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I have never heard of “Blackfoot Town” in Maryland or Delaware, at least, not on the Eastern Shore. There is a Dagsboro, in Sussex County, Delaware, not far north of the Maryland line. There is a vague tradition among some of the mixed Indian people around Cheswold, Delaware of “Blackfoot” ancestry, At least, that is what I’m told.
I found the information on Blackfoot Town on the Sussex County site, http://www.sussexcountyonline.com/towns/dagsboro.html
The town, in the Indian River School District, was founded in 1747 and has been known as Blackfoot Town, Dagsbury and Dagsborough.
On the link to info on General Dagsborough it goes on:
General John Dagworthy, commander of the Sussex County Militia during the Revolutionary War, is regarded as Dagsboro’s founding father after establishing industry in the area with grist and lumber mills, tanneries, and an export business shipping cypress lumber to Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey.
I have not been on the forum for quite sometime. I do miss reading all of the interesting info. I am wondering if anyone has checked into the fact that there are Seneca on the reservation in NY that refer to themselves as Shaponi. I was going to look into this myself but unfortunatly I am no longer with my girlfriend who is from the Seneca Nation. I still may look into it.. It would be interesting to learn what they may know.
What’s the name of that reservation? Sorry to hear you all broke up. I was hoping to talk to her about that.
Good to hear from you. Hope you’ve been doing well.
Linda,
You mentioned earlier in this thread about doing a possible Cherokee Surnames list. My Hodges and possibly a Ferguson have Cherokee Numbers. Just thinking…..Love & light, Lynella.:)
Hi Linda. I realize this is a old thread. My name is Kevin Minor , I come from the Minors of Hawkins county / Kyles Ford / KIngsport Tenn. on my fathers side We are known as Melungeons. I was always told by my father that my great grandpa Richard C, Minor and Grandma Cynthia Roberts /Minor were cherokee . I have found out threw a old family tree / internet / book reasearch that my great grandpa Richard Minor was Melungeon / portuguese/ Indian and my great grandmother Cynthia Roberts / Minor was portugese / indian . I was also told by my mothers side that we had Cherokee indian blood in us. They were from Leslie County Kentucky Smiths / Sizemore / Brock / simpson . Linda Now from what Ive been researching my family may be Saponi not cherokee, is this possibly true ? My family resemble indian / oriental / mederatainian . Please anybody who may read this thread feel free to contact me with any info / question . I always wonderd why my family looked so diffrent from other so called anglo families. And we also go so far back in this countries History . And we are clanish and always have kept to our owne. Thank you Kevin Minor
Hi Kevin, Welcome.
Is that Richard C., (Guilford2, Zachariah3) Minor, b. 1870/71?
Do you know where Cynthia Roberts came from in Virginia?
Based on a number of sources, I’ve thought for some time that Cherokee was the least likely explanation and was applied much later in time. By the time Cherokee had married whites in even small numbers (1760s), the ‘melungeon’ Collins, Gibson, Goins, Minor and a few other early ‘melungeon’ families, were already going strong and had been for many decades and generations, and tracable back into central and eastern Va and NC. That they were Saponi is unclear.
Bill
Yes Gilford Minor was my G.G. grandpa, and Zacriah Minor was my G.G.G. grandpa. The family tree I have shows my G.G. grandma Ussley Roberts who was my G.G. grandpa Gilford Minor wife was from Virgina , but gives me no town / county etc. Now from what I have read G.G. grandma Ussely Roberts / Minor was born 1843 in Scott county virginia, and my G.grandpa Richard c. Minor who is Gilford and Ussely Minors son was married to my G. grandma Cynthia Roberts / Minor born 1873 in south carolina , her great grandmother was said to have been full blooded portuguese. Kevin Minor
Hi Linda,
I don’t know if you’ve most passed this subject in this thread but here goes…
I came across a paper written by Dr. V. Marce (I think this is her name–a wild guess here)–it’s called ‘triracial isolates of the southeast’ (try this for the keyword). She mentions in the article that a lot of blacks in the southeast say that they have ‘blackfeet indians’ in their family. She dismisses this because of the Blackfoot tribes being in Montana(?). This is the only other reference to Blackfeed that I’ve heard outside of Saponi Town.
