The Abenaki of Vermont,
who we are and who we are not...

Compiled by Chiefs and Council
Much has been written, recorded and stated as fact, concerning the identity and the origin of the peoples of Vermont claiming to be Abenaki, or of Abenaki descent.

It is not our intent to create strife or hostilities with any Band or Organization claiming to be Abenaki "of"  the State of Vermont. We do not censure you and we have no desire to argue your claims. It will be for someone else to do that eventually.

We are simply interested in bringing certain information into the public domain, what is done with this information is not our concern.

We have stood quietly by, and endured many public and private attacks from certain individuals belonging to these various "Vermont Abenaki" organizations, as well as one such organization now operating in the State of New Hampshire.
It is our intention to remain quietly by and unconcerned with the antic's and the somewhat shoddy showmanship of these organizations' leadership and their transparent need to bestow upon themselves much undue attention and credit.

We make no claims for any other people, but ourselves.

We know who we are and where we came from and we have decided that it is time to make certain information available to the public. We have no problem with anyone wanting to "claim" that they are native Vermont Abenaki...though we intend through this and forthcoming articles, to state firmly and to make perfectly clear that we, are not!

Speaking only for ourselves;
we know, and have known, that the names Cowasuck, Coo's, Koasek and many other versions of this word do not identify a unique "people" but simply denote a place, or places, where white pine trees grew and that many different tribal peoples frequented these places.

They were not the exclusive or specific domain of any one tribe or band. They simply testify to certain locations that Native peoples have resided at, and during, various times in history.

"Northern New Hampshire and Vermont were thinly settled, but some clearing for agriculture did take place. The Coo's Inter-vales in the upper Connecticut valley may be cited as an example. The first settlers found them nearly clear, as the consequence of intermittent cultivation. Three or four separate clearings took place within historical times, namely, about 1628 by the Mahicans from the Hudson valley, possibility again mid century by the Pennacooks, in 1704 by an unidentified band, and after 1725  by the Pequakes.
 
The Indian name of the Inter-vales is striking testimony of it's history - koasuk the place of the "little white pines" ( Laurent 1884;Masta 1932 ). Also... Along the Great Oxbow of the upper Connecticut River, are the Coo's Inter-vales the meadows famous in history, the Abenaki name for this area is Kowasek place of "white pines" which gives the ecologists a clue that though white pine is a sub-climax species it was dominant here centuries ago. ( Thompson 1842:33 )  
And also:  "Through the years, the wind-blown seeds of white pine reclaimed the fields, yielding names like Cowasesick— place of small pines —in Sheepscot Maine. ( keep this one in mind )

By the time of peace in the 1760’s, these nearly pure stands of pine trees, some almost 200’ tall, gave the impression that this was and had ever been a wilderness..." 
 
The Oxbow was a center of Indian habitation, activity and movement. When English captives passed through the area in the early 1700`s the meadows on both sides of the river were cleared and cultivated and early settlers found the remains of an Indian village there.
 
Cowas, may have in fact, been the site of more than one village or perhaps was a central headquarters for various bands throughout the area. Cowas was a pivotal region, halfway between Canada and the Atlantic coast and the junction of several major Indian trails, and was an obvious stopping place during migrations up the Connecticut. From there they could ascend the Well's River and cross the Green Mountains to the Champlain Valley. Mahican refugees probably spent time at Cowas as did Pennacooks and Sokokis... and whatever it's original cultural composition may have been, after 1675 Cowas was a refugee village for many various tribes. "... the soldiers had gone nine days journey into the Wilderness when they surprised a party of Indians about 20 miles south of Cowas, and killed eight of them.  News of the attack alarmed the community at Cowas and according to Samuel Pennhallow, they immediately forsook their fort and corn at "Cowasuck" and never returned to this day that we could hear of, to renew their settlement in that place". ( It is also known that the Nipmuck tribe at one time had extended hunting rights throughout several areas of Vermont and New Hampshire, as clearly stated in the Census of Canada records)

To continue, we know that Missisquoi Bay was frequented by the Iroquois and Algonquins and possibly by the Hurons.

