[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 24, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67398-67400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33532]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Final Determination Against Federal Acknowledgment of the Mobile-
Washington County Band of Choctaw Indians of South Alabama (MOWA)
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Final Determination.
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SUMMARY: This notice is published in accordance with authority
delegated by the Secretary of the Interior to the Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs (Assistant Secretary) by 209 DM 8.
Notice is hereby given that the Assistant Secretary declines to
acknowledge that the Mobile--Washington County Band of Choctaw Indians
of South Alabama (MOWA), 1080 West Red Fox Road, Mt. Vernon, Alabama
36560, exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.
This notice is based on the determination that the group does not
satisfy one of the mandatory criteria set forth in 25 CFR
[[Page 67399]]
83.7, namely criterion 83.7 (e). Therefore, the MOWA do not meet the
requirements necessary for a government-to-government relationship with
the United States, 25 CFR 83.10 (m).
DATES: This determination is final and is effective 90 days after
publication in the Federal Register, unless a request for
reconsideration is filed with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals
(IBIA) by the petitioner or any interested party no later than 90 days
after publication, 25 CFR 83.11.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Holly Reckord, Chief, Branch of
Acknowledgment and Research, (202) 208-3592. A request for a copy of
the report which summarizes the evidence and analyses that are the
basis for this Final Determination should be addressed to the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Branch of Acknowledgment and Research, 1849 C Street
NW, Mailstop 4603-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240, or is available at
www.doi.gov/bia/ack__res.html.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MOWA submitted a documented petition on
April 28, 1988, and received an ``obvious deficiency review'' (OD) from
the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) dated February 15, 1990. On November
8, 1991, the MOWA responded to the OD review and on November 19, 1991,
the petition was placed on the ``ready'' list of petitioners waiting to
be placed on active consideration. The AS-IA's investigation of the
petition and response to the OD review found little or no evidence that
the petitioner can meet criterion (e) of 83.7, descent from a
historical tribe or from historical tribes which combined and
functioned as a single autonomous political entity.
Under 25 CFR 83.10 (e) of the Federal acknowledgment regulations,
an expedited Proposed Finding may be issued by the Assistant Secretary
when there is little or no evidence that the petitioner can meet one of
the mandatory criteria (e), (f), or (g) of 83.7. Expedited findings may
only be done after the petition is complete and before the petition has
been placed on active consideration. A notice of the expedited Proposed
Finding to decline to acknowledge the MOWA was published in the Federal
Register on January 5, 1995 (60 FR 1874).
The Proposed Finding found that the petitioner clearly did not meet
the requirements of criterion 83.7 (e), descent from a historical
tribe. To make a Proposed Finding under 83.10 (e), the burden of proof
is on the Government to show that the petitioner clearly does not meet
the criterion. The Proposed Finding demonstrated that the MOWA clearly
did not meet criterion 83.7 (e), thus meeting the burden of proof
required of the Government for making a Proposed Finding under 83.10
(e).
Once the Proposed Finding has been issued, however, the burden of
proof shifts to the petitioner for rebuttal. The standard of proof
which must be met in the petitioner's response to the Proposed Finding
is a lesser one, the ``reasonable likelihood of the validity of the
facts'' standard described in 25 CFR 83.6, the same standard used for
all acknowledgment determinations. If, in its response to the Proposed
Finding, the petitioner can show that it meets the ``reasonable
likelihood of the validity of the facts'' standard, and thus
demonstrates descent from a historical tribe, or historical tribes
which amalgamated, then the BIA will undertake a full review of the
petition under all seven of the mandatory criteria. However, the MOWA's
response to the Proposed Finding did not establish under the
``reasonable likelihood of the validity of the facts'' standard that
the MOWA met criterion 83.7 (e). No new evidence was submitted or found
which rebutted the conclusions of the Proposed Finding. Therefore, the
MOWA response did not trigger a BIA evaluation of the MOWA petition
under all seven mandatory criteria.
The Final Determination is based upon a new analysis of all the
information in the record. This includes the information available for
the Proposed Finding, the information submitted by the petitioner in
its response to the Proposed Finding, and new evidence collected by the
BIA researchers for evaluation purposes. Interested and informed
parties did not submit evidence during the comment period. Two
individuals submitted comments after the close of the response period,
which were not considered in the preparation of the final determination
in accord with 25 CFR 83.10 (l) (l). Also, numerous form letters were
received out of time and all were transmitted to the Solicitor's office
for retention for transmittal to the IBIA or the AS-IA in the event of
a remand. None of the evidence submitted by the petitioner or located
by the BIA during the evaluation process demonstrates that the core
ancestors of the MOWA were Choctaw or of other Indian ancestry.
