Shawnee Heritage Fraud
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Location: Virginia
Surnames/tags: Powhatan Shawnee Cherokee
[send private message], Jillaine Smith [send private message], and Native Americans Project WikiTree [send private message]- Definition of fraud:
- wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
- a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.
Contents |
Background
Profiles have been created in Wikitree (and elsewhere on the Internet, including Find-a-Grave) based on the work of Don Greene, a self-published series called Shawnee Heritage. Serious genealogists, including the Tribal Historian for the Virginia Tribes, call this book a work of fiction.
This page seeks to explain why researchers should be extremely cautious if family links in your line are drawn from this work; the page also gives direction to those who want to correctly mark these profiles and identify the profiles that are much more fiction than fact.
Read what others have said
Serious genealogists have voiced their opinions
- http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ethnic.natam.nations.shawnee.shawneenat/169.1.1/mb.ashx (archived here in case Ancestry deletes message boards.
- https://books.google.com/books/about/Shawnee_Heritage_I.html?id=6OugaRN9E0EC read the reviews
From Bill Deyo, current Tribal Historian VIRGINIA GENEALOGICAL BOOKLETS by William "Bill" L. DEYO:
- "Besides the Powhatan ancestry, the Shawnee/Cornstalk and most of the Moytoy children listed on the site (Wikitree) have no basis in fact that I know of and appear to be from that horrid book on Shawnee heritage that published a mass of incorrect information and outright lies."
Since the above was written, WikiTree's Native Americans Project has made progress on addressing these issues. But inaccurate profiles still exist. It is also important not to add information or attach relations to such profiles if the information came from Shawnee Heritage.
When you find a profile that appears to be one of these profiles
- Make sure there is NO valid research in the Biography and/or Sources sections
- Mark the profile with the category [[Category:Shawnee Heritage Fraud]]
- Add the following template at the top of the profile (without the numbers):
- {{Native American Adjunct}}
If there is no independent source supporting their existence, add under the above template the following:
- {{Uncertain Existence}}
- ''This person's existence and relationships were introduced by Don Greene in his book, [[Space:Shawnee Heritage Fraud|Shawnee Heritage]]. There is no independent, historical documentation of this person's existence or relationships.''
If sources are found
- Validate the source with the Native American Project, assure that it falls under the category of a source providing reliable data or present your reasoning on WikiTree's G2G discussion forum (under Help menu).
- Add your sources and the appropriate Categories and Templates (the project can help you)
- Remove the Fraud category and the questionable template.
Finding all of the profiles is going to take a while, so do not be surprised if you find ones that are not yet marked appropriately.
- Login to edit this profile and add images.
- Private Messages: Contact the Profile Managers privately: Robin Lee, Jillaine Smith, and Native Americans Project WikiTree. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
- Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)
At this point, as I am descended from Keigh Tug Quah through White Wing, my DNA test confirms this book and the existence of several people listed as non-existent. Whomever claims this book is a fraud is not being honest about their research.
edited by Tyler Adkins
There were Shawnee raids along the Greenbrier in 1763 in which women and children were captured and either adopted or married into Shawnee families. This is documented historical fact.
edited by Tyler Adkins
& names were accurate, No one was Shawnee which my cousin already knew, but it still provided accurate pedigree information going backward for those family lines.
Ftdna Kit# B572982. She was also in the Native American Study On FTDNA And came back a DNA Hit to Project Coordinator Janine Cloud She also has hundreds of cousins On Ancestry showing anywhere from a small amount to 35/36%. She Is the sixth GG grandaughter Of Ellender Osborne & William Horton Hash of Grayson County Virginia, A pedigree In One Of Don Greene's Books, I don't know the volume. Another Family Line Of Hers Is : Samuel Vance X Sarah Colville Their Son Colonel John Patrick Vance X Rachel Cassell, Rachel Cassell was The daughter of Jacob Cassell and A Supposedly Shawnee Woman Sowege Gliding Swan. This pedigree Is mentioned by Don Greene. Jacob Cassell can be placed with my cousins 5th & 6th GG grandparents the Keeslings In Grayson County Virginia by a Serious Virginia history book as well as petitions to open up Russell County Virginia for settlement, placing him With other family. Other sets of her GG grandparents are mentioned In Greene's books but I don't know which ones. I will have to talk with her. Bottom line Is Don Greene(s) Pedigrees were accurate backed up by historical information & DNA, all pedigrees may not be Shawnee but if its otherwise accurate backed up by other sources as well as DNA, it is a Source, & there(s) nothing wrong with using it to further your research. We are all getting older info is being lost at an alarming rate do to pooh-poohers & naysayers. Do your own research & verifying. It worked out in for my cousin,
Shana Perkins
The profile for Sowege Gliding Swan is here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gliding_Swan-1
If anyone can come up with evidence *independent of Don Greene's Shawnee Heritage Series* (and that predates it) and based on records contemporaneous to the time these two people lived, that identify the names of Jacob Cassell's wife and names his children, please add them as comments to those profiles, respectively.
Thank you.
edited by Jillaine Smith
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44639515/donald-judson-greene
I believe there is some room for improvement to this page. It would be helpful if examples of specific flawed research that are here in the comments could be moved to somewhere under the Background section with sources cited. Also, the more general criticism of “Shawnee Heritage III” could be toned down. Use of the words fiction and fraud undermine the credibility of this page. If there is a specific instance of fraud, that should be cited.
A comment from Bill Deyo critical of Green has been included. The comment cites specific examples that need to be fleshed out. Deyo’s work is the subject of another page similar to this one: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Our_Patawomack_Ancestors
Using a comment from one writer with inflammatory phrasing like, “that horrid book” isn’t a good look for Wikitree.
