Little Big Elk to Elkins

[cadpowell]

My great great grandfather's name is Harmon David Elkins. He was born on March 3, 1826 in Virginia and migrated to Texas where he married Mary Borders of Georgia, a white woman. His Indian name according to my grandmother was Chief Little Big Elk. He was excommunicated when he married Mary Borders. I have run into a wall. How do you find out about Indian name changes?

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Darinda

[Linda]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Count yourself lucky that you know what the original form of the name was. Most of us hit a brick wall around that time, the records just don't exist. I don't see Elkins on a list of known Indian surnames for the SE. But then it was a very individual name. Being "excommunicated" for marrying a woman who wasn't from the tribe would seem to indicate a matrilineal tribe, though most in the SE were. Not that people were "excommunicated" for not having a mother from the tribe, they just would not have any status with the tribe.

[collins]

Indian names changed frequently depending on the events that happened in life. Set the Indian name aside for now and concentrate on finding your ancestors by their English last names. Don't give up on the Indian name just set it aside for reference. As far as marrying outside the tribe different tribes had different customs in how they chose to view this type of event. Some tribes really had no choice but to accept outside marriage as a way to continue existence. It really depended upon each individual family their acceptence and whether the clan or tribe they came from was in any position to identify as Indian. Please give me some more information to work with and I'll see what I can explore from it.