CHEROKEE NATION CITIZENSHIP - A POLITICAL HISTORY by AARON KUSNER : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BOOK RECOMMENDATION

This is an excellent book to read if you're interested in the Cherokee, the Cherokee Republic, and the twists and turns of what it was and is to have Cherokee Nation citizenship.  I'll be posting a few excerpts this month from this book, but I encourage you to get a copy because it's packed full of information.  A key question about tribal membership is this issue: Is it BLOOD AS ANCESTRY or is it BLOOD AS CULTURE?

The Cherokee are one of the native tribes that has government recognition from way back and numerous members to this day. They are counted on the Dawes Rolls. From the days of the mountain men, the trappers and traders, and then the ministers coming into the country, there have been intermarriages between Cherokee and persons of European descent. (One of the most famous, because of his writings, was James Adair.) While it is understood that many a European married a Native American woman, many a Native American man married an European settlers.  In the mid to late 1800's there were also "White squatters."

This book covers historical changes in tribal recognition that includes the cultural movement from a matriarchal society to one influenced by patriarchal world views, by the government of the United States and by Protestant Christian ministers. It shows that racism, in particular against slaves and Freedmen, had its impact on who gets to have a tribal identity.  Cherokee did hold slaves, and I know that this truth has been denied in college classrooms, but I've found that on census.  

Clan affiliation and a more communal view of responsibility to others and changes in attitudes about war and much else, including marriage, may confuse things further, as each of the 64 Cherokee towns had different cultural notions. As author Kushner states,  while some couples stayed together for life, polygamy was practiced and "divorce" was at will by either party. (What this means is that children being raised by a mother with several men as fathers to her children might actually be raised within a Clan due to the inter-dependence of Clan members, but some of the children might not have the same blood quotient or tribal identity.)

This book reminded me of my first big genealogy assignment because the person's heritage was in North Carolina, a state I knew nothing about at the time, and the Central to Western portion, where there were also Melungeons - then a mystery. On page 26 of this book is the mention of a Cherokee story that taught values and "Kanadi" which translates to "Lucky One." Faintly and badly written on a census was a marriage between one of his not-direct ancestors and a woman with this name. However, it had been interpreted as Canadi, Canada, and Kennedy.  On one census, one of his relatives with a large family, had three children identified as "Negroes" and a family photo did show these children to be darker than the others.  However, I came to think that they were actually all partially Native American. This was before DNA tests... but now that there is ...

I will be posting excerpts in the next weeks from this fascinating book that I hope will be of help to those of you interested in Native American and Cherokee Genealogy and family history!

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HISTORYGEO.COM GENEALOGY DATABASE REVIEW : THE CHEROKEE ALLOTMENTS IN OKLAHOMA ARE EXCELLENT #2

https://historygeo.com/  The database I used was within a genealogy library. This link may not bring up THE CHEROKEE ALLOTMENT Oklahoma link... If not, do see if your library subscribes to this database!

Ross, Carlisle, Miegs, Newton, Jordon....

Tehee, Rattlingourd, (See Range 22-east)

Walkabout

Bearpaw

Pigeon

Hazelwood

Wood

Star

McClure

(If you know your Cherokee history some of these names will be familiar to you...)

MOST OF THE NAMES ARE ENGLISH - AMERICAN - but that's OK. If you know the surname and you want to check out the Cherokee who were moved to Oklahoma, there is abundant possibility here...

The state map is sectioned into ranges and the land ownership by Cherokee is indicated by parcel size. The boundary is also shown between the Cherokee and the Creek Nation which you will see at Muskogee County  (See Range 19-east)

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HISTORYGEO.COM GENEALOGY DATABASE REVIEW : INTERESTING HISTORICAL MAP COLLECTION #1

https://historygeo.com/  There is a surname function.

There are many tourist maps on the Internet today and various sources for old maps including National and local archives. But I thought I'd give his database a try while at a genealogy library.

Maps made about the time they lived in a city, town, village, hamlet are the best.

I love to take genealogy writing a bit further, to include some understanding of where our ancestors lived, which is a whole lot about how they lived.

