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Hi all,
I’ve had a great time reading these forums over the past few days, and now I’m ready to post! If I can bore you with my family story, I’d love whatever insights you might have to help me trace my native American ancestry.
My paternal grandfather always told me that his grandmother was “Sioux”, but he passed away before I appreciated how much detail he may have been able to tell me about my ancestry. I’ve done a lot of genealogy research in the past year or two, but “Sioux” never made sense since no one had ever lived anywhere but Pennsylvania and NY, and the g-g-grandmother in question lived long before the Carlisle Indian School.
But I recently discovered that there were “siouan” tribes – Saponi and Tutelo – in the area where she lived, and that led me to you! I’m just thrilled to find this forum, and I hope that someone can help!
So this is what I have, also available at http://www.gencircles.com/users/scheydec/3/data/66
My paternal grandfather’s father was Stanville Gregory CLARK, born May 1878 in PA, most likely in Union Twp, Luzerne County, because that’s where the census puts his parents. This is about 50 miles up the Susquehanna River from Shamokin /Sunbury. I don’t have a photo of Stanville, but I have a photo of his brother, Shadrach Haschal CLARK: http://www.scheyder.0catch.com/genealogy/pics/Shadrach-Clark.jpg
which certainly looks Native American to me!
So it would have been Stanville and Shadrach’s mother who was the “Sioux”. She was Mary Alice GREGORY, born 17 Oct 1851 in Union Twp, Luzerne Co, PA.
Mary’s mother was Elizabeth ADELMAN, born 16 Mar 1819 and died 20 Dec 1888. I don’t know where she was born, but her parents were:
Father: Adam ADELMAN, born Sep 1784 in Luzerne Co., PA and died Jan 1870 in PA.
Mother: Mary BEAVER, born 10 Apr 1790 and died 25 Jan 1871.
(I have a lot of info on Mary’s father, but he doesn’t seem Native American – Connecticut, England, etc.)
So I would say that Mary Beaver is my most likely Native American ancestor – but I’ve hit a brick wall in finding any other record of her, or any way to document the tribal membership of Mary Alice GREGORY, Elizabeth ADELMAN, or Mary BEAVER.
Do any of these names sound familiar to anyone? Any suggestions for taking the next steps?
Thanks in advance!
Scheydec:
I have two of your names in my lines, Beaver and Clark. My PA folks were not too far from yours, around Huntington. The Clarks were there; I am not sure when the Beavers became involved in the family. A Beaver marries one of my Greens when the group moves to Ohio. Other names for this family are Bever and Bieber. You can find both Bieber and Clarks living near my Blackfoot folks in Iowa.
Techteach
Very interesting, scheydec, and welcome to our forum. I too had family within a hiundred miles of Sunbury. The names were Harris and Severance and people on that line said we were Blackfoot. We have a piece summarizing what we’ve found out about that id at http://www.saponitown.com/blackfoot.htm if you haven’t seen it already.
Techteach,
Wow! That’s great!
Is your family tree online anywhere that I could look at it and see where they connect? Or have you looked at mine at
http://www.gencircles.com/users/scheydec/3
I have a _lot_ of Clarks in the tree, just the one Beaver, and no Greens at all. If your info could add more to my Beaver line, that would be great!
What county is Huntington in, just out of curiosity? Do you mean Huntington Valley, near Philadelphia?
My e-mail address is listed on the page at
http://www.gencircles.com/users/scheydec
Thanks!
Elizabeth
Elizabeth:
Huntington is in Juniata County, near Harrisburg. My family lived there and fought in the Kosquillas Valley as rangers and militia during the Revolution. I checked out your web site for a couple of minutes (I am really busy with catching up after my grandmother’s death.). It is interesting that I see Wilkes Barre. That is where my Sinkey/Sankeys lived and a Green that we believe is connected. I just recently found a Quaker document that seems to indicate that they were Quaker and came into Philadelphia in the 1600s sometime.
Anyway, the majority of the Greens came from near Martinsburg, WVA and settled among the PA folks. The PA names include: Sinkey/Sankey, Clark, Potter, Ralston, McLane (my Blackfoot), McCartney, Huston.
I can email you what I have, but the Clarks were not in my direct line, so I don’t have a lot on them. My cousin who was on this forum for a while, has more Clark information. All these names come to Iowa, including Beaver. The Beaver in my line married into the Green family in Ohio. (The group began in central PA and Martinsburg, WVA, moved to Licking County, OH, and then moved to Jackson County, IA.)
Bess had some information on the Beavers if you search this forum for the name.
Techteach
Hi, Elizabeth, and a belated Welcome,
It wasn’t discovered until the 1880s that the Tutelo/Saponi were Siouan so I’d guess that the “Sioux” identity must have come into your lines sometime after that due to the knowledge of some family member who made the connection from previous generations’ information.
By listing both surnames from 1790 to 1820, the only congruence of BEAVER and ADELMAN (Aidleman/Addleman) families that I found, was in 1800 and 1810 Huntingdon Co, Pa, which is very near Luzerne Co. In Huntingdon Co in 1800 & 1810 were:
Anthony Beaver, John Addleman and William Attleman.
I haven’t found any Adelman or Beaver households in Luzerne County until Adam moved there.
Adam “Aidleman” first shows up in Luzerne Co., Pa on the 1820 Census of Union Twp, p.427, and remained there. He would have been of age in 1810 and was probably married by then, but I haven’t found him. (In 1830 & 1840 Adam was listed as “Adleman”.) The 1820 Luzerne census listing for their oldest children’s age ranges (2 girls 10 to 15 yrs old) would put Adam and Mary’s marriage around the year 1804/05 or so.
The Huntingdon Co Beaver’s appear to be the same line as the 1790 Northumberland Co Beaver’s.
Bill
Here’s a circa 1790 map of PA : http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/maps/pa/county/s2v4map.jpg
And an 1836 map : http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/maps/pa/state/pa-1836.jpg
And some Beavers are found in the Ohio area that my PA folks move to in the early 1800s. I checked the Licking County, OH list of pioneers and found a few Beavers, but not an Anthony.
Techteach
Techteach,
Your Licking County BEAVERs are 30 yrs ‘downstream’ from the 1810 Penn people but I think they actually are the same line.
Those Penn Beavers also have a few names that married in downstream that I have to checkup/back on.
Bill
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