1 Mákkin Mak Muwekma, 'Akkoy Mak-Warep, Manne Mak Hiswi! We Are Muwekma Ohlone, Welcome To Our Ancestral Homeland!
Welcome San Jose City College in the City of San Jose to Our Ancestral Muwekma Ohlone Homeland of Thámien
The present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace our ancestry through the Missions Santa Clara, San Jose; and San Francisco, and who were also members of the historic , Federally Recogn ized Verona Band of Alameda County. The aboriginal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe includes the following counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, most of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and portions of Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and San Joaquin. This large contiguous geographical area, which historically crosscuts several major linguistic and tribal boundaries, fell under the sphere of influence of the aforementioned three missions between 1776 and 1836. The missionization policies deployed by the Cat holic Church and militarily supported by the Hispanic Empire, brought many distantly related, and in some cases, already inter - married tribal groups together at the missions.
Comprehensive genealogical analysis of the Mission Baptism, Death, and Marriage Records from the three Bay Area Missions traces the surviving Muwekma lineages of the late 19th century through today back to our aboriginal villages. The present -day tribally enrolled Muwekma lineages are represented by the: Armija/Thompson, the Santos - Piños/Juarez/Colos/Armija, the Guzman/Nonessa, and the Marine /Guzman/Peralta, Marine/Alvarez/Galvan, Marine /Sanchez, Marine /Munoz, Marine/Munoz/Guzman, Marine/Arellano, and Marine/Elston/Thompson/Ruano descended families.
San Jose City College is located on the ethnohistoric territory of the ancestral unceded tribal lands of the Thámien Muwekma Ohlone-speaking people whom were missionized in Missions Santa Clara , San Jose and San Francisco . The Muwekma Ohlone are the legal successors of the sover eign, federally recognized , Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to our Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band
Archaeological Evidence of Ancestral Muwekma Ohlone Settlements in the San Francisco Bay Area
Archaeological evidence spanning the past 12,520 years before present has been recorded at the Scott’s Valley site CA-SCR-177 in the Santa Cruz mountains, and at the Metcalf Road Site CA -SCL-178 along Highway 101 in San Jose, which yielded dates ranging from 9,300 - 9,900 BP. These dates along with their associated archaeological assemblages provides evidence of our ancestral Muwekma Ohlone presence within this region over the past ten millennium. These ancestral sites were occupied even before there was a San Francisco Bay.
2 Our ancestral Muwekma societies gradually developed into complex, socially ranked chiefdoms, with sedentary villages, cer emonial cycles, organized religions, and a redistributive economy. Having knowledge about the relationship between planting seeds and harvesting plants, the only known cultigen planted by our ancestral people was tobacco, which was used by those practitio ners of healing, divining and ceremonial leaders, and as part of the Kúksu religion. The presence of tobacco is evidenced through residues left within the beautifully lathe -shaped steatite stone pipes , and in features recovered associated with the 3rd Mission Santa Clara de Thámien ; at the Tribe’s ancestral monumental bay shore mortuary mound sites such as at CA-ALA-329 Mánni Muwékma Kúksú Hóowok Yatiš Túnnešte-tka (which means Place Where the People of the Kúksú (Bighead) Pendants are Buried Site) located in the East Bay at Máyyan Šáatošikma (Coyote Hills); and at Síi Túupentak (the Water Roundhouse Site) CA- ALA-565 located adjacent to the Sunol Water Temple near the Town of Sunol; also at several of our ancestral heritage sites located in the West Bay along San Francisquito Creek on Stanford Campus including CA-SCL-623 Mánni Miččiyma Muwékma Yatiš Túnnešte-tka (Place Where the Ancient People are Buried Site) ; and more recently at Thámien Rúmmeytak [Thámien (Guadalupe) River Site (CA -SCL-128 located in downtown San Jose..
As land managers, our ancestral Muwekma Ohlone societies altered the landscapes of the SF Bay Area through controlled burning, thus creating a parklike environment. Given this rich environment these societies hunted, fished, harvested marine resources as well and hundreds of plants. Although much knowledge has been lost since Spanish contact in 1769, we do know through the knowledge base from neighboring California Indian societies, which plants were harvested as food, medicine, and as raw material for the manufacture of various types of baskets, matting, nets, rope, thatching and etc.
The Founding of La Misión Santa Clara de Thámien in 1777
With the advent of the Hispanic Empire’s expansion into Alta California, in 1769, the first mission established in the Santa Clara Valley, Mission Santa Clara de Thámien, was established at a site located along the Guadalupe River ( Thámien Rúmmeytak ) by Franciscan Padres Thomas de la Pena and Joseph Antonio Murguiá, on January 12, 1777. There, at the Indian village of Soco-is-u-ka (Place of the Laurel Trees), they erected a cross and shelter for worship to bring Christianity to our local Thámien Ohlone- speaking tribes. Although many authors have spelled Tamien without the letter “h,” Santa Clara University archivist/historian Arthur D. Spearman, however in his earlier publication titled The Five Franciscan Churches of Mission Santa Clara , provided the following historic excerpt from a letter from Father Peña to Father Serra:
Letter to Padre Presidente Junipero Serra
From Padre Tomas de la Peña
Mission Santa Clara de Thámien
December 31, 1777
3 The site of the Mission, which in the language of the natives is call Thámien, is a plain stretching more than three leagues in every direction, pleasant to behold, with much land for irrigation of crops, and extensive areas for raising cattle. There is abundance of Ash, Alders. White Poplar, and Red, Willow, Laurel, black and live Oaks.
At the distance of four leagues to the west is much redwood, so-called, from which we have already obtained some boards. A large population of Gentiles surrounds the site, such that we judge there are more than forty rancherias within a radius of five leagues, of a people that we may call Tares, since this is the name they give to the men (1963:15) [Cited in Hylkema 2007:iii].
Furthermore, Milliken noted the following observation by the Spanish priests whom had established the First Mission San Clara to the northwest of the infamous Holiday Inn Site CA-SCL-128 (which the Tribe had recently had oversight on and named Thámien Rúmmeytak):
Mission Santa Clara in Thámien Lands … The Santa Clara Mission settlement lay at the northeastern edge of the Thámien tribal district, very near to lands of three other tribes. Three large villages of over 120 inhabitants each lay within four mile radius of the Santa Clara Mission site. The native names of those villages are not known. The missionaries at Mission Santa Clara gave each of them a Spanish designation; San Francisco Solano village of the Alson tribe a mile or two downstream at the mouth of th e Guadalupe River, Santa Ysabel village of a different, unnamed tribe east of San Francisco Solano on the lower Coyote River, and San Joseph Cupertino village of the Thámien tribe in the oak grove about three miles to the southwest of the mission site. St ill nearer to the site were two tiny hamlets, Our Mother Santa Clara within a few hundred yards of the first mission site, and Our Patron San Francisco perhaps another mile upstream on the Guadalupe River” (Milliken 1991:116-117).
Prior to the American conquest of California (1846-1850), there were several Muwekma Ohlone rancherias established on rancho lands in the East Bay. At least six Muwekma Indian rancheria communities emerged and maintained themselves during the 19th and early 20th centuries in the East Bay. These rancherias were located at San Leandro/San Lorenzo (“The Springs Rancheria ”), Alisal Rancheria near Pleasanton, Sunol, Del Mocho Rancheria in Livermore, El Molino Rancheria (“The Mill”) in Niles, and later a settlement in Newark in Alameda County where some of our enrolled families still live.