The Landowners Project is ongoing and to be honest, the area I was interested in was not (yet) included.

We can see if our ancestors lived near a river, a school, a cemetery, a church, or a factory - maybe where they worked. We can see if they lived in a single family home (house) or a townhouse or rowhouse, or perhaps a hotel. (The name of the school, cemetery, church or factory can link you to school, cemetery, church, or employment records.)

We can link census with address with a map. We can use landowner maps to also seek out deeds and inheritances, land grants, squatters rights.

Sometimes we can link the old map with the new, or an address with a Google Street View or Google Earth.

I used the HISTORICAL MAPS for an area I grew up in. I looked at 1850, 1862, 1890, and 1898.  All in the distant past, long before I grew up there. But I could see the names of the landowners had become the names of the streets and roads. It was interesting when a property was listed as "so and so's heirs" and when the creek showed up with an actual name. Also listed were stores, parsonages, and then where the railroad came through...

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES OFFERS STUDENTS GRADE 8 OR ABOVE VOLUNTEER HOURS - TRANSCRIBE HISTORICAL DOCUMENST

NARA CITIZEN ARCHIVIST PROGRAM 

Will you be the one to transcribe the records of "Colored Troops" in the Civil War?  How about Family Data Cards from the Bureau of Indian Affairs? Or the names of nurses who served in the Red Cross?

1950 CENSUS SPECIAL COUNT OF NATIVE AMERICANS : INDIAN RESERVATON SCHEDULE

 Those of you who are interested in tracing your Native American ancestry may find that the 1950 census is helpful to you because there was a special INDIAN RESERVATION SCHEDULE on April 1, 1950.The enumerators wrote out the information on Native Americans on the regular census forms. THEN THEY ALSO FILLED OUT THE INDIAN RESERVATION SCHEDULE. 

1950 was not that long ago - only 72 years. Which means that some of the Native Americans counted on this census may be your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents.

Some people want to know if they have Native American heritage because they wish to claim some government benefits and become members of a tribe.  Now, exploring this, I've always been told that tribes already know who the members are and how important it is to be 'card carrying' and even how important it is for a woman to have a baby on the reservation in order to be recognized by a tribe. When I've written to tribes to ask for their help so that a person who believes they do have a right to be part of a tribe can be acknowledged, I never get an answer.

I once belonged to a Native American interest group and some of the people there told stories that there were rumors in their family that a certain grandparent or great grandparent was Native American but then they also were warned that person did not want to talk about it. 

I've also encountered on old census families that were counted who had some children listed as White and some Black - because of their darker skin. When I saw family photos of those children it was clear to me that they were not African-American.  What was going on?  It was thought that it was better to be listed as Black than Native American, prejudices being what they were in some parts of the country.

DNA tests are often proving that Native American rumors are also often not true when African-American's get tested. That I heard out of the mouth of the famous Louis Henry Gates. What is going on? I guess just the opposite.  Some people thought having Native American ancestry was a plus

Let's look at this opportunity to learn more.

THIS IS THE LINK TO THE FORM USED HISTORY HUB (NARA) GOV FORM P8 1950 CENSUS

They want to know if that person HAS PARTICIPATED IN ANY INDIAN 'CEREMONIES' in 1949!

They want to know if the house they live in is made of logs or brick!

What is the blood quotient!

What languages are spoken?

AND WHAT OTHER NAME IS USED!

Obviously, the answers depended on some cooperation...

*******

UPDATE posted March 25, 2021 :  On April 27th the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES WILL POST A VIDEO ON USING THE P8 Indian Reservation Schedule of the 1950 Federal United States Census on YOUTUBE.  This is a free mini class and is part of a series of videos to watch. 

UPDATE April 3, 2022  I spent about an hour looking at this special census yesterday.  Here is my commentary: On the main search page, there is a special search feature to look into this census. The cards will come up by reservation that was counted, so you will see reservation names. It will be helpful if you know the name of a reservation. It would also have been helpful if the census bureau or NARA had listed the tribal name(s) aligned with each reservation.  However, with the internet we can do a little extra research.

