have to provide some sort of photographic identification and another piece of legitimate Identification to obtain a RECORD....UNLESS of course, the processing person is STUPID. This is a significant threat to the security and privacy of Vermonters. Paranoia is such a mental illness....again, there is no such reality as privacy in today's age of technology....unless of course, one lives in an Amish Community. PROVE TO ANYONE, that having a Vermont Vital Record online, non-certified on this blog or on Ancestry.com threatens or somehow a "significant threat to the security and privacy of Vermonters" Mrs. Nancy Doucet. Can someone show and provide the case evidence that someone (anyone) has fraudulantly obtained, by deceit or deception, a Vermont citizen's vital record (certified or not), in their attempt to specifically steal another person's identity? I doubt there is even a single documented case in Vermont of this even happening! This is merely a woman (Nancy L. Millette-Doucet) who is screaming to the N.H. and VT Politicians, like "Henney Penney" in the story, "that the Sky is Falling" so she is running to tell the King (Gov.'s of NH and VT) all about it!
With the lack of laws or any protection of living person's sensitive records [Vital Records of Vermont are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD, subsequently the PUBLIC RECORDS are not sensitive records, nor do these records need "protection laws" UNLESS of course, as apparently the case, that Nancy Doucet herself is needing to "protect" her created Koas of the Koasek Chief self-created and self-promoted persona] and information opens every person in the state to become victims of identity theft [B.S., this is a baseless claim, as Identity Theft is 99.9% carried out by Cyber Attacks, Phishing, and other means of deceit and deception, towards the targeted person or persons; using a Certified and or Non-Certified Vital Record alone cannot gain another Identifier Document. If one goes for a Drivers License, the petitioning person(s) MUST show and provide another piece of identification ALREADY in their possession], invasion of privacy [Again, access and the obtaining of PUBLIC DOCOUMENTS including Vital Records is NOT an "invasion of privacy" since the records are already a matter of PUBLIC RECORD, dah...], defamation [defamation is "in-the-eye-of-beholder." I consider this blog and its contents to be "a balance between the LIES and DECEITFUL DISHONEST BULLSHIT ( of which these alleged and reinvented Abenaki incorporated groups in Vermont and New Hampshire have been putting into the minds of many, publically and politically throughout the years to present) and The TRUTH, which obviously threatens this "Abenaki Alliance" agenda and foundation/ claims of being the ORGINAL PEOPLE of Vermont] and the list goes on especially where GOOGLE, Explorer and other Internet hosts has no restrictions either. [Oh, let's shed a few "crocodile tears" for those who claim to be Abenakis and from the Historical Abenaki Tribes, who show and provide absolutely NOTHING to substantiate clearly and convincingly that they are who they claim/ SAY they are, shall we?!] As the wannabe Chief's of the concocted Abenaki Alliance have found over the last four years Hate Blog spots [Excuse me, I do not HATE anyone, fact is, I just have NO RESPECT or TOLERANCE for ABENAKI IDENTITY THIEVES! AND WHO APPROPRIATE A CULTURE AND HERITAGE THAT BELONGS TO NEITHER THEM, NOR THEIR ANCESTORS! I DO NOT HATE; TRUTHFULLY, I AM DISGUSTED WITH PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO BE "ABENAKI CHIEFS" "OF ABENAKI TRIBES," WHO MERELY ARE PRESIDENTS AND CREATORS OF THESE VARIOUS "ABENAKI" INCORPORATIONS!] hosts birth records of their children, death certificates of family members, made up genealogies by a third party without their consent [I do not need anyone's consent to investigate genealogically through-the-PUBLIC-RECORDS, the factual merits of these Inc. groups "leaders" and their "members" hearsay claims of being "Abenakis], even full set of divorce records that were handed over to someone off the street [Again this is a LIE/ DISTORTION, it is a FACT that I walked upstairs to the District Family Court (above the Littleton Post Office), and signed a sign-in sheet at the window, and did a public inquiry of the matter of Divorce Record (and as a matter of PUBLIC RECORD in New Hampshire) I reviewed the documents and requested duplication of most of the documents therein, from the Littleton District Family Court, legally and lawfully, under N.H. State Law! Some of those documents I did not place on this blog and I did redact/ remove the Social Security numbers of the persons mentioned on the record document; I was not "someone off the street," nor had I attempted to "impersonate someone else" (such as Christopher Cruger) to obtain the Divorce Record Certificate, as Mrs. Millette-Doucet has wrongly (and in her seeming paranoia) claimed that I allegedly did...] who had no reason for them [Again, another distortion, I have explained logically and reasonably within a COURT OF LAW (and on this blog as well), the very purpose of my research into this particular person's SOCIAL, GENEALOGICAL and HISTORICAL history, as a PUBLIC FIGURE, who has repeatedly claimed to be Abenaki, and the genealogical, historical and social history of this person IS DOCUMENTARILY CONTRARY to this person's media statements; it does not take a Brain Surgeon to comprehend that I did have PURPOSE in seeking the documentation of this person's DIVORCE records, etc. which are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD] except to use the papers for malice and bullying [Malice? Bullying? B.S. yet again, because the records PROVE the person was and is distorting their own self-created and self-promoted persona, and that of this person's ancestor's, in repeated "layered" attempts, to steal and appropriate an "Abenaki Identity", that is neither that person's ancestor's to claim, nor that desecendant herself, to claim attachment to, based on the documented FACTUAL, HISTORICAL, GENEALOGICAL records of this person; their "stories" have been and are factually proven to be impossible to be the truth, and no DNA is going to prove otherwise!], At this time, anyone can go to a district court in Vermont and gain divorce papers with no restriction or purpose! [Of course, ANYONE can do this, because the Divorce Records of ANYONE, are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD, as perscribed by Vermont Law that such Court Records are such] For the last four years the legislature and the ALLEGED and REINVENTED Abenaki have worked conned by deception and manipulation together to grant recognition of the ALLEGED and REINVENTED Abenaki people in Vermont for the purpose to SUPPOSEDLY be able to sell arts and crafts as "authentic". When finally it looked like the passing of Bill S 222 would do just that with all the support in the house and senate, at the last minute the Military Affairs committee decided that the ALLEGED AND REINVENTED self-proclaiming Tribes would have to give a full application meeting a required genealogical connection to the Abenaki criteria which also demanded the tribal rolls with names and address of tribal citizens. These tribal rolls along with an application meeting the required genealogical connection to the Abenaki criteria would then become " public record". "The Tribal offices ( agency) [these so-called "Tribal Offices" or "Non-Profit Organizations" "HEADQUARTERS" are NOT legitimate Native Tribal Offices; by calling their "HEADQUARTERS" or homes of these Incorporation President's "Tribal Offices" these people are putting the horse-BEFORE-the-cart] has a strict confidential code [Oh really? Then why did Nancy Millette-Doucet email Mr. Eric Scott Floyd of Pittsfield, MA these so-called "Tribal Rolls" as she states this XL File is? IF such so-called "Tribal Membership Lists" were and are under alleged strict confidential code, why did she send these Lists, with all these "members" Card Numbers, Addresses, Telephone Numbers, etc., if this data was so "sensitive" "personal" "private" ???? This person does not tell the truth about their own historical actions, that contradict their own contemporary words, repeatedly!] with their citizens that their genealogy and personal information will be kept under lock and key therefore not available to anyone. However, the State of Vermont is now demanding we breech our own confidentiality rules [The State of Vermont KNOWS these people's genealogies already, and it has been concluded both at the State Attorney General's Office level and the Federal levels, that these groups are merely incorporation spin-off's from one another, with questionable and dubious histories, and genealogical connection to Indians, Native Americans, let alone to the Abenakis!] and yet the state does not have any way of protecting Native or Non Native Vermont Citizens personal records [PUBLIC RECORDS are not "personal records" nor does the PUBLIC RECORDS need "protecting" UNLESS of course, someone or group of persons is/ or are attempting to "hide" something, be dishonest, deceitful?]. No other group has to give this information over to the state," said Tribal Representatives" [Any legitimate Native Person or Community has any rason to hide or withhold their merits and documentary connection(s) to their Native Ancestor(s) or connection to their Native Community, UNLESS the alleged and reinvented Native person is LIEING and BEING DECEITFUL about their identity] The Gay and Lesbian organizations did not have to give over names and addresses of their people to have their civil rights met [The LGBT organizations do not have to give over names and addresses of themselves, because they are not attempting to appropriate someone else's identity and soverienty! Secondly, to attempt a pathetic comparison between the LGBT population of Vermont/ N.H. is absurd, because as identified and legitimate Native People's there is certain responsibilities that are retained, benefits granted, given and so on; the LGBT "community" simply demand and seek EQUALITY under the laws of the country such as Marriage Equality...and we all know how "homophobic" Mr. Luke Willard has been proven documentarily to be!] . The BIA, the Bureau of Acknowledgement and the Department of Justice all say Tribal Rolls and Genealogies in their trust are confidential and NOT public record because the papers hold sensitive personal data of those living people [because the "papers" hold sensitive personal data of those living people of a ALREADY defined SOVEREIGN NATIVE PEOPLE/ NATION] but the State of Vermont is demanding that Vermont Original People do?" [These Incorporations claiming to be Vermont's "ORIGINAL PEOPLE", is yet another ABSURDITY and BLATANT MYTH/ LIE! Genealogically-speaking, these people migrated into Vermont from elsewhere generationally-speaking. READ the Attorney General's Repsonse to the St. Francis/ Sokoki Inc. groups Petition for Federal Recognition, as it comes up on this blog!] With a newly reformed commission and years of [bastardized, manipulated, distorted and misinterpreted B.S. bought off of eBay.com from across the country to Johnson State College made or replicated] historical data and research in place an application for Vermont Recognition should be easy. [MINUS the Genealogical Connection(s) to the Abenakis of course, and what supposed and alleged genealogy these groups seemingly put forth this VCNAA/ Abenaki Alliance "hide" from transparent and fair review and inspection by anyone other their own handpicked 3 Memebr Expert Scholars - see below] However, under the demands of the Military Affairs last minute changes to Bill S 222 the Koasek Abenaki Tribe of the Koas will hold back from applying for State Recognition until a time comes the State of Vermont has laws in place to protect ALL Vermonters of ALL Colors. [yet another distortion coming from the lips of a person proven documentarily, to have lied about their own ancestors repeatedly in the media! The ONLY reason this person makes such a "whining diatribe of complaints" and their hesitation to show and provide the genealogical, historical and social connection(s) to the Abenakis, is because this person has no connection (provable and discernable) to the Abenakis, ancestrally or contemporarily; their genealogical, social and historical documentation proves the merits of this; and as for their tested DNA samply, it proves NOTHING, because it cannot grant this person an Abenaki culture, heritage, language or identity]
A full press release will be out next week.
[I can't hardly wait!]

