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Brenda, right now I am only online when I go to the library — and they just give you 30 minutes a trip. I had to send my brand new computer back to HP as it won’t do anything and they’ll fix it for free — acts like a bad power supply.
So I haven’t even ordered it yet. 🙁 but I will soon. I just don’t have as much time right now to do as much as I’d like on research. Thanks for asking.
vance
Brenda Collins Dillon wrote: Disseration: by Dr. Richard Allen Carlson Jr.
Michigan State University
‘Who’s your people?’: Cumulative identity among the Salyersville Indian population of Kentucky’s Appalachia and the midwest muckfields, 1677–2000 .
The Salyersville Indian Population is a composite of Cherokee, Saponi and Old Virginia Indian families that consolidated in the late colonial period to form a distinct Appalachian Indian population. The families have preserved their identity as an Indian people ever since. An analysis of this identity through time shows that Salyersville Indian identity is the product of cumulative historical actions guided by specific sociocultural processes that subvert notions regarding race, class, ethnicity, religiosity, or political affiliation. In this case, the effective operational definition of Indian identity is based on family relations that provide kinship links, social integration, cooperative efforts, sources of knowledge and emotional support. Highlighting the functional aspects of kin arrangements—articulated through and supported by interrelated family groups over time reveals that the economic and social cooperation of kin works to maintain the size and strength of the families. The operationalization of kinship acts to focus Salyersville Indian identity on a definition of kin which subsumes various attitudes about race and ethnicity that are encountered at specific times and under specific circumstances. By assigning kinship a higher priority than relations based upon religious, class or political affiliation, the Salyersville Indians have managed to keep their kin affiliations and thus their Indian identity, from being obscured over time. Family is the vehicle by which this cumulative identity asIndian has been maintained. That is because kinship is the only constant serving to define and maintain Salyersville Indian identity through time and space.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: The Saponi and Their Relations
Chapter 2: The Saponi Diaspora and the Christian Band of Saponi
Chapter 3: Family Accommodations from Flatt River to New River
Chapter 4: From New River to Stone Mountain, Greasy Rock and the Cumberland Gap
Chapter 5: Melungeon Indians and an Interloper at Vardy Springs
Chapter 6: Finding Contentment in Kentucky
Chapter 7: Burning Springs
Chapter 8: Politics, Paupers,and Civilized (self supporting) Indians
Chapter 9: Salyersville Indians, Eastern Cherokee and the US Court of Claims
Chapter 10: Enter the Melungeon Hunter;Greasy Rock, Stone Mountain and Salyersville Indian Communities
Chapter 11: Struggles with God, Coal, and Whiskey
Chapter 12: Within and Beyond Mountain Divides
Chapter 13: Tell them on the Mountain
Chapter 14: New Day Rising
Chapter 15:Salyersville Indians and Their Relations Today
The complete disseration is over 700 pages . According to what I have heard there is a lot about the Collins families in this work. I am sending for a printed hard copy which should take less than a week to recieve. Cost for hard copy is $36.00
http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3115947
Brenda
I finally got a copy of Carlson’s dissertation and as with Pat Spurlock Elder’s book, could not put it down. The information it contains on the culture of the Malungeon’s, Salyersville, Carmelites etc, explains a lot of why my family is so protective, private and tight knit. I would highly recommend this dissertation as well as Pat’s book for those looking for Cole’s Collin’s, Gibson’s, Sizemore’s etc. My father always speaks strongly of our Cherokee lineage and he may be right, it may contain Saponi and Cherokee (Cole’s). I am still trying to find Martin Gibson’s parents, but believe the pieces will come together eventually.
The link above is still valid for ordering the dissertation, it is well worth it.:)
Shirley
One thing that’s significant is the author’s assertion that these families had Saponi roots. How does he demonstrate that’s what they are? If he has received academic acceptance for this assertion, then it strengthens anyone with ties to that locale in asserting their descent.
Brenda,
I have a copy of this desertation and found it very interesting. Greasy Rock is what Sneedville Tennessee was once known. My Collins and my Gibsons were from there. They had to be Indian but I don’t know how to document/prove all this. I sure would be proud and pleased to give my children and grandchildren something positive showing their heritage. I still think you and I have to be cousins somewhere back there.
Cleland
Does this disertation discuss all of the families at Flatt River and at New River?
What families are discussed?
Sammarroq,
Which book of Pat Spurlock Elder are you referring to?
Hi Rockhound,
Here is the link for Pat Spurlock Elder’s book Melungeons: Examining An Appalachian Legend.
http://www.continuitypress.com/melbook.html
Many names are mentioned in Carlson’s dissertation: Collins, Gibson, Cole, Sizemore, Riddle, Brown Sexton…. I would highly recommend these two references if looking for mixed-blood/melungeon etc.
