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Di,
You’re as welcome here as anyone. Hope nothing I said has offended you. It was just a lively discussion.
My “agenda” is to connect as many people with their ancestors as is possible. Bill
Your heartfelt post expresses my quest precisely. I don’t care where the path leads, I don’t want recognition, I don’t want to pretend I’m something that I am not. I just want to know who I am for my own peace of mind.
I am white, but I’m not. I don’t think white…… never have. My lips are too big, my hair is too kinky, I tan too deep, my face isn’t shaped right……. and other whites see it too. I have always been an outsider…. the butt of cruel jokes…. brilliance in school just heightened it. I just want to know who my people are. I’ll be proud regardless of what I find. Actually, with what I have seen on other native boards, I am becoming less interested in understanding NDNs as a whole and more introspective.
peace
Dreaminghawk,
I guess you and I are the only ones up this time of night.
I just came in from outside a few minutes ago. Had my big telescope out – one of the few fairly clear nights in a long time – just looking at the camp fires. Yeah, it’s cold enough for a parka but it has warmed up a little to the mid-20’s ! Cold never stops nuts like me !
Di:
You voiced my feelings too. I was told by my grandmother as I grew up that we had some native background but no one believed her but me. I saw it in the mirror. When I found out a couple of years ago that she was correct, I began to try to find out about this family. I now have a memoir from my great aunt that describes how my great grandparents separated themselves from the mixed part of the family and did not allow my gggrandmother to visit her family who continued to live native as did my gggrandmother. My aunt describes her as always looking sad. I am trying to find out about this family I never knew.
Cindy
Yes, Dianek, you voiced the kind of pain that’s been running for generations in my family. The majority in the family may have been “passing’ for white, but there were always the “throwbacks” who kept the Indian identity alive just by virture of the way they happened to look, an identity others in the family were relentless in dismissing or disrespecting, and then there were always the “black sheep” who couldn’t stand all the dishonesty and meanness towards the “throwbacks.”
I’m sorry if the”wannabe” thread made you feel excluded. I think what everybody was saying was a defense of the validity of people ridiculed as ‘wannabes.’
Greetings all,
I would have to agree with my friend Dan Aiken and support the theory that the “Melungeons” are more or less a group of mixed blood displaced folks. As we all know most of these folks either come from the Pamunkey River area or the old Ft Christanna region. I also agree that a lot of folks are jumping on this wagon.No doubt about it though I feel there is a Saponi/ Piedmount Siouan background in the majority of these families.
Melungeon seems to be a new catch all phrase , like “Cherokee” used to be the term used by a lot of people for unknown NA background.
A final note for Vance, you said in a post that some of your people clamed to be “Romani” whatever that is. Well my lovely wife to be is from Hungary, and is part Gypsy.The name that Gypsies call themselves is “Roma”.As you may know some Gypsies came to Pennsylvania in the wave of the “Dutch”(German) settlers. Some think these may be the so called Black Dutch.
Charles
http://www.geocities.com/mikenassau/what.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/wv2/dillon1944/old_thomas_collins_of_flatt_river.htm
http://www.fialcowitz.com/Bunch/other9.html
The Guineas of West Virginia
A Transcript of A Presentation at First Union
July 25, 1997, Wise Virginia
by
Joanne Johnson Smith & Florence Kennedy Barnett
Our people are known as the Guineas. The earliest family names prior to 1800 are Male, Norris,
Dorton(Dalton), Harris, Canaday(Kennedy), Newman and Croston.
The men have fought and died in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and all of
those thereafter.
I believe each of our people has the name Male as an ancestor. Some of the other names we may or
may not have. There are four names that most of us go back to in our lineage. They are Gustavis
Croston, Henry Dorton, Sam Norris and Wilmore Male.
Henry Dorton or Dalton is the father of the Dalton line in Monongalia, Barbour and Taylor Counties.
He was born in Prince George County, Maryland to Ann Dorton or Dalton. She was an indentured
servant of Jane Martin, an Innkeeper. In 1777 he was drafted into the Revolutionary Army. On June 4,
1781, he married Eleanor Russel, in Prince George County, Maryland. In 1790, he migrated to what is
now Monongalia County, West Virginia. Some of his children married into the Males and Hills. As
years passed, the family spread into Barbour and Taylor counties, also. On a personal note, I am
acquainted with some of the Daltons and find that most of them still have a very striking Indian
resemblance. Service records that some of the Daltons entered the service under the racial
classification of Indian.