Criticism of another writer, Custalow, that Deyo cites can be found here:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:True_Story_of_Pocahontas
It seems to me that all of these works of Green, Deyo, Custalow are attempting to reconcile the oral traditions of various groups; Shawnee, Patawomeck and Mattaponi with the written records of the English colonist. These writers and the oral traditions they represent may have very different levels of credibility, each book is likely a mix of fact and error. They don’t appear to be intentionally written as fiction.
This is why we included the definition of "fraud" at the top of the page here. Greene has published and has placed for sale an entire series of multiple books that have made up thousands of inaccurate, unsourced names and relationships and other false claims.
Deyo developed and promoted one theory about one specific lineage and others have interpreted that theory as fact. Not at all the same thing.
edited by Jillaine Smith
to be accurate, even though my cousin knew nobody was Shawnee. In Fact one of Don Greene's books provided information on an old Virginia family line of hers no one else had & proved to be accurate. Anything that can get you back further,faster & factually is a RESOURCE. I don't envy you Taylor Is a hard name to research. Pay no attention to naysayers. Use whatever is at your disposal.
deleted by Linda Jane Lamb
https://www.indianreservations.net/2016/12/jacob-castle-and-sowega-gliding-swan.html
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Cherokee_Sources/Resources
The Shawnee are not as well documented. They moved west over the same period as the Cherokee, but they lived in different places along the way and ended up in three different bands in Oklahoma. The last Shawnee group in Ohio, their home at the time of Removal, left in June, 1833. One group, now the Shawnee Nation was combined with the Cherokee after the Civil War, so those Shawnee appear on the Cherokee Dawes rolls (they are now separated from the Cherokee). The other two bands are the Absentee Shawnee and the Eastern Shawnee.. The Eastern Shawnee tribe has links to a lot of resources on their web site at https://estoo-nsn.gov/eastern-shawnee-history/
Thank you, Cathy Levis
Shawnee Heritage by Don Greene aka "Chief Don Spirit Wolf" There have been times when I am asked "How do you find the things to write about"? The answer is not simple, as I have a long list of people to blog about, many times it is people contacting me with information on someone that they would like to see exposed. In reality, the stories generally find me.
In all my years of researching, and exposing fakes, I have learned, the story will come together when it is ready, not always when I am ready, but when the story comes together, that is when the time is right for me to write. Today, the story has come together after many years of keeping this fraud on the radar and watching.
I learned about Don Greene many years ago when I was loaned one of his books and asked for validation on what was my own family in his book. I was horrified over the wrong things that was written on my family. I wondered, "Who does this guy think he is"?! So, I contacted him. It was a strange correspondence, he refused to tell me what his documents were, the only thing he wanted to know is my phone number, his emails would be: "Bezon my relative, please send me your number so we can speak Shawnee together!" His emails made me rather ill to my stomach, and for a while they were stalking in nature...
CON'T... [MUCH MORE, LIKE HE ISN'T EVEN NATIVE AMERICAN] https://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/2017/03/shawnee-heritage-by-don-greene-aka.html
“25/64th Chalakatha-Mekoche-Cherokee-Metis born 1772 Chota TN died after 1836 OK Daughter of John mother with Fox-Taylor of Charles Fox-Taylor III/86, Richard Fox-Taylor/87 Thomas Fox-Taylor Jr./88 & Susannah Fox-Taylor/ all 5/16th Chalakatha-Mekoche-Thawikila-CreeKCherokee-Metis….”
FACTS: Jennie Walker was the granddaughter of Nancy Ward, a full-blood Cherokee and her first husband, a full-blood Cherokee man named Kingfisher. Jennie's mother Ka-ti was a full-blood Cherokee, her father a white man named John Walker. No one in this family had any Shawnee connection. They never lived anywhere except the Cherokee Nation. Jennie Walker was half-Cherokee, half-white. Her husband, Thomas Fox-Taylor, was the son of a British soldier, Charles Fox-Taylor, and a Cherokee woman. He too was one-half white, one-half Cherokee. They had three children, Richard, Thomas, and Susannah. A second Charles Fox-Taylor was the brother of Thomas, not his son. Jennie and her second husband, John McIntosh, their daughter and her family emigrated to Indian Territory in 1834. Jennie died May 1, 1834 just as they arrived in Indian Territory.
Jennie and Thomas’ children were all one-half Cherokee, one-half white, just like their parents. Greene has completely invented a Shawnee connection that never existed. Nancy Ward and her descendants are extremely well-documented. All these people are found throughout their lives in Cherokee records.
For her daughter Susannah’s husband, Samuel Parks, a 100% white man from Maryland, Green writes:
“Samuel Parks ¼ Thawikila-Metis born 1796 (TN?) died 1841 TN son of Maria Metis/70 and John Parks/SCO”
FACTS: Samuel Parks was born near Charleston, Tennessee in 1789, the son of a white couple named John and Ruth Parks. They had no connection with any Native American people until Samuel married Susannah Taylor.
You can see all the documentation for this family on their Wikitree profiles. Jennie Walker is found at: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Walker-16711
edited by Kathie (Parks) Forbes
I came across the name, “ Hokolesqua Opechan "Stream " Ocaneechi” when I was on ancestry. This led me to the wiki tree saying that the person likely did not exist. I’m assuming it’s because of these books that everyone is talking about on here. I’d love to know more about where the claims to this person likely originated and how I can get my genealogy search back on track. Thanks!
In the meantime, work your line back, generation by generation, citing reliable sources. Is there a particular generation where you're stuck? Post a message to wikitree's g2g discussion forum (you'll find it under the Help menu) and wikitree volunteers will try to help you.
edited by Linda Snelling
edited by Jillaine Smith