Nip
Monday, January 5, 2015
As more groups and individuals claim to be “Nipmuc” or “Nipmuk” speaking for us, for our ancestors and presuming to define us in the present, we may need to publicly distance ourselves from them....
Thomas Doughton December 3, 2014
I said I would be writing about enrollment issues in the Nipmuc community and have been considering a lengthy response on which I’m still working. Before posting anything else here on enrollment and bogus Nipmucs, however, I’d like to share some background materials…. Here is one example.
In 2011 the Cherokee Nation created a List of Fraudulent Cherokee Groups, at that time numbering 212 different types of groups claiming to be Cherokee. Similar lists are available for “bogus” or questionable Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles.
As more groups and individuals claim to be “Nipmuc” or “Nipmuk” speaking for us, for our ancestors and presuming to define us in the present, we may need to publicly distance ourselves from them and clarify for the public at large that they are not representatives of our community. And, it’s not just a question of our history; suddenly, there’s a proliferation of new or recent Indian “tribes” or “bands” or “nations” in New England. Obvious examples would be the alleged Natick Nipmucs, Bobby Hazzard's Wabaquasset Nation and Larry Mann a "citizen of the Historical Nipmuc Tribe of Massachusetts" he and his family invented. We need to be more secure in ourselves to call all of this into question.
In any event, if you’re interested here’s a version of the Fraudulent Cherokee List:
https://drive.google.com/…/0B0elHJjc0U2OSmJVS0c0OHRxU…/view…
In response to an email asking me “what terrible things” have been done to me by the tribe
Thomas Doughton September 28, 2014
In response to an email asking me
“what terrible things” have been done to me by the tribe. I have nothing to
hide, so I'm making a public rather than a private response.
I could detail the theft of family
photographs, documents, files and an heirloom basket made by my grandfather’s
grandmother Mary Ann Dixon Dorus—all stolen when I first worked from the Nipmuc
Tribal Acknowledgment Project, the theft discussed in detail in subsequent
documentation, available to you. Among items stolen included oral history
interviews with my Aunt Toots [Lillian Lane] and my aunt Ginny [Mary Williams]
which were submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by both Chaubungamungamaug
and Hassanamesit; both ‘tribes’ claim my family and Chaubunagungamaug defines
my extended family, the Nedon/ Dorus/ Dixon/ White family group as one of three
Chaubunagungamaug ‘clans’ or family clusters. In terms of Hassanammesit, I did
draft a note requesting that they cease use materials stolen from my family in
their marketing and publicity; the suggestion was that I and family visit the
office to identify our documents and photographs. We've not yet done this. Also
in one of the writings to the Interim Tribal Council before undertaking work on
the tribe’s behalf, I specifically discussed and wanted clarified slander
related to my NTAP employment.
But to offer one example: on July
14, 1999 an article appeared in Worcester Magazine entitled “Bad Blood: Money,
power and the Nipmuc Indians’ battle for recognition.” What does it say about
me?
The full story can be reviewed at: https://drive.google.com/…/0B0elHJjc0U2Oc0xaWWNweG8zc…/edit…
The full story can be reviewed at: https://drive.google.com/…/0B0elHJjc0U2Oc0xaWWNweG8zc…/edit…
“I always tell people: ‘Your
ancestors were either on the boat, or they were here to greet the boat,’ says
Lucy ‘Loving One Swenson,” Mr. Doughton’s ancestors were definitely on the
boat.’
In other words, Swenson says,
Doughton may read books about Nipmuc history, but she says that doesn’t make an
Indian.
‘He has his fancy-schmancy title and
his fancy-schamncy degree, but he is no Nipmuc. His credibility is zero,’ she
says.
“Swenson who is Morse’s daughter and
sits on the state’s Commission on Indian Affairs, says Doughton’s family tree
has been doctored to make him look like a Nipmuc. ‘Everybody is coming out of
the woodwork. Suddenly it’s fashionable to be an Indian.’ She says a look at
tribal roles [sic] on file with the BIA would confirm her charge.
Doughton stands by his Indian roots,
If his name is absent from the tribal role [sic] it’s new to him….
