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My family are the Shifletts and Bruces from Albemarle or Orange County in Va since the late 17th century. Does ayone recognize these as having Saponi connections? I can give lots of names and dates is requested. Bruce and Shiflett are the two primary, but Shiflett has been spelled: Shiplett, Shiplet, Sheplet,
Sheplett, Sheplette, Shurtlef. Others are: Jordan, Chocahy, McAllister, Walton, Woods, Morrison, Madison, Minton, Adams. Also, there are the surnames Givens, King in other Virginia counties (specifically Craig and Allegheny).
The reason is mostly that according to the Shiflett family website there is speculation about whether the family is native or not.
There is a tiny little bit of information about a Lydia Chocahy being of Cherokee descent who married Hasting Shiflett in March 1845. However, I have never heard that we were Cherokee and she was from Georgia
[correction, North Carolina] anyway.(Note: she is not on any rolls that I can determine so far, but it is rumored that she was “erased” from Cherokee family history when she married a white man. I have never heard of this particular cultural “rule” before, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.)
So, I am speculating that since the Shifletts and mostly likely the Bruces lived in and around Orange/Albemarle County since the late 17th century using these surnames (and the others I mentioned), that if there are indeed Native American ancestors in my family these ancestors would more likely be Saponi or Mattapony or Pawmunkey, etc.
Any further ideas or suggestion that might helped me figure this out?
As I recall, in 1943 Walter Plecker, head of the Virginia Vital Records Department, circulated a list of names to the Va. county health departments with surnames of families attempting to pass for white, but who he believed to have “Negro” ancestry. The Shifletts are, I believe, listed, but I can’t recall the county, and my copy of the flyer is at the office. I’ll check tomorrow.
The flyer included all the surnames of the folks now officially recognized as Indians by the state, even the Reservation folks.
Forest,
Actually, Plecker, as a devotee of the “Darwinian Socialist” movement (kinda like the Mesmerizing ‘Machine’ application or counting ‘bumps’ on a person’s head to devine their intelligence or their ancestry), was obsessed with ‘defining’ ALL non-whites as ‘inferior’ to people of European descent. He inaccuarately assumed that any non-whites (in his time of the 1920s to 1940s), could only be of African descent (that’s ‘really’ bad) and one drop was enough since all “eastern Indians were extinct” by then, so the ‘others’ must be Africans (and I’m paraphrasing) and “we good people” have to restrict ‘their’ possible interaction with “real people” …. ‘sounds kinda familiar.
His obvious ignorance regarding the history of us all would be laughable but for the duress and abborgation of Rights under which his application of an ill-founded and unproven philosophical ‘ideal’ put people – but only for a little while!
“We’rre BAA-ck!” 🙂 and we’re unlikely to go-away.
Bill
Shiflett is listed on Plecker’s name list for Greene County, Virginia. No details, unfortunately, and my understanding is that Plecker’s “Racial Integrety” file has been destroyed, so we may never know why he was aware of that particular family.
They may have been publicly claiming to have been Indian in their local area, and a local clerk or doctor brought it to Plecker’s attention. Claims of Indian identity were “proof”, as far as Plecker was concerned, that a person had Black ancestry (and was trying to cover for it by claiming to be Indian instead)
Thank you both for replying. And I am aware of all that you tell me. The Shiflets [any spelling] and the Bruces and the Powells do not and never have considered themselves black or mulatto, so I don’t know where Plecker got his information. There is photographic evidence that there is, at least, some Indian blood and my father showed Indian characteristics as well.
I was hoping that someone had come upon more info since that last time I had inquired. The Native community here where I live really gives me a hard time because I can’t prove my heritage and I don’t look Lakota or Ojibwe.
I know the info is out there, I can feel it. I just need to have more confidence in who I am and where my people come from.:rolleyes:
Actually, being on Plecker’s list is good news for buidling a case for Indian ancestry. Ironically, it is something that should bolster your confidence about what you know about your family. It also explains a lot about why there are so few paper trails for “proving” native ancestry. As was just said, the government was actively promoting the myth that there were no Indians in the east. That went on for many generations. How could there possibly be ready proof in such a climate?
By the way, there are some VERY Indian looking people in my family from around Orange County, VA by the name of Powell.
Greene County was created in 1838 from a part of Orange County, Va. Orange was created in 1734 from Spotsylvania County but you might find some of those Orange County records in Spots. Co. archives.
Because many Virginia records were racially ‘edited’, if your Indian ancestors were from Virginia, regard any ‘Black’ or ‘Mulatto’ classification as possible Native people but that’s not to say that there were not thousands of Free Black and Mulatto people, many of whom did “fit” the ‘modern definition’ of those terms. Once you get back into pre-Civil War records, the definitions were not being applied as most would understand them today so don’t be shocked to find an ancestor listed as Black or Mulatto even if they were Native or even White – it happened – and vice-e-versa. The “classification syndrome” was even worse circa 1900 to the 1930s. Census Takers were political appointees, not scientists (but even ‘scientists’ got it wrong in those days 🙂
Can you share a little more about your Givens?
A Givens family was associated in some way to a Mounts family I am interested in…..Agnes Bratton Givens was guardian to Sarah and Polly Mounts in Bath County, VA late 1700’s, possibly from around the Jackson’s River area…..
Brenda
I concur with Bill’s post. That is the story I get when i went downtown to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in DC. I was told that my people were probably owned by Indians and that I was not likely a descendant. That I was a result of misegination among slaves and slave owners. That’s why I am interested in the DNA test. They thought I was looking for federal funds for education. Prior to them mentioning it, I was not even aware that there was any funding for Native’s in college. How bizarre.
Brenda–
Our line of Givens lived in western Virginia, Tazewell County and such. They worked in the lignite (iron) mines there. When I get more I’ll post it.
Lee
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