As follows is the list of "Scholars" being considered for appointment to the 3-Member Review Panel which will allegedly evaluate the merits of the petitioning incorporate groups becoming with the florish of a State Sanctioned Legislative pen stroke, and a nod of Vermont Politicians head's "become State Recognized" as a Vermont Abenaki Tribe.
LIST OF SCHOLARS
Petitioned for the Expert 3-Member
Review Panel

1. William Haviland, Archaeologist
Bio:
Dr. William A. Haviland is Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont, where he founded the Department of Anthropology and taught for thirty-five years. He holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has carried out original research in archaeology in Guatemala and Vermont; ethnography in Maine and Vermont; and physical anthropology in Guatemala. This work has been the basis of numerous publications in various national and international books and journals, as well as in media intended for the general public. His books include The Original Vermonters, co-authored with Marjorie Power, and a technical monograph on ancient Maya settlement. He also served as consultant for the award-winning telecourse, Faces of Culture, and is co-editor of the series Tikal Reports, published by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Besides his teaching and writing, Dr. Haviland has lectured to numerous professional as well as non-professional audiences in Canada, Mexico, Lesotho, South Africa, and Spain , as well as in the United States. A staunch supporter of indigenous rights, he served as expert witness for the Missisquoi Abenakis of Vermont in an important court case over aboriginal fishing rights. Awards received by Dr. Haviland include being named University Scholar by the Graduate School of the University of Vermont in 1990; a Certificate of Appreciation from the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, St. Francis/Sokoki Band in 1996; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Research on Vermont in 2006. Now retired from teaching, he continues his research, writing, and lecturing from the coast of Maine. His most recent book is At the Place of the Lobsters and Crabs (2009).

2. Frederick M. Wiseman, Archaeologist/Johnson State College
Bio:
Frederick M. Wiseman has his Undergraduate Degree in Archaeology from the Department of Anthropology, and Doctorate from the Department of Geosciences, both University of Arizona.Trained as a geo-archaeologist and ethnobotanist, Dr. Wiseman has done extensive ethnobotanical, paleoenvironmental and archaeological fieldwork in the American Southwest, Northwestern Mexico, Yucatan , Belize , Guatemala and Honduras. Before coming to Vermont , he taught Mesoamerican and Southwestern archaeology, ethnobotany and phytogeography at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Louisiana State University and graduate level archaeological paleobotany at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology. Within the last two decades, the native experience in the Northeastern United States has become the focus of his scholarly and community activity. During this time, he published many articles and books (i.e. Voice of the Dawn, 2001; Reclaiming the Ancestors, 2005, At Lake Between, 2009, Champlain Tech, 2009 and Baseline 1609, 2010) dealing with the history, craft arts and inter-racial politics of the Vermont Abenakis and their neighbors.
In addition to his research, he has served on Missisquoi/ St. Francis/Sokoki tribal, community and state boards and commissions, ranging from Chair, Humanities Department at Johnson State College, to the Lamoille County Planning Commission, and Governor’s Commission on Native American Affairs. He is an internationally respected native elder and activist, and has been elected to the Abenaki Tribal Council (St. Francis/Sokoki Band) and appointed as Missisquoi Abenaki Delegate to Wabanaki Confederacy; Ceremonial Historian of the Seven Fires Alliance. He received highest Abenaki Nation tribal honors in 2006 for his eleven-year struggle in pushing Vermont officials toward state recognition of the Abenaki people. He was director of the Abenaki Tribal Museum and Cultural Center; and is now the director of the Wôbanakik Heritage Center, and in this capacity has assisted in the development of native Museums and exhibits, including the Chimney Point (VT) Historic Site and Missiquoi Wildlife Refuge in VT, Museé des Abénakis and Museé Point á Caillaire in Quebec, the Wapohnaki Museum at Pleasant Point (ME) and the Boston Children’s Museum. He recently completed events and exhibits projects for the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (Vergennes, VT) and the ECHO Center (Burlington, VT) for the 400th anniversary of the European discovery of Lake Champlain. He organized a 2009 conference on the European discovery of Lake Champlain (St. Michael’s College Colchester, VT). He is the Native liaison to the Vermont Champlain Quadricentennial Commission, where he received an award (“The QUAD Astrolabe”) in early 2010 for his work on that Commission. He has worked as production assistant for award-winning documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin as production assistant and “talking head” for the National Film Board of Canada’s Waban-Aki: People from where the Sun Rises. He has consulted on Mt. Lake PBS productions: The Forgotten War and Dead Reckoning: Champlain in America. Along with Hollywood director Irene Miracle, he produced The Changeling, a movie dealing with Anglo/Abenaki race relations in 1770’s Vermont. With award-winning NY documentarian Ted Timreck, he produced Before the Lake Was Champlain and The New Antiquarians. Wiseman’s videos Against the Darkness and 1609: The Other Side of History have been distributed to VT schools. He is doing research for the second and third books in his trilogy on the Wabanakis (a closely related group of native peoples of Vermont, NH, Maine and the Canadian Maritimes). Wiseman is working on content as well as production for several major film projects including a seven-part video history of the revolution in Northeastern archaeology with NY documentary film maker Ted Timreck. His most recent research activities have focused on understanding the 19th and early 20th century Wabanaki experience, and working with Vermont Indian tribes and policymakers in providing the historical and geographic data necessary in their intellectual and political deliberations concerning state legislative recognition of various Indigenous Vermont Native bands.


Wiseman lives in a restored Victorian house built by his grandfather in Swanton Vermont with his wife Anna, and pursues hobbies of restoring antique furniture and vintage Lionel Trains, and testing the northern Vermont hardiness of subtropical flowering plants such as wisterias, cacti and magnolias.

