Some people will be of the belief and perception that releasing the documentation, names, dates, places and narratives, is damaging, hurtful, and hostile to those listed within the records.
In essence, everyone decides to TALK ABOUT or AROUND the Eugenics Survey of Vermont records and those families targeted, and conclude that ...
Rule No. 1: don't mention the names of those persons documented within the Eugenics records themselves.
October 25, 2010
Nancy Gallagher (ngallag49@)
To Douglas Lloyd Buchholz
Hi Douglas and Judy,
After a search in my archive, I have located two letters that Charles L. Delaney wrote after the Long Shadows exhibit in 1995. I just scanned them in and am attaching them. I have a lot more clippings I collected over the past (15+) years on Abenaki issues. As for the two other references you want, Douglas, I will have to copy the panel at Fleming from VHS to DVD. It was my initiation (or more to the point: "baptism-by-fire") into the whole eugenics & Abenaki issues in 1995 as I was researching and writing my thesis. I have notes only from my panel with John Moody at the Rhode Island conference. It was more of an informal discussion, neither video-taped or published, but both of us have probably written everything that we said during that panel and discussion somewhere else.
Douglas, as far as the HIPPA-come-lately gag order on eugenics records by the state archives, I think you are raising issues in an open and honest way about who gets to say what about the eugenics records, a long overdue issue. I should probably put this out as an inquiry through the ethics or "privacy and confidentiality" subcommittees of the Society of American Archivists (I have given papers of this very issue at SAA and New England Archivists, as my husband has urged my participation in those conferences) and see what other states have done. I know that the courts, in the end, decide such cases, and only if they come before a court. I doubt if the state would bother after what the AG office did outing the Phillips family, but the fab-four may be more likely to bring such a case.
We can talk soon. Sorry I've been so out-of-touch.
Best,
Nancy
November 01, 2010
Greg Sanford (gsanford@)
To Douglas Lloyd Buchholz
Mr. Buchholz: This is a follow-up to our conversation of a few minutes ago. The records you have that were drawn from relatives and other non-government sources are outside our legal custodianship. You collected some records on May 22, 1996 from the then Vermont Public Records Division within the Department of Buildings and General Services and were not asked to sign any non-disclosure form about the release of personal identifiable information. Based on conversations with the Attorney General’s Office the State of Vermont has limited, if any, jurisdiction over those copies. The Attorney General’s Office and the Archives agree that HIPPA does not apply to these records.
I will re-iterate the points I made in our conversation. Our interest is not in promoting any claim of State secrecy, but rather a concern for any lasting stigma attached to families that were subject to the Eugenics Study. We ask that researchers not disclose personal names to protect the subject families. In this specific case, we can do no more than ask.
The Vermont State Archives and Records Administration (VSARA), which gained custody of the Eugenics records as part of the Archives Act of 2003, does have a non-disclosure agreement, which we will review in light of the current case. We continue to believe that 1 V.S.A. §317 (c)(7), the personal information exemption, may apply, though not in the case of copies made 14 years ago without a non-disclosure agreement. We will look at that as part of our review of these policies.
You also asked about microfilming the records given their fragility. At this point it is really a resource problem and even if we had the resources it will probably be to digitize, rather than film the Eugenics Records.
Gregory Sanford
Vermont State Archives and Records Administration
(802) 828-2369
I had on March 19, 2000 had duplicated the 24 Pages of the Woodward Folder Sideline Family from the Eugenics Survey Boxes, that were adjacent to the PHILLIPS, SWEETSER, and WAY "Pedigrees" and Correspondence Letters, etc of these families.
I had on March 19, 2000 had duplicated the 24 Pages of the Woodward Folder Sideline Family from the Eugenics Survey Boxes, that were adjacent to the PHILLIPS, SWEETSER, and WAY "Pedigrees" and Correspondence Letters, etc of these families.
Most folks have heard of Eugenics. If not ... read:
From Degeneration to Regeneration: The Eugenics Survey of Vermont 1925-1936
"Breeding Better Vermonters: The Eugenics Project in the Green Mountain State"
By Nancy L. Gallagher
Disclaimer:
Page 07:
Most poignant of all is the plight of the Abenaki Indians, the original inhabitants of Vermont. Many members of Abenaki families who were investigated by the Eugenics Survey were also incarcerated in institutions and subsequently sterilized. It was the Eugenics Survey, Abenaki leaders insist, that forced Abenaki families to conceal their identity, leave their ancestral homeland, or relinquish their language, religion, and customs. For Vermont Abenakis, eugenics was neither science nor a program of human betterment; it was an agent of their annihilation. [6]
Page 188:
[6]
October 24, 1995
Charles Lawrence Delaney Jr. and Christopher Roy,
"Eugenics Genetics: Ethics and Art"
Symposium at Robert Hull Fleming Museum.
November 04, 1995
Charles Lawrence Delaney Jr. "Victims Left Out"
Burlington Free Press Newspaper
April 27, 1996
John Scott Moody
"The Impact of Eugenics on Abenaki Families in Vermont"
New England American Studies Association, Providence, Rhode Island.
So the author Nancy L. Gallagher relied on a self-identifying "Abenaki" and two persons allied with Homer Walter St. Francis Sr., that being Charlie L. Delaney Jr. and Chris Roy (?).
NOTE: I have nothing against the author of "Breeding Better Vermonters" ... lot's of people were and are being duped by these "Abenakis." She relied on the above mentioned person's who have a political agenda, and in their belief and perception fraudulently, that they are "Abenakis" are biased to "bend" the Eugenics Survey of Vermont reality, for their own purposes, yet relying on people's ignorance and inability to see and review the ACTUALLY documentation of the Eugenics Records themselves.
Again Vermonter's have NOT SEEN verbatim the Vermont Eugenics Survey Records themselves. These fake "Abenakis" and their allies, such as John Scott Moody and Christopher Roy were and are using SUBJECTIVE "evidence." They are using this subjective "evidence" as a political weapon. So let's do the evaluation, objectively.
Let's SEE and REVIEW some of the families documented in this pseudo-genealogical / pseudo "scientific" Eugenics SURVEY study.
The Vermont Public is not demanding or evaluating OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE.
BUYER BEWARE. The narrative has been subjective; not objectively supported.
