Friday, May 31, 2013

A Partial History of Corn in Southwestern Oklahoma


           Corn: A Food Native to Southwestern Oklahoma
            More than one co-worker at a former job told me corn has little nutritional value. I don't believe it. Although I am mostly Caucasian, a small part of me is American Indian, too. My heart sank just a little upon hearing this. Corn has always had a special place for me. I remember my father telling me that during the Dust Bowl when he was a child -- they often had little or no food. I do recall vividly on one occasion Dad saying were it not for corn bread and pinto beans, his family would have starved to death. Maybe he was exaggerating, he could have been -- I am not certain -- but those are words he DID use when speaking to me on one occasion, about the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. He said there were days when the only foods were corn bread and pinto beans, and this alone sustained them. If they ate meat, it was a cotton tail that they’d shot or a cat fish they’d caught. I wondered if this alone sustained them, how could it be that corn is of little nutritional value?
            Since I am from Southwestern Oklahoma, and my ancestors have been here (on one side of my family anyway) a good long while, I thought I’d write a little something on the history of the first domesticated vegetables and meats found here, focusing on corn.
            Foods Grown by the Wichita Indians
            The first people known to history to have lived here were the Wichitas, Wacos, Taovayas, Tawakonis, and Kichais. Today, these peoples are known collectively as the Wichita. Some histories erroneously refer to them as “Pawnee” or “Pawnee Picts”. The Pawnee lived much further North and East. They were called “Picts” because they tattooed themselves as had early people of Scotland, who were also known as Picts. The Wichita predated the Comanche’s in this region by centuries. The Kiowa came still later. The territories of these three tribes overlap in southwestern Western Oklahoma.
            The earliest stories of the Wichita refer to the great gift corn gave to the people.
            "After the man and woman were made they dreamed that things were made for them, and when they woke they had the things of which they had dreamed . . . The woman was given an ear of corn . . . It was to be the food of the people that should exist in the future, to be used generation after generation." [Tawakoni Jim in “The Mythology of the Wichita”, 1904 ]
            From the same website we see --
            Archaeologists believe that the heritage of the Wichita’s may be traced back at least 800 years to the Washita River culture of central and western Oklahoma. Living along fertile valleys, these people resided in small villages of rectangular, mud plastered houses. Nearby were small gardens where women tilled and weeded corn, beans, and squash with hoes of buffalo leg and shoulder bones. Buffalo, elk, deer, and small game were hunted. Wild plants were collected for foods, medicines, and rituals. Tools were made from readily available stone, wood, bone, and antler. Between A.D. 1350 and 1450, some Washita River people began to build larger villages with circular grass houses, some of which were fortified.
            Hoes were made of buffalo shoulder and leg bones. Corn, beans and squash were cultivated.
            "Here they lived the woman fixing up the place, building their grass lodge and shed to dry meat. They lived here a good long while, the woman remaining at home, the man going out hunting every day. They always had plenty of meat, and the woman raised corn, so they had plenty to eat." [Niastor in The Mythology of the Wichita, 1904]
            When first encountered by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1541, the Wichita’s were following a way of life that continued into the eighteenth century. Near their large grass house villages, women tilled their gardens while the men hunted buffalo and other game. Coronado’s scribe wrote of the Quivera [Wichita]: All they have is the tanned skins of the cattle they kill [ buffalo], for the herds are near where they live, at quite a large river. They eat meat raw like the Querechos [the Apache] and Teyas [the Jumano]. They are enemies of one another . . . These people of Quivira [Wichita’s] have the advantage over the others in their houses and in growing of maize .
            On the Wichita’s own home website, they say of themselves --
            The Southern Plains is a land of seasonal changes with spring thunderstorms, hot summer days, and cool but dry winter months. The Wichita’s adapted to this environment and reaped abundant harvests from the land by farming and hunting. During the spring, summer, and early fall they lived in grass house villages while the women cultivated nearby gardens. Crops were planted together in the gardens. Each summer, beans climbed the stalks of multicolored corn, and green leafed squash or "pumpkin" plants spread their vines over the ground.
            As summer days shortened and crisp fall mornings dawned, women preserved their harvested corn by roasting and drying it in the sun. Pumpkins were cut into long strips and also sun-dried before being woven into mats which could be folded and stored for later use. The dried corn and pumpkin were used in meat soups or boiled for side dishes. Cornmeal was made by grinding dried corn with a wooden mortar or grinding stone. This cornmeal was then made into bread. Pumpkin mats were often traded to the Comanche’s or Kiowa’s for dried buffalo meat. Preserved foods were stored in buffalo-hide bags in underground cache pits until they were needed later in the year or when the harvest was poor and food was scarce.
            During the late fall and winter, the Wichitas left their villages for extended buffalo hunts. Living in tipis with family members camping near one another, the men tried to bring in enough game to provide meat for later seasons. Women prepared the meat by thinly slicing it and hanging it to dry in the cool winter's sun. Afterwards, the meat could be transported and stored in buffalo-hide bags for future use. Through the cooperative efforts of both men and women, the annual economic cycle began as the people returned to their summer villages.
             The Catalyst for the First Meeting: The Story of First Dragoon Expedition
            An unnamed commander (not named on the historical marker) was Jesse Bean. He was commander of troops that came from Independence County, Arkansas, and they were called "Bean's Ranger's". Two first cousins (James and Jarrett Wayland) of a direct ancestor (Sarah Wayland 1819-1857) of mine were mustered into Bean's Ranger's, and thus participated in the First Dragoon Expedition described below. Records of this expedition can be found online with respect to the Cutthroat Gap Massacre. The Osage massacred many Kiowa, and this expedition set out to prevent a greater war between the Plains Tribes, as well as an effort to secure friendship of the Indians. No American expedition had made at concerted effort to make contact with Southern Plains tribes -- this was the first. The next reference of food eaten in Southwestern Oklahoma is during this expedition.
 
