[Hears_the_Sun]

Hello everyone…

I have been trying to research my father’s family, and have reached a dead end. All my life I heard that my great-grandmother was Sioux, but have not been able to confirm it. She was born out of wedlock, and her father’s name is not on the birth certificate. (my luck, he was probably the indian!) She was adopted by a Fleisher who I traced back to Germany before I realized that he was her stepfather. Her mothers name was Mary Gum and I believe she was from the highland county area. I think Mary had some brothers named Charlie and Billy.

Does anyone have any information on this? I’d love to be able to find out some answers to questions that I have asked my whole life! Thanks!

[Bill Childs]

Sometimes a story such as this is accurate and sometimes it’s just neighborhood gossip that gets carried down.

Please tag a date or decade to Mary or Charlie or Billy Gum so someone will know when to start searching. Highland Co., Va is FULL of GUM people.

[Hears_the_Sun]

Hello Bill,

Thanks for answering. The only facts that I have of Mary Gum are that she married an Austin Fleisher in about 1894. Her daughter (my great-grandmother) was born in Illinois in 1894. She (Mary) remarried a William Simmons later. I do not know the date. Mary had a sister named Sally who married a Heavener, and she had two brothers named Robert and Charlie. She may have been born in Pendleton, VA around 1873. This is all that I know of her….I hope that someone here may have some more information!

[Author]

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