Where Doughton stands with the tribe
depends on who is asked. Joan Luster, a one-time colleague of Doughton’s and
now president of the Nipmuc Indian Association of Connecticut says , Doughton
is ‘the most valuable asset the Nipmucs have and they treat him like crap.’
Morse, on the other hand, says Doughton is ‘nothing but a troublemaker. A crook. I wouldn’t hire him to suck a dick.’
Morse, on the other hand, says Doughton is ‘nothing but a troublemaker. A crook. I wouldn’t hire him to suck a dick.’
But tribal leaders did hire Doughton
in the late 1980s as part of the Nipmuc Tribal Acknowledgment Project Inc. In
the early 1990s funding—which came from federal and private sources—ran out and
Doughton was let go. But allegations followed that he stole tribal property and
used tribal funds to support a drug habit. In spite of these accusations, he
was re-hired in 1996s by the Grafton band as the ‘petition research
coordinator.’ One Nipmuc who asked not to be identified, says they were forced
to hire him back ‘since some key documentation vanished after his first term
ended.’
Doughton calls all of the
allegations ‘bold-faced lies,’ saying in fact some of his own possessions
disappeared after he exited the NTAP office. And as far as being rehired, he
says it was ‘desperation’ on the part of the Grafton leaders that triggered the
employment. By then, he says, they has spent a ‘substantial six-figure sum’ of
gaming dollars that had been invested in the tribe and they were ‘less than
satisfied’ with the findings of two-high priced consultants they had hired.
‘The federal government was
threatening to suspend the application. [Grafton tribal officials] asked me to
design a plan that would appeal to the beds as well as to investors, ’explains
Doughton.’”
This is just one example and there
are many others. As was the case when this article appeared in 1996, I continue
to challenge Lucy Ann Swenson to produce proof for her outrageous statements.
The kindest comment I can make, even now years later, that Lucy Ann Swenson was
mid-led, misinformed, confused or mis-understood something. If this is not the
case, then, LUCY ANN SWENSON IS A LIAR. But, in any event, this one of many
instances when the “tribe” or tribal members have lied about me and put into
the public records bold-faced lies. And, it's not the worst.
[Unnamed here] Oh wow! I too have documents where Dolly wrote some awful
things about me but that's truly terrible. I do want to point out that Dolly is
not a Nipmuc Nation member.
[Unnamed here] I
remember when that came out and you see how the media likes to exploit this
stuff.... i can certainly understand your need to get the facts straight and i
laughed when i reviewed the article because you were absolutely right in my
opinion that we did not have the expertise to administer funds or programs.....
there were questionable people in leadership at the time and would have been a
complete nightmare if we did get recognized.... i think its a blessing we
didn't..... the level of greed was out of control.... however again i think it
is fruitless to dwell on these issues and does not promote progress.... and is
irrelevant at this point what Dolly did or said imo ......she has not been
involved at all for a long time and wouldn't be worth the energy to re engage
her.
[Unnamed here] One thing Tom forgot to mention so I'll say it here. I was
there and drove Tom to the Sutton office the day he was rehired. I distinctly
remember they welcomed him back with offerings of tobacco (I'm unsure how
sincere). When we entered the conference room we noticed over in the right hand
corner of the room in a cardboard box on the floor, what looked to be Tom's old
Apple computer. When he realized what it was, he said “there's the computer
with all the files you've been looking for over there. The computer was set up
and restarted and sure enough, all the material (they had accused him of
stealing or destroying from NTAP was right there. Turns out it had been in
their possession all along since they locked him out of the NTAP office on
Front street in Worcester. At that point I payed special attention to the
expressions on peoples faces at the time and watched carefully in the following
weeks to see if some official statement would be made to “eat crow” excuse the
pun and set the record straight on this. We'll guess what? Never happened and
years later I still heard people saying “he stole the files and the money”. He
didn't steal the files and he was not controlling any of the Casino Magic
money. As for NTAP, NTAP was funded under federal grant money and if he was
misleading the Board of Directors as the Executive Director and somehow
embezzling the money for some ridiculous drug habit or any other unauthorized
purpose he would be in federal prison right now which he is not nor has he ever
been.