Shirley
I went ahead and ordered that book.
I think someone on Saponitown has quoted somed of that text for me, but I guess I really need to get a hard copy anyway.
Thank you for the link.
Well fooey!….I wish I had noticed this thread earlier…..*pokes self*:mad: ….anywho….I wanted to mention that if any of you are “kin” and interested in reading Richard’s dissertation in CD format…please email me directly and I’ll certainly pass along a CD format copy for only the cost of your postage to and fro. I just LOVE Richard’s work and he is sooooooo very educated on so many surnames from our family tree. Richard has always been very staunch in his belief that many of our ancestors were of Saponi/Monocan descent. He told me that the Sizemore’s were primarilly Nansemond…the Cole’s were primarilly Cherokee etc. He is the 1 person that led me HERE to Saponitown…and for that I am so very grateful! 🙂
A paper copy is well worth the price at any rate…just offering some assistance for those in need who cannot afford to splurge just now. Blessings~~~Laurie
Hello LInda…when I contacted Richard the very first time via phone he and I spoke at length about the possible tribal connections for my maternal Nichols family…who as I mentioned before were initially from the Salyersville, Magoffin Co, KY and moved to the Carmel settlement in Highland Co, OH (with earlier locations in KY, TN, VA and NC). My late mother and her mother always, like many other people it seems were told that we were of Cherokee descent, which seemed possible but yet unlikely to me given the relatively analagous use of the tribal name to anyone with a Native American ancestry. I have always felt that many people who I fondly call “Old Timers” used the words “Indian” and “Cherokee” as synonamous terms because of the relative commonality and familiarity with that particular tribe of peoples. When he and I discussed other possible familial connections for my “Carmel Indian” family…he tossed 2 tribal names to me that honestly, I had never before heard of: Monocan and Saponi. He felt then, as he does still, that it is most likely that my direct ancestors initially belonged to one of those 2 tribes. He told me to look more closely and in depth at them both to find my answers. I initially tried to contact people from the Monocan Nation but unfortunately they have lost some funding and do less online researching than they did just a few years ago. When I spoke with 2 women from their organization and asked about my maternal surname , I was told that the surname Branham was very rooted in their tribe, the Monocans but that the surname Nichols, per se, was not directly connected to them. I asked if an alternate spelling of Knuckles was one that they ran across often and was told no…this felt, for me, like a door closed for finding an answer there. I then took his advice and began researching the Saponi and was suprised to learn that very early on (pre 1800) they as a tribe, had lived in the Ohio Valley and later removed to the Fort Christianna area and such. This seemed like an integral key to me because our earliest Nichols/Gibson family was in Ohio prior to moving to the TN/KY border. I tried to locate a person or organization for the Saponi as a tribe and fell short of doing so…which led me to a Google search…which led me HERE to this exact site and all of you wonderful people. I was just thrilled at having found posts about people in my exact tree and called Richard excitedly and told him that this place/site felt very familiar to me. He cautioned me to not be too certain just yet but advised me to delve further and try to make that one connection via the Saponi. He is just a lovely and all too helpful man and if it were not for him I truly would not have wound my way here to Saponitown. I still am not certain of my mother’s ancestral tribal affiliation but I do feel confident that the answer lies in the Saponi. Richard, who resides in Michigan, works every day all over the country with peoples from every possible tribe…he litigates and gives testimony for Native Americans in various court cases defending them and their rights. His work in anthropology is quite vast and his knowledge base of so very many different tribes is , for me, just amazing. He can, and has , by surname, mentioned so very many early tribal connections to me that I actually write down what he says when we chat. His personal “library” contains soooo many documents and Native American rolls and applications that I would venture to say his office collection is much larger than most Historical Society collections. He has just oodles of family fact sheets that he collected for his research and dissertation. He can, at the drop of a hat hear 1 exact name and just spew forth dates, names, marriages, locations, connections. I have often wished I was a fly on his wall if I am to be honest. LOL He is a very busy man…he loves his work and if anyone can assist us in finding our answers, I believe it to be he. He, along with another Cole cousin have plans to re-write his dissertation into a book with even more information. He amassed just loads of documents and photos when researching for his dissertation…many of them could not be put into his paper due to time and size constraints. I very much look forward to eventually reading hsi book and I always savor the next phone call that he and I have…he is like my research idol. He put me in touch with 2 cousins that I just adore and have grown to love and with their help, I have learned so much more than I ever thought possible. One cousin is just immensely knowledgeable about the Cole families and the other of the Perkins lines. I spend more time on the phone with them than I do with my own siblings and together, with another cousin from Texas…we have really solved a bundle of our “brick walls” and mysteries. Irene….Janice….Peg…thanks gals…I love you all dearly and feel so blessed that I found ya! *wink* One morsel at a time we will find our heritage so by all means Linda…everyone…reach out to others…ask questions…form bonds…formulate theories and it will happen in due time. I met new cousins since I came here too…Aubrey, who I just adore and will be meeting soon for the first time…Bill, who is a true genealogical gem and an amazing researcher…the list goes on and on so I won’t. Thanks for the extended ear y’all…I raise a toast (or tea) to my entire “extended” family!!! Love and ((((hugs)))) and blessings from afar~~~Laurie
sammarroq wrote: Hi Rockhound,
Here is the link for Pat Spurlock Elder’s book Melungeons: Examining An Appalachian Legend.