Page 81:
Gypsies represented the antithesis of respectable middle-class values. Interestingly, Henry Perkins did not publicly mention the Ishamelites as he as Estabrook's other families. Henry Perkins, head of the VT Eugenics Program simply superimposed the Ishamel fable on one very old kinship network in Vermont.
Oh, so the "gypsy" Phillips family of Vermont was not being documented by the Eugenics Survey of Vermont, because they were "Abenakis" but rather because Antoine Phillips Sr. married a FRENCH woman.
That being Catherine (nee: Émery dit Codèrre). Antoine Phillips Sr. was the son of Peter Phelps of St. Albans, Franklin County, Vermont and Nancy (Mach?), both of whom were identified as being of color (Black, Negro). [See the Phelps Phillips Time Line in this blog].
Y-DNA Genetic testing confirms the Haplogroup B-M181 for this Phillips Family in Vermont. This particular Y-Haplogroup originates solely out of Africa. Peter Phelps was a man, along with his wife, who were born out of SLAVERY, in Connecticut, and brought up into Franklin County, Vermont by the Keyes and Sheldon Families ca. 1792. This genetic confirmation supports the Vermont Vital Records, as well as the social history recorded in the Vermont Newspapers regarding several direct-male descendants of Antoine Phillips Sr. and Catherine.
The "Gypsy" Phillips family of Vermont was one of the first and most extensively studied kinship networks in the survey.
"Henry F. Perkins featured two other examples of Vermont "degeneracy" in his Lessons: the Pirates [Jerome's] and Chorea [Lacroix / Cross] Family."
"We will not be the "Indian Police ..."
... as in Nancy L. Gallagher nor Judy (Fortin) Dow would determine in their study as who is, and who is not "an Indian" / "an Abenaki" ... " in their examination of this so-called "Moccasin Village Project." Documented substantiation be damned.
WHY is that?
WHY aren't these question(s) being explored as to the dynamic of Vermont's "Abenaki" pop-up groups AND their members (?) including that of alleged "Moccasin Village" member Judy Dow?
Why all of a sudden, did Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow, with her ally Nancy Gallagher, suddenly begin talking about an alleged "Moccasin Village"?
Was it out of fear and concern SHE (Judy) would be excluded from Vermont State Recognition, as an "Abenaki"? Her grandfather SAID she was "Abenaki" allegedly when Judy was an ADULT, but what documentation was there to support that belief and perception?
How come no other decent researcher in the State of Vermont (not even the late Gordon Malcolm Day) who was searching for Vermont Abenaki COMMUNITIES, was not made aware of this so-called "Moccasin Village" of Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont (?) from ANY Abenakis he knew?
"Don't ask the question of someone else as to how they are Indian/Abenaki ... genealogically. IF anyone dare ask that question of how someone is an Abenaki, now that's ... being the "Indian Police," according to Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow.
Not the Phillips, not to the Cross, and not the Jerome families. Not even Judy A. (Fortin) Dow should be asked as to HOW she and they are Abenaki, as she repeatedly has indeed identified herself as such repeatedly ... that's off-limits. That's defiling their families, that's ethical bias. Because they and theirs will be traumatized, hurt, and mistreated according to Raymond J. Brow Jr.
We KNOW there are thousands of people who are pretending to be ... who have developed their persona's as that they are "Abenakis" when in fact, they have NO ABENAKI ANCESTRY and or that their ancestral Indian is 9 to 15 generations into the distant genealogical past. These pretender made-up "Abenakis" within Vermont and New Hampshire do not want the John Q Public to realize this reality, this genealogical truth.
Instead of saying "You don't look Indian" or "How much Indian are you?" ...
Ask these questions of those persons claiming to be "Abenaki" ...
WHO ARE YOUR ABENAKI ANCESTOR(S)?
BY NAME ... WHO WERE IDENTIFIED AS ABENAKIS.
WHAT COMMUNITY of ABENAKIS did YOUR ANCESTOR(s) COME FROM?
Judith (nee: Fortin) is the daughter of Robert Fitzman Fidiem Fortin and Marguerite Elizabeth (nee: Lacassé) ...
OBITUARY:
Margarite (LaCasse) Fortin age 94 years, died May 27, 2016 at the Mansfield Place Assisted Living Facility in Essex, Vermont. Margarite was born in Essex in 1922 and was nicknamed “Tootsie” by her siblings. The nickname stuck with her and she carried it for the rest of life. The residents and staff at Mansfield Place in Essex shared the last two years with Tootsie bringing joy and companionship to her after the passing of her husband, Robert (Bob) Fortin in 2010.Tootsie and Bob are survived by their five daughters. Judy Dow and her husband Steven of Essex, Nancy Comstock and her husband Jeff, Tina Gibbo and her husband Tim, all of Burlington, Anita Braman and her husband Arnold from Chelsea and Bobbie Barnack and her husband Chris from Fairfax.
Tootsie also had many wonderful years enjoying her eleven grandchildren and many great grandchildren. She created a true home, not just a house, for those who entered.
Tootsie came from a large French Canadian family. Growing up on the family farms first in Essex and, later, in Williston, Vermont she shared responsibilities on the farm with her 13 siblings. Tootsie is also survived by two brothers, Francis (Frankie) and Albert (Bubby) LaCasse and a sister, Catherine Long.
Tootsie worked in many places, but the one she most often remembered in her stories was working at Fanny Farmer Chocolate. Tootsie loved chocolate. She could tell you what was in a chocolate without pinching it to peek inside. Anyone who came to visit Tootsie could never leave without first having a piece of candy.
Tootsie will be remembered by her quiet, gentle, and friendly nature. Her predictable and humorous one- liners will be greatly missed; they always kept everyone laughing.
Tootsie and Bob planned their funerals together years ago knowing they would be reunited. This day has come.
Visiting hours will be from 4 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday, May 31st. at LaVigne’s Funeral Home, 132 Main Street in Winooski. A Catholic Service will be held at the LaVigne’s on Wednesday June 1st at 11:00 AM. The burial service will follow at the New Mount Calvary Cemetery on Plattsburg Ave. in Burlington.
Margarite’s family would like to thank the residents and staff at Mansfield Place for all the love and care they shared with our mother. In lieu of flowers, please perform an unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness for someone in memory of Tootsie.
Gertrude L. whom married to N. Cross on May 23, 1921 in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont. Neil was the son of Narcisse Nelson Cross and Eliza Ann (nee: Feeny).
