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I’m new to the forum. Thanks for the opportunity to connect!
All I have to go on is oral tradition and I’m hoping to learn more here.
My grandmother and her mother before her have stated that we have an ancestor of Blackfoot heritage. Since that branch of the family tree has been in PA since the early 1800’s (and no record of connections to Montana) I’m looking into the possibility of this Blackfoot ancestor being Saponi.
I’m researching my g-g-g-grandmother Margaret Chestnut (Chesnut, Chessnut). She was born around 1850-55 in PA according to census records. I have records online of her parents (Daniel Chestnut and Sarah Ferri/Furry), stating that they were born in PA also.
Margaret married James Kane (of Irish/Scottish descent) ab. 1870-72. They had six children prior to her passing (she died sometime between 1886 and 1892). James remarried around 1892 and had at least 4 other children with his second wife (who happened to be Margaret’s niece).
Everything I have on Margaret’s life is on her ancestry page of my family tree: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/365277/person/-2089878146
I’ve exhausted census records for her lifetime (as the 1890 records were destroyed in fire) and I’m not sure where to look next. Any suggestions? Would any particular records on file in PA state her or her parent’s Native American background? If I knew what to look for I could enlist my mother to do some research back in PA.
Any help is appreciated! Many Thanks,
Doubtful you will find any state documents going into native descent. Natives were kicked out around the beginning of the US gov’t, so anyone remaining was keeping a low profile on the subject. Enumerators were eager to up the numbers of “American” population in the state, so a lot of latitute was being given in classifying someone as ‘white.’ I know in the south, there was a huge tendency to assume there were only two allowable races in the state, white or black. Don’t know about PA, but I’m pretty sure no care was ever being taken to make sure they noted all the people who were native blooded.
Thanks for your comment, Linda. That’s what I figured. From what I’ve read it wasn’t something you would readily make known at that time, and your comments confirm that.
Do you have any other suggestions? I’ve conversed with a very distant relative on ancestry.com, and he had the same oral tradition. He is a Chestnut but doesn’t have any additional data on Margaret or beyond her generation. The fact that his family passed down the same information is promising, just don’t know where to go from here!
It shouldn’t be too hard to quantify at what point your two families diverged and lost touch. That tells you how old the oral tradition is. If that predates Wild West Shows and the awareness eastern people had of western tribes, then you know it isn’t something somebody picked up because they ‘thought it was cool,’ or whatever.
Where in PA were they? I don’t have an active account with Ancestry.com, so I can’t get to those files. The Chestnut name is on Richard Haithcock’s list of southeastern Indian surnames, though I don’t know what specific evidence there is for that. It could be he’s heard reports from other families, or perhaps some were noted as Indian in the records (unusual).
Getting hard evidence for all this is difficult. Try and come up with a year estimate of when your side and that distant relative’s side would have diverged and you’ll be contributing something useful in our evidence regarding the validity of the Blackfoot ID.
Here’s a link to an article I typed up and contributed to the Tuscaroras.com website back when I was first researching my Blackfoot ancestors possibly originating out of Chambersburg, PA.
http://www.tuscaroras.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=26
That path would have been used by many tribes leaving the south.
Westmoreland Co, PA. Southwest corner, south of Pittsburgh. Also Greene and Fayette counties are listed in census records.
I checked my emails with Bob Chestnut and he specified that he heard we had Indian bloodlines, but didn’t mention Blackfoot by name. Darn. Bob’s great-grandfather Issac was my g-g-g-grandmother Margaret’s brother.
As for estimated date of diverging, I have no idea. After Margaret died (1886-1892) her husband married Margaret’s niece, so the family tie was still there. It looks like the Chestnut family continued to live in the area also, though Bob now lives in Ohio. Not looking too promising, eh? I haven’t had a chance to check the link you provided. Will do so and get back to you if I hear anything else. I emailed Bob this evening to see if he found anything recently.
I appreciate your comments.
Westmoreland and Green County is where some of my ancestors are from, but I have no Chestnuts that I am aware of.
My Blackfoot ancestor, Nancy Agnes McLane, is from Beaver County. The Ralston line was in Greene County and Westmoreland County. The Sinkey line is from Huntingdon County. And all the Greens are just across the border in Berkeley County, WV.
There was a person on here several years ago who also had a Blackfoot ancestor from that area. If you search for Vivian’s song you should probably find her.
Techteach
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