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I don’t mean when Lewis & Clark stopped by, I can’t give dates but they do say they were created in this land.
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, copyright 1977, defines “anthropology” as:
“1: the science of man; esp.: the study of man in relation to distribution, origin, classification, and relationship of races, physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture
2: teaching about the origin, nature, and destiny of man esp. from the perspective of his relation to God”
No one can prove or disprove another’s beliefs. Science does not trump religion, nor does religion trump science.
I think that proof of the abscence is the best way to handle this, if there’s no definitive proof of occupation, habitiation, so what were people doing here previous to occupation , floating!
Even Adam and Eve is only theory!
Get a grip, N.A. was only populated relativley recently in human history.
…just repeating the oral history. I believe the theory would be that by what ever means man first inhabited earth; that means was repeated here at a later date. I did say putting science aside, remember. 😉
‘Turtles all the way down’, I like that
… BUT, what about those giant carved stone Olmec heads, portraying what can only be described as Africans?
Which leads to three obvious questions: (1) What were Africans doing in the New World prior to Columbus? (2) How did they get here? (3) And, perhaps more importantly, WHEN did they get here?
(p.s.- I happen to subscribe to the lunatic fringe theories popularly espoused by Graham Hancock and others.)
I don’t think they look African. They seem only slightly stylized from the appearance of the peoples indigenous to the areas to me.
Does anyone know what the estimated age of the heads are?
Wasn’t it the Olmecs who thought their origin to be from jaguars, feeling they were very human like in their movements or also that they came from an underground cave?
Here are people from Oaxaca to compare to some heads:
http://www.go-oaxaca.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry070531-183853
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Venta
http://www.geo-images.com/huatulco/villa/villa.html
Hi, I don’t get out here very often but maybe I should. I have been reading about Stephens name. My great grandmother was a stephens. Her name was Mary Olive, she was married to Alfred Austin Richey. They lived in Indianapolis, In. and I think they both were from Greenfield, In. I was never told she was NA but I was told he was. I can trace her family back but I find nothing on his. I’m sorry I don’t have any files out right now but if any one thinks they can help me find something about the richey side I will return wed. evening with files.
Linda
Tom, I agree with you that they must have been inexplicably defying gravity, or floating, to leave no trace until relatively recently in human history! I also agree with you that the theory of Adam and Eve is a creation story or fable.
Linda, my g-g-grandmother, Martha Ellen Stephens, was born in Virginia, but moved with her parents in 1814 to Jefferson County, Indiana. Her mother, my g-g-g-grandmother, Elizabeth Bowles Stephens, died near Madison, Indiana, in 1822, following the birth of her eleventh child. Her widowed husband, Emmor Jefferson Stephens, remarried Jemima Heppas. There is an oral history in my family that Jemima Heppas was Native American, as well. They had six children, and continued to live in Indiana, first in Jefferson and then in Harrison County, until 1842, when they traveled west.
I checked family records for an ancestor named Mary Olive, but could not find her. I also found nothing concerning Alfred Austin Richey, but it is very interesting that he was Native American. In addition to your family’s oral history, are there photographs or other evidence of his NA ancestry? You said that you have traced your Stephens ancestors. Do you know the first name of Mary Olive’s father and the date and place of his birth? Many of our ancestors were of mixed blood, and were not full-blood Native Americans. That is what makes the documentation of their NA ancestry more challenging. Photographs are often a very powerful piece of documentary evidence.
Genealogy research is most rewarding when it solves a mystery, opens a door to an entirely new branch of the family, or reveals an outstanding ancestor. I have previously spoken of my “Uncle Jimmy,” the brother of my great-great-grandmother, Martha Stephens Rogers. Not only did I know nothing of him until now, I didn’t know that he was so famous. I have previously listed some of his accomplishments.
In reading my cousin Ed Fisher’s book, I also learned that Jimmy’s home, built in 1862, is recognized as the oldest surviving private home in Portland, Oregon. There is a photo of this residence in Ed’s book, showing Jimmy himself standing on the front porch.
In 1875, the Stephens Grammar School was built at the corner of East Seventh and Stephens Streets in Portland, and was named in honor of my Uncle Jimmy Stephens.
