The Real Abénaki of N'dakina (Vermont)
and surrounding territory
The Pretendian$ of the VT-NH “Abenakis”
September 30, 2023
The Times Union Newspaper
By Charles Churchill – Columnist
Churchill: Is Joseph Bruchac truly Abenaki?
The Saratoga Springs poet laureate has made his reputation as a Native storyteller, but Abenaki tribal leaders accuse him of stealing their culture
GREENFIELD — Joseph Bruchac, the city of Saratoga Springs' designated poet laureate, has made his name and reputation as an Abenaki storyteller and writer. He may even be the Abenaki’s most prominent living representative, a role that has allowed him to both define and promote its culture.
The Greenfield Center native has written dozens of Indigenous-themed books, including, to name just two examples, “The Faithful Hunter: Abenaki Stories” and “Raccoon’s Last Race: A Traditional Abenaki Story.” Bruchac is the founder and director of the Ndakinna Education Center, which, among other programs, offers Native-themed programs to school children. He and his sons frequently offer workshops on “Abénaki” culture and language.
But is Bruchac truly Abenaki?
Leaders at Odanak First Nation, an Abénaki reserve in Quebec, maintain he isn’t. Some there regard Bruchac’s prominence with annoyance — and even anger — and say he should not be telling their stories and speaking on behalf of their people.
“He’s not promoting our culture,” Jacques Watso, an Odanak council member, told me. “He’s thieving and profiting on a culture that’s not his.”
Bruchac, in turn, says he has always conceded that he is not fully Abenaki and that his Indigenous heritage came to him via a maternal grandfather [Jesse Elmer Bowman] who the author believes had Native heritage. Bruchac told me Odanak members are acting “as gatekeepers to a gate that doesn’t exist” and shouldn’t be attempting to define who is and isn’t Native.
Bruchac went on to claim that Native heritage is not only about blood and ancestry. He suggested cultural membership can be learned and earned with hard work and sincere attention, comparable in some respects to his mastery of karate.
“Am I not a black belt because I wasn’t born as one?” he asked.
Questions about Bruchac’s identity are part of a broader fight over the validity of the Vermont-recognized Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, which includes the author as a member. Odanak Abénakis have long insisted that Vermont’s state government is too easily granting tribal membership to people who claim Native identity without proof.
Those allegations gained traction earlier this year when New Hampshire Public Radio reported that its investigation into the genealogies of Nulhegan tribal members failed to support claims of Abénaki ancestry. That led the station to issue a public admission.
“NHPR acknowledges that our newsroom has not sought to verify claims of Indigenous ancestry before, relying on sources to self-identify,” said an editor’s note posted on the network’s website. “We now understand that verifying such claims — especially when it comes to people who claim leadership or speak on behalf of an Indigenous community and are not members of a federally recognized tribal nation — is part of our basic responsibility as journalists.”
That was a victory for the Odanak First Nation, which is formally recognized under strict Canadian government guidelines and is directly linked to an Abénaki tribal territory that included parts of Canada and much of what is now New England. Odanak residents believe Vermont, which granted the Nulhegan state recognition in 2011, is allowing people with little or no Native heritage to erase its members by replacing them.
“I can only water down a glass of milk so much before I have a glass of water,” said Rick O’Bomsawin, who is the Odanak First Nation chief. “If these people are Abenaki, I’m pretty sure their blood is pretty thin. They’re closer to a glass of water.”
O’Bomsawin stressed that his complaint was primarily with Vermont officials and not with Bruchac or other individual Nulhegan members. But the chief added that legitimate claims of Abénaki heritage can result only from being able to trace family links across generations, and he was skeptical of oft-heard claims that those links might have faded because some Abénaki felt compelled to hide their identities or pass as non-Native.
“A lot of those stories are full of holes,” O’Bomsawin told me. “If you can’t link yourself to one of our Abénaki families, we have a tough time believing that you’re part of our Abénaki family.”
Bruchac wrote about his grandfather in “Bowman’s Store: A Journey to Myself,” an engaging memoir about growing up just outside of Saratoga Springs. Bruchac writes that his grandfather seemed to have the appearance and demeanor of a Native person but referred to himself as French.
“Jesse Bowman raised me to manhood without ever admitting his heritage, yet today I am known as an American Indian storyteller and writer,” Bruchac wrote in the 1997 book. “People in many parts of this country and other countries read my words. Some even think of me as a teacher, of sorts.”
When we spoke, Bruchac said other people allegedly told him his grandfather was Abénaki, leading me to ask if he’d been able to verify that.
