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In the Pike county Blackfoot cemetery I saw some families named Blackford. It’s worried me that maybe that’s all the cemetery name is about, a corruption of Blackford. Of course, it could be the other way around, the Blackford families have a variant of the Blackfoot name. But, we do need to verify just how old this church is and any early records on its origins. All that I’ve seen were late 19th century families, much too late to document the migration we’re hoping to find proof of.
At the website mentioning the Blackfoot Church it says it was originally built at the end of the 18th century, but I think the church there now is the 3rd one, the original having been destroyed lond ago. It also says that someone 100 or more (I forget the exact # of years) ago asked “old timers” how the church got its name and someone replied the first settlers encountered some nearby “Blackfoot Indians”. When one of the early settlers died (a woman I believe it was) theese Blackfoot Indians told them of a good place to bury her. And they buried her at the site of the present church. However that is just a story I guess.
There is a catch 22– if this story is true none of those buried in the cemetary are Blackfoot Indian, most likely, unless it was a Blackfoot burial ground before the church was in existence. And if the story is “made up” or “fiction” there goes the evidence for Indiana Blackfoot.
vance
Yes, we do need the original date that the church was built. I would suggest, since the church is gone and all that is left there is a stone monument telling about the church, that someone call the Indiana Historical society. They might know.
Vance is correct, its first time being built it had a dirt floor. After that it burned down, was re-built and then burned down again. Hence the stone marker. But I can’t find the stuff Donna sent me so I don’t have the original date here. And Kerry never did mail me all of his stuff on it.
Linda, your Blackford/ Blackfoot theory is a good one and worth checking into. Please let me know what you find out.
Vance is close to correct on the story of the first person being burried there was a Blackfoot woman. I wish I knew what date that was. That would really be the thing to know. Perhaps the historical society would have something like that too. Doesn’t Indana have like Colorado does, we have the natural history museum and a big art museum. They both have fantastic exibits on Native Americans. If Indiana has something like that, perhaps they would have some old basketry, beadwork, pipes, etc. That would be cool. Has anyone looked into that?
So, what ever you can find out, please let me know. This is making me crazy! Well, Love & Light form the Rockies, Lynella.
It should be possible to confirm that the church was called that since the settling of the county in the early 1800’s. That would be enough to dispel the notion that the name was concocted in the last 100 years. Does anyone have any contact with the local historical society? Or is willing to make contact?
Can anyone “pull-up” the post from last year about the “Blackfoot” removing in the mid-to-late 1700s from W.Va down the Ohio to the Wabash and up the Wabash to the White River (now Gibson Co., Ind) ?? It must have been in the “Share History….” section…… The “church/cemetery” is older than the marked graves and may not even be in the same location.
There was quite an extended conversation about this at the time.
Anyone remember?
Bill
I tought I put this here — turns out I put it elsewhgere — sorry. I’ll post it here too.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb…footchurch2.htm
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb…kfootchurch.htm
http://www.brainygeography.com/feat…footchurch.html
The Phillips County, Arkansas Blackfoot Church is a new oneI hadn’t seen before. I see no other reference to it, either.
vance
I was reading about the Miami Indians and thought this might be of interest to many of you searching this area.
http://ne.essortment.com/miamiindianres_rkpx.htm
The Miami Indian tribes were part of the Algonquin Indians. The first European contact was recorded as being about 1654 when two French explorers found some Miami refugees northwest of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The first written record of them was in 1658.
The Miami originally lived in several areas near the Great Lakes. It is believed that they lived to the west, south, and east of lower Lake Michigan.
In 1669 they were found mostly around Green Bay, Wisconsin. They gradually moved to what is now Chicago, St. Joseph, Michigan, and along the Maumee River. They lived along the Maumee and the Wabash Rivers until they gave up their lands to the whites.
The Miami resembled the Illinois Indians in their language and customs. They lived in dome shaped wigwams and their villages were surrounded by fields of corn. Corn was their main crop.
Found this in a book entitled “History of Gibson Co., Indiana” by Gil R Stormont, (c) 1914 , B F Bowen & Co, Indianapolis, In — page 30 something — 32 & 33??
The Indians who roamed and hunted over the wooded hills and vales of Gibson county were chiefly remnants of the Kickapoos, Shawnees, Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomies and the Miamis. They were generally friendly, seldom committing any depredations beyond occasionally stealing poultry, hogs and sheep. Old “Trackwell,” a chief of the Shawnee tribe, had a town of several wigwams. The town was here when the first settlers came in and was located on Indian creek, two miles northeast of Princeton, on section 4, township 2, range 10. The old chief and his tribe were very friendly with the whites. The Miamis claimed ownership to a part of this locality. They had a fort on the south side of the river a short distance from the present site of the Patoka bridge.
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vance
Bill, is this what you were referring to?
1. There were Tutelos at Prophet’s town in 1809, about 100 miles upriver on the Wabash
2. That some VA/NC mixed Saponi peoples come into Gibson after 1830. Some of these people merged with others from Tenn. to establish a mixed settlement called “Lyles Station” (1860s) Which was about 5 mile west of Princeton. Here you have the surname Chavis etc. Today several people from Gibson and Pike claim Blackfoot ancestry in their families.
3. That a church named Blackfoot is close by
It’s on this page:
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