Addendum to the Petition for Federal Recognition
Dated January 10, 1986
In Response to the "Letter of Obvious Deficiencies and Significant Omissions"
Dated (6/14/1983)
Part B
Page 08: The common Abenaki practice of grandparents raising particular grandchildren is also documented in the Back Bay household of Pauline Savoie (Savage) which includes her granddaughter Helen Baraby (Benedict). 14 Another example is Frank Roberts (Robert-Obomsawin) and his family in the Lake Street neighborhood of St. Albans, who are listed living with his grandfather Edward Hances (Hanks/Anus) in 1919. 15
Footnote 14. See household # 162, District 118 in 1910 Swanton census in Appendix 1B & Families #’s 8, 10, 16, & 19 in Appendix 11. Gordon Day (1978: 156) mentions that a special bond existed with paternal grandparents in Abenaki society. Abundant evidence for all grandparents taking in grandchildren with whom they have a special affinity has been found in the contemporary community [John Moody, Filed Notes, 1977-85].
Footnote 15. See household #214, District # 113 in 1910 St. Albans census in Appendix 1B & Family chart # 15 in Appendix 11. These two men and their family are the only two Abenakis listed as ‘Indians’ in the 1910 census for this part of Vermont.
Page 20: In one of Swanton’s outlying neighborhoods, the Stephen Popple and Charles Sisco families were sharing a house. 83 These two Ancestral families were living from the basket, wood and leather working trade in the greater Swanton area, and had clearly joined their efforts as the Morits and Barratt families would in the next generation, and the Lapan and Gardner families would in the 1920 and 1950 period in the same basic area. 84
Footnote 83. See household # 152 in 1860 Swanton census in Appendix 1B.
Footnote 84. See Basket Trade cards & Popple, Sisco, Morits, Barratt, Lapan & Gardner Family cards in AA.
Page 27: Louis Freemore was one of the first Abenakis to purchases land in Swanton. He was most likely an uncle to John Freemore who appears in several Central family genealogies and was an Abenaki family and community leader in the 1830 to 1870 period. 113 Lewis and John were both living in Swanton’s developing Back Bay [Page 28.] neighborhood along with Benjamin Popple, Nathaniel (Baquabarrat/Barrat), John Savard (Savage) and John Anus (Hanks/Henry) according to the 1820 Swanton census. 114
Footnote 113. Moody 1979: 56-8; RP: 64, 72-5, 222-3; Brow, Cota, Greenia, Medor and Vanslette Central family genealogies in RP & Family chart #’s 2, 3, 10, 15 & 22 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 114. See 1820 Swanton census in Appendix 1B; RP: 63-4.
Page 35: As noted earlier, there were many cases where efforts to retain their lands unsuccessful in the early to mid-19th century. The Lampman family had considerable land in Swanton to 1800 but was virtually destitute thereafter. In one sequence from 1803 to 1809, Samuel Sisco purchased land in Swanton, mortgaged it for payments of grain and cattle, then lost the land and had his widow and children warned out of town for poverty. 149 The two Highgate Morits families had lost their hundreds of acres on the Rock River and Franklin border by 1840 as well. And John Morits of St. Albans had to mortgage the eighteen acres of land between Lake Road and the Rood farm near Maquam Creek still retained from the old Missisquoi village lands in 1836. The arrangement read that he would pay in “good sound wood four feet long at fifty cents per cord” totaling almost sixty cords within a year…
Footnote 149. SLR, Bk 2:248; Bk 3:145-6; Bk 4:156 & 1803-1809 in Appendix 4A.
Page 36: …and one half, or lose the land. 150 By all indications, that land was indeed lost and the family went back to a local subsistence lifestyle after almost 40 years of well documented stability from 1800 to 1840. The Morits, Lampman, Hoague and other Abenaki families continued to use the ‘Rood Farm’ on the Maquam shore and the Lake Road neighborhood right down to the mid-20th century. But they had to settle for renting from land owners and living off remote marginal lands until after World War II when Leonard “Blackie” Lampman purchased some Lake Road properties which the family still owns today.