“We assumed it to be true based on things that we’ve known about his previewed complexion genealogy,” Bruchac said, before bristling at follow-up questions, including one about his grandfather’s mother having a maiden surname, Van Antwerp, that would seem Dutch.
I can understand his irritation. It can’t be pleasant to have a stranger questioning your ancestry, and I felt uncomfortable asking. It felt a bit perverse to be attempting to calculate the percentage of his Native ancestry, as if some fraction or another could help justify his career.
Joseph Bruchac, meanwhile, noted it is only Native people who are asked to explain their heritage and that it is too often non-Native people (and their governments) who end up casting themselves as the judges of authenticity.
Fair enough. But in this case, it’s the Odanak First Nation raising the issue.
“Indigeneity is a collective community identity and not an individual identity,” Mali Obomsawin, an Odanak First Nation musician, said during a 2022 University of Vermont event in which the Abenaki aired their concerns about “pretendian$” and Abénaki identity and cultural heritage theft. “That means you cannot claim to be Indigenous if the Indigenous community does not claim you back.”
Jacques Watso, the council member, said the Odanak Abénakis have repeatedly asked Joseph Bruchac to provide proof of Native ancestry and the response “is always a different story.” Jacques Watso added that Joseph Bruchac, who has degrees from Cornell and Syracuse universities, has benefited from advantages often beyond the reach of Indigenous people while bearing few of their burdens.
“He takes what is beautiful within our Abénaki culture and leaves us with all the trauma and racism that we went through,” Watso said, noting that Bruchac often wins fellowships and awards that, to his mind, are products of theft. “He stole our Abénaki culture. He stole our Abénaki stories. He profits from stealing our Abénaki culture.”
Bruchac, 80, was named Saratoga’s first poet laureate in January. In August, he won the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship and a $50,000 reward that is among the largest available to poets. The fellowship will result in Bruchac teaching workshops on Indigenous culture to children.
Bruchac told me he has often turned down fellowships and other opportunities specifically created for Native people. He doesn’t consider himself a Native spokesperson, he added, and said he has used his privileges and skills for good.
“I am what I am. I do what I do,” he said. “I don’t think anything that I’ve done has been injurious to Native communities.”
Perhaps paradoxically, the author framed the concerns raised by the Odanak Abénaki First Nation as tantamount to longstanding efforts to erase Native people and deny their continuing existence.
“They’re not going to shut me up,” Joseph Edward Bruchac III, the author and poet said.
NOTICE the word salad choice that Bruchac uses in this article.
“Native heritage”
“Indigenous”
“a Native person”
“Indigenous ancestry”
“an American Indian”
“Native people”
“Native communities”
NO ...
It is specifically about
being CONNECTED to the Abénakis
to HISTORICAL COMMUNITY of Abénakis
to LIVING COMMUNITY of Abénakis
NOT from Three Centuries ago !!
February 26, 2024
Dawn Land, Politics and Storytelling the Bruchac$ into the Indigenous Landscape with their 💩
An Open Letter to the Times Union Editorial
Let me start by saying two things. I am an enrolled member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, an Indigenous Tribal Nation that is legally but fraudulently recognized by the state of Vermont.
I am also an ally and a friend of Odanak First Nation, one of two small Abénaki Reserves in Quebec, Canada. My family and I have been so for many decades.
That should be all I need to say, but the unrelenting attacks on the “legitimacy” of the Vermont Abenaki Nations — and on my own reputation — have made it necessary for me to
speak up.
As a writer and a storyteller, it has always been my practice to not only do deep and extensive research about anything I intend to publish, but to consult the appropriate tradition bearers, and to share my words and intentions for review and approval before my writing makes its way into print.
This has been my practice for decades, whether writing about West Africa, Slovakia, or the broad and complex canvas of the many Indigenous Nations of the Americas.
I have always endeavored to be open and honest about my personal history, never denying that I am of mixed ancestry and that much of what I know about my family’s ethnic heritage has been learned in my adult years. My autobiographical writings bear witness to this.
At this point, I think it is important to note that every Tribal Nation in North America has a different story to tell about what happened during and after European colonization. The disruption and deceptions of colonialism continue to this day. Here in the Northeast, for example, most of our present-day federally-recognized and state-recognized Tribal Nations groups had no such recognition when I was a child. Native families were subject to hateful prejudice, discrimination, harassment, and worse, with minimal to no state or federal protection. The dominant misperception, promoted by many governments, museums, and educators, was that Northeastern Native people had somehow vanished, or were so
“mixed-blood” that we were not real.