Secularization and the Mexican Land Grants Issued to Emancipated Mission Santa Clara (Clareño) Indians (1840 – 1845)
Rancho Ulistac
Around the area of Mission Santa Clara, however, several ( Clareño – Mission Santa Clara Indians) Ohlone families were fortunate to be granted land grants by the Mexican government. In 1845, Governor Pio Pico granted the Rancho Ulistac land grant near Alviso in Santa Clara to Marcello (SCL-B #1360; baptized June 15, 1789 at age 4). 4 The Ulistac land grant was also issued to two other Mission Santa Clara Indian men named Pio Guatus (SCL-B # 4805; baptized June 21, 1805 at age 12 and died November 21, 1846) and Cristobal (SCL-B # 6157; baptized November 7, 1813 at age 3 days) were from the Tayssen Ohlone-speaking tribal group.
Rancho Ulistac measured half a league (2270 acres) and included the bay shore of the present-day cities of Santa Clara and Alviso (Brown 1994).
Rancho Posolmi y Pozitas de las Animas (Little Wells of Souls).
Earlier, on February 15, 1844, another Clareño Ohlone Indian named Lope Yñigo, was issued title to 1695.9 acres (2.64 square miles) around present -day Moffett Field near Mountain View by Governor Micheltorena (Brown 1994). This land grant was called Rancho Posolmi y Pozitas de las Animas (Little Wells of Souls). Apparently, Yñigo was recognized as a chief or capitan of the "San Bernardino" Ohlone -speaking people who originally occupied this region. He was baptized at Mission Santa Clara in 1789 (SCL-B # 1501; the Posolmi land grant was also referred to as Yñigo's grant, Yñigo Reservation (Thompson and West 1876 Historical Atlas Map of Santa Clara County) and Pozitas de las Animas, or Little Wells of the Souls.
Clareño Ohlone Indian Lopé Yñigo
5 Rancho de los Coches
Also in 1844, Governor Manuel Micheltorena formally granted Rancho de los Coches (the Pigs ), totaling 2219.4 acres, to a Mission Santa Clara (Clareño Ohlone) Indian named Roberto Antonio Balermino 1. Since 1836 Roberto had occupied this land west/southwest of the confluence point where the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek meet in downtown San Jose.
It is interesting to note that Rancho San Juan Bautista borders on the southeastern side of Rancho de los Coches and the Clareño Muwékma Ya Túnnešte Nómmo Site (CA- SCL-30/H, includes the Third Mission Santa Clara Indian Neophyte Cemetery ) is located approximately three miles to the northwest of Roberto’s adobe/homestead.
Roberto was baptized Roberto Antonio on September 26, 1785 at the age of 3 years old (SCL-B # 0791). He was identified as being from the San Juan Bautista (district) Thámien Ohlone-speaking tribal group. Rancho de los Coches was adjacent to the aboriginal territory of Roberto’s tribal homeland that included the district that the Spanish Priest called San Juan Bautista (not to be confused with Mission San Juan Bautista located south near Hollister.
Recently the Roberto Antonio Balermino Park located at 1527 Almaden Expressway, San Jose was named by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal leadership and Language Committee in honor of this ancestral Clareño Muwekma Ohlone Indian.
Rancho La Purisima Concepcion
On the West Bay, a land grant was issued to another Clareño Ohlone Indian man named Jose Gorgonio and his family. Jose Gorgonio and his son, Jose Ramon, were granted Rancho La Purisima Concepcion by Governor Juan B. Alvarado on June 30, 1840.
This rancho comprised 4,440 acres or 1 square league around the present day Palo Alto/Los Altos Hills area (Brown 1994). Jose Gorgonio was probably baptized as Gorgonio (SCL-B # 1721; baptized July 15, 1790 at age 1. years). His father’s Indian name was Lulquecse and his mother’s name was Seguem. Lulquecse was identified as Chrisostomo Lulquesi (SCL -B # 2672; baptized November 27, 1794 at age 42 and had died November 5, 1801). He was listed as being from the San Bernardino district located to the west of Mission Santa Clara. Gorgonio was also identified as being from the San Bernardino tribal district.
During the post-secularization period (after 1834-1836), there were at least six Muwekma Ohlone Indian rancheria settlements established areas surrounding Pueblo de San Jose.
One major rancheria was located on the Santa Teresa Rancho (Bernal's property) south of the Pueblo San Jose near the Santa Teresa Hills where Muwekma Elder Maria de los Angeles Colos was born in 1839.
1 Note: on March 7, 2015, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal leadership participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly named Roberto Antonio Balermino Park on Almaden Road in San Jose. The Tribal Leadership wanted to honor Roberto by naming the park after him. 6 Another rancheria was located in the valley east of San Jose called the Pala Rancho, while a third was established along the Guadalupe River above Agnews on the Rinca de los Esteros Rancho (City of Santa Clara). In the present-day City of Cupertino was the Quito Rancho. In Pueblo de San Jose, there was a settlement of " free Indians" on the east side of Market Street, and the sixth com munity was located further west along the banks of the Guadalupe River near Santa Clara Street (King 1978; Winter 1978).
West Bay Ohlone Tribal Groups and the Last of the Doloreño and Puichon Descended Indians - The Evencio Family of San Mateo County
Randall Milliken, Lawrence Shoup and Bev Ortiz (2009) had conducted a comprehensive ethnohistoric study for the Golden Gate National Park Service on the Indians of the San Francisco Bay Area based upon the recommendation from former Muwekma Chairwoman in back at the Summary of Meeting between the Muwekma Indian Tribe and the National Park Service (Golden Gate National Recreation Area) on May 5, 1998 those authors wrote an ethnohistoric account about the Evencio family. Descended from the Lamchin/Puichon O hlone-speaking tribal groups of the West Bay around San Francisquito Creek area, and the Saclan Bay Miwok speaking tribal group of the East Bay, Pedro Evencio and his children were the last of the Doloreño Indians who had documented aboriginal descent from the West Bay. Milliken wrote:
A four year old boy named Yaculo, who was to found the only San Mateo county Indian extended family documented into the twentieth century, was baptized at Mission Dolores on October 31, 1790. He was brought to the mission by his father Gesmon ("The Sun" [also spelled Exmon]) and his mother Ssipiem, San Francisco Bay Costanoan speakers from either the Lamchin or Puichon local tribe, and he was christened Evencio. Four years later, Evencio's future parents-in-law were baptized. They were Sacalinchi and his wife Uimusmaen, who led the first group of adult Saclan Bay Miwoks [from the East Bay] through the baptismal ceremony at the mission in December of 1794; after fleeing in 1795 they returned with a son who was christened Juan Diego in 1798. Their mission -born daughter Geronima, Evencio's future wife, was baptized in June of 1800. Geronima and Evencio were married in about 1826 and had at least eight children between that year and 1844. Their oldest son, Pedro Evencio, was the man whose testimony in federal court in 1869 about the eviction of the Indians from Rancho San Mateo … .
… Pedro Evencio's paternal grandparents, Rosendo Exmon and Osana Ssapiem, were baptized at Mission Dolores in 1793 (SFR -B 1231, 1248), three years later than their son Evencio Yaculo. Evencio Yaculo grew up in the Mission Dolores community and married Salaverba, a Huchiun San Francisco Bay Costanoan, in 1804 (SFR-M 953, SFR-B 2747). Evencio and Salaverba had five children before she died in 1820 …. Evencio Yaculo then married Geronima sometime during the mid-1820s, although no record of the wedding has been found. The seven children of Evencio and Geronima 7 who appear in the Mission Dolores baptismal record were baptized between 1828 and 1844. Since none of them was named Pedro, we presume that he was born in 1826 and that Evencio Yaculo and Geronima were also married that year.
Evencio Yaculo and Geronima raised their children during the Rancho Era at the mission outstation of Rancho San Mateo. Pedro Evencio stated in 1869 court testimony that his father had been the leader of the San Mateo Indian community when Pedro was young. …
Pedro Evencio married Pastora at Mission Dolores in December of 1846.