The John Morits mortgage details the extremely hard work required of all the Indian families who wanted to live freely on their ancestral lands. In those days, cutting and moving 30 cords of hard wood per year was a major job requiring at least sixty days of work if a horse was available.
Footnote 150. SLR, 1837 in Appendix 4A. This is the first indication of Morits family ownership of land in Swanton in the 19th century. Unlike the Highgate lands which were purchased and taken back from non-Indians in the early 1800’s, this land appears to have come down from the old Missisquoi village period intact. It was not indexed in the usual way and no record or any original purchase by a Morits family member from one of Allen’s agents or legal descendants before 1836 has been located.
Page 41: Close ties between several Swanton neighborhoods and the known family histories of other Abenaki neighborhoods and families has also appeared in these [Page 42.] records. A substantial and early Wells (Duel/Dewell/Newell) family presence in West Swanton and Back Bay has appeared from 1810 to 1840 in the school and census records. 169 In the same period, the same families were recorded at alternate times from Milton, Grand Isle and Franklin to Highgate and St. Albans Bay. 170 In the 1840 Highgate citation, Polly Newell and family were living in a small three family cluster with the Henry Morits and James Francis (St. Francis) families. 171 The same year, Charles Wells and family were living in a similar three family cluster at St. Albans Bay with the John Curtis (Cootwa) and John Baptiste (Sabadis/St. John) Ancestral families. 172 These citations alone link the three St. Albans Bay/Islands, Franklin/Highgate woods and Swanton/West Swanton branches of the Abenaki community together four generations earlier than the similar data present in the Petition family charts. 173 Evidence is also growing that the Noe (Nault/Denault) family in Swanton were also Wells family members. 174 The Richards (Rich), Guyette (Goyet), Gonyo (Gonio/Shawraw), Bluto (Blowdure) and other families tied to St. Albans Bay as well as the Greenia (Greenie), Beor (Bear), Barrett, Lafrance (Defran), Olds and St. Lawrence families linked to the Highgate/Franklin Abenaki families all appear in neighborhoods from West…
Footnote 169. See 1822, 1823, 1827, 1833, 1838 & 1840 Hog Island/West Swanton & Back Bay/ Dist 9 Swanton Scholars list in Appendix 3; 1800 & 1840 Swanton censuses in Appendix 1B.
Footnote 170. See 1800 Milton, 1810 Highgate, 1830 St. Albans & 1840 Grand Isle, Highgate & St. Albans censuses in Appendix 1B.
Footnote 171. See 1840 Highgate census in Appendix 1B.
Footnote 172. See 1840 St. Albans census in Appendix 1B.
Footnote 173. RP: 222, 224, 225, 227 & Lampman, Wells & St. Francis Central family genealogies in RP; & Family chart #’s 2, 4, 5-6, 8, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20 & 22 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 174. RP: 226 & Gardner & Brow Central family genealogies in RP; & Family chart #’s 3, 7, 11, 15 & 22 in Appendix 11.
Page 43: …Swanton to the remote Fairfield Pond areas of Swanton in the 1820 to 1850 period. 175 The data makes very clear that the Abenaki community was in as much, if not more, motion throughout the Missisquoi area in the first half of the 19th century as they were in the better documented late 19th to mid-20th century period.
Furthermore, numerous citations of Abenaki family names identified with the 18th century Missisquoi Abenaki community show up in the scholars lists as well.
