Today’s post is an introduction to my current research project. I am attempting to determine if two women, Marleah Kanistanaux (wife of Thomas Layton Kindness/Kanistanaux) & Dr. Lee-O-Netto (several spellings), known in the Stockton area of New York State could be the granddaughters of an Abenaki man known as Metallic (many different spellings!) who inhabited the Rangeley/Umbagog region of Maine and the Coos Region of New Hampshire in the late 18th and early 19th Century. The connection appears to be through Eli & Kate Moulton of Sherbrooke, Quebec. There may also be a connection with the surnames Neff and Yokum in Welland Co., Ontario. My mission is to document, if possible, the apparent connection of the two suspected granddaughters to Metallic and determine how various other individuals fit into this genealogical jigsaw puzzle.
Introduction to the Research
My original research into this family dynamic began in the middle. Ne-Do-Ba was contacted by a descendant of George Moulton who asked if it was possible George could be a descendant of Metallic through the daughter referred to in Maine histories as Parmachenee. Their family’s oral history makes the very specific claim that George Moulton was “one quarter half [edited 13-Oct-2011] Indian” and Parmachenee was said to have married a man named Eli Moulton of Quebec. This descendant also pointed out some information she had discovered in message boards about a family in Stockton, NY that appeared to be connected to the same Moulton family.
At first I thought the New York family’s claims were just pipe dreams based on wild assumptions. But I just couldn’t seem to walk away from it. I poked about over a period of a couple of months. The more I poked, the more obvious it became that there really was something to the story. I discovered there are bits and pieces of documentation scattered over three states, two countries, and three centuries but no one has attempted to bring order to the chaos. So here I am, ready to take a stab at properly researching these families and putting all the pieces (or at least as many as possible) together to form a good picture of the people in question.
I will begin with the Moulton and Kanistanaux families found in Stockton, NY in the 1870s and move backward, forward, and sideways in an attempt to document them as Abenaki and descendants of Metallic.
Format for this Research Series
I am going to handle the posting for this project a bit different from the Marden Family postings. I plan to create a blog post for each key individual I encounter which will contain all of the data available for that person. Since this is an on going project, these pages will be edited regularly to show the most current information.
I am also planning to add the family members into WikiTree profiles where descendants will be able to collaborate and grow the tree out to current generations if they are interested. I will also add the family members to the TNG genealogy section of the Ne-Do-Ba website.
Each historical document I encounter will get it’s own blog posting which will include an image of the document and text to summarize the contents and/or transcribe key items in the document. There may be discussion of specific items, explanation of terms, and description of cultural and historical items to provide background to the document.
Every now and then I will post general commentary, cultural considerations, local history, summaries, maps, further research recommendations, explorations of places & events, and coverage of minor individuals.
I am creating a home page (the Kanistanaux tab at the top of the page) with links to all the key individual’s posts to help my readers navigate. A map with markers for all the locations I encounter is also included on this home page.
This will be a large project with no real end. I will take breaks now and then to work on smaller projects, perhaps just blog about the research process in general, or vent about ridiculous things I encounter as a researcher.
I hope my readers enjoy the journey and family descendants become actively involved in the process.
Please leave comments or communicate via e-mail if you have any historical documentation or family history of interest to add to the project.
The Ne-Do-Ba Research Journal 