Drae
Yes, Red Metis, it’s Virginia de Marce, I believe it’s spelled. We’ve commented on here about her in the past. It is disappointing she would give us such short shrift. Try searching on her here with that spelling and see if you can find that post.
Kevin, welcome to the forum. It does indeed sound like your family is connecting with others here. The Portuguese ID is very intriguing. Rosebud Saponi is from the Portugeuse settlement in Northampton county, NC. That group of families is one of the closest groups associated with the Fort Christanna reservation, the last historical location, stateside, of the Saponi nation. Also, search on Coharie Roy’s posts. I believe it’s been commented that Maynard may be a variant of Minor.
To search on a member’s posts, find their name in the member list (upper right hand button), click on their name, which takes you to their profile, then on the upper right hand there’s a link to all their posts.
Interesting. Also as we move closer to 2007, more of this will happen, I’m sure.
Keep up great work.
Deb
Kevin Minor wrote: Hi Linda. I realize this is a old thread. My name is Kevin Minor , I come from the Minors of Hawkins county / Kyles Ford / KIngsport Tenn. on my fathers side We are known as Melungeons. I was always told by my father that my great grandpa Richard C, Minor and Grandma Cynthia Roberts /Minor were cherokee . I have found out threw a old family tree / internet / book reasearch that my great grandpa Richard Minor was Melungeon / portuguese/ Indian and my great grandmother Cynthia Roberts / Minor was portugese / indian . I was also told by my mothers side that we had Cherokee indian blood in us. They were from Leslie County Kentucky Smiths / Sizemore / Brock / simpson . Linda Now from what Ive been researching my family may be Saponi not cherokee, is this possibly true ? My family resemble indian / oriental / mederatainian . Please anybody who may read this thread feel free to contact me with any info / question . I always wonderd why my family looked so diffrent from other so called anglo families. And we also go so far back in this countries History . And we are clanish and always have kept to our owne. Thank you Kevin Minor
Those surnames you listed are all my family as well. My gm Ola Roberts d/o Avis Napier and Charlie Roberts and GF Reuben Baker s/o Magdalene Sizemore & Tommy Baker grew up in Leslie Co and Clay Co. I have all the others as well heavily in my tree. I was always told Cherokee as well. I have the same migration patterns (all over the damn place:D ). I have all the surnames in Linda’s initial post as well. I was always told we were Indian growing up. I was lead to believe it wasn’t distantly either. 😮
Whether all the names discussed on this thread are Saponi is unclear, but what jumps out are all the names coming up that are common among the recognized tribes in NC and VA — way too many to be accounted for by statistical probabilities. With all those names and locations, if you’re family says you’re Indian don’t dismiss what they’re saying. As Bill says, the Cherokee ID is likely something that worked in later when the word was being used generically for any ‘friendly’ Christianized Indians.
Check into Coharie Roy’s posts, the Minor name is probably a variant of the Maynor name. Sizemore comes up a lot, I think with the Lumbee.
Clearly, a lot of Indian/mixed blooded people from the upper south migrated into Appalachia, and your family was a part of that community.
Linda,
This is a fascinating discussion and I feel your insights and analysis are right on the mark. I found the SaponiTown forum through searching for a possible Cherokee ancestor. This forum has been more valuable to me than any other for learning about my possibile southeastern family origins.
I have been wondering if we can track down the names of all of the Indian traders that may have been the origin of “English” names of many of the Saponi and other NA descendants. Also, I read that there were several slave revolts right from the first colonies in the Carolinas wherein slaves escaped and joined the local Indians. I wonder if there are ANY sort of records of the names?
AMinKY
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