Sadly, the current media-driven hate campaign [newspapers and VPR and NPR] , instigated by unethical and ill- informed scholars [Dr. Darryl Leroux PhD., Debbie Reese, et al.] and individuals [Douglas Buchholz] (including some Native people [Denise Watso, Jacques Watso, et al.]), is amplifying those old attacks and promoting those lies once again.
The Times Union editorial against me —despite being filled with multiple misquotes, misrepresentations, cruel opinions, and outright lies — is being accepted as if it were “truth.” As a direct result, some people ...
... are now urging that all of my books be withdrawn from libraries because — why? Because a few loud voices are shouting that they do not believe me to be Abenaki? How can anyone uncritically accept the outright slander against all Vermont State-sponsored “Abenaki” Pretendian$ without ever considering that there may be — at the very least — another side of the story?
Here, it seems necessary to point out that only a small percentage of my more than 180 books actually deal with Abénaki people, history, and culture. Those books are not, in any way, distortions of history or the truth.
One example is “The Winter People” (2002), my historical novel that tells the story of Robert Rogers’ 1759 raid on the mission village then known as Saint Francis. This book was written with the encouragement of Odanak citizen Stephen Laurent/Atian Lôlô (1909-2001) a dear friend and respected elder who was devoted to the preservation of the Odanak Abénaki language.
Stephen’s father, Joseph Laurent (1839-1919, Chief at Odanak from 1880-1892), authored an important book on the Abenaki, “New Familiar Odanak Abénaki and English Dialogues”
(1884). During the 1990s, Stephen helped my son Jesse gain fluency in the Odanak Abénaki language.
In writing this novel, I not only referred to English and French records of the event but also relied on
the oral traditions shared by Cécile Wawanolett (an Odanak Abénaki Elder) and Jeanne (Deforge) Brink (a Vermonter of Odanak Abénaki O'Bomsawin descent), who wanted me to tell the “real story” of that event. Not incidentally, Cécile, a longtime family friend, chose Jesse to be her assistant and then co-teacher in preserving the Odanak Abénaki language.
Another of my books on the “Abenaki” Pretendian$ ... “Hidden Roots” (2004), grapples with a more
recent traumatic era. This semi-fictional novel, which takes place during the 1950s, was inspired by the Vermont Eugenics Project, which engineered the forced sterilization of people who were regarded as genetically substandard. The novel is written from the point of view of a boy [Louis] who does not realize his family left Vermont to escape the Eugenics Project. It was inspired not just by research into the history of that dark time, but also by stories I heard from contemporary “Abenaki” Pretendian$ of Vermonter who, to this day, still fear that the violence of the eugenic era might return.
I hope this introduction contextualizes the following letter from Jeff Benay. It’s a statement of support from one of the many well-informed people who — after having worked with and supported Vermont's “Abenaki” Pretendian$ people over multiple generations — are shocked by the current climate of hateful accusations and slanderous media reporting.
PEACE
Dr. Joseph Bruchac
Letter from Je? Benay, Burlington, Vermont
My name is Jeff Benay, and I chaired the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs for the State of Vermont for fifteen years, having served Governor Howard Dean for five terms and Governor James Douglas for three. I currently serve as a commissioner on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, having been appointed by Governor Phil Scott for four terms. I am an Honor graduate from Union College in Schenectady, NY, with a BA in English Literature, having graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. I received a Master’s Degree from the University of Vermont (UVM) in Organization, Counseling, and Foundational Studies (Interdisciplinary), and a Doctorate from UVM in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. I served as the President of the Board of Northwestern Counseling and Support Services (NCSS) and the Board of Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO). My focus has been on the twin goals of equity and social justice in all these capacities.
While at Union, I lived in the greater Schenectady/Albany area for several years. I was a regular reader of your newspaper, always impressed by the thorough and fair reporting. Thus, I was shocked to read Chris Churchill’s diatribe attacking Joe Bruchac.
Chris’ attack on Joe’s veracity as a “true Abenaki” was a piece of sensationalist journalism, something I considered beneath your standards of excellence. Churchill wrote a piece based on no vetting of facts, simply parroting the words of others with no effort to verify or seek secondary sources. Churchill repeated the slurs of two Canadian activists [Odanak Abénakis Jacques Watso and Mali Obomsawin], those whose stated mission was to destroy Vermont’s “Abenaki” Pretendian$. Working alongside a highly paid public relations juggernaut, Odanak Abénakis Mali Obomsawin and Jacques Watso portrayed themselves as “victims” and the Vermont “Abenaki” Pretendian$ as somehow the “aggressor.” Chris Churchill never bothered to contact me for his article, yet I reached out to him several times to no avail.
