DNA Update
Monday, 16 March 2009 06:38
Nancy
DNA and Book Signing coming up in North Haverhill On Friday March 20 and Saturday March 21, 2009 National Geographic DNA testing will be taking place at the North Haverhill Town Office Building. On Saturday Trudy Ann Parker author of Aunt Sarah and Fred Wiseman author of several books about the Abenaki will have a book signing for those interested. Fred Wiseman will also show his film “Against the Darkness” at 3 PM and give a talk. All is free and open to the public.
The White Pine Association is please to work with Dr Schurr and National Geographic to bring the DNA testing to the Newbury Vermont and Haverhill NH area. There has been some confusion to how effective the tests will be for families who Native heritage goes from Female to Male. Recently, the White Pine spoke with Dr Schurr and he responded;
“In general, the DNA analysis that we perform reveal participants' maternal genetic ancestry (mtDNA), and, for males, also their paternal ancestry (Y-chromosome). It indicates the maternal or paternal lineage that a person has inherited from female and male ancestors extending back many generations”
Hours for the DNA testing are Friday March 20 from 11 AM to 7 Pm and Saturday March 21 from 10 Am to 5 PM. The programs are open and free to the public. For more information please call 802-392-8006 Director of White Pine Association
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 March 2009 11:44 )
Valley News DNA
Saturday, 14 March 2009 17:08
Nancy
By Kristen Fountain Valley News Staff Writer etween the village of Woodsville and the Newbury-Bradford line, the Connecticut River meanders slowly in loose loop-de-loops. In summer months, acres of corn stalks rise up on either side in a waving wall of greenery. This is the historic home of the Koasek Abenakis, a band of native people who also grew corn in these fertile fields, known as the Koas meadows. There is archeological evidence of a community living here for at least part of the year as long ago as 1,100 A.D. But their ancestors likely made it their home before that, potentially for several thousand years. There are many families from Newbury and Haverhill who can trace their ancestry back to the Koasek band, to a time before their way of life was disrupted, and ultimately destroyed, by the arrival of Europeans to New England in the 1600s and their expansion north over the next 150 years. But for others with long ties to the two towns, whatever connection may have existed has become murky over time. “A lot of people in the area say that they have family history of having native lineage,” said Nancy Millette, who grew up in Haverhill and is director of the White Pine Association, a nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation of the history, culture and language of the Abanaki people. But many people are not sure if the family stories are true and, in many cases, official documents such as birth and marriage records do not help. “It is very, very hard to find the paperwork.” In most cases, Abenakis who remained in the region after the arrival of European settlers blended into the broader community. Many spoke French and were Catholic, the result of interacting with trappers and missionaries from Canada, and gave their heritage as French to avoid the negative feelings their neighbors had about the Abenaki. “There was a lot of discrimination in a lot of communities,” said Millette, who is Abenaki and currently serves as co-chief of the Koasek band. “They were called ‘river rats' or ‘gypsies.' They were fifth-class citizens.” That is why, she said, the association decided to participate in an ongoing scientific research project coordinated by the National Geographic Society. The Genographic Project, which was launched in 2005, is a five-year nonprofit, non-governmental effort to develop a large genetic database. The collection focuses only on the section of human DNA that can identify ancestral ties to distinct migratory groups of early humans. Scientists working with the project have collected samples from longstanding populations of native peoples from East Asia, India, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. By last summer, the project had gathered almost 52,000 sequences of mitochondrial DNA, which are genetic instructions that are passed from females to their offspring. In addition, the project is collecting sequences from the Y-chromosome, which is passed from father to son. Theodore Schurr, a professor of biological anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and his colleagues will be visiting Haverhill next Friday and Saturday to discuss their work and take genetic samples for free testing from people with long family ties to the region. (See related story.) The kind of genetic testing that the project is offering will not link someone to a particular indigenous tribe, said Schurr. It will only reveal whether there is some kind of native ancestry. And the tests do not always reveal ancestry even when historical records show it exists. “Identity is a very complex thing,” Schurr said. “It doesn't hinge strictly on genetics. Genetics is only a tool.” However, the information they collect in Haverhill and elsewhere across the country and the globe can tell them about the historic migration of peoples across the planet from Africa, which appears to have started around 90,000 years ago. It can also offer insights into whether there was a historic connection between two distinct groups. For example, the project is interested in finding out what sorts of genetic mutations that indigenous people in the Koas and other Algonquin speaking people along the East Coast have in common with Iroquois from the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, said Schurr. His group is already working with the Wampanoag tribe based in Rehoboth, Mass., near