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Hello, everyone.
I am frustrated with two problems tracing families back to Native American ancestry (or not). Maybe someone can help me.
The first problem is about the Col. Henry Meese marriage to Wahanganoche’s daughter, and their offspring. I may be descended from them, but I’m not sure. I read what’s on Ancestry and Rootsweb, but how can I believe any of it? I haven’t seen a reference to documents of any sort to confirm that this marriage took place, who their children were or who some descendants are. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough. I don’t know.
The second problem is about family stories about an unnamed Native American ancestor, not the Pocahontas-type stories.
A cousin of mine, Steve, has heard all his life that he is part Native American. There were quite a few stories in his family. Steve said his father was told that he was 1/16th Cherokee on his paternal line. Steve is a very thorough researcher and has only found proof that his father couldn’t possibly have had that large a share of Native American ancestry from anywhere.
Another relative, Maggie (the daughter of Steve’s g-grandmother who was a full sister to my g-grandmother), said that her mother was part Native American. Another relative was quoted in an old letter to have said that Maggie’s mother was an “Indian that the whole town called ‘Ma’.” This small town was in Missouri in the late 1800s/ early 1900s. Not a time or place for white people to brag about Native American relatives. And if Maggie’s mother was an “Indian”, then so was my g-grandmother, but, as far as I know, she wasn’t.
The line these stories point to is the Nelson Reed Graham, Jr. – Keturah McGary family. He was born in AR or KY in 1824, and raised in northwest AR. She was born in IN ca 1827 and came to AR in 1840.
So far Steve and I can find nothing at all to substantiate any of the stories. We even had a direct female line descendant of the suspect branch take a DNA test, but the results showed a western European line.
I have contacted as many other descendants of the Graham-McGary family as I can find, and so far no one has ever heard of any Native American background. There are no such stories in my family, either. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it isn’t helpful.
Sorry to go on so long. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
– mulbrie (aka Jenny)
Given that most people east of the Mississippi who had NA ancestry in the 19th century were being counted as either black or white, there wouldn’t be much of a way to prove they WEREN’T actually native descendants. That there isn’t anything in the record does not prove that they weren’t. And the direct female line won’t prove anything if you aren’t positive that there wasn’t a European lady somewhere down the line. I mean, it could be a family that was almost entirely Indian, but if there were one white lady somewhere down that pure female line, then it will show as European.
It may be very difficult to prove you have Native descent, but it’s also just as difficult to prove you don’t have it.
Your stories sound specific and quirky, which lends credence to them. There was a story told in our family by German in-laws that my great grandfather was born on the Kickapoo reservation. That was obvious gossip spun out of the fact that he looked so Indian and that was the nearest reservation, and he was known to hang out there. In fact, he was born on the Wabash to a family that had just migrated from back east.
I found some satisfaction in my own research by focusing on the tribes that were in the vicinity of known ancestors, learning their history, looking for others with similar stories from the same area and just hanging out until things started to come together. It took a few years, but at this point I feel I know a great deal more than I ever expected.
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