WHY would Mr. Churchill need to talk with Jeff Benay? Benay was not the focus of the investigative article!
Despite this pair’s efforts to permeate social media, the print press, and the airwaves with their message of victimhood, the reality is that Mali and Jacques have been unable to convince a single reliable source in Canada or the United States that they are somehow activist “crusaders” who are working to unveil the duplicity of the Vermont Abenaki. Mali and Jacques were given a forum: Beyond Borders Presentation to disseminate their disinformation only at the University of Vermont (UVM).
Wherein, Mr. Benay took it upon himself to yell and make a “scene” and was promptly escorted out of the presentation for his choice of uncivil behavior, as a defender of the Vermont “Abenaki” Pretendian$ attempting to protect his own career integrity and hefty $$$$$ retirement account.
In retrospect, UVM administrators have acknowledged that the April 2022 symposium, “Beyond Borders,” was intended to be a history of the Odanak Abénakis, facilitated by Canadian Studies professor David Massell. Instead, the forum served as a fountain of disinformation and misinformation, leading to serious consequences for those who dared call themselvesVermont “Abenaki”.
As Jacques Watso has publicly admitted, no Canadian nor United States University has entertained their supposed “expose” of the Vermont “Abenaki”. Rather than considering this, UVM and the Vermont press have treated Jacques and Mali with undeserved attention and unverified veracity, leading to great harm.
Efforts to present Jacques and Mali with facts and information that confounds their intention to “cancel” the Vermont “Abenaki” have been met with disdain and disrespect for our “Native” communities.
The entire “race shifting” and “cultural appropriation” themes, first posited around 2010 and popularized by Darryl Leroux in his “Distorted Descent: White Claims to Identity” and subsequent articles, has seen no groundswell of interest among academia and others here in Vermont. The axis of Leroux/Obomsawin/Watso/
Massell and their attempt to polarize Vermonters against their “Abenaki” neighbors has been met with very limited success, and only when David Massell led his students to believe this effort had any topical appeal. Without this small group’s efforts to masquerade as social justice warriors and the complicity of the local media who recited the group’s allegations with no vetting of the facts, this transparent farce would have died on the vine.
The result? “Journalists” like Churchill have savaged the reputation of a legend whose 81-year existence has been exemplified by a commitment to individuals whose voices had long been marginalized. Joe Bruchac’s profound gift is his ability to integrate the hopes and fears of a people who have sought out his words as a salve, yet also as a clarion call for “something better.”
Indeed, when the late Missisquoi Chief, Leonard “Blackie” Lampman, passed, Joe Bruchac wrote a poem for the grieving family. Joe’s words were a source of comfort, yet they also inspired the entire “Abenaki” Pretendian$ community.
The local newspaper carried a photo of “Blackie” on the front page along with Joe Bruchac’s poem. The transcendent quality of Joe’s myriad publications has long been a source of pride for the local Vermont Abenaki. Furthermore, Joe has long served as an ambassador for the “Abenaki” and has generated a following among Native people and all Vermonters who appreciate learning about the original Vermonters — the “Abenaki” / Pretendian$.
Joe’s transcendent voice extols the virtue of harmony, not chaos, in a zeitgeist describing a more humane sensibility. Joe Bruchac has long internalized art as an affirmation of humanity, something described by critic Suzanne Langer as “an imposition of order upon the chaotic life of feeling.” In a world whose social fabric is fraying badly, Joe Bruchac offers a vision that promotes understanding, not hate, beauty, not ugliness. Yet, in a narrative sustained by peace, Bruchac is being savaged relentlessly. This poet warrior who once stood alongside those “Abenaki” who wanted to gain recognition many decades ago is now being castigated as though because he is a fake “Abenaki”.
Joe Bruchac gained admiration at a time when few mainstream humanities academics considered the Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ viable tribe 501(c)3 social groups. The acknowledgment of the “elite” mattered little to Joe, as his audience was his community. Joe’s devotion to the cause of “Abenaki” recognition was palpable. Through art, he brought the historical “Abenaki” to life. He helped to weave the unbroken ties through the decades, linking Elders of the community to the people struggling more recently to gain FRAUDULENT Vermont State recognition of their very existence. Through story and art, Joe has helped his community of ilk-minded “Abenaki”/ Pretendian$ connect their modern lives to their ancestral past, never doubting for a moment their authenticity, even when the European invaders who held power continued to deny the unbroken bonds of family and history.