Initially the petitioner claimed descent from six historical Indian
tribes: Apache, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Houma. In its
Response to the Proposed Finding, the petitioner continued to claim
ancestry only from the historical Choctaw, Cherokee, and Creek tribes
and narrowed its core ancestors from 30 to 5 individuals. The
petitioner submitted additional evidence on four of the five of these
ancestors from whom it claimed descent. The BIA searched for evidence,
but could not locate any evidence connecting these four claimed core
ancestors to the Choctaw or to any other historical tribe. Neither the
petitioner nor the BIA found documentation acceptable to the Secretary
that the core ancestors claimed to be Indian by the MOWA, were
descendants of the historical Choctaw tribe or any other Native
American tribe.
The BIA found that all the MOWA members descend from two core
families that resided in southwestern Alabama by about 1830. Neither
these two families nor their ancestors were found to be members of a
historical tribe of American Indians, or of tribes which had combined
and functioned as a single American Indian entity. The extensive
evidence on these two families either does not support, or in part
disproves, Indian ancestry. Only one percent of the petitioner's
membership could document any American Indian ancestry through the
fifth core ancestor (see above) whose lines married into the families
in the late 1880's and early 1900's. Except for this one percent,
Indian records for Alabama do not include the known ancestors of the
petitioner. There was no evidence in the substantial body of
documentation submitted by the petitioner, or in the independent
research by the BIA, to demonstrate Choctaw ancestry or any other
Indian ancestry for 99% of the petitioner's membership. Thus, the
petitioner fails to meet criterion (e), descent from a historical
tribe.
The Proposed Finding concluded that the petitioner's claim that its
members descended from ``full and mixed blood Choctaws, Creeks,
Cherokees, and Chickasaws who avoided removal West during the Indian
removal in the 1830's'' is not valid. The AS-IA found that:
(1) The petitioner's core ancestral families did not have
documented American Indian ancestry;
(2) The actual MOWA progenitors from the 1880's were not documented
as descendants of the known, removal-era, Indians claimed by the
petitioner; and
(3) Many of the persons in the early 19th century ``founding Indian
community'' claimed by the petitioner were not demonstrated to be
Choctaw, or even American Indian.
[[Page 67400]]
(4) Only one percent of the petitioner's membership can document
American Indian ancestry.
In its response to the Proposed Finding, the petitioner submitted
evidence including letters, photographs, interviews, school/church
records, published secondary sources, newspaper/journal articles, court
documents, Federal documents, land records, maps, and time lines. Every
piece of evidence submitted was reviewed and it is concluded that:
(1) Some of the evidence was either irrelevant to criterion 83.7(e)
because it did not demonstrate genealogical descent from four claimed
ancestors or descent from any historical tribe;
(2) Much of the evidence was oral history and was unreliable when
tested. Much of the evidence was found to be unsubstantiated by primary
documentation; and
(3) The evidence did not connect known MOWA ancestors to the
individuals whom the MOWA claimed were Native American or to a
historical Indian tribe.
(4) The evidence disproved Indian ancestry to some of the MOWA
ancestors.
The BIA searched for evidence on the local, state, and national
levels. The core ancestors of the petitioning group are known. None of
the primary records demonstrated that these documented, known core
ancestors were American Indian, or were descendants of a historical
tribe. The BIA also searched the records of the historical tribes which
the petitioner claimed and found no connection between the MOWA core
ancestors and these historical tribes.
The MOWA response to the Proposed Finding offered no basis for
reversing the conclusions of the Proposed Finding against Federal
acknowledgment of the MOWA. The evidence in the record does not support
the petitioner's claim that it descends from a historical tribe. The
record does not provide substantive evidence or any reason to believe
that additional research might uncover such evidence. The MOWA
petitioner has not demonstrated by a ``reasonable likelihood of the
validity of the facts'' standard that it meets the requirements of
criterion 83.7(e). There is thus no need to complete a full evaluation
of the documented petition under all seven of the mandatory criteria.
The petitioner fails to meet the requirements for Federal
acknowledgment as an Indian Tribe.
The Proposed Finding which declined to acknowledge that the
petitioner is an Indian tribe is affirmed. This determination is final
and will become effective 90 days from the date of publication unless
the petitioner or any interested party files a request for
reconsideration of this determination with the Interior Board of Indian
Appeals (83.11(a)(1)). The petitioner's or interested party's request
must be received no later than 90 days after the publication of the
Assistant Secretary's determination in the Federal Register
(83.11(a)(2)).
Dated: December 17, 1997.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-33532 Filed 12-23-97; 8:45 am]
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