Aquidneck Indian Council, Inc.

A Public Foundation Preserving the Past

12 Curry Avenue
Newport, RI 02840-1412

9 August, 2000
Roger L. Payne
Executive Secretary,
United States Board on Geographic Names
U.S. Geologic Survey
523 National Center
Reston, VA 20192-0523

Dear Mr. Payne:

Ascowequassunnmmis! ( Greetings!)
We, of the Aquidneck Indian Council of Newport, RI, , are a 501 (c) (3) non profit
Corporation, located in the southern region of RI commonly known as Aquidneck Island. We are in
receipt of your letter, dated 2 Aug. 2000, respecting our opinion on a proposed geographic name
change. We understand the issue at hand as being whether or not to replace the name Rhode
Island on available maps and other documents with the new name Aquidneck Island. We further
understand that although the original name of this region was, in modern spelling Aquidneck1,
that in Newport in March, 1644 , the General Court had ordered that henceforth the name of the
ysland commonly called Aquethneck be changed to eitherIsles of Rhodes, or RHODE ISLAND.
[Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, Vol I, 1636-

1663. Printed in 1856, Providence, RI: A. Crawford Greene and Brother, State Printers., Page
127]. It is interesting that a law was passed with an either/or proposition!
Of related interest to our Council is the issue argued by some parties that laws enacted in
the 17th century have the force of law in the 21st century.
In our opinion, the region commonly called Aquidneck Island should be the official name on any and
all geographic references including maps and any other written material used to refer or describe the same
feature.
There are several reasons supporting our opinion. First, every native of this region refers to
the feature Aquidneck Island to describe an island comprising the three towns of Portsmouth,

Aquidneck has had many spellings in the Colonial Records, inter aliaAcquedneck, Acquednecke,
Aquednecke, Acquidneck, Aquethneck, Aqueedneck, Aqethnec, Aquidnecke, AquidneckAcquidneck,
Aquethnek, Quidy....

Middletown and Newport, RI surrounded by Narragansett Bay on the West, and on the East by
Sakonnet Bay and the South by Rhode Island Sound.
We find one significant contemporary Federal reference labelling the feature Aquidneck
Island. The geographic entity under discussion is labeled Aquidneck I. on the map in Fig. 1, page
161, Bruce Trigger (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15 (Northeast),. Washington:
Smithsonian Institution, 1978. This map is really an historic one superimposed on a contemporary
geographic structure (with present-day State names, geographic features, etc.). This 20-volume
encyclopedic set on the Indians of North America is the standard reference work with respect to
Native Americans (Indians), and a source the Aquidneck Indian Council relies on significantly for
such matters as Place names. Also it is one of the few references accepted by the Federal
Government (DOI) in matters relating tothe historic legitimacy of Indian Tribes. We find it
compelling that they refer to this entityin a modern context by the commonly accepted usage
prevailing in our region.
As a practical point, whereas one might inform a person, I live in Newport, Rhode Island
on Aquidneck Island, one would never hear the same information articulated: I live in Rhode
Islandon Rhode Island. No one we know of ever says we live on Rhode Island when referring
to Aquidneck Island, as commonly used. We have never heard Rhode Island ever used except as a
name for one of the 50 States of the United States of America.
We know that either name Rhode Island or Aquidneck Island but not Isle of Rhodes or
Rhode Island represents common knowledge among the American citizenry, as evidenced by the
following citation in the Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary:
Main Entry: Aquidneck Island
Pronunciation: &-'kwid-"nek
Variant(s): or Rhode Island
Usage: geographical name
island SE Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay; site of city of Newport
As further evidence of its common usage, a search conducted on the Internet revealed
1,153 documents for the entry Aquidneck Island. They refer to the geographic feature under
discussion. Our Search Engine for this search was the comprehensive engine referred to as
FastSearch (from Oxford University). A manual search of the local telephone directory reveals a large
number of business establishments called Aquidneck. These data futher support the belief that
Aquidneck Island is the commonly acepeted reference to the feature defined above.
As to geographic names given by the early Colonists for geographic features, it seems they
entertained certain notions which were to be constant forever hereafter, but did in fact change. For
example, in naming the Governors Office (and by implication the name of the State), we note:

