The Missiquoi (or the Missisquoi or the Sokoki) were a historic band of

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

from present-day southern

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and formerly northern

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. This Algonquian-speaking group lived along the eastern shore of

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec. The cities of Burlington, Ve ...

at the time of the European incursion. Today, they are part of the Conseil des Abénakis d'Odanak, a First Nation in Quebec. Missiquoi is also the name of a 17th-century Abenaki village in northern Vermont, for which the sub-tribe was named.

Name

The name ''Missisquoi'' comes from ''mazipskoiak'' meaning "flint people," which comes from ''mazipskoik'' or "at the flint," meaning a

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

quarry near what is now Swanton, Vermont. It's also spelled ''Missiassik'' or ''Masipskoik'' a word that means "where there are many big rocks or boulder" in

History

Prior to European contact, some Western Abenaki founded villages at the mouth of the

Missisquoi River The Missisquoi River is a transboundary river of the east shore of Lake Champlain (via Missisquoi Bay), approximately long, in northern Vermont in the United States and southern Quebec in Canada. It drains a rural area of the northern Green Moun ...

. By the 17th century, Western Abenaki from across

consolidated into the main village at Missisquoi in northern

, so historians began to use the term "Missisquoi tribe" for all Champlain Valley Abenakis.Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 149. The Sokoki people, who had lived along the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

, founded Odanak, also known as the village of St. Francis in Quebec. The Western Abenakis, including those living along the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...

and the Champlain Valley, moved north to the

Saint-François River The Saint-François River (, ) is a right tributary of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. Its source is Lake Saint-François in Chaudière-Appalaches, southeast of Thetford Mines. It flows southwest towards Sherbrooke, where it changes ...

in Quebec, Canada. There they joined the local

Odanak Odanak is an Abenaki First Nations reserve in the Central Quebec region, Quebec, Canada. The mostly First Nations population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 481. The territory is located near the mouth of the Saint-François River at its co ...

community of Abenaki people. After enduring French and English colonists, the Missisquoi withdrew from areas of conflict during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

.Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 151. Linguist and historian Gordon M. Day wrote, "After this war, the Western Abenakis did not return to any of their former locations in force but rather united or reunited with their brethren at Saint Francis." Some held on to land claims in the United States and even collected rent.Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 152. In 1805, the British Crown deeded lands near Durham, Quebec, to Abenaki people who fled the American Revolutionary War; these lands became the Durham Reserve. By 1850, this group became part of the large St. Francis village (Odanak).

State-recognized tribe

The St. Francis-Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi is state-recognized by Vermont and claim to be Missiquoi descendants. The group is based in Swanton, Vermont. The group applied for but was denied federal recognition as a

Native American tribe In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, Indigenous tribe, or Tribal nation may be any current or historical Tribe (Native American)#Other uses, tribe, band, or nation of Native Americans in ...

in 2007. The summary of the proposed finding (PF) stated that "The SSA petitioner claims to have descended as a group mainly from a Western Abenaki Indian tribe, most specifically, the Missisquoi Indians" and went on to state: "However, the available evidence does not demonstrate that the petitioner or its claimed ancestors descended from the St. Francis Indians of Quebec, a Missiquoi Abenaki entity in Vermont, any other Western Abenaki group, or an Indian entity from New England or Canada. Instead, the PF concluded that the petitioner is a collection of individuals of claimed but undemonstrated Indian ancestry 'with little or no social or historical connection with each other before the early 1970's'...."

Notes

References

External links

Counseil des Abénakis d'Odanak
official website
Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, Swanton, VT
a state-recognized tribe
"An Act to enfranchise the Indians of the commonwealth."
Federal status / Provincial status {{authority control Abenaki Algonquian ethnonyms First Nations in Quebec Native American tribes in Vermont Native American history of Vermont