There is also an option to search by state.  I suppose this is because some reservations spanned states borders that one sees on maps. Of course, you can start out with surnames if you have them.  I checked three reservations, which to my surprise, had very few families listed.  In each case I saw what I would consider to be English or American names - not surnames or given names that would stick out as "Indian." This made me wonder if some families had been missed. 

I know from previous experience with "Indian counts" that some families did not trust the government and managed to avoid being counted. This has come up for people of Native American ancestry now who would like to prove tribal affiliations for government an also casino benefits or shares.  I do wonder if that is what happened in some cases during this 1950 census. If some families were simply not cooperative.  Another thing that might have happened is that the enumerators did not know where on a reservation to look for or find families. This happened in every census in rural areas.

One sample I looked at had every family member speaking English only.  However, the question about participation in Indian Ceremonies in the previous year had them all participating...

I WILL POST A BIT MORE ABOUT THE 1950 NATIVE AMERICAN SITUATION SOON.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DAY / COLUMBUS DAY

Officially now Indigenous Peoples Day * in the United States of America, not everyone is going to forget this was the day that Christopher Columbus was celebrated as the discoverer of America.  These days there's an awareness of possibilities that the land mass across the Atlantic was discovered or visited by other seafaring people as well. This morning as I did an internet search there were many posts such as "is the post office open on Columbus Day" as evidence of this.

If you use the search feature on this blog, or click on the tag below "Christopher Columbus" you will find other posts including a review of a documentary film I saw that was very convincing.  A film by the History Channel called WHO REALLY DISCOVERED AMERICA is quite interesting.

An article from SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE Smithsonian Magazine blog : Focus on Indigenous People and Conservation

THE GHOST INSIDE MY CHILD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT FILM REVIEW

THE GHOST INSIDE MY CHILD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT FILM REVIEW

The title is bad.  Wrong. These are not ghost stories.  These are stories of children who have had spontaneous past life recall.  The editing is overly sensational.  I hate the close ups that reveal every pore.  I hate the glowing red eyeballs.  Really, the editing and production that was inclinded to raise the hair on our heads cheapened this series.  I wasn't scared.  Nor should you be.

Ignore all that.  Reincarnation is natural.  It's human nature.

And it's a message all of us who fear death need to hear.

This series features one interesting story after another, most of which include the parents or some other person doing research to verify that such a person existed.  And no, for you skeptics, the girls don't all remember being Cleopatra and the boys don't all remember being Harry Houdini.  Hey, some of these children are a different race, ethnicity, or gender this time around.

Remembrances in Season One and Two include, the memory of being a fighter pilot shot down during World War II, the memory of being a girl whose family was killed by Indians - later she was traded to a more peaceable tribe, the memory of a girl who died in Hollywood during the Silent Film era at age 14, an actress who probably died after an abortion - so many others!

In many cases, the children go to the place they remember living or dying, or at least a museum - which often helps them let go and get on with this life.

So, despite my recommendation - should anyone producing this series be reading - that you cut the silly boo-hooey - I suggest that watching this is worth your time and if you aren't familiar with reincarnation will be a wonderful introduction. 

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POLAR VORTEX FREEZES ME INTO PLACE

Here in Southern California, few people actually have the appropriate outer wear for cold, rain, or snow.  So it's kind of funny to be having coffee at a coffee house near a transportation hub, nice and warm inside, see the rain pouring down outside, and watch all the people who have used plastic trash bags to fashion rain-coats of sorts or who are holding plastic bags over their heads, racing down the streets. 


Umbrellas are sold here, particularly by enterprising street venders who buy some wholesale downtown and head out.  They are mostly made in China and good for one storm, one blast of cold air.  Then they turn inside out or break off and go into the trash bins.


It's been raining off and on for a couple days, and I'm seeing men outside without hats or  umbrellas, without sweaters or jackets.  I'm seeing women who have matching hats and scarves; they must have them stored away for years for the opportunity to wear them!


Maybe you can appreciate that we endured weeks of above average temperatures - in the nineties and the hundreds - this past summer, and that means that when it goes down into the forties or fifties we've experienced a temperature crash.  I'm OK with the outside temperature in the 60's but one recent morning at five, I needed to take my very patient dog outside already, and it was thirty seven degrees and windy.  There was black ice on the street.  I was creaking.  Steam came up from under the dog as she went.