It was this Gertrude who spoke to the Eugenics SURVEY representative Harriett E. Abbott (H.E.A.) ... (just as Jacob Phillips) was also speaking of his family's ancestry and doings with H.E.A.
Gertrude was genealogically a Great Aunt to Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow. Judy was Gertrude's Grand Niece.
This is called Lateral Descent. Some call it Collateral Descent.
Operative Words: Used to SAY ... SEEMS to verify ...
Genealogically, Historically, and Genetically
the 'narrative' by Judy Dow is not supported (YET)
Herménégilde Fortin
Born January 1876 Baie Ste. Paul, Charlevoix, Québec, Canada
Died 22 Feb 1922 Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont
Married Avila Trombley
Born January 1876 Baie Ste. Paul, Charlevoix, Québec, Canada
Died 22 Feb 1922 Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont
Married Avila Trombley
Judy A. (nee: Fortin) Dow
Judy Dow IMPLIES by belief that she is of Abenaki descent
and
She Advertises and Promotes Herself and her Ancestors
as Abenakis
SHOW me WHERE and WHO ARE HER ABENAKI ANCESTORS!
She has no Abenaki Ancestors!
Judy (Fortin) Dow's Genealogical Mapping:
Indeed Judy does descend from Claude-Mathias* Fanef (Born Matthias Farnsworth)
(1690-1773)
1. Mathias Farnsworth and Sarah Holden Nutting
2. Claude Mathias Farnsworth/ Phaneuf dit Phan (Captive)
3. Claude Phaneuf
4. Marie Marguerite Phaneuf
5. Catherine Marie Laberge
6. Joseph Joubert (Sr.)
7. Joseph Joubert (Jr.)
8. Vitaline Joubert
9. Oliva Olivier (Pete) Lacassé
10. Marie Elizabeth Lacassé
11. Judy Ann (nee: Fortin) Dow
In those days, New France and New England were continuously in war. The Indian tribes were divided between the two parties, according to their economical interests.
When the young Matthias III was captured by the Indians allied to the French, he and thirteen other men were reaping in a field at Groton, MA. Nowhere else, in a written document of Groton, MA, it is mentioned that someone else of the family was either captured, wounded or killed in a skirmish or an attack. Only two implied in the skirmish with about twenty Indians that day, somebody by the name of Butterfield who managed to escape somehow, sometime, and another man were captured. It appears that Matthias III was that other man brought in captivity in New France. Nobody else from Groton was captured during the summer 1704.
The (Mohawk) Indians who captured him on August 11, 1704 (Gregorian calendar), brought him to Montréal, more precisely in their tribe of Sault-au-Récollet.
Matthias stayed captive of the Indians at the Sault until the end of 1705 or early in 1706.
He was then bought by the Sulpician's, in fact by Sir François Vachon de Belmont and he was baptized on January 10, 1706. His godfather was Governor Claude de Ramezay (origin of Claude added to his first name) and his godmother, Elisabeth Souart, wife of Charles Lemoyne sieur de Longueuil. They tried to franchify his name according to the English phonetic of the time. This gave "Farneth" for his baptism, then "Fanef" at his wedding. After many variations (Farnets, Fairnout, Fanef, Phaneffe, Faneffe, Faneuf) according to the caprice of the scribes, it is only in 1755 that it was spelled "Phaneuf" for the first time in the registers of Pointe-aux-Trembles. Claude-Mathias asked for his naturalization on October 30, 1706. He will obtain it in May 1710. He worked for the Sulpicians until around 1711. In acknowledgment for his services, he obtained from Sir de Belmont a valuable estate at Rivière-des-Prairies, including land, house and farm buildings, on July 19, 1711.
October 2, 1713, is a great day for Claude-Mathias, he got married to the girl of his neighbor, Catherine Charpentier. They lived happily at Rivière-des-Prairies where they brought up ten of their twelve children (two boys died at a very young age). The ten children got married and gave them a total of 115 grandchildren (110 were born before the death of Claude-Mathias).
April 03, 2003
ABENAKI BASKET MAKING AND THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF LEARNING
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening at the Brownell Library, in Essex Junction, Vermont
Presented by Judy A. (nee: Fortin) Dow, Abenaki master basket-maker and outdoor educator.
878-6955.
April 06, 2003
The Burlington Free Press Newspaper
ABENAKI BASKET MAKING AND THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF LEARNING
7:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M. Wednesday, Brownell Library, Essex Junction, Vermont
Presented by Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow, Abenaki master basket-maker and outdoor educator.
878-6955.
April 07, 2003
The Burlington Free Press Newspaper
By Eve Thorsen – Free Press Correspondent
ESSEX JUNCTION
History series begins Wednesday: First program to focus on Abenaki
The Brownell Library will launch a history series Wednesday that will include a wide variety of presentations on Abenaki history and culture this month, from the importance of traditional basket-making to a discussion of archaeology finds.
“Brownell to the World: A Year Long Library Adventure,” explores Vermont’s early history. The series, which will have a different theme each month, is funded by Vermont Public Library Foundation with a grant from the Freeman Foundation.
The series kicks off at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday with Judy A. (nee: Fortin) Dow, Essex, Vermont’s Abenaki master basket-maker and outdoor educator.
Judy Dow will talk on the importance of Abenaki basket-making and the traditional way of learning. Her collection of native-made baskets is on display in the glass case at the library throughout the month of April.
The second talk, April 16, 2003, will feature a slide presentation by John Crock of the University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology program. He will discuss “The Archaeology of Essex Junction: Native American Sites Discovered in Advance of the Circ Highway and Other Development Projects.”
Two other programs will focus on American Indian culture. Keith Lawrence will tell Iroquois and Abenaki stories for children in grades one through six at 10:00 a.m. on April 24, 2003. Keith Lawrence will be dressed as an 18th century Mohawk, “Sleeping Bear” … Teller of Indian Stories.
Gregory Sharrow, director of education at the Vermont Folklife Center, will host a program on the Abenaki of Vermont from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. April 30, 2003. The program includes a panel of Vermont American Indian people and a new video produced [The Abenaki of Vermont: A Living Culture VHS] by Greg Sharrow on the Abenaki tribe, its history and culture.
April 10, 2003
The Burlington Free Press Newspaper
The Culture behind the Crafts
(Alison Redlich, Free Press Photo)
Judy (Fortin) Dow is an Abenaki master basket-maker and spoke of the cultural significance as well as the artistry involved in basket-making.