She was a Churuptoy Patwin from the present Woodland, Yolo county area by way of Mission San Francisco Solano (SFS-B 1166). The marriage entry lists Pedro as 20 years old and the bride as 18 (SFR -M 2162). Pedro Evencio and Pastora had four children who were b aptized at Mission Dolores between 1852 and 1862. Those children were typical mixed - ancestry Doloreños, having as they did a Puichon San Francisco Bay Costanoan/Saclan Bay Miwok father and a Churuptoy Patwin mother.
… John Diego, the 68-year-old man living with Pedro Evencio and Pastora in 1870, has an interesting story of his own. In the 1869 Rancho San Mateo court case Pedro Evencio had stated that "John Diego" was his uncle and that the two of them were the only original San Mateo County Indians still alive (Land Case 178 ND). Mission register evidence shows that Juan Diego was the brother of Pedro Evencio's mother Geronima; he was the child that Sacalinchi and Uimusmaen had brought for baptism when they returned to Mission Dolores in 1798 after the Saclan flight of 1795 (Milliken 2008).
Pedro Evencio and his family were also listed on the 1880 Census for San Mateo County Township 1. He was identified as Pedro Abencio, age 58, (b. ca. 1822), Indian, Farm Laborer; Mary, wife, age 58, Indian; Mary, daughter, age 25, Indian; Refuga, daughter, age 16, Indian; Paul Jose (Joseph), son, age 22, Indian is crossed out [he was residing elsewhere]; Thomas, son, age 5, Indian. All were born in California.
In 1894, Mary Sheldon Barnes a faculty member at Stanford University interviewed Pedro Evencio, and she published a portion of that interview in the The Sequoia magazine.
Barnes wrote:
There lives in San Mateo, an old Indian, Pedro Evencio by name, the last of all the... Indians born and bred at the Mission Dolores. Don Pablo Vasquez of Spanish town put us on his track one day when we were asking if there were still any living descendants of the old inhabitants of the valley. "His father was my father's man," he said. "When my father was vaquero of the Mission Dolores, just before the Americans came in."
8 When we went to see Pedro, we found him in a little white -washed house, neat within and without, the garden full of pinks and stocks, and all sweet, bright flowers, with a dog haunting about it. His wife, a dark Spanish woman, showed us into a neat living room; in one corner of it stood the bed; various ornaments adorned the walls, and on the table stood a great bunch of flowers.
"Could we see Mr. Pedro Evencio?" "Si, si," and there appeared in the kitchendoor Pedro Evencio; a well -built, well -proportioned man, dignified though shy, with a dark beard, an observant eye, dressed in work man's clothes.
We advanced with ardor; but he met our advance with a grave and questioning reserve... Spanish was his native tongue, and our first interview consisted mostly of surprise, friendliness, and a little embarrassment. But in a later interview through his son, an intelligent young workman, we were able to carry on a secondhand conversation, and to obtain photographs of Pedro Evencio. He could not say to what tribe he belonged, —he knew himself only as a Mission Indian; but the old Indian trails, especially that trail by which the Mission Indians used to drag redwood to the Mission Dolores, were all fresh in his mind, and his son Joseph could make us a clear map of the whole Santa Clara Valley with all its old trails.
Pedro's general appearance, and especially his rather full beard, made us doubt the purity of his Indian descent. But in Palou's diary of 1774, full descriptions of our Santa Clara valley Indians are given; "well -formed and tall many of the bearded like a Spaniard..." (Barnes 1894:277)
Pedro Evencio (Photo taken by Mary S. Barnes from Stanford in 1894)
9 Pedro Evencio died on either January 19 or 20, 1896 , and he was buried at St. John’s Cemetery in San Mateo.
Establishment of the East Bay Rancherias
Prior to and after the American takeover of California (1846-1848), there were Muwekma Ohlone rancherias established on Californio rancho lands in the East Bay as refuges due to the hostility of Americans towards Indians . At least six Muwekma Indian rancheria communities emerged and were maintained as refuges during the 19 th and early 20 th centuries in the East Bay. These rancherias were located at San Leandro/San Lorenzo (“The Springs”), Alisal near Pleasanton, Sunol, Del Mocho in Livermore, El Molino in Niles, and later a settlement in Newark. These rancherias principally became the only safe-havens where ex-missionized Ohlone Indians could live.
During the 1880s, U.S. Senator George Hearst and his wife, Phoebe Apperson Hearst purchased part of the old (1839) Bernal/Sunol/Pico Rancho Valle de San José y Corralitos which includes the present –day towns of Pleasanton and Sunol, and also it included the Alisal Rancheria with approximately 125 Muwekma Indians residing there on the land. There the Hearst’s built their mansion Hacienda del Pozo de Verona mansion, from which the Muwekma Tribe was named by Special Indian Agent Charles E. Kelsey the Verona Band after the railroad station built by Western Pacific Railroad near the Hearst property. It w as Phoebe Hearst who funded the anthropology department at Berkeley, and she invited several anthropologist/linguists such as Alfred L. Kroeber, C.
Hart Meriam, and E. W. Gifford to come down to interview our Elders in order to record our Indian languages spoken at our Tribe’s Alisal and Niles Rancherias
Federal Recognition
In 1905, as a result of the discovery of the 18 unratified California Indian Treaties (negotiated between 1851-1852), Mr. Charles E. Kelsey of San Jose, (originally affiliated with the Northern Association for California Indians) was appointed Special Indian Agent to California by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. In 1905, Agent Kelsey was charged by the Bureau to conduct a Special Ind ian Census, and identify all of the landless and homeless tribes and bands residing from Los Angeles County throughout Northern Californi a to the Oregon border and all of these documented tribes were placed under federal jurisdiction by Agent Kelsey.
Based upon the results of Kelsey’s Special Indian Census, in conjunction with the discovery of the 18 unratified treaties, Congress passed multiple Appropriation Acts beginning in 1906 on through 1937, for the purpose of purchasing “home sites” for the many in tact, but landless, California Indian tribes and bands. One of the bands specifically identified by Agent Kelsey was the Verona Band of Alameda County residing near Pleasanton, Sunol and Niles (surrounding Mission San Jose).
The direct ancestors of the present -day Muwekma Tribe who comprised the Verona Band became Federally Acknowledged by the U.S. Government through the Appropriation Acts of Congress of 1906 and later years, as well as other federal actions. 10 Between the years 1906 and 1927, the Verona Band fell under the direct jurisdiction of the Indian Service Bureau in Washington, D.C., and later , the Reno and Sacramento Agencies.
Although the Tribe was left completely landless, and in some instances completely homeless, between 1929 and 1932 all of the surviving Verona Band (Muwekma) lineages enrolled with the BIA under the 1928 California Indian Jurisdictional Act whose applications were approved by the Secretary of Interior relative to the pending California claims settlement.
Concurrently, between 1884 and 1934, renowned anthropologists and linguists interviewed the last fluent speakers of the “Costanoan/Ohlone” language and recorded other Indian languages spoken at the East Bay rancherias. It was during this time period that Verona Band Elders still shared their linguistic term “Muwekma” which means “la Gente” or “the People” in Chochenyo and Thámien, the Ohlone (or Costanoan) language spoken in the East and South San Francisco Bay regions (now referred to as San Francisco Bay Costanoan which includes Ramaytush by renown linguists).
Even before California Indians legally became citizens in 1924, during World War I, Muwekma men enlisted through the San Francisco Presidio, and Mare Island. One was stationed at Fort Mason with the National Guard in 1917, and another was stationed at Fort Winfield Scott. After America’s entrance and six Muwekma men served overseas in the United States Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Marine Corps), and four of them are buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery, and Franklin P. Guzman who served in the US Marine Corps is buried in the National Cemetery at Riverside, California.