OKLAHOMA -- Peace on the Plains. About 5 mi. S. E. Wichita Village in Devils Canyon was scene of first meeting between U. S. and Plains Indians in Oklahoma to promote peace, July 21, 1834. U. S. Dragoon Regiment under command of  Col. Henry Dodge accompanied by other officers and civilians including Capts. David Hunter and Nathan Boone, 1st. Lt. Jefferson Davis, Ex-Gov. Montford Stokes, N. C. and George Catlin, artist.
          
             http://www.blogoklahoma.us/Marker.asp?id=117
            The above is a link to the Osage massacre of the Kiowa at Cutthroat Gap, near Saddle Mountain in the Wichita Mountains, Kiowa County, Oklahoma. This event was a catalyst to the Dragoon expedition to make contact with some of the Southern Plains tribes. Inscribed in the historic marker is the following. I report this event with all due respect to the souls lost on that day.

Cutthroat Gap Massacre
The Cutthroat Massacre site is approximately 2.5 miles east of this marker. In the early summer of 1833 the summer before "The Stars Fell" an Osage war party attacked an undefended Kiowa camp.
The camp of Islandman, a' d' ate Principal Chief of the Kiowas, consisted of women, children , the elderly, and a few warriors. Most of the warriors were on a raid against the Utes , while others were hunting buffalo. The Osage tracked Islandman's band from Saddle Mountain through the mountains to the camp site early one morning. The Osage raiders struck the camp. The Kiowas surprised and outnumbered were unable to organized a defense. The few warriors tried to hold the Osage back to allow the women and children and elderly to flee. There were many courageous acts of bravery in the camp. It has been estimated that 150 Kiowas were killed. Kiowa warriors found the camp destroyed and decapitated bodies laying where they had fallen . Before leaving the Osage put the heads of there victims in camp cooking pots. They took the sacred Tai-me Medicine Bundle, two captives, a boy named "Thunder" and a girl named "White Weasel" and many horses. Thunder died during captivity. White Weasel was returned to her family in 1834 by the First Dragoon Expedition. For allowing the camp to be surprised, the disgraced Islandman was removed as Principal Chief To-hau-san was chosen to replace Islandman and served as principal chief from 1833 until his death in 1866. Little Bear recorded the massacre on his calendar. It was known to the Kiowas as "the summer that they cut off their heads". The site of the massacre later became known as "Cutthroat Gap" Later Chief To-hau-san with the assistance of United States Indian agents negotiated with the Osage tribe for the return of the Tai-me Medicine Bundle. While To-hau-san was chief the Kiowas resisted all efforts by the United States to pacify them and it is said that he never lost a battle he fought with the United States Cavalry.
Oklahoma Historical Society
Kiowa Historical Society
            So as a result of the above mentioned massacre, the United States sent a troop of Dragoons from Fort Gibson, near the Creek/Cherokee Nation border, to meet with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Indians. The Wichita grew the corn mentioned above.
            On July 21, Dodge and the remaining men reached a Toyash Village (Wichita Indians) at Devils Canyon. There, Dodge exchanged prisoners, traded, and secured peace treaties with several of the Plains tribes. The expedition returned to Ft. Gibson August 15, 1834.
            Devil's Canyon, in present-day Kiowa County, Oklahoma, was the site of the first formal contact between the United States government and the Plains Indians. On July 21 1834, US troops under the command of Col. Henry Dodge escorted government officials to a peace conference at the Wichita village on the prairie at the confluence of the canyon and the North Fork of the Red River.
            Today Devil’s Canyon is at the Southern tip of Quartz Mountain State Park and I believe part of it is on privately owned land. I am not certain if it is part of the State Park or not.
            Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 3, No. 3, September, 1925; THE JOURNAL OF HUGH EVANS, COVERING THE FIRST AND SECOND CAMPAIGNS OF THE UNITED STATES DRAGOON REGIMENT IN 1834 AND 1835. CAMPAIGN OF 1834  Transcribed From the Original and Edited BY FRED S. PERRINE With Additional Notes BY GRANT FOREMAN
            This town is situated on the head of Red river [note: this is incorrect -- it was on the North Fork of the Red at Devil’s canyon] their lodges are about four hundred in number they are made by placing smal [sic] poles in the ground coming to a point at the top covered over with thatched [sic] grass; they are about sixty feet in circumferance [sic] warm and comfortable with a small hole at the top for the smoke to assend [sic] There is about twelve or fifteen persons to a lodge their village was surrounded by large patches [sic] of corn and (34) manny [sic] other garden vegetables common to a civilized people such as water mellons[sic] cucumbers Beans peas &c.—
            Note:  This Wichita town being described was actually on the North Fork of the Red, and not the Red itself. It was located at the southern end of Quartz Mountain State Park about 15 or so miles North of Altus. There is a historic marker to be found -- take the Quartz Mountain and Lone Wolf exit north of Blair. Then before you get to the river, take the Mangum exit. A short distance down the road you’ll see the historic marker mentioning this Wichita village.
            Note the mention of corn, beans, cucumbers, watermelons, and peas being grown by the Wichita Indians. Another record tells that the Wichita also provided the soldiers with wild plums.
            They gather around us in great numbers admiring the many curiosities of the white people The [women] bring in roasting ears mellons [sic] green pumpkins squashes &c which they trade to us for buttons tobacco strips off our cloths shirts and many other articles we had to dispose of (I have seen a good cotton shirt sell to [women] for two ears of corn.)