the border with Rhode Island, he said. Genetic information may uncover aspects of history that nature has washed away. In the Koas meadows, the meandering of the Connecticut River has likely erased any archeological record that could show when people first began living there, said Dick Boisvert, New Hampshire state archaeologist. “If there were occupations there 5,000 years ago, they probably would be eroded away,” Boisvert said. For more recent history, town and church documents can show a great deal, said ethnohistorian John Moody, a Hartford resident who with his wife, Donna, operates the nonprofit Winter Center for Indigenous Traditions based in the Upper Valley. Painstaking research by Moody and others since the 1970s suggests that among longstanding residents in any given area of New England, a significant part of the population has some blood relation to the indigenous people of that area. “In terms of native ancestry, the baseline from our perspective is 30 percent,” said Moody. For places like the Koas, a known village site, the percentage could be closer to 50 percent, he said. The Moodys said they do not think that genetic testing will add any information to what is already known. Also, it has a problematic history that can make any project of this type suspect to many who might participate. Over the years, collaborating with scientists has yielded nothing but trouble for native people, from submitting to researchers in the eugenics movement of the 1920s and 30s who measured the size of their heads through to the still ongoing Human Genome Diversity Project, which collects cell lines to plumb for potentially valuable genetic diversity, the Moodys said. They believe that this history makes it unlikely that many members of the Abenaki community will participate in the new project. “These are fresh wounds,” said John Moody. “This is a deep concern. A lot of Abenaki families are very reluctant to be tested.” For her part, Millette hopes that at least 500 people will participate, enough so that the association can develop a reservoir of information about the community. Her goal is to show how deep native roots spread through the region and to encourage more families to learn about their own history and the history of the Koas meadows. “It's the most beautiful place in the world. We look at the meadows on both sides of the river with awe,” said Millette. “But the children don't even know all the history of that.” *** Kristen Fountain can be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or (603) 727-3209.
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 March 2009 11:35 )
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FREE DNA TEST AVAILABLE MARCH 20 and 21st
Friday, 13 March 2009 09:35
Nancy
WHITE PINE ASSOCIATION TO HOST FREE DNA TESTING IN NORTH HAVREHILL The White Pine Association will be offering Free DNA testing on March 20 and 21, 2009 at the gym in Haverhill Town Office Building on Main Street, North Haverhill, NH. Hours for testing will be Friday March 20st 11 am to 7 PM. Saturday March 21st from 10 Am to 5 PM. Requirements to take part in this program will include that your family has lived within 25 miles of the historic areas known as the Koas or Oxbow in the Haverhill NH, Newbury Vermont areas since the 1800’s. If you no longer live in the area but have direct genealogical ties to that area you are also welcome to take part in this program. Some ways to show proof of historic family ties can be used from the following list: birth certificates, US census, death certificates, marriage certificates, family bibles, pages from history of community which identifies your family as being in one of the communities and/or written out oral family history. Copies of proof of long term family residency in the area will be required to take part in this program. Your historic residency to the area documentation can be sent to the White Pine Association (WPA), PO Box 42, Newbury Vt 05051 in advance or you are welcome to bring it with you at the time of the testing. For people who would like to take part in this program that have historic ties but live out of the area now can still take part in the program via mail. Just send above documentation into the WPA that shows your family has had early residency in the area and your name and address will be given to the lab to mail your DNA kit to your home. Testing results will be confidential between the participants and the lab. The laboratory will give your DNA tests a number and your name will not be used for any other purpose except to have so your confidential test results can be returned to you. The White Pine Association will not be given the result. “We are only offering and coordinating this free of charge program to the general public rooted within the historic area because so many people have reported they have unsuccessfully tried to find documentation and proof of the Indian heritage in their families, “ states the board of trustees. “ Many had exclaimed they wish they could take a DNA test to help with their pursuit. There is also a very strong background of many cultures in the area. The WPA is dedicated to celebrating and preserving the rich historic and cultural make up of our homeland for the future generations and helping our communities today with preservation, educational programs, health and human services and more.” DNA testing does have some draw backs. Indian heritage for enrollment into a tribe is not determined by DNA markers only. DNA tests are not complete if the gene crosses from male to female. For instance the test may be negative if the Indian heritage goes from mother to son or father to daughter with the mtDNA and Y-chromosome testing WPA will offer. There is another DNA test that would show this cross over if an individual would like to choose to have it at their own expense. The