http://www.continuitypress.com/melbook.html
Many names are mentioned in Carlson’s dissertation: Collins, Gibson, Cole, Sizemore, Riddle, Brown Sexton…. I would highly recommend these two references if looking for mixed-blood/melungeon etc.
Shirley
The book just arrived. Now I will have three I am reading at one time…:)
Rockhound,
Hope you enjoy the book! I found that just one time through wasn’t enough, there is just too much information to absorb. 🙂
Shirley
Brenda Collins Dillon wrote: Disseration: by Dr. Richard Allen Carlson Jr.
Michigan State University
‘Who’s your people?’: Cumulative identity among the Salyersville Indian population of Kentucky’s Appalachia and the midwest muckfields, 1677–2000 .
The Salyersville Indian Population is a composite of Cherokee, Saponi and Old Virginia Indian families that consolidated in the late colonial period to form a distinct Appalachian Indian population. The families have preserved their identity as an Indian people ever since. An analysis of this identity through time shows that Salyersville Indian identity is the product of cumulative historical actions guided by specific sociocultural processes that subvert notions regarding race, class, ethnicity, religiosity, or political affiliation. In this case, the effective operational definition of Indian identity is based on family relations that provide kinship links, social integration, cooperative efforts, sources of knowledge and emotional support. Highlighting the functional aspects of kin arrangements—articulated through and supported by interrelated family groups over time reveals that the economic and social cooperation of kin works to maintain the size and strength of the families. The operationalization of kinship acts to focus Salyersville Indian identity on a definition of kin which subsumes various attitudes about race and ethnicity that are encountered at specific times and under specific circumstances. By assigning kinship a higher priority than relations based upon religious, class or political affiliation, the Salyersville Indians have managed to keep their kin affiliations and thus their Indian identity, from being obscured over time. Family is the vehicle by which this cumulative identity asIndian has been maintained. That is because kinship is the only constant serving to define and maintain Salyersville Indian identity through time and space.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: The Saponi and Their Relations
Chapter 2: The Saponi Diaspora and the Christian Band of Saponi
Chapter 3: Family Accommodations from Flatt River to New River
Chapter 4: From New River to Stone Mountain, Greasy Rock and the Cumberland Gap
Chapter 5: Melungeon Indians and an Interloper at Vardy Springs
Chapter 6: Finding Contentment in Kentucky
Chapter 7: Burning Springs
Chapter 8: Politics, Paupers,and Civilized (self supporting) Indians
Chapter 9: Salyersville Indians, Eastern Cherokee and the US Court of Claims
Chapter 10: Enter the Melungeon Hunter;Greasy Rock, Stone Mountain and Salyersville Indian Communities
Chapter 11: Struggles with God, Coal, and Whiskey
Chapter 12: Within and Beyond Mountain Divides
Chapter 13: Tell them on the Mountain
Chapter 14: New Day Rising
Chapter 15:Salyersville Indians and Their Relations Today
The complete disseration is over 700 pages . According to what I have heard there is a lot about the Collins families in this work. I am sending for a printed hard copy which should take less than a week to recieve. Cost for hard copy is $36.00
http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3115947
Brenda
Just had to make another plug for this dissertation:) I just got my second copy in the mail…left mine with cousins in WV…Not only does Carlson’s work evince that these families were Native-mix, but their travels, family ties and the importance of unity; it is really a great resource for our families.
Shirley
Just a short note to say that Richard’s dissertation is fascinating to read and hard to put down. There is lots of information about my Cole and Collins ancestors: John and Cuzzie Anderson Cole and Valentine Collins, their wanderings back and forth around the NC, TN, VA and KY area. My ancestors settled in and near the Salyersville, KY area in a place called Big Lick, KY and that’s where my parents were born.
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