The recent attacks on Joe Bruchac have been vicious and entirely unwarranted. 😭
These attacks have been put forth by a tiny group of activists whose intent and motive have been suspect. Instead of asking “cui bono?” and seeking to find out why Mali Obomsawin, Jacques Watso, David Massell and Darryl Leroux set out to smear and disparage Vermont’s Native people, the Vermont press and Vermont’s only land grant University have allowed this group of activists to disparage those who seek to claim their history, their culture, and their rightful place in the history of our State.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that it is the purview of U.S. tribal people to decide for themselves a definition for enrollment in a recognized tribe. Those questioning the validity of Joe Bruchac and other Vermont “Abenaki” claim that only Canadian Natives can exhibit genuine Abénakis genealogy.
Thus, the University of Vermont and the Vermont press are allowing a small group of foreign activists to question the genealogy and integrity of Vermont’s Native peoples. Are we now to return to “blood quantum” (NPR "Blood Quantum") because a small group of Canadians have decided to question whether Vermont’s Native population is “real”?
The Chief of Odanak, Rick O'Bomsawin, has held his position for 17 years. A year ago, Chief Rick O’Bomsawin called Jacques an “outlier” on the Odanak Tribal Council and clarified that Jacques’ opinions did not represent the Council. There is no support for the positions of Jacques, Mali, David, and Darryl outside of the “symposium” sponsored by Massell, a UVM professor with strong ties to Hydro-Quebec.
💩💩💩💩
Yet, the potential answer to “cui bono?” has never been explored. Instead, a “cancel culture” has spread, allowing individuals with zero facts and zero credibility to destroy years of efforts on the part of Native peoples in Vermont to claim their history, their culture, their language, their education, and the very bones of their ancestors.
Anyone doing a modicum of research would learn that Jacques’ uncle was Chief Walter Watso, a well-known Odanak leader who established lasting relationships with the Missisquoi tribe post-1975 501(c)3 social group. Indeed, the Odanak Tribal Council first issued a proclamation of support and solidarity around the time Vermont Governor Richard Snelling rescinded State Recognition in 1977. When asked about this apparent discrepancy between his views and those of his Elders, Jacques blithely claimed his uncle was “duped,” again with zero facts, evidence, or historical context to support his spurious claim.
This blog will provide those facts, evidence and historical context post-1975 to support Jacques Watso and other Odanak Abénakis and activist scholars ...
At the “Beyond Borders” symposium facilitated by UVM Professor David Massell in April of 2022, Mali Obomsawin was slated to discuss the history of Odanak and her community. Instead, she used the time to ridicule and mock the Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ and their leadership with completely unfounded rumors and literal “fake news.” Massell’s student acolytes greeted her diatribe with cheers as they filled the UVM Davis Center’s Maple Ballroom. She used her time to recycle old unfounded rumors of the late Chief Homer St. Francis selling membership cards and embezzling fund$. None of her allegations held a hint of truth, and, of course, the deceased Chief could not defend his reputation against this young woman. The facts are evident and available to anyone who wants to know the history.
I choose not to outline them here, as I hope to hold your attention long enough to make you wonder why this small group of “activists” is working so hard, backed by an expensive PR firm, to lie about Vermont’s Native population and smear the historical leadership of the tribes Pretendian$ of Vermont.
One only needs to contact me for an interview.
I have worked with the Vermont “Abenaki Pretendian$” for over 40 years.
I know the recent history because I have lived it.
Joe Bruchac is a treasure. His presence validates the beauty and history of the “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ made-up culture.
Indeed the Bruchac$ has indeed validated the Pretendian$
Joe’s membership in a FRAUDULENTLY Vermont state-recognized “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ tribe social clubs is all that is required (according to both federal and state standards of recognition) for him to continue to represent his community. The fact that a small group of foreign activists with suspect ties to a major energy industry can “cancel” one of the Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ finest artists is terrifying. I urge you to contact me immediately to learn the actual “facts”, the history, and the context for the art of Joe Bruchac and the deep ties he holds to a true Native population of Vermont’s first residents, the “Abenaki” / Pretendian$.
To ignore the obvious smear campaign being promulgated by a well-funded foreign group is a travesty that must end. Joe Bruchac is an “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ 💩 artist whose reputation is
being destroyed by a small group with a hidden agenda. We are living through a type of “blacklisting” reminiscent of another dark period. Please do not allow the nasty diatribes to cloud the Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ presence.
