Open Letter to Public Inquiries about Membership in the Band

Thank you for your inquiry, our Band Council headquarters receives many inquiries such as yours. The following information generally explains most inquiries:

In response to a request for recognition, our Band elders and or genealogists review and determine the ancestry of known Pennacook / Abenaki (Wabanaki) Native American Indian family groups that are in our records. This service is provided as a courtesy to people that have known and documented native ancestry.

If your intention is to request a genealogy study and report to determine if there is any native ancestry in your family, the Band does not provide this level of service. If you want, a genealogist we will assist you to find these services. Generally, we can not provide genealogy studies due to the considerable amount of time, labor, and material expenses expended. Typically, many hours of research, communication with record resources, travel, computer costs, record copy costs, and other out-of-pocket expenses are incurred. Furthermore, you should also understand that there are no guarantees that native ancestry will be found in your family.

At a minimum, you should gather as many family documents and records as you can find. It is best to get at least five generations of birth and marriage records, with names, dates, and places. This amount of information is required due to the fact that many records that are restricted or have limited public access until the records are over 100 years old. Any records that lead to Canadian locations, church records, or tribal groups are usually very good sources of information.

If you have Canadian French ancestry you may want to join the following society which maintains an extensive record center:

American-Canadian Genealogical Society

Leaders in French-Canadian, Franco-American and Acadian Genealogy

4 Elm Street
P.O. Box 6478
Manchester, NH 03108-6478
(603) 622-1554

In the event that you do have additional family or genealogy information, we will review any submittal. We maintain an extensive amount of records, any information about your family genealogy that can be used will added to our records.

Again, we thank you for your interest, we hope that this letter is of assistance to you.

Kichi Oliwni, Band Council
10/99