[NCroots]

Hey John,

I did find something interesting on my mother’s side. William P. MELTON married Holland (maiden name unknown). The lived on Freeman’s Creek in the Wolf Pitt district of Onslow Co, NC (which is today Camp Lejuene). During the Civil War they moved to Swansboro, NC as soon as it fell into Union hands.

As I was reading about the COLLINS family I found a Benjamin COLLINS from Orange Co, NC who moved to Wolf Pitt, Onslow Co, NC! I also found that Holland is a rather commonly used first name among the COLLINS’. Could my Holland have been a COLLINS? Now I’m really getting excited 🙂

[ameliaNC]

wolfclan;12280 wrote: Hello everyone,

I’m writing to ask if anyone has come across the term Blackhawk Indian or Blackhawk Cherokee in their search for eastern Blackfoot ancestry.

For some time now I have been researching my earliest documented Native ancestor, an 18th century Cherokee supposedly named “Blackhawk”. While seeking information about him, I began to take notice of references to “Blackhawk Indians” and “Blackhawk Cherokees” that appeared as queries in several genealogical forums. This led me to suspect that my ancestor’s real name may have been lost and the term Blackhawk Cherokee became replaced in family oral history by Blackhawk “the” Cherokee.

Since there is no historically documented tribe called Blackhawk, and to my knowledge nothing in Cherokee culture to suggest the phrase has any historical precedent, this leads me to wonder if the term may have a usage similar to or synonymous with Blackfoot, especially since we have no real evidence to prove they were Cherokees. (In fact, Blackhawk’s daughter lived in Rowan County, North Carolina, in piedmont Siouan territory, with a German immigrant until her death by smallpox in 1780.)

Does anyone have any ideas about the meaning of Blackhawk?

Thanks for your help,

John

This is my family as well. I have searched everywhere and can’t seem to find more information on Cheif Blackhawk then the rest of us have already discovered. I have many other native lines but this is the story I was told as a little girl by my grandmother handed down from her mother and ect. Has anyone found out anything new?

[wolfclan]

ameliaNC;37494 wrote: This is my family as well. I have searched everywhere and can’t seem to find more information on Cheif Blackhawk then the rest of us have already discovered. I have many other native lines but this is the story I was told as a little girl by my grandmother handed down from her mother and ect. Has anyone found out anything new?

Hi Amelia, As far as I know there’s nothing new. For the past few years I have been trying to find the document that was mentioned in the preface of the book Wendel Miller and His Relatives in which the late family historian Kirk Shaver claimed to have seen a document stating that Miller’s wife was the daughter of Blackhawk. It was supposed to have been in the possession of his uncle Lamont Shaver, who died in 1980. I haven’t been able to track down Lamont’s possessions even after contacting the son of the man who handled his estate.

[Author]

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