The Reinvention of the Alleged Vermont and New Hampshire Abenakis

January 16, 2009

11:26 AM

ABENAKI PERSPECTIVES ON LOVE & FORGIVENESS IN VT. @ BROWNELL LIBRARY

Frederick Wiseman, tribal historian, professor at Johnson State College, and author of The Voice of the Dawn, an Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation, leads the discussion of Abenaki Perspectives on Love and Forgiveness in Vermont on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the Kolvoord Room at Brownell Library in Essex Junction. Free and open to the public.

Prof. Wiseman focuses on the Abenakis and Vermont: Conflict and Forgiveness over Indian Identity. Traditional Abenaki concepts of love, conflict, justice and forgiveness are quite different than those developed in Western thought over the last millennia. For example, the distinctions between self, romantic, filial and social love are not compartmentalized, but blur and can extend to entities such as plants or landscapes not usually thought of as sentient. This fundamental principal affects Native conflict and resolution through justice and forgiveness. Professor Wiseman will examine the 1995-2006 Abenaki conflict with the State of Vermont over Indian identity, illustrating how when justice fails, something approaching ethnic forgiveness can be used to establish mutual respect between the dominant Anglo-Vermont culture and its indigenous population. Abstracts from Prof. Wiseman’s 2006 film “Against the Darkness” will be used to illustrate the lecture.

This program is part of the ongoing “Let’s Talk About It: Love and Forgiveness” series made possible by a grant from the American Library Association and the Fetzer Institute.

Contact: Penny Pillsbury, Library Director or Martha A. Penzer, Project Director

Tel: 878-6955 or Email: brownell_library@yahoo.com

Brownell Library

6 Lincoln Street

Essex Junction, VT 05452

Anne Liske

Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator

The Anti-Violence Partnership at the University of Vermont

443 Waterman Bldg, 85 S. Prospect

Burlington, VT 05405

January 21, 2009

7:00 p.m.

Abenaki Perspectives on Love and Forgiveness in Vermont, a presentation by Frederick Matthew Wiseman, tribal historian and Professor of Humanities at Johnson State College. This event is taking place at Brownell Library, 6 Lincoln Street, in Essex Jct., Vermont.

February 1, 2009 - October 31, 2009 Ongoing

Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Burlington, Vermont

The ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center presents 1609: The Other Side of History. This video, produced by Fred Wiseman, looks at the discovery of Lake Champlain by the French from a native perspective. ECHO will feature the video as part of its offerings for guests throughout the year. Frederick Wiseman, PhD, was principle research scientist at MIT's Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology and author of scholarly publications on Mayan and Paleo-Indian paleo-ethno-biology. Now devoted to Abenaki culture and history, he teaches at Johnson State College and is an Abenaki Tribal Council member and director of the Abenaki Tribal Museum and Cultural Center in Vermont.

February 1, 2009 - October 31, 2009 Ongoing

Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Burlington, Vermont

February 15, 2009

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper, Pages 1D-2D

By Sally Pollak, Free Press Staff Writer

Indigenous Expressions: New ECHO exhibit explores how indigenous people interacted with the landscape

A new exhibit at ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center is an exploration of native people’s history, culture and connection to the land and water.

A great majority of the objects and artifacts in “Indigenous Expressions” come from the collection of Frederick M. Wiseman, a humanities professor at Johnson State College.

Frederick M. Wiseman, 61 years of age, gave scores of pieces to ECHO as a permanent gift. Some objects are from his personal collection; others originated in a program at Johnson in which students make artifacts for donation to museums.

“I’m getting to that stage in my life that I’ve collected a lot of these for my own research and now it’s time to let things go a little bit,” Frederick M. Wiseman said. “And let them help other people learn about the Abenakis.”

Frederick Matthew Wiseman has learned about the rich native history of the region through years of collecting objects; he hopes the history will be shared and better understood through the ECHO exhibit.

His travels around Vermont and the region, driving trips with his wife to look for native artifacts, have taught Frederick M. Wiseman about the prevalence and significance of the local native culture.

“So many people say that there are no native people in Vermont and this region,” Frederick M. Wiseman said. “If that is so, why are there so many Native American artifacts that come out of people’s houses and antique shops?

Birch-bark sap bucket, from about 1880; wood sap spile, from about 1880; French/Abenaki sugar mold, reproduction, 2005/2006; Sugar cone wrapped in birch-bark, 2002.

Donated by Frederick Matthew Wiseman

Courtesy of ECHO

February 22, 2009

White Pine Association hosts Snow Snake Competitions

North Haverhill, NH- The White Pine Association, a non-profit organization will host the second annual snow snake competitions Sunday February 22 at 1 PM in the field next to the Haverhill Town Building, Main Street. The gym in the town building will be used for warm up and social gathering. The White Pine Association will host a raffle; the Koasek of the Koas Abenaki Elders Council will offer hot beverages and soups as well as a food sale. The events are free and open to the public.

Fred Wiseman’s films: Against the Darkness and 1609: The Other Side of History will be shown in the gym. Other entertainment TBA.

March 16, 2009

7:06 AM

From: Nancy Millette

To: Floyd Family

Subject: Did i send you this?

DNA and Book Signing coming up in North Haverhill

On Friday March 20, 2009 and Saturday March 21, 2009 National Geographic DNA testing will be taking place at the North Haverhill Town Office Building. On Saturday Trudy Ann Parker author of Aunt Sarah and Fred Wiseman author of several books about the Abenaki will have a book signing for those interested. Fred Wiseman will also show his film “Against the Darkness” at 3:00 p.m. and give a talk. All is free and open to the public.

The White Pine Association is please to work with Dr. Schurr and National Genographic to bring the DNA testing to the Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, NH area. There has been some confusion to how effective the tests will be for families who Native heritage goes from Female to Male. Recently, the White Pine spoke with Dr. Schurr and he responded;

“In general, the DNA analysis that we perform reveal participants' maternal genetic ancestry (mtDNA), and, for males, also their paternal ancestry (Y-chromosome). It indicates the maternal or paternal lineage that a person has inherited from female and male ancestors extending back many generations”

Hours for the DNA testing are Friday March 20 from 11 AM to 7 Pm and Saturday March 21 from 10 Am to 5 PM. The programs are open and free to the public. For more information please call 802-392-8006

Director of White Pine Association.

March 26, 2009

[Also published on March 31, 2009]

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper

Indigenous Expressions

Speaker Series: Indigenous Identity in the 21st Century Green Mountain State

4:00 p.m to 6:00 p.m.

ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, 1 College Street in Burlington, VT

Join Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman, Abenaki Historian, as he addresses key questions:

Unlike any other minority, Native Americans cannot self-identify, but must have their identity bestowed upon them by the government.

So who is a Vermont Indian?

Why can’t Indigenous Abenaki Indians sell their arts and crafts as made-by American Indians?

What does one have to do to maintain a Native American identity in the 21st century?

ECHO will be open for free public viewing of the exhibit Indigenous Expressions: Native Peoples of the Lake Champlain Basin from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., speaker 4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., questions and light refreshments 5:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

March 31, 2009

4:00 PM

ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center presents Indigenous Identity in the 21st Century Green Mountain State. Join Dr. Fred Wiseman, Abenaki Historian, as he addresses key questions: Unlike any other minority, Native Americans cannot self-identify, but must have their identity bestowed upon them by the government. So who is a Vermont Indian? Why can’t Indigenous Abenaki Indians sell their arts and crafts as “made by American Indians?” What does one have to do to maintain a Native American identity in the 21st century?

On this 400th anniversary of the European Discovery of Lake Champlain, there is still little agreement among politicians, scholars, and Indians themselves about who the Vermont Abenakis really are. Professor Wiseman looks at the underlying issues involved with Vermont’s understanding of its indigenous peoples. Illustrating his talk with clips from his 2006 movie “Against the Darkness,” he explores the identity politics that still bedevil relations and between the larger Abenaki community and their Vermont neighbors, and offers some tentative solutions to this thorny problem in Northeastern race relations. ECHO's Quadricentennial experience features archaeological and interactive exhibits, events, speakers, and a contemporary indigenous peoples’ Portrait Gallery, all celebrating the vibrant past and future of our Native neighbors. ECHO will be open for free public viewing of their exhibit INDIGENOUS EXPRESSIONS: Native Peoples of the Lake Champlain Basin: 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.; Speaker: 4:30 – 5:15 p.m. Questions and Light refreshments: 5:15 – 6:00 p.m. Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Burlington, Vermont.

April 23, 2009

St. Albans, Vermont

Rachel May White Bear will tells tale in Abenaki and English on Saturday.

There will be Fiber Arts demonstration and paper makak-basket making and decoration for children.

The Festival will screen Historian Frederick M. Wiseman's film ‘1609: the Other Side of History’ on Friday at 1:00 p.m

April 24, 2009

12:13 p.m.

From: Donald Warren Stevens Jr.

To: Luke Willard

Cc: Nancy Millette; Chief April St. Francis - Merrill; Frederick M. Wiseman; Elnu Abenaki

Subject: Re: Vermont Native Community

Luke [Willard],

I understand you position also. I am trying to change things as best I can. However, nothing will change if we do not at least try to move forward together. It is really going to be important to work together now more than ever!

I found out yesterday that Odanak just got their Federal Recognition in Canada changed to allow Cards and full voting rights to citizens outside of the reservation and full protection as tribal members. They also won some land lawsuit they were looking for in Canada. Richard Skip Bernier informed Jeanne (nee: Deforge) Brink at the meeting that she and his grandson Timothy DelaBruere can get their Odanak Status card and to fill out the application. They also said that they are providing Odanak Status cards to 350 people in Vermont. They are going to work closely with their members in Vermont to secure their rights. This will be in your neck of the woods. I will be asking them to come to a meeting sometime in the future to find out what their intentions are so I can see how it impacts Vermont.

I hope that you understand that they are now going to flex their muscle and use the Federal rights in Canada to transfer to the United States. I hope you understand that they are now going to be a tribal force in Vermont and who do you think they are going to go after?? I would bet the Abenaki Alliance of Vermont.

Who do you think will be talking to the Governor to work with the commission on who should be recognized or not? If their Federal Recognition transfers or is recognized by the United States, then Vermont has no choice but to recognize them like we would the Mahicans. As was written in S.117, the Commission has to work with All Native American Tribes and groups located in Vermont.

Guess who's coming to dinner with Genealogy in hand?

Food for thought...

Be Well,

Don Stevens

April 24, 2009

5:02 PM

From: Fred Wiseman

To: Donald Warren Stevens Jr.; Luke Willard

Cc: Nancy Millette; Chief April Merrill; Elnu Abenaki

Subject: RE: Vermont Native Community

Don't worry guys--

There is no mechanism in the BIA or any other Federal Agency (except for Indigenous refugees from third world countries under the State Department-- a few Mosquito indians came here under that a few years ago, and for the Smithsonian which has unique and crazy rules) for any special treatment of Indians or any indigenous peoples for that matter recognized or not in their country of origin.

