Question of the Week: Any indigenous people in your tree? [closed]

Question

Do you have any indigenous, native, or first people in your family tree?

Tell us about them with an answer below! You could also answer on Facebook or share the question image with friends and family on social media to get them talking.

Comments

Many Scot's that migrated to the south were Loyalist who were more apt to establish trade and therefore co-mingle with indigenous people of the area. If you are of Scottish descent from the south (1700-1800) work your tree sideways. Expect limited records though.

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My third great grandmother, Mary Patenaude, was an Ojibwe woman from Quebec. She was married off to a French man from her residential school at 16 years old. They moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Because her name was changed by the residential school system as a young child we don't know where she came from exactly, or who her parents were. Finding that branch of my family would heal a wound passed on for generations.

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I am Métis, mainly with mi’kmaw heritage but also have abernaki, Huron and nippising ancestors my 7x great grandfather is chief jean batiste kopit the Mi’kmaw chief who signed the peace treaty with the British in 1752

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Abigail Covell is a Wampanoag in my family tree.

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Not to go too deep here, but what makes some people indigenous while others who had always been there are "not"?

I'm genuinely curious. Recently I saw the Finnish Sami people listed as the "only" indigenous European people which seems utterly odd, for obvious reasons.

Someone quipped that to be considered indigenous you had to remind Americans of American Indians somehow, which while a joke, actually seems like it might be the closest definition.

One source says they had to be culturally distinct.

Are the Irish not culturally distinct? How about the Italians? Greeks?

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I note that, for people interesting to see if they are connected on WikiTree to indigenous ancestors, the Ancestor Explorer app lets you generate a list of any ancestors who were Native Americans, members of Canada's First Peoples, or Indigenous Australians.

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The Dairine tribe of the Eireann nation of Ireland have I2a2(Isles) (or whatever it's called now) as their men's Y-DNA and they have probably been there since before the Holocene, so I think that makes them indigenous Irish (rather than the R1b Gaels who arrived much later).

The same is probably true of the related Norse Y-DNA haplotype I1 and the I2 of many people in and around Bosnia.

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From a genealogy perspective, I guess it's all relative a couple times removed!

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1. My ancestor, John Smith, was married to Martha Jones, a half-Choctaw woman in Edgefield District, South Carolina, where their two children were born in 1799 and 1802.  Martha Jones father was John Jones, who traded with the Choctaws in Wayne County, Mississippi, and along the Tombigbee River in Alabama.  Would appreciate any information about the Jones and Smith families connection to the Choctaws.  Anne Duncan

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Your comment caught my eye, on Martha Jones being half Choctaw.  My 4x great grandfather John Landy Barnett in 1826 married a Creek Indian Patsey Jones in Loderdale, Alabama. Which is close to Tombigbee river. Reading the history on the Creek Indians they were a Confederation of tribes which includes Choctaws and Chickasaws. I wondering if any relation.

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More research is needed on the Jones who lived along the Tombigbee river and traded with the Choctaws.  John Jones and his 'choctaw wife apparently had several sons who had Indian wives, in addition to daughter Martha.  John ones may have been relate to a Seaborn Jones, who was in South Carolina.

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Hi , 

I am proud to be of blended Native American and French. Finding direct ties to native grand mothers is deffinatly a task with very little information on their tribe. One thing that had helped me is looking into know sisters or brothers of your ancestors. Many natives women had to choose staying with their European husband or going west. I have found to great aunts  on eastern Cherokee rolls but my own great grandmother is not listed.  Being native in 1800's ment stripping one of their home abd land. In my family many chose to not sign onto all rolls and kept in touch with those who moved west.

Answer 1

My roots go back to  Keziah Vann, a Cherokee daughter of a well known John Cherokee Vann. His roots go back to a famous Cherokee Chief Motoy, who was involved with a treaty with the whites. Keziah married Martin Maney. Their daughter Nancy Sarah married Absalom Metcalf and that is my father's direct DNA line. Absalom and Nancy's son Hiram, their grandson Henry Clay, and gr grandson James Henry are all listed in the Cherokee Rolls. James Henry was my gr grandather. My full tree is not here on Wiki, is on another well-known (free) site. I didnt want to do the work twice.