Isaac Kennedy or Cannady was born in Maryland in 1760. He married Mary Runner. Isaac is the
father of the Kennedy line of the Guineas. His son was born in Hampshire County, Virginia in 1800.
His wife was Elizabeth Male. We share the two variations of this name with the Chickahomini of
Virginia and the Melungeons. The Kennedys or Cannadys migrated with the Males to Barbour and
Taylor counties.
peace
Thank you all for your kind responses. It is good to feel understood and accepted. I appreciate all of your willingness to educate me. I am so new to this that I sometimes am afraid of exposing how little I know.
I am curious about how you do the research. I am reading everything I can get my hands on, but I am also in school, so I have to take time to do homework. But I do have access to the UW online library, if anyone wants me to try to get something particular for them.
😀
Di:
That explains why we two are the only ones online. I just got back from the night class I teach. I know how you feel – so much you want to know and no time to hunt, not to mention fear of asking in case you have said the wrong thing.
Cindy
oh goodness. the teacher now knows what I am doing instead of my homework!
I just ordered a bunch of books from the library, several for my granddaughters on NDN lore. I can at least try to give them some of the “roots” I didn’t get.
I have a paper due Tuesday, so I will have to disappear for a while.
Good night.
Hey Di this is Scott Collins your cousin in Texas.
I just saw this thread and read it. Sorry I didn’t read it before now.
You pretty much sum up what many of us Collins folks feel and how we have been treated. You are definatly welcome at Saponitown. Hope to see you post more in the future.
Hello everyone, I am new to this site and I am searching for my ancestors. My grandmother told me that there is Blackfoot and Cheyenne in our bloodline and I would love it if there is any one out there that can help me find them. I am looking for the last names of Rose and Scott out of Denver Co. Thanks, Venusnia
Wow….how did I miss out on this discussion? I first want to say a big “thank you” to everyone here at Saponitown for such detailed and thought-provoking discussions and learning opportunities…I really dig the notion that there is a welcoming place for ppl seeking answers with others that are both helpful and honest…kudos to all for your continued genealogical and cultural support. Additionally, on topic, I feel compelled at thsi point to chime in with my “two cents worth” on the word: Melungeon. I rather dislike the word myself…I find it to be a trendy catch all for just way too many groups of people…it is both ill-defined and misused in my estimation. Have ANY of you EVER seen any document listing as “race” : Melungeon? Do the ppl called Melungeons call themselves that? As you can see by now…I’m not much on trendiness and loop-holing ppl of a ethnic or cultural or socio-economic or geographical area into a non-historical title seems bogus to me. *shrugs* I’m betting alot of ppl who simply did not or do not know what exactly their cultural origins are/were just jumped aboard the Melungeon train and had a meaningless ride….yeehaw! Wouldn’t it just be groovy if everyone knew precisely what their genetic/ancestral origins were?…you bet it would…but to snag a grip on an analogous term and tout it to the masses like a Gold Club membership leaves me sour in the mouth. Isn’t it far more noble to just say : ” gee, I do not know the exact originas of my ancestry” and then delve and research and try your darndest to find out rather than to spend ersot hours and months and years labelling yourself wrongfully? I know that many many countless ppl from generations past and present find cultural shame in their “roots”…shema is imposed by others…sham is imposed by oneself. If we all work hard and embrace the mane of acceptance then eventually we will fidn our answers and until then be proud of being who you uniquely are and do not allow others to errantly label you otherwise. I give hands-down WAY more credence to my elders notions of who we are than to a modern day money making social ploy. Trendiness is sheepish and bores me to pieces…I’ve said my piece, forgive me for being so curt and offput by the topic but the long hard winding road , for me, is far more appealing than the one paved by the masses. I compare the term Melungeon to the KY/VA/TN equivalent of “trailor trash”…it strikes me as more of a social demarkation than a genetic earmark. I don’t buy into it…besides, who decides who can and who cannot be Melungeon anyhow? Who defines which surnames are applicable and which are not? Just who determines which ridge-residents qualify and which do not? I’ve actually seen posts where some ppl claiming to be Melungeon oust others saying in essence: Oh no..you are not a TRUE core Melungeon descendant. How pitiful is that? I’ve read the books and they left me feeling mostly dry…itching to find out what, if any tribal affiliation my maternal kin had…and feeling PO’d at myself for giving 12 to 20 bucks to someone else when I could have spent the money on an Eastern Cherokee Application or ancestral death certificate. Blessings and much much genealogical luck to everyone~~~~Laurie
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