In surfing the internet, I discovered that a World War II steam merchant ship, the SS James B. Stephens, was named in Jimmy’s honor. The SS James B. Stephens was a 7,176 ton American liberty ship, built by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation in 1942. She was armed with one 5in, one 3in and four 20mm guns. Her role was to transport goods for the Allies, from Port Said to the United States, via Suez and Durban.
But perhaps the most lasting memorial to Jimmy Stephens is the headstone he personally designed shortly before his death. Jimmy and his wife Elizabeth are buried in Portland in Lone Fir Cemetery, founded in 1855. Also buried here is Jimmy’s father and my great-great-great-grandfather, Emmor Jefferson Stephens, who was the first person to be buried in Lone Fir Cemetery.
What is remarkable about Jimmy’s and Elizabeth’s grave is the marble monument and inscription, personally designed and written by Jimmy. The monument is a hand-carved, life-size depiction of Jimmy and his wife holding hands. The full-size images were sculpted from a photograph of Jimmy and Elizabeth taken shortly before Elizabeth’s death in 1887. At the time of Elizabeth’s death, the couple had been married 57 years. Shortly before his death in 1889, Jimmy personally designed this monument and wrote the following inscription:
Here we lie by consent after
57 years 2 months and 2 days
sojourning through life
awaiting nature’s immutable
laws to return us back to the
elements of the universe of
which we were first composed.
This monument is so remarkable that it has been featured in many articles and books about famous cemeteries and monuments. To take a look at this incredible tombstone, please visit http://portlandoregondailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/10/october-theme-cemeteries-and-tombstones.html
Everyone here at Saponitown, please continue the search for our very elusive ancestors. Networking can easily open windows to the past we never imagined and reveal ancestors of whom we can be extremely proud!
Several years ago, I read a magazine article about the people of Tibet. The article featured photos of modern Tibetans. One photo in particular, that of a young Tibetan woman, caught my attention because she had a very striking facial resemblance to my great-grandmother, Hester Rogers. In fact, their facial features were virtually identical! The only difference was their clothing. The uncanny “twins” appearance of this modern Tibetan and my great-grandmother Hester has intrigued me ever since.
Current scientific research has narrowed the quest for the genetic origins of Native Americans to the “Turkic-speaking nations living between Altai and Baikal along the Sayan mountains.” This area is in extreme western Mongolia. Please see Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences at http://www.annalsnyas.org/cgi/content/abstract/1011/1/21 These ancient Mongolians were nomads, so it is not surprising that Hester strongly resembles the Tibetan woman in the magazine article. They share similar genetic origins.
In 1979, the Dalai Lama visited North America for the first time. During his visit, he met with three Hopi elders. They mutually agreed to communicate only in their Native tongues. Since then, the Dalai Lama has made several return trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has met with other southwestern Native American tribal leaders.
As a result of the Dalai Lama’s visits, a resettlement program was created to bring Tibetan refugees to New Mexico. Repeated hostile invasions by outsiders have forced Tibetans to relocate to such places as the United States and India. Highlighting the physical similarities between Native Americans and Tibetans, when Pueblo Indian William Pacheco visited Tibetans living in a refugee camp in India, people spoke Tibetan to him, assuming he was Tibetan.
On August 6, 1878, my great-grandmother Hester died prematurely at the age of 37 years. She died of a disease that was variously called “ague,” “congestive chill,” or “the shakes.” This disease was malaria, a condition so prevalent in 19th century America that it was popularly known as the “American disease.” When I read on Hester’s death record that she had died of “congestive chill” (malaria), I was shocked as I had thought malaria was primarily a disease of tropical regions.
This is a misconception. Malaria has been a leading cause of death worldwide throughout human history. Not just confined to tropical areas, malaria has historically occurred everywhere mosquitoes live and breed. However, in 19th century America, no one knew that mosquitoes transmitted malaria. My great-grandmother Hester lived near the Mississippi River, in Burlington, Iowa, which witnessed a great malarial epidemic in 1878. She was just one of many casualties of this epidemic. The low-lying areas of riverfront towns were vast breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Throughout history, many famous people have died of malaria. Some extremely prominent people who have died of this disease are Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and King Edward IV. Others who have suffered from malaria, but did not die, are American Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, James A. Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.
Other notables who have suffered from malaria are Christopher Columbus, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jesse James, Mahatma Gandhi, Ernest Hemmingway, Errol Flynn, Raymond Burr, Audie Murphy, Davy Crockett and, last but not least, Mother Teresa, who was hospitalized with malaria in 1993.
