Francis Talbot AKA Medicine Story AKA Manitonquat

[Smart Mule]

Thanks for posting this Epiphany.  I know that Talbot pushes re-evaluation counseling on people who attend his gatherings.  His half-brother, Jim Farnum, is the one who is running the fake 8th fire gathering http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3920.msg34598#msg34598

[Epiphany]

Black and white photo is of Francis Story Talbot, Cornell University yearbook, 1951, he was active in drama club, rhythm club, dance club, young republican's club.

I'll keep adding to this thread as I work on genealogy, will also add in any news articles that might be helpful.

Francis and Jim have same mother, different fathers. Neither of them have recent NDN heritage from what I can see so far.

[Epiphany]

This is from paid archives so there isn't a direct web link, some clips from article:

Medicine Story
[City Edition]
Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Boston, Mass.
Author:   Peter Anderson, Globe Staff
Date:   Mar 15, 1992
Start Page:   41
Section:   METRO/REGION

OFF THE ROAD / PETER ANDERSON

GREENVILLE, N.H. -- F. Story Talbot, Cornell '54, lived in New York City, writing and producing plays off-off Broadway for 12 years until he looked about him and saw the city as it was, crime and fear of crime, dirt and death, and decided he was not prepared to stay in that place. He traveled the country, looking for something he could not find in books, finding it by talking to the old people. He changed his name and became medicine man of the Assonet band of the Wampanoags.

He lives in a house trailer in the woods of this town, on 15 acres of what had been a community of 15 like souls now reduced to four people, including himself and his Swedish wife, Ellika. I came to see him because a persistent publicity woman kept calling me from the state of Washington, wanting to know if I had read his book she had sent me, "Return to Creation" (Bear Tribe Publishing, Spokane, Wash.).

....

He took his new name in 1973 after fasting for four days in northern California. He came out of a sweat lodge and had a vision that he would take a path to tell about native wisdom. This wisdom is similar to other philosophies: that we should protect the earth for our children, that goodness is worthy and sharing is the best part of goodness. He shares his insight with prisoners, holding spiritual circles in jail with Indians, most of whom he says are rotting there because of alcohol-related crimes and what poison it was the white man brought to America.

-------

We sat in a room built onto a house trailer, a room filled with books, most of them serious, and with cassettes. He has a contract to write a book based on Wampanoag stories he has recorded and does a one-man show based on the life of Black Elk, a Sioux holy man. He also goes to Europe several times a year to speak of the spirit.

His message, if I understand it, is that man is created good. It is the institutions of society which pollute our land and our people. He could be writing speeches for Jerry Brown. He conducts spiritual circles in Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Helsinki and returns to those cities "over and over." Where there is a suitable place, he constructs a sweat lodge. I suggested his message was better received in Europe than in this country, and he agreed. Playwright F. Story Talbot is now known as Medicine Story. If he is a prophet, he is without honor in his own land

[Epiphany]

Francis Story Talbot (Medicine Story) claims NDN heritage through "my father's family, the Indian side". He says this is specifically through his grandfather who is also named Francis Story Talbot, that his grandfather passed on important stories and teachings.

Medicine Story refers to himself as a "university educated traditionalist". He says he wasn't raised by his birth father. That he was briefly a playwright and had various theater groups in NY. Also that the name "Story" most likely came from a friend of his grandparent's parents.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eWknpD2m4_cC&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=%22francis+story+talbot%22&source=bl&ots=ejc2yAgdK3&sig=lUp3IvK84NRHO1dk3pS75qyGAv0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=072VUaPIEuTEigKWlIGQBA&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22francis%20story%20talbot%22&f=false

He is indeed educated. Census and a 1930 Daily Boston Globe newspaper article about a child custody dispute backs his statement that he was not raised by his father. He was a playwright under the names "Story Talbot" and "F. Story Talbot".

His father was Herbert H Talbot 1906 MA - 2001 FL. Always white in census. His mother Priscilla, there was an early contentious divorce, she then married James Farnham.

Looks like these families at times had money, for instance both Herbert and Prisicilla as young single adults applied for passports for extensive world travel sightseeing. They employed people as servants. Medicine Story himself was raised in households with servants.

His grandfather Frank (Francis) Story Talbot was listed as white in the 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 census. On a military registration he is listed white, the box for white is checked, not Indian.

Frank Story Talbot's parents were George Howard Talbot and Adelia M Storer. Adelia's birth surname of Storer may very well be the source of her son's middle name Story. In all census they are white.