3. Dave Lacy, Archaeologist/US Forest Service
Bio:
David Lacy was born and grew up in eastern Massachusetts. He received his education at Boston University (BA, anthropology) and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (MA). He has been the archaeologist for the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests since 1985, where he is steward for the remains of the many hundreds of historic period sites and the several prehistoric Native American sites on those lands. In his role with the Forest Service Dave has worked with the Missisquoi Abenaki and the Abenaki Research Project for many years to ensure the proper treatment of sites, and to create a dialogue through which we share information and insights. Since 1990 he has lived in Pittsford with his wife Barbara; their older son Jake is an actor living in Los Angeles, and younger son Mack is a freshman at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY .


4. Dave Skinas, USDA, NRCS
Bio:
1980: received a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of New Hampshire
1987: received a M.S. in Archeology from the University of Maine at Orono
Experience:
1979-1986: worked for various archeological consultants on compliance related projects in the northeast, and also worked for the American Museum of Natural History on several research projects in Georgia and Nevada .
1986-1994: employed by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation (VDHP) as their Survey Archeologist mostly regulating Act 250 and federal projects.
1994-present: employed by the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as an archeologist to review all ground disturbing farm, wildlife and wetland restoration projects and mitigate potential adverse effects to archeological sites to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. In that capacity I also consult with federally recognized tribes in Vermont (Mohican), Massachusetts (Aquinnah and Mashpee) and New York (St. Regis Mohawk).
Native American Assistance:
Missisquoi Abenaki: in 1988 I began working with the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi to recover human remains eroding out of the Missisquoi River on Monument Road in Highgate and Swanton. I worked with the Vermont Attorney General’s office to stop the developer from destroying Abenaki graves at the Monument Site that was later purchased the VDHP for protection. I also worked with the Attorney General’s office to stop development of the LaRoche property that was also purchased and protected by VDHP. Under the direction of Chief Homer St. Francis I removed the Boucher Cemetery collection containing 80+ burials from the University of Vermont and housed them at state-owned space in Montpelier until their eventual reinterrment in 1996. In 2000 I assisted with the recovery of 27+ Abenaki burials from the so-called Bushy
house development project that was later purchased by VDHP for protection. From 2001-2006 I was a member of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs. I was a Missisquoi appointee during my last two terms on the commission. I assisted tribal leaders in the development and implementation of the Monument Road Unmarked Burial Policy that provides for archeological investigation prior to house development in Highgate and Swanton to protect Abenaki graves. I conducted non-intrusive ground penetrating radar studies on Monument Road in 2002 and 2004 to help identify other burial sites. Chief April St. Francis-Merrill and I lead the effort to convince the state to protect the Alburg Gravel Pit cemetery site. The development rights on the gravel pit were purchased by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. I continue to assist the tribe on repatriation issues and recognition efforts and am a member of the board of directors of the Abenaki Self Help Association Inc.


Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation: consult with the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) on NRCS ground disturbing conservation projects planned on their ancestral homelands in Addison , Rutland and Bennington counties in Vermont .

Aquinnah (Gayhead Wampanoag): consult with the THPO on NRCS ground disturbing conservation projects planned on tribal land and their ancestral homelands. Assist the tribe with burial site protection using ground penetrating radar at two cemetery sites.

Mashpee Wampanoag: consult with the tribe on NRCS ground disturbing conservation projects planned on tribal land and their ancestral homelands.

St. Regis Mohawk: recently established consultation with the tribe’s THPO on a proposed NRCS irrigation line project that crosses through several Mohawk sites within their ancestral homelands

5. Scott Dillon, Archaeologist/Div. for Historic Preservation
Bio:
(Still awaiting the bio)
6. Kevin Dann, Historian/SUNY Plattsburgh
Bio:
Kevin Dann, Ph.D., teaches history at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh. His books include Lewis Creek Lost and Found (University Press of New England, 2001); Across the Great Border Fault: The Naturalist Myth in America (Rutgers University Press, 2000); and Bright Colors Falsely Seen: Synaesthesia and the Search for Transcendental Knowledge (Yale University Press, 1998). Kevin completed a "Corridor of Amity" pilgrimage from Montreal to Manhattan in May/June of 2009 in conjunction with his book, A Short Story of American Destiny: 1909-2009 (LogoSophia, 2008), inspired both by the commemoration of the 400th anniversaries of Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson's voyages and by the Apocalyptic significance of 2009. (This taken from his bio on Amazon.com - still pending an official bio from Kevin Dann)
7. John Moody, Historian/Winter Center for Indigenous Traditions

Bio:
Ethnohistorian. Graduate of Darmouth in NA Studies and Athnro. Specialize in ethnohistory, family history (not genealogy) on Abenaki native people in the northeast, and anthropology.

8. Peter Thomas, Archaeologist & Anthropology & History/FEMA & former research associate professor at UVM
Bio:
PhD ’79, MA '73, The Original Vermonters Native Inhabitants, Past and Present mentions his work as contributing to the large amounts of information gathered on Vermont's prehistoric past. (Haviland, William and Marjory Power. The Original Vermonters: Native Inhabitants, Past and Present. Hanover : University Press of New England , 1994. Page xx, Revised Edition)

MY RESPONSE:
Here, let me refresh everyone's mental awareness of what the Amendment Law S.222 Vermont State Recognition of Abenaki or Native American groups as Native American Tribes actually reads:

"(3) A process for appointing a three-member review panel for each
application to review the supporting documentation and determine its
sufficiency, accuracy, and relevance [this DOES NOT MEAN THAT A PETITIONING GROUP puts forth the supporting documentation, and the Review Panel of 3 simply "check off" a list; the 3 Member Panel MUST DO SCHOLARLY RESEARCH TO VERIFY THE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS OF THE PETITIONER] The review panel shall provide a detailed written report of its findings and conclusions to the commission, the applicant, and legislative committees. Members of each review panel shall be appointed cooperatively by the commission and the applicant from a list of professionals and academic scholars with expertise in cultural or physical anthropology, Indian law, archaeology, Native American Indian genealogy, history, or another related Native American Indian subject area. If the applicant and the commission are unable to agree on a panel, the state historic preservation officer shall appoint the panel. No member of the review panel may be a member of the commission or affiliated with or on the tribal rolls of the applicant.
(4) The commission shall review the application, the supporting
documentation, the report from the review panel, and any other relevant
information to determine compliance with subsection (b) of this section and make a determination to recommend or deny recognition. The decision to recommend recognition shall require a majority vote of all eligible members of
the commission. A member of the commission who is on the tribal roll of the applicant [in the past-tense or present-tense] is ineligible to participate in any action regarding the application. If the commission denies recognition, the commission shall provide the applicant and the legislative committees with written notice of the reasons for the denial, including specifics of all insufficiencies of the application.

Therefore, simply because a person has removed themselves "from the Incorporation membership of one group, and moved to another," (such as what TK a.k.a. Takara Matthews, her mother Carollee Reynolds, Donald Stevens Jr. and Luke Willard have all done) determines already that the appointed VCNAA are BIASED, UNFAIR, and blatantly NON-TRANSPARENT for these persons to be claiming that they are no longer affiliated with their former Incorporation groups of which they were members of supposedly in the past-tense, simply to place themselves in positions to support another Incorporation group, whom is a part of this concocted "Abenaki Alliance." These people sitting on the present VCNAA commission are AFFILIATED WITH AND ASSOCIATED WITH ONE ANOTHER VIA THEIR so-called "Abenaki Tribes/ Alliance" (which are merely INCORPORATIONS). THESE PEOPLE ARE RECOMMENDING AND APPROVING THEIR OWN VERMONT STATE RECOGNITION !! One dynamic within the 3 Member Review Panel of Scholars, that is BLATANTLY MISSING, is a GENEALOGIST! I can determine that atleast 5 out of the 8, if not more of the persons, are who I would determine to be in conflict with the "not affilated with..." clause in the Amendment S.222, that was made into law this previous May 2010.


Affiliation means: "to bring or receive into close connection or association as a member or branch" "to associate as a member" (member of a larger body, another group, organization, etc) "the act of affiliating; state of being affiliated or associated." Another translation for Affiliation: "a person or organization that is affiliated with another." (i.e. Abenaki Alliance!)