The Iroquois have used the Jay treaty of border crossings in the past, but that was curtailed years ago and is being entirely cut off as we speak.

So we don't have anything to worry about except arrogance - and that is nothing new. There is no "transferral."

Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD. Of Johnson State College, VT

April 25, 2009

7:55 AM

From: Nancy Millette

To: Frederick M. Wiseman; Donald Warren Stenves Jr. donald_stevens; Luke Willard

Cc: Chief April Merrill; Elnu Abenaki

Subject: Re: Vermont Native Community

I was thinking...if the "Vermont Native American Commission" [VCNAA] is going to give so much attention and concern to Canadian Indians living in the USA and VT perhaps they should also have a special seat for the Mexicans, Aztecs and Incas living in VT?? They too, are from another country, and are indigenous to their country, and living here. Perhaps we could have a fire dance celebration on the state house lawn in honor of them?? Then we could celebrate the Canadian Indigenous fur trappers who helped develop trade in Canada? Certainly the Indigenous Tribes in the Alliance who are indigenous to Vermont have no support, to honor our history and contributions to this state....I find it quite insulting that the NA Commission is ready to bow down and support Canadian Indians here however, here in Newbury, VT and Haverhill, NH they turn their noses up on the family members who live 50 feet away from each other on opposing river banks!

I am sure the BIA would think this is as ridiculous and nothing more than a scare tactic as I do....

n [Nancy Millette – Lyons]

April 25, 2009

8:06 AM

From: Nancy Millette

To: [Milo Paquin] Wolfheart Spirit dancstar@maine.rr.com; Andy Fullerton amfonline@hotmail.com; [Eric Scott Floyd] Floyd Family dfloyd@nycap.rr.com; jhp6@verizon.net; Mike Fenn mfenn33@yahoo.com; RAVEN KCHIMKASAS@gmail.com; Roger Longtoe gitceedadann@yahoo.com; Shirl Hook shirly480@gmail.com

Subject: council notice

I still another another week or so to get settled and Shirl is in NM for another couple of weeks but we will need to plan a council meeting sometime mid to end of May.

I have been contacted by the DNA lab that did the testing...seems many people have been calling and writing National Geographic and the lab about their results. I have been asked to spread the word for people to be patient and please do not call the lab. The scientists are in Alaska right now and will not have all the testing results for a few weeks yet. they will contact individuals as soon as they do. If you know people who were tested please spread the word that it they will contact individuals and people should just wait. Thank you

We can coordinate a date soon. I do not have everyone's emails here. Seems moving has knocked out some of my addresses so if you could please forward this to other elders council and tribal council members that would be appreciated.

Thank you

Chief Nancy

April 26, 2009

8:05 AM

From: Nancy Millette

To: Donald Stevens

Subject: suggestion

Don [Donald Warren Stevens Jr.]

As your friend I am addressing you not as a chief....

I think you are addressing the Abenaki Alliance all wrong. You are asking us to support you and the commission and pleading with us to all get along. The alliance is very strong and very united. As a person who is an 'outsider" and I say that ‘as not being a chief with a seat on the alliance’ you should maybe think about Indian protocal. Ask the Alliance for an opportunity for you to come and address the Alliance and ASK us for your help. I will tell you right now (as you brought up the Mohawks, I will use that as an example) If a citizen or even a USA political leader wanted to talk to or have support from the Chiefs of Iroquois Confederacy they would ask in a traditional way to have a meeting. I know for a fact that if a meeting was asked for at Onondaga with the Conferedacy a runner and wampum string would be sent to Akwesasne (the eastern door) and a messager from there would be sent to the Onondage longhouse.

We too have protocal. You might do well to ask Frederick Matthew Wiseman on some guidedance of protocol addressing the Abenaki Alliance.....

Just a suggestion...Nancy

April 28, 2009

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper

By Joel Banner Baird – Free Press Staff Writer

Champlain’s Journal: Explorer notes native agriculture

What the Abenaki saw in Samuel de Champlain

Abenaki historian and film producer Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman will show clips of his film, “1609: The Other Side of History” this afternoon as part of a talk about the discovery of Lake Champlain by the French (the native Abenaki, of course had known about the lake already).

The presentation is a part of the “Indigenous Expressions” exhibit at the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington, Vermont.

4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the ECHO Center.

May 01-02, 2009

The Vermont Quadricentennial Celebration is hosting a conference on Indigenous people May 1-2, 2009 at St. Michaels College in Vermont. There is interest in having a presentation on intermarriage of Indigenous people in New France pre 1650.
Other speakers at this conference are slated to be: Kit Anderson (UVM), Julie Silverman (Echo), Sara Lyman, Eloise Biel (LCMM), Frederick Matthew Wiseman, Ted Timerick (film producer), some anthropologist from UVM, Dave Skinas (who will talk about the Alburgh site), Giovanna Peebles, John Crock and Marge Bruchac, Philippe Charland (Abanaki name places), Roger Longtoe, John and Donna Moody, perhaps David Stewart Smith.

May 03, 2009

The Boston Globe Newspaper

By Diane E. Foulds, Globe Correspondent

For Abenaki Descendants, an Ancestral Revival: Adding a Native Focus to Champlain Festivities

BURLINGTON, Vt. - His face and scalp are the color of tomatoes. You do a double-take, then wonder whether it might be a severe sunburn. But the crimson is body paint, a mixture of red ochre and bear grease rubbed over the skin the way North American natives must have done.

The Elnu tribe will hold two waterfront encampments, June 12-13, 2009 in Vergennes (outside the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, 4472 Basin Harbor Road, 802-475-2022, www.lcmm.org) and July 9-12 in Burlington (outside the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, 1 College St., 802-864-1848, www.echovermont.org). Activities will include singing, dancing, storytelling, genealogy, gourd art, and traditional crafts. Free. www.elnuabenakitribe.org or vtindigenous.com.

"Red ochre is a power color," says Roger Longtoe Sheehan, a native artisan and performer from the town of Jamaica, Vermont. "It's a life force color. It's a protective color, too," he adds, and probably where European colonists came up with the term "red man."

Roger “Longtoe” Anthony Sheehan, 47, is chief of the Elnu tribe of southern Vermont, an Abenaki band of about 50 largely family members who are learning about their long-vanished language and culture. After researching woodland survival skills, they practice them at wigwam encampments where entire families convene to grind corn, cook meals, sing tribal songs, and create tools and clothing from natural materials. It's an attempt to reconstruct how their ancestors lived.

Among other things, Sheehan and his tribe have taught themselves to waterproof canoes, smoke bears out of trees, and mix ceremonial paints. Learning the language has been more difficult, as native speakers are scarce.

The Elnu have studied and reenacted Abenaki life from the 17th century to the Civil War, though lately they have been concentrating on 1609. On July 14, 2009 of that year the first French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, paddled south into the island-flecked body of water that would become known as Lake Champlain.

For Frederick M. Wiseman, an Abenaki historian who teaches in the humanities department at Johnson State College, the findings were a revelation.

"It's really convinced me that almost everything we think we know [about Abenaki history] is actually only partially correct," he said.

Frederick Matthew Wiseman, 61, himself an Abenaki, has written three books for the Champlain celebration. He also has produced films, borrowed from his own artifact collection to create museum exhibits, and perhaps most important, rallied the state's disparate indigenous groups.

"I am the gadfly that keeps telling everybody that we've got to have a native voice in it," he said, an undertaking that admittedly has turned out to be "a long, involved, and sometimes painful process."

A few tribal members, he explained, are disinclined to celebrate a European "conqueror" whose arrival irrevocably disrupted native life, though most agree with more recent interpretations that depict Champlain as more tolerant and respectful of the tribes than his English counterparts. As Frederick Matthew Wiseman sees it, what's more important is what the quadricentennial offers: a rare opportunity to tell the lake's history from a native perspective. By contrast, during the 1909 celebrations, actors dressed up in Indian costumes and performed "Hiawatha." (No Fred is incorrect, those actors were Kahnawake Mohawk Indians! He should know this had he done proper research.)

This time the pretense is gone. When the Elnu set up camp on the lake, they strive to re-create the kind of indigenous village that Champlain might have happened upon in 1609.

For tribe member Vera Longtoe Sheehan, 41, a graphic artist, that means tanning deer hides, decorating buckskin leggings with porcupine quills, finger-weaving quivers and sandals from strands of Indian hemp and dogbane, and daubing her own and her children's skin with ceremonial paint, not to scare off intruders, but "to bring the creator's attention to ourselves, and for spiritual protection."

Such survival skills began to vanish, as her cousin, Roger Sheehan, explains, "when the first European showed up here and handed us an axe. Because the day we got an axe, we stopped using the stone-axe."

May 05, 2009

Donald Stevens resigns as VCNAA Chairman. “During the first term on the commission, the tribes were in direct conflict with some members of the commission which caused a lot of tension with the Native Community. As a commission, we became ineffective and unable to carry out our charge effectively due to these conflicts. Subsequently, the former chairman and other members resigned or left office due to this inability to move our people forward.” Don Stevens served on the VCNAA for a mere 8 months, from September 2008 until May, 2009 as Member and later as Chairman of the VCNAA.

No, what it was in reality was there were some orchestrating chaos on the VCNAA on the behalf of the 4 groups seeking to CONTROL the VCNAA on their behalf for gaining State Recognition. Don was and is deceptive in the reasoning behind WHY the VCNAA could not carry out their duties. It was because everyone of the 4 groups in VT wanted Jeanne Brink, Judy Dow and Tim DelaBruere off the Commission altogether.

The former chairman and other members resigned because they wanted to dictate and control, on the behalf of the "tribes" that they were in or allied with, and when they couldn't they resigned in protest; much like a child having a rotten spoiled temper-tantrum.

May 5, 2009

6:30 PM

Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman, of Johnson State College will present Champlain and 1609 from the Abenaki Perspective. Plattsburgh, NY Public Library, 19 Oak Street, Plattsburgh, NY. Admission is free. For more information call 518-563-0921 or 518-536-7442.

June 23, 2009

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper

The Vermont Indigenous Celebration: Celebrating 11,000 years of Cultural Endurance

Burlington, VT— Join the Abenaki people of Vermont for a four-day celebration of history, culture and survival. July 9-12, 2009 we will be sharing our history, culture and arts at one of the premiere signature events of the Vermont Quadricentennial Celebration. ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington makes the perfect backdrop for this celebration because many of our ancestors lived and died alongside of Bitawbagw (Abenaki for “The Lake in Between”), known today as Lake Champlain. Indigenous Celebration made possible by a grant from the US Department of Education through the support of US Senator, Patrick Leahy.The Native American Quadricentennial Advisory Panel (NAQUAD) has been working with Vermont Quadricentennial Commission and state officials in planning the Vermont Indigenous Celebration Signature Event since 2004. According to Dr. Frederick Wiseman, Tribal Historian and Quadricentennial Commission member, this event, “…is our way of showcasing the fact that Vermont has and has always had a vibrant Native American community.” The Vermont Indigenous Celebration will feature presentations by citizens of the following Abenaki bands - Missisquoi, Koasek of the Koas, Nulhegan Band of Abenakis, the Elnu Abenaki Tribe of the Koasek and the Koasek Traditional Band.“We hope that the visitors to Vermont’s waterfront will in early July of 2009 will come away with a newfound understanding and respect for the original people of what is now called Vermont,” explains Dr. Wiseman.