Various spellings are Missiskoui, Missisquie, Missisko, Missiskisko and probably means much water fowl. A place of many ducks. Or as Chief Laurent explained it, the place "where flint is found". The most likely meaning however, is the place of much grass.

Nicolas Perrot, the French interpreter, an early and good authority, said the country of the Iroquois was formerly Montreal and Three Rivers...their removal was in consequence of a quarrel unexpectedly occurring between them and the Algonquins...this explains why these also claim the island of Montreal as the land of their ancestors. (pg 133 Lafitu, Pouchot, and other authorities furnish concurring testimony.)  (George McAleer)

It is likely that prior to 1633 the Tribes of Indians who inhabited the banks of Lake Champlain were formerly Iroquois and the Vermont shore belonged to them. They are since then known by the name of the Six Nations, which now includes the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca and lastly, the Tuscarora...

Hemmenway, Montpelier VT 1882 vol iv : 
"... this would leave the northern part of the lake in the vicinity of Missisquoi river and bay, as well as the lands of Sorelle though claimed by the Iroquois, yet for the most part, if not entirely unoccupied when Champlain made his explorations. Much of Vermont and probably all of it's western slope belonged to the same nation.
It should thus seem plain that a fair interpretation must concede that the Iroquois not only occupied parts of western Vermont, but had some rights to the soil in this neighborhood (Swanton) at the period in question, when visited by Champlain."

The territory now known as Vermont including Missisquoi Bay and surrounding environs was in early times under the dominion of the Iroquois, who were supplanted by the Abenakis.

Caughnawagha Claims presented to Vermont Legislature:
The petitioner mentions "one other event that coincided with the abandonment of the village at Missisquoi"—the 1798 petition by the Mohawks from Caughnawagha for compensation for the loss of fishing and hunting territories in Vermont. As the petitioner allows, this claim "undoubtedly helped at the time to reinforce the notion that the Indians had quit the area altogether" (Petition:51).

Vermont Governor Tichenor investigated the claim and advised the Legislature that the Caughnawagha claims had no merit as they had been extinguished, and furthermore, that Vermont could not grant such a claim without the consent of the U.S. Congress (Calloway 1990b:235, State of Vermont 1880:319-20, (reprinted in Petition:184-85)).

Calloway said the Caughnawagha made this claim on behalf of the entire Seven Nations of Canada—that is, the six Iroquois nations of Canada and the Abenakis of Odanak/St. Francis (Calloway 1990b:235). He said the Abenakis had to sit by and watch the Mohawks make this claim. There are two problems with this interpretation. First, it is not clear that the Caughnawagha made the claim on behalf of the entire group of nations.

In answer to a question posed by the Vermont Governor, they said that their neighbors "on the north east" were the "Abenakees of St. Francois" (State of Vermont 1880:314 (reprinted in 64) Petition:182). This suggests they were speaking on their own behalf, and not for the larger group, which would have included the St. Francis Abenakis.

Secondly, one must question the view that the Abenakis sat by and watched while the Caughnawaghas made a claim for land that was supposedly theirs. In 1766, at Isle la Motte, the Abenakis did not just sit by; they spoke up and voiced their own demands at the same time. So, why didn’t they speak up now? One possible rejoinder is that they had secure lands of their own and did not feel threatened by this claim for compensation by the Caughnawaghas. However, this does not fit with the other evidence of their loss of land to white settlers, and of the many accounts of their migration to Canada at this time.

An alternative answer is that they had essentially given up all their land and left. If there were any Abenakis remaining in Vermont they were not part of an organized tribal community with any leaders capable of speaking up for land as they had in 1766. This second hypothesis is more plausible and is reinforced by subsequent events. The 1798 Caughnawagha claim for compensation was but the first of a series of such claims throughout the nineteenth century and halfway into the twentieth...

