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Thanks for the input. Over the years I have accepted the fact that I really don’t belong to any cultural or ethnic group exclusively. I am not accepted as Black — too fair for that. I probably could be accepted as white — but I really have no desire to be something I am not.
macklynch,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t identify with any culture or ethnic group..I feel too mixed..
Vance, boy the last thing I want to be called is a wannabe but I can’t stop it. I go by what my father told me, that there was some native american ancestry on his mother’s side but he couldn’t or wouldn’t say where. But I have been asked what I am..was encouraged by some friends years ago to check out a modeling agency and was told I looked too “ethnic”. Had a man tell me once I was Cherokee because his wife was and we could be sisters. Have been asked if I was a gypsy. etc. etc. etc. But who knows if any documentation exists.
Tommy, I lived in Cass co Michigan too from sixth grade up into college. Went to Southwestern Michigan college in Dowagiac for two years! Hi! Sue J
May I ask how old you are? I’m 36, so I went to school in Cass from 3rd – 12th grade, which was 1977 – 1986.
Nice meeting you.
Tom
Tommy,
I am alot older than you. I am 53 now. I was at Southwestern Michigan College in 1970-72. Used to take Dailey Rd out of Edwardsburg, Mi to get there. My sister still lives in Cass Co off of M-62 in between Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Niles and Edwardsburg Mi. I grew up on Eagle Lake and lived on Pleasant Lake later on with my husband when our daughter was born. We lived just about 7 houses down from the Pleasant Lake Tavern “resort” which last time I heard was a topless bar…
I love Michigan. As soon as you cross the border from Indiana it just feels different. Remember the Cass County Fair? Bet you do. Was and still is one of the best around. Many other stories to tell I am sure. The picture I have on here was taken last summer in Wisconsin. Love those Dells too. Minus the commercialism. Sue J
Sue, Tommy, Vance and All,
🙂 It’s been a while Sue! I miss you cuz! And Vance, you too! I have not been making enough time for this lately. I keep thinking I guess that the time for this is just going to drop in my lap! Da!:rolleyes:
I am glad you guys are having this chat. I am STILL not totally sure I understand this “melungeon” tag. So, like any label, I avoid it like liver & onions!
You guys, well Sue & Vance, know my family tree as we’ve discovered bits & pieces along the way. I have no doubt that there is most likely many people of color in my family history. I don’t care what I’m made of. I’m proud to be a mixture of Black, White and Red. I find it rather wonderful to be able to say I am a person of “Multiplicity.”
If any of you could better explain all the melungeon labeling to me, please e-mail me and do so. Because it is confusing to me. You know how my mom always said we were “blackfoot” and we have the cemetary and other historical data to show that our ancestors, some of them did go into Indiana, etc. Something I found out that my mom told my sister Donna is really bugging me though. So, I will say it the way Donna quoted it to me and if any of you have any clue as to what she was referring to, PLEASE e-mail me that as well. Mom told Donna, “We are Blackfoot, not Mexican Indians.” My hands are in the air right now……What on God’s green Earth was she trying to say?????? Vance you know I’m really bad on the subject of history, though you have helped me out with that a lot, thanks:) by the way. Was there some instance in history where Mexicans came into the picture in Indiana history, or further back before our people moved from NC, VA etc. to Indiana? Well, I’ll close this for now. Please feel free to e-mail me. Love & Light, Lynella. lynellarainhawk@yahoo.com
Ahh, the joys of oral history. First let me say this, almost EVERYTHING you’ve ever been told by old relatives is most likely wrong to bordering on wrong.
For example, my g,g,g,g grandfather Peter Day was “our Irish ancestor who came over from Ireland, then moved to Michigan after he married a mulatto woman in Ohio”. Not even close! He was the son of a mulatto man (Solomon Day from Southampton County, VA). His family had already been in the US for 4 generations or so by the time he was born in 1823.
Also, my g,g grandfather, Zachariah Pompey was a “civil war hero from the 102nd Michigan Colored Infantry”. Yeah, uh huh. He was actually in the 65th Colored Infantry who was arrested for desertion after he didn’t show up after being drafted and then fined $30 for desertion, $5 for transportation and 50 cents for losing his canteen. Also, he never served one day because he ended up spending the war sick in an infirmary in Baton Rouge (it’s amazing the records you can find from the US government).
Also, my grandmother, who’s alive at 91 said, “we’re Potowatomie Indians” (they’re a Midwest tribe with a band in Dowagiac, MI). Obviously that wasn’t even close, as her ancestors all came to MI from NC/VA.