June 25, 2009

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper

Winooski Riverwalk Festival and Sojourn Arrival

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Champlain Mill in downtown Winooski, Vermont

Music by the Medicinals 12:30 p.m.

A talk by Frederick Matthew Wiseman of the Abenaki Cultural Center at 3:00 p.m.

Riverwalk tours at 10:00 a.m.

The Winooski Riverwalk Festival is a collaborative effort with the Winooski Community Partnership.

Part of the Winooski River Sojourn. Free Event. 655-4878.

July 03, 2009

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper

The 400th: Today at Burlington Waterfront Festival

The 13-day Burlington Waterfront Festival runs through July 14, 2009.

Congressman Peter Welch helps Abenaki representative Frederick Matthew Wiseman of Swanton, Franklin County, Vermont light his Tiki torch Thursday as they participate in the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration opening ceremonies at City Hall Park in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont.

July 05, 2009

By Stefan Hard – St. Albans Staff Writer

Heritage lives in the St. Albans area: Abenaki culture, classic architecture and railroad history make it vibrant

Photograph of Frederick M. Wiseman in his Abenaki Museum.

A combination of authentic artifacts and re-creations draws visitors into the world of northwestern Vermont's original inhabitants at the Abenaki Tribal Museum in Swanton.

First inhabitants

For more on the region's American Indian history, get back on Route 7 (Main Street) and drive about eight miles north to Swanton. At the edge of town, you'll cross the broad Missisquoi River near where archaeological evidence has been found pointing to human habitation going back at least 10,000 years. It is quite possible that some of the Abenakis living in Swanton — or Missisquoi, as some of them prefer to call it — are the direct descendants of those hunting deer, gathering wild onions and cooking dinner along the river since shortly after the last Ice Age.

Just as you get into Swanton village, on the left side of Grand Avenue, is the Abenaki Tribal Museum, which contains a combination of actual Abenaki artifacts and re-creations, many from the private collection of Johnson State College professor Fred M. Wiseman.

February 22, 2010

1:13 PM

From: Lydia Mackey ;

To: Douglas Lloyd Buchholz

Subject: Frederick Matthew Wiseman, PhD

Attached: Wiseman_Divorce_1, 2, 3 PDF’s

Good afternoon Douglas,

Attached please find the second marriage record and both divorce records on file in Vermont for Frederick Matthew Wiseman. According to those documents, his birthplace was Maryland and his first marriage took place in Louisiana, which is why we did not have either of those records on file.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Lydia Mackey

Vermont State Archives and Records Administration

March 12, 2010

www.vermontnewsguy.com

By Jon Margolis

Tribal Recognition

The outcome was never in doubt and the vote was unanimous. Still, after it was cast, the committee members gave themselves a quiet round of applause. They thought they’d done something important.

Maybe they had, even though it isn’t clear whether the bill they reported out last week will become law, and even if it does, it’s direct, material, impact will be quite limited.

It’s the indirect, not-so-material impact that might be historic.

The bill was S-222, “An act relating to recognition of Abenaki bands and groups as tribes.”

Considering that a four-year-old statute (S.117, signed into law May 3, 2006) already recognized the Abenaki and other Native Americans living in the state as a “minority population” it’s reasonable to ask why the new bill is necessary at all, much less why it arouses enthusiasm.

But in the view of the Abenaki and their supporters, notably Senator’s Vincent Illuzzi, a Derby

Republican, and Hinda Miller, a Burlington Democrat, there were two flaws in the earlier law. One is very practical: the language didn’t meet the federal requirements to qualify the works of Abenaki artists and craftspeople as “Native American.” The designation can bring higher prices. Besides, being recognized as a minority group isn’t the same as being recognized as a tribe. This year’s bill grants formal recognition as tribes to the state’s four Abenaki bands – the St. Francis Sokoki Band in the Swanton area; the Koasek Traditional Band around Newbury; the Nulhegan Band of the Northeast Kingdom; the ELNU Abenaki Tribe in southern Vermont.

If the law passes, each of these bands will be empowered to “refer to itself as a recognized tribe,” according to the bill.

Actual recognition as a tribe is one of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs requirements for the “Native American” arts and crafts designations. But to the Abenaki, the new bill may be less important for what it would officially do for them than for what it would effectively say to them: You are here. And you are here not just as individual members of “a minority population,” but as distinct communities.

The long-term social and political consequences of that statement are uncertain, and their benefits open to debate. There are, after all, several other “minority populations” in Vermont, none of which get a similar official designation.

On the other hand, the Abenaki were here first, perhaps since as early as 1100. Unlike the other minorities (or the majority, for that matter) some of whom came here because they were systematically mistreated elsewhere, the Abenaki were systematically mistreated right here in Vermont, so mistreated that at one point they were all but obliterated.

Or, in the view of some scholars, actually were obliterated, at least ceasing to exist as tribe within Vermont’s borders. Such was the conclusion of a report issued by the Vermont Attorney General’s office in 2002, when one of the Abenaki bands petitioned for tribal recognition from the federal government.

In a summary of the report it filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Attorney General’s office noted that “around the time of the American Revolution, ((Abenaki) retreated to (their) home base in Quebec. Then, over the next two hundred years, there were very few observations of Indians in Vermont, and these were mostly sightings of visiting Indians.” In the 19th Century, the report said, the ancestors of the petitioners “were indistinguishable from the general population in Vermont,” and that while some “appear in the census records…they are not listed as Indian.”

Assistant Attorney General Michael McShane said these comments were made solely in the context of the specific guidelines for federal recognition, and did not mean that state officials were denying the existence of the Abenaki now or in the past.

“The question is what do you use for the definition of a tribe?” McShane said. “The Federal

Government says it has to have been an autonomous and existing entity from colonial times to the present in an organizational sense. That they failed to prove. But nobody’s saying there aren’t people who live in Vermont who have claimed, probably legitimately, Native American ancestry.”

The distinction seems to make sense in law, especially to officials who worry that federal designation could lead to gambling casinos and land claims as has been true in other states. But some Abenaki were simply insulted.

“They said the Abenakis were genetic, political, and cultural fakes,” said Fred Wiseman, a Johnson State College professor and Abenaki activist. Though not the message state officials intended, it seems to have been the one many Abenaki heard, and their resentment was intensified by turmoil in the state’s Commission on Native American Affairs, which went through three directors in four years.

Whether there has been a continuing Abenaki community in Vermont could be one of those questions that can never be conclusively answered. That 2002 Attorney General’s report was based on standard historical research, which failed to find documentation that such a community existed. So perhaps it didn’t. Or maybe, even before the discredited “eugenics” movement of the 1920’s victimized so many Indians; the Abenaki were hiding signs of their identity, to the point of not telling Census Bureau agents that they were Indians.

It’s happened before. In 15th Century Spain, Jews converted to avoid getting burned at the stake, lived outwardly Christian lives, but secretly observed Jewish rituals at home.

Whatever happened in the past, no one doubts that there are now several thousand Vermonters who have some Abenaki ancestry and those who consider themselves Abenaki.

That could explain why there was no opposition when the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs approved the bill last week.

But there are still complications, based on the continuing worry that something in the bill might provide a pathway for federal recognition of a Vermont tribe. Michael McShane said he asked the committee to remove two sentences that he feared might “open up the whole question of federal recognition.”

The committee did not comply.

“It’s his (Michael McShane’s) job to worry,” said Hinda Miller, the bill’s chief sponsor. “We appreciate him being the watchdog. We did our own research. We don’t think this will be a real problem.”

Hinda Miller and Mark Mitchell of Barnet, an Abenaki and a former head of the Native American

Commission, both said it would be all but impossible for any Abenaki band to meet the criteria for federal recognition, and that, at any rate the state could block Indian gambling casinos or land claims.

Michael McShane was not so sure.

“You get into this whole very complicated issue,” he said. “States may be able to regulate some of it. This defies easy answers.”

Hinda Miller said the bill would probably be on the Senate calendar today (Friday). There is a companion measure in the House (H. 124, sponsored by Rep. Michel Consejo of Sheldon Springs.

Whatever happens, the Abenaki will once again be defined by others. “Indians don’t have the right to self-identify,” Frederick Matthew Wiseman noted. “We have to be recognized by white people.”

March 14, 2010

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper

ABENAKI RECOGNITION: Would recognize four bands of Abenaki as tribes for purposes of federal certification of arts and crafts. Vote 5-0 Senate Economic, Housing and General Affairs.

May 07, 2010

Bernard “Bernie” Mortz voted in as Koasek Council Member, while at the same time still holding onto his ‘title’ of “Koasek” “War Chief.”

May 12, 2010

11:49 AM

From: Bernie Mortz

To: nmillettedoucet [Nancy Millette-Doucet]

Cc: Brian Chenevert; Fred Wiseman

Subject: Re: Dear Brian

“Gee Nancy,

I didn't realize I was being tested. Yes I did relay your comments and suggestions back to Brian [Chenevert]. Your suggestion on using the Nathan Pero's original Tribal name instead of what it is now. Again, mentioned your eagle feathers. For your benefit, I have always remained neutral in this battle between you and Brian [Chenevert]. I take offense that you suggest this as a test. You remember the letter you sent me saying our friendship is over because of something I supposedly said. When it was yourself talking to your trusted Eric Scott Floyd who let out whatever info you were talking about. I let it ride. I do take serious offense to threats of our Chief and Sub chief being shot if they enter "Your Territory" I told you in front of your husband [Mark E. Doucet] that kind of talk is out of line and can only create trouble. If you were my chief I would do the same for you. I relayed that message to Brian [Chenevert] to let him know what you really feel and how bitter you are over everything past.”

