NATIVE AMERICANS and THE HOMESTEAD ACT

Though Native Americans were displaced by Homestead Act land holders and often headed back to reservations, in genealogy we are thorough and never assume, so don't assume that people of Native American heritage did not also apply for land grants or that they all lived on "Indian Reservations."

GERONIMO

NEW MEXICO GENEALOGY - NATIVE AMERICAN - SPANISH - MEXICAN - APACHE ? WHAT TRIBE MAY BE THE BEST QUESTION TO START WITH!

A friend's son in law comes from New Mexico and says he has heritage that is in part Apache.  He is not a card carrying member of a tribe.  So I watched some videos from the New Mexico genealogy society and I learned that DNA is proving Native Americans strongly on the maternal (mother's side) of New Mexico's people.  It's estimated that 40% of those whose roots are in New Mexico have Native American ancestry.

NEW MEXICO GENEALOGY SOCIETY

You can find their educational videos on YouTube.

I have yet been asked to do any research considered to be "Hispanic" but I understand records in Spanish go way back into Spanish America and that some people are traveling to Mexico City to do research.  I don't speak Spanish, but then I don't speak German or Latin or any other language, but I find that it's not so difficult to translate, especially not with all the Internet translators available.

As for his particular Apache tribe, there's more than one possibility. 

MESCALERO APACHE TRIBE   South Central New Mexico

KRQE : FOX : THREE APACHE TRIBES OF NEW MEXICO 

This article focuses on where they lived, what they are famous for and where they live now - it's brief.  EXCERPT: "There are three Native American Apache tribes in New Mexico: the JICARILLA  APACHE, located in northern N.M near the Colorado Border; the MESCALERO APACHE, located near Ruidoso, and the FORT SILL APACHE near Deming.

If I remember correctly, the NAVAJO are also an Apache nation.

I find that Los Angeles Public Library - History/Genealogy at Central Library - has an extensive collection of books about the tribal people of what is now the United States.

C  2026 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

DNA TEST and SENECA NATION TRIBAL : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

Q:  My DNA Test came back and I'm 1/4th Native American.  My grandfather was Native American.  So how do I join the Seneca Nation?

Marilynn
Pennsylvania

A:  SENECA NATION ORG

EXCERPT:  Please be aware that the tribal census records of the Seneca Nation of Indians do not date prior to 1858.  Therefore, we are unable to assist you with searches prior to that year.  Also, enrollment/membership in the Seneca Nation of Indians is based on MATRILINEAL descent. In other words, the mother must be an enrolled member in order for the children to be enrolled. Keep in mind that our census records list ONLY members. If an enrolled Seneca man married a non-Seneca woman, the names of the wife and the resulting non-enrolled children DO NOT APPEAR in our records. As an additional point of information, too often we receive inquiries from individuals who erroneously believe they descent from the "Iroquois Nation." Please note that "Iroquois" is a non-native term which is used collectively to represent six aboriginal nations which united to form a confederacy, a.kl.a "The Iroquois Confederacy."  These six aboriginal nations are" The Seneca, Cayuga, Onandaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora. Each is a separate political and geographical entity with its own government, land base, and membership. ...

COMMENTARY:  Since it's MATRILINEAL (the mother's side) that counts with the Seneca, I don't think you have a chance,  However, you still might find the genealogy department at the tribe able to help you go further back in documenting your connection to the tribe.

NATIVE AMERICAN?! ARE YOU LIKE ELIZABETH WARREN?

Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for President of the United States, said she was part Native American and the media began to tear her up. Her DNA test said that was so, but the percentage was not impressive. About the same time, I was contacted for some free advice by someone claiming to be related to a famous Native American.  

I'm willing to coach people through a question or two without expecting payment but don't coach through an entire project as a volunteer. If I haven't seen the documentation, what I can tell someone could be minimal. In this case I suspected rumoring of the connection to the famous Native American because the person said to be related is not proofed.

Please, be aware that genealogies posted on the Internet are rarely proofed to show accuracy. For me to accept a genealogy, the person posting would have to show their entire process and all the documents they found. There are too many documents people can easily tweak these days so I suggest a skeptical mind set. (Consider all the composite photos that go undetected, such as often happens in magazines, where editors are putting a movie star's head on someone else's body or using art techniques to slim them down.) Why would a person give away thousands of hours of research which also have meant thousands of dollars invested?) Sometimes you can get wonderful leads on the Internet, but you just can't take a person's word for it even if they're a family member.

I explained to this person who may be connected to the famous Native American that in genealogy we start with the living (though we are sensitive of their privacy) and proof or document in as many ways possible going back generation after generation. After doing this, we'd focus on the branch in which the famous Native American is said to be attached to.