(for more information see http://www.militarymuseum.org/Muwekma.html and , www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/articles-posts/4775-writing-the-wwi-story-of- california-s-muwekma-ohlone-indian-servicemen.html.
11 Some of the Muwekma Men who Served Overseas During World War I
Muwekma tribal members enrolled with the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the 1928-32, 1948-55 and 1968 -71 enrollment periods (see some of the 1928 -32 BIA Applications below).
During World War II almost all of the Muwekma men served overseas in the all of branches of the Armed Forces in the Pacific and European Theaters (including the 101st Airborne (D-Day), 82nd Airborne Divisions, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, (D -Day), 3rd Army Patton’s Tank Division, 14th Mechanized Cavalry Group, 18th Cavalry Squadron, 1st Marine Division, 155 th Engineers Combat Battalion, 41st Infantry Div., 226th Field Artillery Battali on, 58th Field Artillery Battalion, 76th Div., 345th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Div., U.S. Navy – (USS Enterprise), 89th Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 354th Infantry Regiment, 640th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and other divisions.
Muwekma men and women continued to serve in Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, recently, three tribal members had served in the US Marine Corps and Army in Iraq, and others are still serving today.
During the 1930s and 1940s some of the Muwekma children were considered too da rk to go to Bay Area schools, so they were shipped off to Sherman Institute in Riverside County and to Chemawa, in Salem, Oregon. Still landless, and completely ignored by the BIA, but functioning as an unorganized tribal band, our Tribe maintained our distinctive social ties, traditions and culture.
12 Muwekma Ohlone BIA Application Lucas Marine # 10298
13 Lucas Marine BIA Application Identifying His Tribe “Ohlones”
14 Muwekma Ohlone Francisca Guzman and Family BIA Application # 10293
15 Muwekma Ohlone Phoebe Alaniz and Family BIA Application # 10301
16 Muwekma Ohlone Magdalena Thompson and Family BIA Application # 10296
17 Muwekma Ohlone Dolores Sanchez and Siblings, BIA Application 10680 (Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh’s Grandmother)
18 Muwekma Ohlone Albert Arellano and Sister, BIA Application 10879 (Vice Chairwoman Monica Arellano’s Grandfather)
20 After the war, in the mid-1940s Muwekma families joined the Bay Area California Indian Council,
Muwekma Ernest Thompson Membership in Bay Area California Indian Council (1947)
Between 1948 and 1957, the various Muwekma heads of households enrolled with the BIA during the second enrollment period. During the early 1960s, a relationship was forged between Muwekma Ohlone families and the American Indian Historical Society located in San Francisco. The focus of this relationship especially centered on preventing the potential destruction of the Ohlone Indian Cemetery located in Fremont. This cemetery contains over 4,000 converted Mission San Jose Indian Neophytes, including the immediate relations of our families who were buried there as late as 1925.
Muwekma Families Enroll with the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the Second Enrollment Period (1950-1957)
Under the Act of 1948, almost all of the Muwekma Ohlone “heads of household” enrolled with their families once again with during the second BIA Enrollment between 1950 and 1957. Our Muwekma families include: Dolores Marine Galvan, October 6, 1950; Domingo Lawrence Marine, October 12, 1950; D ario Marine, November 1, 1950; Flora Munoz Carranza, December 12, 1950; Lucas Marine, December 23, 1950; Henry Alvarez, April 7 & 26, 1951; Trina Marine Thompson Ruano, May 21, 1951; Maggie Pinos Juarez, July 19, 1951; Benjamin Galvan, December 4, 1951; Belle Stokes Olivares Nichols, February 25, 1952; Ernest Thompson, April 16, 1952; Thomas Garcia, April 22, 1953; Flora Emma Martel Thompson, February 4, 1954; Erolinda Santos Juarez Pena Corral, May 16; Robert Corral, May 16, 1955; Edward Thompson, May 21, 1955; Daniel Santos, May 23, 1955; Joseph Francis Aleas, May 24, 1955; Albert Arellano, June 18, 1955; Dolores “Dottie” Galvan Lameira, October 3, 1955; and, Arthur Pena Corral, December 27, 1957.
21 Muwekma Elders Maggie Juarez and Erolinda Santos Juarez Pena Corral
Although still landless, community and tribal related activities fell under the leadership of Muwekma Elder, Margarita (Maggie) Pinos Juarez, and Dolores Marine Alvarez Galvan, and her brothers Dario Marine and Lucas Marine, and her younger sister, Trina Marine Elston Thompson Ruano (Ernest Thompson, Sr., had married Trina after the death of his first wife, Muwekma Elder Magdalena Armija Thompson). These tribal activities and interactions were further spurred by communications with t he BIA Sacramento Agency, which notified the Muwekma lineages of the expanded enrollment opportunities under the California Indian Jurisdictional Act for children born after May 28, 1928. Families contacted and helped each other to go to Sacramento to enroll their children, nieces and nephews. After the California Indian Roll was approved on November 23, 1951, the Sacramento Area Office published a list of enrollees that identified forty Muwekma under "Tribe Mission San Jose" (BIA list 1951).
Also, during this period of time (from 1930s and 1950s), some of the families moved about seeking new employment opportunities and residential stability. The residence of Lucas Marine and Catherine Peralta (before her passing in 1934), as well as Francisca Guzman and her son Alfred Guzman and his family resided on the Shinn Ranch in Niles, and became an important gathering place for the families and relations. Other important households were the residences of Dolores Marine Alvarez Galvan in Brentwood and San Jose, Dario Marine in Centerville, and later Woodland, and Margarita Pinos Juarez, and Trina Marine Thompson Ruano in Newark where the families would gather for various occasions.
Continuous Connections to the Tribe’s Sacred Sites: The Protection of the Ohlone Indian Cemetery, Located in Fremont, Mission San Jose, California.
The Ohlone Indian Cemetery located on Washington Boulevard, one mile west of Mission San Jose in Fremont, is the location where over 4000 Indians were buried, and was used for continuous burial by members of the Guzman, Santos, Pinos, Marine, Armija (Thompson) and Nichols families until 1926, while the original Ohlone burial ground was
22 located under the northern wing of the mission church. Martin Guzman (died October 4, 1925), Victorian Marine Munoz (died November 27, 1922), and her son Jose Salvador Munoz (died 1921) were some of the last Muwekma Ohlone Indians to be buried there.
On Jose Salvador Munoz’s de ath certificate it identifies his place of burial as “Ohlone Cem”[etery].
During the 1960’s Muwekma families under the leadership of Dolores Marine Alvarez Galvan, participated in securing the legal title to the Historic Ohlone Cemetery located on Washington Boulevard. In 1971, a board of directors for the Ohlone Indian Tribe, Inc. was established by Dolores Marine Alvarez Galvan, and her children Philip Galvan, Benjamin Michael Galvan and Dolores Galvan Lameira in order to secure title to the tribe’s ancestral cemetery.
During this period of time when the American Indian Historical Society, as a non -profit, obtained legal title of the Ohlone Cemetery on behalf of the Muwekma Ohlone community, invitations went out to various families, including the children of Magdalena Armija, Ernest Thompson and the other Marine -related families, to help clean up the run -down cemetery).