Judy Dow, Abenaki
2003 St. Michael's College
Yankee Magazine
March - April 2006
Judy Dow, an Abenaki from Essex, Vermont
2004 Governor's Heritage Award: Judy (Fortin) Dow
and her narrative.
Quote: "When Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow was growing up, her family would move to their camp in South Hero, Vermont each spring. There, they would fish, garden and gather wild edibles, which would be preserved and would help sustain them through the winter months.
As an adult, she realized that her family's seasonal migrations bore a striking resemblance to the historic cultural patterns of Abenaki families in the region.. And eventually she learned - and her grandfather confirmed - that they were Abenaki.
Judy is a master basket-maker and beader and recently added snowshoe making to her skills. her firsthand experience with edible and medicinal wild plants makes her a veritable encyclopedia of traditional skills, which she shares nationally through organizations such as the American Indian Scouting Association and locally with students of all ages. Her hands-on outdoor classes reach more than 800 students per year.
She is a compelling teacher, whose fundamental goal is to promote the understanding that all forms of life are related and that every action has a consequence. She is also a powerful advocate for Native American people, insisting that Native Cultures be understood on their own terms, while reaching out to non-native people to help promote that understanding."
Ok, so reading the above Vermont Life article ... a question comes to mind:
HOW did her grandfather confirm that they were "Abenaki"?
Lots of people move from point A to B, and harvest off the land.
Doesn't mean they are Indians. A pattern of behavior that has 'a striking resemblance' to the Abenaki families in the region, doesn't make said person or family actually Abenaki either.
Did he say to granddaughter Judy, "We're Abenaki." and that was that?
Well, my grandmother Ruth Lucinda (nee: Keeney) SAID the Woodward's were 'Cherokee' Indians (but that didn't make us Cherokee's)
In retrospect ... I recall this ditty of a smear campaign against Judy (Fortin) Dow by the "Abenaki" Alliance back in the day. ..
March 13, 2008
The written attack on Koasek leader Nancy (nee: Millette) Cruger - Lyons (now married to Mark Doucet)' ethnic identity at the Senate hearing and in the press, by partisan Odanak supporter William Whitney of Northfield, VT (personal communication to Jeff Benay and Fred Wiseman 3/13/08).
(As well as the Denis Watso quote at the beginning of this article), has brought identity politics to the fore in this conflict between Odanak/Commissioners and the Four Organized Tribes.
Ms. Dow is a self-identified Abenaki who is a member of the all-Native Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, and is accepted in the larger New England Community as an Abenaki basket maker from Vermont. She makes a living, in part, based on a well-cultivated Abenaki identity. She is explicit that "I am an Abenaki basket maker" (17) with "deep ancestral roots to the Moccasin Village in the Winooski Intervale (18) or alternatively, the "Winooski family band of Abenaki" (19). She has been making baskets for 40 years, or since she was perhaps 13 years old; "I know who I am," she said. "People don't really say to me, 'Is this an Abenaki basket?'" They know I'm Abenaki." (20). However, according to Nancy Jean (nee: Fortin) Comstock, a woman who claims to be Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow's sister, her family is not Native. Unfortunately, many Vermont families have factions that claim differing ethnic identities, especially a Native ancestry. However, our issue of concern is more than ancestry; it is personal cultural history and veracity, the foundations of Dow's ethnic authority and livelihood. We believe that family testimony has revealed deception in this foundation. Ms. Comstock said they (Judy Dow's family) did not grow up at the Winooski Intervale and stories that Judy Dow tells about gathering and walking on the trails are untrue. Nancy Comstock said she had never hear of Mocassin Village and Dow's "father grew up at Convent in the New North End, Burlington not Winooski." Nancy Comstock said her sister Judy Dow was definitely not raised in the Native way. "They (Dow's family) were not raised knowing they were Indian". Instructively for other issues applicable to the Commission to the Commission discussed below, Comstock described her sister as a fraud, saying "Judy lies so much that she believes her own lies" (21). This familial assertion of identity fraud was reluctantly supported by Chief April Merrill, who disclosed (on March 6, 2008), that Mrs. Dow had applied, but was not able to meet the requirements for tribal citizenship in the St. Francis/ Sokoki (Missisquoi) Abenaki band. Although declining to go into details of the case due to the confidential nature of the applicant's file; Missisquoi's citizenship requirements require applicants to demonstrate a documented descendancy from a known Abenaki individual, family or band. This genealogical database includes historically known Abenaki families in the Burlington, VT area.
(21) Text of Chief Merrill's "sense of conversations" with Nancy Comstock
FYI, I'm writing to tell you about a phone call I received on March 01, 2008 at 8:50 AM. A woman named Nancy Comstock called me at my home; she claimed to be Judy Dow's sister. She said she supported me, my efforts, and what I do for my people. She apologized for her sisters actions and said she wasn't impressed with her actions. She said they are not native. She said Judy has made a living on the Abenaki name. She said they never grew up at the interval and the stories that Judy tells about the gathering and walking on the trails is all lies. She said she didn't know why Judy tells lies, and that she lies so much she believes herself. I told her we know about that we have one of our own who does this by telling people, her grandmother was born in a cave. I told her they must think by telling these stories this makes them more Abenaki. I thanked her for calling. Told her I need to get going because I was going to New Hampshire this morning for a funeral.