To read more about the history of malaria, which is still epidemic in many areas of the world today, see http://malariasite.com/MALARIA/history_victims.htm
Compare this:
“When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth, and the Dharma will come to the land of the red-faced people.”
Padmasambhava, Indian Buddhist Guru, who spread Buddhism in Tibet and founded the First Tibetan Monastery in the eighth century, A.D.
with this:
“When the iron bird flies, the red-robed people of the East who have lost their land will appear, and the two brothers from across the great ocean will be reunited.”
From the Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters, see http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sunrise/51-01-2/am-vonk.htm
How did two ancient cultures on opposite sides of the earth make the same prediction about the reuniting of the Tibetans with the Native Americans of the Southwest? The Tibetan word for sun is the Hopi word for moon, and the Hopi word for sun is the Tibetan word for moon. When the Dharma visited the Hopi people, the Hopi nation’s first words were, “Welcome Home.”
There appear to be genetic, language, cultural and spiritual links between the Tibetans and the Hopi people. Does anyone have any comments on this?
From “The History of Marion County, Ohio” (compiled from past accounts, published in 1883) appears the following record:
“Evidence for the occupation of this region before the appearance of the red man and the white race is to be found in almost every part of the county, as well as through the northwest generally. In removing the gravel bluffs, which are numerous and deep, for the construction and repair of roads, and in excavating cellars, hundreds of human skeletons, some of them in giant form, have been found. A citizen of Marion County estimates that there were about as many human skeletons in the knolls of Marion County as there are white inhabitants at present!”
And, from “The History of Brown County, Ohio” (compiled from past accounts, published in 1883) comes the following record:
“Mastodonic remains are occasionally unearthed, and, from time to time, discoveries of the remains of Indian settlements are indicated by the appearance of gigantic skeletons, with the high cheek bones, powerful jaws and massive frames peculiar of the red man, who left these as the only record with which to form a clew to the history of past ages.”
Also, from the highly respected “American Antiquarian,” 7:52, 1885, is the following detailed account:
“A large Indian mound near the town of Gastersville, [Gastonville?–Ed.] Pa., has recently been opened and examined by a committee of scientists sent out from the Smithsonian Institute. At some depth from the surface a kind of vault was found in which was discovered the skeleton of a giant measuring seven feet two inches. His hair was coarse and jet black, and hung to the waist, the brow being ornamented with a copper crown. The skeleton was remarkably well preserved . . . On the stones which covered the vault were carved inscriptions, and these when deciphered, will doubtless lift the veil that now shrouds the history of the race of people that at one time inhabited this part of the American continent. The relics have been carefully packed and forwarded to the Smithsonian Institute, and they are said to be the most interesting collection ever found in the United States.”
From diverse sources, spanning a number of states in the Northeast to Illinois in the Midwest, such accounts told of the discovery of ancient, giant, human skeletal remains, significantly larger than Native American skeletons. Was there a race of people which predated the Native Americans on the North American continent? These historical accounts cannot easily be dismissed, as they originate from a vast array of geographic locations, and have been written by both Native Americans and white settlers. For a more thorough discussion of this topic, and a list and detailed description of the numerous recorded sites containing giant, human skeletons, please see http://www.light1998.com/GIANTS/Giants_Smithsonian.htm
Have you ever wondered exactly what is a “third cousin, twice removed” or a “half cousin” or a “double cousin”?
My g-g-g-grandfather Emmor Jefferson Stephens and his brother Isaac Newton Stephens married two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary Bowles. By definition, the children of these two unions were “double cousins.” The exact meaning of “double cousin,” and all other family relationship definitions, can be found at:
http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/cousincalculator.html
http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/relationshipterms.html
Double cousins were quite common historically in the United States. Our ancestors did not move around as much as we do today and often married the girl/boy next door. Two siblings from one family would sometimes marry two siblings from an unrelated family. This didn’t complicate things unless the offspring (double cousins) subsequently married each other. Today, first cousin marriages are permitted in a few states, but most states ban double cousin marriages.
One example of famous double cousins is Elvis Presley and his cousin Patsy Presley. Patsy’s mother was the sister of Elvis’s mother Gladys, and Patsy’s father was the brother of Elvis’s father Vernon.
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