Bernie Mortz

May 12-13, 2010

8:57 PM - 9:19 AM

From: Bernie Mortz bdmortz

To: Brian Chenevert brialcay and Paul J. Bunnell bunnellloyalist

Kwai Kwai Brian Chenevert and Paul Bunnell,

No need to apologize to me at all. I am involved. The shooting comment pissed me off. Even her husband [Mark E. Doucet] shook his head. In her reply to me, she says she was “only kidding and I don’t even know how to load a gun.” Guess she thought better afterwards. Her husband [Mark Doucet] even shook his head. It seems to be a common thread with this Alliance. Hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty to Cc a copy of my letter to Nancy Millette-Doucet and to Frederick M. Wiseman PhD so he can see what’s still going on behind his back. She bounced all over the place babbling about Brian Chenevert, Paul Joseph Bunnell and Karen nee: Bordeau - Majka – Mica. I didn’t realize that Haverhill, NH was recognized by the State of Vermont because of its close proximity. What’s up with that? Somebody needs to be called on that. And yes I have a copy of her rolls she sent me way back to show me who left with her and trying to coax me into her bullshit band. I know she still has her eyes on Nathan Elwin Pero she would love to have a valid Native Vermonter on her rolls. Well I guess I know where that relationship with the Nancy Millette-Doucet went. The last thing a War Chief wants to hear, even in jest is a threat of life, to his people and friends.

Bernie Mortz

May 14, 2010

S. 222 Signed into Law by Governor James Douglas.

Luke Willard,

Chief Nancy Millette-Doucet,

Senator Hinda Miller, Donald Warren Stevens, Jr. ,

Charlie Lawrence “Megeso” Delaney, Jr.

Former members of the 7-member VCNAA (Commission) were Judy Dow, Brad Barratt, Jeanne Brink, Timothy de la Bruere.

MAY 15, 2010

Against all odds, new law advances Abenaki recognition: Rookie lawmaker takes heat in effort to gain recognition for Vermont tribes

Charles Delaney-Megeso (right) of Burlington speaks with Gov. Jim Douglas in his ceremonial office at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday. Douglas signed a bill that helps the Abenaki come closer to state recognition. [Vermont Senator Hinda Miller with Luke Andrew Willard, Nancy (nee: Millette) Doucet, and Don Stevens Jr. along with Frederick Matthew Wiseman in the background.]

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signs a bill that offers partial state recognition for Abenaki tribes at his ceremonial office at the Statehouse in Montpelier, Vermont on Friday.

[From left to right: Luke Andrew Willard, Senator Hinda Miller, Nancy (nee: Millette) Doucet, Frederick Matthew Wiseman, and Charles Lawrence Delaney Jr.]

May 15, 2010

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper, Pages 1A-4A

By Terri Hallenbeck – Free Press Staff Writer

Rookie lawmaker takes heat in effort to gain recognition for Vt. tribes

MONTPELIER — It would be easy to argue that Rep. Kesha Ram, the Legislature’s youngest member in her first term in office, had no business weighing in on the centuries-old issue of official recognition for Vermont’s Abenaki that had eluded a long line of her predecessors.

Before it was over, the 23-year-old lawmaker from Burlington, Vermont managed to become the target of a torrent of e-mails and blog postings filled with anger and hate. She was accused of being a racist. There was talk of marching on Montpelier to ruin her career.

She also helped forge an agreement that just might succeed where previous efforts have failed. Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signed the bill into law Friday morning with several Abenaki leaders looking on.

“We have a very bright and positive future ahead,” said Nancy (nee: Millette) Cruger – Lyons - Doucet, chief of the Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas in Newbury, Vermont … even as she and fellow Abenaki acknowledged the bill was not quite what they had hoped for.

“It’s not what we wanted,” said Frederick Matthew Wiseman of Swanton, tribal historian for the Missisquoi band of the Abenaki who helped negotiate the bill, but he added, “We’re satisfied.”

Vermont Senator Hinda Miller, D-Chittenden, who started the renewed effort to solve the recognition conundrum, summed up why the issue is so difficult. “It’s not only legislation and a bill,” she said. “It deals with the hearts and souls of people.”

Last summer, Hinda Miller, a veteran of the 2006 and 2008 efforts, hosted a potluck dinner with representatives of four core Abenaki groups and several legislators to launch a new effort.

May 26, 2010 (or May 03, 2006?)

Vermont Finally Recognizes the Abenaki

Author: Maryann Ullmann

CSQ Issue: 30.3 (Fall 2006) Two Countries, One People

Former Governor Howard Dean and Attorney General William Sorrell opposed state recognition, fearing that it would aid the tribe’s petition for federal recognition, which, in turn could lead to land claims and casinos. The attorney general’s office claimed that the modern-day Abenaki were frauds because there was not adequate historical proof to support their ties to their ancestors.

Missisquoi Abenaki historian Fred Wiseman contends that the attorney general’s conclusion is politically motivated and that Vermont’s effort to disprove the existence of the tribe was attempted ethnocide.

While the Abenaki are demonstrating that their culture is alive and well, the new state law is an overdue step toward restoring justice to the tribe and healing a long-standing tension with the state. “I am proud of it,” says Diane Snelling. “It took way too long happen. It’s about respect for everyone’s culture.”

September 03, 2010

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Governor Jim Douglas has appointed nine new members of the Vermont

Commission on Native American Affairs, the first step in establishing a program for state recognition

of Native American tribes in Vermont.

A new law that set up the recognition process revised the makeup of the panel and increased the number of members on the commission from seven to nine, and also imposed a Vermont residency requirement for the first time.

“These new members of the Native American Commission represent a broad cross-section of Native

American communities and geography, and will bring a fresh perspective to the task at hand,” said

Giovanna Peebles, State Historic Preservation Officer and director of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

The new law, passed this spring by the Legislature, requires that eligible applicants must have lived in Vermont for a minimum of three years and said that appointments should “reflect a diversity of affiliations and geographic locations in Vermont.”

Melody (nee: Walker) Brook - Jeffersonville, VT ELNU

Shirly (nee: Hook) Therrien - Braintree, VT KOASEK

Dawn Macie - Rutland, VT NULHEGAN

Takara Matthews - Richmond, VT KOASEK/ELNU

Charlene McManis - Worcester, VT GRAND RONDE

Nathan E. Pero - West Fairlee, VT KOASEK

David Vanslette - Swanton, VT ST. FRANCIS - SOKOKI

Luke A. Willard - Brownington, VT NULHEGAN

Fred W. Wiseman - Newport, VT. ST. FRANCIS - SOKOKI

The VCNAA will implement the new process for recognizing Native American tribes in Vermont that includes review by the commission, an independent review committee of experts, and approval by the legislature.

“In addition to acknowledging their heritage, state recognition will allow Native Americans in Vermont who make and sell traditional crafts to be labeled as Indian- or Native American-made, an important distinction for those who purchase such items,” Peebles said.

Under the new law, creation of the Commission, “helps recognize the historic and cultural contributions of Native Americans to Vermont, to protect and strengthen their heritage, and to address their needs in state policy, programs, and actions.”

To learn more, please visit the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation website at www.historicvermont.org or the VCNAA website at www.vcnaa.vermont.gov

The Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, had now been supplanted by the 4 groups by the Abenaki Alliance's representatives who re-positioned themselves, in which to CONTROL and DIRECT the Recognition Process, as much as they could. In essence to strategically facilitate self-recognition.

September 04, 2010

The Burlington Free Press Newspaper, Pages 1B-2B

By Terri Hallenbeck

Governor Jim Douglas Appoints new Native American Recognition Commission

A new Native American Commission was appointed Friday amid hopes that it will avoid disputes that paralyzed its predecessors and find a way to allow Abenaki to achieve long-elusive state recognition.

Nine members were appointed by Gov. Jim Douglas after the Legislature passed a new law this year ordering the commission to be reconfigured, and giving the new panel a process to recommend official state recognition for individual Abenaki bands.

“I’m very encouraged,” said Donald Warren Stevens Jr., a Missisquoi Abenaki who served as Chairman of the previous commission and helped push for the new commission. “I think you’ve got a great mix.” Donald Stevens Jr. had warned Gov. Jim Douglas when he signed the law in May that the new process toward granting recognition wouldn’t work unless he appointed good people to the panel. The new commission is particularly notable for the number of young members, said Fred Wiseman Sr., Missisquoi historian who also pushed for the new commission.

Wiseman’s son, Fred W. Wiseman is appointed to the VCNAA.

The new law sets out a process by which the new commission will turn to a panel of three experts to study bands’ applications for official recognition. Based on the experts’ advice, the commission will make recommendations to the Legislature on who should be recognized. The Legislature would make the final decision.
The new law expanded the commission from seven to nine members; required members to be residents of Vermont for at least three years; and set the panel’s makeup to be diverse geographically and by native affiliation. The panel will elect its own chairman.
The result with Friday’s announcement was a mix of members affiliated with the Elnu, Missisquoi, Nulhegan, Koasek bands, along with unaffiliated and one non-Abenaki Native American. It includes the chief of one band and members of all the bands that were part of an alliance that the larger bands have formed as well as members who are not part of the alliance. Donald Stevens Jr. said, “Several bands are working to prepare their applications for recognition in time for next legislative session.” “I know several of them are busting their butts right now,” he said.

Native American Commission

Nine new members of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs were appointed Friday by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas:

Melody (nee: Walker) Brook, Elnu Abenaki, Jeffersonville, Vermont

Shirly (nee: Hood) Therrien, Koasek, Braintree, Vermont

Dawn Macie, Nulhegan Abenaki, Rutland, Vermont

David Vanslette, Missisquoi Abenaki, Swanton, Vermont

Takara Matthews, Abenaki, Richmond, Vermont

Fred W. Wiseman, Abenaki, Newport, Vermont

Charlene McManis, Confederated Tribe of Grand Ronde, Worcester, Vermont

Luke Andrew Willard, chief of the Nulhegan Abenaki, Brownington, Vermont

Nathan Elwin Pero, Koasek, West Fairlee, Vermont

September 06, 2010

8:48 PM

From: Donald Warren Stevens Jr.

To: gjbwdbx1; djayburbo; dburbo; mrtankless; bjparrott; pscs1955;dianalynn "Lyn Finly"; "Mary Kinville" ; "joyce mcentee"; jgmcentee; "leonard burbo"

Subject: Tribal Enrollment Form

To all my relatives,

I will be assuming a leadership role in the Nulhegan Tribe in which our ancestor Antoine Phillips Sr. was Chief back in the 1800's. I would like to get you and your family all enrolled before our recognition application goes to the State of Vermont for consideration. If you are interested in becoming a Tribal member, please fill out these forms, sign them, and get them back to me or the Tribe. I at least need you to acknowledge your intentions.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to drop me an email. Please follow the instructions so that I can get you on our roles. We need to have all of our Tribal roles up to date by October 01, 2010. Please send this to your family and any relative related to Grandma Burbo or Antoine Phillips Sr. You can list children that are born to you or adopted. Please do not list step-children if they have not been legally adopted as minors.

We will need a copy of your birth certificate, mother and father's birth certificate. You need the birth certificates that link to Grandma Burbo or the Phillips bloodline.

I have received the Birth Certificate of Aunt Mary Lemons so I will not need this from Carrie or Bobby. However, I will need yours and your children’s. I also have my mom's so Joyce, I will only need yours, the kids, and grandkids...