Glode (Glodish/Glade/Peckenowax)
Stephen (Old Etienne)
Mitchell (Michel/Micha/Moquin/Muckyaw)
Anus/Hanks (Hanis/Anus/Annis)
Morits (Morressey/Morrits/Towgisheat)
Denis (St. Denis)
Campbell (Crapo/Cabino/Cabba/Caanaa/Kapen)
Francis (St. Francis/Frenier/Frenyer/Frankah)
Medor (Rye/Ryia/McKee)
Martin (Watso)
St. Peter (Peter/Sopiel)
…families from Fairfield Pond, Swanton Junction, John’s Bridge, Swanton Center, West Swanton, Lake Road and Back Bay in the 1822 to 1859 period. 176 Many of the names including Francis/St. Francis, Mitchell and Medor/Kazia were in various stages of change from their 18th century to their 19th century forms in these records. 177 The cumulative weight of this data, combined with abundant information from the census and local records, shows overlapping portions of the large Missisquoi Abenaki community in transition from their historic 18th century form to their 19th and 20th century character in considerable detail.
Footnote 175. See 1824, 1827, 1833, 1834, 1840, 1842, 1844 & 1847 Swanton Scholars lists in Appendix 3.
Footnote 176. See, 1822, 1824, 1827, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, 1838 & 1840 Swanton Scholars lists in Appendix 3.
Footnote 177. See St. Francis, Medor & Mitchell/Micha family cards in AA.
Page 45: In the same fashion, Mary Martin first married William Morits and appears in [Page 46.] the Lampman and Gardner Central family genealogies, then William Barrat, son of Samual and Sarah Morits Barrat, progenitors of the major Barrat Central family line in Franklin, Highgate and Swanton in the 19th century. 184 Town records of William Morits and William Barrat also revealed that the one was a basketmaker and the other an herb gatherer.
Footnote 184. See Family chart #’s 5-6 & 18 in Appendix 11; Gardner & Lampman Central family genealogies in RP; & Will Morits cards in Morits cards, Mary Martin card in Martin cards and William Barrat card in Barrat cards in AA.
Page 50: In 1838, Marchess Mitchell (Micha) and Margt Baraby (Panady/Benedict) baptize their daughter Narcissa for whom Peter Baraby (Benedict) and Begin Giot (Briget Guyette) are the godparents. 195 They are the same couple well documented using various Canadian missions for the baptism of their children between 1826 and 1833. 196 The first and only time they appear in a census record was the 1840 St. Albans Bay neighborhood next to two Bluto families. 197 However, their obvious links to other Benedict (Baraby/Parady) families as well as the Mitchell, Belisle (Basil), Guyette, Savage, Francis (St. Francis) and Wells families from Swanton, St. Albans and the Islands confirms that they were leaders in the Abenaki community from 1830 to 1860. 198 Since the…
Footnote 193. See 1836, 1838, 1/3 & 1/17/1839, 4/30, 8/2. 10/3 & 10/9/1841, 1842, 4/23 & 5/16/1844, 10/26/1845 & 5/9/1847 in O’Callaghan’s register in Appendix 5A; & 1849, 330/1850, & 7/4/1857 in St. Albans register in Appendix 5B. See also Family History & Leadership chart in Appendix 2 & Family charts #’s 2, 3, 4, 5-6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 & 22 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 194. Moody 1979: 73-4 fn 51. Compare Appendices 5A & 5B to Family Name Lists in Appendices 7A-D; Family Histories in Section V; & Family Charts in Appendix 11.
Footnote 195. See 1838 O’Callaghan’s Register in Appendix 5A & Family chart #’s 16 & 19 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 196. Moody 1979: 52, 58; RP: 65-6.
Footnote 197. See 1840 St. Albans census in Appendix 1B & Family chart # 16 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 198. Moody 1979: 52-55; RP: 65-6. See also Willliam Baraby (Benedict) Swanton baptism in 1841 with parents Peter Baraby and Marie Belisle (Bazil) and godparents Peter Baraby and Josette; Matilda Bennett (Benedict) 1841 baptism in St. Albans with John Bennett and Cath. Saveriagss (Savagess/Savage) parents and Francis Plasais (Francis) and Angel Pero (Perault); & Harriet Wells 1844 baptism with parents John Wells and Jane Gibouis (Young Gibo) and godparents Peter and Eliza Paridy (Benedict), all in O’Callaghan’s register in Appendix 5A.