Tom has good reason to be personally very angry for this and other things that were said and done to him that subsequently cost him his professional employability for a long while until his potential employers learned the truth about what was being said. There are folks out there I know who would have been in jail for serious assault or worse if some of these things were done to them. We may not agree with everything Tom says but remember, you probably don't agree with everything your mother says either and that's okay and no reason to slander her. I must say that over the years Tom has provided more verifiable professionally researched and vetted information than anyone else in the Nipmuc community hands down.
Tom has good reason to be personally very angry for this and other things that were said and done to him that subsequently cost him his professional employability for a long while until his potential employers learned the truth about what was being said. There are folks out there I know who would have been in jail for serious assault or worse if some of these things were done to them. We may not agree with everything Tom says but remember, you probably don't agree with everything your mother says either and that's okay and no reason to slander her. I must say that over the years Tom has provided more verifiable professionally researched and vetted information than anyone else in the Nipmuc community hands down.
[Unnamed here] I remember this article and several of the things quoted
above (and a few more) very clearly. Even that young age, I remember being hurt
by those awful, disgusting words. Thanks for resharing, I regret throwing away
my copy of the magazine.
[Unnamed here] May
I please ask, what is it that those of you out there that had such terrible
experiences, need to be able to move forward? An apology? if so from who? most
of the people we are talking about here, i think, have either not been in the
picture for over a decade, or dead.... believe me, i know exactly what those
people were like and was betrayed by them as well....You have every right to be
angry about the way you were treated, and wouldn't blame you....the question
about what you need is very sincere and no disrespect intended.... but is this
resolvable? if so how?
Thomas Doughton: Again,
I continue to assert that we need to clean up a lot of misinformation and
disinformation created by both Nipmuc groups, and, then, begin tackling some of
the same misinformation coming from 'new' Nipmucs and wannabees. Personally I
have accepted what happened to me and my family; it is indeed history at this
point but at the same time I ask how can we go forward as a people if we don't
reject the Cisco myths AND don't challenge a newer idea of a 'tribe' created by
casino investors. Also, some of the same players from the past continue in
decision-making positions, still after all these years making it up as they do
along.
Thomas Doughton: This
question of identity and authenticity is not new to Nipmucs. In the 1950s, for
example, as Nipmuc organizations were being created there was an intense fight
in the community about folks claiming to be Native and Nipmuc. Roswell or Ross
Hazard, aka Chief Tumbleweed, to whom hundreds of folks in the area including
me are related, was an not an Indian. Nor were Mr. & Mrs. Moffitt; their
daughter Elsie did marry Edward Toney but that didn’t make them Indian. Whether
to accept these individuals as “voices” of the Nipmuc community resulted in a
‘bloody’ conflict, at one point Jessie Mays and her sister Sarah Sullivan,
Zara’s mother, in public disagreement
about the claims of these individuals. Only after her mother's death did Zara
start calling herself squaw sachem of the Nipmuc Nation, where no one in her
family had ever even claimed to be chief of anything. Many of her mother's
Nipmuc friends were shocked. Elders in our community laughed at her claims,
they considered them ridiculous. But, in addition to endorsement and acceptance
in the powwow circuit of the 1960s, her limited local support came from the
likes of Ros Hazard [Chief Tumbleweed] and others of doubtful ancestry. It is a
given that many people of color from the South and other areas may have had Native
ancestry; our elders never tackled this issue but insisted these individuals
claiming to be Native did not speak for Nipmuc community. More and more this
became an issue with Zara’s hand-picked ‘tribe’ and ‘council,’ another example
involving Walter Bostic Sr., whose family may or may not be of Abenaki
heritage, however, some Nipmucs challenged how he happened to be on the Nipmuc
Tribal Council. [Or, for that matter, how his second wife, Corinne Bostic is
now a Nipmuc author, as defined by Cheryl Stedtler. FYI, one of the three Mrs.
Walter Bostic, Angenette Morse was indeed of Nipmuc heritage.]