The exact identity of these representatives cannot be ascertained; apparently the original papers have been lost (State of Vermont 1880: 322 (reprinted in Petition, 186)).

We feel that this "lost paper work" is no fault of the Abenaki  nor of the Caughnawagha.

Which only mean's that our land claims can not be DISPROVED!

And remain as they have been.  The historical evidence is on our side!

Now here's a clue to what's coming...

"Some of the Indians settled at St. Francois and Becancourt desire to return to their former location in Maine; but Vaudreuil, who is now in France disapproves this step and urges that all practicable efforts be employed to retain them at St. Francois.  The Governor of Canada La Barre is aiding Abenaki immigration, hoping that these savages will be allies of the french against the Iroquois, with who war is imminent." (The Jesuit relations and allied documents travels and explorations of the Jesuit missionaries in New France, 1610-1791 : the original French, Latin, and Italian texts, with English translations and notes)

" Must prevent the Abenakis from St. Francois and Becancour from returning to Acadia." (Public Archives of Canada, Douglas Brymner, George F. O'Halloran)

Monsieur`s de Ramezay and Begon write on November 7,1715 that Father Aubrey the Jesuit missionary of the Abenakis has informed them that Athurnando- one of the principle chiefs of that nation who has resided for eight years at St. Francois- came back to St. Francois in the month of August last from Pegouaki, where his former village was located...Pegouaki; Pecouaki, Pequaket, Pigwacket an Abenaki village; see also Fryeburg Maine.   
 
The Abenakis of St. Francois etc, are according to Professor Prince (1902) the direct descendants (of course with some admixture of French and other blood ) of the majority of the savages who escaped from the great battle of the Kennebec in Maine, where the English commander Bradford, overthrew their tribe on December 2, 1679. Many of the survivor's fled to Canada settling at St. Francois near Pierreville Quebec in 1680. The Penobscot Indians today are the "descendants" of those early Abenakis. (Sessional papers  by Ontario Legislative Assembly) 

It is also known that the Anasagunticooks, in 1690  were the earliest that the French drew off to St. Francois in Canada.

And we see that;
About 1690 the Abenakis appear on the shores of Lake Champlain having been driven from Maine by the English around 1680, the Governor of Canada gave them the country which extends from the River Chaudiere on the St. Laurent to the River Richelieu and Lake Champlain. ( This was most likely because they could act as a "buffer" between the French and the Iroquois and the English)

Ira Allen, brother of Ethan Allen, the author of Allen's natural and political history of Vermont, is on record as confirming the settlement of the Abenakis on Missisko River as being a large Indian town.

Fort St. Theresa ( Isle Aux Noix ) was abandoned in 1690; it is about this time that the Abenaki Indians appear on the Missiquoi River, on the Winoski and on Otter Creek having been driven from Maine by the English in 1680. A portion of this tribe ( Abenakis ) finally settled in the Coos country on the upper waters of the Connecticut.

At last however, the Abenakis on the Connecticut, on the Missiquoi and in Canada were known by a new name, as they sustained relationships one with each other, they came to be alike called the St. Francis Indians.

Then, on the reduction of Canada after the seizure of lake Champlain by the English in 1760 many of the Indians began gradually to retire from those parts of Vermont that they had occupied.