Page 51: …earliest citations, this family was identified with Lake Champlain and was the same Benedict (Panadis) family found at Odanak which always had a particularly close association with Missisquoi and returned for summers at Shipyard Bay in Highgate Springs until the early 1900’s. 199 The family also appears in North Hero, Swanton and Alburg with one of the last Benedict men recalled living on the Missisquoi in 20th century Swanton and the last Benedict (Bartemy) family at St. Albans Bay in the 1930’s. 200
Footnote 199. Moody 1979: 73-4 fn 50; Day 1981: 77.
Footnote 200. RP: 72-2, 95; 2258, 9/11/81:1; Ed Bartemy card in Benedict cards in AA; & Family chart #’s 8,16 & 19 in Appendix 11.
Page 56: A Barret and Francis (St. Francis) family living in St. Albans also are cited in the records, linking two of the largest Central families sixty years before their 20th century Swanton associations. 232 In the baptism of their child Charles Basset (Bessett) of the Bessett Small family was the godfather. 233 In the 1855 baptism, Theophile Phaneuf was the godfather for the Barratt/Francis family. The Phaneuf (Phaan/Farnsworth) family derived from an 18th century English captive-turned-Abenaki with ties to Odanak. 234 Theophile Phaneuf appears often in both….
Footnote 232. See 1855 in St. Marie’s register in Appendix 5B; & Family chart #’s 2, 4, 5-6 & 18 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 233. See 1831 in O’Callaghan’s register in Appendix 5A; & Family chart # 10 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 234. Day 1981: 92.
Page 57: …O’Callaghan’s and St. Marie’s registers. He was married to an Abenaki woman listed simply and Morquis (Marguet) and later as Mary Marrais (Morits/Desmarrais/Demar) with whom he had several children. 235
Footnote 235. See 1847 in St. Marie’s register in Appendix 5B.
Page 59: Another important citation from St. Albans in 1847 lists a major community leader with ties to Swanton, Odanak and 18th century Missisquoi. Sophie Morrisan (Morits/Maurice) is listed in May, 1847 as the sole godparent of a boy named Louis whose parents are cited as Francis Joseph and Frances Theophile. 249 This is quite likely the same Sophie Morisseau (Molisse/Maurice) who had married Theophile Panadis (Benedict) nine months earlier at Odanak in September of 1846. 250 This Missisquoi Abenaki woman was well known at Odanak as a traditional and central figure in the Panadis family which returned for many years to Highgate Springs with the Odanak band of the Claude (Glode/Paganne/Pagonowit) family. 250
Footnote 246: See Glode/Ladue Ancestral family history in Section V.
Footnote 246s. See Glode/Ladue Ancestral family & Ladoux family histories in Section V.
Footnote 247. See 1846 in St. Marie’s registers in Appendix 5B
Footnote 248. See Family chart #’s 2, 3, 4, 5-6, 8, 14, 18, 19, 20 &22 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 249. See 1847 O’Callaghan’s register in Appendix 5A.
Footnote 250. Moody 1979: 73 fn 50, 74, 74: Day 1981, 79, 86, 91.
