Last name Coyoteblanc

+9 votes
351 views

Does someone have a cite for this last name?  I find no reference to it.  

"In 2015, Unknown Amerindien was given the beautiful name Marie Coyoteblanc. "

-marcel

WikiTree profile: Unknown Mi'kmaq
in Genealogy Help by Marcel Muise G2G5 (5.1k points)

2 Answers

+3 votes
Hi ! Marcel:

My wife is a descendant of a Muise family in Yarmouth. I spent a fair bit of time in researching her family and was never able to locate any reference or source for this name. I think it is a part of someone's daydream.

George
by George Churchill G2G6 Mach 9 (96.1k points)
This name was given to stop the confusion of hundreds of thousands of unknowns in wikitree. Naming an unknown with a unique name gives the person a personal identity and a cultural identity. The profilers and the culture Marie Coyoteblanc came from accept this identity, you should too!
It seems I have touched a bit of a nerve with my response. I feel badly if this is the case. Are you suggesting that Wikitree supports labeling people with fictitious names ? If that is the case, that would be a long way from accepted genealogical practice. I have seen her name written Marie M'kimag which at least identifies her native origin. It is not my wish to offend anyone, but I can not support inventing surnames.

George Churchill
Marie is also a made up name, we do not know her given Christian name. Mi'kmaq names are usually multisyllable  and very unique with no familial connotation. The common 'genealogic practice' for Native Americans is to use their Christian first name with the Mi'kmaq name place of their birth. I am a member of a band of Métis from Nova Scotia and have used this 'genealogical practice' of individual naming. Not til now have I heard a complaint. I personally did not name Marie Coyoteblanc and I wish whoever did used a more common Mi'kmaq surname, but I do approve of her having an individuality that a unique name provides. She is one of my ancestors and now I can invoke her name in my prayers.
It is nice to see that we can agree on one point; Coyoteblanc is a very unfortunate choice of a name. Coyote's in any form were not part of the Nova Scotia fauna until the late 19th. century, long after her death.

 My comment was not intended as a complaint but only as information to an inquiry.

 It is very unfortunate that her name has been lost to history because of the procedures used by French parish priests. It is likely, Marie was a Christian saint's name assigned by a priest at the time of marriage or baptism. This is a longstanding Roman Catholic practice in the area still used today. She would have been given another Christian name as well as taking her husbands surname. I researched other native Mi'kmag women using the surname Muis after marriage. I shall take a look through the old Saint Ann de Rousseau and Port Royalle birth, marriage and death records to see if they can offer any insight. If she was buried at Port Royalle in the Garrison cemetery it is almost certain she was baptized at some point.

It is almost impossible to debate genealogical practice versus cultural practice as they are two different subject matters. Perhaps we can agree to disagree.

Regards: George Churchill
Hi George, I am a descendant of "Marie Coyoteblanc" and Philippe Mius; my family continues to live in the Pubnico region of Nova Scotia.  I understand your concerns about the name; they seem reasonable and thoughtful, particularly given that coyotes are not indigenous to the area. I am wondering if you have learned anything more since posting this thread? I am trying to find a way to embrace this aspect of my lineage with some authenticity. Best,  Melanie
Good Morning Melanie:

It is always nice to hear from a distant relative. My wife is also a direct descendant of Phillipe D'Azi Mius and Marie a native. We live about 30 miles from the Pubnico's at Yarmouth.

I think it is very discouraging that anyone would pick a name out of the hat and insert it in a public record. If I were a descendant of Marie I would be upset with this mis-information. She deserves more respect than that. She would have had a Mi'kmag name that would have been quite long in syllables and would have been descriptive in its context. Unfortunately that has been lost to history. I had spent many hours pursuing that brick wall without any results. She had the given name Marie which suggests she was baptized. The proper recording of the name, for the time being, would be Marie Mius as that is all that we can be assured of at the present time. Phillipe had two native wives and 6 children with each. We do know that one wife is buried with him at the old Port Royalle ( Annapolis Royal ) gravesite but it is not known which one.

I have a large amount of information about Phillipe, his ancestors and some of the descendants; would be pleased to share if you are interested; please feel free to send me a private message via WikiTree.

Oh! by the way, coyote's did eventually arrive in Nova Scotia about 50 years ago. They are the large Eastern Coyote.

Regards: George

Hi George,

 

Thank you for this generous note.  I understand your concerns about the naming of our common ancestor.  I think it was probably done with good intentions, but it is problematic.

You may know my cousin who shares your last name (I know there are many Churchills in Yarmouth), Bruce Churchill — he lives in Chegoggin.  His mother’s name was Dora (Goodwin) Churchill before she remarried, as Bruce’s father died in WWII, I believe.  I know some Churchills in Sandford as well.  I was in Nova Scotia in May and visited the family cemetery in Agyle Sound and m friends in Sandford, where my father Garth Smith grew up.  

I would welcome any information you have.  My great great grandmother, Catherine Harris Frost (Harris-26429) was a descendant of Marie and Phillipe through both her mother and father, it seems.

Best regards,

Melanie Smith

Whoops, I often do that...incorrectly spell Sanford with an extra 'd.'

Regards,

Melanie
Hi Melanie! Yes Bruce is my 1st. cousin. We do cross paths at least a few times a year.. If you have specific questions about the Mius heritage please send a private e-mail via WikiTree and I would be happy to send along what I may have. They seem to originate in the French part of Belgium and were Huguenouts. I did check out your Harris line connected to the Melansons. Phillip's sister married a Melanson that was the original settler at Grand Pre.
Hello,

I am also a descendant of Marie Coyoteblanc.  I am looking for information on one of her grandchildren and my great great grandmother, Annie McGuire.  She was born to Seraphine Muis and Peter McGuire from Ireland.  She moved to Boston and married a man named Sennott from Cambridge.  She died at around 40 and her side of the family was kind of lost to time.  There were old stories of how she was Native American but the folklore was Kickapoo, but that obviously was some misinterpretation of a sub group of the Miqmac tribe the Kespoogwit.  It was important to her not to have this history lost since she was sure to tell her children before she died of their First Nation Heritage, this would literally have been lost to time since it was highly discouraged for her to say she was anything but French and Irish. I would like to know more about my great grandmother, but have had a hard time finding anyone who knows anything about her because she had to leave NS to work in Boston and I don't believe she went back home.
0 votes
In regards to the name Marie Coyote-Blanc: Someone should research the Wikitree changes in that profile and find out why that person used that name. I do know of the Cayote-Blanc name being used twice on Wikipedia, and once on a list first published on a Metis Nation website naming first Metis couples. The name always refers to Marie being married to Phillips Mius. I would like to see her last name at least be a Mi'qmak place name (where she was from for instance), but because these other sites use Cayote-Blanc we should defer to using Cayote-blanc. John Riley
by Living Riley G2G2 (2.3k points)

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