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Kalisetsi
03-20-2002, 12:19 PM
I wasn't sure where to post this , so I hope this is the right spot. I found this bulletin board yesterday, while doing a search for "Blackfoot Indians from the Southeast". I was surprised and pleased to find a group of people discussing the topic....so after reading the posts for a few hours, I got enough nerve to register.

My family is like most of yours - Native with "other mixtures". My mother's family is Cherokee(my great grand dad and her aunts). My Mom's father was black.

My Dad's background is Blackfoot/Cherokee and that is how I identify myself. His paternal grandmother was a Blackfoot, her name was Myme (MY-MEE). I don't know her last name. On his mother's side of the family the people were Cherokees. There is also Irish(Corley) and German(Unger, Kaufman)with black. I'd say an altogether interesting mixture. Contrary to the stereotype, I was raised as an Indian, though I have had friends from all races

I have written all the information about my family down in a book, as it was told to me by my Mom and Dad and an aunt of my Dad's. But, I have not done research, it seems like a daunting task.

What I have found upsetting was being told, as an adult, from people in the Native community that there were no Blackfoot Indians in the south. I have also read a lot of disturbing things, but I came to the conclusion that my family had no reason to lie about who they were. I find that idea insulting.

Someone, in one of the posts on here said (to paraphrase) 'Indian people tend to feel that the information given to them from their families would be true'. I also found that it seemed too coincidental, that so many people would have similiar stories to relate about their families, and that there was a common look to the people. I knew in my heart, even though I couldn't prove it
;-) - that the Blackfoot from the south did exist. Thankfully, most of you here came to to the same conclusion.

Oh!! I did do a little reasearch, a few years ago, on the 'net, and I after reading a bit I had an inkling , a glimmer of truth that the Blackfot from the south were a Siouan people, as I have read here. Then my computer crashed and I lost the info.

So, it's nice to come here and read about people who have similiar backgrounds and finding new and interesting information.

Thank you / Wado !
Kali

[This message has been edited by Kalisetsi (edited 03-20-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Kalisetsi (edited 03-20-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Kalisetsi (edited 03-20-2002).]

Linda
03-20-2002, 05:20 PM
Welcome Kali, I'm so glad you found your way here. Where was your family located? I think over time we'll be able to hold our own about the Blackfoot ID, once enough of us have been able to put together enough verifiable genealogies, etc.

I'm thinking at this point, if we can come up with documentation showing the ID to be in families prior to the wild west shows, we should be able to blow that assumption that this was just something people made up out of the water.

BTW, when you do a lot of revisions to a post, there's a trick so nobody knows how many times you went back. Just delete that line "edited by . ..." from the bottom of the post and it won't repeat like that.

mrspatino
03-21-2002, 10:59 AM
Hi Kali! Let me tell you I know exactly what you are going through. I dont know where it came from that people would try to lie about ancestry and things our parents told us especialy being NDN or Black because for so many it was supposedly a bad thing.. Horse crap!. Granted not everything that is told to us is true but as far as NDN ancestry goes.. I more want to prove it to MYSELF instead of dealing with bits n pieces and having to prove it to everyone else. I aint gonna lie I look white but I tan good hehehe, I realy want to find it, THIS IS THE FIRST PLACE I HAVE FOUND THAT TRULEY FELT LIKE I WAS HOME other than the first day I walked into drum practice I think I almost fell out that day. One of my girlfriends is Black, Choctaw, Cherokee & White she has helped me a great deal trying to find family research, she was the first person to open my eyes to the suggestion that my NDN family was also black, I have tried to tell my Father that and it is like he does not even hear me & the thing is he is the one that told me all the clues that point to Black & NDN ancestry. Ok well I am starting to ramble I am in a realy talkative mood today, Let me end with this I embrace all my relations all...
Give me a shout!

------------------
We are not humanbeings having a spiritual experience
We are Spiritual beings having a human experience.

Kalisetsi
03-24-2002, 12:52 PM
Hello MrsSpatino,
It's nice to hear from you. I think it's important, as Indian people to know our families. I've been doing a little research the past few days on the Internet and I must say it's tiring. I was able to track down the town my great-grandmother came from that verifies the german ancestry. I wish this board had a spell checker ;-) !! Yes, this board is welcoming and very interesting. I read about your family and your investigations.

Kalisetsi
03-24-2002, 01:08 PM
Hi Linda,
I found the book where I wrote down family history. My Dad's family is from the midland section of South Carolina (I did research!!) and my Mom's family is from Virginia - I don't know where from exactly.
In my tiny bit of research (I am so proud of myself). I found out the town my great grandmother is from is Chapin, SC (in the book I had written down Chaffen) and Irmo is also mentioned ( I had spelled it Ermo). So it took me three hours - looking on maps on the net and visiting web pages to figure out that portion. Chapin was originally settled by Germans which explain the names Unger and Caughman I guess.
I also found out by checking my book, that my Dad's paternal grandmother's full name was Myme Gigah or Mymie Giger- she was according to what I wrote in my book - from my Dad's info- a Blackfoot full blood - which may mean she looked very Native. From his description she was tall, slender, brown skinned and had long black hair that was the texture of a horse's tail or like horse hair - like you see on rattles sometimes. She was very quiet, and found him to be too talkative, which he was ;-). Once , he was over her house and mentioned there was a hole in the sheet. She just looked at him, said nothing and turned her back on him. Which, he said "shut him up". Good ;-)

mrspatino
04-08-2002, 04:52 PM
Man I thought I lost you on hear I think I have been looking for this entry for a week and a half hahah sometimes this site seems huge. anyway you can also call me Christina, I am realy to young to be called Mrs even though I am married now.Oh yea Family stories are so cool, you have great stories, I love it when I get to hear others stories they also make me feel like I am not alone in searching for my people.
Same stories in my family so n so had long jet black hair dark brown eyes high cheek bones dark skin. I am so jelous of my Father his skin is considerably darker than mine. your right about spell check, I can read and write but it's the spelling that kills me hahah!

Linda
04-08-2002, 09:51 PM
Blackfoot in SC is interesting. I found out last week that there are several more references to the Sissipaha. There's something in the records of the London Trade Company, and there's another explorer type -- starts with a 'B.' Anyway, they were reported living on the Dan River, the Yamassee hit them hard, sold many to the West Indies as slaves, the survivors fled to the Occaneechi. The Catawba in South Carolina absorbed many Eastern Siouan refugees, so that their surviving culture can be seen as an amalgam of Eastern Siouan bits and pieces.

Linda
04-08-2002, 09:55 PM
Oh, I forgot one bit. The Sissipaha were living on the Dan River and were called the "Blackfoot of the ________" (forget that name). I'll let you all know when I get the citations for this info together.

Another thing, Christina, have you figured out the search feature? If you were looking for a certain person's post, for example, search on it and the board will list all the posts they've made.

mrspatino
04-09-2002, 10:08 AM
Yea I recently dicovered that feature, sometimes it takes me a minuette but I'll get it...WInk