[Unnamed here] Moving on is very important and the majority of energy
expended should be in that direction. At the same time if you have a car in the
driveway with a broken axle, you need to fix it in order “move on”. So while it
is very important to spend time acquiring and installing a new axle in pursuit
of moving on, it's also important to review how the axle got broken in the
first place and what you might do differently in the future as you scrape your
knuckles under the car and curse whoever for taking it down that damn dirt road
after you specifically said "don't do that" and why! This is tough
but these sad stories contain valuable lessons and should be told not to
paralyze people so they sit crying about the past but to instruct folks and
mark the “old minefields” for the future. Some of those old mines are still
very much active in many communities in the forms of peoples general lack of
knowledge about a subject area, how a group approaches evaluating whether
something that is said or heard is really fact, fiction or that the truth
cannot be determined based on the existing information or recognizing when
personal agendas exist that are exploitative and detrimental to the group.
All groups go through this not just us. The successful ones learn from their experiences (wisdom) and incorporate that as they move on.
All groups go through this not just us. The successful ones learn from their experiences (wisdom) and incorporate that as they move on.
Halloween costumes vs regalia..Is there a big difference?
Thomas Doughton: October 31, 2014
I suppose it's nice to have an
issue. For the past couple days I've been reading what seem to be endless
comments from Native American groups dealing with two issues: whether non
Indians should wear "Indian" costumes for Halloween and whether
different types of action should be directed to changing sports team names and/
or rejecting mascots. In light of all of the vital and important issues
confronted by indigenous peoples in the Americas and elsewhere, this seems
silly and trivial, like all of the time, energy & effort, in my opinion,
wasted on the alleged 'crimes' of Christopher Columbus and what will be the
soon beginning predictable blah-blah-blah about Thanksgiving. Just one person's
opinion....And, is there a great difference in this foolishness and someone
with one single eighteenth-century Indian 'ancestor' putting on costumes for
what are called pow wows?
Donald Duffy's Presentation on Quabog and Nipmuc Indians
Thomas Doughton:
October 8, 2014
I do look at the Nipmuc!Nipmuck!
site, if for no other reason than to keep track of who and what Ms. Stedtler is
promoting whether Larry Mann, the New England Native American Institute, the
Natick Nipmucs or herself and family.
There you’ll find a story about Donald Duffy and a talk he’s giving tonight [October 8, 2014] on his book entitled , The Quaboag and Nipmuck Indians.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quaboag-Nipmuck.../dp/1499659865
There you’ll find a story about Donald Duffy and a talk he’s giving tonight [October 8, 2014] on his book entitled , The Quaboag and Nipmuck Indians.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quaboag-Nipmuck.../dp/1499659865
He is the author of Around
Pottequadic, an “attempt to describe the Quaboag Indians in their tribal area
in the Central Massachusetts highlands with a focus on settlement along the
Ware River. It continues with the Scots-Irish settlement of the Elbow Tract
along the Ware, Swift, and Quaboag Rivers. It is also an effort to describe the
use of the land around Mt. Pattaquattic in Palmer, Massachusetts, as it is
broadly located.” I didn’t find it accurate or useful. This new text I don’t know.
The description is curious, however, “The Quaboags were a people of the Wolf
and the same as others in the Connecticut River Valley. The Nipmucks of the
Upper Quinebaug River Valley were their neighbors to their south and a
different people. Both peoples followed their own path as they reacted to the
exploding English population into southern New England.” I say ‘curious’
because basing any sense of New England Native history on Les mots loup is
problematic; I’ve posted the actual text when at this site we were writing
about N vs L dialects of Algonquian or Massachusett. Les mots loup deals with a
limited sample of refugees in eighteenth century Canada and it may or may not
be a language brought from the upper Connecticut River Valley. He seems to want
to argue that the Natives of Palmer/ Ware are different from the Nipmucs along
the Massachusetts and Connecticut border. This may in fact be the case; I’ll
have to look at his text. But, still, we can’t even say with accuracy who spoke
Les mots loup so there’s that limitation. I do think we need to narrow our
vision of what was “Nipmuc” or Nipnet, the geographical area, of the
seventeenth century to southern Worcester County/ Northern Connecticut. Zara
Ciscoebrough claimed the Nipmuc “territory” extended to the Connecticut River
Valley and I’m not sure this is true. For example, in our family oral history,
it’s been repeated that a Joseph Dorus was originally named Van Dorus and he
was “Mahican” from the Connecticut River Valley and had difficulty communicating
at times with his wife who was a Pegan. Is this accurate? I don’t know but it
was something I was taught by senior members of the family in the 1950s.
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