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I’m to the point if there are lots of conflicting family trees on a person, that person was likely rumored to have some Native descent that their descendants were trying to disprove.
I have an ancestor who was an Indian trader’s wife, living in one of the last known locations of Saponi refugees, with a last name common at Six Nations, where many of those refugees settled. Three different branches of her descendants had genealogists ‘prove’ she was not. So, she is officially documented as having been born in three different European locations. You can’t get any whiter than that, can you?
At the same time, other branches, shunned by the others, carried the same story, privately, that she was Native.
The consequences of those rumors were dire. People had to get creative, which they did. If it was your children’s futures on the line, you’d likely do so yourself. The ‘fact’ that there is no written documentation and the fact that your DNA does not show ethnic markers for ancestors seven generations past PROVES nothing.
Funny thing is, nobody had to prove anything to get you kicked into that ‘white trash can.’ All they had to do was gossip. So, if we now want to ‘gossip’ to the contrary, it’s fair game. In my family’s case, there were endless schisms between those who ‘gossiped’ one thing, and those who ‘gossiped’ the other. If you can see evidence your family was ending up in that white trash can, that’s a smoking gun, IMO.
I did both an internal search here on ‘Boyette,’ and on Google for “Saponitown Boyette” and you seem to be the only person here to use that name. You might want to check out some of the Articles under the tab by that name in the navbar above. Have you gotten up with some of the Native groups and tribes in Nansemond?
Welcome to the site. I have an ancestor I believe was Native who later generations had genealogists check on. She is documented, according to them, as having been born in three different European locations. So, yes, 19th-century families went to great lengths to extinguish any proof that they were Native. People did not have to prove that you were mixed blooded, all they had to do was gossip that you weren’t thoroughly white, and it was enough to be kicked into the ‘white trash can.’
Why do you suspect this lady had Native blood? Family stories?
Do you know if the children in Buncombe county appeared to be POC, or if it was just rumored that they had that ancestry?
Wow. Your work is inspiring. Glad you’ve had the wherewithal to employ all those DNA sites. Which do you think is the most detailed in detecting ethnicity? HomeDNA?
Do you have a sense there were those schisms in your family as a result of those distancing themselves from any hint they failed the one-drop rule?
Ten years ago, the opinion was that it was impossible to differentiate the DNA of one tribe from that of another. There’s a lot more knowledge of haplogroups in various NA populations now. Use Google or AI to find those articles. And take them with a grain of salt. I was told ten years ago I had a trace of Native American DNA, now they’re telling me it’s Coptic Egyptian. All of which does make sense in the Mediterranean side of my family, who were Christian Orthodox, as were the Copts.
Also keep in mind if you’re talking about ancestors six or seven generations ago, any identifying DNA could easily have been lost along the way.
Why do you think you’re from both Cherokee and Saponi people? Family stories? Location?
Also, keep in mind that having what we now call “Latinx” ancestry would readily be something stigmatized in America and kept a secret. Or, a few years from now, the DNA reports will report those traces as something entirely different. The same holds true for records of Native blood in what’s now called America. Just rumors of native blood would be enough to get a family kicked into the ‘white trash can.’ Hence, the destruction of records, also, the prevalence of divided family trees. Schisms occurred among mixed-blooded families for generations between those who could escape the rumors, and those who could not.
Exploring the genealogy of your family, and the history of those tribes present in the areas your family is known to have lived may be more be more enduringly helpful than the DNA companies. They are notorious for telling people what they want to hear.
Wow. There’s another church I wish I knew more about. A Blackfoot church in Pike county, Indiana. As usual, searching on “Blackfoot Church Indiana” revealed a number of hits.
https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/26C30D3F-4526-43D4-9618-143981292526
Double wow. Blackfoot cemetery is said to be haunted.
https://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2017/10/haunted-blackfoot-cemetery.html
The historical marker is very interesting. My family was from Kentucky at that point, traveling to Illinois. The story involved about the Indians telling them where to bury the lady who’d died could be a sanitation of a group of Blackfoot-descended people, trying to ‘pass’ who wanted to leave a momento of that side of the family. In the journey westward that took several generations I noticed the family always stopped where there were remnants of Siouan people.
