George Bluejacket

[Ray-a]

Hello All,

I am looking for the father of George Bluejacket born about 1836 who was actually born George Sarcoxie. I am researching the Sarcoxie lines and trying to find who his father was.

His mother was M Eliza (cho-wa-pea) 1818-1865 who later married Henry Bluejacket in 1843.

There is a Jospeh Sarcoxie was died in the civil war who lists no family. I wonder if this was George's real father. I know that Henry adopted him and he took the name of Bluejacket also.

Any help in finding George's father would be so appreciated.

Thank You
Raymonda

[Bill Childs]

Hi, Raymonda, Welcome.
I see Eliza, George and the younger children on the 1860 Kansas Terr., Wyandotte Twp Census and they are listed on the 1857 Kansas State Shawnee Indian Census and I found some unverified information that Henry Bluejacket died in 1855, but no information as to George's father.

The Joseph Sarcoxie who enlisted May 23, 1863 (Residence: Lawrence, Ks) was mustered out of service on July 18, 1865, according to his service record, at DeVall's Bluff, Ark, appears to have served in Company M, 9th Regimental Cavalry, U.S. Army, since that unit was mustered out of service on July 17 & 18, 1865, at DeVall's Bluff. The regiment he served in is my only uncertainty.

Joseph Sarcoxie appears to have survived the war since he was mustered out, but I haven't found him afterwards. With George born about 1836/7, I'm thinking that Joseph may be too young to have been George's father but I don't have proof of Joseph's age one way or the other, just the assumption that George's father would have been too old to have been drafted.

Additionally:
There was a Henry Bluejacket in Company H, 26th Missouri Infantry, U.S. Army and a Stephen Bluejacket in Company D, 17th Kansas Infantry, U.S. Army, this Stephen is possibly George's brother Stephen, b.abt. 1840 Ks.

'Techteach' on this Forum is a Swearingen descendant and I'll draw her attention to your inquiry to see if she or her cousin Deb can add anything that may help you.
Bill

[techteach]

Raymonda,
Bill emailed me and suggested I post. I am descended from the Swearingens through one of the daughters who intermarried with a line that was to become my grandfather's Carpenter line.
If you believe that Marmaduke Von Swearingen is Bluejacket, we are likely connected. I am not certain what to believe. The story is that Marmaduke Von Swearingen was taken by the Shawnee as a child and grew to become the war chief named Bluejacket. However, DNA tests done in recent years have failed to connect the descendents of Bluejacket with the descendents of the Swearingens. Those who contend that Bluejacket was NDN use these results to defend their side that he could not have been Marmaduke. Those who still believe that Marmaduke became Bluejacket, maintain that there were several individuals with the name Bluejacket and that the DNA tests were done on one of the other Bluejackets.
If you search saponitown for Swearingen, you will find a discussion about the Swearingens and how a couple of us here are connected (Deb or Sinkey cousin may/may not be connected. A couple of us have followed our Green/Butt line back far enough back that there might be a connection there - the families went to the same church in MD and the Swearingen name appears in some of the Green family members, but Deb is related to me through the Green line [Grandma's line], not my
Carpenter line [Grandpa's line]. My grandmother's line has the NDN; there are no rumors of NDN in my grandfather's line, although I tend to believe that there likely was some NDN in my grandfather's line too.)
Anyway, we may/may not be related. In any case, we are all kind of family on this forum. Welcome.

Techteach

[Ray-a]

Thank you both for your replies. And for the welcomes.

This is so interesting and I look forward to learning more about these families.

I have read a little about the Marmaduke/Bluejacket puzzle.

My Joseph Sarcoxie died in August a month after he mustered out. He is buried in Lawrence , Kansas. He was born about 1839 as he was age 24 on his civil war papers. The papers state he was single but I was not sure if he got married while in service.

If George was born about 1836/7 then there is no doubt Joseph is Not his father. I will look up those census to add to my files.

It would be great to find some of George's living relatives. If he was a Sarcoxie by blood I want to add him in my family records.

So I still don't know who was the father of George Bluejacket. I will keep digging.

Again, Thanks for your replies.

Ray-a:)

[Bill Childs]

Ray-a,
I'll forward a digital photo of the 1860 U.S. census record which may appear it came from 'ancestry.com'.
Bill

[Steve-o]

Bringing back an old thread, but had some infromation, or thoughts if you will, on the subject.

After a long bout of research on Marmaduke Van Swearingen, I have come to the conclusion that he was most likely "not" Blue Jacket. However this does not mean he was not an adopted white Shawnee. Most likely, and this is still being researched, he was given the name "Blue Pocket" by the Shawnee, and when remembered later he was mistaken in memory as being Blue Jacket.

Blue Pocket could also have went about "fooling" others that he was Blue Jacket at times as well. Blue Pocket was adopted into the Shawnee, and would best fit the scenario pertaining to the age bracket that just does not fit for Marmaduke being Blue Jacket. In other words, Blue Pocket fits more neatly in place in that regard...meaning without fudging the dates, and was a white male adopted into the Shawnee. I believe Marmaduke was more than likely Blue Pocket, and not Blue Jacket. I believe Blue Jacket was Shawnee, and Blue Pocket who was adopted by the Shawnee, was most likely Marmaduke Van Swearingen.

[Bill Childs]

Steve-O - I've run up on those choices myself, with much the same conclusion but I haven't found a definitive explanation. I wish you luck and more success than I've had with this issue, but it is worth digging out, so if you come up with a research slant, ping me for possible reference material.

[Steve-o]

Just digging through the muck...just digging through the muck.

If I find anything I'll let you know.

I have been in contact with the Swearingens and BlueJackets some on this because of my being descended from the Garrett Van Swearingen line myself. It took awhile for my ideas to change on this, but it only took finding out about Blue Pocket for me to draw the conclusion that Van Trees was most likely correct. Some conclusions after the findings were that the Marmaduke Van Swearingen story must not hold any water anymore. But with Blue Pocket, ruling out the story completely would be a bit premature.

My ancestry has so much Shawnee (with a possible smidge of Powhatan) in it, connected directly and indirectly in my lines, that I have found that dismissing anything could turn to be disasterous to a degree. Most of the oral histories in my family have proven to hold truth, just things got twisted around over the years. Had I dismissed them as complete "hogwash", I would have never found what truths they do hold.

We are not alone, I have found, in keeping Blue Pocket in mind concerning this story. Hopefully I am young enough, to live long enough, to be able to put key pieces into place concerning this and a few others in my ancestral lines where everything will just fall into place and make sense. Time will tell I suppose.