            July 22 This morning large numbers of the Indians came into our encampment shook hands in friendship and appeared verry[sic] much gratified to see us.—During this day a number of us visited their town. We were treated with distinguished marks of friendship and hospitality we were conducted into their lodges and mellons [sic] corn with some dried Buffaloe [sic] meat neatly served up and set before us; we were invited to eat sumptuously [sic] which dish (although not verry [sic] clean) was verry [sic] thankfully received as we were on the brink of starvation having nothing to eat save what we got from those Indians .
            So the first American Military Unit to make contact with the tribes of the Southern Plains and is recorded to history as the First Dragoon Expedition --  were saved from “the brink of starvation” by local Indian who provided them with corn, dried buffalo, squashes, melons and plums.
            This military expedition was saved from “the brink of starvation” by the local Indians. So Western Oklahoma could be said to have had our own original “Thanksgiving” celebration then, I suppose.
          Family Stories
            Moving forward in time, an ancestor of mine wrote a little about our family. During the Dust Bowl, there was a project called “Indian Pioneer Papers” -- to get old-timers to describe what life was like living in Indian Territory in the early days before statehood. Elderly people were sought out or volunteered and to tell about their youth,  so this era wouldn’t be lost to history. My great uncle said a little something about food.   Quoting him, Living was pretty hard for us as we were poor and the land had to be cleared and broken before we could plant or grow any crops. Everything had to be hauled by wagon from Nocona, in Montague County, Texas [note: they lived near where Duncan, is today, in the Chickasaw Nation] and the roads were only wagon tracks with no bridges on the streams to amount to anything and the bridges which were built would wash away every time there was a flood on the river or creek.
            At first we depended for our food mostly on rabbits, squirrel, fish and other small game. These animals furnished us with meat and we raised a little corn on land which we were able to clear out.
            I have heard my parents tell of a few other foods they ate as children. I was told wild sage was gathered in the fall and used to season pork and other meats. I believe it was also used in a similar manner as we use incense, to make the house smell better. I remember hearing of wild plums and pecans growing on the creek beds of all the streams. I know mother said the wild pecans were like a third crop for them (besides cotton and wheat). There is a local weed that grows all over the place called lambs quarter -- it can be eaten as a green, but needs to be boiled twice and the water thrown out. I have eaten it and it is much like any other green in flavor.
           Conclusion
            Corn today is eaten in many varieties -- roasted or boiled right off the cob, canned as a delicious vegetable. You can dry it in the hot sun for long term storage. Dried corn can be boiled where it becomes hominy. Hominy can be ground and boiled, becoming  grits to be eaten as a hot cereal. Dried and ground as corn meal for the making of 2 kinds of bread -- corn bread and a flat fried “corn tortilla“ or as “corn chips“. It can be eaten as a cold cereal such as “corn flakes” and eaten with milk, or as a hot cereal such as grits. We also have the “corn dog” -- corn meal surrounding a hot dog. Don’t forget one unique variety – pop-corn, that can be eaten as a snack at home or at the movies. Is there any vegetable as versatile as corn? I don’t think so.
            Coronado recorded in 1541 that the local Wichita Indians raised “maize”, another word for corn. The Wichita say they traded corn and pumpkin with the Comanche and Kiowa for dried buffalo meat. Since the Kiowa and Comanche raised no gardens, the three tribes seem to have had a sort of symbiotic relationship, all living in the same geographical area. The earliest American expedition in this part of the country was said to have been saved “from the brink of starvation” -- by Indian corn. When my ancestors moved here in the 19th century one of the first things they raised was corn, to supplement their diet. Dad said corn bread helped save his live in the 1930s in the heart of the Great Depression, locally known as the “Dust Bowl".
            I know I haven’t proven there is any nutritional value in “corn”, but then I haven’t looked for proof of it. I hope I have shown how corn helped sustain the local Indians and even my parents during hard times they endured when they were children.
            So although people say corn is not loaded with nutrients, it must contain some nutrients. Many people have in times past, considered it so beneficial that they think it might have saved their lived from actual starvation -- from the indigenous peoples, to the first American military expedition in this part of the country, to my parents during the Depression of the 1930s. The history of our dependence on corn is fairly well documented. Few vegetables are as versatile as corn. It can be boiled and eaten as a vegetable, it can be roasted over a flame ears intact. It is a cereal hot like grits or cold like corn flakes, a bread, and there is even a variety that is “popped“ -- all being delicious with a little butter, salt and pepper.
            I hope I’ve made you appreciate how vital corn was to our earlier American pioneering families as well as our Native populations. Cultivation of corn sustained many generations of American pioneers from our earliest days to the present. It is a distinctly American food.
            I would like for more local people as well as our visiting guests from military families to learn more about the importance corn once held for our society. I hope this makes you hungry enough to go to the store and purchase a few fresh ears, get out the barbecue, and try roasting them. Maybe I’ve made you hungry for some fresh corn bread hot and steaming, fresh out of  the oven, topped with a little butter. I hope so.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Carlson 8 -- Citations