The person got back to me rather quickly and said she saw it all on the Internet. 

So the answer to her next question, how to join the tribe, was simple.  

CONTACT THE TRIBE YOU WISH TO JOIN AND ASK THEM WHAT THEIR REQUIREMENTS ARE FOR TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP.  Generally they expect proof of 1/16th blood.  (In other words, if Elizabeth Warren does not have document proof and must rely solely on the DNA test, she probably cannot get into a tribe.  And since DNA tests are statistical analysis , the identifications of ethnicity might change as more DNA contributors join a site.)

That's not the whole story of being accepted as a Native American by a tribe. There are people who have tribal affiliation and casino rights who would not pass the typical 1/16th blood test.  And when it comes to casino rights, people who have affiliation - "card carrying" Native Americans - probably don't care to split the proceeds further.

How can this happen?  Easy.

Let's say that your ancestor - a White Man - married a Cherokee woman and had children with her and they cooperated with the special census of Native Americans and are on census together.  Maybe the land they farmed is documented too.  That's documentation. That's one scenario.  

Another is that the White Man and his Cherokee wife and children decided to live on the reservation together and/or that the children were born on the reservation. At that point the children are 1/2 Native American. The White Man was probably said to have "gone Native," accepting the culture.  If that family continues with the tribe, they are considered Native American.

Continue forward with the marriage of the children and grandchildren with other people who have done the same.  In several generations (and until recently a "generation" was about every 25 years) you can come up with people who are card carrying and tribal affiliated but who are not 1/16th Native American. There is you, your parents (first generation), your grandparents (second generation), your great grandparents (third generation).  That's about 75 years.  It's 2019.  To your great great grandparents (fourth generation) it's about 100 years.  If you have one great great great grandparent who was recognized as Native American in 1919 you have a chance. (This is a simplistic explanation.)

We live in a time in which people are not born with their identity but relate to whatever race, religion, social class, gender, and so on that they feel an affinity with.

I've met a number of people with blond hair and blue eyes who do have Native American affiliation - be it officially or by affinity. Some of them cherish their long ago heritage and study the culture one of some of their ancestors lived decades ago.

C 2018  Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot This post has been edited and expanded to be a bit more clear.  Every situation is different.  DNA tests are not the whole story.

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU'RE CHEROKEE? WHY SO? DNA?

SLATE : WHY DO SO MANY AMERICANS BELIEVE THEY HAVE CHEROKEE ANCESTRY?  The history of a myth by Gregory D. Smithers

An excellent article about the history of the Cherokee and the history of the United States.  READ IT ALL!

I did an extensive genealogy project for a family that lived in Cherokee County and can say, without DNA testing, that there was intermarriage between some of the family and the local tribe, before and after the Trail of Tears, but I don't know that anyone who didn't go to live with the tribe has bothered with DNA testing.  One of the "White" family married a man on the rolls.  However, another couple married and had land in the area prior to the first missionary church...and do not appear on the rolls.

EXCERPT:

The Cherokee tradition of exogamous marriage, or marrying outside of one’s clan, evolved during the 17^th and 18^th centuries as Cherokees encountered Europeans on a more frequent basis. Some sought to solidify alliances with Europeans through intermarriage.

It is impossible to know the exact number of Cherokees who married Europeans during this period. But we know that Cherokees viewed intermarriage as both a diplomatic tool and as a means of incorporating Europeans into the reciprocal bonds of kinship. Eighteenth-century British traders often sought out Cherokee wives. For the trader, the marriage opened up new markets, with his Cherokee wife providing both companionship and entry access to items such as the deerskins coveted by Europeans. For Cherokees, intermarriage made it possible to secure reliable flows of European goods, such as metal and iron tools, guns, and clothing. The frequency with which the British reported interracial marriages among the Cherokees testifies to the sexual autonomy and political influence that Cherokee women enjoyed. It also gave rise to a mixed-race Cherokee population that appears to have been far larger than the racially mixed populations of neighboring tribes...

GLAD THANKSGIVING WISHES

NATIVE AMERICAN COUNCIL OFFERING AMNESTY TO 240 MILLION ILLEGAL WHITE IMMIGRANTS IN US : MY OWN LITTLE WARPATH

CITYWORLD NEWS - NATIVE AMERICAN OFFER AMNESTY TO MILLIONS  full article

EXCERPTS

The Native American National Council will offer amnesty to the estimated 240 million illegal white immigrants living in the United States....

