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Red, White, & Black:
Tracing Multiple Blood Lines
If you have roots in the
American South, chances are there is at least a rumor, if not a definite
tradition, of mixed blood somewhere in your family tree.
Of the many factors that
set the South apart from the rest of the country, one factor of particular
importance to genealogists is the historical juxtaposition of the three
major ethnic groups who occupied the land: Europeans, Africans, and Native
Americans. While this last group lived in virtually all parts of North
America and came in contact with the white man almost from the moment he
first stepped ashore, only in the South do we find the close association
and interaction of all three cultures on a numerically significant scale.
For the family historian, this can create some difficult situations.
For those of you curious
about such matters, you first need to understand how these three groups
engaged each other and how their relationships might have produced
evidence you can now uncover. I realize this may not be the kind of advice
that everyone wants to hear. If you have read previous "Toolkit" columns,
you know this writer is not a fan of the much-used "shotgun" approach to
genealogy--that is, the strategy of quickly "cutting to the chase" by
searching as many indexes and databases as possible in hopes of sooner or
later hitting on a particular name of interest. Instead, I am a great
believer in first developing an historically accurate frame of reference
for the people you are pursuing. This has the distinct advantage of
narrowing your focus to the world in which your ancestors actually
lived--the only world in which you can hope to find them.
In the case of multi-racial
bloodlines in the South, there are three possible combinations you might
encounter as you work back in time: European and African-American,
European and Native-American, or African-American and Native-American. For
Caucasians, much has been written about the first two combinations,
particularly about white males who had children by female slaves or by
Indian partners. Far less attention has been paid to the third possibility
(non-Caucasian unions), even though it was not as uncommon as you might
assume. For our purposes here, we are going to discuss those people living
today who have two things in common: (1) they are predominantly white or
black, and (2) they are looking for Native-American forebears in the
South. Happily, if you fall within this group, there are two "tools" I can
recommend to assist you in your search.
Let's start with the white
side of the equation. If your roots are primarily European but you believe
you have an Indian link in a Southern state, you need to know about a book
called Tracing Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes--Southeastern
Indians Prior To Removal by Rachal M. Lennon. This book falls squarely
in the category of serious genealogy. That is, it goes to great lengths to
give you the kind of historical background you will need to conduct
research with some realistic chance of success in this very specialized
area.
You probably already know
the five tribes in question--Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, and
Seminole. You probably also know that the word "removal" in the book's
subtitle is a reference to the mass relocation of Native Americans from
their homelands in the South to territories west of the Mississippi River,
beginning in the 1830s. But you probably don't know how each tribe's
culture can (and should) affect how you conduct your inquiries. For
example, Ms. Lennon cautions that the "Southeastern Indian's concepts of
kin, family, and relationships differed in significant ways from concepts
of Judeo-Christian origins. Therein lie the roots of many genealogical
problems. Among the most fundamental are ones involving identification of
clans and tribes, terms to describe relationships, and taboos that limit
both oral and documentary sources."
Ms. Lennon makes the
interesting assumption that you are probably looking for your "Grandma's
Grandma"--that is, for a female Native American who was born before the
Civil War. If that's the case, prepare yourself for a little shock. As Ms.
Lennon explains:
"Obviously, if Grandma's
Grandma appears repeatedly as a 'white' and 'ordinary' wife and mother in
everyday records of the American past, the odds of her being full-blooded
Indian are virtually nil. She was more likely at least two or three
generations removed. If Grandma's Grandma was indeed born in the
mid-1800s, then the genealogist may need to extend the family line to the
early 1800s, to the pre-Revolutionary period, or even to the 1600s, before
the full-blooded Indian is found. This would particularly be so among the
Cherokee."
Ms. Lennon also points out
that the person you are seeking might not be female. "While odds favor
Indian female-white male couples, the assumption of one begs trouble. Any
number of instances can be documented in which white females married
Indian males, usually within an Indian village. The Cherokee censuses of
1825 and 1828 reveal that roughly 30 percent of all mixed marriages within
the nation were those in which the wife was white and the husband was
Indian."
Tracing Ancestors Among
the Five Civilized Tribes does not overlook the other scenario in
which we are interested: the possibility that some of today's
African-Americans may also have Native-American blood. As the author
notes, "Runaway slaves frequently sought refuge in Indian villages. Some
were returned by the tribes, some were not. Some were enslaved by the
Indians, others were allowed to remain as free, and some of the enslaved
ones were ultimately manumitted by their red masters. Other blacks were
introduced into the tribes by the Indian traders, some as slaves, some as
wives or concubines. Manumitted slaves and mulatto children of the traders
were frequently absorbed into the tribes, particularly among the Creek and
their ethnic kin, the Seminoles...."
At the same time, Ms.
Lennon says, "Black-Indian assimilation also occurred when isolated
communities of free blacks or mulattoes merged with remnants of Indian
tribes. North Carolina's Lumbees and Virginia's Gingaskins, Nansemonds,
and Nottaways illustrate just how deep into colonial history one may have
to delve to identify the specific ethnic origins of multiracial families."
Ms. Lennon's book points
you to numerous kinds of information for investigating Indian lines in the
South. Curiously enough, she concludes that the "greatest obstacle to
pre-removal research has been not a dearth of records but the breadth of
available resources." This should come as especially good news to the many
genealogists who feel they have all but exhausted their options for
tracking Native-Americans.
Those of you of African
descent who are trying to trace an Indian connection should also be aware
of another book pertinent to your efforts: Black Indian Genealogy
Research--African-American Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes
by Angela Y. Walton-Raji. Unlike Rachal Lennon, Ms. Walton-Raji focuses
primarily on the "post-removal" period in Southeastern Indian
history--that is, the period from about the 1840s to the early 20th
century when the Five Civilized Tribes were struggling to survive in the
western territories. As bizzare as it may sound, some of these people took
their slaves with them on "the trail of tears."
As one example, Ms. Walton-Raji
cites the Choctaws, who "began purchasing large numbers of black slaves"
prior to removal and subsequently developed various customs regarding
their control and treatment. By the 1850s, following removal, "one can
find articles [in a bilingual Choctaw newspaper] pertaining to the
practice of slavery and the value of slavery to the tribe. It was also
common to find in this paper a good number of ads about runaway negro
slaves in the Choctaw nation."
The Civil War obviously
changed all of this, not just for white plantation owners in the South but
for Indian slave-holders in the West. Ms. Walton-Raji describes the lives
of freed blacks in the Indian Territory and the problems many of them
faced trying to gain legal parity with Native Americans. Blacks with
Indian blood were especially oppressed. To claim government benefits,
former Indian slaves had to differentiate themselves from freed Southern
blacks by establishing their association with one of the Five Tribes. Ms.
Walton-Raji explains how to use government records to document such
associations.
For more information about
the two books recommended here, you can contact their publishers, as
follows:
Tracing Ancestors Among
the Five Civilized Tribes
(Hardback, 156 pages, $24.95)
Genealogical Publishing Company
1001 North Calvert St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
800-296-6687
www.genealogical.com
Black Indian Genealogy
Research
(Paperback, 167 pages, $20.50)
Heritage Books
1540 Pointer Ridge Pl.
Bowie, MD 20716
800-398-7709
www.heritagebooks.com |