...wee have ordeyned, constituted, and declared that ... forever hereafter,
[we are ] a bodie corporate and politique, in ffact and name, by the name of
The Governor and Company of the English Collonie of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations, in New-England, in America.
[The Charter of The Governor and Company of the English Colony of
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, in America,
1663; reprinted from Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, in New England, Vol II, 1664-1677. Printed in 1857, Providence, RI:
A. Crawford Greene and Brother, State Printers, p. 6]
Other references to the State name include the phrase in Narragansett Bay. One wonders how
serious the Founding Fathers of the State, and Island of Aquidneck/Rhode Island of Rhode Island

really were in passing certain name laws in the vein forever hereafter, only to be changed later
under the like effect offorever hereafter. Obviously the European Colonists were responding to the
Birth of the Nation in adopting the present-day State name, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations. It may be of interest to note that some historic maps of the 17th c. draw the entire state
as an island and call it Rhode Island (Foster Woodcut, 1677).
The notion that [all] laws passed in the 17th century are as applicable today as when
originally enacted does not seem correct de facto (e.g., The Bill of Rights and Federal Legislation).
Moreover it seems wrong insofar as enforcement or compliance of said laws is concerned. To
exemplify this point, a careful reading of Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, in New England (Vol. I, et seq.) with respect to Indians would indicate that the
undersigned as well as the approx. 8,000 other Indians in RI should legally be (a) imprisoned, or (b)
fined, and possibly (c) killed for having committed such crimes as :

buying property, being out and on the public streets after 9 PM, lighting
fires, building homes and communities, purchasing or consuming liquor,
purchasing or using firearms or purchasing foods (such as corn) at market
price, performing Indian dances or having Powwows
and other actions which were outlawed by the courts in the 17th c. within the boundaries of the
present State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
As a final issue, we support very strongly the change proposal for historical and moral
reasons. The expression Aquidneck is a phrase originating in the local Algonquian Indian dialect.
It was apparently derived from the visual sense of perceiving a large mass of land that seemed to be
floating on the water. Etymologically, one can trace a noun substantive aquidne (a floating mass) +
ut (an affixed locative > at, of, on). Thus Aquidneck translates roughly as the floating-mass
at or, in Euro-American concepts,at the island, or the island. Aquidneck certainly bears no
relation to the popularly held belief that it means The Isle of Peace.
We believe our Indian heritage is slowly being eroded day by day. Hundredsof names for
geographic features once bearing traces of the language of The First Americans have been replaced by
non-Indian names. When a valid, correctly translated geographic name, based on the local American
Indian languages is in use, we support its transition to official status.
Such is our opinion on this drop/add proposal.
We appreciate that the United States Board on Geographic Names, US Geologic Survey has
allowed the Aquidneck Indian Council to render its judgments and opinions on this important
matter.
For the record, we list the Colonial references we have consulted for this project:

Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England,
Vol. I, 1636-1663. Printed in 1856, Providence, RI: A. Crawford Greene and
Brother, State Printers.
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England,
Vol. II, 1664-1677. Printed in 1857, Providence, RI: A. Crawford Greene and
Brother, State Printers.
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England,
Vol. III, 1678-1706. Printed in 1858, Providence, RI: A. Crawford Greene and
Brother, State Printers.

Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England,
Vol. IV, 1707-1740. Printed in 1859, Providence, RI: Knowles, Anthony & Co.,
State Printers.
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England,
Vol. V, 1741-1756. Printed in 1860, Providence, RI: Knowles, Anthony & Co.,
State Printers.
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England,
Vol. VI, 1757-1769. Printed in 1861, Providence, RI: Knowles, Anthony & Co.,
State Printers.

Respectfully yours,

Moondancer (Francis J. OBrien, Jr., Ph. D.)

President

Strong Woman (JulianeJennings)

Vice President

cc: Darrell Waldron, RI Indian Council

Moondancer (Dr. Frank O'Brien) is of Abenaki descent. He is President of the Aquidneck Indian Council, and
serves as Council Secretary, Rhode Island Indian Council. Dr. Frank Moondancer OBrien holds a Ph.D. from
Columbia University, in New York City. He is listed in Whos Who in Science and Engineering, and has been
selected for 2000 Scientists of the 20th Century.
Strong Woman is a Wampanoag-Pequot artist and vice-president of the Council. She has authored Succotash.
Strong Woman is listed in Who's Who in America.
Together, they have co-authored
Understanding Algonquian Indian Words (New England)

A Massachusett Language Book, Vol. I.

Wampanaoag Cultural History: Voices from Past and Present
Indian Grammar Dictionary for N-dialect: A Study of A Key into the Language of America, by Roger
William, 1643.
and the soon-to-be released book:
An Introduction to the Narragansett Language. Their work has been supported by The RI Committee for
the Humanities/National Endowment for the Humanities. The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts,
Rhode Island Foundation, Expansion Arts and others.