Abenaki Indian Genealogy

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Abnaki, (Wâbŭna'ki, from wâbŭn, a term associated with 'light,' 'white,' and refers to the morning and the east; a`ki 'earth,' 'land'; hence Wâbŭna'ki is an inanimate singular term signifying 'eastland,' or 'morning-land,' the elements referring to animate dwellers of the east being wanting.--Jones).

A name used by the English and French of the colonial period to designate an Algonquian confederacy centering in the present state of Maine, and by the Algonquian tribes to include all those of their own stock resident on the Atlantic seaboard, more particularly the "Abnaki" in the north and the Delawares in the south. More recently it has been applied also to the emigrant Oneida, Stockbridge, and Munsee about Green Bay, Wis. By the puritans they were generally called Tarrateen, a term apparently obtained from the southern New England tribes; and though that is the general conclusion of modern authorities, there is some doubt as to the aboriginal origin of this term. In later times, after the main body of the Abnaki had removed to Canada, the name was applied more especially to the Penobscot tribe. The Iroquois called them Owenunga, which seems to be merely a modification of Abnaki, or Abnaqui, the name applied by the French and used by most modern writers. The form Openango has been used more especially to designate the eastern tribes. Maurault (Hist. des Aben., 2, 1866) says: "Some English authors have called these savages Wabnoak, 'those of the east'; this is the reason they are called 'Abenaki' by some among us. This name was given them because they were toward the east with reference to the Narragansett."

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  • Abenaki Tribal Divisions

  • Abenaki Chiefs

Index of Tribes or Nations

Source: Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906

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