As mentioned above, the Guzman, Marine, Armija -Thompson and Nichols families had loved ones (e.g., Avelina Cornates Marine (di ed 1904), Elizabeth (Belle) Marine Nichols (d. 1911), Ramona Marine Sanchez (d. 1921), Victoria Marine Munoz (d. 1922), Dario's son Gilbert Marine, Rosa Nichols and Mary Nichols, Salvador Munoz (d. 1922), Charles Thompson (d. ~ 1917), Martin Guzman (d. 192 5), and others were buried there during the first three decades of this century (Marine Family History 1965; Leventhal, Escobar, Alvarez, Lameira, Sanchez, Sanchez, Sanchez and Thompson 1995).
23 Muwekma Children Lillian Massiatt, Ramona and Michal Galvan at the Ohlone Cemetery (1966)
The Third Bureau of Indian Affairs Enrollment Period (1969-1971)
Following the Act of 1964, between 1969 and 1971, the following Muwekma “heads of households” and their families once again enroll during the third BIA Enrollment period with most of the applicants identifying themselves as “ Ohlone” on Question # 6: “Name of the California Tribe, Band or Group of Indians with which your ancestors were affiliated on June 1, 1852”:
Mary Munoz Mora Ramos Archuleta, January 10, 1969, “Ohlone, Mission.” Mary Marine Galvan, January 27, 1969, “Ohlone.”
Ernest George Thompson,. February 20, 1969, “ Ohlone Tribe, Mission San Jose.”
Patricia Ferne Thompson Brooks, March 27, 1969, “Mission Indians.” Madeline Cynthia Thompson Perez, March 27, 1969, “Mission Indians.” Karl Thompson, March 27, 1969, “Mission Indians.”
Robert P. Corral,. April 30, 1969, “Ohlone Indian.”
Henry Marshall, May 7, 1969, “Ohlones.”
Glenn Thompson, June 11, 1969, “Mission Indian.”
Lorenzo Thompson, June 24, 1969,. “Costanoan.”
Lawrence Thompson, Jr., June 24, 1969, “Costanoan.”
Rosemary Juarez Ferreira, July 15, 1969, “Ohlone Indians.” Peter D. Juarez, July 23, 1969, “Ohlone Indians.”
24 Dolores Sanchez Martinez August 11, 1969, “Ohlone.”
Margaret Martinez, August 21, 1969, “Ohlone Mission Indian.” Joan Guzman, August 26, 1969, “Ohlone Indian.”
Belle Nichols, September 4, 1969, “Mission.”
John Paul Guzman, September 12, 1969, “Ohlone Mission Indian.” Beatrice Marine, January 5, 1971, “Costanoan.”
Neither the Amah Mutsun tribal community of the greater Mission San Juan Bautista/Gilroy area or the Esselen Nation tribal community of the greater Mission San Carlos (Carmel)/Monterey Bay region ever used the ethnonym tribal identifier “Ohlone” for any of their BIA enrollments (1928 – 1971). It was not until after Malcolm Margolin’s interpretive, but fictitious book, The Ohlone Way was published in 1978 that non-Indians were informing these two Indian communities that they were Ohlone Indians. Therefore, the broader use of ‘Ohlone’ was later applied by various scholars and archaeological firms to all Costanoan communities after 1978. Only our enrolled Muwekma families has a history of identifying ourselves as Ohlone prior to, and after, 1978 (Escobar, Field and Leventhal 1999).
The efforts of California Indians to sue the federal government under the Jurisdictional Act of 1928 resulted in the creation of the Federal Indian Claims Commission in 1946.
This federal body allowed Indian groups to press for compensation to tribes over the theft of their lands in the 19th century. After 20 years of tortuous maneuvering all separate California Indian claims were consolidated into a single case. In the early 1950s, settlement checks for the sum of $150.00 were issued for the value of 8.5 million acres of land, with interest back to 1852, for the lands that were never set aside under the terms of the unratified 18 California treaties.
By the late 1960s, a compromise settlement of $29,100,000 was offered for 64,425,000 acres of land. After deduction of (BIA) attorney's fees ($12,609,000), plus interest, the payment amounted to 47 cents per acre.
Payments of $668.51 per eligible enrolled person was issued by 1972. What is of great significance to California Indians is the fact that the entire claims activities were conducted outside of normal court proceedings protected by the constitution. Thus Indians are the only class of citizens in the United States who are denied constitutional protection of their lands.
25 Distribution Check for Muwekma Elder Beatrice Marine for $668.51 (1972)
During the early 1980’s, many of our Muwekma families came together to continue to conduct research on their tribe’s history and genealogy, and we also considered applying for Federal Recognition. Between 1982 and 1984, the Muwekma Tribal Council was formally organized. By 1989, the Tribal Council passed a resolution to petition the U.S.
Government for Federal Acknowledgment. Additional research and documentat ion continued to be submitted, and on May 24, 1996 the BIA’s Branch of Acknowledgment and Research (BAR) made a positive determination of “previous unambiguous Federal Recognition” (under 25 CFR 83.8) stating that:
Based upon the documentation provided, a nd the BIA's background study on Federal acknowledgment in California between 1887 and 1933, we have concluded on a preliminary basis that the Pleasanton or Verona Band of Alameda County was previous acknowledged between 1914 and 1927. “The band was among the groups, identified as bands, under the jurisdiction of the Indian agency at Sacramento, California. The agency dealt with the Verona Band as a group and identified it as a distinct social and political entity.
The BIA placed the Tribe on Ready Status for Active Consideration in 1998. As a result, the Muwekma Tribal Council decided that a wait of 24 plus years was not acceptable to the Tribe, and therefore, sought alternative remedies. After failing to obtain a date from the Office of Federal Acknowledgment as to when the Tribe’s petition would be reviewed, the Council had no choice except to consider legal action.
On December 8, 1999, the Muwekma Tribal Council and its legal consultants filed a law suit in U.S. District Court against the Interior Department/BIA – over the issue that the Muwekma Tribe as a previous Federally Recognized Tribe should not have to wait ove r 24 years to complete their reaffirmation process. On June 30, 2000, Federal District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, ruled in favor of the Muwekma Tribe and ordered the Interior Department to formulate a process to expedite the Muwekma petition. On July 28, 2000, based upon the BIA’s findings, Justice Urbina wrote in his Introduction of his Memorandum Opinion Granting the Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend the Court’s Order that:
26 “The Muwekma Tribe is a tribe of Ohlone Indians indigenous to the present- day San Francisco Bay area. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, the Department of the Interior (“DOI” ) recognized the Muwekma tribe as an Indian tribe under the jurisdiction of the United States.” (Civil Case No. 99 - 3261 RMU D.D.C.)
With this initial win in the Federal Court, That was when the Office of Federal Recognition declared war against our Tribe.
The following are some tribal events and public signage honoring our Tribe:
Muwekma Christmas Gathering at Stanford University 2005
27 The Site of Tamien an Ohlone Indian Village (Thámien Rúmmeytak Site)
Transcription of the Historical Marker Village of Tamien Text For over 10,000 years the ancestors of the Ohlone Indians hunted, fished and harvested the diverse natural resources within the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Through time the Ohlone tribes established sedentary villages along creeks.
One such village w as established at this site. Occupied between 250 and 1792 AD, this village is thought to be the village of Tamien [Thámien]. Tamien is an Ohlone word referring to the Guadalupe River. With the establishment of the Santa Clara Mission in 1777, over 2600 Ohlones were converted, the majority of whom perished to diseases. Today the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is the successor to the aboriginal people who inhabited this valley.
Public Art over the Park Avenue Bridge: Eagle, Coyote and Hummingbird
On May 13, 1994 t he City of San Jose unveiled the public art displaying Eagle, Coyote and Hummingbird and a version of the Ohlone Creation Narrative honoring the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and later immigrants to San Jose, California with a plaque and sculptures.
