VA, NC Morgan, West, Stewart Brewer Beard Huss families

[jmorganbrown]

Hi, I am new to this board. It is a wonderful forum and I have many questions. First of all my Morgan, Brewer, West, Stewart lines are out of Orange and Chatham Co NC. Charles Morgan's (died ca 1787)son Joseph Morgan whose daughter Mary (Polly) married Able Brewer who was NA. Would he have been Saponi? I suspect that the Brewer and Morgan's crossed lines to marry several times. I also think they are closely related to the Charles Milliken in Chatham Co NC. On my maternal line I am descendant from Taylor Beard whose wife was Lydia Huss.Some think that Taylor Beard or his wife or both were Blackfoot. Could you help with these questions? Thanks JMorgan Brown

[Linda]

Okay, on my list of SE American Indian Family Surnames, Morgan is listed as associated with Saponi families. Brewer is on there, no tribe specified, Same thing for West, Stewart can be Saponi, Catawba or Chickahominy. Of course, all these names could apply to white or black families as well. Are there stories in those lines of Native blood or other clues? Don't see Milliken, Beard or Huss, though. Hope this helps.

[jmorganbrown]

Thanks Linda for your reply. Where do I go next in my research? I am really not knowlegeable at all when it comes to NA research. Thanks Janet

[Linda]

Any of our genealogists got any advice? I've mostly been looking at/thinking about the historical records.

Take a look at these archeological reports
http://rla.unc.edu/Publications/Res_reports.html and you'll see some of the native history of Orange county. Visit the university library nearest your and start reading some of those old Bureau of Ethnology articles and whatever else you can find.

I'm not one to be giving genealogical advice, there are others here better at that than me, but go back as far as you can with the census, etc., and keep poking around for more info. There are a lot of genforums that are useful at connecting with cousins and finding information.

[Linda]

Oh, one thing I should say, in the south there is scarcely anything you can call NA research, since it was legislated very early on that there were no NDNs living here, so it's rough trying to figure out all the double talk of what people were classified as, and what that REALLY means. You'll see what I mean.

If your family was being classified as white, and you see records of nameless wives, that's a good clue that you may have hit a native line, but then, where do you go from there tracing Miss No Name? I don't know if the same pattern applied to families of color. The classification of "mullato" is the usual double talk for NDN descended people, but often they're listed as Black. Some people were even listed as white, black and mullato in one lifetime.

[Brenda Collins Dillon]

The standard rule in Genealogy Research is to start with your own family and work backward, documenting as you go. You don't need to pay for certified documents most courthouses will send you a photo copy for about 50 cents and postage.These three documents can provide much information.
In most cases....
1) death certifcates usually gives (a)name,(b)birth,(c)death,(d)parentage, (e) cause of death,(f)last residence,(g) who signed death record
2) Marriage record usually showes (a) names of couples, (b) names of both sets of parents
(c) location of marriage(d)age of couple
3) WILLS showes if (a)spouse is still living and (b)names of children (c) gives insight into property owned and location of property.

Census records are also a valuable tool and many of those are now online. A great website to start with is http://www.usgenweb.com/

Click on table of states and it will take you to each county of each state. This site also has a "Tombstone Site" "Census" and "Military" sections that are loaded with material.

Linda is correct about the lack of NA information. In most cases we won't find a marriage record because they "took up with".
Some states frowned on mixed marriages,ministers in some areas were few and far between so a couple could be living together and have several children before a minister came their way.
Birth records were not required to be listed until early 1900's so very few birth records can be found. I base my ggggrandfather's birth on a census listing him as 70 years old
making him born 1760 but realizing this could be off 5 years one way or the other.
Census records are only as good as the person taking the information therefore many mixtakes are make in these records and you have to verify them in other ways.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.
Brenda


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