Earlier Migration to the far West?

[troislangues]

I am having a bit of a problem researching the truth about our Blackfoot ggrandparents in Texas. Mine was born around 1834 in San Augustine, TX. Others migrating alongside their families were also born cira 1840 and born in Va. This leads me to think that there were Blackfoot that migrated very early out of Kentucky and other states. Has anyone gotten info on when the mass migrations began for the Saponi? Perhaps my family moved very early on with the Cherokee to Texas. Any others here?

MmeTroislangues

[Linda]

My family moved into PA from VA before 1810. They left there in 1830, stayed in Indiana for awhile, then settled in Illinois till the 1850's. They settled finally in Vernon County WI, where I've found evidence of other Saponi people settling as well.

The first to migrate were those who went to the Cayuga in 1730's I believe, and people were leaving from then on in dribs and drabs. Waves of people going in a specific direction is not uncommon.

I was astonished to see a Revels from Robeson County, NC (Revels is a core Lumbee name nowadays -- and Lumbee are heavily Eastern Siouan) go straight from Robeson County to Vernon County in the 1850's. Could have been coincidence, but it seems more likely to me that our clans were keeping in communication and regrouping when they could.

I talked to a lady several years ago who found an entire community of 30 Tuscarora families who travelled through the south and ended up in IT, entirely on their own, the government were not aware of their NDN identity. It took them over a hundred years to do this.

This story inspired me to look for signs of a community and that's been very interesting and rewarding.

Is any of this what you were asking?

[troislangues]

Pretty much. I guess I just don't want to believe that I have to search other unsuspecting states and counties...lol. I distinctly remember Grandmother saying that, as children, they Never asked about where their grandparents had migrated from. Perhaps Ggrandfather Qually is beckoning me to find that info on my own. I am lucky to have located them in that Texas Exodus. One thing Linda, my Ggrandmother's obit states Quarley and Eunice as her parents. The official obit in Chetopa, KS records writes Charley. It's understood that not everyone that early on was totally literate and I can understand the mistakes. But "Quarley" would be written "Qually" with a Southern accent and less rhotacized. Something of interest I found on Qualla boundary in N. Carolina. These are Cherokee reserves and I believe that these counties would have contained Saponi before removal or at least they would have been awfully close. Do you see what I am getting at...Qualla and Quarley? Such a strange name in the first place. I have never come across this name except in a 1750 or so Gedcom file of someone in Wales..."Quarley." You do know of the Welsh Indians or should I say the Eastern Tribes that have a lot of Welsh heritage? I mean, even Cherokee use Scandinavian names such as "MaHulda" and their variations. Oh well, I am rambling on and on...(smile)

Troislangues

[troislangues]

Linda, I am waiting for information from a psoter at another discussion group to send me info she found on a mass migration of Cherokee and other tribes from Virginia around 1800. She said that a specific law was passed at that time. I couldn't wait until she sent it to me and wonder if you know anything about such info. Sometimes it takes people days to get back to their e-mail. I sure hope she sends it today....uh...

Troislangues

[troislangues]

That was...a Virginia law was being passed that all Indians were to be enslaved...1830-1840. This might explain why my fullblood gggrandfather was born in Texas 1834 instead of back in Virginia.

Troislangues