28 Honoring Plaque over the Park Avenue Bridge Downtown San Jose
Transcription of the Informational Plaque on the Park Avenue Bridge
The Park Avenue Bridge Decorations honor the rich cultural history of San Jose. The Muwekma Ohlone people the first know residents of the Santa Clara Valley, are represented by the Eagle, Coyote and Hummingbird. The flags recognize the people who have governed San Jose: the Spanish Empire, 1769-1821; the Mexican Federal Republic, 1822-1846; the State of California, 1850; and the United States of America. Ultimately all people who have come to this special valley following the dream of a better life, are those to be honored.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribute (Presented by the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy)
The Muwekma Ohlone p eople, Native Americans who once lived along the Guadalupe River, are honored with animal sculptures important to their tradition, on the Park Avenue Bridge. These include the Coyote, the Hummingbird, and the Eagle. The four flags that fly from atop the bridge represent the past and present governments of the area: Spain, Mexico, California and the United States. The Coyotes were created by artist Peter Schiffrin; the Eagle and Hummingbirds by Tom Andrews. The Coyote, Hummingbird and Eagle represent the Muwekma Ohlone creation story.
Coyote was the father of the human race who was responsible for creating people and teaching them how to live properly. Hummingbird was wise and clever. Eagle was a leader (http://www.grpg.org/public-art ).
29 Eagle with Two Humming Birds above
Coyote (One of the First People) Hummingbird
(One of the three First People in Creation Narrative)
30 One of the Four Corner Plaques Honoring the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
For a transcription of the text engraved on one of the cornerstones at the Park Avenue Bridge and information about this Commemoration honoring the History of San Jose and Muwekma Ohlone Tribe (see below):
31 Commemoration of the History of San Jose and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
32 CalTrain Tamien Station Plaque
Tamien CalTrain Station Plaque Honoring Muwekma Ohlone
33 Some of the Muwekma Tribal Council Members at the
Gathering of Ohlone Peoples
Some of the Muwekma Tribal Members at People’s Park in Berkeley in Front of the Muwekma Mural
34 Muwekma Leadership Singing a Welcoming Song at the Inaugural California Indian Flag Raising Event in the City of Milpitas (Nov. 1, 2018)
Opening Ceremony with Muwekma Representatives and Keynote Address Speaker Dolores Huerta at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, San Jose (November 14, 2018)
35 Muwekma Tribal Exhibit in Honor of Indigenous Peoples Day (October 14, 2019)
36 Recognition Citation by a Congress Member of the United States (November 2019)
37 Certificate of Recognition State Senator Jim Beall (November 19, 2019)
38 Concluding Statement about Social Justice from the Muwekma Tribal Leadership
Since the 1960s our enrolled families have been involved in the protection of our ancestral Ohlone Indian Cemetery, as well as the hundreds of our ancestral heritage sites.
Since the 1980s our tribal leadership and members have been involved in numerous environmental, educational and cultural events at public and private schools, universities and colleges (Stanford, Berkeley, Santa Clara, San Jose State, CSU East Bay, UC Santa Cruz, SF State, San Jose City College, and others), religious organizations, museums. (Oakland, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Campbell, Santa Clara De Saisett, Coyote Hills East Bay Regional Park District, and others) throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as well as elsewhere in California. Our Tribal language committee has been pursuing renaming our ancestral heritage sites and other places of importance to our Tribe such as at Máyyan Šáatošikma (Coyote Hills).
Our Tribe has been involved in various Earth Day Celebrations since the Mid -1980, especially with the Environmental Science Department at San Jose State University. Our Tribal members have been involved in the 500 Mile American Indian Spiritual Run since 1980 and has hosted and supported the Native American spirit runners from Alaska t o Panama (Eagle and Condor spirit runners); Muwekma has continued co-sponsored since 2006 the American Indian Heritage Celebration with the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara County. Tribal members have participated in Coast and Creek clean -up events over these many years. The tribal leadership and members are working with Native Plant Societies and Gardens throughout the Bay Area as part of our collective education and revitalization on native species of plants and their traditional uses.
Healing Our Spiritual Wounds and Looking Toward the Future
As a result of continuous gross negligence and crass indifference by the Department of Interior, the Muwekma Tribe is in the final throes of seeking resolution of its Federally Acknowledged status via the newly proposed revised Acknowledgement Regulations in order to correct the “administrative errors” perpetrated by th e BIA in 1927 and in 2002.
The Muwekma Tribe has waited since 1906 – one hundred and fifteen years – for some semblance of justice. Our people have suffered long enough under this the inequities perpetrated on us as the documented aboriginal and historic tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a landless tribe, our people are refugees within our aboriginal homeland. We will not stop fighting for our rights or for the rights of the other legitimate historic tribes in California and elsewhere in the United States that have been adversely impacted by the dominant society! We have suffered enough indignity by being totally disenfranchised within our ancestral homeland. The Muwekma families have united and now hold hands with our past as we look towards the future with our children and our grandchildren.
Regardless of the Federal Government’s recalcitrance to restore our Tribe’s status as a Federally Recognized Tribe, we will nonetheless persevere as the Aboriginal Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Region.
39 We have lived here in our ancestral homelands within the greater San Francisco Bay for over 10,000 years and we have no intention of leaving, giving up or abdicating our Indian Heritage and Sovereign Rights!
The Muwekma Tribe ultimately anticipates a positive outcome as a result of our efforts to regain our Federally Acknowledge d status either through reaffirmation or reconsideration of the evidence that was submitted in our petition but ignored by the Office of Federal Acknowledgment. W e anticipate that our Tribe will be restored to the list of Federally Recognized Tribes within the next few years and when that joyful moment happens, we intend to celebrate our freedom from the odious yoke of erasure and exclusion that has been perpetrated upon our people since the invasion of California by European colonial powers and American expansionist policies.
We are honored to contribute information about our 12 ,000-year history and heritage of our Tribe f rom our ancestral homeland of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and welcome the administration, faculty, staff and students from the San Jose City College to our ethnohistoric land of Thámien. AHo!
Please come join with us in the everyday celebration of life and embrace the acknowledgment that our ancestral homeland is indeed a wonderful place to live for all of us and our children!
Makkin Mak Haššesin Hemme Ta Makiš Horše Mak-Muwekma,
Rooket Mak Yiššasin Huyyunčiš Šiiniinikma!
We Will Make Things Right For Our People and Dance For Our Children! Aho!
For more information, please visit the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Website:
www.muwekma.org
20885 REDWOOD ROAD, SUITE 232, CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546
E- MAIL: [email protected] ♦ WEB: WWW.MUWEKMA.ORG
12/1/2021
Point by Point Response to Ms. Quirina Luna’s Claims
Dear San Jose Charter Commission,
Ms. Quirina Luna wrote the following to the Commission and below is the Muwekma Ohlone tribe’s response:
Dear Commission, Good morning. I am writing to you on behalf of Tamien Nation, the aboriginal Tribe of San Jose and surrounding areas. We recently received notice that the City of San Jose Charter Commission is developing a Muwekma Land Acknowledgment.
Response:
1. Tamien Nation is a fictitious organization that claims to be an historic Tribe. Tamien nation is newly formed non-profit that is not a historic entity, but one of self -aggrandizement that threatens the sovereign rights of both historic and BIA documented tribes. In fact this non-profit did not exist before November 2020.
2. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has continued to exist prior to an since we were federally Recognized beginning in 1906, through the Congressional Homeless California Indian Acts of 1906, 1908 and later years.
3. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was federally Recognized as the Verona Band of Alameda County by Special Indian Agent for California Charles E. Kelsey of San Jose, who interviewed Muwekma Elders and placed our tribe under the direct jurisdiction of the Indian Service Bureau (now BIA), and later the Reno and Sacramento Agencies.
