MONTAUK TRIBE OF INDIANS FUND, INC
funds for reinstatement
Our goal as a tribe is to receive federal and state reinstatement of the Montauk Tribe. The Montauk Tribe of Indians Fund, Inc. was created to raise funds for the necessary legal fees to overturn illegal decision in 1910. We deserve the reinstatement of our culture, language, education, and most importantly, the growth of our tribe.
OUR TRIBE'S MISSION
The Montaukett Indian tribe was unarguably at one time, the pre-eminent tribe on what is now Long Island. From the very moment European settlers landed on Long Island, the Montaukett people were compromised forever. The Montauk land started being bought and sold from underneath them in shady and forced sales that the Montauketts did not benefit from these transactions. This was just the beginning of the wrong doing that happened to the Montauks. Over the next few hundred years, land would be traded, sold, and stolen from the Montauks.
The most devastating event happened in 1910 when Judge Blackmar of the New York Supreme Court declared the Montauk tribe as extinct. This was a traumatic blow to the remaining Montauk people. The coming of this decision started back in 1879 when Austin Corbin, a dominant land developer, purchased 10,000 acres of land from the Easthampton trustee’s for $151,000 and turned around and sold a portion to Arthur Benson for $600,000 who had plans of developing this land and selling it to the Long Island Railroad. The Montauk people still had few rights to the land. In 1703 a treaty was signed, securing 11,000 acres of land for the Montauk tribe of Indians at Montauk Point. The treaty included rights of residency, hunting, fishing, and farming. In a short summary the tribe was forced off the land and deemed extinct.
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ARE YOU A DESCENDANT OF THE MONTAUK TRIBE?
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About This List
EUGENE A. JOHNSON'S LIST OF TRIBAL MEMBERs
The list of names shown above is an original handwritten list of tribal member's names from the ledger of Reverend Eugene A. Johnson. The list was compiled of active tribal members living at the time of the lawsuits filed against the state of New York to prove the amount of living tribe members to regain tribal reinstatement. This list of names dates back to approximately 1901.
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Flip through 35 pages of originally documented tribal members
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About These Documents
EUGENE A. JOHNSON'S LIST OF TRIBAL MEMBERs who donated
The documents shown above are original handwritten documents from Eugene A. Johnson. The list is compiled of names of tribal members who donated to the pay for the legal fees from the first lawsuits filed against the state of New York. The documents show tribe member name and how much they donated. The text is written on original onion skin paper and dates back to around the year 1900.
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WHO IS EUGENE A. JOHNSON?
In spite of not having “standing” in the courts, because Eugene Johnson was an Indian (3/5ths compromise), he traveled to New York City to become a certified citizen. Then upon returning home he was advised by the courts of Suffolk county that he was not allowed to sue in his own name nor in the name of the tribe or for the benefit of the tribe. He then went to Albany, NY to go before the New York Supreme Court to win the right to sue in his name and for the benefit of the tribe. The Supreme Court of New York agreed that he in fact did have the right to sue for the alleged Indians that he could maintain this action in his own name suing for his benefit and for the benefit of the Indians and the tribe.
Within a couple of years after being declared extinct, Rev Johnson moved to Seattle, WA. Where, upon at the beginning of World War I and finding that there were no ministers to preach to the enlisted people of color, Eugene Johnson joined the US army at the age of 61 becoming the first Presbetarian Minister for the people of color on the army base at camp lewis, Washington. This ultimately showed that Rev. Eugene A Johnson never gave up his duties as a Presbetarian minister nor his hope that the US government would change their mind and recognize him and his people as the true Montauk Tribe of Indians.
When Johnson and the tribe sued against Arthur Benson and the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road), the Montauks were declared extinct by State Judge Blackmar; this was in direct violation of the non-intercourse act of 1790, which states the only entity that has jurisdiction over Native Americans is the United States Federal Government. The judge determined that because they had mixed blood with negroes, they were no longer Indians/ Indigenous people! Yet (in the beginning), they couldn’t sue because they were classified as Indians. Benson’s lawyers realized that because of improper actions, their defense was on shaky ground. There was indisputable evidence of their false promises to the Montauk Tribe. Fearing that they would lose the case on the basis of fraud, they resorted to using a surefire stand-by-method- racism! Instead of trying to defend their inappropriate treatment of the Montauketts, Benson’s lawyers argued that the Montauketts had intermarried with negroes and thus diluted their Indian blood and were no longer indigenous. They took the position that since the Montauketts were really "negroes", they were not protected by state or federal Indian laws and the 1703 treaty did not apply to them.
Reverend Eugene A. Johnson
If you would like to help in seeing out what Eugene started, please donate or share his story.
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