“We will give Europeans the option to apply for Native Citizenship,” explained Chief Sauti of the Nez Perce tribe. “To obtain legal status, each applicant must write a heartfelt apology for their ancestors’ crimes, pay an application fee of $5,000, and, if currently on any ancestral Native land, they must relinquish that land to NANC or pay the market price, which we decide.

“Any illegal European who has a criminal record of any sort, minus traffic and parking tickets, will be deported back to their native land. Anybody with contagious diseases like HIV, smallpox, herpes, etc, will not qualify and will also be deported.”

***

When I saw this headline I thought it was a joke.  And I'm still not sure it isn't.  I think it was meant as humor or jest.  I realize it was said to make a point.  The worst thing about it is Anti White Racist.  The kind of Racism that is politically correct these days.

So here's the thing.  I'm one of millions of American's whose ancestors did not own slaves, were not slaves, were not Native American, and did nothing to move or otherwise kill Native Americans.  Yes I am sure.  My bloodline wasn't here early enough to participate. 

So where did this fellow get his figure of 240 million?

What does he plan for the millions who are part Native American by blood?  Will they get a discount?

Will we all have to present our genealogies to some Native American council to prove we have nothing to apologize for?  (Did you know that the Nazi's expected people to turn over their genealogies to prove they had no Jewish blood?)

I've read around and took a college course or two about Native American history and culture and spirituality and know enough to know that all tribes were not - as they seem to be today - united.  In fact some of them battled each other historically, often for resources.  Early settlers who were farm steading and pioneering were, in general, shocked by Native American tactics which seemed excessively brutal compared to the European standards of battle at the time, which felt almost gentlemanly to them in comparison. An example was that some Native Americans killed not just men who were not at war with them, but women and children in attacks that spread fear across the land. 

I've read about the Trail of Tears; one family I researched for had ancestors who were both marched and pointing the guns, as well as some who hid in the hills because before 1840 they were already intermarried with Natives.

It's a stereotype to think that Native Americans were all smoking "peace pipes" and getting along because they were not.  That is all newish as is the New Age adoption and interpretation of the religious beliefs of various tribes. There were more tribes with variant cultures in California and the resources were so good that they seem not to have fought each other for them but some tribes were famous for stealing from other tribes.  And now with gambling and casinos legal on reservations there are issues arising about who can benefit.

When someone tells me they are Native American I ask WHAT TRIBE(S)?  Because I still want to help and direct them towards the best resources for them.  If someone tells me that they want to prove their Native Americaness in order to get tribal benefits including casino rights, I will do my best, but I know that it may take more than the documentation.

Who is Native American and on what basis is now also challenged by DNA tests.

I have no "ancestral crimes" to apologize for here in the US and besides the Biblical "sins of the fathers" warning, I'm not sure ANYONE is responsible for ANYONE ELSE's SOUL - Behavior - or Crimes, unless maybe were talking parents being responsible for their children. 

But let's say that you're doing your genealogy and you find out that someone whose blood flows through you was a criminal back in the day.  They were arrested.  They died in prison.  There is nothing you can do about the past but try to learn from it and try to do better.  I've met those people who unveiled a family secret, that someone killed their wife - domestic violence - or that they were a Nazi.  I even worked with one woman who was pretty sure that she was the result of a Nazi breeding program.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT NOW?

I've helped Native Americans with their genealogy and also have helped White people who know or suspect they are part Native American - even before there was DNA tests.  I've reached out to tribes for help on their end for others who want to track family history and rarely gotten any response.

The question of diseases is also controversial.  I've heard it repeatedly that Whites deliberately killed off Native Americans with smallpox.  This is part of something that can be considered anti-White racism even if it is repeated by college professors with agendas or even printed in some bad books. 

I've heard Whites don't get and die of smallpox and were thus only carriers.  That they went as far as to give Native Americans blankets full of the disease.

THIS DOES NOT HOLD UP SCIENTIFICALLY nor BY DOCUMENTS.

Some of my own White ancestors in the European Country of Hungary are documented to have died of smallpox.  There were horrible killing epidemics there and in other "White" countries.  I've seen Church records of all sorts of epidemics sweeping through Europe... you turn the page and dozens are dying off - cholera - typhus. A village of 200 houses and 50 people are dead in a month or two.  Let's remember the misunderstood plagues.  Medical science is still trying to figure out the flu that killed off millions in the early 20th century.  My own ancestors were spared that though they said that ALL THEIR NEIGHBORS LOST AT LEAST ONE FAMILY MEMBER.  They credited that a priest had blessed their house and marked the door.