These Incorporated "Alleged and Reinvented" Abenaki groups as these groups claim to be, (all the while hiding their genealogical records, their social and historical records, from transparent and fair review) simply are attempting to BULLSHIT the State of Vermont politicians and at the same time, whine and bitch about this blog and the documents there of which are on this blog, that have been gained legally, lawfully and within the PUBLIC DOMAIN.

I do recall when ex-VCNAA Chairman, Mr. Mark William Mitchell (of Barnet, Vermont) since the formation of the appinted VCNAA in 2006, continually COMPLAINED and whined about the former appointed members of the VCNAA in his website called "Vermonters Concerned About Native American Affairs." Where is his complaining and whining vocalizations towards this newly restructured and reconstituted VCNAA commission? Hmmm, oh that's right, he was and is allied with the Abenaki Alliance! He was tied to Homer St. Francis Sr., and to April Merrill (he had or still has a "Membership Card" from Swanton, Vermont's St. Francis/ Sokoki Abenaki group).


The fact that April Merrill and the rest of this concocted "Abenaki Alliance" bitched, whined and complained about how the former VCNAA make up of appointed members (Judy Dow, Timothy De LaBreure, Jeanne Brink, were alleged non-native and or connected to Odanak (that was somehow going to INVADE VERMONT), were biased, and in conflict with the so-called "Vermont Native American Community" and that "Lateral Violence" was allegedly being perpetuated against the POOR ABENAKIS who DESERVE to gain State Recognition. Well....what does one call what is in this particular posting eh? MORE bitching, whining and complaining?! I call it that, and PURE BIAS, NON TRANSPARENCY, CROOKED DECEITFUL IDENTITY THEFT against the Abenakis ancestrally and contemporarily. The word "WHORES" or in german, it would be "Huren" (and no, I do NOT mean a mis-translation of the work "Huron" either) comes to mind when I think of this so-called and concocted "Abenaki Alliance."


Oh, and another point of disgust...for Luke Willard to USE his own children, to perpetuate his own agenda with regards to Title VII Indian Education Funding, is REALLY PATHETIC, especially when the Chairman of the reconstructed or restructured Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs of today (not "new" by an stretch of the word btw) knows full well, that he was NOT raised as an Abenaki, and has been proven to distort his own ancestors, just like his ship \mate Nancy Millette-Doucet has done over the years! Pretty sad, that these Wanna-be "Abenakis" are floundering around in their own shit, and don't really comprehend that their "up to their eyeballs in their own B.S."

(no one has to harm these people because of their Vital Records being online via this blog, or their addresses either...these people are dumb enough assuredly I have concluded, that these people will get themselves into such a pile of SHIT and wallow in it, before these people will ever even realize that it isn't water their swimming in!)


Well enough said...back to what I was working on regarding the State Attorney General's Office. It's been FUN, for sure, receiving and reading Mrs. Doucet fabrications and distortions yet again (one would think a "Chief" would have more sense about them, than to continue this absurd nonsense; and "get over" the fact that their Divorce Record is a matter of PUBLIC Record, and on this blog. It is a matter of PUBLIC Record in the State's of VT and NH. Get over it. Move on). Then again, we're talking about Nancy Millette-Doucet, whose Great- Grandmother and that ancestor's mother allegedly "came from" "lived at" an "Abenaki Village" "whose ancestors were 8,000 thousand years old!" etc. I guess its difficult to "let go" of one's concocted created confabulated "Grandma Said So Stories". I was a bit more keen on not taking Grandma's stories, and took them with a grain of salt. Obviously, my Grandfather James "Corby" Woodard was NOT a Cherokee Chief in Norton, Kansas and I did not go to attempt to create a Cherokee Nation of Kansas, Incorporated and solicite membership into such a "tribe" like these Alleged and Reinvented "Abenakis" have here in Vermont and New Hampshire!

Then again, as one person stated it a while ago, "there was a reason these contemporary people's ancestors were in the Eugenics Records of Vermont in the mid-1900's in the first place!"...To do as they have and are doing, this re-writing of Abenaki history, to fit their agenda ....pretty much proves this out. To hide their genealogical historical and social records from transparent and fair review is outrageously absurd. "We are Abenakis" (but btw...in the same breath) "We are going to withhold the genealogical evidence, because FAGGOTS, QUEERS, LESBIANS, and TRANSGENDERED people don't have to show their genealogical records to proclaim they are of the LGBT "community" to gain their Civil Rights, so why should we provide the State of Vermont or anyone else, the clear and convincing evidence of our claims of being Abenakis?

HOW ABSURD is this position?! The LGBT community of Vermont and New Hampshire are NOT seeking SEPERATE benefits, rights, and or responsiblities....they SEEK EQUAL RESPONSIBILITIES and STANDING, UNDER-STATE and FEDERAL LAWS, the same as everyone else! These Incorporate entities Under State Sanction, through the Legislature, are asking the State of Vermont and New Hampshire, to State Sanction these Inc.'s as being "Abenakis" from the Historical Abenaki communities of Vermont, regardless of the State and Federal Conclusions on the Swanton group that is connected with the concocted "Abenaki Alliance." Apparently, the Legislature of Vermont is simply IGNORING the Vermont Attorney General's Response documentation of December 2002-2003, and also the O.F.A. Findings of July 2007?! I do think so.

I must admit that to my own thinking I have begun to conclude that the contemporary concocted "Abenaki Alliance" seems to perpetuate this dynamic of "not being too bright?" It doesn't take a Brain Surgeon to figure out this nonsense, and smell the B.S. these groups/ incorporations are attempting to push onto the State's of Vermont and New Hampshire Legislature's, in their attempts to become, with the stroke of a pen, Vermont's Abenaki Tribe's, in order to solicite further Federal and State Funding. Apparently, there is a lack of Brain Surgeon's in N'dakinna? There was a reason that the Abenakis took heads of their enemies!

I would strongly recommend this self-created so-called "Koasek of the Koas" "Chief" (a.k.a. Incorporation President) Mrs. Nancy Lee nee: Millette-Cruger-Lyons-Doucet listen again very carefully, to the audio-recording of what the District Court Judge of Grafton County, New Hampshire and what he told her, back on June 06, 2009 from 2:30 PM approximately to about 4:00 PM!!! (Or maybe she can have her alleged husband, Mark E. Doucet of Bath, Grafton County, New Hampshire....email her....and explain it to her really slowly eh?) Apparently, she is seemingly too stupid to understand the legal merits of what the Judge in North Haverhill District Court stated to her on June 06, 2009, that she has yet again (to Rep. Kesha Ram, etc) whined and complained that her Divorce Records etc are on this Blog...and on...and on...and on some people do go on and on and on. So, now she is attempting to do "a writing campaign," in the Abenaki Alliance's attempt to "shut down" the OPEN ACCESS TO VITAL and COURT RECORDS of Vermont, in their attempts to "hide their genealogical, historical, and social histories in plain sight."

I have a lot more genealogical records, to place on this blog (which I have not yet done, as well as posting the Eugenics Records I have previously mentioned), all of which are already "documentarily stored digitally" (and of which are "outsourced" to other "agents" that support this endeavor to EXPOSE these Wanna-be Abenaki Incorporations/ who confabulate these so-called "Abenaki" Tribes" of Vermont and New Hampshire). So their attempts, ultimately, are futile and absurd in the extreme

I honestly DON'T GIVE A DAMN about any "Tribe" sanctioned or appointed by the State of Vermont or New Hampshire, whining and complaining about this blog (or what I place onto such), because the Recognition Process is "cooked" "whacked" "Kaputt," from the very start of this deceitful process. No Genealogical connection(s) to the Abenaki, and yet these people can claim to be Abenakis? How outrageous! They claim to be "from" the historical Abenaki Tribes, and yet they cannot genealogically connect to such a historical community? How outrageously ridiculous! No Tribe? No Genealogical connection?
Kein Problem....
Vermont and New Hampshire Politician's created "Native American Commission's" and appointed dubious questionable "Native American's" who will just MAKE TRIBES out of their created and State-Sanctioned Incorporations!