I am a bit rusty on all this, but if memory serves you are mentioning names and places the Occaneechi Saponi used in their bid for state recognition. You might want to look in that direction. I would think the material they submitted is public record. Unless your family has lived around Hillsboro NC since forever, you won’t be admitted to their tribe, but if it’s just closure you want on these family secrets and mysteries, go for it.
Sad news. There was so much more he could have contributed. I’m remembering the long conversations at pow wows. He was always running over with his latest discoveries. There is so much that has now been accepted legally that started with Rick. People need to know that, since he’s often not credited. Accredited ‘scholars’ would appropriate his findings and never give credit. I saw it myself more than once. But he just went on doing what he did.
I also read “black” and “negro” denoted any non-white inhabitant of early colonial Virginia, regardless if they were African or Native American. How true is that? I’m skeptical they would label different peoples this way.
After 1830 and the Removal Act there were, legally, only two races to exist in the South, Black and White. So if you were a person of color who wanted to remain in that locale you had to submit to being called Black and accept the consequences of that in terms of your civil rights (or lack thereof). When did this person die/live? Earlier than that it’s a bit less defined, though the culture was obviously moving in that direction for awhile. Going back to really early colonial time, it’s doubtful, though at that point in time there wouldn’t be ANY records of native people. They belonged to another nation, off the colonial grid. So it’s a slippery slope knowing what’s behind some individual’s records.
That word could be native, but then, perhaps it’s an African word. In either case, it’s quite a find. Pursue it. See if there are Iroquoian or West African words that might fit.
battyboy12;38680 wrote: He lived from around 1660-1713.
Okay, what I can tell you is that 1713 is the year of the Tuscarora War that ended in Snow Hill, NC at Fort Neoheroka. It’s very interesting that he died that year. I can also tell you that the reason the war was fought was because the British wanted to gain possession of the pine forests of North Carolina because of the incredibly tall pine masts that grew there. The forests were maintained as game preserves. Trees grew to incredible heights because of this management and gaining those masts meant a huge strategic advantage to the British navy. The Tuscarara did not want to sell because that was their sustainable resource for meat production. So, when the T’s refused to sell the British simply withdrew the way they had been protecting the Tuscarora from the scalawags they’d dumped into the colonies. Natives were duped into addictions to alcohol and a slave trade in Tuscaroran children skyrocketed. Kidnappings were in epidemic proportions. And once the Tuscarora had declared war on the colonies the British had the excuse they needed to go in and annihilate the Tuscarora. I can also tell you that the Fort was designed by an escaped African descended slave. He died a martyr’s death, tortured by the Brits.
What we can say from this historical narrative is that both African and Indians were enslaved in that time period by the colonists and that they were tight. It would be entirely reasonable to assume your ancestor had both going on. If the DNA shows some West African blood, and the middle name is Algonquin then I would say it’s entirely reasonable to believe that’s what he was. Daddy was African, momma was Algonquin. The fact that you have a name and dates for the guy is quite remarkable. To expect anything more from colonial documentation is probably a lost cause. What I can see is that the guy probably led a remarkable life and my hunch is he ran off and fought in the war. That’s where my imagination will go with it.
I saw a blue and white vase that had been glued back together with super glue that was taken from New Bern when it was attacked by the Tuscarora and brought back to Fort Neoheroka, where it was found. The bill of lading from Germany for it is also in existence. I saw dried peaches that had been harvested by the Tuscarora ladies the summer before the battle, found at the fort. They also found a tunnel that could have been used the night before the final battle to escape, but they all chose to remain there and make their stand. Better the grave than a slave.
That’s what Black and Indian people in NC were doing together in 1713.
Any proceeds from the book are for hiring a linguist to work on Tutelo-Saponi language revitalization.
Spilledi, here on the forum, has spent a lot of time working on Tutelo and hopefully will be referred to by anyone looking to further that work. http://tutelo.org is ours and has some of her work.
