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JULY 14, 2000

An official from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation said a BIA document which records the submission of genealogical data for 10 members of the tribe in 1983 refutes the claims made by author Jeff Benedict.

The Connecticut newspaper The New London Day obtained a copy of the log which shows the tribe submitted the data in July 1983. In 1979, the tribe had submitted a letter of intent to petition to the BIA but later records show obvious deficiencies (OD) in their attempted petition.

The tribe never completed the recognition procedure through the BIA's Branch of Acknowldgement and Research, which was only instituted in 1978, because the tribe fought to have recognition and their land claims settled legislatively instead. The Mashantucket Pequot Settlement Act was signed into law in 1983.

Benedict told The Day that the log shows more reason why his book is right about the tribe's lack of genealogical ties to the historic Pequot tribe. The BIA informed him of the document in January 1999 but he was told he could not access it due to privacy issues.

He said he discounted it anyway. "It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t shed any new light on this," Benedict, who has apparently never seen the document, told The Day.

Get the Story:
Mashantuckets say BIA genealogical log refutes critics' claims (The New London Day 7/14)

Without Reservation Jeff Benedict. Read our review. Buy the book that has been causing so much controversy.

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