THAT'S COOOOLD. 


But I promised I wouldn't complain about the cold when it was too hot out.


On the news, the POLAR VORTEX, the reason for this FREEZE.  I looked at the map and long underwear sales must be fierce in much of the United States.


I think of our ancestors who came to the states from the cold and remained living in the cold, as if cold was their heritage and their inheritance.  Seems like many of these people were bodily acclimated to cold weather.  Did they really not notice it?  Not mind it?  Were they just sturdier people?  I think of Native Americans.  I think of Colonials.  I think of dwellings without insulation or central heating.  Hovering near a fire place.


For me, this stretch of rain and cold just makes me want to burrow in.  If I could, I'd be cabin bound.  Instead I'm doing a little more decorating, baking, sewing, and crocheting, than usual.


Happy Holidays to All My Readers!

BUFFALO BILL : ENACTING HISTORY - EMPLOYING NATIVE AMERICANS : PBS HOME VIDEO

Interested in learning a bit more about American History this summer?  I just learned a lot I didn't know about Buffalo Bill and his Wild West shows.


First this PBS HOME VIDEO:

Actual moving pictures of Buffalo Bill's show - in Europe!

I had no idea that the show went on for decades or that the troop toured Europe, with American's cowboys and Indians (i.e. Native Americans, not just people acting as) there to do dramatic renditions of American History, such as Custors Last Stand, or how well regarded William F. Cody was.

To Europeans America was considered quite strange.  Though in the shows the White man usually won over the Native Americans, the Indian Horse Riders and others who toured with Buffalo Bill liked him. 

After being entertained, ticket holders could go visit them in their show-side encampments, which brought them a little closer to understanding Native Americans as people.

Bill's personal life was in shambles but in the end he retired with the original wife he had married in his youth, a woman who still loved him though she'd threatened divorce since he had been so rarely at home.  In his later years Bill wasn't much interested in show business but his years of being Buffalo Bill was so much part of his life and fame and reputation, he could never really separate himself.

PBS : BUFFALO BILL - WILLIAM F. CODY Read more about him.

AUTRY MUSEUM of THE AMERICAN WEST  A great place to learn more about our American Western Heritage, Native Americans, and showman like Bill. (Artifacts from his shows in a gallery.)

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EUROPEAN DNA - THREE DISTINCT TRIBES MIXED including THE NORTHERN EURASIANS

BBC-SCIENCE - EUROPEANS DRAWN FROM THREE ANCIENT TRIBES by Paul Rincon

EXCERPT:

Blue-eyed, swarthy hunters mingled with brown-eyed, pale skinned farmers as the latter swept into Europe from the Near East.

But another, mysterious population with Siberian affinities also contributed to the genetic landscape of the continent.

The findings are based on analysis of genomes from nine ancient Europeans.
Agriculture originated in the Near East - in modern Syria, Iraq and Israel - before expanding into Europe around 7,500 years ago.

      

Multiple lines of evidence suggested this new way of life was spread by a wave of migrants, who interbred with the indigenous European hunter-gatherers they encountered on the way.
....

When the researchers looked at DNA from 2,345 present day people, they found that a third population was needed to capture the genetic complexity of modern Europeans.

This additional "tribe" is the most enigmatic and, surprisingly, is related to Native Americans.
Hints of this group surfaced in an analysis of European genomes two years ago. Dubbed Ancient North Eurasians, this group remained a "ghost population" until 2013, when scientists published the genome of a 24,000-year-old boy buried near Lake Baikal in Siberia.

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AUTRY WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM - CIVIL WAR and the WEST - EMPIRE and LIBERTY

THE AUTRY - OFFICIAL SITE

Just went to see a terrific exhibit - three hours in the hall - where I learned so much more about our American history, how complicated the question of slavery was throughout what would become our nation, back in the day when half of it was still territory, in dispute.