Mrs. Nancy Millette-Doucet has once again stated "multiple points of complaint," about my person, that contradict the documentary truthful facts, yet again. Even my Attorney knew who exactly Mrs. Doucet was speaking about in her diatribe of an email that she sent outwardly, even if Mrs. Doucet was careful NOT to mention my name.
DO I LAUGH OR DO I CRY
????
OK, FUN ASIDE
I must get back to Page 75 etc....
~
Oh, almost forgot to mention this:
THIS IS NOT A "HATE" BLOG
~
ACTUALLY I ENJOY WORKING
ON THESE DOCUMENTS
AND
POSTING THEM FOR THE PUBLIC
TO REVIEW AND EVALUATE
~
I JUST DO NOT RESPECT
"IDENTITY THIEVES"
OF THE
EASTERN OR WESTERN
ABENAKI

ANCESTORS/ DESCENDANTS

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

State of VT's Response to Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont: Pages 67 to 74:

TWENTIETH CENTURY
Twentieth Century Claims of Abenaki Continuity
There is very little to say about the Abenakis in Vermont in the twentieth century
until the 1970's. From 1900 to 1974 they were invisible, if they were here at all. Most of the twentieth century material will be addressed in response to the specific criteria, but a brief overview here will provide background.
There was no noticeable Abenaki community in Vermont, let alone Franklin County, from 1900 to 1970. It was only in 1970, with the increase in ethnic consciousness across the U.S., that Abenakis became detectable. In 1974 a group of individuals re-constituted the tribe and created a tribal Council. The petition credits the associations made through Veterans groups after WWII as the immediate precursor to the social and political reorganization of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Missisquoi in the 1970's (Petition Addendum: 123). The petitioner concedes this was re-creation, re-emergence, and re-organization of the community (Petition Addendum: 126). One of the first things the Tribal Council did was push for state recognition. Its efforts led to the Baker report to the Governor of Vermont in November, 1976. 45. This report prompted the outgoing Governor Thomas Salmon's to issue an Executive Order recognizing the Abenakis in Vermont. State recognition was short-lived. Two months later, in January, 1977, newly elected Governor Richard Snelling revoked the Executive Order.

The Eugenics Survey of Vermont
The Second Addendum to the Petition, filed with the BIA in 1995, lists one of its
________________
FOOTNOTE:
45. The reaction to the Balser report by scholars of Abenaki history and ethnology is discussed below in the section on Criterion (a): 1974 to 1981.
sources as the Vermont Eugenics Survey (Second Addendum:9). The Second Addendum describes the survey as an "insidious and discriminatory program" aimed at "the eradication of mental and moral 'defectives' within the community." It states that despite this, the archives of the survey are "extremely valuable in demonstrating the ancestry of the Native-Americans in Vermont who were especially targeted to be victims of this program" (Second Addendum:9). The notion that Indians were targeted by the Eugenics Survey is but a mere mention in the petition: however the idea has loomed large in the petitioner's public arguments for tribal acknowledgment. The ways in which the petitioner has exploited the Eugenics Survey are explained below and in the Affidavit of J. Kay Davis, which is attached to this Response.
For example, in a press packet entitled "The New Vermont Eugenics Survey,"
released in February 2002, Frederick Wiseman, an Abenaki spokesman, wrote:

Once long ago, in the 1920's, post WWI tide of xenophobia turned inward to haunt inter-ethnic relations in the "the whitest state in the union." Dr. Henry Perkins of the University of Vermont and a group of Anglo intellectual and civic leaders founded the Vermont Eugenics Survey. Its purpose was to study Eugenics Survey. study groups of Vermonters (called the "unfortunates"), who by their very existence needed more state assistance, social programs, institutionalization, legal fees, etc than the "old stock" Anglo Vermonters. In order to stem this "drain" of resources, the survey began a study of the family histories of "horse trading, basketmaking" Abenaki lineages. The Eugenics Surveys dream was realized in 1931, when Vermont passed the Act for Voluntary Sterilization. (Wiseman 200-2:1).

Wiseman's book, Voice of the Dawn, is filled with similar rhetoric geared to bolster public support for federal acknowledgment. There he sought to explain away the invisibility and lack of information about the Abenakis by blaming the Eugenics Survey:
Soon the lens of genocide was trained on the Gypsies, Pirates, and River Rats, 46. as well as other ethnic groups. Employing the latest genealogical research and statistical record keeping techniques, the survey added new technologies to the list of ancient genocidal procedures used by New English authorities against the Abenakis. In addition, they provided social and police organizations with lists of families to "watch." Unfortunately, the social gulf between elite Anglo culture and the village dwelling River Rats and Pirates was not so wide that they could entirely escape notice. Major Abenaki families at Missisqoui were especially at risk. The more "hidden" families and the Gypsies partially escaped unheeded—for a while. But then began ethnic conflict incidents as Gypsies and Pirates had their children taken from them. The theft of children and the hatred emanating from the burning cross and Ku Klux Klan rallies are still recalled by Abenaki and French Canadian elders in Barre, Vermont. Any family who still had thoughts about standing forth as Abenaki, due to the tourists' continued interest in our arts and culture quickly retired to obscurity as the tide of intolerance rose. We continually needed to be on our guard with the police, the tax man, and the school board, the eves and ears of the survey. (Wiseman 2001:147-48).

The notion that the Eugenics Survey caused the Abenakis to hide their Indian
identities became current in the late 1990's when it made its way into a history kit published history by the Vermont Historical Society in 1998:

History books have long claimed that the Abenaki "disappeared" from Vermont. While some Abenaki did leave Vermont for Canada, many others remained. As the Abenaki began to speak French or English and adopted European dress, historians of the nineteenth century assumed that the Abenaki had vanished. The Abenaki families who remained in Vermont survived in a variety of ways. Some lived a nomadic life and were called "gypsies." Others remained on the outskirts of their communities and lived off the land as they had for centuries hunting, fishing, and trapping.


From the 1920's through the 1940's the Eugenics Survey of Vermont... sought to "improve" Vermont by seeking out "genetically inferior peoples" such as Indians, illiterates, thieves, the insane, paupers, alcoholics, those with harelips, etc....As a result of this program, Abenaki had to hide their heritage even more. They were forced to deny their culture to their children and grandchildren. (Vermont Historical Society 1998:31).
__________________
FOOTNOTE:
46. The first annual report of the Eugenics Survey used the terms, "Gypsy," and "Pirate" to describe Survey "Gypsy," some of the families it portrayed. The term "River Rat" is not found in the reports (Eugenics Survey of Vermont 1927:8).
The concept of the eugenics survey driving the Abenakis underground was trumpeted again at the time of Chief Homer St. Francis's death in 2001. One newspaper article reporting on St. Francis's passing said:

The tribe that St. Francis grew up in was one that had been devastated by European settlement and driven underground by racism. That racism found its purest expression in the "eugenics" campaign of the 1920s and '30s, which promoted the sterilization of Abenaki and other groups of Vermont's undesirables." (Burlington Free Press 7/9/2001).