Citations and Conclusions
*short introductory message*I am not finished with this section -- but it is more complete than not. When this *short introductory message* disappears I will be finished. But I still may have left something else. If you see something I have left out, please email me at vhawkins1952@msn.com.
Carlson cites 1,622 sources. All my efforts have barely scratched the surface of what he had to say, and I have been working on this project about three months.
There are two main reasons that have compelled me to place a small portion of his efforts online. One is constant harassment by people who think their Malungeon ancestors were Portuguese. Their position has constantly shifted. People who used to say the Melungeons were “Portuguese” changed their position to be willing to admit they were Portuguese and Indian. Now they are reduced to grabbing at straws, and if they find a single Portuguese anywhere in Virginia or the Carolinas, they pint to him and say, “He was the ancestor of all the Melungeons”, without proof, and their only evidence is that he was recorded by someone long ago, as passing through the American South in Colonial times. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs. Even if one day a link is made with a single Portuguese to the Melungeons, one individual hardly makes an “association of Portuguese Adventurers”, as Dromgoole put it. More recently the DNA testing has proven there is an African component in the mix as well. Now that cat is out of the bag as well, it makes it less and less likely that there is any Portuguese element at all.
My second reason for this project is that some people misunderstood the results of the Melungeon DNA Project. They falsely concluded that there was no strong American Indian component in the mix. Doctor Carlson’s results show that there would have been no mixed race people called Malungeons, had it not been for the American Indian component. This needs to be more commonly known. There is a paper trail from the Saponi Indians at Fort Christanna in Southeastern Virginia to the doorsteps of the known Malungeon families in Southwestern Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee. As wily coyote stalks his prey, so Dr. Carlson has sniffed out little known documents dating from the time period in question.
He shows us the path taken by the Saponi/Catawba remnant bands down to the present day. I remember as a child we’d visit a cousins home in the country. They had 160 acres and a creek ran through it. There wasn’t much water in it, but there were trees meandering along the length of the creek. A cousin and I would walk down to the creek, and call his dog, named “Mister”. That dog was amazing. We’d try to fool him by going around one tree 3 times clockwise, go around another then come back to the first time and go around it twice counterclockwise, make wild variations in the path we took, and then sit on 100 feet away and just watch. That dog was amazing. He’d follow the EXACT path we took, going clockwise 3 times around that tree. Later come back to it and go counterclockwise the same number of times we did, and eventually, with his nose to the ground, walk right up to us. Had he looked up he could have seen us earlier I suppose, but I always thought it was ‘magic’ he found us at all. To me, Dr. Carlson’s work rivals the efforts of Mister, and I say this as a great compliment.
Each weekend I have been transcribing a little here and there from Dr. Carlson’s work. I finally got finished only to realize there was still a lot of work to do. Dr. Carlson cited so many sources. So this weekend, Memorial Day weekend, I have been going over those transcriptions, and have been adding references, citations, at the appropriate locations. I have left his original numbering just to show the vast amount of research required on his part. Also it shows just how much I have left out. What I have presented is just the tip of the iceberg. I couldn’t add everything. I have probably missed some of the citations, but I suspect I have nearly all of them.
Well, here are the citations. I created 7 blog entries, and here are the citations mapped to those seven.
When I have time, I’ll add where these citations come from – please be patient. Thank.
Abbreviations
Carlson uses abbreviations throughout. Here are a list of the abbreviations he used that I have referenced. If I have used a citation once, I have not repeated it a second time when it is used again. “[n. d.]” meaning “no date” is used on a few occasions.
Carlson 1
Carlson, Richard Allen, Jr.: 1998a “Exploring the Enrollment Event of D. W. Siler, and Other Moments in the Cherokee Diaspora: The Racial State, Colonial Momentum and the Eastern Cherokee in the Nineteenth Century”. Unpublished Paper presented at the Fourteenth Annual International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Congress of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va. July 26, 1998 on file at the Michigan State University Department of Anthropology Library.
Worden, William L. 1947. “Sons of the Legend”, Saturday Evening Post, October 18:28+.    à [perhaps a typo?]
VSA-OCOB: Virginia State Archives, Orange County Order Book
VHS-OLAS: Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Volumes 1 and 2. Edited by Brock. Richmond, Virginia, Virginia State Historical Society.
John Fontaine: 1972; The Journal of John Fontaine: An Irish Huguenot Son in Spain and Virginia, 1710-1719. Edited with introduction by Edward Porter Alexander. Williamsburg, Virginia: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
WMQ: William and Mary Quarterly, Series 1-3, Williamsburg, Virginia: College of William and Mary.
VMHB: Unknown at present
CVSP: Calendar of Virginia State papers, 1652-1869, W. P. Palmer et al., eds., Volumes 1-11. Richmond (1875-1893).
