1874 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 3 / Thursday, January 5, 1995 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Proposed Finding Against Federal

Acknowledgment of the MOWA Band

of Choctaw

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of proposed finding.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10(e),

notice is hereby given that the Assistant

Secretary proposes to decline to

acknowledge that the MOWA Band of

Choctaw (MBC), c/o Mr. Framon

Weaver, 1080 W. Red Fox Road, Mt.

Vernon, Alabama 36560, exists as an

Indian tribe within the meaning of

Federal law. This notice is based on a

determination that the MBC does not

meet one of the seven mandatory

criteria set forth in 25 CFR 83.7,

specifically, criterion 83.7(e). Therefore,

the MOWA Band of Choctaw do not

meet the requirements necessary for a

government-to-government relationship

with the United States.

DATES: As provided by 25 CFR

83.10(e)(1) and 83.10(h) through

83.10(l), any individual or organization

wishing to challenge the proposed

finding may submit factual or legal

arguments and evidence to rebut the

evidence relied upon. This material

must be submitted within 180 calendar

days from the date of publication of this

notice.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed

finding and/or requests for a copy of the

report of evidence should be addressed

to the Office of the Assistant Secretary—

Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs,

1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20240, Attention: Branch of

Acknowledgment and Research, Mail

Stop 2611–MIB.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Holly Reckord, Chief, Branch of

Acknowledgment and Research, (202)

208–3592.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

notice is published in the exercise of

authority delegated by the Secretary of

the Interior to the Assistant Secretary—

Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.

The MOWA Band of Choctaw’s

petition for Federal acknowledgment

claims that ‘‘the contemporary band of

Mowa Choctaws of South Alabama are

descendants of full and mixed blood

Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees, and

Chickasaws who avoided removal West

during Indian removal in the 1830s’’

(MOWA Pet. Narr. 1988, 1). Upon

examination of the petition, this claim

was found to be invalid.

The problems with the American

Indian ancestry claimed by the

petitioner fall into the following major

categories:

(1) The petitioner’s core ancestral

families cannot document American

Indian ancestry;

(2) The families which are the actual

MBC progenitors from 1880 have not

been documented as descendants of the

known removal-era, antebellum

American Indians claimed as ancestors

by the petitioner;

(3) Many of the early nineteenth

century persons claimed as members of

their ‘‘founding Indian community’’ by

the petitioner cannot be demonstrated to

be Choctaw, or even American Indian.

The MOWA Band of Choctaw

petitioning group is derived from two

core families that were resident in

southwestern Alabama by the end of the

first third of the nineteenth century. All

persons on the petitioner’s membership

roll descend from these two families.

Neither of these families has

demonstrated American Indian

ancestry. Neither were the nineteenth

century ancestors of these two families

members of an historical American

Indian tribe, or of tribes which had

amalgamated and functioned as a single

American Indian entity.

One percent of the petitioner’s

membership can document American

Indian ancestry through other ancestral

lines than those going to the two core

families.

A substantial body of documentation

was available on the petitioning group.

This extensive evidence does not

demonstrate either the Indian ancestry

claimed in the petition or other Indian

ancestry. This extensive evidence either

does not support at all, or in part

disproves, Indian ancestry. Only

approximately one percent can

demonstrate Indian ancestry of any

kind. Thus, no evidence was found to

demonstrate that the ancestors of the

petitioner were descended from a single

historic tribe or tribes which combined

and functioned as an autonomous

entity. We conclude, therefore, that the

MOWA Band of Choctaws clearly does

not meet the requirements of criterion

83.7(e).

As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(h) of the

new regulations, a report summarizing

the evidence, reasoning, and analysis

that are the basis for the proposed

decision will be provided to the

petitioner and other interested parties,

and is available to other parties upon

written request.

After consideration of the written

arguments and evidence rebutting the

proposed finding and within 60 days

after the expiration of the 180-day

response period described above, the

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs will

publish the final determination of the

petitioner’s status in the Federal

Register as provided in 25 CFR 83.10(1).

Ada E. Deer,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 95–73 Filed 1–4–95; 8:45 am]

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