I probably have less than 1% Cherokee DNA. I have not done a DNA test but at that amount it likely wouldnt  show. But still, I have documented proof that I'm related. 

I would like to point out that back then it was common for white men to intermarry with Native women. When whites first came to this country there werent very many white women around. Native women were hard workers, knew the resources of the land, and were subservient. They also made a good buffer (protection) between other possible unfriendly tribes.

Comments

Hey DeBee, Wm McIntosh, Creek Chief sold tribal lands to the US Gov which is said to help facilitate The Trail Of Tears. For his judgement, he was executed by his people. He probably saw the ToT as inevitable given the history of displacement and overall treatment of Indians. I have several other (outlaw/lawmen/out-law-men) relatives that policed and hid out in Indian Territories of Oklahoma. I don't know of many relatives in the south, yet , but I suspect some followed the money to the cotton fields once tobacco played out. I suspect I have a couple family lines of multi-cultural people I may never be aware of. I think "Southern Hospitality" must have been indigenous to the south; it wasn't part of a treaty.

Answer 2

I have traced my grandmothers who were Anishinaable Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indians. My 2nd Great Grandmother was a Drumbeater (1/2) and my other 2nd Great Grandmother was (Full) and her daughter was my 1st Great Grandmother was Chippewa (1/2).  My pateral grandmother was 1/2. My father was 1/4 and I am 1/8 and enrolled with the Reservation. As a result I have met many cousins, one working on a Reservation (with a MA degree) as an Environment Resource Management supervisor. One side of the indigenous family came down in the 1800s from Canada to New York, working their way to Minnesota.

Answer 3

Rebekah was born about 1675 and died in 1735.
She was a Narragansett native woman whom her husband, Issac Worden[1], named Rebekah.
They lived on the Pawcatuck River, at the right angle bend of that river on the border of Rhode Island and Connecticut,

I would like to know how this would be reflected in the DNA test results for both Y-DNA and mTDNA

Answer 4

Supposedly I have some Native American blood in me (as per my DNA test) but I've not been able to find it yet.

Here's a story from my Nana's (grandmother) memoirs she left to all her grandchildren.

This is a story of our family, where we lived, and happenings in history that were closely related - such as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After I read "Sacajawea" I realized how often our family had traveled much of their trail. Perhaps this is why the book was so exciting to me, and why I want to relate it to you.

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On the map of the Lewis and Clark expedition you will note places and times where we as a family lived our lives.

Halliday, N.D. where I lived from the age of five to seven years bordered the Berthold Reservation. My father and mother had many contracts with the Mandan Indians of the Sioux nation. My father ran the lumber yard in Halliday, servicing the Indians on the reservation.

Some of our summer vacations were spent on the reservation where mother and father organized the first Sunday school. My brother Doug and sister Marie being older than I spent much of their time riding Indian ponies with their friends. They rode bare-back and would call out "hittie-up" having great fun in these races. My one recollection was the day they took me with them and visted an Indian squaw sitting beside an open fire stirring a wild blueberry pudding.

Edgar Crowsheart bought lumber from my father to supply the Indians for their shelters. The picture I have of him sitting on the steps with my mother was the house he provided for us. This picture is very special to us because the Indians never allowed pictures taken of them.

Answer 5

17th century ancestors were members of the Turtle Clan, Mohawk Nation, northwest of present day Albany, NY.

Answer 6

My 7th great grandmother was a Lenape Native American.The daughter of my 8th great grandfather, Chief of the Lenape Unami. She married John Price from Germany in the early 1700’s.

Answer 7

Not ancestrally, but Powhatan, the last Queen of Hawaii, and Bennelong are not too far from me by marriage, unlike most celebrities.

Powhatan 25 (through his daughter Mrs Rolfe)

Queen Lili'uokalani 25 (through her sister Miriam)

Bennelong 19 (through his son's wife Bolongaia Boorooberongal)

Answer 8

Yes, I've traced and have a document confirming my 3rd gr grandmother was a native lady. I'm Metis.

