Abenaki Tribe

Location: New England; Southeastern Quebec

Language: Algonquian

Eastern Abenaki: Penobscot and Passamaquoddy (two largest tribes), Houlton, Maliseet, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Ossipee, and Pigwacket.

Western Abenaki: Vermont Abenaki

Well known Leaders: Massasoit, son of Massasoit Metacom (King Phillip), Samoset,

Tribal Headquarters

Abenaki Tribal Council
P.O. Box 276
Missiquoi, Vermont 05488

History

Brief Timeline

War, famine and disease depopulation the tribes in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

1524: French expediton led by Giovanni da Verranzano was early recorded contact with non Indians

1600's: Fur trading began with the French and English 

1600'S: Their villages raided by the Iroquois.

1604: Samuel de Champlain a fur trader encounterd many of the Abenaki tribes.

1675-1676: King Phillip's War

1689-1697: Joined the French against the English

Intertribal conflict with the Micmac

Jesuit missionaries were the first, with the Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries following

1702-1713: Queen Anne's War

1722- 1727: Dummer's War / Lovewell's War; initally an effort to defend their rights to their land supported anf the French Jesuits.

1744-1748: King George's War -- the Abenaki, Missisquoi, St. Frances and Sokoki joined the French in fighting the English.

1756-1763 Seven Years' War or French and Indian War

1776-----: During the Revolutionary War the St. Francis Abenaki served with the British; the Panobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Micmac supported the colonists

Migration into Canada as Vermont denied land to the Abenaki

1805: The British gave land to the Abenaki (Canada)

1980: President Carter signed a bill granting Passamaquoddy and Penobscot millions in restitution for the loss of their homelands.

1982: Vermont Abenaki applied for federal recognition

Reservations

Penobscot Reservation

Old Town, Maine

Additional References to the History of the Tribe and/or Band

Abenaki Indian Legends, Grammar and Place Names. by Henry Lorne Masta, Victoriaville, P.Q, La Voix des Bois-France 1932. FHL Book: 970.2 Ab7im

Abenaki Indians: Their Treaties of 1713 and 1717, and a Vocabularty, with a Historical Introduction. by Frederic Kindder, FHL Film 1688409

Records

Census Records censusearly 1800-1852

Important Web Sites

• Constitution of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People of the Greater Abenaki Nation of the Wabanaki Confederation of N'dakinna approved 2005
• Abenaki Nation Official Website
• Abenaki Wikipedia
• Abenaki Genealogy -- Ne-Do-Ba a website devoted to biography, genealogy, and history of the tribe.

References

Bibliography

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.