After thinking about this phone call for a couple of days, I decided I needed to call her back. I had questions I needed answered. So, I tried to call her back and we played phone tag for a couple of days. Last night March 06, 2008 I finally talked to her again. I asked her where they grew up. She said in Burlington, but they summered in South Hero most of the time. She asked me why I wanted to know this. I said that Judy has been telling people she her family is from Moccasin Village and the interval and she was from the Winooski family group of Abenaki. She said she had never heard of Moccasin Village and that they didn't grow up at the Interval, but that it was not at the interval and that it was in the New North End. She said they grew up in Burlington not Winooski. She didn't know where Judy got any of her information from because nobody was raised in the Native way or ever talked about it at all. She said Judy is pretty convincing with the stories she tells. She said Judy claims the Native side comes in on her grandfather's wife's side of the family. I asked her what their maiden name was she said Fortin. I asked what her grandmother's name was that the Native side was on she said she thinks Rocheleau but was not sure. She said Judy gave her some genealogy once and it had everyone listed on it but the problem was she (meaning Judy) had all of her sisters birth dates wrong so she didn't believe the rest of it and threw it out. After all Judy should have known when their birthdays were, they were sisters. She said there may be Native blood but she doesn't know for sure or not. I told her that Judy had applied for citizenship with our Tribe and she didn't meet the requirements and that she needed more documentation. We didn't say she wasn't Abenaki but, she didn't have the paperwork to prove it at the time she applied. She never provided us with any other documentation showing where an Abenaki line came in on her family tree. We knew she had learned to make baskets from Mali Keating (who by the way was Abenaki and her family came from Odanak) and that Judy had also been doing educational stuff with the school we figured this is why she applied for a citizenship card. We believe this is why Judy is using her position on the Commission to attack Missisquoi every chance she gets is because we didn't approve her application back when. Since she was already claiming to be Abenaki. I guess she thought it would be easy for her to get citizenship with us and she found out that it is not easy we have requirements that need to be met. Then we find out that years later she is saying she is from the Winooski Family Bands of Abenaki, which is not a group we have ever heard of before. She talks about Moccasin Village, and we have never heard of this before either. I told Nancy that when I testified the first time I said that whomever is coming forward saying they are Abenaki that they should have to prove it with Historical Documents and not just because they say so. I told Nancy there has been a lot of new groups coming out of the wood work not just the one Judy speaks of and most of them came out just before State Recognition. I told Nancy there has been a lot of new groups coming out of the wood work not just the one Judy speaks of and most of them came out just before State of Vermont the way the law reads now. They do not have to show any historical proof to anyone. But, that Missisquoi is the only Tribe by name mentioned in the bill. Then, I told her even Historians have never of Moccasin Village or of any Winooski based group.
Yes, there are sites in Winooski. I told her Judy hasn't really said to much more about Moccasin Village since I put the word out to people that I would like her to show us or anyone the historical documents that have the name "Moccasin Village" on them or the Winooski group. First of all, Abenakis wouldn't have used a white man's name to name a village to begin with. Nancy said her father's parents got divorce when he was around 10 or 12 and shortly after his mother died and he was raised in the orphanage. She said he was definitely not raised in the Native way either. They were not raised knowing they were Indian. She gets very upset when Judy talks about the colonist and what they did to the Native people because she (Nancy) believes she was raised as a colonist. She doesn't know where Judy gets the bit about being Winooski family group of Abenaki because they were not from Winooski. She said Judy lies so much that she believes her own lies: I asked her if she would come forward with this information. She said come forward to who? I said the Vermont Government, the Governor, Senators, Legislatures, & Suzanne Young legal council to the Governor and possibly the press. She said she would talk with Senators about this but wasn't for sure whether or not she would talk with the press because of past experience. I said she should definitely speak with Senator Vincent Illuzzi and that she should also speak with others as well and I suggested the Governor, Suzanne Young, and Senators from her area. I don't know if she has contacted any of these people or not.
She said that a Sally Pollack from the Burlington Press did a story on Judy once and that she (Nancy) called her on it. She said she told Sally she had been duped and Sally responded by saying that she only printed what she was told. Nancy said she asked Sally if she printed everything without the facts. Maybe, we should ask Terry Hallenbeck if she could look into this. She said she doesn't know where Judy gets all of her information from because no one in the family ever talked about being Abenaki or Native.
Chief April St. Francis Merrill
April (nee: St. Francis) Merrill was (along with others) on a SMEAR CAMPAIGN against Judy (Fortin) Dow in 2008, digging up any 'dirt' she could find on Judy.
As for the requirement that a membership applicant required to show definitively a documented descendancy from a known Abenaki individual, family or band ... that is a blatant LIE! Just read and review the 2005-2007 reports from the BIA.
I obtained two membership cards from the St. Francis / Sokoki group in Swanton, Vermont, the first one signed by "tribal judge" Michael Delaney and the second one, signed by "chief" Homer Walter St. Francis Sr. himself ... and I did not document that I was descended from an Abenaki individual, family or band. I relied on John Scott Moody's SAY SO and applied for membership.
Between Judy (Fortin) Dow and April (nee: St. Francis) Merrill, this 'attack' on Judy Dow was really not about ethnic fraud ... but rather, it was about a NAGPRA situation regarding a set of Native Skeletal Remains being reburied in the Winooski Interval. Judy was 'interfering' with April Merrill and John Moody/ Donna (nee: Carvalho)'s "business" $$$$ of reburying the dug-up human remains and possibly also burial artifacts of Native ancestral burials within Vermont.
June 12, 2016 at 10 AM – 12:30 PM
The Root Social Justice Center
28 Williams St, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
AGAIN, study her genealogical ancestors.
WHO is/ are the Abenaki in her ancestry?
She SAYS she is Abenaki ... repeatedly
Her dentist even SAID she must be ...
WHO is/ are the Abenaki in her ancestry?
She SAYS she is Abenaki ... repeatedly
Her dentist even SAID she must be ...
So like the game FIND WALDO, try to FIND AN ABENAKI ...
It is lucrative $$$ to claim to be ... "an Abenaki"
So take a review and see for yourselves the Cross Family who allegedly had Huntington's Chorea.
Of course, they didn't have this condition, nor really. But it made a good excuse ...
Do you see anywhere, the reality that any of the Cross family were identified or were identifying as "Abenakis" let alone, that they themselves were an 'Indian'? ... (I don't, but look for yourselves people).
My reason for putting the Cross Family Eugenics Survey records here in this blog is because the Eugenics Survey Project headed by Henry F. Perkins of the University of Vermont and Harriett E. Abbott (to name just a few of the Eugenic's players of the time) was started IN Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont.
The Eugenics Survey of Vermont started with 5 families, Cross - Lessor - Phillips, Jerome and Aiken. From there, Harriett E. Abbott and other (usually women) went lateral and backwards in these families, genealogically-speaking, which took them outside of Burlington, Vermont into other communities, such as Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont ... where communities members would speak about different families ... even Danville's very own Town Clerk, Asa Wesson, was sharing information and helping H.E.A. compile information on different varied families "pedigrees." Yet she was not (nor anyone above or below her) validating with objective evidence, that any of these families afore-mentioned, were in fact, Abenaki Indians. It was all subjective pseudo-genealogically oriented, and pure pseudo-scientific 'fluff' in order continue biases, discrimination, and oft times, simple disdain, and hatred towards those in a community deemed or labeled as "inferior" ... "feeble-minded" and other vague "labels" of pseudo-medical wordage, to make it appear that Eugenics was a legitimate scientific field of study. Clearly it was not.