My address is:

Don Stevens

156 Bacon Drive

Shelburne, VT 05482

Be Well,

Don Stevens Jr.

September 12, 2010

7:58 AM

From: ETPVT [Ralph Skinner Swett]

To: Donald Warren Stevens Jr.

Subject: Clan of the Hawk Congratulations

To: donald_stevens

My dear don [Donald Waren Stevens, Jr.],

Congratulations on your election as chief of the Nulhegan Band. I hope that we all can work for unity in the future.

My best to you,

Chief Lone Cloud [Ralph Skinner Swett] and all from the Clan of the Hawk

September 12, 2010

12:37 PM

From: Douglas Lloyd Buchholz

To: Kesha Ram Richard Bernier

Cc: Lynn Menard-Mattheson

Subject: Re: Fw: Clan of the Hawk Congradulations

Kesha Ram,

Thought you would just love to review this recent development. How they now move to make themselves try and look legitimately "historical”. Problem is Old Peter Phillips lineage lived mostly around Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont to Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont - Route 15 areas; not Orleans County, Vermont historically speaking before ca. 1985.

Secondly Old Peter Phillips, brother Old “one eye'd” Mike Phillips lived in Hudson Falls, New York mostly. Sure they would visit the Lake Memphremagog area at times perhaps but Kesha Ram, we know from Winifred Yaratz book that they are attempting to claim the Phillips Coos Deed as if they descend from King Phillip of New Hampshire, WITHOUT any evidence that they do genealogically connect to that historical deed.

You can bet your bottom dollar this is about a Land Grab by these "new" Tribes/Incorporations.

Just thought I would let you know about the recent news eh. Hope all is well with you Kesha, etc.

Kindly,

Douglas Lloyd Buchholz

September 12, 2010

From: Kesha Ram kesha.ram

To: [?]

“Did you all know this? This must be some kind of joke...”

September 12, 2010

5:10 PM

From: Kesha Ram kesha.ram

To: Douglas Lloyd Buchholz

Subject: Re: Fw: Clan of the Hawk Congratulations

“This is quite interesting and bewildering news. Thank you for keeping me in the loop, Douglas.”

Rep. Kesha Ram

Clerk, Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs

Vermont House of Representatives, Chittenden 3-4: Burlington

www.kesharam.org

(802) 881-4433

September 12, 2010

6:06 PM

From: Douglas Lloyd Buchholz

To: Kesha Ram kesha.ram

Subject: Re: Fw: Clan of the Hawk Congratulations

Oh Kesha Ram, I am sad to say this, but the data documents and awareness I have is far from what is on this blog so far. It does get deeper for sure. Grab your hipwadders girl because you’re the ONLY ally I got these days to inform the State of Vermont what these groups of alleged and reinvented Abenakis have in store for the state.

Donald Warren Stevens Jr. just was appointed Chief of this Nulhegan group that was (?) led by Luke Willard very recently.

They are going after the "King Phillips Deed of Coos County" over here in NE VT and Northern NH. It’s an old tactic a few groups have tried before....but these contemporary groups are not just smiling nicely for the camera's.....they DO have a malicious agenda. They are attempting to hood wink the State and BS a whole lot of people Kesha Ram. I hope that my blog content will help people understand what is REALLY going on here, BEFORE it is too late to do anything about it. I will keep in communication with you of course.

Kindly,

Douglas Lloyd Buchholz

September 12, 2010

The law also set up a process for tribes to be recognized by showing that they meet certain criteria documented by genealogical and membership records and other factors.
Applications will be reviewed by a three-member panel of experts. Based on the panel's findings, the commission will make recommendations for recognition to the Legislature, which has the final say.
"I have a lot of hope that the Legislature will act quickly because this has been a very long, long process that has taken many years, and has aged people," said commission member Luke Willard, of Brownington, the former chief of the Nulhegan band of Abenaki.

September 13, 2010

Brownington, Orleans County, VT

Members of the Abenaki Tribe at Nulhegan-Memphremagog (a Coosuk band) spent Saturday, the 11th, celebrating after a Tribal Council meeting that brought history to full circle. After several years as chief, Luke Willard has stepped down after being appointed by Governor James Douglas to the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs.

At Saturday's Tribal Council meeting, Mr. Willard relinquished his duties as chief. Although being fairly new to the tribe's ranks, former Missisquoi St. Francis-Sokoki member Donald Warren Stevens Jr. was nominated and elected to lead the tribe.

A former commissioner himself, Donald Warren Stevens Jr.' ancestry dates back to Chief Antoine Phillips who was born at Lake Memphremagog two centuries ago. This is what brought Don Stevens to enroll his family with the tribe, whose members reside in the Lake Memphremagog and Nulhegan River basins of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
Donald Warren Stevens, Jr. is not the first Phillips descendant to follow in the footsteps of the family's patriarch. According to Phillips oral history, Peter Phillips (son of Antoine Phillips Sr.) led his people and only a few decades ago, Richard “Blackhorse” Wilfred Phillips, held the torch for a time. In regards to the tribe's decision, Luke Andrew Willard states, “Aside from Don's experience in native affairs and his passion for the cultural revival and well-being of the Abenaki people of Vermont, the Phillips family, or more specifically, the descendants of Chief Antoine Phillips, have deep roots in this territory and have been a major presence here for centuries. Don Stevens continued, speaking of Willard, “By stepping down as chief and taking on the duties of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, Luke Willard is showing the native community his willingness and desire to work with all Abenaki in the State of Vermont while fulfilling a promise that he made when he became chief... 'No Abenaki left behind'.”
It seems fitting and almost poetic that the tribe who has identified themselves occasionally as “Old Philip's Band” (because of the Memphremagog and Nulhegan basin territory that was granted by Coosuk Chief Philip in the late 18th century), is now led by... a Phillips.

Don Stevens Jr. - Dawn Macie - Luke Willard

This was a hijacking of the Philip Deed of June 1796 by SOME of the Descendants of the Phillips Family.

Winifred Yaratz 2006 book was based on subjective un-validated oral histories that were dubious/unsubstantiated.

September 19, 2010

5:59 PM

From: Mary Kinville wkinkville

To: Jdowbasket [Judy Dow]

Cc: wkinkville

Subject: Fw: Tribal Enrollment Form [See September 06, 2010 8:48 PM] From Donald Warren Stevens Jr. soliciting Phillips family descendants to enroll/join the Nulhegan group.

September 28, 2010

Luke Andrew Willard Appointed Chairperson of VT Indian Commission

By Mark Mitchell

The newly formed Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, (VCNAA), met for the first time this afternoon in Montpelier, Vermont.
Luke Willard was appointed "Chair" in a unanimous decision by commission members.
Luke Andrew Willard recently relinquished his duties as chief of the Abenaki Tribe at Nulhegan-Memphremagog.

From their press release Luke A. Willard stated “Common sense tells me that it would be difficult to wear both hats”, speaking of the time commitments and difficult tasks that the VCNAA Commission will be facing since the Vermont Legislature established a Criteria for Vermont Tribes to gain State Recognition.

Takara Matthews nominated Luke Willard for the position of VCNAA Chairman and Shirly Hook seconded. There was member Consensus and Luke Willard was elected the Chairman. The Chairman proceeded to conduct the rest of the meeting.

Luke Willard appointed Melody Walker Brook to head a working group that will gather information on scholars to fill recognition subcommittee positions required in statute. Scholars should have experience with archaeology and Vermont history.They should also be aware that they will have to deal with political issues. Fred Wiseman noted that Scholars may be difficult to find. Giovanna Peebles agreed to present a list of potential Scholars to the Commission. Dawn Macie and Shirly Hook agreed to assist Melody Walker – Brook in this work. The working group was authorized by member Consensus to gather information on Scholars.

Letters of intent to apply for Vermont State Recognition were presented by Melody Walker, Elnu Abenaki and Shirly Hook, the latter being a member of the Koasek Abenaki. Dawn Macie being of the Nulhegan said that the Nulhegan Abenaki will also be presenting a letter of intent. Diane McInerney will scan and send the letters to all Commission members and place the originals in the VCNAA public file.

They ONLY intended to submit their Intent-Letters seeking VT State Recognition when they 'padded' the VCNAA with their own people!

October 01, 2010

Shelburne Resident Named Abenaki Chief: Abenaki Tribe at Nulhegan-Memphremagog Makes History

Members of the Abenaki Tribe at Nulhegan-Memphremagog (a Coosuck band) spent Saturday, September 11, 2010, celebrating a Tribal Council Meeting that brought history to full circle. After several years as Chief, Luke Andrew Willard has stepped down following his appointment by Governor James Douglas to the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. While there was no requirement to do so, Luke A. Willard acted out of respect for the charge and duties of the Commission, which will place heavy demands on his schedule.

Shelburne, Vermont resident Donald Warren Stevens, Jr., former Missisquoi St. Francis-Sokoki member, was nominated and elected to lead the tribe. A former commissioner himself, Don Stevens’ ancestry dates back to Chief Antoine Phillips who was born at Lake Memphremagog two centuries ago. This is what brought Don Stevens to enroll his family with the tribe, whose members reside in the Lake Memphremagog and Nulhegan River basins of the Northeast Kingdom [Orleans County, VT].

Don Stevens is not the first Phillip’ descendant to follow in the footsteps of the families’ patriarch. According to Phillip’s oral history, Peter Phillips Sr. (son of Antoine Phillips Sr.) led his people and only a few decades ago, Richard “Blackhorse” Wilfred Phillips, held the torch for a time.

In regards to the tribe’s decision, Luke A. Willard states, “Aside from Don Stevens’ experience in Native Affairs and his passion for the Cultural Revival and well-being of the Abenaki people of Vermont, the Phillips family, or more specifically, the descendants of Chief Antoine Phillips Sr., have deep roots in this territory and have been a major presence here for centuries. I can’t think of a better way to honor that history.”

Humbly accepting the tribe’s appointment, Don Stevens says, “As chief I will do what is best for our tribal members and work for the greater good of the Abenaki people. I will work with anyone who is willing to advance our people forward. We need to heal our nation and remember that we are the same people with the same struggles. I look forward to celebrating our customs and traditions as a people and leaving the politics to those at the Vermont State House.”

Don Stevens continued, speaking of Luke A. Willard, “By stepping down as chief of the Nulhegan and taking on the duties of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, Luke Willard is showing the Native Community his willingness and desire to work with all Abenaki in the State of Vermont while fulfilling a promise that he made when he became chief …. “No Abenaki left behind.”

It seems fitting and almost poetic that the tribe who has identified themselves occasionally as “Old Phillip’s Band” (because of the Memphremagog and Nulhegan basin territory that was granted by Coosuck Chief Philip in the late 18th century), is now led by … a Phillips.