They lingered for many years in the area of Missisquoi and they were all the while in close connection with those of their kindred peoples from the Coo's and in other places. Eventually the stones and even the bell that had comprised their little chapel at Missisquoi was transported by canoe to a new location, that being at a place called Moscow, now known as the village of St. Hyacinthe on the Yamaska river in Canada. Some family groups returned to Missiquoi every year for hunting and fishing and have never entirely abandoned the area.
(The Peabody Museum of American Archeology And Ethnology at the Harvard Library)

Thompson's Gazetteer Of Vermont
Burlington 1842
"Before the conquest of Canada by the English, the French and Indians had a settlement at Swanton Falls consisting of fifty huts, and had cleared some land on which they raised corn and vegetables. They had also built a church and a sawmill and the channel cut through the rocks to supply water to the latter, still remains. This place was occupied by the Indians until the commencement of the Revolution" (part iii pg 170) 
  
Claims of the Red Men Denied
History of Vermont Thompson;
Burlington 1842
"It was during this session"- "of the legislature of Vermont for the year 1798 " that application was made by some Indian Chiefs in Canada, for compensation for lands which they claimed in Vermont. " Their claim embraced nearly the whole of the present counties of Addison, Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle. The subject was referred to a committee, who reported that in their opinion the lands claimed had " formerly belonged to said Indians", but whether their title had ever been extinguished by purchase, conquest or dereliction of occupancy, or in any other way...they could not ascertain.  
The legislature supported the Indian agents during their attendance, gave them a hundred dollars " in token of friendship" and they returned to their tribes well pleased with their success, and hoping to succeed still better another season.  In October 1800 the legislature met at Middlebury.
The Indians having been so well supported and paid at their former attendance upon the legislature, again attended and urged their claims to land in Vermont. The Governor informed them that the assembly had voted to give them "fifty dollars" to defray their expenses on the return to their own Nations-
but that no more money would be given them either to purchase their claims or to defray their expenses. These decided measures brought the affair with the Indians to a close." Vol 11.pp 89-90.
 
Yet we notice that even 25 years later, the Abenaki continued to make seasonal camps on and around these same areas and never relented their claim to the land...
   
 " About the year 1825 there came some four or five families and put up as many wigwams on the land owned by the late Rufus L. Barney, about a mile or two below the main village.
They remained a year or so, obtaining their livelihood by hunting, fishing and basket making.
They claimed the lands as the Indians have done from the first".  (A Study in the Etymology of the Indian Place Name Missisquoi, by George McAleer, pg 1001 )
 
1723-1727
Ft. Dummer is built by the English on the Connecticut River in the area that is now known as Brattleboro. This is largely in response to attacks by Abenaki led by the War chief known as Grey Lock.

"On the north bank of the St. Francis river Quebec, about four miles from where it empties into Lake Saint Peter stands an Indian village called Odanak. It is better known in history as St. Francois.
The beginnings of this village are not recorded, but it has been at or near it's present location for over three centuries. Uncertainty and controversy have characterized all discussions of its origin.
In the St. Francois Indians we have a group which was probably not at St. Francois at the time of French exploration and first settlement on the St. Lawrence River and who's origin and movements in and out of St.Francois have never been adequately explained.
The usual view of New England Historians has been that of a mysterious tribe into which at one time or another the local tribes are said to have disappeared. Linguistics and anthropologists have followed the historians and have been satisfied to present their data under the rubric's "Abenaki". Jean Crevier, the first seigneur of St. Francois settled there about 1671 and there are indications that there were Indians there already."
(In search of New England's native past By Gordon M. Day, Michael K. Foster, William Cowan)