So here's a little story.  Twenty or more years ago it was still not acknowledged, despite the documents that genealogists would find, not even by some college history professors, that some Native Americans had slaves.  I myself found documentation proving this in a western county of North Carolina, but it just wasn't acknowledged.  A research friend of mine actually went to a professor at a college in Florida where he had once attended to discuss his findings and was told to his face that this had "never happened."

But this exhibit admits it.  Even the Cherokee chief John Ross had slaves.

Could it be that people did not see much difference between a slave and chattel labor?  It seems so.
In fact, the very poor who survived through chattel labor were in a class only slightly higher than a slave and individual circumstances being what they were, might not have actually been better off.  They might not have been "owned" the same but their living conditions could be deplorable.

I had not known that coal miners also hired and imported immigrant labor where men were put under contract to work.  I'd known about servants who came into the early colonies and worked years to pay off the price of their ticket, but didn't know this happened in the mid 1800's during the Gold Rush.

Also up for going against stereotype:  Prostitutes in the Wild Wild West, often depicted as willing and having a great time of it, when it's known that sex trafficking went on.   (I've known about the situation in San Francisco with imported Chinese women and children, often put in cages and locked underground, even given the tools to commit suicide once they became infected with VD, but somehow I bought the movie depictions of White Women going west for the opportunity to make money the only way they could among the gold miners.)

A simply amazing array of  historical objects, paintings, proclamations, and other museum-worthy items are on display, along with some diary narratives read by actors at the touch of a button that give various perspectives.

****

This brings up the USE OF DIARIES and NARRATIVES in your genealogy an history research.  Some of you may know about the SLAVE NARRATIVES that were collected by the WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION which are on a searchable database.  Additionally, you may find narratives in other places, such as written narratives available through FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS, as well as some military related documents.  WILLS can also be a form of NARRATIVE.

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ANTHROPOLOGY, ARCHEOLOGY, BURIALS, MUMMIES

Anthropology is one subject I love.  I love learning how the human developed culture, how cultures spread, and DNA is enhancing our understanding of human migration, ethnicity, and race.. 

I love knowing this life I lead is so much of the times.  Can I even really imagine the world of my great grandparents?  The ancient Greeks?  The life of a tribe in the Amazon?  Well, could they in their lives imagining air travel or rock and roll?

With anthropology we can try on what it was to live in another time and place, since we cannot yet actually TIME TRAVEL for a look-see.  But besides living there is dying.

Along with Anthropology, there is Archeology (digging evidence up and applying scientific methods and analysis to it), the two often going hand in hand.  One of the things that the Anthropologists and Archeologists look at is BURIALS.

Burials tell us so much about the person, the people.  The posture they are buried in, if they have a shroud, if there are tools or jewelry buried with them, or perhaps their pet cat...  if they were laid into the earth, had stones put on top of them, had a carved wood casket, were embalmed, had ordinary clothing on or were naked, and what direction they - and others in that graveyard - were facing; all of this telling.

One time I asked an Archeology professor, if so many millions of people had died on this earth in the past, why were there not MORE burials, more evidence of their lives.  He said most people were not buried.  They were cremated, or left out for the vultures,  or otherwise exposed.  Also many burials are now deep under the earth or the graves were robbed.  So when a burial is found and explored it can be a wealth of information.

Some of the more exciting burials I've learned about are in museums.  I saw an exhibit at the Getty in Malibu, California that had the painted cases that some ancient Greeks had been buried in, though living in Egypt.  Each had a painting of the person's face, as to be remembered in life. This was a time and place burial, influenced by both Greek and Egyptian notions.

Then there are the burials found in Hungary in which the people inside beautifully painted caskets, many who had died of TB, were found to be naturally preserved mummies.  Scientists of medicine are studying TB through these mummies.

Take a look at the stack of beautiful coffins at this link VAC HUNGARY - NATURAL MUMMIES - NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Reading around these Hungarian mummies, I've learned that they are known people, for whom there are records, and descendants alive.

I don't know about you, but I personally do not think I would want to see any of my dead relatives  dug up so I could see what they look like, but did you know that a son of the Big Bopper,  the 1950's rock and roller who died in a plane crash, did just that, before having him cremated?

