How Many Generations may be Counted for Tribal Membership?

Question

My question has more to do with how far Mary Penobscot's children could claim membership, and how far might one go in placing the tribal category to their profiles?

Comments

That's an interesting question for research! We are going to continue to research Mary - what a lovely profile!  You are welcome to join us.

My guess is that even though the tribe may not have been in Virginia, there is the possibility that a Native American wife would travel with her husband. Don't forget Pocahontas in London!!

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The question about how Mary Penobscot ended up in Virginia during a time when the tribes were warring against the English is painted with too wide a brush. In a time when women were viewed as no more than mules, it is not a far stretch. And Native American women would have been viewed as a commodity. It is also not a far stretch to say that she may have married an Englishman that was a friend of the tribe, or that she might have been "purchased." I have identified one other Penobscot woman here on WikiTree at a much earlier date than Mary. Leave it to say, Native American women were often given in marriage to early American trappers and explorers.

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Thanks! My impression exactly except I want to hope she wasn't purchased, traded or stolen.  We know of her so somewhere there must be more info.  I haven't had a chance to research yet but you probably already know most of what is out there.

Answer 1

I see what you are saying.  The category is set up incorrectly and the wording on the profiles is confusing. The proflle is a 1600s one so it would belong to the historic Penobscot. We use tribe in the name only as the title of subprojects or if it is in the official name. Then the descendants' profiles state that she was a member of the Penobscot Nation of Maine which didn't exist yet. When the categories are set up correctly they explain which profiles belong to the category.  The categories that are Federally Recognized tribal categories are for registered members of the actual tribe.

Descendants who are not tribe members have a category - self identified Cherokee, for example, but that is a modern day thing.  Mostly living people use that category.

So to answer your question, anyone can descend from a tribe but only tribe members belong to the tribe and that is what the category is for.

We can make a descended from category if needed.  Members of tribe categories share the different aspects of tribal identity including language, culture etc.  

I will see if I can correct the categories and make one for descendants. Thanks for pointing this out.

Comments

Everything is now corrected. I have made a descendants category and corrected the category structure. I think this would make a very interesting Subproject! Thanks for all of your help!  I am happy to say that our members are always glad to improve on their profiles and that was the case with this set of profiles as well!

Answer 2

the for the Penobscot it is generally 1/4th. so you would have had to have had a grandparent that was "full blooded" and on tribal roles.