St. David's Islanders need to do further research before they claim Peqout Indians as their ancestors, claimed Philip Rabito-Wyppensenwah, an American lecturer who has a deep interest in Indian slavery in Bermuda.

"Let them get their facts straight before they start linking themselves to Pequots," he said.

Mr.Rabito-Wyppensenwah spoke to The Royal Gazette in the wake of the St. David's Island Indian Reconnection Festival held earlier this summer.

Around 50 members from the New England tribes of Mashantucket, Maspee and Wampanoag visited the Island in June to meet their `Native Indian cousins'.

"It's very spiritual. you can actually feel the connection," said Maxine Welch at the time.

"The Minors family are direct descendants of the Pequot Indians. Our great-grandmother was one of the first Indians that came here as a slave in the 1800's," Brent Minors told this paper.

But Mr.Rabito-Wyppensenwah labelled this claim "impossible".

"History shows it was a male slave," he said.

And he also disputed the claim of St. David's Islander St. Clair (Brinky) Tucker who said that hundreds of Pequots were shipped to Bermuda and enslaved in St. David's where they were kept chained and separate so that they could not associate.

"That's ridiculous. They spoke English and would have been able to spread the word that they were being captured," Mr.Rabito-Wyppensenwah said.

While he insisted that he was not trying to insult anyone, Mr. Rabito-Wyppensenwah said he believed that St. David's Islanders could perhaps be turning their backs on other ancestors.

"I'm not saying that they don't have Indian ancestors, but whose to say they were Pequots?

"They could have been from other areas such as Central America. They're forgetting about their other culture."

Mr. Rabito-Wyppensenwah, who has visited the Island to research Bermuda's Indian connections since 1978, said over 20 years ago he approached the Minors family.

He said he told them there was not any historical proof that they were descendants of the Pequots. Something, he said, they did not want to particularly hear at the time.

"People just need to do their research," he said.

Mr. Rabito-Wyppensenwah, who is on the Island until this Thursday, said he is willing to meet with anyone who wants to discuss the topic further.