Day was an anthropologist, linguist, and one of the preeminent scholars of the Abenaki of the 20th century. He learned the Abenaki language from fluent speakers at Odanak and published many books and papers on the subject of Abenaki language and history including: The Indian as an Ecological Factor in the Northeastern Forest (1953), The Identity of the Sokokis (1965), The identity of the Saint Francis Indians (1981), and Western Abenaki Dictionary (1994). 

In Abenaki Place-Names in the Champlain Valley (left) he writes: 

“By 1800 practically all members of the several Western Abenaki tribes had moved to the village of Saint-Francois on the river of the same name in Quebec.” 

“In my opinion the Western Abenaki occupation of the Champlain Valley was prehistoric. It was long customary for writers of Vermont history to assert that there were few or no permanent Indian residents within the state, although it is easy to demonstrate that this is incorrect.” “The last village in the Champlain Valley to be occupied by the Abenakis was Missisquoi, and this seems to have been abandoned during the American Revolution. From then until about 1960 there was a more or less continuous visiting and short-term residence by Abenakis from Saint Francois to old familiar location in the valley.“

“The compiler, John C. Huden, has been active in the study of the early Indian history of New England for the past forty years. He is familiar with several Algonquian dialects, and has spent many years of intensive research into the particular field of place names. From these researches has come an extended record of publications on the subject. Currently on the faculty of the University of Vermont, Dr. Huden has a background of first-hand acquaintance with the region and its aboriginal inhabitants” (p. vii). 

He writes: 

Of Abnaki Indians, “Today their descendants mostly live at Odanak (St. Francis), Quebec“ (p. 15-16)“William Simon [Obum Sawin], last male Abnaki resident of Vermont, died in 1959“ (p. 40).

About Stephen Laurent: “The hereditary chief of the Abenakis, trained as a scholar and informed, as his father [Joseph Laurent] was before him, in the history of his people, in his address he offered significant information of lasting value” (p. 3). 

He said: “As you undoubtedly know, there were, even as late as 1790, a cluster of about fifty Abenaki lodges at the place now called, Swanton, Vermont” (p. 3).

Child was a historian of Vermont and New York and published business directories in many local counties. 

In a section of the Gazetter describing different aspects of Franklin County. In a section titled, “Aboriginal Occupancy” he writes (p. 37-38): 

“A branch of the Abenaquis tribe were the aboriginal occupants of this section of the country; and, indeed, they lingered upon their rightful soil at the mouth of the Lamoille river, and thence north along the Missisquoi bay, for a long time after the French and English had taken possession of the Country to the north and south of them… 

In 1755, the northern parts of Lake Champlain were in the possession of the St. Francis tribe of Indians, who wintered there in large numbers and subsisted by hunting and fishing; and as late as the time of the Revolutionary war, a branch of this tribe had a village at Swanton, consisting of about fifty hits, with a church, Jesuit missionary, and had some land under cultivation. About the year 1798, the Caughnawaga Indians advanced a claim to most of the lands lying between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains, and importuned the legislature of Vermont, at several sessions, for remuneration for the same, but without success…Still, as we have stated before, neither this nor any other locality in the State seems to have been the Redman’s home; at least not within historic times. Vermont was rather a territory to which all laid claim, and was used in common as a hunting, fishing, and battle-ground, by the St. Francis tribe on the north, their principal settlement being at Montreal, or Hockhelaga, as it was called then; the Narraganset on the east, with their principal settlement on the Merrimac River; the Pepuquoits on the south, inhabiting the north western part of Connecticut; and the Iroquis, or Mohawks, as they were commonly called, on the southwest, their principal settlement being at Schenectady, N.Y., on the Mohawk river. “

Schoolcraft summarized information on culture, history, geography and demography of “Indian Tribes” across what was at the time considered the United States. He was familiar with Vermont as he attended Middlebury College. He was also aware of other indigenous communities as he studied the Mohawk language at Caughnawagha and was married to a Chippewa woman. 