In reality, the Eugenics Survey did a complete circle around the Intervale:
Burlington, then Colchester, then Winooski, etc etc. 62 families, 5 Major families were concentrated on research-wise, and 57 outlying "Sideline" families were investigated (Needed more work on) ...
No one inside those families claimed to be Abenakis; No one outside those families, talked to by the Eugenics Survey field researcher ... ever mentioned any of the families were Abenakis, let alone a single person being identified as BEING ABENAKI / INDIAN. It was always the perpetuated yet unsubstantiated oral history in a family that so & so "had Indian blood" as in ... so & so had an Indian ancestor. No one had the name of that Indian ancestor either ...
And I was thinking this evening, about this whole Eugenics Survey. It was a survey, and not a medical facility after all, located in Burlington, Vermont. From the early 1900's up into the 1970's, Native People's were, according to most people of that time in our American Society, of the mindset, that Native People's were to be no more... they were going extinct (according the beliefs and perceptions of the Colonizer Mind).
My point is this:
Richard Skip Bernier' mother is Marie Melvina Gabrielle Obomsawin dit Robert, an Abenaki woman from of Odanak, Quebec, Canada (the Abenaki Community on the St. Francis River since ca. 1678) and her 10 siblings lived in Orleans County, Vermont.
NONE OF THEM WERE MENTIONED IN THE EUGENICS SURVEY.
Why Not?
The answer lies with the context of society itself, and racism, bias and discriminatory behaviors ...
Abenakis living within Vermont, were either A or B.
A. Acting as Indians (like the Obomsawin' of Thompson's Point, Chittenden County, Vermont. Being 'romanticized' by tourists and folklorists, anthropologists, and ethnologists.
B. Ignored, because they acculturated through intermarriage to Non-Indian Peoples.
The Obomsawin's of Thompson's Point came down from Odanak, the Abenaki Community in Quebec, Canada, usually by train, to resort areas in the States year-after-year until galvanized buckets etc were invented, and lasted longer, than brown ash baskets, for the Vermont farmer. And there was political animosity towards Native People's coming and going across the U.S.-Canadian Border.
But those that 'acted' Indian, and announced their Abenaki ancestral connections, i.e. basket-making, circus employment, Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company Presentations, etc were all tokens of a dying mythical exotic past that was soon to die out, according the thinking of the day.
The (A) Abenaki Indians were not a problem. Manifest Destiny would eliminate them. And the children of most, would marry most likely to non-native people's, and acculturate into the White Man's Society.
The Abenakis who were living in Vermont, of (B) were also not a problem according to the Eugenics mindset of the day, because (again) intermarriage between an Abenaki woman to a non-Indian, would eliminate the subsequent children of such marriage having the ability to gain Indian Status (until the Courts of Canada or the United States change the rules of the game). The woman who married non-natives through C-31 who were from Odanak etc LOST their Indian Status.
Marie Mevina Gabrielle Obomsawin became a non-status Abenaki woman simply because she married a Frenchman, Elias Joseph Bernier. Her children, one of whom is Richard 'Skip' Bernier, only regained Native Status under the Indian Act of Canada, by way of elimination of the sexist discriminatory Indian Act law C-31 happened in June of 1986. But he was ALWAYS ABENAKI. We can see this very clearly genealogically, historically and socially.
Abenaki men kept their Indian/Abenaki Status even if they happened to marry a non-native woman. She of course, gained Indian Status, even though she had no Native Ancestry.
Now, when one looks at the Eugenics Survey of Vermont, some researchers and laypeople SAY that these families were targeted/ documented by the V.E.S. "because of their French Indian descent." and "because o French Indian traditions, language, and subsistence ways."
Ignoring the reality that these persons within the V.E.S. were documented in either the Children's Aid Society and Dept. of Public Welfare records, State Hospital Institutional Records, County and Town Records, and or Judiciary Records of which Harriett E. Abbott (H.E.A.) and her fellow Eugenics Advocates were using to conduct their work. They were also reading the Vermont newspapers, and or being sent varied newspaper clippings from others, about these families, such as about Peter Phillips II and III, and or the Jerome men, etc.
It wasn't because these people documented in the Eugenics Survey, were ever identifying as or being identified externally by others who knew them, as Abenakis or even as French Indians.
Abenakis and Mohawk's etc were of NO CONCERN to the Vermont Eugenicists.
That "problem" was already being solved, through intermarriage with Non-Natives within Vermont. Obomsawin's (from Thompson's Point, Vermont, as well as another cluster living in Orleans County, Vermont) descendants living in Vermont and elsewhere were already intermarrying with Non-Natives.
The three out of five initial families studied by the Eugenic Survey of Vermont were identified as French "Indian". Based on MYTHS, BELIEFS and PERCEPTIONS, by those being interviewed.
NOT that a particular person in any of these families was actually objectively identifying or identified as an Indian, but rather the families were French and allegedly had a Root Ancestry who perhaps was an Indian, in the distant past.
So what was the problem to be solved, when in regards to the Eugenics Survey agenda?
NEGRO PEOPLE living in Vermont who married WHITE PEOPLE.
Poor White People intermarrying to Rich White Vermont Protest Families and going rogue.
Henry Perkins ALLIED with Margaret Sanger in her Negro Project.
Margaret Sanger Racist-Eugenicist Extraordinaire
May 28, 1926 Letter
Less Children = Less Poverty = Ability to climb that Social Ladder into Acceptability socially.
Of course, that didn't take into account, the reality of discrimination and racism by White's against People of Color.
And before you RUSH TO JUDGMENT on my putting up the Eugenics Records on these five initial families and some Sideline Families that were investigated genealogical, socially and historically via Institutional Records, Judicial Records, Town Records, and even from information provided from within families such as Gertrude, who married into the Cross family, let me say this:
The Records of the Eugenics Survey are ALREADY being used by the State Attorney General's Office:
January 2003 VT State Response to Petition
Sex, Race, and Significant Intellectual Disability in Vermont
Nicole Vendituoli's The Vermont Eugenics Survey and the Western Abenaki Indians
October 11, 2012
Vermont's State Archives' Eugenics Movement Collection
Vermont state archivist Tanya Marshall talked about the history of the eugenics movement in Vermont and a study conducted by a University of Vermont professor interested in eliminating “defective” traits in Vermonters.