There were also smallpox and other epidemics that killed White European people in early America, including the Philadelphia of our founding fathers.  PEOPLE WERE SO FRIGHTENED OF CATCHING IT THAT THEY WOULD ABANDON DIEING FAMILY and come back only after they were dead to bury them.  Ignorance about disease was prevalent then.  We know so much more now.  And with our scientific knowledge we should reconsider repeating this ignorance. Yes, people who have never been exposed to a disease before are often going to die from it, with no "natural resistance" at all.  We await "natural resistance" to Ebola!

C 2015  Ancestry Worship Genealogy - All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

WHERE HAVE MY NATIVE AMERICAN ANCESTORS GONE ON THE CENSUS? : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

This is in answer to a question posed to me about proving Native American affiliation, in this case Apache. The person asking the question tells me that she was raised in an Apache home but finds no evidence genealogically, including on the census that her family is Apache.

My answer:

You are right. Not all Native American families were listed as Native American on U.S. Census. Depending on the census they may be listed as White or Black. In one family that was at least 50% Native American I found all children but one listed as White and the one listed as Black. At first we thought there had been an adoption. Simply this child was darker skinned than the rest.

Your family may not have reported themselves as Native American and even then, the tribe is rarely listed, unless it is a census that covers a reservation and considering what life on a reservation has been, why wouldn't a family want to live off it? More and more card carrying means registered with the tribe as in living on a reservation.

I think a DNA test or two would be a good start. Many people have been surprised to find out that they have the ethnic DNA of another group despite their appearances or upbringing. For instance, one family that I researched had one member out of dozens who in the 1800's married a Native American Cherokee and went to live on what became a reservation with him, their children thus showed up on Cherokee roles, and today that family is dismissive of their Scottish and Welsh and French Huguenot ancestors because they were not raised in that culture. Someone else I know, a blond blue eyed woman who had been told that her family did not discuss Grandpa's Native American origins, tested as Native American, but was not at all raised in that culture. She took pride in this though, and got involved in Native American interest groups and events but is not trying to claim affiliation.

That said, scanning for Apache genealogy research information on the web, I came up with several sites, some of which had inactive links. Among the questions one must try to answer is WHY APACHE? (It seems several groups are under this tribal name.) I'm linking to a good one that has a very interesting clue: this one is called CHIRICAHUAAPACHE and this is what it says:

The NATIONAL ARCHIVES BRANCH IN FORT WORTH TEXAS has one of the largest collections of American Indian genealogy materials, much of which is on microfilm. For a complete list of holdings write: Chief, Archives Branch, Federal Archives and Records Center, P. O. Box 6216, Fort Worth, TX 76115. Most of these records are full of family history details such as both Indian and "English" names, sex, degree of Indian blood, names of family, guardian, tribal and "band" affiliations, residence and occupation."


You should approach your research as anyone with any American heritage would. That means don't depend on the U.S. Census. You should try for church records because sometimes there are notations on them, including addresses between census. Military records may hold an answer because there were sometimes special troops comprised of all African-American or All Native American persons, and sometimes there will be notations on them. Approaching the tribe itself, asking them if they have records (or memories) of ancestors, is sometimes helpful, but don't be surprised if answers are slow or not coming. Tribal groups often rely on volunteers, tend not to be interested in getting DNA tests, and sometimes do not want to spread casino wealth around.

What about school records? Did anyone attend an "Indian school" or "mission" school or church?

Check back in with me once you've done more research!

BRYAN SYKES DNA USA : SO GLAD I READ THE BOOK! WHAT I LEARNED

Earlier I mentioned reading the latest Bryan Sykes was on my agenda. Well, I read it, and it was a terrific book, at once a travel adventure by a British man first time across the USA by train, as well as what I've come to expect from Sykes; a DNA adventure.

One of the most interesting things I learned about DNA is that these day's science can tell you that your liver came from your African DNA (and the tribe) while your heart came from European (Celtic maybe). As a result, medicine may some day be more accurate in prescribing medications or treatments based on genetics that may not be obvious looking at you.

Something else I learned was more relevant to GENEALOGY. You see, proving Native American ancestry is something that so many people want to do these days. Used to be that people hid their "Indian" heritage for many reasons, including discrimination. Sykes takes about the willingness of many Americans - White and Black - who want to find out if the family rumors are true. Others, however, are sure they do not want DNA tests because... well because it might prove they do not have enough Native American ancestry to retain their tribal rights, especially to casino money.

In one case a tribe threw out a couple hundred members who were African American, these people took the test and came out between 6% and 30% native American. However, Sykes points out, the remaining members of the tribe don't want to take the same test and find out they are also less than entitled.

Over all, this was a terrific book.

I highly recommend it, and hope to find the time to read all the previous books he's written about the subject!