Actually this is a deceitful distortion: The Phillips family by majority lived and resided in Lamoille, Chittenden and Franklin Counties prior to 1980. Antoine being born at Lake Memphremagog ca. 1787 is also a huge distortion. Antoine Phelps/Philips/Phillips was born ca. 1810-1814 based on the 1850 Census for Highgate, Vermont. He was identified, not as Indian, but as a Black man. Indeed his Y-DNA Haplogroup is B-M181 (from Africa). His wife was a FRENCH WOMAN, Catherine Emery dit Coderre (not Cadaive). And most certainly Antoine Phillips Sr. nor any of his descendants were related to the Chief Philip of Upper Coos, NH ca. 1796. Don Stevens, Jr. simply distorts his own ancestors to fit his political agenda.

November 2010

Frederick M. Wiseman (Humanities) played a major role drafting the proclamation signed by Gov. Jim Douglas in which the Governor declared November 2010 as Native American Heritage Month. Fred spoke at UVM November 15, 2010 on “Written out of history: A look at K-12 curriculum as it relates to indigenous cultures.”

January 15, 2011

By Professor Frederick Matthew Wiseman, PhD.

The “Short and Skinny” of it…

Every spring, since April of 1995, Vermonters are treated to verbal assaults against Vermont Abenaki people who have the audacity to ask that their state acknowledge them as Indians. Originally these attacks were by state officials such as Governor Howard Dean or Attorneys General Bill Griffin and Bill Sorrell.

This state-sponsored molestation has abated. Unfortunately, with the withdrawal of a common enemy to Vermont’s Indigenous people, the vacuum has been filled by individuals, because of personal or community animosity, who choose to deny the ethnic identity of their neighbors, and even, unfortunately, their family.

The reasons for this hatred are varies, feelings of personal insult, jealousy that someone else is going to get a “bigger piece of the pie,” uncertainty about their own ethnic identity, or in some cases a misplaced desire to protect Vermont against the “casinos and land claims” stereotype promulgated by the State in the 1995-2006 period.

There are also groups of people who believe that if the local Vermont Native people’s legitimacy can be destroyed, this leaves the state open for land claims by other groups from elsewhere who believe Vermont was their original “homeland.” (i.e. he's speaking of ODANAK)

Although these people claim objectivity as they demand the evidence and paperwork supporting recognition, their mind was made up long ago against any group seeking state recognition, and merely need this information to develop a counter-argument.

In 2010, the Vermont General Assembly created a fair and equitable process for establishing the legitimacy of claims for recognition as an Indian tribe. There are safeguards in place to prevent any abuse of the recognition process, including:

1. A rigorous and thorough set of criteria for recognition. The criteria was loosey-goosey!

2. Charging the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs to thoroughly review the applications. LIE Review their own fellow race shifting identity thieves!

3. An advisory panel of three scholars in appropriate field to also review and approve the applications and auxiliary documentation. Scholars that were allied to the 4 groups!

4. Public hearings on each application to give voice to advocates and opponents of recognition.

Opponents such as Denise Watso and other Abenakis could not testify or were allowed to speak!

5. Review and approval by the legislature. Review my ass, the Legislature did NO review at all!

They most certainly did no diligent in depth sourcing or validation of any of the 4 groups!

None of the people or organizations writing negative letters to the editors, or “hate-website” blogs; or lobbying legislators believe friendly to their cause have participated in this lengthy and complex process to show why any applicant for recognition should be denied that status. Because they were not allowed to participate! So why should they trouble the readers of your newspaper with such ethnic loathing?

"ethnic loathing" "lateral violence" "weaponized genealogy" "hate-blogger" etc.

February 08, 2011

The Caledonian- Record Newspaper, Page A5

By Robin Smith – Staff Writer

Native Recognition Bills Move to Legislative House Floor

NEWPORT CITY – Bill that would recognize a Native American tribe [Nulhegan group] based in Brownington, Orleans County, Vermont and another [Elnu group] in Jamaica, Vermont, Windham County, Vermont has moved to the House floor for legislative consideration.

The bills would give Vermont state recognition to the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, with most members living in the Newport-Derby area and the Elnu Abenaki.

Vermont Senator Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, speaking at a legislative breakfast Monday morning said he supports both legislative bills and is co-sponsor of similar bills in the Legislative Senate.

With Vermont state recognition, members of the tribes would be able to put “Made by Vermont Abenaki” on anything they produce.

Congress set up the requirement for state or federal recognition of tribes before any group can put Native American labels on products.

That federal law (IACA) Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 went into effect to stop products made overseas from being labeled made by Native Americans, he said.

The legislative bills have come under fire from some Native American groups, which have sad that anything other than the strict recognition of Native American tribal genealogy is not valid.

Vermont State recognition requires subjective historical evidence of Native American heritage of tribe members, not necessarily genealogy.

One critic of the bills has been Richard “Skip” Bernier of Coventry, Orleans County, Vermont. He spoke for several minutes at the legislative breakfast at the Eastside Restaurant Monday morning. When he didn’t post a question for the guest lawmakers, moderator Bill Davis cut him off and refused to let him continue.

Richard “Skip” Bernier is a member of the Odanak community of the Abenaki Nation, a small reservation in Quebec, Canada next to Pierreville, Quebec, Canada.

People are worried that Odanak will press land claims in Vermont, he said. He pointed out that the Odanak people voted against having a casino on their reservation in Quebec.

So, playing up this "business" against Odanak, Ph.D. Frederick Matthew Wiseman and members of the Vermont “Abenaki” groups and their allies, created and promoted the MYTH that Odanak wanted to do a Vermont land claims, and build a casino within Vermont.

February 08, 2011

10:29 pm

From: Denise L. Watso

To: VT Digger via http://vtdigger.org

Dear Friends and Family,

I have underlined some of the most outrageous statements from a news article below, written by Paul Lefebvre with an obvious slant towards the self identified groups in Vermont.

Statements such as “I am Indian at heart” and now comparing selling baskets with the “Indian Brand label” Facebook Chief-Luke Willard, “makes baskets more marketable” is an offensive and ignorant statement to all First Nations people. “I really don’t think there is a full-blood Abenaki out there,” Donald Stevens.

This statement is even more offensive to our Abenaki and Indian brothers and sisters, whose parents and grandparents are living today, who endured the hardships these self-identified groups could not begin to comprehend.

Our government and all First Nations people need to stand up for our aboriginal rights today! State Recognition is a National Aboriginal Rights issue. Non-Indians are attempting to take the back door into States to gain Recognition on flimsy Laws that, if passed, could give State Recognition to any person who states the phrase – “I am Indian at Heart”.

Imposed borders do not separate our families, Vermont’s state imposed borders and Vermont Senator Illuzzi’s denial of our right to represent or testify is reprehensible to the rights of all Indian Nations.

Self Proclaimed Chiefs – Donald Stevens; Facebook Tribe – Luke Willard; Reenactor – Roger “Longtoe” Sheehan; Nancy Millette-Doucet-Lyons-etc; April St. Francis - Merrill; in VT have been allowed to misrepresent our purpose of opposing Recognition for non-Indians in the State of VT.

The State is allowing non-Indians to testify, BUT NOT allowing the Original Inhabitants – Abenaki People, to go before the Committee to testify on our own behalf.

How, in the last couple years do we now have so many “tribes” in Vermont? This is impossible. These groups are NOT Abenaki. Any social club in VT could be granted recognition as an Indian given the vague criteria and non-transparent process uncovered in VT.

I was actually outraged to read this article, comparing Indian people to the sales of a Brand, like maple syrup, just plain ignorant.

Denise L. Watso

Abenaki Nation

March 06, 2011

The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus Newspaper, Pages A1-A4

By Daniel Staples – Staff Writer

For Native groups, recognition challenged

MONTPELIER - Opponents of a bill in a Senate committee that would give state recognition to two groups claiming to be bands of Abenaki Indians say the process has most recently been compromised by ethics violations against two scholars working with the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs.

David Skinas, state cultural resources specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and David Lacy, an archaeologist with the Forest Service for the USDA, were cited in February for misusing official USDA letterhead to give their responses to the applications.

Lacy reviewed the Elnu Tribe; Skinas, the Koas Abenaki Tribe.

State recognition would mean a chance to seek federal money for schools with Abenaki children, as well as a chance to have arts and crafts identified as official Abenaki handiwork under the Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

To Douglas Lloyd Buchholz of Lancaster, N.H., the fact of the decisions by Skinas and Lacy were presented on official letterhead give the appearance the USDA was complicit in the decisions of its employees, who were only supposed to be advising as experts in their fields. It was not. [Actually, the issues is an ethics violation... period, in that using the USDA Letterhead made it IMPLY that the USDA endorses these State Incorporates as "tribes" already ... that being the case, LOOK at the SOURCE of where the Federal Grant Monies are coming from to these Alleged and Reinvented "Abenaki" Groups/ Incorporate's since 1976!]

Luke Willard, chairman of the VCNAA [Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs], defended the process [of course, he would 'defend the process' because he, along with Professor Wiseman ... along with others ... 'cooked up' the criteria process to in essence ... by creating it in the first place, manipulating it, and subsequently make sure that their 'Alliance' in whole or in part, could pass that criteria, granting themselves, Vermont State Recognition...], saying the "letterhead had no bearing on the decision of the commission to approve the applications."

Luke Willard said the VCNAA voted on the application before the ethics violations had come to light.

In the VNCAA meetings minutes from February 15, 2011 however, the violations did appear to be a concern. At the time, Willard said, "our process and the individuals (Skinas and Lacy) themselves have been harmed by this," and that "even on personal time Lacy can't participate anymore."

Two of the four tribes that are seeking recognition currently have applications that have passed the House of Representatives and have passed to the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs.

"I'm not troubled by it," said Senator Vincent Illuzzi, chairman of the committee reviewing the bills to give recognition to the tribes applying. [Of course not, Illuzzi didn't need to be concerned, because once the reconstructed/restructured appointee's of the VCNAA gave their nod approval to the application(s), then the VT. Legislature didn't really need to do a single thing more; as written and passed into law, S.117-turned-into-Act 107, wherein once approved by the VCNAA, all the applicant(s) need have to do, is wait a couple years quietly, and the "Abenaki" petitioning group(s) would AUTOMATICALLY gain VT Legislative State Recognition and become a VT State-Sanctioned Alleged and Re-Invented "Abenaki" "Tribe" ! The VT Legislature nor Illuzzi needed say nothing after the biased, unfair, non-transparent restructured VCNAA appointee's 'gave themselves their own State of VT "Abenaki"/"Native American Indian Tribe" Status!] "My focus would be to consider the methodology used to review the genealogies and documentation and not to take into consideration an internal federal issue. ...I expect we will vote on these two bills before the end of the session."

Illuzzi was made honorary Chief "Fighting Wolf" by the Clan of the Hawk in 1998. All four groups currently seeking recognition were either created by members that were once part of that clan - including Willard - or have close ties.

