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Story that my grandmother told 4 generations briefly,trying to find proof. A many greats grandfather of ours was named Beady(?spelling?nickname?translation?white’s name) Walker. He was a Blackfoot Indian who was m. to a white woman. Who was pregnant.A white man stole his only hose. Beady found him and killed him as was the custom in those days. But Indians did not kill whites.Whtes got a group together and followed his wife as she was sneaking him food. They found him hid in the hollow of an old tree. They got him,took him to town and hanged him,promptly. Grandma only changed this version 1 time when she got very elderly. It changed to a Cherokee Indian. Now in trying to prove this story,I can only get back to my 3rd g grandfather,Jonathan Walker b. abt 1790 Ky or N.C. d. 1856 Dubois Co.,In. Jonathan was the first settler in Cass Twnship,Dubois Co.,In. He had also been in several of the other early southern Indiana counties,most were made one from another. He m. Mary Polly Brenton in Knox Co. Jonathan was a big man,well over 6 ft.,large over 200 lbs,and very powerfull. He and his sons were dark complected,black hair and dark brown eyes. Jonathan was a champion bare fisted fighter in Indiana a Ky. He was in the battle of Tippicanoe and fought Indians(Indians did help us) He once crawled on his hands and knees through snow and slush for over a mile,came to the Patoka River swam across it through the ice,back across and crawled back the mile to win a bet. He also picked a large hog up it bit him and he slung it down so hard that it killed it. Fact 1: Now our family lines come from Ky.,Ten.,NC.,and Va. So there would be no reason for Beady Walker to be of the northern Blackfoot nation. Fact 2:If I had a husband who was hanged as Beady was,I would be hiding the eithenticity of my children and their children,too, probably “go into hiding”. Fact 3: we know that he had at least 2 bros with him in Indiana,Isaac Walker who m. a Risley,and James. There are others who might have also been bros.,Benjamin,and John(but this may have been Jonathan himself) and Thomas who was older and might even have been an uncle,cousin or perhaps even his father. Thomas was with George Rogers Clark and lived in Clark Co,In ( or it is thought) and only came infrequently to visit and sign petitions. Anyway,I realy do think that Jonathan’s pedigree has to go to Beady’s,maybe a son,maybe further back. But I am sure that it has to be either BLackfoot Cherokee,or Melungeion,or Saponni,after reading these articles. I have proved all of my grandma’s other storys. Jonathan is my brick wall,and my favorite ancestor,I MUST find his pedigree. Many persons far more knowledgable than me have been looking for a long time,but I don’t think that anyone has gone this route. All of my grandmother’s line know the story,many of the New cousins that I have found on the internet have also been told that Jonathan was an Indian or that the Walkers were Indian. Jonathan,himself claimed to be Scotch. I can not give you time period,where,or wife’s name on Beady,grandma always told the story the same way. I knew Jonathan’s grandaughter when I was small and have pictures of both her and her sister,my g grandma. If they were not Indian,no one ever was! My grandmother practiced folk medicine and was called on when a doctor was not available. She taught me many of her remedies She and her sisters also had a quaint way of talking. So does this all not sound like Beady and Jonathan were of the Blackfoot Cherokee or Melungeion or something like that?
So what do you think? Any ideas? Does this story ring a bell for anyone?Thanks for any help!
I forgot to add that Jonathan Walker is buried in Indian Mound Cemetery,in Dubois Co.,In. I saw your thread on it and Blackfoot Cemetery in Pike Co. Have several family members in both of them. I have some photos of some of the tombstones in them. Have been to both Pike and Dubois Counties and my dughter went there and took pictures. These counties,along with Knox,Perry and Spencer are some of the counties that we know that Jonathan was at. His bro in law donated the land that Petersburg was built on,thus it was named for him,Peter Brenton. For those of you who are still interested in Blackfoot cemetery in Pike Co.,go to the Pike Co.,Indiana genweb site. I don’t know if it is there or in their archives,but there is a complete list of burials in all of the cemeteries in Pike,and BLackfoot is there. Our family has been in the area for generations. If I can help anyone further about the cemeteries,let me know.
Welcome to the forum, Judy. If you look at old posts on the forum, you will find that we have speculated about Blackfoot Cemetery many times. I traced a family line from Blackfoot Town in DE to Blackfoot Cemetery. Now you have added to our information. Your story is exactly the kind of thing I was referring to when I was discussing qualitative research in another thread. I hope others on this forum spot your postings.
Please post your genealogy in the genealogy forum. Maybe Bill can help you with your blocking point. My Blackfoot ggggrandmother is my stumbling block too though, as is my cousin’s Blackfoot ancestor. We do not know their lines.
Techteach
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