And here is the biography of Medicine Story's ancestor, George Howard Talbot, father of Medicine Story's claimed NDN grandfather Frank (Francis) Story Talbot:

http://books.google.com/books?id=AmTJUSifk8AC&pg=PA635&lpg=PA635&dq=%22joseph+talbot%22+mary+pratt&source=bl&ots=B9Nmeft7pU&sig=AaeJ3MOJyo0UwxfQ58Nu1ZmmeH4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FqGVUczaEKSBiAL71ICoBg&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22joseph%20talbot%22%20mary%20pratt&f=false

George H Talbot was born in 1846, son of Joseph and Mary L (Pratt) Talbot. Stated in his bio is "It is impossible to trace with certainty the ancestral history of this particular branch of the Talbot family, as there have been no records kept".

Medicine Story says his people are from Dighton, Bristol county, MA. They are. But it doesn't look like his NDN heritage claims are true.

[Epiphany]

"Medicine Story attended the first fifteen Rainbow Gatherings consecutively and is considered one of its grandfathers."

http://books.google.com/books?id=jGqmyBnzphYC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=%22medicine+story%22+rainbow&source=bl&ots=0PmR3GT6W_&sig=pYiqCUcJIk8MPGAwe_HDeNL9DKk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xmiWUczFOIOnigL1hYGAAg&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22medicine%20story%22%20rainbow&f=false

Info on Rainbow Family http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=451.0 http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/index.html

Rainbow Family Gatherings = mostly white hippies pretending to be their version of Indian. Rainbow gatherings in the past have not been safe places, many reports can be found of assaults, rapes, violence, and way too much drugs.

Here is part of an account from a person who says they first experienced sweat lodge in 1979 at a Rainbow gathering, run by Medicine Story:

I experienced my first Indian sweat lodge at the 1979 Rainbow Gathering on July 3. I had read about them before and wanted to try one. I got the opportunity when I ran into a Native American medicine man (Medicine Story) at the gathering who was going to do one, so naturally, I decided to take part in it.
The sweat lodge is a dome shaped structure that has a pit in the center. Outside the sweat lodge, there is a fire which is used to heat rocks until they are red hot. Then, the rocks are placed in the pit in the sweat lodge and everyone gets in and it is sealed up. I think there were about five of us in there, plus Medicine Story.

The medicine man says a few words of peace to help center the energy and then precedes to sprinkle water on the hot rocks. When he does this, we all chant. I think we were in there for a couple of hours. After it was over, I noticed it produces a feeling much like what you feel like after being in an isolation tank. The major difference is that the sweat lodge is a group experience while the isolation tank is a solitary one. Even so, both experiences tend to give you the we are all one feeling that LSD is known to produce.

I used to know the Indian customs for building a sweat lodge, but that was a long time ago. From what I remember, eight poles are used to support the structure and I think the doorway is supposed to be on the east side. There is also a certain branch that the medicine man uses to sprinkle the water on the hot rocks. I'm not sure what else is involved.

One thing I do need to stress as that you should not try a sweat lodge if you do not know what you're doing because you can be badly burned from the intense heat if you don't. Much like coal walking, you have to learn how to alter your consciousness to protect your physical body. Those who can get into the chanting and into the spirit of the whole thing usually do just fine, but those who get paranoid over the whole affair can get hurt. That happened to the person who turned me on to my first Rainbow Gathering.

http://wild-bohemian.com/sweat.htm

[Epiphany]

Francis Story Talbot (Medicine Story) 1930 census:

Name:   Francis Talbot
Gender:   Male
Birth Year:   abt 1929
Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Race:   White
Home in 1930:   Salem, Essex, Massachusetts
View Map
Marital Status:   Single
Relation to Head of House:   Son
Father's Name:   Herbert H Talbot
Father's Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Mother's Name:   Priscilla Talbot
Mother's Birthplace:   Massachusetts

------

His father Herbert H Talbot 1920 census:

Name:   Herbert H Talbot
Age:   15
Birth Year:   abt 1905
Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Home in 1920:   Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts
Race:   White
Gender:   Male
Relation to Head of House:   Son
Marital Status:   Single
Father's Name:   Frank S Talbot
Father's Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Mother's Name:   Adelaide Talbot
Mother's Birthplace:   Massachusetts

---------

Herbert's father Francis Story Talbot 1900 census:

Name:   Frank S Talbot
Age:   22
Birth Date:   Aug 1877
Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Home in 1900:   Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts
Race:   White
Gender:   Male
Relation to Head of House:   Son
Marital Status:   Single
Father's Name:   George H Talbot
Father's Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Mother's Name:   Delia M Talbot
Mother's Birthplace:   Massachusetts

--------

Francis Story Talbot's father George Howard Talbot 1880:

Name:   George H Talbot
Age:   34
Birth Year:   abt 1846
Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Home in 1880:   Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts
Race:   White
Gender:   Male
Relation to Head of House:   Self (Head)
Marital Status:   Married
Spouse's Name:   Delia M. Talbot
Father's Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Mother's Birthplace:   Massachusetts
Occupation:   Wool Scorner

[Epiphany]

Some even began to insinuate that I might not be Wampanoag, even though, unknown to them, a genealogy had been done in my band that proved my heritage (I did not ask for or want a genealogy done, nor would I ask for anyone else's proof of their heritage, I would only take their word), even though my family appears clearly in the Indian census (Earle Reports) of the mid-nineteenth century, even though I was the official medicine man of the Assonet Band, working closely with Slow Turtle and the Mashpee medicine man gkisedtanamoogk, rebuilding our traditional tribal ways.

This is a Talbot quote from earlier in the thread. Seems really weird that he would be so strange about his genealogy, as if it is bad to "ask for or want" his genealogy done. As if it is taboo. But at the same time his claim to fame is his claimed heritage.

Why didn't he know his own ancestry?

even though my family appears clearly in the Indian census (Earle Reports) of the mid-nineteenth century

In 1859, Francis Story Talbot's ancestors were Joseph Talbot 1810 - 1859 and his wife Mary L Pratt 1817 - 1863, and their son George H Talbot b 1846, who married Adelia H Storer b 1849.

Here is a copy of the Report to the Governor and Council Concerning the Indians of the Commonwealth Under the Act of April 6, 1859 (Earle Reports): http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~history/grafton2/Nipmunk%20Trib%20Listing.txt


Talbots on the Earle Reports:

Last Name    First         Age    Ethnicity       Occupation      Residence

Talbot       Amelia A.     1     F Dartmouth              Stoughton
Talbot       Cecilia         5     F Dartmouth              Stoughton
                 Frances
Talbot       Martha Ann   27    F Dartmouth              Stoughton


Talbot       John T.       30    M Indian                      Stoughton


Talbot       Lucy A.       3     F Punkapog                     Randolph
Talbot       Emma F.      6     F Punkapog                     Randolph
Talbot       Sarah J.      8     F Punkapog                      Randolph
Talbot       Josephine    10    FPunkapog                     Randolph
Talbot       Lucy          28    F Punkapog                       Randolph

Talbot       Joseph        35    M Troy        Shoemaker       Randolph


Francis Story Talbot/ Medicine Story's people are not on this list.

If I'm wrong, it is very very easy for Medicine Story to show us otherwise. Who are his ancestors? Why would he be evasive and mysterious about them?

[Epiphany]

Keeping in mind that Medicine Story claims NDN heritage through his paternal grandfather Francis Story (or Storey) Talbot, and that Francis Story Talbot's father was  George Herbert Talbot, these passages from a 1912 book "Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts, containing historical sketches" are particularly interesting:

GEORGE HOWARD TALBOT, founder of  the Norton Mills Company, now the Talbot  Wool Combing Company, Inc., and a well-
known and prominent citizen of Norton, is a descendant of an old established family of Bristol county, ancient and honored in England as well as America.

George Howard Talbot, son of Joseph and Mary L. (Pratt), was born March 17, 1846, in Dighton, Mass. He attended the common schools of his native town and supplemented this with a few sessions at a private school in the nearby town of Somerset, taught by Henry T. Buffington, a well-known teacher of that section

.

In the autumn of 1867 Mr. Talbot came to the town of Norton, where he assumed charge of wool sorting for the concern of Williams &
Co., who were doing a small business in that line at the Willis mills, on the Rumford river.

The piece goes on to say he expanded his wool business very successfully. The mills employed about 200 people.

Now about his son, Francis Story Talbot:

Francis Story Talbot, born in Norton March 2, 1878, was educated in the local public school and in the Bryant & Straiton business
college at Providence, R. I. He entered his father's business, becoming secretary, and upon the formation of the new corporation he be-
came secretary and treasurer. He married Adelayde Bemis, of Foxboro, Mass., and they have three children. Marguerite, Gertrude and
Herbert Hersey

.