4. Ms. Luna does not demonstrate any connection to any previously federally recognized tribe.
5. Here is the background information about the Luna family's first split with the Amah-Mutsun Tribal Band back in 1999 and their Letter of Intent to Petition the BIA as Petition # 210 as a separate Tribe: From the BIA List of Groups who sent in a Letter of Intent to petition: Petition # 210 Costanoan Tribe of Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista Missions; c/o Ms. Quirina Cynthia Luna (Phone Unknown) , 704 Wessmith Way Madera, CA 93638- 2172. Letter of Intent to Petition dated 5/11/1999; Letter of Intent withdrawn 5/10/2000.
MUWEKMA OHLONE INDIAN TRIBE
OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA REGION
’Innu Huššištak Makiš Mak-Muwekma “The Road To The Future For Our People”
TRIBAL CHAIRPERSON
CHARLENE NIJMEH
TRIBAL VICE CHAIRPERSON
MONICA V. ARELLANO
TRIBAL TREASURER
RICHARD MASSIATT
TRIBAL COUNCIL
JOANN BROSE
FRANK RUANO
SHEILA SCHMIDT
CAROL SULLIVAN
TRIBAL ETHNO- HISTORIAN
ALAN LEVENTHAL
20885 REDWOOD ROAD, SUITE 232, CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546
E- MAIL: [email protected] ♦ WEB: WWW.MUWEKMA.ORG
6. Her parents requested of the Muwekma Tribal Ethnohistorian Alan Leventhal to help them with their petition.
Mr. Leventhal stated that the Luna family does not meet any of the BIA mandatory criteria. They then reenrolled with the Amah-Mutsun Tribal Band in 2000.
7. Recently, Amah -Mutsun Chairman Val Lopez sent the following letter to the Native American Heritage Commission regarding Ms. Geary's recent political move to create a separate tribe:
From: Valentin Lopez <[email protected]
>Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2021, 10:04 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] < [email protected]>; Charlene Nijmeh <[email protected] > Subject: Tamien Nation
Dear Secretary Snider,
Today our Amah Mutsun Tribal Band met with Thomas Torma of the UCB NAGPRA Committee. He mentioned that he is consulting with the Tamien Nation. We are writing to notify you that Ms. Quirina Geary, who is presenting herself as Chair of the Tamien Nation, resigned as a member of our Amah Mutsun Tribal Band on December 1, 2020, just four months ago. On November 12, 2020, before she resigned from our Tribe, she applied for nonprofit status as "Tamien Nation" with the California Secretary of State. Our Tribal Council was unaware of her actions. We'd like to know when she requested Tribal status with the NAHC? We suspect it was before she resigned from our Tribe.
Furthermore, I have learned that her tribe is comprised only of her, her children, her sister and her sister's children.
I am not aware of her having any other members. A tribe has to be comprised of more than just family members.
Her tribal recognition status should be reviewed, and the legitimacy of the Tamien Nation status denied.
It seems that NAHC's acceptance of her application for state recognition status is not valid. Our Tribe is comprised of 600 members. If all 600 members of our Tribe resigned and then individually wrote to your office to say that each of them now represent a different and distinct Ohlone Tribe, would you recognize all 600 new Ohlone Tribes?
Our Tribe is scheduling meetings with Muwekma to discuss this issue and I'm hoping we can find a way for both Tribes to agree on how Tamien traditional territory should be stewarded and represented.
I would like to meet with you to discuss the issue of tribal status and the need for valid criteria.
Thank you,
Valentin Lopez, Chair
Amah Mutsun Tribal Band
916-743-5833
Ms. Luna continued in her accusations against Muwekma to the Commission stating:
However, Muwekma is not from San Jose. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is East Bay Chochenyo (please find "Muwekma Map" and "BIA Petition").
Response:
1. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is a historic tribe determined by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Federal Courts as a previously unambiguously federally recognized tribe. Some of the enrolled lineages (not just one family as in the case of Ms. Luna) has direct biological descent from the Alson Thamien Ohlone Tribe whose aboriginal territory included the Alviso region of the City of San Jose and were missionized into Mission Santa Clara.
20885 REDWOOD ROAD, SUITE 232, CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546
E- MAIL: [email protected] ♦ WEB: WWW.MUWEKMA.ORG
2. Ms. Luna continuously employs the partial map that was included in Muwekma’s Proposed Finding by the BIA, which focused on the location of two of the Muwekma Ohlone T ribe’s historic rancherias located at Pleasanton and Niles in the early 20th century. These two major rancherias were the locations where the surviving Muwekmas from Missions Santa Clara, San Jose, and San Francisco found safe haven and ability to work on local ranches, orchards and vineyards. These rancherias were also the locations where notable linguists and anthropologists such as Alfred L. Kroeber, E. W. Gifford, John Alden Mason, and C . Hart Merriam affiliated with UC Berkeley, as well as Jeremiah Curtain and John Peabody Harrington from the Smithsonian’s Bureau of American Ethnology interviewed and photographed the Elders of the Muwekma tribal community.
3. Notice that Ms. Luna has no evidence of any such claim other than “claiming” to be a descendant of a Mission Santa Clara Indian.
Ms. Luna continued with her letter to the Commission stating:
Tamien Nation is the only politically organized Tribe with direct lineages to aboriginal villages in San Jose.
Response:
1. In 1992 the Congress Passed HR 2144 which created the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy (ACCIP) (in force 1992-1998). Muwekma worked on the Federal Recognition Task Force all helping interested tribes and communities from around the State to organize their governance documents, petitions and evidence of previous federal recognition for the Branch of Acknowledgement and Research. Every tribal community was invited to participate and interface with the ACCIP's Task Force. Tamien Nation did not exist; however you can see by the BIA list, the family after it enrolled in the Amah -Mutsun Tribal Band, tried to create their own tribe by 1999.
2. In 2009, renown anthropologists Randall Milliken, Laurence Shoup and Bev Ortiz, Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today , published for the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, the author s invited all known tribal groups and non- profits to be interviewed
(https://home.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/upload/title-summary.pdf). Ms. Luna did not respond because Tamien Nation did not exist in 2009.
3. As stated above, some of the Muwekma BIA documented lineages are directly descended from the Alson Thamien Ohlone-speaking tribe of the Santa Clara Valley which included the areas "north and south of the mouth of Coyote Creek ... Milpitas and Alviso " ... "the Alson went into Mission Santa Clara under the designation by the priests as "Santa Agueda" (Milliken 1995:235).
4. In his 1991 dissertation, Milliken, presented information about the “Santa Clara Valley Conversions, 1780- 1784” stating that: "At the start of 1780 the core group of adult Christians at Mission Santa Clara were from the Alson village of San Francisco Solano, rather than the nearer tiny Thamien villages of Our Mother Santa Clara and Our Patron San Francisco. (1991:139)
5. Furthermore, Milliken (1991) noted the following that: The Santa Clara Mission settlement lay at the northeastern edge of the Thámien tribal distric t, very near to lands of three other tribes. Three large villages of over 120 inhabitants each lay within four -mile radius of the Santa Clara Mission site. The native names of those villages are not known. The missionaries at Mission Santa Clara gave each of them a Spanish designation; San Francisco Solano village of the Alson tribe a mile or two downstream at the mouth of the Guadalupe River, Santa Ysabel village of a different, unnamed tribe east of San Francisco Solano on the lower Coyote River, and San Joseph Cupertino village of the Thámien tribe in the oak grove about three miles to the southwest of the mission site. (1991:116-117)
20885 REDWOOD ROAD, SUITE 232, CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546
E- MAIL: [email protected] ♦ WEB: WWW.MUWEKMA.ORG
6. Other intermarriage and descendancy ties between Muwekma Indians who were born in the mid-19th century, as in the case of Maria de los Angeles Colos (1839-1929) who was one of JP Harrington's linguistic consultants, had married a Mission Santa Clara Indian man named Raymundo Bernal (who also used the surname Sunol), their direct descendants are enrolled in the Muwekma Tribe.