In 1603 Samual de Champlain while exploring the St. Lawrence River had his attention drawn to a small river running to the southerly side of Lake Saint Peter of which he gives a very minute description. Continuing he says, on the same side as Lake St. Peter, there is another small river running into a small bay which may be three or four leagues in width.
This is the Bay of St. Francois, and the river is the St. Francois River, which has its source near the boundary lines of New Hampshire and Maine.  Six years later the same explorer describing anew the country lying at the southerly side of Lake St. Peter, said: "these rivers are in a good and rich country and abound with all sorts of fish."
In January 1635 Charles Huault de Montmagny then Governor of New France granted to Francois de Lauzon this vast and rich track of land extending from the river St. Francois to what is now called Châteauguay River on the St. Lawrence. Between the years 1638 and 1676 the privileges of the Lauzon family were  abolished and this vast domain was cut up into smaller grants. On the third day of April 1642 a son was born to Christopher Crevier and his wife Jeanne. This child was named Jean, and to this Jean Crevier the domain of St. Francois was granted by letters of patent July 23, 1673  and duly approved by the King's Council in 1674. Thereafter Jean Crevier was called the Baron or Seigneur of St. Francois.
 The establishment of these indians in New France dates from that time and in 1680 we already find a large number of Abenakis settled at Becancourt under the auspices of the Robineau family.
In the same year quite a large number of Abenakis and Sokokis, who were then merged into one family or tribe, went to St. Francois and sent a delegation to the Sieur Crevier to tell him that they had decided to make their home in his domain.
Sieur Crevier was somewhat startled at this announcement.
He told them that the land was his, and that he could not very well allow them to remain.
The Indians felt displeased at this answer and Sieur Crevier to appease them, told them they could have all the milk they wanted and in the meantime he would see what could be done for them.
The Indians were satisfied for the time being and went a mile and a half up the river and erected their wigwams.    
Jean Crevier sometime later, was carried away by the Iroquois and died in Albany as a result of the tortures inflicted on him by these Indians. Joseph Crevier his son and heir succeeded his father as Seigneur of St. Francois and being pleased with the fidelity and good behavior of the "Abenakis" gave them a track of land a mile and a half wide on each side of the river St. Francois and three miles long upriver, together with all the islands in the river and their right to fish, for them and their heirs and successors. for as long as there shall be a mission maintained among them. ( By Old Residents' Historical Association )

Assagunticooks, Anasaggunticooks, Arosaguntacook or Arossagunticook, the tribe's endonym, in the eastern Abenaki language means "Rocky Flats flow" or "a river of rocks refuge." Other recorded variations of the name are Amariscoggin, Ameriscoggin, Asschincantecook, Arossagunticook, Alessikantek-eyak by the Penobscot and the Cowasuck.

The name Arosaguntacook was probably changed by Massachusetts Governor Edmund Andros to Androscoggin. Today's Penobscot name for the Saint Francis Abenaki is Alessikantek-eyak because Arossaguntacook belonged to the ancestors of the people of Saint Francis. Their main village was located in the vicinity of present-day Lewiston. Together with the Pigwacket, they formed the southern-most of the Abenaki tribes, and were therefore among the first in contact with the English colonists of New England. In 1675, the Androscoggin took part in King Philip's War.

Metallak was a member of Androscoggin tribe. It is known that the Assagunticooks/Androscoggin were "merged" with and united to the Wawenoc early on. The Wawenocks were located on the sea coast, and inhabited the country from the Sheepscot ( where we find an earlier "Koas, Coo`s) to the St. George and from their situation on the rivers and the harbors, they were much sooner disturbed by the settlements then any other tribe in Maine.

In 1747 there were but a few families remaining. At the Treaty of Falmouth, in 1749 they were associated with the Assagunticooks among whom they were then settled, and with whom they removed to Canada. (The Abenaki Indians, their treaties of 1713 & 1717, and a vocabulary with a historical introduction) and see also;

The acts of wrong committed by the whites were commenced very early.
In 1614, Capt. John Smith's companion, Thomas Hunt.., stole several savages and made slaves of them; among others, Squando. When the Pilgrims came over, they too treated them barbarously, and soon their hatred was roused. History settles the fact, that they were well disposed until they were wronged. When they found that a string of beads or a peck of corn was all that they had received for a valuable track of country, in a word, when they fairly understood what was meant by a white man's title, they refused to acknowledge it... The affront which Squando, the sagamore of the Sokokis, received undoubtedly awakened the sympathy of his friends on the Kenebec...