genetic make- up needs to follow male to male and female to female in the family line. Also, Indian heritage may not say the exactly tribe a person’s markers come from. Although DNA testing alone cannot be used to gain enrollment into a tribe it can be a useful tool. DNA will show markers of heritage whether it is Irish, Scottish, Indian, Italian etc etc. We all have mixed heritage and this gives the people of the Newbury Vermont and Haverhill NH area an opportunity to embrace the colorful past of who they are! An example of enrollment into the Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas ( Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, NH ) for example would include even with DNA positive results; birth, death, marriage certificates, US census that identify a Native American / Indian of that region and you can trace your heritage directly to that person; a family tree with supporting documentation; Persons who demonstrates tribal community involvement historically and consistently to recent times; family surnames that are already known to tribal communities and you can trace your linage to that family; person already proven Native American who have lived for generations in or near Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, NH or have had family members show residency there in historic times which you can show clear relationship to. Family members mean someone sharing a relationship by blood. Near means within 30 miles of North Haverhill or Newbury and finally the person must not already be enrolled in another tribe. The White Pine Association is very pleased to have this opportunity in bringing this program to North Haverhill, NH to help people find another piece of their genetic puzzle. The scientists and associates will be on location to answer your questions in person on March 20 and 21, 2009. The same DNA testing has been successfully utilized for the past thirteen years and has characterized mtDNA and Y-Chromosome variation in the East Asian, Siberian and some Native American populations. Other current projects are studies of genetic diversity in modern Aleuts, Indigenous Siberian Peoples, and Neolithic populations from Lake Baikal region by this same team of scientists. The White Pine Association is a not of profit organization who’s board of trustees are Native and Non Native residents of Haverhill NH and Newbury VT who are dedicated to helping their community with education, preservation and celebrating the uniqueness of our home. For more information call 802-392-8006 or visit website www.koasekabenaki.org
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 March 2009 11:35 )
White Pine Association hosts Snow Snake Competitions
Thursday, 29 January 2009 15:32
administrator
White Pine Association hosts Snow Snake Competitions North Haverhill, NH- The White Pine Association, a non-profit organization will host the second annual snow snake competitions Sunday February 22 at 1 PM in the field next to the Haverhill Town Building, Main Street. The gym in the town building will be used for warm up and social gathering. The White Pine Association will host a raffle; the Koasek of the Koas Abenaki Elders Council will offer hot beverages and soups as well as a food sale. The events are free and open to the public. Fred Wiseman’s films: Against the Darkness and 1609: The Other Side of History will be shown in the gym. Other entertainment TBA. What is snow snake? It is a very old eastern Native American sport. Teams compete to see who can throw a snow snake -- a stick carved especially for the competitions -- down the tunnel the farthest. When thrown, the stick looks like a snake in the snow. It is said; Native Americans especially eastern tribes began playing the game more than 500 years ago . It is believed that at one time the game was used as a means of communication. Each snake has a unique appearance designed by its maker. The snow snakes are hand crafted out of hickory or ash. The Abenaki snow snake commonly ranges from 18 inches to 24 inches however; some eastern tribes use snakes that range to six foot long. Competitors have their own tricks that make the snake go faster and farther on the track. Everyone is pretty secretive about their techniques. Traditionally, the snow snake was thrown in a motion similar to that of skipping a stone on a lake. Once your snow snake stopped it would be upended to show how far it had gone. The snow snake that had gone the furthest was the winner. Sometimes the winner would win all the other snow snakes, he would then gather up all the snow snakes, yell out and toss them all into the air. Then the other players would rush to get their snow snake, or the one they thought was the best. Today the teams play for fun or competition prizes. The White Associations will offer first prize a $100.00 worth of groceries( donated by the Nulhegan Coosuk Abenaki Bands non-profit organization AHA and $20 cash, second prize a $50.00 gift certificate to Farmway and $20 cash, third prize $30 worth of 2009 garden seeds donated by Agway North Haverhill and $20 in cash. “There are now many eastern tribes hosting snow snake competitions” said board of trustees of the White Pine Association. “This is our second annual game and we intend to build this competition annually.” The White Pine Association, located in Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, New Hampshire works to promote and preserve the history, culture, health and healing of the Koasek of the Koas Meadows (the oxbows) and other Abenaki nations as well as celebrate all the heritages of the community. The public is welcome to come to this community event free of charge. Doors to the gym will open at 11:30 A.M Feb 22, 2009. For more information please call 802-728-3619 or 603-989-3393
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White Pine Association
