Any documented Native roots in Kimbrell line?

Question

Hi. I am Greg Preast [[Preast-2]], 3xGreat-Grandson of Louis Graben and Mary Alice "Polly" Kimbrell Graben. I am researching to establish our family's Native roots. Polly's mother, Elizabeth, was from a large Native group in Spartanburg, SC. So far, it seems the Catawba are the most likely group based on geography, and that there were Kimbrells on the 2000 roll (though I was missing a gen or two to connect them with Fielding, Sr. or Elizabeth. Does anyone have evidence connecting Fielding Kimbrell, Elizabeth or their descendants to a specific Native tribe?

Thanks,

Greg

Comments

I myself have a wandering from South Carolina James Robert Kimbrell-328 (1850-1946) died in Concho County, Texas, was married to Lucy Ann Pounds (1847-1927) and only have them because their son Jarrett Law Kimbrell-319 was married to Bertha Carolyn King-29181 grand daughter of Delana Caroline WOOTEN-195 Bennett Smith

James Robert Kimbrell listed on the Census so unless the actual original page indicates otherwise (?) no native aboriginals there either

Answer 1

Fielding Kimbrell appears to be a descendant of Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Kimball of Virginia  - Kimbrell-308 - who moved to Spartanburg.   Thomas’ pension application is on Fold3 at https://www.fold3.com/image/24641138

He’s DAR Patriot number A066192.   http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/default.cfm

Not much info here on Wikitree, but you can order copies of documents with genealogy from the DAR.  

Comments

I've added the information  and sources to the bio of Thomas Kimbrell.

Answer 2

Have you taken a DNA test? The very fact that Fielding Kimbrell and his family were included in early census records indicates that they were probably not Native American.

Comments

I have not yet, but plan to soon. The fact that there are Kimbrells on the Native rolls of the Catawba in 2000 in Spartanburg where my Kimbrells hail from indicates that there may be a connection. Elizabeth's great-great granddaughter (my Grandma) and her generation all had the hair, tan skin, and cheekbones of Native heritage. Per Don Yates on Rootsweb, Elizabeth came from a "large clan" in Spartanburg. He said possibly Cherokee. Based on tribal geography, I disputed that. We shall see.

Again, it is a broad based question, trying to link any branch of my tree to native tribes. Thanks.

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Donald Yates is not a reliable source.  His so-called DNA studies do not include the DNA of actual Native American people.  They are manufactured to support his theory that the Southeastern Indian tribes were descendants of a lost tribe of Israel.  The Catawba lived in eastern South Carolina before the Revolution, moving up to North Carolina at the time of the War.  Most Catawba left North/South Carolina and moved to other areas and by the middle of the 19th century there were fewer than five  hundred members of the tribe remaining in their traditional area. Their lands are along the North Carolina/South Carolina border in the central part of the state, not near Spartanburg.  The Cherokee gave up their lands in South Carolina and were forced west into Georgia at the time of the Cherokee War in the 1760's.

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Yes, I have taken what he says with a grain of salt. Again, though, the traits I've seen in my family had to come from somewhere. Guess we'll see how it all shakes out,

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I don’t see anything that would suggest a Native American connection.  Fielding and Elizabeth Kimbrell were first cousins, and Elizabeth Kimbrell’s (Elizabeth’s maiden and married names were the same) parents were also cousins.  This was a Virginia family that moved to South Carolina after the Revolution and after the Indians had been forced out, thus opening the land to white settlers.