Page 61: Many families, most notably the Morits, Crapo and Francis/St. Francis families, who are identified with the 18th century Missisquoi village and Abenaki Indian origins, are also clearly present in the greater Swanton area and directly linked to the other, familiar contemporary Abenaki families. 255 Finally, the clear indication that many of the same family names and individual leaders like John Freemore, Lewis Colomb and their Lawrence/ St. Lawrence wives, Joseph Francis, Sophie Morrisan (Morits), Theophile and Marie Marrais (Morits/Demar) Phaneuf, Mitchell St. Francis, Peter and Margaret St. Peter Medor, Peter and Fretaia (Charlifoux) Vrepot, and Leon and Esther Cameron Patnode were joined by many other, less documented but clearly present families like Peter and Margaret Francis (St. Francis) Barrat, Marchess and Margaret Benedict Mitchell, Paul and Ozet St. Mary Campbell (Crapo), Joseph and Rachel Verge (Glode) Bluto, Joseph Guyette, John and Julia Desmarrais (Demar/Morits) Morice, Gabriel and Matilda Corrier (Medor) Lapan, Joseph and Phelmise Mitchell Berger, Julien and Mary Freemore Verhage (Glode), Telephore and Adelaide Barbo (Patnode) Courtouis (Curtis), Baptiste and Elizabeth Lafrance Lawrence (St. Lawrence), and Narcise and Leocadie St. Francis Gilodu (Glode/Verge), is conclusive proof of the extensive, inter-family ties that bound the 19th century Abenaki community together. 256 These citations touch on all the major 19th century Abenaki neighborhoods in the northwestern Vermont region.
Footnote 255. See Family chart #’s 4, 5-6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 17 & 22 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 256. See Family History and Leadership chart in Appendix 2; & Family chart #’s 2-22 in Appendix 11.
Page 67: The Lampman and Morits family movements between Swanton and Highgate, and in between the Middle Road, Lake Road, West Swanton (Hog Island), Back Bay and John’s Bridge (St. Albans Road) neighborhoods in Swanton from 1822 to 1881. 282 These movements were similar to those documented for John Lampman and Martha Morits, Leonard Lampman’s grandparents in the 1884 to 1930 period. 283 John Lampman was born in the John’s Bridge/St. Albans…
Footnote 282. 11, 1822,; Swanton Scholar’s List (SSL), 1829, Lake Road (Dist 10); SSL, 1830, Middle Road (dist 1) (near Peter Carley (Medor) in Appendix 3; 1830 Swanton census in Appendix 1B; SSL, 1831 Back Bay. Bow of the River (Dist 9) (near several other Indian families); SSL, 1834, Lake Road (Dist 10); SSL, 1841, Hiram Lampman, Lake Road (Dist 10); SSL, 1849, 1850, 1851 & 1857, Warden Lampman (his son), Back Bay/Bow of the River (Dist 9) in Appendix 3; Household # 271 in 1850 Highgate census in Appendix 1B; SSL, 1850, H. Lampman, Hog Island/West Swanton (Dist 15) in Appendix 3; Household # 534 in 1860 Swanton census (probably in John’s Bridge/ St. Albans Road (Dist 8) ara. [See Julia Ann Morits cards in Morits cards in AA].
Footnote 283. Moody 1979: 61-2, 74; RP 84-6, 224-5: 78, 10/2/81 & 2/16/84. Moody [1979: 74] refers to the tradition that the Morits/Maurice family originated in Bedford, Quebec in the mid-19th century. In fact, records and oral tradition underscore that the Pike River campsite was part of the network of sites visited annually or at need without heed to the border from the 18th century to the 1940’s. There is abundant historical documentation that the old village region called “Missisquoi” included Pike River and “them Indian lands” on Missisquoi Bay north of the Canadian/American border. [Lampee 1938]. The Pike River area was particularly noteworthy as a pike fishing grounds from which it derives its name. The Lampman’s/Mortis’ and other families used to go there in the spring and late summer to camp and fish by local account. [Moody, Field Notes, 1977-85].