Answer 9

Marguerite Valle was my 5x grandmother on both my parents' family tree.  She was the illiegitmate daughter of Francois Valle of Ste. Genevieve MO, born c1760.  Francois was the wealthiest and most influencial men in the area.  All records indicate that Marguerite was brought into his household and raised with her half-siblings and Francois's wife Marianne.  She was married to another French colonist and given a dowry, as she was not able by law to inherit anything.  Historians speculate that her mother was an Indian slave, possibly brought to Upper Louisiana Territory (Ste. Genevieve MO) from Canada.  Further speculation was that she died and that is why she was brought into his household.  Although raised by her stepmother, she was illiterate, while all her siblings were taught to read, probably by Marianne, as Francois was illiterate.  My DNA gives 1% NA.  Marguerite had at least 11 children, and many people in the area (primarily southeast Missouri, Ste. Gnevieve, St. Francois, Perry County) are descended from her.  My parents were married for 63 years and had no idea they were distant cousins!  Source: Francois Valle and His World: Upper Louisiana Before Lewis and Clark, by Carl J. Ekberg

Comments

Cousin Kev by the way of Grandma Dalton. Lucky Francois was wealthy, or influential or grandma Maruerite would be lost to history. Funny how the masses who contribute to so many are almost invisible unless they are connected to someone "notable."

Answer 10

I have Mi’kmaq ancestry. Jeanne Radegonde Lambert, Marie Membertou. I am still searching for any legal documents.

Answer 11

There has been indication that one of my 4th great-grandfathers was born on a Cherokee reservation in North Carolina. But, I also know that being born on a reservation doesn't necessarily mean that you are a Native American. I do not know his story, but I do know that many parts of his life have been disputed by one group of people or another pretty much since time began.  

My great-grandmother, who was his great-granddaughter, allegedly had a dark complexion for a white woman. They were farmers, so being out in the sun could have weathered her skin. I have been cautioned not to go by physical traits/attributes to determine one's ethnicity.  

Also, this is a difficult subject to try to research when anytime it is brought up, people assume that it is just legend and not fact. Apparently it is completely unheard of for a white person to actually be related to a Native American...at least going by the way some folks argue against it.

So, do I have Native American/Indigenous peoples in my ancestry? Maybe, maybe not. All of my lines that I have deeply researched myself have been here in what would become the United States since the 1600s/early 1700s. Since many of the people that came across on the Mayflower voyage died that first winter, it is not impossible a thought, in my opinion, that the Europeans "mingled" with the Native Americans/Indigenous people here.

My bio father's clan apparently has very deep roots in Scotland. Would they be considered indigenous? I have no clue.

Comments

You are another 9th cousin I have encountered replying to this question. This time our common ancestor is James Taylor. Other cousins with native American connections include descendants of McIntosh, Owen and Dalton; all 16-1700's Colonial America. Whether it was trade, religion or sharing territory it was not that uncommon to establish relationships. Most "settlers" that explored new territory were single men. I would say co-mingling was highly probable.

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I agree that it was highly probable. By force or by choice, it was bound to happen.  That is what makes it so hard for me to understand the people who argue against the possibility as vehemently as some of them do.

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PS Howdy, cuz!

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Right back to ya. It might not of happened often, but how often did it need to happen before we say it did? If Indigenous people kept slaves of color I'm guessing it occurred along those lines as well. History will continue to not acknowledge them because of limited documentation. I doubt if the records kept, survived the Trail of Tears.

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I think it should only take it happening once to say that it did. To the child conceived of that one union, that's all it took.  

I have to wonder about the motives of those people who argue so adamantly that it didn't happen.

It is their loss if they don't want to face the truth. Unfortunately, record losses complicate things all around.

Answer 12

Well I have 2nd cousins that live on six nation Rez in Canada there mother tells me stories about family I was told our Native American bloodlines goes through Chapman Myers lines in family but I found few scattered throughout tree. Still researching as of now. But my mom and grandpa looks the part. Hard to say. I just white/native American descendant here. Mostly white.

Billie

Comments

10th cousin to Billie. I too have a Chapman line. Probably need to start building sideways.