Byrd, William. 1928. A Journey to the Land of Eden and Other Papers. Macy-Masius, Vanguard Press.1967, William Byrd’s Histories of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina.. Introduction and notes by William K. Boyd and New Introduction by Percy G. Adams. New York: Dover Publications.
6.] Carlson, 1996, Carlson 1998, Carlson 1999.
39.] Worden 1947, 29; Carlson and Everett, 1995.
67.] VSA-OCOB Roll 31; 309; January 1743; Grinnen 1889-1890; Scott 1907, 56.
115.] VHA-OLAS V2:63-65. March 13, 1713. Spotswood to Bushop of London.
116.] Ibid.
117.] VHS-OLAS V2:52-55; March 18, 1713. Spotswood to Earl of Dartmouth and Lords Comm’rs of Trade.
133.] Fontaine 1972, 98
136.] VHS-OLAS V2: 158-159. May 23, 1716; August 1716; and November 27,1716; VHS-OLAS V1:41. September 17, 1716.
137.] WMQ V3, Ser. 2:40-45. Journal of Lt. Governor’s Travels and Expedition: “The Spotswood’s Mileage Accounts”,entries dated May 1716; July 9, 1716; and November 27, 1716; VHA-OLAS V1:41. September 17, 1716.
150.] Documents of Colonial History New York, V5: 673; VMHB V12:343-347, April 1, 1723. Journal of the Virginia Executive Council; VMHB V12;343-347, April 1, 1723
151.] VMHB V12:343-347, April 1, 1723. Journal of Virginia Executive Council, referring to the proceedings of December 12, 1722.
181.] CVSP V1: 215. Sept 1728.
210.] Byrd, 1967, 120.
Carlson 2
MHB: unknown at present
Mitchell, John. 1993. Map of North America. [reprinted in Cummings, 1958].
Cummings, William P., 1958. The Southeast in Early Maps; With an Annotated Chick List of Printed and Manuscript Regional and Local Maps of Southeastern North America During the Colonial Period, Princeton University Press.
Alvord’s Comments: unable to find at this time.
Kegley, Mary B. and Kegley, F. B. 1980/1982. Early Adventurers on the West Waters of Virginia in the Pioneer Days. Volume 1 and 2. Orange, Va. Green Publishing Company.
VMHB: unknown at present
Gregg, Alexander. 1867, History of the Old Cheraw. , Continued Account of the Aboriginees of Pee Dee, 1730-1810. New York.
Lewis, Ernest. 1951. The Saura Indians 1540-1768: An Ethno-Archeological Study”. Master’s Thesis, University of North Carolina.
Merill, James H. 1985. The Indian’s New World: Catawba’s and their Neighbors From European Contact to the Era of Removal. University of North Carolina Press.
Mooney, James. 1891. The Sacred Formula of the Cherokees, Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institute.
NCSA: North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, N. C., File No. T. O. 105.1, Orange County. N. C., Tax List.
Kegley, F. B., Kegley’s Virginia: The Beginning of the Southwest, Roanoke oof Colonial Days, 1740-1783. Roanoke, Va: The Southwest Virginia Historical Society.
Houck, Peter W. and Maxham, Mintey D., Indian Island in Amherst County, Lynchburg, Va.
Davis, Rosalie, 1981. Louisa County, Virginia Tithables and Census 1743-1785. Privately Published by author.
Elder, Patricia Spurlock 1999. Melungeons, Examening an Appalachian Legend, Blountville, Tn.: Continuity Press.
EAID-TL: Early American Indian Documents- Treaties and Laws 1706-1786 (1979 Washington D. C. University Publications of America.)
V 1: Pennsylvania and Delaware treaties, 1629-1737. Donald H. Kent, ed.
V 2: Pennsylvania Treaties, 1737-1756. Donald H. Kent, editor.
V 4: Virginia Treaties, 1607-1722. W. Stitt Robinson, editor.
V 5: Virginia Treaties, 1723-1775. W. Stitt Robinson, editor.
V 15: Virginia and Maryland Laws, 1607-1789. A Vaughn and D. Rosen, eds.
V 16: Carolina and Georgia Laws. A Vaughn and D. Rosen, eds.
233.] MHB V35:267-268. October 22, 1729. Virginia Council Journals – Council Orders.
234.] Mitchell’s Notes and Alvord’s Comment’s, n. p. 1755; Kegley and Kegley (1938); 11.
240.] VMHB V35:267-268. October 22, 1729;Virginia Councils Journals.
241.] VMHB V35:267-268. October 22, 1729; Virginia Councils Journals.
247.] Descriptions of Sara/Cheraw history is provided in Gregg (1867), Lewis (1951), Merrill (1985), Mooney (1894).
266.] VSA-OCOB Roll 31: n. f. n. May 12, 1742; VSA-OCOB Roll 31:309. January 1743; Grinnen 1890:189-190); Scott 1907:56.
267.] VMHB V 14:224-245. Petition of Alex’r Maurchtoon, BSA-OCOB Rolls 30:and 31.
268.] VSA-OCOB Roll 30; n. f. n., 1740; Scott 1907:56.
269.] Ibid.
270.] VSA-OCOD Roll. 31: n. f. n. May 12, 1742.
274.] NCSA-RBCOM. 2.4-132-n. August 22, 1743. Gooch to Colonial Office.
285.] Kegleys 1938; Houck 993, 31-35; “General Map of the Middle Brittish Colonies and the Country of the Confederate Indian”,by Lewis Evans, Second Edition, 1755, Philadelphia. Not far south of the Nassayn on the James were a number of “Monacan” Indians who frequented the trading posts of hughes and his wife Nikketti (a Pamunkey woman), or the post belonging to their mixed blood son Davis who opened a new post about this time on Peddler’s River. Thre very likely was a personal interaction between these Monacan, the Powhattan mixed blood traders and the Christian Saponi during the mid-1700s.
286.] Davis, 1981, 157, Liousa County Court documents, entry dated , June, 25, 1745. Also shown living here and concealing tythables were men named William Hall, Benjamin Brannum and William Donothan. I have yet to confirm these men’s conection to the Christian Saponi, but at least two probably were white men connected through intermarriage. The Branham surname becomes common among the Monacan Indians of the region later in the century, suggesting a genealogical connection between the Christian Saponi and the Monacans existed during this era. The Benjamin Brannum charged here with concealing tithables on the afore mentioned 1745 list was apparently a white man who had lived in the county since at least 1745. Benjamin married a daughter of Gilbert Gibson. See Hauck (1993), and Elder (1999),, for more in depth discussions on the Monacan Branham families.
287.] EAID-TL V4: 152, Act of May 9,1723. This act was revised in 1748 and held until 1777. For a discussion of the complications involved in interpreting old tax lists like these, see Carroll (1996: 5).
Carroll, Cornelious, 1996. How to Use Tax Lists. Harold, Ky.