However, the argument was never made by any scholars of Indian history in Vermont before 1991. Jean S. Baker's Report to Governor Salmon in 1976 does not mention it, nor does Ken Pierce's 1977 History of the Abenaki People. John Moody's manuscript on Missisquoi in 1979 does not insinuate any link between the Eugenics Survey and the invisibility of the Abenakis; he doesn't even mention the survey. This is very surprising since all three of these authors based their writings on extensive interviews with people claiming Abenaki heritage. All three of them earned the trust of their informants, yet they never disclosed the survey as a significant factor in Abenaki history.
Most importantly, neither the original petition for federal acknowledgment, filed in 1982, or the first Addendum to the Petition filed in 1986 contains any mention of the Survey. Only the Second Addendum, dated 1995, refers to it, but without any of the arguments of its effect on the invisibility of Abenaki families. To unpack the building of this myth, a more detailed examination of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont is required.
Established in 1925, the Eugenics Survey was one of many undertaken in the United States during the 1920's and 1930's. Vermont's was headed by Henry F. Perkins, Chairman during by of the University of Vermont's Zoology Department. The Survey issued five reports between 1927 and 1931. It conducted surveys of town and surveys of people. It created
genealogical pedigree charts of twenty-two families in depth, and began charts for dozens more (Dann 1991:6, Gallagher 1998). The survey led to the creation, by Henry Perkins, of the Vermont Commission on Country Life (Dann 1991:6, 17-19).
One focus of the Eugenics Survey was the physical and mental condition of the
Vermont population. The authors saw embarrassingly large numbers of Vermonters rejected from military service in World War I on physical and mental grounds. State officials wanted to know why so many were rejected (Ainsworth 1944:11 ). The State officials were also concerned about the population losses due to emigration out of the state, and the lack of industrial changes in Vermont compared with other New England states (Ainsworth 1944:10-11). Meanwhile, they saw rural towns becoming depopulated, causing a deterioration of the social structure (Gallagher 1999:45.)
The reports of the survey and its work led to further study of population trends by the Vermont Commission on Country Life. That Commission attempted to answer these questions: What are the motives of those who left the state? What are the motives and vocational choices of those who stayed in Vermont') What are the motives of those who have moved into the state and what contributions have they brought? (Perkins, H.:1930:2-3 ). Survey authors advocated reforms in family welfare, public health, economic aid to rehabilitation, and education, but also endorsed sterilization as a matter of social policy (Ainsworth: 17).
One method used by the Eugenics Survey to analyze population trends in Vermont was to classify towns by certain characteristics. In a section of the survey papers labeled "Towns Suggested for Study," is a map labeling towns as "declined in some way," "desirable or progressive," "outlanders," "summer people," or "original stock" (Eugenics Survey of
Vermont [1929]). In the northwestern part of the state, the area where the Abenaki claims are greatest, two towns were labeled for study because they had "declined in some way." These were Swanton and Fairfax. The narrative descriptions accompanying the map indicate the reasons for examining them—and they have nothing to do with possible Indian populations. Rather, Fairfax was suggested for study to determine "why the theological seminary left and what was the effect of its departure on the town" (Eugenics Survey of Vermont [1929]). The reasons Swanton was cited for study were succinct:

Swanton presents an interesting problem. During the war, there was a large shirt (?) factory there and the town was thriving. Now the factory stands empty, and in spite of the fact that there is apparently everything to do with water power. some marble, and available building the town is on the decline.
It would be interesting to see whether or not the town was pushed beyond its capacity during the war or whether it still has possibilities for a steady prosperity. (Eugenics Survey of Vermont [ 1929]).

There is nothing in these descriptions that would lead one to believe the targets of the Eugenics Survey were areas of Indian habitation. Furthermore, the nearby towns of Highgate, Franklin, and Sheldon, claimed to be havens for Abenaki families, were not suggested for study at all.
The only other northwestern Vermont towns suggested for study were on the Lake Champlain Islands: North Hero, Grand Isle, and Alburgh. All three were labeled as having summer people and outlanders. They are noted as having two distinct classes of people—old settlers and new French Canadian families. The survey notes that population was declining as most of the young people were leaving. Once again there is no mention of Indians (Eugenics Survey of Vermont [1929]).
There is nothing in the Eugenics Survey papers that indicates that Indians were targeted by the survey. If any group was targeted, it was the French Canadians (Davis
Affidavit, Attachment A:9). The Third Annual Report of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont published in 1929, included a list of "Some English Corruptions of French Names." The survey printed this list because "the spelling of a name is seen to change through successive generations. It is easy to see that such discrepancies might throw one off the track for a long time. The implication is that the surveyors were particularly interested in following the French Canadian "track" (Eugenics Survey of Vermont 1929:5). Perkins was enthusiastic about studying French Canadians. He sought grants to further the study of this group, and hoped to develop data correlating the degree of French-Canadian ancestry with "mental testing, educational attainment, and various cultural factors"  (Gallagher 1999:95). Vermont's focus on French Canadians continued into the 1930's. The Works Progress Administration guide, Vermont: A Guide to the Green Mountain State said that "[s]ince 1900 the largest single immigrant group has been the French-Canadian. As early as the 1930's this element began replacing the Yankee farmers in the northernmost tier of counties; today they constitute approximately one-quarter of the population there (including second generation) as compared with thirteen percent of the State's total" (Works Progress Administration 1937:51). This group was by far the largest of any immigrant group. 47. An impressive study of racial interaction in Vermont arose out of the midst of the Eugenics Survey. This was Elin Anderson's We Americans: A Study of Cleavage in an Eugenics Survey American City (1937). While Anderson had worked under Perkins for the eugenics survey for seven years, she brought an entirely different interpretation to the material. Rather than years
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FOOTNOTE:
47. After the French-Canadians' thirteen percent portion. the next largest group was the non-French Canadians, which comprised three per cent of the state's population. No other group even reached one percent (Works Progress Administration 1937:52).
promote the pioneer-stock Yankees as the epitome of society, she exposed their narrow-mindedness toward other ethnic groups (Anderson 1937:155-56). Her study sought to understand the reasons for cleavages within communities, to determine the extent to which they were ethnically based, and to look for ways to move beyond those divisions. Anderson began by surveying a sample of residents from six of Burlington's ethnic groups: French-Canadian, Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews, and Yankee "Old Americans" (Anderson 1937:272). They were surveyed using a set of questions that inquired into the extent the immigrant groups interacted with each other, were assimilated into the mainline culture, or were intentionally kept separate.
The model Survey form was designed for French-Canadians, the others were
adaptations of it (Eugenics Survey of Vermont [1932-1936]). This main shows the prominence of the focus on French-Canadians as the dominant immigrant group. One question specifically listed fourteen other ethnic groups and asked for the respondent's perception of them. The fourteen groups listed included French Canadians, Irish, Americans/Yankees, English Canadians, Italians, Jews, Germans, Syrians, French, Scottish, Greeks, English, Scandinavians, Chinese, and Negroes (Eugenics Survey of Vermont [1932-1936]). There was no surveying of attitudes toward Abenaki Indians, or Native Americans of any kind. They were not enough of a recognizable entity in Burlington in the 1930's to be part of the study.
The first published source to draw a connection between the Eugenics Survey and the Abenakis was Kevin Dann's 1991 article in Vermont History, "From Degeneration to Regeneration: The Eugenics Survey of Vermont, 1925-1936." There Dann noted a connection between the survey and the Abenaki:

State of VT's Response to Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont: Pages 57 to 64:

By the forays of their enemies, the warlike Iroquois, and the encroachment of the whites, the Zoquageers were gradually driven from Vermont, and their last village of consequence within its limits, was on Missisque Bay, in the present town of Alburgh. They had, for the most part, removed before the Revolution to the St. Francois River, in Canada, where the survivors of this once powerful tribe now live, commonly known as the St. Francois Indians, though, they style themselves as of old, Zoquageers and Abenakees, or as they pronounce it, Wau-ban-a-kees. (Robinson 1867:31).

This testimony is made all the more reliable by the confirmation of the Watso family name in records of Odanak/St. Francis in the 1870's. The Watsos were residents of the Quebec reserve, and some members of that family are listed on the reserve's 1875 census as absent in the United States (Canada, Indian Affairs 1875).
A further sign that these Indians were visitors comes from Robinson's accounts of the news these visitors brought him of friends who lived at Odanak/St. Francis (Robinson 1921b:135-37). For example, in May 1881, Robinson wrote in his journal that Louis Tahmont, an Abenaki from St. Francis, told him that his brother, Swasin Tahmont, has "gone by the strong water stream' to happier hunting grounds than these. I knew him well, and then, 25 years ago, he would not touch whiskey" (Robinson 1879-81). Obviously, Robinson had not seen his friend for 25 years, since Swasin did not live near Ferrisburgh; he lived in Canada. The connection of these individuals to Odanak/St. Francis is nowhere more evident than in a letter Robinson wrote in 1894 to Joseph Laurent, the Chief of the St. Francis Abenaki, in which he said:

Years ago I knew several of your people—John Wadso and his sons Thomas and Samuel—his father called him [Dodosen?]—also Swasin Tahmont and his family, and [   ] Louis Tahmont and Joseph Tucksoose. Please remember me to such of them as are living. (Robinson 11/1894).

Another mark that signifies these Indians are not living in Vermont is their
connection to New York State. In his journal entry of April 30, 1881, Robinson relates his
visit with Joe Tucksoose and Louis Tahmont (Robinson 1879-81). 41. He wrote that Tucksoose had served in a New York Regiment of the Union Army. There were members of both the Tahmont and Toxus families in New York State near Lake George in the federal census records for 1900, listing their parents' birthplace as Canada (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1900a).