SO ... the Vermont Attorney General's Office can USE the Vermont Eugenics Survey Records, and the so-called "Abenakis" of Vermont can USE the Vermont Eugenics Survey Records, for both of their perspective political agenda's, but USING /SHOWING the Vermont Eugenics Survey Records is OFF LIMITS to researchers, such as my person, because the TRUTH and REALITY doesn't fit into their agendas? Even C-SPAN can use and show these records in part, because they are PUBLIC RECORDS at Archives. As they should be! And the State of Vermont NEEDS to invest in microfilming these records to help preserve these documents intact, for the public review.
And they all TALK 'around' the Eugenics Survey of Vermont Records but never show the actual documents. Well that's about to change ...
Not me. I am going right for the heart of this matter. The ACTUAL DOCUMENTS of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont, that sterilized not one Abenaki person whatsoever.
No person's name was ever mentioned in the Eugenics Survey Records of which Kevin Dann found in 1986, so all their claims and implied statements of alleged "fact" are all subjective ... that their relative was sterilized by the Eugenics Survey, "because they were "Abenakis" ...
REMEMBER: The Eugenics Records are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD. Anyone can go to the Vermont Archives and research and view these records first-hand.
VERMONT STATE ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
NON- DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
De-identifying EUGENICS SURVEY Information
The Eugenics Survey of Vermont was part of an international movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries based on the belief that an understanding and manipulating genetic heredity was the basis of social progress. In identifying genetic traits it saw as worthy of either cultivation or elimination, the Survey compiled information on individual families and communities.
Eugenic Survey records specifying "personal finances, medical or psychological facts concerning any individual are considered confidential under 1 V.S. A. 317 (c) (7). This law is in concert with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Privacy Rule which is a Federal law protecting personal health and medical information from disclosure.
NOTE: Eugenics Survey was a privately funded survey of pseudo-"facts." V.E.S. field investigators arbitarily began to label people as defective, dependent, or delinquent if records or local gossip inidcated the targeted people were alcoholics, adulterers, sexual offenders, "liars," "queers," or "wanderers" etc or were "feeble minded" and so forth.
These labels were not done by medically-trained doctors, or psychiatrists ... they were labeled by racist, eugenically-trained biased judgmental V.E.S. investigators/ surveyors hired by Henry Perkins.
Historically, the records of the Eugenics Survey have been open to the public and widely used. Therefore the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration (VSARA) permits the inspection and use of the records of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont provided, however, that the researcher de-identifies the individual in any notes, documentation, or publications that the researcher creates or produces during or following his or her inspection and use of the records.
The HIPPA Privacy Rule identifies 18 elements that could be used to identify the individual or the individual's relatives, employers, or household members: these elements are enumerated in the Privacy Rule. These elements alone or in combination with other information may be used to identify the individual who is the subject of the information. Using initials and country geographic subdivision are acceptable. The identifiers that must be removed in all notes, documentation, publications, and related source material are the following:
1. Names.
2. All geographic subdivisions smaller than a state, including street address, city, county, precinct, ZIP code, and their equivalent geographical codes, except for the initial three digits of a ZIP code if, according to the current publicly available data from the Bureau of the Census:
a, The geographic unit formed by combining all ZIP codes with the same three initial digits contains more than 20,000 people.
b. The initial three digits of a ZIP code for all such geographic units containing 20,000 or fewer people are change to 000.
3. All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly related to an individual, including birth date, admission date, discharge date, date of death: and all ages over 89 and all elements of dated (Including Year) indicative of such age, except that such ages and elements may be aggregated into a single category of age 90 or older.
4. Telephone numbers.
5. Facsimile numbers.
6. Electronic mail addresses.
7. Social security numbers.
8. Medical record numbers.
9. Health plan beneficiary numbers.
10. Account numbers.
11. Certificate/license numbers
12. Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers.
14. Web universal resource locators (URL,s).
15. Internet protocol (IP) address numbers.
16. Biometric identifiers, including fingerprints and voice prints.
17. Full-face photographic images and any comparable images.
18. Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code, unless otherwise permitted by the Privacy Rule for re-identification.
I, ____________________________ understand the content and substance of this agreement wand will comply accordingly,
Signature:___________________________________ Date:___________________________________
So then WHY the 'non-disclosure agreement' for anyone who seeks to view and research the Eugenics Survey records? If these records are not applicable to HIPPA and clearly are not Medical Records, nor Employment Applications but rather these Eugenics Survey Records were and are part of a pseudo-genealogical / "scientific" survey study, why the need to keep the actual Eugenics Record documents outside the viewership of the Vermont Public?
Fear of stigma? To the families mentioned and studied in the Eugenics Survey, or the fear of stigma to the State of Vermont itself? These records are NOT part of the State of Vermont "officially": as the Eugenics Survey was PRIVATELY Funded by a private organization headed by a UVM Professor, Henry Perkins.
So WHY all the 'State Secrecy' in preventing these Eugenics records from being viewed by the Public online in digitized format, document for document, in the hopes that they will be forgotten?
Cats already out of the bag, since at least 2010.
(... there's more about MANY "Abenaki" actors and players in the Vermont "Abenaki" dynamic, but suffice it to say, there's only so much time in a day ... but rest assured I am mapping it all out chronologically and in detail)
Btw, Judy Dow doesn't like the fact that I am posting this particular entry, and 'outing' her.
She was also upset about a 2010 entry Judy Dow vs. April St. Francis-Merrill wherein I made a comparative in thought between these two alleged "Abenaki" women.
Evaluating Judy (Fortin) Dow's genealogical background, it was ascertained based on what was at-hand at-the-time, it was indicated that her ancestor was connected to Marie Mite8ameg8k8e born ca. 1635, an Algonquin woman who married a Frenchman, Pierre Couc dit Lefleur. Suffice it to say, the descendant of this Algonquin woman, had indeed adopted a Marie Charlotte (nee: Ménard dit Lafontaine b. 1742- d. 1744) was adopted by Jean Baptiste Ménard dit Fontaine (ca. 1695-1764) and his wife Marie Huet dit Dulude (1698-1774). Jean Baptiste Ménard dit Fontaine was a grandson of Pierre Couc dit Lefleur and Marie Mite8ameg8k8e.