When I used to teach genealogy classes in Florida, I would always start my classes out with this question, “who in here have Native American ancestors?” If it was a Black American group, the hands that would go up to the tune of 95% to 100% of the attendees! Somehow, every black person in my class in Orlando, FL all had Indian blood. If it was a white group, that range would be about 50% to 75%.
I would then ask, “Who knows what tribe their Indian ancestors are from?” 9.5 times out of 10, they said, “Cherokee” no matter if they were black or white groups. Isn’t that funny that 95% of blacks and 60% of whites thought they had some Cherokee blood? Why?? It’s because of what “gramma or grampa” or good ol’ Uncle Joe told them!
As for the “melungeon” title, DON’T GET ME STARTED! 😀
Look at some of my posts here:
http://www.saponitown.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=4
Thanks for stopping by 😉
I didn’t mean to sound as I sounded when I used the term “wannabe” — but those are the facts of life of growing up in Oklahoma. I just want peope so see what I have had to put up with my entire life — I’ll be 53 in December.
As for the term Melungeon, literally it originally was intended for a few people in SW Vrginia, NE Tn and those who migrated away. But many have included others in this mix. But many of those they have included are from the NC/Va border area, and this seems to be where most people in SW/Va and NE Tn came from anyhow.
Tommy, you are a “Day” then. There were Day’s in Gibson County, Indiana who married my “Woods” in Gibson County, Indiana. The earliest I can trace my Woods to is Albemarle Co, Va in 1745. They were also there in 1755 when Thomas Jefferson recorded seeing “Indians” walking to an Indian mound on his land, staying a while, then leaving.
My male Woods line includes Hamilton’s after 1768, Dickson/Dixon about 1795, and through female line after 1817 it included Richey, after 1848 it included Wayland, after 1872 Brown, and after 1904 Hawkins.
vance
Thank you, you guys.:) Yes Tommy I see what you mean!:D I will spend more time back on here now that you’ve all got me going again! Thank you. Love & Light, Lynella.
Hi Lynella.
Glad to see you cuz….Here is an interesting website..and I like the very brief discription of melungeon in middle of article.
References to some names on here..
If you go to bottom to their home pages there are several links..interesting..
Sue J
http://www.mgcenter.org/genealogy.html
Sue,
Thank you! You know, my confusion about this has been because I wasn’t exactly certain if it was a derogatory thing or not. Love & Light.
Hey Tommy you said your Grandma said she was Pottawattamie? but that all her family came from down south? Are you sure that there was no Pottawatamies in your family? I have been around alot of Odawa/Pottowatamie (same thing) folks here, and Ojibwe/Chippewa (same thing) and many of them have the Black/african mix too, but claim they are the paticular tribe because here in Anishenabe territory you would Identify yourself by your mothers tribe, it is a maternal Id, for example if your dad is lets say Saponi & Black and Your Mom is Odawa/Pottawatamie, You Identify yourself as Odawa/Pottawattamie. Just throwing that in there I did not know if you knew that.
this is fact not genealogy jargin, thats how Anishenabes follow their lines by the females.
Also there are many Anishenabes that are tri and bi race here in Michigan, and some have said it was because the Under Ground Rail Road brought many people here and in to Canada, if we are refering to back in the day.
Just throwing that around did not know if you knew that:D
Oh yeah honey, I’m definitely correct in stating we are NOT Potawatomi Indians. In fact, my grandmother and great aunt insisted we were from the Pokagon band of Potawatomi, which is strictly a band from Dowagiac.
I do know many of them, having grown up in Cassopolis, as well as many Chippewa/Odawa (Ottawa) from living up in Traverse City. We are no more related to them or the Potawatomi than we are Scandinavian:p !
Again, it comes down to the garbage that oral histories usually contain. Because my older relatives knew they had Indian blood AND the Pokagons were 8 miles away in Dowagiac, it made sense to claim to be Potawatomi. That’s the same reason my Zachariah Pompey and Noah Pompey and William Rickman all filed claims back in 1908 to try to get some of the Cherokee restitution money the government was handing out. Why not? They were living in a poor, rural community. If they could get some free money by being Cherokee, they were going to do it, even though they had zero Cherokee blood.
There you have it for today
😀
HUH thats crazy maybe you had an aunt that married in OSS,
oh and I was not sure if you knew all that Jazz mister Genealogy Diety
Craziness,
Oh Niiice hat by the way there Tex:D what is this the Tommy Tsunami picture show lol heee lol ahhh I crap myself up hehehe:p
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