Further corroboration that Robinson's Indian friends usually lived elsewhere and only occasionally came through Vermont is apparent in his search for the Indian names for rivers, mountains, and natural places in Vermont. His many inquiries and discoveries of native place names are recorded in his journal entries, his letter to Chief Laurent, and stories like "Sobapsqua" and "On a Glass Roof." He was enamored of the Indian language, as this passage reveals:

"Thompson's Point" is not a good name for a noble headland, but it is better
that it should have borne it for a hundred years than half a dozen that are no more significant.

The Waubanakees called it "Kozoapsqua," the "Long Rocky Point," and the noticeable cleft promontory opposite *'Sobapsqua," the "Pass through the Rock," names which might well have been retained, and perhaps would have been if our pioneer ancestors had not so bitterly hated the Indians and all that pertained to them. There was cause enough for this hatred, but one wishes it had not been carried so far when the poverty of our ancestors' nomenclature is considered and the few surviving names of Indian origin remind us how easily we might have been spared the iteration of commonplace and vulgar names that cling to mountain, river, and lake. (Robinson 1921a:89-90).

Robinson took every opportunity to learn Indian names; he also enlisted the aid of his nephew William Robinson in this word search, as Bill was living in Montreal. ________________
FOOTNOTES:
41. Although the cover of the journal states it spans 1879 to 1880, it actually contains entries through 1889.
42. There are two existing letters from William Robinson to Rowland E. Robinson in the Rokeby Museum's collection of Robinson letters housed at the Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont.
Montreal, Bill found four old Abenakis who had fought in the Battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812 and "have spent many of their days along old Pe-tow-boroke" (Lake Champlain). This is another indication that Indians who had previously lived in Vermont had retired to Canada (Robinson, W.:1/14/1880). It once again confirms that the sources of Indian knowledge of Vermont during the late nineteenth century were primarily located elsewhere.
All of this effort indicates that Robinson was unable to find any local Indians in Vermont to supply him with Indian place names. The fact that someone of his diligence could not find any informants on Indian words in western Vermont in the 1880's and 1890's implies they were not present. If they had been there, one would expect his traveling Indian friends to have told him about them. 43.
Petitioner explains the absence of a visible Indian community by arguing that the Vermont Abenakis settled down, adopted white man's ways, and joined the white man's economy (Petition:71). The problem with this explanation is that it doesn't square with other information in the petition. There is plenty of evidence that petitioner's ancestors held the same sort of jobs that whites held in Franklin County: grocer, stone cutter, farm laborer (Petition:74, 76). But this does not mean that Abenakis were acting like whites. It is equally
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FOOTNOTES:
42. (continued) One is dated Sept. 13, 1895, the other Jan. 14, 1880. See Rokeby's collection of Robinson family letters, Box 8, folder 27; Box 6, folder 16. They both appear to be part of ongoing communications regarding the Abenakis. In one Bill told Rowland what he learned in his visit with the Abenaki historian Father Maurault, and promised to help Rowland pronounce words that he learned from some old Abenakis in Montreal.
43. For example, Robinson wrote in "On a Glass Roof," that the Indian he met fishing "and a few of his people were wintering in a neighboring village" (Robinson 1921b:136). Although one might think he is referring to an Indian village, it is not clear. He does not specify it as Indian, and he does not tell its location with any sense of familiarity. If there were a permanent Indian village in the area, one would expect the historian of Ferrisburgh to know about it.
possible that the real heritage of petitioner's ancestors was French Canadian, and that is why they did not show signs of an Indian identity.
Moreover, the explanation that the Abenakis simply settled into a sedentary town life does not account for the unassimilated Indians who Leo St. Francis recalls seeing from a distance behind the Slamon Farm near the swamp (Petition 97). If his observation is correct (and we have no verification that those were Indians he saw), that means there were Indians in the area who continued to live a distinct lifestyle apart from the white community. But they are not part of the petitioner's group! The petitioner is comprised of people who were indistinguishable from the white population; it does not include the visible Indians known to Robinson and others.
It is significant that Rowland Robinson did not confuse white French Canadians with Abenaki Indians. In his era, he knew them as two separate groups. He made a clear distinction between them, unlike petitioner in its account of its ancestors blending in with the rest of society. In his stories about Danvis he portrayed Antoine Bassette as a garrulous French Canadian. When Sam Lovel, the main character, encountered Indians in Danvis, Antoine was as surprised as any of the others, and made fun of the eggshell canoe the Indians were building (Robinson 1937:232).
Likewise, in "On a Glass Roof," Robinson described meeting three men separately
ice-fishing—the first two French Canadian, the last one an Abenaki. He depicted their speech with two discretely different accents (Robinson 1921b:133, 138). And, while he dismissed the first one saying "these Canucks think all the fish and all the berries belong to them," he went on to speak admiringly of the Abenaki from St. Francis (Robinson 1921b:132, 135). He was attracted to him as he realized here was an "ideal angler," "plying
the gentle art here in the warpath of his ancestors" (Robinson 1921 b:135). In contrast to the talkative French Canadians, this fisherman was "as taciturn as his ancestors could have been" (Robinson 1921b:136).
The point of Robinson's observations is that they demonstrate the visibility of Indian visitors to Vermont and the nonexistence of any Indian residents. His writings illustrated the maintenance of an Indian culture that showed its presence in Vermont only through the through Abenakis from Odanak/St. Francis.

French-Canadian Migration to Vermont
The lifestyle and migration pattern described by the petition is not evidence that these families are Indian. The movements of these people are the same as the travel patterns of the French Canadians who were migrating into and through Vermont during the same time. There is nothing in the evidence of lifestyles that distinguishes the petitioner's relatives from the French Canadians. Moreover, the genealogical material below [in the subsequent pages] will show most of the petitioner's ancestors can be traced back to French Canada. See analysis in section on Criterion (e).
The Indians in the petition were described as having a seasonal migratory pattern, coming into Vermont after the Revolution, and concentrating their stays in the northwestern part of the state, around Lake Champlain (Petition:71). Similarly, the French Canadians began moving into border areas of Vermont shortly after the American Revolution. According to Ralph Vicero who extensively analyzed French Canadian immigration to Vermont, "The major concentrations, however, coincided with those areas bordering on Lake
Champlain, the historic corridor leading from the St. Lawrence settlements into New England" (Vicero 1968, 1971). This is the same area where petitioner's ancestors settled.
For many of the French Canadians, their residence in Vermont was seasonal, or short term:

immigration never was intended to be a permanent move; rather, an early return to Quebec was anticipated. Some returned after a winter's or summer's work in the mills, others after a stay of one or two years when they had saved enough money to pay off the mortgage on their farm or to purchase additional land. (Vicero 1971:290, see also 1968:194).

They did not only work in the mills. Their work as farm laborers in the Champlain Valley was colorfully described by a local resident this way:

In the Champlain Valley, a hundred years ago, more and less, before mowing machines were in general use, came bands of men from the north each armed with a scythe with which to attack the meadows of that rich farming country. With the aid of their trusty blades, meanwhile being refreshed from the inevitable jug in the shade, they accomplished the haying and returned to their "Canadaw."...The Canadians, with their scythes, were placed in a line across one end of a field and, incited by competition, moved forward in rhythmical motion, leaving the grass flat in broad expanse behind them and throwing jeers over their shoulders at the man who couldn't keep up. (Horsford 1925:11).

