Surname Confusion

Just want to give many of you some hope when searching for surnames in your quest. I have always thought the “specific surname” game that many tribes swear by is foolish. To give you a good example in my own lines…the surname Hyman..which is jewish..but I knew they were Tuscarora didn’t make sense. Well, my great grandfather Ishmael Hyman is really a Lynch. His father is George Lynch… his siblings are all Lynches but he worked for William T. Hyman as many of the Tuscarora indians did in Martin and Bertie Co NC. I found his death record on Ancestry and there it was big as day….he was a Lynch by birth. I also found that there were many many more people on the death records for Martin Co that had William T. Hyman listed as father but no mother listed. The individual death certificates have the correct info.

My Plummers are another example. My gr gr gr grandfather John Plummer was born in Southampton Co Va with an Indian name on the Cheroenhaka Nottoway indian reservation. His euro surname was Archer but changed to Plummer when he was brought to NC by John Plummer who was an indian slave owner. The other siblings of John Plummer (Archer) came to NC and were known as the descendants of the Meherrin Tribe . My Archers still live in Winton NC and many are on the Meherrin tribal roles.

There were also some Crosses that were living in Southampton Co Va at that time. There was much intermarrying of the Tuscarora, Cheroenhaka and Meherrin before and after Fort Christanna. The most important thing is to remember we are all related….

My point is don’t get discouraged by surnames that don’t seem to jive with names that are on the roles but you know that they are indian people with a certain tribal connection because the surname that you may know them as may very well not be who they are and who they really are give you the right to be on the tribal role of your people. Most important thing to remember is a tribal role does not make you who you are.

Cassandra Buffalo Heart Woman