7. Also, please note that the Native American Heritage Commission does not prepare any tribal territorial maps, only interested parties submit such a map without any supporting evidence or review. We are attaching one of Randall Milliken’s Maps that show the relationship between the Alson and the adjacent Thamien tribal areas.
8. Lastly, while Ms. Geary's non- profit was recently created in 20 20, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe on the other hand has been formally determined as a historic previously federally recognized tribe by the BIA and federal courts (see attached timeline). The question arises, can a single family who recently created a "pop up" non-profit entity overthrow the documented history and genealogical of a historic tribe with over 600 BIA documented tribal members?
Ms. Luna continued by stating: These types of uninformed decisions are detrimental to our very existence as Indian people, limiting our access to traditional lands, programs, resources and hinders our petition for Federal Acknowledgement.
Response:
1. What letter of Intent for Federal Acknowledgement? Did she present the Commission with a copy of their letter of intent?
Thank you for considering this response from our Tribe.
’Uni ~ Respectfully,
Char
lene Nijmeh, Chairwoman Monica V. Arellano, Vice Chairwoman Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the SF Bay Area Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the SF Bay Area
6/6/22, 9:23 AM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
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This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources. 6/7/22 Council meeting Item 3.5 22-844 Proposed Ballot Measure on City Charter Amendment for the November 8, 2022 General Election
Cynthia Engler < >
Mon 6/6/2022 6:34 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
You don't often get email from . Learn why this is important
As a lawfull citizen of the United States, i strongly urge a no vote on this ballot measure. this type of reckless and sneaky behavior against legal citizens of san jose is unacceptable. its clear there is a woke agenda being followed here against the will of the people. stand up for what is good, true and lawfull please.
cynthia engler
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This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources. 6/7/22 3.5 22-844 Proposed Ballot Measure on City Charter Amendment for the November 8, 2022 General Election.
Barb MacNeil < >
Sat 6/4/2022 6:29 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
What will the dollar cost be to San Jose taxpayers for this ballot measure? We oppose the “remove requirements that members of the Planning, Civil Service, and Salary Setting Commissions be electors and/or citizens” portion of this proposed measure.
Barb MacNeil
Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail for iPhone
TAMIEN NATION
OF THE GREATER SANTA CLARA COUNTY
P.O. Box 8053, San Jose, California 95155
(707) 295-4011 tamien @tamien.org
June 7, 2022
Submitted Via Email: [email protected]
Dear San Jose City Council and the Charter Review Committee:
I write to you on behalf of Tamien Nation, the Aboriginal Tribe of the Santa Clara Valley to provide fact-based documents and background to help the City of San Jose better understand the underlying issues of the proposed Land Acknowledgement for the City Charter.
Tamien Nation accepted an invitation to meet with the City of San Jose and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe to discuss the proposed Land Acknowledgment to be added to the City Charter. Our Nation was willing and eager to be at the table to discuss our legitimate claim as the Aboriginal Tribe of San Jose. However, on May 13, 2022, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe failed to appear without explanation or notice provided to our Nation. Nevertheless, our Tribal representatives engaged in a meaningful discussion with the mediator and other inter-Tribal community members. Although the meeting did not go as planned, we appreciate both the San Jose City Council Members and Charter Review Committee Members for your effort and attempt to mediate the issue.
Land acknowledgements are strong political statements that can help Tribes reaffirm their sovereignty. However, when hastily constructed, the outcome can have the opposite effect causing the erasure of an entire people. In the age of social justice, agencies, institutions, and organizations are adopting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives which often include land acknowledgements.
However, well intentions can lead to disaster when proper care and research are not properly executed acknowledging the rightful Tribe. These types of uninformed decisions are detrimental to our very existence as Indian people, limiting our access to our traditional lands, programs, resources and hinders our petition for Federal Acknowledgement.
Tamien Nation has historically suffered state-sanctioned murder, land theft and removal from our Aboriginal homeland of Santa Clara Valley. As an act of survival, the Tamien Nation moved to less desirable lands in the San Joaquin Valley seeking safety and security. Despite this history, we have demonstrated our resiliency. Our Nation continues to practice our ceremonies, gather traditional foods, hunt, fish, play traditional games and speak our languages as our ancestors have for thousands of years. We are truly "living Indians". Although most of our Nation citizens still live in a tight-knit community in the City of Madera, we are currently seeking lands to return to home to the Santa Clara Valley.
Public Comment: Agenda Item: 22-844
Today, every Tamien Nation Tribal citizen has direct lineages to historic Tamien villages verified by a certified genealogist and are direct lineal dependents of/or are on the California Judgment Fund Rolls (CJFR) of 1953 and 1972 and have Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Our Tribal elders were also subject to the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 (also known as Public Law 959) implemented by the BIA.
Tamien Nation has overwhelming evidence of direct lineal descendancy to several prehistoric Tamien rancherias including San Juan Bautista Rancheria, San Jose Cupertino Rancheria, San Carlos Rancheria (aka, Matalan), San Antonio Rancheria, Santa Ysabel Rancheria (aka Paleño), Santa Clara Rancheria and San Francisco Solano Rancheria (aka, Alson), which encompasses almost all of Santa Clara Valley.
The Tamien Nation wholeheartedly supports all Tribes, including the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s efforts to receive recognition from governmental agencies within their Aboriginal territory. However, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s place of origin in the East Bay, not the Santa Clara Valley. On page 5 of the attachment, “Figure 2” is a map produced and submitted by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in their petition for Federal Recognition. This map clearly shows the Muwekma Ohlone are not of Tamien origin. They show no direct lineage to any Tamien village or rancheria in Santa Clara Valley.
On the contrary, their own data shows their direct lineal descendancy is from Alameda County, north of Fremont. In-fact, the term Tamien never shows up in the entire 266-page BIA response. According to the documents, it is not until the mid 1980s when Muwekma expands their tribal monitoring business that they begin to claim the Southern San Francisco Peninsula. We believe this shift is for monetary gain.
In 2002, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was officially denied federal recognition. Due to this denial, the Muwekma can never reapply for federal recognition and will need an Act of Congress to become recognized. This, we believe, is the motivation behind their push for land acknowledgements; to gain outside agency support leading to future legislation for Tribal recognition. Tamien homeland is Silicon Valley, with a wealthy population and rich corporate resources. Muwekma’s attempt to encroach on Tamien territory is based on a colonial settler mindset of taking and exploiting the resources of others.
Additionally, Muwekma’s Tribal researcher, Alan Leventhal, a highly misinformed individual who has openly made disparaging remarks against our Nation. He is mentioned on page 80 of the proposed findings. It states, …
…the "recorder" of the information was Alan Leventhal, Anthropology Lab Director at San Jose State University, who also has been the petitioner's researcher. Since this information was provided by the petitioner's researcher, at its request, it was not an observation by an external observer. Leventhal is the petitioner’s researcher and not third-party observer.” This statement recognizes that Mr. Leventhal is subjective. Furthermore, it is publicly known that Mr. Leventhal is an honorary Muwekma Tribal Member and has an interest in their success.
Therefore, his comments should not be considered objective by any means.
Our Tamien families survived an attempted genocide. Now, we are resisting the erasure of our very existence by a neighboring Tribe. Lateral violence and oppression should not be supported nor tolerated. Supporting the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe as an Indigenous Tribe of San Jose would be a gross mistake.