Exploring Schaghticoke Mahican roots in Wechquadnach (North East and Amenia)

AMENIA — “We acknowledge that the land presently referred to as the Town of Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, is the occupied, unceded, seized territory of the Schaghticoke Mahican Peoples,” said Carol Sager Lee, president of the Amenia Historical Society, in her introduction to a roundtable on local Schaghticoke heritage hosted by the Society on Saturday, Nov. 4.

The panel of experts in the genealogy, linguistics and history of the Schaghticoke Nation used Colonial records to  demonstrate that the Schaghticoke have what they called a “legitimate legacy” from Putnam to Rensselaer counties.

“By ‘legitimate legacy,’ we mean to affirm that our people have been here since ancient times, and descendants are still here today,” said Valerie LaRobardier, Schaghticoke genealogist and president of the Dutchess County Genealogical Society. This research “counters the ‘last of their kind’ narrative” that settlers began establishing back in the Colonial period, she said.

Together with Betsy Strauss, historian and genealogist with the Amenia Historical Society, LaRobardier showed documents dating from 1622 on through the 18th century that testify to the extent of the Schaghticoke territories and population still present during the Colonial period. 

The records included maps, deeds and other written materials that historians like LaRobardier are using to create a more complete picture of Schaghticoke history, and to offer a more intimate record of the people who lived on this land.

“The goal of the research I’m doing now is to unravel the history of the Schaghticoke-Mahican people throughout the wide regions of the original territory,” said LaRobardier. She continued: “The purpose of these round table presentations is to familiarize people with their local history, and to correct misconceptions” about Schaghticoke extinction.

Descendants who trace their lineage to pre-Colonial eras still reside in New York as well as Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.

Sachem Hawk Storm, Schaghticoke hereditary chief, described current efforts to educate New Englanders on the subject and bring together the Schaghticoke community in their hereditary home.

Storm leads the nonprofit Schaghticoke First Nations Inc. (SFN), the mission of which is “to preserve, promote and enrich the Schaghticoke peoples’ heritage and provide a safe learning environment for Schaghticoke descendants.”

Ecosystem restoration, climate change and water issues are also central to their work, he said.

Kasike Roberto Mukaro Borrero, a member of the Guaina Taino Tribe of Boriken (the indigenous name for the island Puerto Rico) and an  expert in the languages of native peoples, spoke about how mistakes in reporting, such as early miscounts of the number of people in a native community, were often taken as fact by later historians. He said that the examination of records from a more diverse set of sources can correct those errors.

For example, the accounts of Moravian missionaries, who established missions on the eastern shore of Indian Lake in Sharon and in Kent in the 18th century, are playing an important role in understanding what happened to the Schaghticoke people.

As white colonists settled on traditionally Schaghticoke land,  the Moravians supported the Schaghticoke People by, for example, giving legal advice on property matters. They also tried to mitigate the damage that had already been done with programs supporting recovery from the alcoholism that white settlement had fostered.

Storm summed up this aspect of their history: “If it wasn’t for the Moravians, we would have been wiped out a long time ago.”

The trade-off was the acceptance of Christianity, which displaced traditional Schaghticoke beliefs.

Despite Moravian and Schaghticoke efforts, many Schaghticoke people were displaced from their traditional lands and driven west. At least one incident resulted in the massacre of 90 tribe members by the Pennsylvania Militia.

LaRobardier described the tribe’s three-pronged approach to the equitable restoration of the Schaghticoke community and culture: education, acknowledgment and reparation.

Reparation can take many forms, said LaRobardier, including scholarships and the creation of credit unions to strengthen Indigenous communities.

Reparations might also include acquiring traditional tribal lands, where the nation could reestablish a Schaghticoke culture and community, said Storm.

Storm emphasized that ecological restoration is integral to their efforts at cultural restoration.

A focus on forest maintenance, agriculture and food programs, he said, will help the country—as well as the tribe—prepare for the growing effects of climate change.

Attendee George Bistransin of Amenia asked about the total area of land restoration being sought: “I wondered if you included my house.”

Storm replied that there is a huge amount of unoccupied land currently owned by the state. Other lands are being bought back, he said.

An attendee of Schaghticoke lineage also responded, saying that because the Schaghticoke people have had their land taken from them, they do not wish to take land from others.

The Schaghticoke tribe is still seeking recognition at both state and federal levels.

  

Sachem Hawk Storm of Schaghticoke First Peoples spoke at the Amenia Historical Society on Saturday, Nov. 4. Photo by L. Tomaino