Herbert Hersey Talbot is Medicine Story / Francis Story Talbot's father.

http://www.archive.org/stream/representativeme02jhbe/representativeme02jhbe_djvu.txt

(image is from America's Textile Reporter: For the Combined Textile Industries, Volume 36, Issue 7
http://books.google.com/books?id=D_ZYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA481&lpg=PA481&dq=Textile+reporter+%22frank+s+talbot%22&source=bl&ots=F2w0HkRgTF&sig=VFmLqbi2xqxDWa5o56PI6AzrMm0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IbuWUej-L8agigLxiYCwBQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Textile%20reporter%20%22frank%20s%20talbot%22&f=false )

[Ingeborg]

As an addition to your genealogical research, we also got a confirmation on his ethnic affiliation as a white person which was written in a German forum. Although the forum has been taken down, there is well documented (German Wikipedia!) evidence of who Talbot is and who he isn't. The following contributions are taken from the discussion site of the article on the Wampanoag nation which formerly mentioned Talbot:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diskussion:Wampanoag#Manitonquat

Meanwhile, even the scene of his supporters should be aware that the man's name in real life is Francis Talbot, white and not a „member of the Assonet group of the Wampanoag tribe“. So he does not belong in this article – and furthermore there are no references at all for the claims regarding his persons.

My references so far are also just claims, but I am looking for the truth :-)

1. Contribution in an internet forum by a supporter and organiser of Manitonquat:
„Right, several things: 1. That Manitonquat's real name is Francis Talbot and that he is not of Indian descent is known to me for some time already (and BTW not only to me but to several persons of the camp, when asked he does not make a secret of it), but: so WHAT?! Apparently he lived with the Wampanoag for some time and this on its own qualifies him as a „story teller“ and to tell about his experience there. I do not remember he ever described himself as a „shaman“ or any other type of guru, some other participants of the camp do (admittedly, they're Bear Tribe, but who f*cking cares [Engish original], as long as they'be been thinking and achieved some sort of wisdom?)“
from: http://indianermagazin.de/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=180&whichpage=3
The homepage of the author of this contribution: http://www.international-camp.de/   ***

2. Article from an Italian site on Indians, reference given in link below:
„Medicine Story, also known as Manitonquat, is a white American pretending to be a Wampanoag medicine man. His real name is Francis Talbot. Talbot found a fertile field of activity in the north eastern part of the USA. In an area where not much is left of Indian peoples and traditions therefore vanished, it was easy for him, with the help of another fake shaman (Sun Bear), to gather a group of persons of distant Indian ancestry who also have no idea of the tradition of the peoples they descended from and build a circle with them...
from: http://indianermagazin.de/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=142&whichpage=3

As mentioned before, so far these are also „just“ claims, but I'll keep at it. For the time being, I wont delete anything (so far?), I'm too new for an action like this. Pudow, 09.12.07

Just deleted that paragraph for you, the reasons given are plausible.--Nikater 19:02, 10. Dez. 2006 (CET)

Thanks, Nikater, didn't think things would run that smoothly. Just saw that there are two books written by Manitonquat mentioned which I think also haven't got anything to do with the Wampanoag but only with Manitonquat's „teachings“. Pudow, 10.12.06

Well, the above quoted post from that forum was written by me, didn't think it was going to be a reference at Wikipedia, otherwise I'd have certainly phrased differently. I assumed to communicate with persons who think information and opinion were important, and who were not making this a „matter of principle“. I further would like to comment that the accusations against Maintonquat [sic] are based on sheer speculation, I also did not see any reference which gave evidence that he was „exploiting“ the Indian culture(s) in any way unasked or illegitimately. Athan (Jonus) 10.12.06

@Jonus or Athan: This is not about accusations – it is not about what Manitonquat does, the issue is simply his identity resp his ethnic non-affiliation with the Wampanoag. As far as this is concerned, this is in fact a „matter of principle“, i.e. about truth and honesty, about right and wrong. Quotes should also be seen in this way. Anything else should be discussed elsewhere.-- Pudow 00:17, 11. Dez. 2006 (CET)

*** The full post has been translated earlier, pls see post #9 on page 1 of this thread.

[Epiphany]

This wiki focused on intentional communities http://www.ic.org/wiki/manitonquat/ has a section on Talbot, including coverage of controversy concerning him.

