Big Clue

[techteach]

Well, I had a big clue about my folks yesterday. They kept indigenous traditions through the Depression era and apparently later too, for some lines of the family. One of my cousins' grandmother discussed traditions with him when he was growing up. He and I were discussing religion via email yesterday, and I used the word Moneto. That was the name his grandmother used when discussing religion. Moneto is the Algonquin term for deity and many locations and times lean towards the Conoy or Piscataway.
For those of you whose folks traveled similar paths and might be able to take advantage of this hint, my folks were in southern MD, across the Chesapeake, in Cecil County, MD, in Baltimore. That group moved to Berkeley County, WVA. Another group lived near Huntington, PA. My Blackfoot ID came from western PA, near Pittsburgh.
Does anyone know the term for Tutelo/Saponi deity?

Techteach

[Tom]

Tech and all if anyone has the books on Tutelo reclothing ceremonies it may be in there if not check Oliviero etc Hale?
Thanx Tech.

[rockhound]

That's interesting.

This is kind of related...I was asking if anyone recalled any traditional Indian stuff passed down. My grandpa and his brother remember their dad removing warts with some concoction involving raw onions and saying some, as they put it, "mumbo jumbo." Anyone heard of a "Raw Onion Wart Remover?"

It pains me that my grandparents know little to nothing about their Indian ancestors. If only they had asked...:(

[techteach]

Thanks, Tom. I was looking for the lazy way out. At least someone there in Canada put Hale online. Now I just have to find his book that I downloaded in my piles of papers and/or the 60 gigs of my harddrive.
I was just interested in seeing how alike or different it was from Moneto.

Techteach

[Felicia]

People down here say to put raw onion under your feet to get rid of a fever, but warts? I do not know, but I will ask around.

[Coharie Roy]

Original post moved to the Family Lore board. (Sorry Tech Teach. You're correct. It's more appropriate there.)

[techteach]

At the risk of sounding whiny and you all thinking I am uppity, can we take this discussion of warts to the family lore thread?
I started this thread because I was so excited that I found a solid lead on the origin of my native ancestors and wanted help in pinpointing it to a certain NA group. What was it Tom used to call it when the topic went off track, not that folk lore is not also a solid clue to a group, but it has taken this thread from what I had hoped it would lead to, some information on other tribal names for deities. Could we relocate the homeopathic cures to the folk lore thread and continue it there? And please, don't be offended by my request, rockhound, Coharie, and Felicia. Your stories are really interesting to me, since, if they are grounded in some ethnic origin, all this was denied to me by a ggrandmother who would not even sit in the same room with her NA mother-in-law, moved her family away from their NA relatives, and would not let her children visit their grandmother's extended family.
Tom, turned out that I was mixing Hale with another book I downloaded from a Canadian web site on Tutelo rituals. I looked through it and could not find anything. It might be there, because the book includes songs used in Tutelo rituals but not the direct English translation. However, I did find a site that listed the Dakota name for a deity and it is quite different from the Algonquin Moneto.
Anyone know the Iroquois equivalent? Yes, I know I can keep looking online, but if it saves me time, by asking here...

Techteach

[Coharie Roy]

Tech Teach,

I got your PM but when I tried to answer it, it said your mailbox was full.

Everything's okay. No problemo.

Roy

[techteach]

Thanks and I deleted a few messages.

Tech

[techteach]

My cousin remembered another word, "theepee" for river. He spelled it as he remembers it.

Any thoughts?

Techteach

[rockhound]

Originally posted by techteach
At the risk of sounding whiny and you all thinking I am uppity, can we take this discussion of warts to the family lore thread?
I started this thread because I was so excited that I found a solid lead on the origin of my native ancestors and wanted help in pinpointing it to a certain NA group. What was it Tom used to call it when the topic went off track, not that folk lore is not also a solid clue to a group, but it has taken this thread from what I had hoped it would lead to, some information on other tribal names for deities. Could we relocate the homeopathic cures to the folk lore thread and continue it there? And please, don't be offended by my request, rockhound, Coharie, and Felicia. Your stories are really interesting to me, since, if they are grounded in some ethnic origin, all this was denied to me by a ggrandmother who would not even sit in the same room with her NA mother-in-law, moved her family away from their NA relatives, and would not let her children visit their grandmother's extended family.

Techteach

Sorry, I just thought that my great-grandfather's remedy might have been a "solid lead on the origin of my native ancestors and wanted help in pinpointing it to a certain NA group" as well.

I will look in the Folk Lore forum.

[techteach]

Let's start another thread here, Rockhound. Then we can have parallel clue threads running here, one about linguistic clues like mine and one about family beliefs like your clue. Sound OK?


Do you have the Blackfoot ID in your family?

Techteach


PS: I had another linguistic clue. My cousin remembers "theepee" for river. That was how he spelled it, but I think it is the Algonquin form of river that I have seen spelled "sipi."

[rockhound]

No need, there is already a thread in Folk Lore concerning home remedies.

I didn't mean to step on your toes by posting in your thread. I, like you, am just very interested in finding out all that I can about my family history given the little details I have. I thought you were going more for traditions passed down, not necessarily religion or language.

No, unfortunately all of the native words my great-grandpa used are not remembered by anyone in my family. They all still think we are Cherokee, even when I tell them we aren't (at least the Riddles weren't).

[Tom]

Tech, this word theepee, is for sure a huge clue, it really sounds algonquin but the "th" may give a pin pointing clue to a specific dialect, this I do know for sure.
Seepee is river in several languages and "theepee" is something to really track down.!

[techteach]

Tom,
Thanks. We had an even bigger clue now. My cousin remembers his father had a nickname that was the same as a couple of male ancestors, Toad, although it was spelled Tode in the past. The past spelling matches the word for frog in an Algonquin language, the language of the Shawnee, the tribe that another cousin thought they were and that matches the tribe that might have been there. My cousin then remembered that his father was called what he thought was "Toady" by his grandmother.


Techteach

[quest for facts]

speaking of Maryland do you happen to have Maddox in your lines? I do from Maryland

[techteach]

No, sorry, I don't. However, I belong to a group where I have seen postings of people who do have Maddoxes. Trouble is, I am not sure which group it is. One is the Mitsawokett group (google them and check out their web site and join if you want); the other is the Lower Delmarva group at Rootsweb.

Techteach