-- start here --
Carlson 3
289.] See NAM M805-355: 55-62. January 19, 1839. Revolutionary War Pension Application of Charles Gibson.
293.] Cumming (1958); Plate 57, “A Map of the Inhabited Part of Virginia 1751 [1753], by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson; “General map of the Middle British Colonies and the Country of the Confederate Indian”, by Lewis Evans, second edition, 1755, Philadelphia; Bowen (1752): A New and Accurate Map of the Provinces of North and South Carolina &c” n. p.; John Mitchell, Map of North America, 1755.
299.] Bowen (1752); A New and Accurate Map of the Provinces of North and South Carolina &c” n. p.
300.] Revealing problems one encounters in colonial cartography, Mitchell’s map does not reflect that Orange County had been formed from Granville 2 years prior.
301.] See Documents Related to Indian Affairs, SC 1958, 454. Proceeding to the Council Concerning Indian Affairs,, July 23, 1753; Robert Steel to Gov. Glen.
310.] EAID-TL V4: 105, 366.
312.] Extract of Lunenburg County, Va, Tax List, as cited in Carroll (1996): 16.
314.] Elder 1999, 223, 323. Like the Sizemores, Moses Ridley’s own tribal heritage remains unknown. From this information one might assume that the Riddle’s and the Sizemore’s were of the same tribal affiliation, although one can not say for sure. It is thought by some descendants  today that Moses may have been the father-in-law of Tom Collins Jr. (see Blackburn et al, 1988: 5).
315.] NSCA File no. T. O. 105.1: 1755 Orange Co., NC, Tax List.
316.] This name “Mager” may be a misspelling of “Micager”. However, it too could be a misspelling of “Major”, referring to a commission like the earlier “Captain Tom” up in Orange County over a decade before.
317.] NSCA File no. T. O. 105.1: 1755 Orange Co., Tax List.
338.] OCNC-AMCPQS: 66. Minutes, February [n. d.] 1761. Ogle vs. Ben Bolin.
339.] For example, see CRNC V7: 306. November 17, 1766. A bill to prevent hunting and killing deer . . .
Carlson 4
343.] CRNC V5: 141-144. August 12, 1754. “Treaty . . . Between Alexander Osborn and James Carter, Esq. Commissioners, and the Catawba Indians”; VMHB V13: 225-265. 1756. “A Treaty between the Virginia and the Catawbas and Cherokees”. See also CSRNC V11: 179-205, 1763. Minutes of Governor’s Conference (Fort Augusta) with the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Catawba’s and the Cherokees”. At that conference, King Hagler, the primary Chief of the Catawbas, represented the Catawbas and their several tribes or nations.
344.] Schoolcraft, 1853, Pt. 3, citing Col. Boquet’s “Warrior census of Indian Nations, 1764”, Cumming 1958: A COmpleat Map of North Carolina”, 1770 by John A. Collett.
352.] Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, V35, N3: 208-211. Delinquent Tax List of Botetourt County, Va., 1773, transcribed by Julia Case, and V 25, N1: 11-19. “A Tithable List for Botetourt Parish, Fincastle Co., Va., Ctb., Richard Slatten; Kegley and Kegley 1980, 35; Kegley 1938.
351.] WSA-DC-PVP, 3QQ64. July 13, 1774. Cap. Russell to Col. Preston. WSA-DC-PVP, [n. d. 1772].
353.] Ibid. Old Tom Collins, however, was not shown although other documents suggest he was in the area at that time. It may be that he was living far enough downstream on the New River to be considered in North Carolina jurisdiction that year (see Wilkes County, NC Land Entry Book 1012; June 9, 1770, deed of Hohn Livingston.). Kegley and Kegley (1980): 35, also lists people who had “runaway” from the county without paying their taxes, and included Charles and William Sexton, William Cox, the famous longhunter James Newman, and a number of men from the Blevins family. The Blevins would become intimately tied  with the mixed-blood Sizemore family after the Revolution.
357.] For an interesting perspective on the debates surrounding setting the Indian boundary line, in the Cherokee treaties of 1767/1768 and 1770 (the Lockabee Treaty), see VMHB V 12: 26; “Virginia and the Cherokees: The Treaties of 1768 and 1770”, which also contains correspondences and a copy of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. These Cherokee treaties fixed the Cherokee boundary line at the Laurel Fork of the Holston which divided Virginia from Lord Glanville’s property in North Carolina (see map 7).
Carlson 5
423.] NAM M685 R7-11: Misc. Testimonies, Sizemore Case, 21-22. April 1, 1908. Testimony of James Woody, Laurel Springs, NC; Jordan (1987): 144-145.
424.] See EAID-TL V5: 18-19.. Dec. 11, 1734. “Cherokee Seek Closer Relationship with Virginia, Tributaries, and Northern Indians”.
501.] See NAM M. 1104, R87 Appl. 8584, Wm. Blevins. NAM M687, Misc. Testimony, Sizemore Case 60-62, Marion, Va., Apr. 1908; Jorday 1987: 169.
503.] NAM M. 1104 R. 151: Appl. 16346, Feb. 1, 1907. Shepherd Cole, Gullett, Ky; NAM M. 1104, R253: Appl. 31699, Aug 6, 1907. J. M. Collins Brainard, Ky.; NAM M1104, R278: Appl. 35326. Sookey Nickles, Sublett, Ky., NAM M1104 R 253: Appl. 31696. Aug 1, 1907, Anderson Cole, Ivyton, Ky; NAM M1104 R252: Appl. 31624. Aug 1, 1907.
Carlson 6
39.] Worden 1947, 29, Carlson and Everett (1995).
189.] Byrd 1967: 29
195.] Ibid 17, 92
322.] Fontaine 1972: 28
983.] Burnett (1889): 347-349. Burnett was medical doctor and not a trained ethnologist, historian or anthropologist.
991.] Burnett (1889) 347-349.
994.] Cocke County borders North Carolina, and thus is actually closer to the White Top Band of Cherokee and the now defunct New River Indian Community. Burnett may have indeed encountered more people from White Top than from Greasy Rock while living in Cocke County, although families from both areas did occasionally hire out as laborers in the valleys.
997.] Ibid.
999.] Ibid.
1000.] Ibid.
1004.] Sider (1993), 75, 79, 82, 88, 170.
1007.] See Dromgoole (1891a, 1891b) in the Arena and her earlier articles published in the Nashville Daily American (hereafter cited as NDA) under the name “Will Allen”. See “Land of the Malungeons” by Will Allen. August [n. d.] 1890, NDA: P. 10; Will Allen Comes Back at Her Credics in Gallant Style” September [n.d.] 1890. N. D. A.: P. 3. “A Strange People: Habits, Customs, and Characteristics of Malungeons”, Sept. 14, 1890, NDA, P 10, C 5-6.
1008.] “A Strange People: Habits, Customs, and Characteristics of Malungeons”, Sept. 14, 1890, NDA, P 10, C 5-6.
1026.]  For example, see Wordon (1947).
Carlson 7
524.] War of 1812 enlisted East Tennessee Drafted Militia, as cited in AQ V3 N4: 7, Blackburn et al (1998: 7); Dromgoole, (1891), see chapter 15.
534.] Southwest Virginia Historical Society Archives – Map of Southwest Virginia, circa 1820. As per notes of C. S. E. and B. K. I have not yet personally seen this map as it has been misplaced or removed.
538.] Southwest Virginia Historical Society Archives – Map of Southwest Virginia, circa 1820. As per notes of C. S. E.
546.] Hawkins County, Tn., Land Plat Book, entry dated Nov. 6, 1937, as cited in [a.u.] 1990.
896.] See NAM M1104 R135: Appl. 13895. John B. Brummett, Jan 28, 1907, Denver, Co.; NAM M1104 R135: Appl. 13895. Emmaline Connor, Jan 28, 1907, Valley, Ok, with enclosures September 1, 1908, Misc. testimony taken by H. Ketron, Asst. Special Commissioner, and May 24, 1909, E. Connor to Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
899.] Interestingly, but not really surprisingly, the Civil War enlistment records do not show James as Indian, but as with most other Saylorsville Indians, simply describe the recruits physical charasteristics, which in James case was “dark complexion, dark eyes, black hair, farmer” (MCHS-LBG: 1630/ “James (Jackson) Shephard”, contributed by Dovey Cole Hobbs Alstrom.