Of the Abenakies he wrote: “A tribe  of  Indians  formerly inhabiting  the  territory  which  now  comprises a part  of  the  States  of  Maine  and  New  Hampshire.  They  were  divided  into several  sub-tribes,  the  best  known  of  which  are  the  Penobscots,  Norridgewocks,  and Ameriscoggins.  Abenakis  is  a geographical  terra  adopted  by  the  French,  denoting the  area  occupied  by  this  tribe  on  the  first  settlement  of  Canada” (continued on p. 512-513).

Drake writes as a historian who attempted “to locate the various bands of Aborigines, ancient and modern, and to convey the best information respecting their numbers our multifarious sources will warrant” (p. v). 

He surveyed 465 bands. 

Of the “Abenakies” he writes:”over Maine till 1754, then went to Canada; 200 in 1689; 150 in 1780” (p. v).

He also documents other Abenaki groups (p. vi-xii): 

Anasaguntakook, (Abenaki,) on sources Androscoggin, in Maine. 

Armouchiquois, or Marachite, (Abenaki,) on River St. Johns, New Brunswick. 

Aucosisco, (Abenaki,) between the Saco and Androscoggin River. 

Canibas, (Abenaki,) numerous in 1607, and after; on both sides Kennebeck River. 

Marachites, (Abenakies,) on the St.Johns; a remnant remains. 

Norridgewoks, (Abenakies,) on Penobscot River. 

Penobscots, (Abenakies,) 330, on an island in Penobscot r[iver], 12 m[iles] above Bangor. 

Pequakets, (Abenakies,) on the Saco River; destroyed by English in 1725. 

St. John’s, (Abenakies,) about 300 still remain on that river.

Wawenoks, (Abenakies,) once from Sagadahock to St. George River, in Maine. 

No mention of Abenaki groups in Vermont.

Morse proposed: “to make a visit of observation and inspection to the various Indian Tribes in our immediate neighbourhood , in order to acquire a more accurate knowledge of their actual condition , and to devise the most suitable plan to advance their civilization and happiness.“

He did not make mention of encountering any Abenaki in Vermont in his travels.

Kendall traveled extensively in Vermont: 

“I had occasion to pass through this part of the country of Lake Champlain a second time, in the middle of the year 1808, and again in the beginning of that of 1809” (p. 293). 

“In June, 1808, I was two days upon the lake, making a circuitous voyage, between Saint-John‟s, or Fort de Saint-Jean, [Quebec,] and Burlington” (p. 293). 

“Between Rutland and Burlington, the landscape often excites admiration; but between Burlington and Saint Alban’s it is a profusion of magnificence. I have passed this road more than once, both in summer and in winter, and always with reiterated pleasure. The magnificence, softening by degrees into the romantic, continues from Saint Alban’s to Swanton Falls, a cataract on the Michiscoui…[which] empties itself in a large bay, to which it gives its name” (p. 276). 

He also wrote of other encounters with Indigenous peoples, including at St. Francis: 

“At Saint-Français, I met with several Indians whose conversation ran much upon Nanrantswac, with the topography of which they appeared to be very intimate” (p. 67). 

And yet did not mention any encounter with Abenaki based in Vermont.

“Yet within the recollection of many who are still living, small bands of the Abenaquis Indians came down the river in birchbark canoes in summer during several years. Men, women and children built wigwams in true Indian fashion, covered with bark and the skins of wild animals, bringing with them baskets and other trinkets which they had made during the winter. The men spent most of their time in fishing and hunting, while the women sold their wares from house to house. Such a company visited Newbury as late as 1857” (p. 4). 

“The record of Indian wars with the settlers of New England shows that captives were carried to Canada at a very early day, and it has been stated that more were conveyed along the St. Francis River than by all other routes combined” (p. 4). 

More information on the history of First Peoples continues on pages 3-5.

“The Abenaqui Indians used to frequently return here previous to the last century after they were driven away by the early setters… During all of the first half of the last century small parties of more civilized and peaceable Abenaqui Indians used to visit Bellows Falls nearly every summer, coming from their homes in Canada and New York State. They came down the Connecticut in their canoes, usually bringing supplies of baskets and other trinkets which they had manufactured during the previous winters, which they sold to citizens of Bellows Falls and the then large number of summer visitors… The last remnant of this tribe came to Bellows Falls early in the summer, about 1856, in their birchbark canoes“ (p. 49).