Can you tell that it's that time of year... that Halloween and All Souls Day are not so far away?

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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!

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OLDEST BABY BOOM IN AMERICA?

SCIENCE WORLD REPORT : OLDEST BABY BOOM IN AMERICA - NATIVE AMERICAN POPULATION

EXCERPT:

The researchers looked at a century's worth of data on thousands of human remains found at hundreds of sites across the Four Corners region of the Southwest. After studying these remains and the sites where they were located, the scientists were able to create a detailed chronology of the area's transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a farming society; stone tools revealed a transition from cutting meat to pounding grain.

Maize, or corn, was actually grown in the area as early as 2000 BC; yet it seems as if the people in the region were slow to respond. By 400 BC, though, corn provided about 80 percent of the area's calories. These new farming practices cause populations numbers to rise steadily until about 500 AD. Around 900 AD, populations remained high, but birth rates began to fluctuate. Then in the mid-1100s, one of the largest known droughts in the Southwest occurred. Spurred by this drought and other reasons, from the mid-1000s to 1280, conflicts raged across the northern Southwest.
While there were as many as 40,000 people in the Southwest in the mid-1200s, within 30 years it was empty.


*** 
I've toured this area of the South West and have also taken a college level class on Native Americans of California and the South West.  My professor has said that usually people who've been said to have "disappeared" have actually responded to situations like this by joining another tribe, often as the lowest class of people in that tribe.

A LOCAL HISTORICAL SUMMER VACATION! SPANISH AMERICAN HISTORY

I've been visiting historical sites. But I have to tell you that when I first moved to Southern California and met people who were born and raised here (people who seem to be in the minority) they told me that there was NO HISTORY HERE. 

How could that be?

Hadn't they been taught some American History or some local history in school?

So I set out to learn the history of California, of the South West, and of my local area on my own.  I toured adobe houses, missions,  museums, and learned about what had been torn down via books.  Now I revisit some of these places.

First there is the history of Spanish Mission building.  There is also the history of Native American Tribes: California had so many natural resources that it was an area of diverse tribal cultures.  Then there was the Rancherio period; Spanish Land Grants which were later divied up.

One of the most interesting things I learned was that during the Spanish Land Grant and Rancherio period, before there was that surge of immigration from the east coast west, a few explorers and adventurers made their way west.  Most of these people were men, they were often Scottish, and when they MARRIED INTO SPANISH FAMILIES THEY BECAME CATHOLIC AND SPANISHIFIED THEIR SURNAMES.

Over the next couple posts, I urge you to learn your local history, especially as it becomes your family history at one point or another!

NATIONAL ARCHIVES NATIVE AMERICAN RESEARCH - LINKS!

NARA NATIVE AMERICANS LINK

I noticed that my post on proving Native American ancestry has been getting a lot of hits, so I thought I would post this helpful link which leads to lots and lots of other informative links including Dawes Rolls and Guion-Miller Roll as well as Census Enumeration of Pueblo Indians, 1790-1939.

THESE ARE SPECIAL COUNTS OF NATIVE AMERICANS separate from the NATIONAL CENSUS or STATE CENSUS.

So... What if you think you have Native American ancestry but no known member of your family is "card carrying" members of a tribe with reservation rights?

I may have said it before, but it's worth repeating.  Census records are the backbone of American genealogy but everything you read on them may not be right and when it comes to "color" or race or ethnicity, what you see written down may be the word of the reporting individual (hopefully a family member but sometimes a neighbor) or the opinion of the census taker.

I've seen someone called Black or Negro when living in the American South who was called White in Chicago.  I've seen large farm families who proved to have a Native American ancestor with one child called Black and the rest called White - and across the street another farm where they were all listed as Indian.

We can learn about the niche specific attitudes about race and color and ethnicity from this though, can't we?

ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHIN : CAVE OF NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN WHO LIVED ALONE FOR 18 YEARS ON SAN NICHOLAS ISLAND

LA TIMES - ARTICLE BY STEVE CHAWKINS "CAVE OF POPULAR HEROINE FOUND AT LAST?