Saturday, May 18, 2013

Genealogy


Genealogy
          I will be adding to this blog entry as I think of things. This is for starters.
I have done a lot of personal genealogy, and think I might be able to help others with theirs. The following is a process I go through to aid me in my research. Remember there are NO SHORTCUTS! It is long and tedious. Don’t accept other people’s data that you yourself have not verified. Remembe you MUST BE ABLE to map a person to a location during a specific timerfame. Remember there were many, many men named “John Brown” or William Smith! But there aren’t many Vardeman Collinses. Certain branches will be easier to swing on than others. Follow the path of least resistance if you can.
I.                  The Beginning
A.   To start with, ask the elders of your family about your family. Either write down what they tell you, or have them write it down. They will give you several leads to pursue.
B.   Obtain a copy of your own birth certificate, and the birth certificates of your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Go as far back in time as you can. Note when and where your ancestors were born.
C.   Also obtain copies of marriage and death certificates. This will also give more information, such as place of birth. Use these things to determine where your family lived.
D.   Find a copy of all the census records for the locations where your family lived, when they were living there. Follow this trail as long as you can. Obtain census records of your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, et cetera, as far back as you can go. These things will tell you where your ancestors lived, and when they lived there.
II.               County Records
County Records – the birth, death, and marriage certificates and license, and old census records will tell you what city, county, state or territory your family lived in. Look up the records pertaining to those regions, at the time your family was there. You might discover court records, land records, or your family member casually mentioned with respect to something you hadn’t expected. If your family member participated in some historic event, read up on that event. Go way beyond what you need to do. For instance if an old letter turns up where your great grandpa wrote saying if they needed protection from the law, all the peace officers had to come from Fort Smith in the 1880s, then read up on “The Hanging Judge”, Isaac Parker. Will this have anything to do with your family? It probably won’t, but it might. And it will give you some insight as to why your great grandpa would even think of mentioning that.
          Some churches document church membership very well, others don’t.
          If your ancestors were veterans of one war or another, find out where they served, what unit, when and were did they enlist and when and where were they mustered out of service.
          In all genealogy research, you MUST map a person’s name with dates and locations. These three variables must be known.
III.           American Indian Research
If you are looking for an American Indian ancestor, additional steps must be taken.
A.   Family Stories
Refer to your family stories. Do they say, literally, you have an ancestor from any particular tribe? Read about that tribe, its history, its relationship to other tribes, its wars, the locations and movements of the tribe and the dates it lived at each location. Does any of this match your family? Never forget family stories are NOT proven facts. My experience with them leads me to conclude that they are not accurate, but rather parts of them simply were ‘presumed’ true by our ancestors. The human brain is an amazing think. Where facts don’t exist, we very rationally try to fill in the blanks. When I was a young man, maybe 19 or 20 years old. I remember being asked what tribe my ancestors were. I realized I didn’t have a clue. I replied however, “Comanche.” Quickly my brain analyzed the question, I knew my Dad was born in Southwestern Oklahoma, and I knew the Comanche were from Southwestern Oklahoma. I wasn’t trying to deceive anyone. I made rational guesses, based on the best information I had at the time. I honestly thought there was a good chance that was true. I now know I was way off base. Some parts of family stories might be true and other parts might not. Our ancestors were NOT trying to be deceptive, they were just trying to fill in the gaps with the best information they had at the time.
B.   Rolls and Treaties;
The government keeps ‘rolls’ of all people defined as members of Indian Nations. Each Federally Recognized Tribe has its own ‘rolls’. If your family stories say your ancestors were from some tribe, go over the various rolls for that tribe.
C.   Mapping a Name to a Date and a Location.
Map the movements of your family, your family history, to the movements of the tribe in question. Did your family live in point ‘A’ during the same time your target tribe also lived at point ‘A’? Keep trying until you find a match. You might find more than one match.
D.   Historical Records
There are books about each tribe, some going back in time centuries. If you can’t find your family still, perhaps your Indian ancestor was centuries ago, back to a tribe that no longer exists. Also don’t neglect histories of individual counties where your family lived. There may be clues that are little known. There might be some local county historian who will say, “Person ‘X’, who was part Indian, . . ..”
And maybe that is ALL you will find. Learn your history, and learn it well. Some tribes are well documented back in time, such as the Cherokee. Others are barely known, such as the Catawba, despite records of them going back to colonial America. Be sure you try t find the ‘primary sources’ of the information found in old county histories. These were often written by amateur historians who didn’t cite their sources. Do the best you can to discover the original source of that is said. If you can find the original source, get a copy of it, and discover exactly what it was.