This adopted 'daughter' Marie Charlotte was the biological daughter of Charles Argeantcour Argeancour Ménard (Sioux Slave) and Charlotte Rondauqui dit Rondeau.
Now BEFORE you readers point and say "Well Judy Dow is a Indian because of this Sioux Slave" ...
Judy (Fortin) Dow's ancestor Marie Charlotte (nee: Ménard dit Lafontaine) was born 25 Oct 1710 in Boucherville, and married to a Jean Baptiste Lefort dit Laforest in 1738. This Marie Charlotte's parents were FRENCH.
Now there is an "indication" possibly, of another Native female ancestor IN Judy (Fortin) Dow's ancestry:
A Louise Cosmouet dit Cochmoite born ca. 1678 Cocheco, Nouvelle-Angleterre (auj. Dover, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. She married to a Frenchman, Nicolas Gladu dit Cognac on 5 Apr 1701 in Trois-Rivières, St. Maurice, Québec, Canada.
Narratives and Identities in the Sainte Lawrence Valley, 1667-1720
By Linda Breuer Gray
Deparment of History
McGill University, Montreal, May 1999
A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of philosophy.
Abigail Cursinwhitt (a.k.a. Louise Cousmouette, Carson, Coursin, Couchenouette, Aabagail Coursin, Coursonouit, Cosmouet, Cochmoite),
Trois-Rivieres 1689-1704 Dover, New Hampshire SOURCE: NANF, 118; NEC 1: 141-65; Jette, 505.
"She was six years old when she was captured by the Abenakis in the attack on Cocheco (Dover, N.H.) near York, Maine. Abigail may have been related to Cornelius Carson in 1690. She was ransomed by a man named Dehennot and taken to Trois Rivieres. In 1701 she married Nicolas Gladu dit Cognac. The couple had two children. Abigail died at Trois Rivieres in 1704. For the treaties, treachery, raids and counterraids in the region of Dover (Cocheco), beginning in 1676 when over one hundred Indians were hanged or sold into slavery, see NEC 1: 137-42. [Emma Lewis. New England Captives Carried to Canada. Portland: Southworth Press, 1926. 2 vols.]
Note N00623 [mcorson.ged] Married as Louise COCHENOUETTE, perhaps. If so, all information for Gladu family taken from rootsweb.com pages. Other pages list Jean COCHENOUETTE and Marie Meriapse as parents of Louise. Perhaps I entered in all the Gladu information too soon. Last name also reported as Cosmouet, with mother as Meriapte. Bummer. Or Marie Abs, according to Roger Lawrence. How does Cornelius CORSONWHITT become Jean COCHENOUETTE? And Hannah HOBBS become Mary MARIAPSE? Doesn't add up.
Abigail captured by Indians in a raid on Cochecho Point (Dover, N.H.) on 28 Jun 1689 (the Cochecho Massacre) or Feb 1690; taken to Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada. Apparently baptized Catholic in Canada as 'Louise Corsonouit', living in Trois Rivieres, and received 60 livres of the King's money. Nothing further heard of her.
Possibly married Nicholas Gladu on 4 Apr 1701. Captured by Indians in a raid on Cochecho Point (Dover) on 28 Jun 1689 (the Cochecho Massacre) or Feb 1690; taken to Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada.
But again, this may be 'subjective' data, and Judy's ancestor, Louise (Cosmouet dit Cochmoite) Gladu dit Cognac may or may not have been a Native woman descendant.
Well, I am looking for ANY evidence of Native Ancestral lineage in her parent's ancestors. IF you find Waldo or an Abenaki, please contact me. I am looking for ANY Native Ancestor in Judy (nee: Fortin) Dow's ancestry.
After all, she has repeatedly claimed to be "Abenaki" because her grandfather (when she was an adult) allegedly 'confirmed it' (according to Judy Dow).
Until the documentary evidence of Abenaki Genealogical connection is sitting a table, her Race Shifting (as with many other's claiming to be "Abenakis") is simply SUBJECTIVE.
More on Judy (Fortin) Dow in the next post ... or a little later on down the line.
Notice how in the article "her use of Abenaki basket making" to tell the untold stories "of her ancestors who experienced oppression and injustice" ... really, show me this woman's Abenaki ancestors!!!
Judy Dow HAS NO ABENAKI ANCESTORS, let alone any Native Ancestors in the 1700's, 1800's or 1900's to present !! Only objectively, through Marie Kakesik8k8e Mite8ameg8k8e aka Mitcominqui (WESTERN ALGONQUINE - Weskarini)' whose daughter Marie Madeleine (nee: Couc dit LaFleur) Ménard dite LaFontaine who married also to a French man!
Native Line of Descent:
1. Marie Kakesik8k8e Mite8ameg8k8e aka Mitcominqui WESTERN ALGONQUIN - Weskarini
(married FRENCH)
2. Marie Madeleine Couc dite LaFleur (married FRENCH)
3. Marguerite Françoise Ménard dite LaFontaine (married FRENCH)
4. Marie Louise Boileau (married FRENCH)
5. Marie Louise Perrault (married FRENCH)
6. Michel Poirier dite Roy (married FRENCH)
7. Ursule Poirier dite Roy (married FRENCH)
8. Joseph Blain / Blair (married FRENCH)
9. Delphis (Delphin) Blain / Blair (married FRENCH)
10. Nora Alice Blain / Blair (married FRENCH)
11. Marie Elizabeth Lacassé (married FRENCH)
12. Judy Ann (nee: Fortin) Dow
So seemingly Indian-Country-Today media has been and is PROMOTING RACE SHIFTING !! And ETHNIC AND CULTURAL APPROPRIATION of the Abenaki People, in March 2020.
Of course, Judy Dow will continue to INSIST that she is "Abenaki" by whatever means or stories she can tell. That's just 'in her nature', and now just cognitive dissonance on her part (IMHO).
What Abenaki Community does she belong to? Certainly this contemporary "Winooski Band" nonsense is subjective and simply her trying to desperately legitimize her own race shifting. Now she identifies as "French/Abenaki" (like some who now identify as Abenaki/Huron based on NOTHING). Because those 1600's ancestress women that they themselves descend from were never Abenakis to begin with ! But these people have to INSIST they are Abenakis, because the LIES are indeed more comfortable to live with than facing their own lies about their ancestors!
Birds of a Feather Flock Together ... and apparently they PROMOTE each other too.
