What is the author's connection to the Wampanoag community as noted in the memoir, Abandon Me?

"Wampanoag" is the name given to a community of Native Americans (the author uses the term "tribe") that, during the author's childhood, lived on a nearby reserve. She was, she says, aware of their presence, but did not have a great deal of interaction with them. Later, as she investigates her family's history, she learns that she, Jon, Mina, and other members of their family were descended from members of that tribe, which was almost wiped out by disease and governmental, prejudice-defined, mismanagement.