Brothertown held its first annual election on the 7th of November 1785. On that day, as can be read in Occom’s journal, the names of the elected were as follows: Jacob Fowler was chosen Town Clerk, Roger Waupieh, David Fowler, Elijah Wympy, John Tuhy, and Abraham Simon were chosen to be Trustees; and Andrew Acorrocomb and Thomas Putchauker were chosen as Fence Viewers. This board of Trustees would have handled Tribal business and responsibilities very much like our current Council is tasked with. The Fence Viewers, while not quite Peacemakers (a position which did not exist in Brothertown until 1796), did help to maintain the peace as far as livestock was concerned. For example, it would’ve been their job to make sure that any fences were secure. Even where there were no fences, it would have been their duty to ensure that one family’s horse was not eating another family’s corn. If such a thing did happen, they would find a solution to keep it from happening again.
On May 19th, the Tribe will hold its next annual election. I encourage all of you to participate in this 233-year-old Brothertown tradition and exercise your right to vote. As of this writing (Monday May 7, 2018), there are still 11 more mailing days before absentee ballots have to be in Fond du Lac in order to be counted. If you have not mailed your ballot and verification form back yet, please do so today. If you haven’t decided who to vote for, you may find it helpful to watch Brothertown Forward’s recorded Meet-the-Candidates presentation (link available for the asking).
Carry on our 233-year-old Brothertown tradition and vote!
The Life of the Brothertown Indians 