"By 1835, the few Nicoleños left were struggling. Whether motivated by compassion or a need to increase the ranks of mission laborers, Franciscan fathers from the mainland sent a ship for them. All but one made the trip to the mainland aboard the Peor es Nada, loosely translated as "Better than nothing."

The holdout came to be known as the Lone Woman. According to legend, she jumped overboard and swam for shore when she frantically realized that her baby had been left behind. Less romanticized theories hold that she told the captain she'd show up with her child but a sudden storm forced him to shove off without her.

What's known is that a solitary woman lived in the sand and fog of San Nicolas for the next 18 years. On the mainland, her legend grew. A time or two, fishermen reported seeing a fleeting figure on the deserted island. In 1850, a padre at the Santa Barbara Mission commissioned a sea captain to find her."

I read the book as an adult and found it to be a fascinating read.  The story of a woman alone for 18 years on an island who was rescued and died 7 weeks later has captured my imagination.

C 2012

NATIVE AMERICAN IMAGE : WHAT TRIBAL AFFILIATION?

Can anyone help identify this picture for me? What tribe? What dance?

BOOK EXCERPT: MAYFLOWER by NATHANIEL PHILBRICK

MAYFLOWER
A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Viking Press
C 2006 Nathaniel Philbrick

Massasoit was a local Native American leader. In this scene of the book he is dying. Edward Winslow visits him...

pages 144 145

"Winslow began to examine the interior of the sachem's mouth. it was "exceedingly furred," and his tongue was so swollen that it was little wonder he had been unable to eat anything. After scraping the "Corruption" from his mouth and tongue, Winslow fed him more of the preserves.

"Massasoit may have been suffering from typhus, probably brought to the village by the recently departed Dutch traders. Spread by infected lice, typhus was known as "pestilential fever" in the seventeenth century and was most common in winder and spring. Typhus thrived In the crowded, unsanitary conditions typical of an Indian or, for that matter, English village of the time, and there were also several other Pokanokets (the tribe of Massosoit) suffering from the same disease. According to a modern description of typhus, symptoms include "fever and chills, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, muscle ache and delirium or stupor. The tongue is first coated with a white fur, which then turns brown. The body develops small red eruptions which may belled." In severe cases, the morality rate can reach 70 percent."

Winslow fed him fruit preserves and this lead to Massasoit's recovery!

CANNIBALISM HEADHUNTING and HUMAN SACRIFICE IN NORTH AMERICA by GEORGE FRANKLIN FELDMAN : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW

CANNIBALISM  HEADHUNTING and HUMAN SACRIFICE IN NORTH AMERICA by GEORGE FRANKLIN FELDMAN

GEORGE FRANKLIN FELDMAN's book is "a vivid account of the barbaric practices of both native Americans and European explorers and colonists."

At a time when New Age Spirituality seems to have taken on an interpretive view of Native American beliefs, it seems a relief to get back to historical reality, and that is that many Native American tribes practiced cannibalism, headhunting, and human sacrifice, often in war, sometimes in religious ritual. Covered are the Taensa and Natchez, the Calusa and Timucua, the Skidi Pawnee (they sacrificed 13 year old girls to their Morning Star god), The Iroquois, The Chippewa, Nootka, Kwakiutl, Yuki and Their Neighbors in California (where they didn't cannibalize but thought their enemies did), the Comanche, the Apache (Fierce enough to keep the Mexicans and the Spanish away for 300 years), and White Scalp Hunters.


The evidence is not just in the early explorer's diary, or anthropological study - though that's included, but in the latest in testing the physical evidence or bones, skulls, and most interestingly, human excrement which shows that human beings were eating human beings. While in some places and times this might have been the result of famine and drought, we learn that tribes warred with tribes, taking prisoners, slaves, and torturing captives before killing them and that taking scalps as trophies escalated when prizes for scalps were offered. Black hair being black hair, many humans innocent to various wars, died when their scalp was taken. So much for that New Agey idea that Native American paganism was essentially peace driven or that "Indians" had a sense that the earth was to be shared, rather than fought over for resources.


C 2008 by the author

The publisher is Alan C. Hood and Company Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

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