Denial of federal recognition of the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe in Connecticut appears to be based on the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs conclusion that: (1) there is no evidence that the Paugussett are descended from an historic American Indian tribe, and (2) that they have failed to prove that the one common ancestor from whom they claim their tribal members are descended was a member of an Indian tribe or had Indian ancestry. The Paugussett will appeal the decision to the Board of Indian Appeals.

According to historian Mathias Spiess, writing in a 1993 booklet prepared for Connecticut’s Tercentenary Commission, the Paugussett tribe considered of the Wipawaug, Unkowa, Potatuck, Pomeraug and Naugatuck clans. Their homelands included the present-day towns of Orange, Milford, Stratford, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Weston, Easton, Trumbull, Shelton, Ansonia, Woodbridge, Derby, Seymour, Monroe, Redding, Bethel, Danbury, Bridgewater, Southbury, Newtown, Oxford, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Naugatuck, Middlebury, Waterbury, Woodbury, Roxbury, and part of Wolcott, Prospect, Plymouth and New Fairfield.

The Golden Hill Paugussett are recognized by the State of Connecticut; they have reservations in Colchester and Trumbull.