MORNINGSTAR STUDIO

03/22/2009

'Moccasin Tracks'

By: Jaime Ferris

America has always been considered a melting pot, where many ethnicities and races have settled to make a life for themselves. Tracking a family's ancestry can be quite difficult, but for Native Americans, it is as challenging as tracking moccasin footprints in melting snow.

Nevertheless, uncovering Native American roots is not an impossible task, according to Jeanne Morningstar Kent, a retired Hartford art teacher of Abenaki descent who spent nearly 20 years tracing her own genealogy-an undertaking that she continues. To help others along a similar path, Ms. Kent will present "Moccasin Tracks: Tracing Native American Genealogy in New England and Canada" March 22 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Institute for American Indian Studies (IAIS) in Washington.
According to IAIS literature, "Jeanne will provide essential information, helpful hints and thought-provoking questions for those tracing their own native genealogy."
"Tracing genealogy is a difficult task, but tracing Native American genealogy can be even more difficult; it's not easy," Ms. Kent said. "Records have been lost, there may not be records at all or, in some cases, the government may not federally recognize a tribe."
Tracing New England and Canadian Native American genealogy can be especially difficult, she reported, because tribes tended to move more frequently with the seasons, unlike tribes living in the American West and in the Plains.
"Because they moved often, we would say the blood lines are much lower than they would be in the West and the Plains," she said. "The information you can find about your heritage can be very interesting."
Ms. Kent is the daughter of a German mother and a French and Indian father descending from the Abenaki, Nipissing, Algonkian and Montanais people of the Quebec area in Canada. Ms. Kent said she was named Spozowialakws (Morningstar) years ago by an Abenaki elder. Interestingly enough, her Native name translates to "one who leads others out of the darkness into light"-a teacher.
Ms. Kent taught art in the Hartford public schools for 20 years. Her fine art focuses on the five-tribe Wabanaki Confederacy (Abenaki, Penobscot, Maliseet, Mi'kmaq and Passamaquoddy). With great pride in her ancestry, Ms. Kent has taught courses on native crafts and history to fellow educators, universities and the general public. She is one of the IAIS's native interpreters, a member of the American Gourd Society-among her artistic focuses is gourd art-and owner of the online studio, Morningstar Studio.
To trace her Native American roots, however, Ms. Kent pursued studies in genealogy at the National Genealogical Society. She is also a member of the French Genealogy Library in Tolland. She traced her genealogy over a 20-year period with the National Genealogy Society, but admitted, "Even with the National Genealogy Society, it was difficult. I quickly realized we may only find half the files we're looking for."
Among the obstacles she encountered was the fact that her tribe is not federally recognized.
"There are many factors that make tracing Indian genealogy difficult. In Canada, the church worked with the Canadian government and recorded Catholic marriages. But the church often recorded the woman's baptismal name, rather than her Native American name; then they stopped recording Indian names all together," she said. "It can also be difficult if you were Canadian and then moved to the United States; you were no longer considered Canadian.
"In many cases, you will search records and find Indians using French names, and there are records that appear to show intermarriage," she continued, noting that the latter is quite common. "For example, a woman's husband may have died and she may have married the brother, so they had the same last name. Another example would be an Indian woman marrying a Christian man. She would be christened the night before the wedding and would take her fiancé's name because they are marrying the next day. This can make tracing genealogy difficult."
Prejudice is another factor hindering one's research into their Native American ancestry, Ms. Kent noted, and offered this advice: "There is still a lot of prejudice out there, so become a member of a genealogy society. You need to be as professional and serious as possible so they will take you seriously."
As for her talk, Ms. Kent said she plans to give a power point presentation to show people how the system works so they can successfully track down their own ancestry, as well as sharing some tricks of the trade.
"Tracing Native American genealogy is a real journey in tracking history," Ms. Kent said. As stated on her Web site: "Although I am continuously walking between two worlds, I consider myself fortunate for finding a balance between cultures. My father gave me the desire to follow my spirit and dream. My mother gave me the stamina to achieve my dreams."
"Moccasin Tracks: Tracing Native American Genealogy in New England and Canada" will be held March 22 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Institute for American Indian Studies, located at 38 Curtis Road in Washington. Non-members are $12; IAIS members are $10. The museum can be reached by calling 860-868-0518, or by visiting www.birdstone.org. For more information about Ms. Kent, visit www.morningstarstudio9.com.