Page 68: …Road neighborhood in 1855. 284 Henry was John Lampman’s uncle, and Julia Ann Morits was Martha’s aunt. 285 Citations in his family also focus in the John’s Bridge, Lake Road, Bushey Street and Back Bay neighborhoods from 1885 to 1940. 286 Henry and Julia daughter Mary Lampman married a Martin and appears in the genealogy of the Martin Central family. 287 The Martin (Mountain/Montagne/Hill/Watso) Central family had a similar settlement and campsite range of motion in the 19th century. 288 And a similar pattern has emerged in Lampman and Morits family records and traditions which date to the 1760 to 1820 period as well. 289 Even John, Herman and Leonard Lampman’s late 19th and 20th century muskrat and beaver trapping subsistence grounds in the Missisquoi marsh off Lake Road, West Swanton and Highgate Springs was mentioned by Perry (1882) as an enduring resource that also survived the late 18th century onslaught of non-Indian population. 290 Much of the Abenak survival in outlying neighborhoods hinged on those small game and resilient fish populations that continued to thrive into the 19th and 20th centuries including muskrat, squirrel, rabbit, pike, bullhead, perch and catfish. This local, natural abundance accounts in part for the ability of the Morits, Lampman, Martin and several other Indian families’ unnoticed survival in the Missisquoi area.
Footnote 284. See John Lampman card in Lampman cards in AA.
Footnote 285. See Henry Lampman card in Lampman cards & Julia Ann Morits cards in Morits cards in AA; & Family chart #’s 5-6, 14 & 18 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 286. See Lampman family cards in AA.
Footnote 287. See Mary Lampman card in Lampman cards in AA & Ed Martin card in Martin cards in AA; & Family chart #’s 5-6, & 14 in Appendix 11.
Footnote 288. See Martin Central family history in Seciton 5; Family cards in AA; Day 1981: 99.
Footnote 289. Perry & Barney 1882: 995; Aldrich 1891: 396; Swanton Land Records, 1837 in Appendix 4A; 78, 10/2/81:7 & 9/16/83:11-2; Moody, Field Notes, 1977-85.
Footnote 290. Perry & Barney 1882: 965; Perry mss: 198; RP:48-9.
Page 69: “In the following account of the Morits family both this early period and the late 19th century family migration are noted in the context of the Missisquoi Abenaki community. 291
“Well, you see when my grandmother and grandfather came across there was an old Indian Chief and his name was Chief Swatson and you see, he was the one that see to … the tribal people that was there, you know. Like their fish and everything, you see, he took care of it. And in Swanton then. … Back when it was Indian land. And Grandma said that when they come there, there wasn’t much there of it, only where they landed … where the Monument is here now in Swanton. … Grandma said that is where they landed, right there, and they came on shore. But Grandma said that the old Indian Chief Swatson and she said they named that town after old Chief Swatson because Chief Swatson died there. … It was the old chief himself, it wasn’t Swanton.”
The account goes on to describe a “whole tribe” of “quite a few families” totaling “more than 100 people” who lived at the old Missisquoi village back at the time of first settlement. 292 Families identified by name in the tradition….continued on page 70
Footnote 291. 2262, 10/6/83:3. This tradition hinges on the naming of Swanton, which conventional history ascribes to a Captain William Swanton. [Swift 1977:254]. The original account then stems from the period 1763 to 1790 when the town was essentially named Swanton by the New Hampshire grantees. Since the town was essentially New York territory, and therefore named and known as Prattsburg through the first half of the Revolution, the account probably refers to the 1784 to 1790 period when the Allen family first tendered a serious claim to and settlement of Swanton under that name. Note that this was the time of Daniel Portneuf, and the incidents with Captain Ondalamaguoin’s family in 1788. The tradition adds to the data confirming that a whole community of Abenakis lived in the area.
The oral tradition also fits well with the existing written histories of Swanton which confirm that a group numbering at least 70 was still at the Monument village in 1794. [Perry mss: 241-2; RP: 49-50]. Furthermore, the name ‘Swatson’ is close to the common Abenaki given name of the time, ‘Swasson’, which in turn was an Abenaki name of the French baptismal name Joachim. [Day 1981: 84, 95]. This Joachim or Swatson, was probably a Morits/ Tanagite family member, as each family tends to recall their more celebrated ancestor and, in most cases, derives their contemporary name from this source. [Day 1978: 156; Day 1981: 73]. That has also proven to be true of both the St. Francis and Medor Abenaki family names at Missisquoi by oral tradition within those families.
MORE to come.....
