Pequots say they have proof

SEPTEMBER 13, 2000

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut have an original court document dating to 1857 which they say proves the current membership, including Chairman Kenneth Reels, can be traced to the historical Pequot tribe.

The document identifies Sally George and her family as members of the Western Pequot tribe, which has been state-recognized since the 1600s. The document recommends that part of the Western Pequot Reservation be sold to help support the George family.

The original reservation was over 2,000 acres. Subsequent sales of the land by the state eventually reduced it to about 200 acres, its size in the 1970s. The tribe's 1983 settlement act, which also extended federal recognition to them, redrew the boundaries to cover about 1,400 acres.

James Lynch, who has done research on the Western and Eastern Pequot tribes for three local towns and Jeff Benedict, author of the book Without Reservation, doesn't believe Sally George, nor her brother Austin, who is the great-great-great-grandfather of Reels, are members of the Western Pequot tribe.

But Lynch's research has been criticized by others. In a two-day public meeting regarding the federal recognition petitions of two tribes living on the Eastern Pequot reservation, one researcher said a report prepared by Lynch was riddled with errors and was unrealiable.

Virginia DeMarce said some of the report's genealogical data was fradulent. She said she followed up on some of its claims about members of the historical Eastern Pequot tribe and found them to be falsified.

Get the Story:
Pequots Say Document Proves Lineage (The New London Day 9/13)

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