Answer 13

I have Marie Coyoteblanc Muis D'Azit, a Micmaw, who married Philippe D'entrement. Through Geneanet (an Ancestry.com index) she is a descendant of Henry Membertou Sachem Chief.

Annis (Annia) Mericoneague, b 1711, who married Nathaniel Barnes in 1742, is also, I believe, native. I have no parents for her.

Answer 14

Through my Dad's parent's I descend from Pocahontas through both of my Grandparents. My Grandma also had Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnee as her 5th Great Grandfather with his Cherokee wife and my Grandpa was descended from the Fields family they were Cherokee, he was a cousin of Chief Richard Fields. Also, My Grandpa descends from the Marrs family - William Erskine escaped death in Scotland (son of John Erskine, the Earl of Mar who started the 1715 Jacobite rebellion) changed his name to Marrs and came to PA about 1720 he married a Choctaw woman named Pulsoholo, and about a dozen people named MARRS are on the Dawes Roll of 1896 listed as Choctaw. Through my Grandma I also descend from Queen Cockacoeske & Chief Totopotomoi of the Pamunkey tribe, my 11th Great Grandparents through their daughter Susannah, they had 5 children. Cockacoeske was the daughter of Opechancanough & a woman who was a cousin of Pocahontas, Opechancanough was a cousin of Chief Powhatan (aka Wahunsenacawh) the father of Pocahontas. Chief Totopotomoi was the son of Rachel a Pamunkey Indian and Thomas West 3rd Baron De la Ware he was born 1616 in England, his mother travelled with Pocahontas to England, they stayed with the West family in East Sussex, England. He was baptised Thomas "Toby" West and was raised as a Pamunkey in Gloucester Co, VA. He patented 500 acres in that county on 17 May 1654 the same day as his cousin Capt. John West patented 1000 acres in Gloucester Co, VA. After Totopotomoi's death in 1656 Queen Cockacoeske married Capt. John West and had a son John West. Read more from William Deyo Tribal historian of the Pamunkey. Other descendants of Chief Totopotomoi & Queen Cockacoeske were Patrick Henry, Dolly Madison wife of Pres. Madison, Dabney Carr VA Burgess (& BIL of Pres Jefferson), Lady Nancy Astor, Pres. Zachary Taylor, Conf. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, and numerous other notable Southern families.

Answer 15

My grandmother, Bessie Lee Waggoner, is descended from the Winnebago tribe.  My father was a registered member.

Answer 16

I have a couple of indigenous ancestors. My paternal GGGGrandmother was Sarah Wilkerson, A woman of the Eastern Aniwaya, (Wolf Clan) of the Cherokee. A maternal GGGGGrandfather was "Old John" Hembree, who was known to have indigenous blood, possibly Keowee. His descendants proudly proclaimed their heritage into the Civil War times. I have a photo of my great-grandfather with his half-brother, who was of mixed blood. So many twisted roots come from children of the Appalachian Mountains. My DNA proves my heritage, with a small percentage of Native American blood.

Answer 17

I have a great great great? Choctaw grandfather on my father's side (Aaron), a great great great? Lakota Grandma on my mom's side (Gardner) , one DNA test came up 1% indegenous Brazilian of the  Caratiana/Karitiana tribe not sure but I believe my mom's side, unspecified Native American tribe, unspecified Oceanic, 1% Papuan, .... Not to mention all over the map across Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asian, a bit of Jew and some Palestinian too lol

Comments

It takes all kinds to make all kinds. Not everyone that played cowboys and Indians were combatants. Under Geo Washington, he wanted Indigenous people to assimilate (those who would). It was several presidencies later that all out war was declared again.

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Very true, and interestingly enough through my paternal grandmother I'm related to Deborah Samson, the first woman to serve in the United States military as a soldier under George Washington, posing as a man of course until discovered due to a war wound...And  yes she did torture British Soldiers...

Answer 18

My uncle married a woman of the Caddo Nation in Oklahoma, so all 5 of my cousins on that side are members.

Answer 19

Yes! I'm 1.4% Indigenous(confirmed by DNA and everything!).

Answer 20

Francoise Itagisse - Ojibwe (Saulteux) is my 7x g-grandmother who married a French doctor named John Baptiste Brillant Beulieu