- This topic has 2 voices and 2 replies.
-
Posts
-
A SERIES OF ADJUSTMENTS – Is a four chapter, 37-page book my mother wrote in the eighties. It’s an
account of oral stories from my Grandmother and family letters. Her Grandfather Dora Moses
Cornelius Skinner Smith or ‘Dorrie’ was the one who passed the Blackfoot name to her. He owned a
tobacco shop in Richmond Indiana and kept a carved wooden “Indian” figure out front at his store.
He also bought and sold real estate. The family story is that he was 1/4 Blackfoot.
His paternal Grandfather David B Smith was born 1812 in Ohio. Son to Francis Smith and Massa
Jones born in West Virginia/Virginia 1779 and 1781. Vance Hawkins blog talks about Saponi in
southwest Virginia in the 1790s buying and selling land like their “White” neighbors. This
corresponds with our Smith/Jones family who had moved to Ohio by 1812. Then later to Indiana 1847.
Francis died in Indiana aged 86, Massa 96.
Dora’s actual “quantum” is uncertain. David B Smith’s wife Harriet Goode has ancestors whose names
appeared on the Cherokee Dawes Roll. They were born in North Carolina in the 1740s. In my family
stories from the “White” and “Indian” sides are not seperated, they are intertwined. More
specifically Quaker and Blackfoot. No longer white or indian at this point but mixed. “Melange
on” en francais.
My Grandmother passed some years ago. Two remain in 2014 from her generation who remember Dorrie
and his wife Bessie’s family of seven. Bessie Mae Gates was a fair skinned light blue eyed
descendant from a Gates family that goes far back in England. They had eight children together,
the last two being twins one of whom died at birth.
A 78-year old first cousin of my Grandmother recently recalled how four Smith children shared
Bessie’s fair skin hair and eyes, and the three others had dark hair and eyes and olive skin. My
grandmother’s mother Inez or “Inee” was one of these three. She married my Grandfather who also
came from a long line of Quakers with stories of mixed blood. People who long favored the
wilderness over the settlements.
“A series of adjustments” is how my Grandmother referred to our family history and life in
general. She taught me even more through her actions than her words. She walked proudly. She
took birds very seriously. She loved being in her garden. It was also evident she had learned
many painful lessons through a harsh upbrining in an orphanage. The way she carried it reminds me
of the First Nations residential school experiences I’ve heard from people here.
The role of story keeper in my family is now passing to me. Having read many stories in the saponitown.com forum from Brenda Collins Dillon and others, and carrying on for many generations of my family, I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I share these stories humbly and without judgement as my Grandmother shared them.
Chapter one is about the letter my Grandmother from Indianapolis mailed that resulted in her going to an orphanage. The Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home in Knightstown Indiana that was built for veterans of the Civil War. It was defunded by the Indiana government two years ago. This is page one.
Chapter 1
The Fateful Letter
I begged her not to make me mail that letter!
It was a bright day in November 1934 when my mother, Inez L. Potter, (known as “Sunny” or “Inee”) appointed me to mail the letr to the Soldiers and Sailors Home for Children in Knightstown, Indiana. I thought about throwing it down the sewer, or ripping it into a thousand pieces and dropping one piece every fifty steps till I got to school, but I knew it was no use. So when I got to Eleventh and Illinois I drew in my breath and dropped it in the mailbox. Nearly all the rest of the way to school I cried. When the school was within in sight I decided to stop and crying and didn’t cry again for a long time.
Before we lost everything Daddt, Marion Howard Potter, (known as Hasty, Smarty or Shorty), had a job with Chrysler in New Castle, Indiana and then a screw machinist at the Link Belt factory in Indianapolis. He was considered a a genius at tooling and won many awards for inventing machinery, but no money. We lived there till I was five when he got “oil poisioning” and broke out in a rash from the tips of his fingers up to his elbows. It was then we moved to Indianapolis into a duplex on Holmes Avenue. Then we moved to a frame house near 62nd and Michigan Road. It was almost country then.
Dad opened a grocery in the front part of the house called STOP FOUR AND A HALF. The interurban line passed right by the store. Dad would get excited every time it stopped to leave the newspapers on the porch for the newsboys to pick up and deliver. THe Black and Orange Drug Store down the road is still there. We had a big yard at the back with a playhouse. There were lots of playmates in the neighborhood. One of the best ones was “Curly”, the white standard poodle across the street. I loved playing with him. This is where I started piano lessons and learned where babies came from. My sisters, Maxine Delight and Norma Gene Jewell and I were happy. My only belonging remaining from those days is my favorite doll, Mary Jane.
Mother was a super housekeeper , cook and seamstress, and she loved doing handicrafts. She limped noticeably, because when she was a girl she fell and broke her leg badly. Later she had Polio which further affected her leg. Dad was a gentle, quiet man who use to cuddle us and tell us stories. In the evening when he came home from work he would put us three girls on his knee and give us our food before he ate his own. Among his favorite meals was pancakes, eggs, and sausage. He would stack them and eat them all up together. He also loved pineapples.
Sometimes we’d visit Mother’s parents. I adored her father Dora Moses Cornelius Skinner Smith (better known as “Dorrie”). He’d set me on his knee and put the ring from one of his cigars on my finger. I thought they were very beautiful. THen he’d count my ribs. He’d ask me to sing for him and clap enthusiastically when I had finished. Once he took me to a movie. It was before the ralking pictures; the piano was playing and got very fast and furious during the chase scene. He was totally sellbound and stood up, turned around and shouted “Wathc out behind you!”
Thanks for sharing these amazing stories. I wish my family had documented more.
I cant seem to go anywhere on this forum and not see a surname I share. May be coincidence, but interesting we share Quaker and Native ancestry..only mine stopped in Indiana.
This time its the Smiths. I have three lines of Smith.
Lulu Smith b. 1889 in OH to Thomas J Smith b.1850 Paulding OH and a Moser..in fact I posted here earlier..and also lists Kathrine Smith, wife of John Mouser (variant) whos daughter Amelia was born 1853 OH.
http://saponitown.com/forum/showthread.php?1897-Indians-and-Quakers/page2
Eliabeth Ann Smith b.1835 IN, to Joel Smith b.1810 Montour Co. PA, and Hanah Adams b.1813 same.
Elizabeth married John Porter b.1829 Wayne OH, whos mother Nancy b.1798 OH.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
