Cartersville VA

[leesa7]

My family is from the Cumberland County, Cartersville area of Virginia as well as the Carolinas, mostly South, Camden area. Both paternal grandmothers and a maternal grandfather are Blackfoot. I've run into a few people with the same family background. One woman told me of workcamps where men were recruited to work in the mills, which is how her grandfather came to Virginia. My grandfather speaks of going out to find workers. He was originally from North Carolina but moved to Virginia when he married my grandmother. The family names are Stovall, Bonapart/Boneapart. The Stovalls were Royce, Shepard, Archie, Lucien, Maryellen, Virginia, and Louise. Boneaparts were Katie. Her mother was a midwife named Jane(Davis). My grandmother, from Camden South Carolina is called Pigeon. Her mother was a seamstress, Laura (Miller)Johnson, her mother, Elizabeth Miller, also related to the Bradleys and came from North Carolina. Her answer to registration and tribal roll questions is a glare...or a mumbled comment about breaking fingers. She says were family. If one was hungry the other was hungry. She spoke of the men going out to hunt and sometimes coming home with a (1) squirrell and the women would cook it in a stew and that sometimes there wasn't even that much. She like my grandfather are very proud when tribes are able to get some of their stolen land, no matter who they are. Her lament: so much was taken, like we weren't suppose to have nothing!Looking forward to any response, further information and if there be kin out there, that would be great. Thank you. Leesa

[Linda]

Welcome, Leesa, glad to have you here.

I don't recognize the names particularly. How far back are you able to go with your family info?

What did your grandmother mean by the glare or the broken fingers?

[leesa7]

We can go back into the mid 1800's. I think the glare and broken finger thing has to do with her distaste for "signing papers", government rolls. Lots of distrust there.That usually came up when I asked her too many questions. If she wanted to tell me a family story she would. If she thought I was prying she would give me a hard time. That came up when she gave me permission to sell quilts. She taught me and she was taught by her mother and her mother by her mother. A man offered to sell my quilts in his store but needed more information on my family background. When I tell people my family is Cherokee and Blackfoot...from the south, they almost always say, "I thought the Blackfoot are from Canada...Montana...out west...as if we never left the areas placed on the maps for us. I wanted to get as much information as possible and she basically told me it was none of his business and to sell them somewhere else. Most of the family history is spoken, with the exception of a paper written by my great-aunt. Even in the Cumberland County/Cartersville historical/pictorial book I was able to find didn't mention one Stovall and they've been in the area over 100 years.

[dljoyner]

I live in Cumberland, Va. I have lived here for about 14 yrs. Several members of my family told me that I have Blackfoot ancestry. My gg-grandmother, I'm told was originally from the Blackstone or Burkeville area of Virginia and that she migrated from one of the midwest states. My gg-grandmother's maiden name was Meekins. I remember seeing a picture of her (my gg-grandmother) hanging over my g-grandmother's bed. She looked white, but g-grandma said she was pure blackfoot indian. Feel free to reply personally, I might be able to help. Most of those surnames you mention do not seem to be native names of Cumberland/Cartersville.