Willard said Bureau of Indian Affairs' laws were put in place to keep Native American arts and crafts authentic and to keep their sales from being undercut by foreign facsimiles. He said more recently the BIA has used the law to "go after" non-federally or state-recognized Native people from labeling products as "Native American."

Luke Willard said that members of these groups who are artisans would like to be able to sell their wares as "authentic" Abenaki.

"It's worth more money," Willard said, "These groups would use the label much in the same way that Vermont maple producers label their bottles as 'Vermont made'."

Additionally, if these groups are identified by the state, Willard said, they also could apply for federal grant money under the Title VII Indian Education act. Those monies do not go directly to tribes, but instead goes to supervisory unions. [Such as Jeffrey Benay (whom operates as the Franklin County Director of Indian Education ... and his wife, Julie Beauvais nee: Jameson - Benay ... who was Principal at the Swanton, VT Elementary School before 2011 ... brings to mind the saying "one had washes the other to get the dirt off"]

"Not all tribes will be seeking this money," said Willard, because not all of these groups will have the student populations to apply for the funds.

At a recent VCNAA meeting Luke Willard, who is chairman of the council, said in the Swanton area, where tribal recognition has meant extra funding, the graduation rate for those with Abenaki heritage has show significant improvement.

However, those opposed to giving recognition to these groups are asking hard questions, including: How can these groups file incorporation papers with the state just a few years prior to seeking recognition and then solicit membership for the organization?

"These are just groups of people with no documentation, and made-up names, that form corporations and try to gain recognition," said Jeff Hill of Brandon, who, as a consultant and strategist, has worked with tribes for 20 years compiling and reviewing the genealogy used to get federal recognition for Native American tribes. He is an opponent of the recognition's.

Not first struggle

Buchholz, an outspoken opponent of the application process, has been following the process closely and reporting his findings on the blog, "The Reinvention of the Alleged Vermont and New Hampshire Abenakis." He said that the ethics violations are just the "icing on the cake" [retrospectively-speaking that was misquoted, as I stated to the reporter, that it was "merely the tip of the iceberg"] for a process that has been flawed from the beginning when Act 107 was signed into law by Gov. James Douglas last year.

One of the merits of Act 107, which sent the recognition process into motion in Vermont. is a stipulation that if the Legislature does not act on petitions, a tribe would be recognized two years after its petition was received.

Douglas Lloyd Buchholz said the VCNAA, which was re-created by Act 107 (the first VCNAA was established in 2006 but failed to achieve tribal recognition for any groups and disbanded due to internal conflicts [actually it was because the representative Chairperson's ... Mark Mitchell/Paul Bell/Charles Delaney/Donald Warren Stevens ... who have 'working relationships' with the late "Chief" Homer W. St. Francis/ Homer's daughter April Rushlow - Merrill ... and advocated for this particular group of Alleged and Re-Invented "Abenakis ... 'representation on-the-sly, April St. Francis-Merrill's interests, and when these Chairperson(s) could not 'control' the VCNAA appointed representative's Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow, Jeanne (nee: Deforge) Brink, and or Timothy De La Bruere ... the 'membership' and or 'advocates' of the created 'VT Indigenous Alliance' would vocally complain about the VCNAA 'not doing anything' etc. The former initial VCNAA did not fail because of 'internal conflicts, but rather was hijacked by overt clandestine blatant manipulations by agents of the concocted 'VT Indigenous Alliance'] is plagued with 'insider dealings" and "weak documentation" that is being used to push the applications through the legislature.

However, Luke Willard countered that many of the corporations filing for recognition have been at the process for more than 30 years and are trying very hard to make sure that the process is transparent and unbiased.

Willard was the former chief of the Nulhegan Tribe in Newport, which is one of the other groups seeking state recognition, but stepped down from that position when he was elected chairman of the restructured VCNAA last October. Willard also said any person connected to a tribe seeking recognition recuses themselves from voting on applications. Yet, this does not prevent that person from advocating elsewhere and communicating with said applicant, by telephone, fax, or email.

Many of the same persons currently leading the groups that would like to gain recognition were part of or connected to the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki, who unsuccessfully sought federal recognition and were denied through the BIA in June 2007.

In the federal decision not to grand the St. Francis group recognition, the BIA wrote that "the available evidence does not demonstrate that they have historical or social connection to any western Abenaki entity in existence before 1800 or even before 1974! ... and the petitioner does not have documentation to support it being a tribe before 1976." The St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the the Abenakis DID NOT nor COULD NOT identify a single person being Indian/ Native American/ Le Sauvage or Abenaki EXCEPT for identifying the William Simon Obomsawin descendants [Jeanne (nee: Deforge) Brink, etc] who were (according to April Merrill) that these persons were NOT really 'members' of the petitioning group. These "Abenaki" group's USE Odanak descendant people such as Jeanne Brink and Trudy Call - Parker in their groups, toting historical and contemporary connection(s) to Odanak allegedly; and yet at-the-same-time maliciously vilify alleged Odanak interest(s) in the Vermont State Abenaki Recognition Process ... and that Jeanne Brink, and Timothy De La Bruere are alleged themselves malicious and manipulative 'agents' of Odanak sitting on the VCNAA (at the time) against the VT indigenous Alliance groups in Vermont?! That ... Odanak Chief Nicolas Panadis and the Benedict's, Watso's, and Obomsawin's (including Richard 'Skip' Bernier and his relatives in Orleans County, VT ... were and are allegedly merely New Vermont's 'Abenaki Expatriots’ and or ‘Bi-Nationalists'?

Opponents of recognition's before the Senate committee are asking why groups using some of the same documentation that was used for federal recognition should be considered tribes under the new standards set out by Act 107.

As defined by Act 107, the application process would be supervised by the VCNAA and require each group to submit documentation, approved by three independent scholars, to validate its claim.

Once that has been accomplished, it would be left to the commission to review the claim and petition the legislature for recognition on a tribe-by-tribe basis.

Conflict of interest

The question Buchholz and others are asking is:

How is it that these groups, which make up the 'VT Indigenous Alliance' that was created in part by Frederick Wiseman - one of the scholars who looked over the documentation for the applications and have members sitting on the commission - could be unbiased or objective in their decisions relating to the applications?

Wiseman gave the leaders of the tribes of the VT Indigenous Alliance documents that set out what information they should include in their applications, and then claimed to be objective in his discussions concerning those tribes when they had utilized the information that he had given them for that purpose.

There is very little information not in their particular "recognition" application's, that was not previously included in Wiseman's 2010 Decolonizing the Abenaki: A Methodology for Detecting Vermont Tribal Identity:

http://reinventedvermontabenaki.blogspot.com/2010/09/pages-1-8-decolonizing-abenaki2010.html

Wiseman's son, Frederick Wiseman Jr. also sits on the restructured VCNAA, as an appointee placed there by former Governor James Douglas.

Wiseman St. was also a member of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki led by April St. Francis Merrill, who has recently been charged with felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

The said criminal charge(s) have since been dropped, allegedly temporarily, the said criminal charge(s) have yet to be placed against April St. Francis-Merrill in a court of law again by Franklin County State's Attorney, Mr. Jim Hughes or any other Judicial Officer in the State of Vermont. Who 'leaned' on Mr. Jim Hughes and who is the State of Vermont 'protecting' now? Brings to mind "One hand tries to wash the dirt of the other, to try and appear as if the hands were always clean?" Hmm.

Willard said one of the problems for the commission was finding expert scholars who are informed about the issues while not connected to the groups.

Every so-called 'Expert' 'scholar' that the restructured current VCNAA and the 'VT Indigenous Alliance' has chosen ... has had and or continues a 'working relationship' with the groups, that comprise the VT Indigenous Alliance groups whom seek VT State Recognition!

"Within the scholarly community there are only so many scholars to draw from," said Luke Willard.

"My motivation is first and foremost that these incorporations are not tribes," said Douglas Buchholz.

Buchholz has been following the process and says that these groups solicit membership and have no proof of their ancestry other than "the confabulated stories that have no basis in historical record."

According to Buchholz, the genealogy used for the applications, which has been redacted from the applications that are seen by the public and was left for only the scholarly panelists to review, already has been scrutinized by other scholars and found to be lacking.

Buchholz also reiterated that his opposition to these recognitions in no way minimizes the alleged legitimacy of the heritage of the fraction/minority of the members [such as Jeanne Brink/Trudy Parker/Lynn Murphy etc or those descended from an actual historical Abenaki Community such as Odanak or Wôlinak] of these groups.

March 07, 2011

9:16 AM

FROM: daniel.staples@timesargus.com

TO: douglaslloydbuchholz@yahoo.com

----Original Message-----

From: Fred Wiseman

To: daniel.staples@timesargus.com

Cc: catherine.nelson@timesargus.com; john.mitchell@timesargus.com; 'luke

willard'

Sent: 3/6/11 [06 March 2011] 1:15 PM

Subject: **SPAM** your article

Dear Mr. Staples,

So you used Douglas Buchholz as your source in today's article on recognition.

The whole article is very strange, but I will focus on one assertion which involves my supposed conflict of interest -- which you declined to investigate with regards to professional ethics regarding conflict of interest in the disciplines of geography anthropology, history or folklore - the applicable fields to the professional/academic evaluation of data such as the recognition applications.

I want you to think about this assertion that you wrote.

"Wiseman gave the leaders of the tribes of the VT Indigenous Alliance documents that set out what information they should include in their applications, and then claimed to be objective in his decisions concerning those tribes when they had utilized the information that he given them for that purpose."

You fail to note the source of this "leaked" document, which was originally sent to Brian Chenevert and Representative Jim Masland, when I offered to help them seek recognition last spring. You will see above the line where I gave the tribes the info, that I was offering it to them as well. I offer my help to any Native group seeking recognition or with any other kind of problem that my expertise is applicable to. So the preamble of the document proves an absence of bias. My loyalty is always to the data, not the political entities that choose to use it.

Unless, perhaps Douglas Buchholz altered the document before sending it to you

[Dr. Frederick M. Wiseman ‘projecting’ his own scholarly inappropriate conduct onto my person]

You should have contacted me early on to give you the original document to determine if it was altered, or if it was not, you should have published the reason why I sent it to a group that had written horrible things about the alliance in the VERY recent past (of May, 2010).

So without any significant investigation into the complex back story to all of Douglas Buchholz's attempted "gotcha politics" you published his nonsense is if it were data.

This article does not merit a reasoned rebuttal, but in the future, you need to be more careful in your choice of sources -- which in this case clearly has a bias against me (as you can see if you have cared to look at Douglas Buchholz's hate blog) and follow up with confirmation of information regarding the targets of your accusation(s) (of conflict of interest in this case).

I don't know about newspaper journalism, but this type of writing would never be tolerated in any kind of academic discourse.

Fred M. Wiseman, Ph.D.