I once wrote the following about discovering Cherokee heritage. I, like many others once yjpught my Indian heritage ws Cherokee, and as far a I know, it still might be Cherokee, at least part of it might. Although it is written for Cherokee, heritage, it can be used for any tribe, or for any people, race nad nationality, as well..

Researching Cherokee Ancestry

There are several steps towards discovering Cherokee ancestry.

Step ONE

i.] Gather family stories. Learn the names, place of birth and dates of as many ancestors as you can through relatives. Write down all the family stories.
ii.] Obtain birth certificates of these ancestors to verify what you have heard. Record the information.
iii.] Use this data to check the county and state records of the place of birth of these ancestors. For instance if you have an ancestor born in Washington County, Arkansas in 1884, check probate records, marriage records, land records, and other useful documents on your surnames. Check the 1880 and 1890 census record for Washington County to see if your ancestors are recorded there.
iv.] Continue this process back in time as far as you can. Age and Place of birth is mentioned in census records back to 1850. So if your ancestor “John Doe” is on an Arkansas census in 1850, is listed as 44 years old, and was born in South Carolina, then start checking South Carolina census records for 1800 for the surname of a young family, or 1810, with a child the right age and sex.
v.] Check colonial tax, probate, and marriage records of you can. However if you can trace your ancestors back to colonial records, they might not be Cherokee.
Use this procedure as long as you can, to go back in history as far as you can in time. This is the end of STEP ONE.

Step TWO

Next check Cherokee records. Check Dawes, Guion-Miller, and Baker Rolls first. Does your ancestor appear on any of these rolls? Make sure the names, dates, and location of the person on Dawes, Guion-Miller or Baker rolls match with your ancestor’s information. For instance my great grandma’s sister was named “Sarah Ann Brown”. There is a Sarah A. Brown in Narcissa, Oklahoma on 1909 Guion Miller, age 41. She was accepted as 1/4th Cherokee. But if I look closer I understand if she was 41 in 1909 she was born about 1868. Great grandma’s sister was born 10 years earlier, about 1858. No matter how much I wanted them to match, they didn’t. But maybe we are related. Maybe checking the original record of what Sarah Ann Brown told Dawes or Guion-Miller roll takers would link our family to theirs.
There are many other rolls. Check them all. Some apply to Western Cherokee and other to those that remained in the East. If your ancestors are not mentioned in any roll dating back to the Emigration and Reservation rolls of 1818, then there is a good chance that no proof of any Cherokee ancestry exists.
If you find a match, your search is over. If you do not find an ancestor on any of the rolls, there is more work to do.

Step THREE

Step THREE consists of searching for “evidence” of Cherokee ancestry rather than proof of it.
FIRST, ask yourself the following questions.
i.] Do your ancestors have known Cherokee surnames? If your ancestors don’t have any Cherokee surnames, they are not Cherokee. If your ancestors DO have Cherokee surnames, this means we can not conclude that you are not Cherokee. If you do have Cherokee surnames, then proceed to “ii”.
ii.] Where did your ancestors live? Did your ancestors live in a location where Cherokee were known to live? If your ancestors never lived in a location where Cherokee lived, there is very little chance you have Cherokee ancestry. But if your ancestors DID live in a region known to have once housed Cherokee Communities, then proceed to “iii”.
iii.] When did your ancestors with known Cherokee surnames live in any region where known Cherokee lived? Did Cherokee live there the same time frame as your ancestors? If the answer to this question is no, perhaps it is a coincidence that you have Cherokee surnames living in this region where Cherokee once lived. If you can answer the above question “yes”, then keep searching. And congratulations. You have not proven Cherokee ancestry. But you have proven that your ancestors at least probably knew some Cherokee people, having lived in the same region at the same time.
iv.] Now follow this procedure for every generation of your known family. For example, if one generation in 1780 lived in NW South Carolina, the next generation in 1805 lived in NE Alabama, the next generation in 1830 lived in W Arkansas, and the next generation in 1855 is in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), then you have gathered a great deal of “circumstantial evidence” that your family followed the same migration route as the Cherokee for generation after generation.
Before you can perform the research points “i” through “iv” above, you will need to do both a.] family research and .b] research of the history of the Cherokee in that particular county. There are great internet sources for just about every county in the country. Use them.
Once you have finished this process, it is possible some bit of information you discarded early on as not referring to your family, might be seen in a new light, and you realize there is a link to your family after all. So repeat the process for as many times as necessary.
This is but a basic outline. Fill in the details as they relate to your family.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE -- Reject That Which is Not Valid andReilable

Reject information that is NOT VALID, no matter how tempting it is. For instance people who think their ancestor was “Cornblossom, daughter of Doublehead” will never find their TRUE ancestor, as they have given up the search thinking they had discovered their true ancestry. And since there is no evidence of there ever being a “Cornblossom”, they will never find their TRUE ancestor.
Correctly process the information you receive. Your information will prove one of 3 things
1.      Proof of Cherokee ancestry.
2.      Proof that there is NO Cherokee ancestry.
3.      PROOF that of the possibility of Cherokee ancestry can not be excluded.

Conclusion

We are writing this for those of us in category 3 – who can not prove we are or are not Cherokee, in the hopes that it will prove beneficial. There might exist “circumstantial evidence”, the cumulative effect of this evidence might provide a “preponderance of evidence” supporting a claim for or against Cherokee ancestry in the family tree. Unfortunately, this is a subjective measure, and is fallible. But where documentation does not exist, such evidence might be all that we can discover.

Vance Hawkins