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Do I have any kinfolk out there?
Has anyone run across these names?
Father-Marshall Martin (Alamance County)
Mother-Mozelle Miles (Orange County)
PGPs- Jahue Martin & Cora (Corina) Jeffries
MGPs-James Ira Miles & Mattie (?Martha) Jones
PGGPs-Samuel Martin & Harriet Jeffries
MGGPs-Mose Miles & Alice(?) Jones
PGGGPs-Abner Burnett(?) & Sally Martin(?)
Others further back, not sure of placement-George Jones, Harriet Miles, Ransom jeffries, Enoch Jones. Kaziah(?) Haith, John Jeffries
I am familiar with all these folks. Please email at obsn@mebtel.net or call the tribal office during business hours at 919-304-3723
Forest
Hello Forest — and Everyone,
Thanks for your reply. I’m very anxious to know more about my family.
I’ve been reluctant to probe until I stumbled onto this Web site, which seems to
welcome people who are not “full Indian”. I see people tossing around words like “wannabe” and it’s very hurtful.
But I guess it’s true in a way. I “wannabe” who I am, and I “wannakno” who I am and who my ancestors were.
I want my children and grandchildren to know who they are.
I have never felt that I belonged anywhere.
We were brought up as “black”, lived in a black neighborhood and attended black schools.
Of course, you can imagine a lifetime of finger pointing, questions and, sometimes, outright hostility.
(My entire immediate family is, and most aunts & uncles were, very light-skinned.)
Some unenlightened folks still call me “Redbone”. It may be meant as an insult, but I choose to accept it as a compliment.
So, all my life, I’ve been trying to figure out for myself who & what I am. My parents would never talk much about it except to say there “might” be some NDN back somewhere. When you look at Cora Jeffries’ or James Miles” photos, I can’t see how it could be denied.
Shortly after my father’s death in 1996, I visited his last living sister, trying to get some information before she passed over. She had always been very sweet and friendly to us, as she was that time. But when I asked her and her son if they knew anything about our NDN ancestors, they both froze up and became very inhospitable. It was clear that it was time to say goodbye. She passed over a short time later. Others have reacted the same way when any mention was made of the possibility of white ancestry.
As I became more aware of my partly NA ancestry, when people would ask in various ways “What are you?”, I would try to explain that as far as I know I’m tri-racial (NDN-black-white). Then, of course, I got stoned for “trying to not be black”, although these same people would give each other “looks” and would snicker when I would answer that I’m black.
I would never try to pass for white, but that segment too has always questioned me & looked at me with thinly disguised suspicion. So you can understand the fear of potential rejection by the only option left.
Unfortunately, I was not brought up in the native ways, and I’m not now trying to adapt them for appearance sake. although there are many things that I can remember from my childhood that it now seems pointed to remnants of that tradition. For example, growing up, we always had to wear a little medicine bag underneath our clothes from the time school started until it ended in June. I also remember strange potions being mixed when someone was ill or strange mixtures being applied to wounds.
I would like to visit you at the office sometime soon to see what information you can provide. I have wanted to do so since the tribe was first organized, but the fear of rejection and being considered a “wannabe” has kept me away. I’m ready to get past that now and face whatever comes.
For those who started this site, I am forever grateful. I have never spoken of these feelings before. It feels good!
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