Census Department

Contact: Jamie Nicholas, Tribal Census Clerk
Phone: (207) 853-5157
Fax: (207) 853-5197
E-mail: jnicholas@wabanaki.com
Business Hours:
Monday thru Friday
8:00 am to 4:30 pm

Census Department Forms:

Membership Application Request
Certification of Address
Direct Deposit Request Application

The Census Department office is located at the Tribal Office Building at Pleasant Point.

The purpose of the department is to provide easy accessibility for tribal members, other programs and outside agencies with regard to census related matters such as membership, verification of membership and assisting with the per-capita funds.

Other activities include:
– Verifying and maintaining the Tribal Census, as mandated by the Passamaquoddy Tribal Membership and Census Ordinances.

– assist the Tribal Government and the Joint Census Committee with any and all issues dealing with membership of the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

– assist with per-capita distribution matters

– conduct limited genealogical research of individual ancestry in order to determine Passamaquoddy blood quantum.

– assist the auditor with financial auditing of the annual per capita distribution and the quarterly Elderly Trust distributions.

– maintain and provide the tribal census; listing tribal members, blood quantum and date of birth, new births and deaths.

– The department staff may act as a tribal liaison person for those who are applying for membership into the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

– assist in the implementation of the Passamaquoddy Tribal Membership and Census Ordinance.

– compile and maintain individual files containing the ancestry chart, record’s of birth, marriage, death, legal documents and other pertinent information.

– Send out and receive yearly Certification of Address forms to each tribal member

Application for Membership into the Passamaquoddy Tribe forms for a regular and minor applicant are available upon written request. You will be provided with the necessary forms and information regarding the application process, requirement and deadline.

Application for Membership into the Passamaquoddy Tribe for New Birth forms are for children born November 1 of last year to October 31st of this year. These forms are available upon written request. The parent(s) will be provided with the necessary forms and information regarding the application process, requirements and deadline.

Census Committee:
Tribal ordinance has established the Census Committee. The committee assists the department with certain census matters. There are six tribal members serving on the Census Committee, three from the Indian Township and three from Pleasant Point.

A message for individuals seeking assistance from the Tribe relating to vital records and geneology research:

The Passamaquoddy Census department receives numerous requests from the general public for geneology related research and vital records. We are not able to disclose or give out this kind of information to the general public. Our census records are confidential and for internal tribal use only.

We suggest that if you are seeking to establish membership within the tribe or if you are seeking to establish a kinship relationship within the tribe you will need to do some of your own research. You must obtain certain vital records on your ancestors and family. The burden of proof rests upon each applicant to establish his or her relationship within the tribe in order to be eligible for enrollment (membership) into the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

Some records you may need to obtain are:
Certified Record of Birth.
Evidence of descent.
You must know the town & state where an individual was born, names and date of birth and possibly the parents.
Baptismal Record.
Name of church & town where individual was baptized and parents names and date of birth.
Certified Record of Marriage and place of marriage.
Certified Death Certification.
Must know the town & state of death.
DNA blood test records.

If a person was born in the State of Maine you can call the Maine State Archives in Augusta, Maine at 207-287-5790 or the Vital Records Dept. 207-287-3181.

If the person(s) were born in or around the Perry, Maine area you may call Frances Raye at 207-853-6630 she has done some genealogy research in the area.

If a person is requesting an application for membership into the Passamaquoddy Tribe they can either get the forms in the links above or do so in writing. All census matters and correspondence should be sent to the Census Department P.O. Box 343, Perry, Maine 04667.

Thank You