Over the years there has been some controversy about Manitonquat. There are two main areas of accusation and criticism. Firstly, that he is a white man making money out of native american teachings, changing the traditional stories of the Wampanoag and is basically a “new age fraud”. A second area of criticism is that he is connected with the intentional communities of ZEGG in Germany and Tamera in Portugal, both of which have been criticised for their promotion of free sexuality, for being like cults, and for some of the things said by their founders, Dieter Duhm and Sabine Lichtenfels.

Manitonquat himself asserts that he is of mixed heritage, Wampanoag on his father’s side and much influenced by the stories his grandfather told him. Many people attend his camps and his lectures because of his native american heritage, but much of what he promotes is from other sources, such as co-counselling and from his long experience in intentional communities and the Rainbow Gatherings. His writings, such as The Circle Way make this clear. People who want “pure” native american spirituality will be disappointed.

Traditional stories and myths usually exist in many variants, and retelling them and reworking them is both acceptable and common, and sometimes, when plagiarism takes place, a matter for criticism. The Grimm brothers in Germany changed many of the stories that they were told, but none the less produced a “classic” collection of folk tales.
Many of the ideas and methods that he promotes have little in common with “New Age Esoteric”, being down-to-earth methods for organizing groups, holding meetings, resolving conflicts, and developing and growing together.

Manitonquat makes no secret of his connections to ZEGG and Tamera. Both of these intentional communities have been criticised and ostracised over the years by some other intentional communities and by part of the left. However, the “cult-like” aspects of these groups have diminished with time, and contact with them is no longer a taboo in the German community movement. Certainly, things said or written by Duhm and Lichtenfels remain contoversial or reprehensible, and they cannot change their personal biographies, however their influence on ZEGG today is minimal and Tamera has developed into an active political centre for peace.

NAFPS is given as a link.

[Ingeborg]

Quite incidentially, ZEGG happens to be a member of the organisation:
http://www.ic.org/directory/zegg-centre-for-experimental-cultural-design/ ,
and they repeat some of the apologetics ZEGG has come up with over the years.

[Smart Mule]

Talbot died on July 21, 2018. His son posted an obituary and there was no mention of any Wampanoag association.

Today, my father, Francis Medicine Story Talbot passed away peacefully at our home, surrounded by friends and family. He was 89. Story lived a long, adventurous, beautiful and loving life.

He came from a family of means, but found that material wealth held no interest for him, and he started on a lifelong search for meaning. His path took him many places, as an actor, director and producer on the stage to the hippie movement, crashing the gates of Woodstock and being a part of Rainbow Family, as a storyteller and elder.

He began writing and teaching his ideas on community and returning to our original purpose through a connection with creation and each other, ideas that resonated with the many people whose lives he touched. For decades, he continued his inclusive work of creating circles, teaching, listening and building communities, in his work in prisons in the US and workshops and camps in Europe, until he fell ill only weeks ago.

He is survived by the love of his life and partner in promoting love and peace, Ellika, his two children, Tashin Talbot and Tokeem Talbot, their partners Frieda Tlbt and Tanja (Ta Ta) and his four grandchildren, his brother Jim and his sisters Linda and Mary and his sisters and brothers of the Rainbow Family and the Circle Way. In the coming days, plans for remembering Story together will be announced.

Walk in beauty, Manitonquat

[Smart Mule]

Talbot claimed his Wampanoag ancestry came from his grandfather who was also named Francis Story Talbot. The elder Francis's father's name was George Howard Talbot. The History of Bristol County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 2, page 635 states that the family traces is history back to the early days of settlement and further back into Europe. No ties to the Wampanoag what so ever. In the biography it shows clearly that the middle name Story comes from the last name of a gentleman George Howard was in a business partnership with, it had nothing to do with ties to indigenous ancestry. The elder Francis Story Talbot nor his father lived or participated in any type of Native American culture nor did anyone further back in the family.

[Karoniaa]

Pfffft.  I was at a gathering many years ago with real medicine elders and watched this man speak jibberish thinking he knew real teachings and the real elders that were there he put down, he was never editor of Akwesasne times, I know who the editors were.....then he got so mad for being challenged by the real medicine elders he packed up n left the gathering......now isn't that an admission of guilt, to run ..... If he was true to who he said he was he wouldn't run out of fear of being exposed to his fraud by the real Anishinabeg.