"By the late 1980s and early 90s, I noted that a completely new view of Maine’s ethnohistory had developed, purportedly based on “new research” and “French sources,” that extended Snow’s dismissal of the Wawenoc community by deleting all reference to the traditional Abenaki communities described by Williamson and many other writers. Major Maine and maritime peninsula historians Bourque (1989), Baker et al. (1994), Judd and Churchill (1995), and Prins (1996) eliminated mention of the Wawenoc community.

I became intrigued by this rapidly changing interpretation of Maine’s ethnohistory and began notes for writing what would become Norumbega Reconsidered to examine what happened to the Wawenocs and why. Maine has a rich historical tradition; the presence of the Wawenoc community living on the central Maine coast prior to 1620 has been noted by writers and historians for almost 300 years.

Who were the Wawenocs? Where did they live, and why did they disappear from our landscape and our history books? What do older historians have to say about this community? How do contemporary revisionist’s interpretations differ from traditional commentary?

We conclude that denoting Wawenocs as “Etchemin” (the French term for Native Americans of New Brunswick and Eastern Maine) obscures, submerges, and excludes the role of the Wawenocs in Maine’s protohistory. No Wawenocs "survived" to defend their language, traditions, or historical significance. The contemporary renaming of their communities and culture as “Etchemin” eliminates an important chapter in Maine history. A review of French sources such as Champlain, Lescarbot, and Baird suggests that the Wawenocs were “Almouchiquois” (Eastern Abenaki), and not “Etchemin” (Maliseet / Passamaquoddy) as shown on Lescarbot’s map of 1609, and as Bourque and others have repeatedly asserted since 1989. [ Note: we find only two possible definitions for the term "Etchemin". One is an old Ojibwa word meaning sand berry, which was their word for raspberry. The other is a French word meaning et 'chemin'/ ~country road;  lane;~ (de terre) dirt track; or path.

Numerous French and English historians and observers and the Native Americans captured by George Waymouth and interviewed in England (Purchas, 1626) attest to a vigorous, highly populated and socially, politically, and militarily active network of indigenous communities living on the Maine coast at the time of European contact (1525 – 1620). The rich ecology of the Gulf of Maine in protohistory further supports these observations. Uncertainties about the ethnicity and inter-community relations of these earlier inhabitants of Maine, especially of those living between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, have nevertheless characterized recent writings on this topic.

Use of the generic term “Etchemin” to describe this network of villages, formerly known as the territory of the Wawenoc Indians, obscures and submerges their ethnic identity, complex social hierarchy, inter-community relationships, historical significance, and the impact of their encounter with European traders and settlers.

Secondly, my research leads me to conclude that the Wawenocs of the central Maine coast are an especially notable example of an extinct Eastern Abenaki community whose history has been "submerged" (Quinn, 1990, pg. 12) by the appearance of a subsequent culture which conquered, acculturated and/or exterminated its predecessors.

Finally, I observe that the use of the generic terms “Etchemin” and “Wabanaki” obscure and submerge the ethnicity, complex social organization, inter-tribal relationships, and historical significance of the Wawenocs and other ethnic groups, such as the Androscoggins and the Canibas, who are no longer represented by surviving tribal nations. Also submerged or eliminated is the community specific impact of their encounter with European traders and settlers and the pathogens that accompanied them."
(Searching for the Wawenocks: Four Guides to the Past by Kerry Hardy)

As with other Abenaki's, the name "Pennacook" did not refer to a unified tribe, but to a collection of semi-outonomous bands that lived around or frequented several villages, including that of Cowas. And even though most bands had dispersed into safer and more hospitable locations in Canada and individual families scattered throughout most of New England, the backbone of Abenaki culture has always survived, no matter where it finds itself residing today.

The “ Vermont ” Abenaki Myth: 
Our professional genealogists have spent many hundreds of hours of sweat and tears searching through and researching the many and the various genealogies of those claiming to possess this elusive "Vermont Abenaki" lineage to include most importantly, the leaders of these various "Bands" and Tribal organizations.
So far the results show a tenacious lack of this particular evidence.