March 09, 2011

The Littleton Courier Record Newspaper

By Frederick Matthew Wiseman

Indian Identity: NEK has much to gain by celebrating its Native population

To the Editor:

There seems to be some confusion in the Northeast Kingdom regarding individual and community Indian identity. There have been letters to the editor and articles regarding The Nulhegan Band and it ethnic legitimacy, in which my work has been mentioned.

Since 1989, I have researched, taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses and published books and scholarly articles on the Abenakis and their neighbors, as well as worked with Vermont state officials on Native issues ranging from legislative recognition to education, to the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Lake Champlain -- and would like to offer another, more "external" perspective on your local debate.

On the most basic level, S.117 passed by the Vermont General Assembly in 2006, gives all people who profess a native identity protected minority status; and so that point of identity is moot. However, there is lingering debate as to whether there is a viable indigenous Native community in the Northeast Kingdom. By indigenous, I mean with a local history and culture not derivative from anywhere else -- "home grown." If there is a community, it must first have behaviors, beliefs and traditions that any anthropologist would recognize as "Native."

It is interesting that in my research on Northeast Kingdom culture, most people who are practicing these "Native behaviors" are unaware that they are doing anything native, or special. It is just what they and their ancestors have always done. This prevalent belief is refreshing and indicative of deep-time local culture and tradition, rather than borrowed or "fake" ethnicity.

Some of these newly revealed (to historians and anthropologists) behaviors and traditions of the Northeast Kingdom include:

1) Distinctive horticultural mounds and distinctive crops in its agriculture

2) Native style fish spears and a unique communal tradition for fishing for walleyes;

3) Native style game lures such as bark moose calls and shadow decoys;

4) A land tenure system identical to that of the Penobscot Indians of Maine

5) Communal memory of bark "longhouses" and current wigwam architectural technology

6) Medicinal technologies including healing wands similar to the "spirit root clubs" that figure in Maine Indian museum exhibits

7) Multi-family gatherings where these native traditions are passed down.

Interestingly many of these documented Native behaviors and technologies, while present in rural Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia communities, seem absent in the more compressed Canadian Native enclaves such as Odanak, Quebec. So I find the assemblage of traditional Native cultural data convincing. But a mere assemblage of people doing Indian things is not an Indian community; it needs a definitive Native-style geographic character. In this, the Northeast Kingdom is quite similar to that of the Penobscot Indians of Maine before they were concentrated onto their reservation near Old Town. Maine.

This is a series of semi-autonomous extended families arrayed across the upper Missisquoi, Lake Memphramagog shore, to the Clyde and Nulhegan drainages, each of which has a slightly different historical and geographic adaptation. From cursory study of the complex inter-family politics in the area, leadership seems to have been more vested in individuals from a constituent band than inter-band "chiefs," a social system also historically characteristic of Northeastern North American Indigenous bands.

But a viable ethnic community, especially one so spread over several river drainages, cannot be merely a mish-mash of families; it must have a level of genetic or cultural integration and separation from the "outside" Vermont community. The extended Indigenous families have always maintained communication through multi-family gatherings, and ties of intermarriage that separates them from their neighbors. The modern Nulhegan Band has managed to celebrate rather than suppress the traditional semi-autonomous band structure and so it has flourished; although some extended families have chosen to remain apart. As a result, the Band has documented over 75% percent of its population as related by blood or marriage, a sure sign of an historical and viable community in the Northeast Kingdom.

By any measure, geography, ethnography, folklore and history, there is a distinct local Native strain in your area. It needs not appeal to Maine or Canada or anywhere else for its authenticity -- it has been there all along. With legislative recognition by statute, this divisive silliness about who is or is not Indian in your area will be over. The Northeast Kingdom has much to gain by celebrating its Indians -- and needs not look elsewhere than its old home soil.

Fred M. Wiseman, Ph.D.

Swanton, Vt.

NOTICE how Professor Wiseman 'twists' the linguistics around...he does not mention "Nulhegan" or "Abenaki" here BECAUSE he knows full well, these people have dubious questionable genealogical connection(s) to the bona-fide Abenaki People, so instead he switches to the terminology "indigenous ... Native ... community"

March 09, 2011

The Caledonian-Record Newspaper, Page A4

In My Opinion – Letters to the Editor

By Frederick Matthew Wiseman

Letters to the Editor

Much to gain by celebrating Native population

Same article as above.

April 01, 2011

The Newport Daily Express, Page 04

By Denise Watso

"Experts" allow false claims to slip by

Experts assembled by the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs failed to identify even the most obvious flaws in applications for state recognition submitted by the "Nulhegan" and "Elnu."

The "Elnu" application reviewers; David Lacy, Frederick M. Wiseman, and Eloise Beil failed the review process and thereby failed in their duty to properly check evidence submitted by the self-identified group "Elnu." The review, application process and State Recognition Bill is biased and filled with real and perceived conflicts of interest, among the Commission members, reviewers and Mr. Illuzzi.

How many more documents in the review(s) have gone unchecked?

1) The self- identified group "Elnu" submitted as evidence a transcriptions of an October 1863 Civil Ware conscription list taken from an Alburgh history book - the Alburgh VT Land and Miscellaneous Records Book as proof that Charles Partlow, an ancestors of some Elnu club members, was Indian.

However, it is clear from the original record located at the Alburgh Town Clerk's Office that the self-identified applicant, experts and commission have not bothered to read the actual record, nor the history book cited as evidence. The original document clearly indicates that Charles Partlow and three other men are NOT listed as Indian. Indians being paid for their wartime service were NOT recorded on either document submitted, therefore the applicant is allowed to take the history book citation out of context and "experts" simply ignored the evidence submitted.

2) On pages 25 & 61 of the "Nulhegan" application, there are references to Nancy Snow, a woman falsely claimed by Luke Willard as his Abenaki ancestor and falsely identified as a granddaughter of Helen (Otôdoson) Saziboet. You may wish to consult http://www.nedoba.org/gene_fake.html for an investigation of these fraudulent claims. Clearly, Willard and the "Nulhegans" are not in any way related to the Otôdoson family.

We would add that Helen (Otôdoson) Saziboet is a great....grandmother of Denise Watso and Jacques Thériault Watso, and many other historically-known Abenaki people. According to the Warrensburgh (NY) News (June 08, 1922) she died at Saratoga Springs, NY, where many members of her family lived either seasonally or year-round. Another of Denise and Jacques's direct ancestors, Louis Watso, walked from Lake George to Saratoga Springs to attend the funeral. Louis Watso and Helen (Otôdoson) Saziboet were brother and sister. Their father, Swassin Otôdoson, was buried in Barton, VT.

What kind of review was conducted by the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, their panel of experts, and the Vermont legislature? And what other false claims are shrouded in the secrecy imposed by legislators last year, when they passed the final version of their state recognition bill?

Citizens of Vermont and historically known Abenaki people deserve better than an inadequate review of inaccurate claims being made in applications as part of a process created by an unjust law that clearly violates our Abenaki aboriginal rights.

The process has allowed these groups to continue to fraudulently claim to be our ancestors’ relative descendants without any credible evidence presented in an open and transparent manner.

For more information, contact:

Denise Watso, Liason, Abenaki First Nation

Jacques Thériault Watso, Councillor, Abenaki First Nation

April 01, 2011

The Newport Daily Express, Page 04

By Denise Watso

State Recognition Process Riddled With Conflicts of Interest

Vermont's ill-conceived approach to its indigenous people fails Vermont voters and the Abenaki people and must be reconsidered. Instead, the Vermont Senate seems intent on making matters worse.

In 2010, Vermont passed into law a "state recognition" process administered by a new reconstructed commission which was intended to be composed of Native American people. However, none of the commission members can prove any Abenaki ancestry and Chairman Willard's claims descent from the Otôdoson (Watso). A fraudulent claim by Luke Willard to our family name and has been publically disproven.

Instead, the commission members were almost entirely selected from potential applicant groups, representing real conflicts of interest which cannot surmounted by recusal from matters directly relevant to the applicant groups to which they belong. Each commission member is committed to recognizing all four + of the organizations applying for recognition this year (and in 2012).

Conflicts of interest are also real and apparent within the group of "experts" assembled by the commission to review applications for recognition. Today - Mr. Lacy and Mr. Skinas were chastised by their Federal agency for using USDA letterhead against Federal policy and both were forced to step down, although the reviewers were allowed to pass by the Commission and Senator Illuzzi. All of the "experts" have conflicting roles and long standing relationships with these groups.

A brief summary of the real and apparent conflicts on the review panel:

David Lacy has worked with members of the "St. Francis/Sokoki" in his role as Green Mountain National Forest archaeologist.

David Skinas, another archaeologist and Federal employee, actually sits on the Board of Directors of the Abenaki Self-Help Association, Inc., a non-profit corporation run by the "St. Francis/Sokoki."

Eloise Beil has worked with the "Elnu" in their capacity as re-enactors working for her employer, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

Frederick M. Wiseman, a member of the "St. Francis/Sokoki has collaborated with "Elnu" members at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and has similar relationships with other groups.

Historian Kevin Dann does not appear to have as close a relationship with the applicant groups, although his review of the "Nulhegan" application was mostly devoid of substance. He prefaced his response, however, with a set of comments about OUR ancestors, NOT those of the "Nulhegan."

There has been no adequate review of applications for state recognition. This is clear from a close reading of the public portions of the applications themselves, the reviews of the "experts" assembled by the VCNAA, and the VCNAA's report to the legislature. The applications are characterized by inaccurate information and wild leaps made to convince people that our history is theirs. It is not. The entire application process is nothing more than a grant process, with letters of support and no credible substantiated evidence, proven by citations allowed i.e. Wikipedia, and the Internet used as "sources of evidence". One source, "Charles Partlow" ancestral proof submitted by the "Elnu", has already been entirely overlooked and ignored by this "expert" review panel, while we have provided the document that proves otherwise.

Faced with the truth about these applications, Senator Illuzzi and the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs, are now considering legislation "Relating to Exempting from Public Disclosure Records Related to Tribal Recognition." As certain genealogical information has already been exempted from public review by an 11th-hour amendment to last year's law, it appears that the committee is now moving to completely remove the state recognition process from public scrutiny. The committee seeks to deprive Vermont voters and the Abenaki people of the open government, transparency and accountability that we typically expect of democratic' governments.

We ask all Vermonters to stand with us in opposing the conflicts of interest and increasing secrecy of the state's recognition process, led by Senator Vincent Illuzzi, the Commission (VCNAA) and these fraudulent "Abenaki" groups seeking to defraud the State of Vermont and Abenaki Nation citizens. We ask all Vermonters to take a stand for justice, historical truth, and respect for the Abenaki people and our history.

For more informaiton, contact:

Denise Watso, Liason, Abenaki First Nation

The Reinvention of the Alleged Vermont and New Hampshire Abenakis

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The TRUTH about Frederick Matthew Wiseman PhD. - PART 4

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