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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.
Those names don’t ring a bell, what others do you have? That locale is very central to some Saponi descended families.
Thank you for repsonding so quickly, Linda. 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.
There are known Meherrin families with the surname of Jordan, Saponi families with the Walton name, Creek families with Woods, Catawba families with Morrison, Mattaponi and Pamunkey with the Adams name. Perhaps your Givens name is a varient of Goins, which is found in Saponi families. The Chocahy name is interesting. Kind of sounds like Chicora, the tribe.
What other reasons do you have to believe some in your family were Native descended?
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 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?
You know, the Cherokee were in Georgia, too. But I agree with you, it would be worthwhile to track down some of those families known to be native with those surnames, and see if you can find any links. CarriesWater knows a lot more about those specifics than I do. A lot of people know more about that than I do.
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