What we have found is exactly what we expected to find, particularly in the genealogies of those self made and self promoted "Vermont Abenaki leaders" who have been the most vocal and the most insistent, that their particular claim is valid. We find that it is not, never has been and never could be.

There certainly are native people now residing in the State of Vermont, but we find related people sharing the very same ancestors, in the States of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and in fact all of New England, throughout areas of Canada and probably as far away as Washington State who are the descendants of the same or related, Abenaki people.

We never were and never could be, confined to the State of Vermont.

In fact Canadian historic records tell us that: 
"[...] the Kenibequis (now the Abenaki) occupied part of the States of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut and all the Southern Valley of the St. Lawrence from the River Chaudière to the Iroquois territory, and even hunted on the littoral of the North Shore of the St. Lawrence and their territory covered around 55,000 square English miles. The Montagnais were part of the Abenaki family and their hunting grounds were the mountainous parts of New Hampshire and Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Their territory occupied another 20,000 square English miles." (The census of Canada.)

The entire territory was a vast track of country that extended from the eastern shores of Nova Scotia to the frontier of the Hurons and lower down the Hudson to that of the Mohawks, who's southerly line of latitude was drawn from the coast at the mouth of the Merrimac River, still westward, across the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, to the lake that later bore the name of Champlain, and which stretched far to the north, even beyond the present Canadian frontier.

The larger and lonelier areas of Vermont and New Hampshire were utilized as common hunting grounds, while along the rich inter-vales and the fertile levels around the mouths of the five great Abenaki Rivers the aborigine followed the pursuits of agriculture and fishing.

While the territory of inland Acadia, also known as northern New England, was all forest and vast tracks of it are primeval forest still to this day. And it is here in early Acadia, that we first hear of a young ensign with the long title of Jean Vincent d'Abbadie, Baron de Saint Castin, a native of Béarn, from the slopes of the Pyrenées Mountains of France.

He came to Canada at the age of fifteen with the regiment of Carignan-Salières, an ensign in the company of Chambly, and when the company was disbanded, he followed his natural bent and betook himself to the Acadian woods. The young Baron de Saint-Castin first married Mathilde about 1670, and about 1685 married her sister Marie Pidiwammaskwa, the daughters of a Penobscot (people of the white rocks) Abenaki Chief, known by the name of  Madokawando, who has been documented variously as Penobscot, Maliseet or Abenaki, depending on where he was "residing" at the time.
 
We can still find the descendants of Saint-Castin and Madokawando in Port Royal and various other locations through-out Nova Scotia, Canada and the United States...

Chief Bunnell is currently writing a fascinating book on some of these subjects, including the genealogical data involving the misidentified descendants of these early Abenaki-Acadians claimed erroneously and for far to long, by the modern Mikmaq Tribe. Watch for this book, to be published soon.

We will continue to supply various information and articles concerning the truth of the "Vermont Abenaki" in relation to how and why this subject has become so confused and in some cases deliberately obscured by self-serving promoters of the "myth" of confinement within the borders of Vermont, and the absurdity of that, for any person of true Abenaki or related tribal lineage.

The Abenaki are historically related to many other tribes through blood, inter-marriage and adoption. And so, as was done with the Sokokis at St. Francois, we have done once again. As we have always done, whenever our people are threatened from outside, we have "merged" with those we trust of other various peoples of various bands and tribes who's need match our own.

Our verifying process is ongoing and we expect to question many more citizens who have no links to any known Abenaki group though they have made the "claim" that they do.

We feel that this problem was caused by past loose practices based around political appointments, and private deals, along with the quest for domination and control as we see in so many of these Vermont Abenaki "groups". So we ask for patience as we continue to verify records and please, no open attacks upon us, until this long process is complete. Everyone must realize that these false claims and faked records took many years to root themselves and it will take as much time to weed them out.

Future articles and information will include genealogical data, DNA evidence and territorial information.

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