NY Blackfoot

[piperkevin]

I just joined the forum and thought I would pass along this information.

I always thought I was different from the other Irish kids I grew up with. Then when I was 14, we visited my father's famly in NY state and were told by our relatives that we had an Eastern Blackfoot ancestor and the particular "tribe" was Pad-a-pa-kee or Pad-a-packee. I assume that was the actual location where his particular band lived.

I have done some research and from the 1880 U.S. Census I believe the Blackfoot would be my GGGrandfather. In 1858, a son was born to the union of this Blackfoot and my GGGrandmother, Ann Myers. The child was illegitmate and at this time do not have a name for the Blackfoot father.

FYI, the Catskills are that portion of Appalachian Mountains in New York State. The Catskills Mountains were still very remote and wild in the middle of the 19th Century. My father said there were still many Indians around when he lived there in the 1920s and 1930s. Oddly enough, my father relates that there was a "Chief" Myers living in the vacinity but was no relation.

I am interested in the place name Pad-a-pa-kee or Pad-a-packee. Is there a linquist out there who knows what this means? Does anyone know where this band was located?

Is there any general information on Eastern Blackfoot in New York State?

My father never talked about being Eastern Blackfoot despite our relatives assertions that this was common knowledge in the family. I have seen photos of my father, his brothers and my grandfather and I can tell you they all looked very Indian. I can only attribute my father's reluctance to the effect of racial prejudice in this country.


I would appreciate whatever invformation anyone can give me.

Thanks, Kevin

[Brenda Collins Dillon]

Kevin,

I just posted the other day about "needing help" for SPENCER research among the Oneida Indians. You might find the reading of that post on "share genealogy research" interesting. It is strange because in my research of the last few days I discovered that Samuel spencer had married a Hannah Willey ( blackfoot) in Conn.

I am beginning to think that the SE section of the US doesn't have a market cornered on the eastern blackfoot identy.

Linda, any thoughts?

Brenda

[piperkevin]

Linda,
Last Fall I attended a Colonial Fife & Drum muster in Sudbury MA. I stopped in at the Indian booth and chatted with one of the fellows there and he told me there is or was a Blackfoot tribe in Conn. that has no relationship to the Plains Blackfoot At the time I did not know about the VA/NC Blackfoot connection.

I do not know whether or not the Conn Blackfoot is related to the VA/NC Blackfoot. Most of the Southern NE tribes were seriously into agriculture and the Conn Blackfoot may have gotten the Blackfoot name for the same reason the southern Blackfoot got the name.

To compound the difficulties even more, the western Blackfoot were known to have traded as far east as the Coast.

I think I should try to find out something about the Conn Blackfoot.

[Brenda Collins Dillon]

Kevin,

Have you heard about summers in the north country and winter in the south. Folks here in Massachusetts still do this. Perhaps the indians were the first to start this tradition.

Brenda