Over the past 50 years, these Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ social justice warriors have waged the battle for understanding. Those individuals standing in the way have no sense of history, no appreciation for the hostile conditions that long
defined the “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ - State of Vermont relationship$. These are people whose agenda has yet to be understood or vetted. Their vicious accusations are beginning to take a toll on the everyday Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ community members, who stop me in the street and ponder whether the devastating attacks are a precursor to something these tribal elders, in particular, believe could never again be witnessed. They fear distrust; they fear disbelief; and they fear disingenuous posturing borne of deceit and hate. The small group of naysayers claim a moral superiority over the people who have “fought the good fight” and have demonstrated a resiliency of bull 💩💩💩💩 that should be admired disdained by anyone truly interested in the tenets of social justice and equity. To claim Odanak as victim and Vermont “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ as aggressor is to parody and mock realize the TRUTH and REALITY of the deceased Odanak Abénaki Elders of Vermont’s Native population. It is to say the battle these courageous leaders undertook was no more than lip service, empty words never truly understood.
Therefore, I implore you to visit the Missisquoi Pretendian$ community and spend a few hours with those who have held tight to the idea they are worthy tribal citizens, proud to be called
“Abenaki” the original Vermonters. These “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ people hold Joe Bruchac in high regard, calling him “Pretendian brother.”
I urge you to take some time before jumping on the vile innuendo and scorn bandwagon. You cannot understand the “Abenaki” / Pretendian$ community unless you have broken bread with those I have worked with for over four decades. In a democratic society, such opportunity for earnest and frank discussion must be accorded priority. Without this forum, genuine critical thinking will remain illusory, and the possibilities for equity and social justice ideals to be realized will remain out of reach for the “Abenaki” / Pretendians$ and all Vermonters.
PEACE
Je: Benay, Ed.D.
October 01, 2023
Family Migration Stories
According to the Bruchac$ SUBJECTIVE family traditions:
“My great-great-grandfather Joseph Bowman died on a log drive on the Kennebec River in Penobscot territory in Maine”. His son, my great-grandfather, Louis (also Lewis) Bowman, was born in an Abénaki enclave in Brome-Missisquoi, Québec, in 1844.
AGAIN, the Bruchac$ love to play the PROXIMITY and alleged ASSOCIATION game.
In 1860, Louis Bowman Sr. [1844-1918] crossed the border to live for several years in the Winooski [Richmond, Vt.] and Missisquoi [St. Albans, Vt.] areas of Vermont, which were and are still home to large enclaves of self-identifying “Abenaki” people.
Bruchac proceeds to claim the Bowman's and Van Antwerp ancestors were “Abenakis” etc. [by-alleged-proximity-and-association] and that these ancestors, i.e., two 1600s-based Indian ancestresses of the region who was a direct descendant of both Iroquoian-speaking peoples through our Van Slyck lineage, and Algonquian-speaking peoples via our Van Tassel lineage. The descendant Jesse Bowman's mother Alice Van Antwerp's Dutch ancestral family included multiple DISTANT GENEALOGICAL 3 Centuries ago LATERAL Native lines, some of whom had joined the Dutch Reformed Churches around Albany and adopted Dutch names.
Joe states that his maternal grandmother Marion, whose maiden name was Dunham, had Indigenous ancestry from Massachusetts and two ancestors, Degory Priest, a Mayflower passenger, and Deacon John Dunham, who was also part of Plimoth Plantation.
-Regional County Municipality - RCM (Municipalité régionale de comté - MRC) Brome-Missisquoi County: The Western Abénaki arrived in the Brome-Missisquoi area around 1670, bringing together Native people from upper New England, including those from Saco, Maine (often mis-identified as Sokokis), Sokoki people from the middle Connecticut River, and the Missisquoi nation on Lake Champlain in present-day Swanton, Vermont.
SEE how the Bruchac$ (and Pretendian$ defender Jeff Benay) use the word salad choices they use
in their own diatribes of bull... 💩💩💩💩
I have to 😂 at the Pretendian pontifications ...
and that of their defender(s).
Jeff Benay's income has DEPENDED on the “Abenaki” group's
“self-identity”and “legitimacy”
of these Vt.-NH Pretendian$
of
Homer's and “Blackie's” group in Swanton, Vermont.
~
Joseph Bruchac's “self-identity”and “legitimacy” also has DEPENDED on the SAME.