This seasonal migration, for farm or mill work, matched the seasonal visits of people described in the petition. And the occupations of these French Canadians were day laborers, wood choppers, quarry workers, and farm laborers—all positions held by the ancestors of the petitioner (Petition:71, 74, 84, Vicero 1971:293).
The timing of French Canadian immigration followed the economic cycles in Quebec and New England. The immigration dates of petitioner's ancestors coincided with the swells of French Canadian migration (see Table 2, below, for immigration dates). This correlation again adds to the implication that the petitioner's ancestors had closer ties to the French Canadian population than to any possible Indian population. The Morits family arrived in
the 1820's, a time marked by "a noticeable increase in the migration [due to] the steadily worsening state of Quebec agriculture" (Vicero 1971:290). Widespread failure of the wheat crop in Quebec in the 1830's along with abortive rebellions in Canada in 1837 and 1838 meant much immigration in those years (Vicero 1971:290). That is when the St. Laurent, Colombe and Medor families arrived.
The failure of the potato crops in the 1840's coupled with rural indebtedness caused many Quebec residents to seek an escape to the United States between 1840 and 1850 (Vicero 1968:389). During that decade, "it appears that more than three-fifths of the estimated net migration was directed toward Vermont" (Vicero 1968:396). It is during that time of the 1840's that the Hance, St. Francis, Phillips, and Desmarais families moved to Vermont.
Between 1865 and 1873, the economic boon in New England attracted a surge of migration from Canada (Vicero 1968:212). "The Bishop of Vermont was so impressed by the number of migrants he observed that he claimed that the French-Canadian population of his diocese had doubled between 1866 and 1868" (Vicero 1968:205). While this may have been an exaggeration, there is a report that more than 500 migrants had been added to during Burlington's population during 1868" (Vicero 1968:249, n.72). The French Canadian population of Vermont increased 75% between 1860 and 1870, from 16,580 to 29,000 (Vicero 1968:275). During the late 1860's and 1870's the Hoague, LaFrance, and Ouimette families came to Vermont.
After 1870, there was very little growth in that group's population in Vermont, as work in other New England states became more attractive (Vicero 1968:275-77). Correspondingly, among the peititioner's families, the ones that arrived in Vermont after 1870
(Hakey, Partlow, Gardner, Lapan, and Nepton) did not come from Quebec. Instead, they came there from Massachusetts or New York State.
The coincidence in the timing of the waves of immigration of petitioner's ancestors with the waves of French Canadians from Quebec is unmistakable.

Caughnawagha Claims Presented to Vermont Legislature
The petitioner mentions "one other event that coincided with the abandonment of the village at Missisquoi"—the 1798 petition by the Mohawks from Caughnawagha for compensation for the loss of fishing and hunting territories in Vermont. As the petitioner allows, this claim "undoubtedly helped at the time to reinforce the notion that the Indians had quit the area altogether" (Petition:51). Vermont Governor Tichnor investigated the claim and advised the Legislature that the Caughnawagha claims had no merit as they had been extinguished, and furthermore, that Vermont could not grant such a claim without the consent of the U.S. Congress (Calloway 1990b:235, State of Vermont 1880:319-20, (reprinted in Petition: 1 84-85)). Calloway said the Caughnawagha made this claim on behalf of the entire Seven Nations of Canada—that is, the six Iroquois nations of Canada and the Abenakis of Odanak/St. Francis (Calloway 1990b:235). He said the Abenakis had to sit by and watch the Mohawks make this claim. There are two problems with this interpretation. First, it is not clear that the Caughnawagha made the claim on behalf of the entire group of nations. In answer to a question posed by the Vermont Governor, they said that their neighbors "on the east" were the "Abenakees of St. Francois" (State of Vermont 1880:314 (reprinted in
Petition: 182)). This suggests they were speaking on their own behalf, and not for the larger group, which would have included the St. Francis Abenakis. Secondly, one must question the view that the Abenakis sat by and watched while the Caughnawaghas made a claim for land that was supposedly theirs. In 1766, at Isle la Motte, the Abenakis did not just sit by; they spoke up and voiced their own demands at the same time. So, why didn't they speak up now? One possible rejoinder is that they had secure lands of their own and did not feel threatened by this claim for compensation by the Caughnawaghas. However, this does not fit with the other evidence of their loss of land to white settlers, and of the many accounts of their migration to Canada at this time.
An alternative answer is that they had essentially given up all their land and left. If there were any Abenakis remaining in Vermont they were not part of an organized tribal community with any leaders capable of speaking up for land as they had in 1766. This second hypothesis is more plausible and is reinforced by subsequent events. The 1798 Caughnawagha claim for compensation was but the first of a series of such claims throughout the nineteenth century and halfway into the twentieth.
In 1800 the claim was renewed. This time it was brought by a new set of chiefs, including two representatives of the Abenaki nation 44. (State of Vermont 1880:321 (reprinted in Petition: 185)). The addition of the Abenaki suggests that they knew about the claim and wanted to participate in it this time. There is no indication in the sparse record that remains as to where these Abenaki representatives came from. If they were from within Vermont, they should have joined in the subsequent requests. However, the Abenaki never participated
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FOOTNOTE:
44. The exact identity of these representatives cannot be ascertained; apparently the original papers have been lost (State of Vermont 1880: 322 (reprinted in Petition, 186)).
in any of the ensuing claims for compensation brought by the Caughnawagha (State of Vermont 1880:321, n. 2 (reprinted in Petition: 185)).
The claim was brought again in 1812. While the first petition was made "by the
Chiefs and Councillors of the Seven Nations of Lower Canada Indians," this one was put forth by the "chiefs of the Iroquois or Congnahwagha nation" (Compare (State of Vermont 1880:313 with 322 (reprinted in Petition: 181, 186)). The subsequent 1826 claim was also made only on behalf of the "Iroquois tribe, residing in Cognawagah village" (State of Vermont 1880:325 (reprinted in Petition: 187)). The next two claims, in 1853 and 1874, were made by the Caughnawagha and the Iroquois at St. Regis and Lake of Two Mountains (State of Vermont 1880:328, 343 (reprinted in Petition: 189, 196)).
If there was any doubt in the first claim as to whether the Caughnawaghas spoke for the entire Seven Nations of Canada, including the Abenakis, it is dispelled in the later claims.
The language of the claims indicates that the Abenakis were not represented in those proceedings by the Caughnawaghas after 1800. While the St. Regis and Lake of Two Mountains Indians joined some of the later claims, the Abenakis never did. This reinforces the point that there was no group of Abenakis in Vermont in the nineteenth century with enough tribal identity and political cohesion to speak up and ask to be included in any of these Indian claims. The evidence surrounding the Caughnawaghas' 1951 claim reiterates that position with respect to the mid-twentieth century, as described in the section on Criterion (c) below.
Lo! The Poor Vermonters
Expropriated Iroquois appeal for part of a state
In the days when Gitche Manito, the Great Good Spirit, ran things on the American continent, the land between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River was the hunting preserve of the warlike Iroquois. The white man grabbed it to make five rich counties in Vermont. Three of the ousted Iroquois tribes, reduced to living in wretched reservations in Canada, insisted that somebody pay them for all that land. For 154 years they sent delegations to the Vermont legislature, which generally turned them back with sympathetic words, a pittance of $100 and a free meal.
But things are looking up for the Iroquois. The Vermont legislature appointed a commissioner to look into the claim, the first since 1855. A Vermont lawyer has taken on the case -- the first to represent the Iroquois -- and is sure he can prove the Iroquois never legally ceded their land to the white men. A recent award of $8 million to the Ute Indians for a similar claim encouraged the Iroquois to raise their demand from $89,000 to $1.2 million. Some tribesmen, however scorn the money and want to take physical possession of their Vermont claim, a solution which has found great favor in New Hampshire. Students at Dartmouth College are selling Give-Vermont-back-to-the-Indians buttons to finance the lawsuit. Said an unperturbed Vermont, "All of the U.S. once belonged to the Indians, but it's only Vermont they want back."

Illustration: Redman's Friend, Lawyer Roland Stevens, 80, looks through yellowed 18th Century documents in a bank vault to bolster the case of clients.
Illustration: Chief Poking-Fire (John McComber) of the Bear Clan of the Caughnawage rips tribal claims out of Vermont map. Indians claim whole northern fourth of State.
Illustration: Iroquois Allies meet at Dartmouth campus to launch fund-raising campaign for lawsuit.
Illustration: Poverty of the muddy villages wherethe Iroquois now live in Quebec forms a painful contrast with the neat prosperity of the Vermont shown on pp. 74-76.
Waiting hopefully, solemn sachems of the Caughnawaga tribe sit in conclave in their frosty Quebec meeting hall to listen to Lawyer Stevens and hold a powwow for future plans. Pending the inheritance of Vermont or parts thereof, these tribesmen have to earn their living as steelworkers, taxi drivers, farmers. SOURCE: LIFE Magazine December 29, 1952
Chief Poking-Fire, Caughnawaga
John McComber, of the Mohawk Bear Clan
Caughnawaga (Kahnawake), Quebec, Canada

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