Dennis, Howard and Hines in MO and AR

[penathey]

HINES surname was noticed in one of the recent posts here.

I am working on the genealogy of my stepchildren and think there may possibly be a Saponi connection. Some family members of the DENNIS-HINES-ALLEN chain that originated in Ozark and/or Howell Co, MO wound up in California became enrolled in the Blackfoot of Montana and Idaho in the 1940s and 1950s. There is no family alive who knows much about the genealogical chain.

I am looking for origins and ancestry of Martha C. Dennis, b. 1852 in MO of parents both born in MO and with a strong connection to the Ava (Douglas Co), Bakersfield (Ozark and then eaten by Howell Co), northern Howell County, and Sarcoxie (Jasper Co) MO areas. Also Jackson and Lawrence Co, AR. In 1877 in Independence Co, AR, Martha Dennis (22, not 25 years old) married John Wesley Hines. I don't think she moved from Jackson through Independence and Sharp to Lawrence counties in AR, I believe the map changed beneath her feet. Martha Dennis was orphaned and was raised by Howards (Cherokee from Lauderdale Co, AL and White/Green Co, TN).

I have been searching for her origins for an extended time, so I have done a lot of research on most of the surnames I have listed below and will be happy to exchange information. I believe that all except HINES and ALLEN apply to the Dennis (or????) family connections. The HINES were German and the ALLEN were Choctaw.

I have a number of theories (unfortunately, a single theory has yet to become dominant) that Martha C. Dennis's parents are somewhere in the families who were in the northern part of Ozark County in the 1850-1860 era. A couple of clues point toward the James and Crow and King families.

I hope someone has researched these families, too. I believe there may also be a North Carolina Ocaneechi Saponi connection on another family line, the HOBGOOD surname.

HINES, ALLEN, DENNIS, HOWARD, BRECKENRIDGE. And possibly blood relations or neighbor/friend/Civil War refugee or military service connection: GOLDEN, DOTY, HOUSERIGHT or HOUSEWRIGHT, BARKER, LEA, VESTAL, VANDIVER OR VANDOVER, OSBORN OR AUSBURN, NICKS, CROW, JAMES, BROWN, MCGEE OR MCGEHEE, PADEN OR PEDEN OR PATTEN, COOPER, OILER OR OYLER OR OLLIER, SPURLOCK, ROGERS, BRITTAIN, MCLAUGHLIN, GRIFFITHS, LUNA OR LOONEY, FRIEND, TABOR, SMITH, BENNETT, HOLMES, MAY, KINDER, NARRAMORE, PENDER OR PONDER.

[LindyLuu]

Hello...

I noticed two surnames DENNIS & HOWARD. The other key word I saw were Choctaw & German.

I live in Maryland. My mother's folks are HOLLAND. Her mother's grandfather was James Henry HOLLAND who married Jane (Mary Jane) DENNIS. I was told the DENNIS were Native American Indians. I am not sure what tribe or their origin. This is my brick wall. My people lived mostly in Annapolis, Maryland: South, West River, Lothian, Davidsonville, Galesville, all around the water in Annapolis.

Now, the German & Choctaw piece...

My girlfriend/cousin (long story) told me about her aunt who married a Black German Jew named MOSS. She described him with simliar features of my Mom's real father who was a MOSS. Somewhere I read or was told Mom's dad might have been jewsish. Not sure about that but still reasearching the jewish part. Anyway, my cousin's people are registered as Choctaw.

Could your DENNIS & HOWARD people traveled to Maryland? I know the HOWARD clan spans from I think Sandy Spring, Maryland. Their HOWARD-HOLLAND Bi-annual family reunion is in Maryland in July 2010. They have their family reunion bi-annual and either in Canada or the United States. I am going this year. I know I am related, just haven't found the missing puzzle pieces.

Hope this helped.

[LindyLuu]

PS: Gesh, I see some more family surnames: BROWN, NICKS, GRIFFITHS, SMITH

[penathey]

Hi, LindyLuu.

First, let me give you the URL of one of my favorite websites (as a genealogist). You will find a whole lot of information there on Indian and black Indian topics, along with census, the largest collection of rolls that I know of, TX slave narratives, some family histories, and a list of classic surname affiliation and recognition. I would caution that these surnames might have been more "categor-izable" in 1850 then they are now, due to intermariage, alliances, coalitions, decimations and consolidations, etc. This is the home page, followed by the surname page.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/_borders/index.html

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/FREEDMEN%20SURNAMES/B.html

Here is a very nice site with some information on the Melungeon people and some good images.

http://www.aca-dla.org/site-templates/Melungeons/Melungeons.html

I find some of the Melungeon sites a bit defensive and some people have a hard time being even remotely objective, but here is a page with some links:

http://www.melungeons.com/index.htm

You may have noticed the Melungeon threads on this forum. I have done about 40 years of genealogical research, especially from mid-Missouri southward from Texas to the Carolinas. I can say that if I see a Dennis on the census just about anywhere before about 1830, they were probably originally from New York (Cayuga or Seneca) or had come from maybe from the upper Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota, etc (Eastern Blackfoot, etc). But as people moved westward and time passed, that all got blurred. Now if I see a Dennis in the phone book, I am likely to think that they were Delaware or Osage (the two largest tribes in Missouri and the only ones that were relatively intact as of the end of the Civil War).

Most of the Howards who are in MO today are Cherokee and came out of VA and through KY and TN. South of where I live is an area that is today still almost half Native American by affiliation and/or blood, and many of them are Howards and Coopers from White and Green Co, TN and Lauderdale Co, AL. Their history is fascinating...there was a group of about 30 families in White and Green Counties in TN who came to Howell County, MO, who were primarily mercenary soldiers. They served together in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Seminole and other Indian conflicts along the way, the Mexican War, went down and invaded Mexico to kick out the French, went to California with Doniphan, escorted groups of gold-fevered people back and forth to California, became Texas Rangers, fought in the Black Hawk Wars, the Kansas border wars, some rode with Quantrill or other guerillas, and most fought in the Civil War (both sides). Working on their genealogies is challenging but very rewarding.

The Dennises in our area came from Cannon Co and McMinn Co, TN. but originally came from northern New England (mainly Cayuga people, but the reason I am on this forum is that there are Dennises among the colony of Saponi and Seneca and Blackfoot whose descendants still live in Howell Co, MO, which is where I am encountering big brick walls.

You can today find a lot of Dennises in the Cayuga and Seneca of NY and in the Blackfoot of ND and SD and of MT and ID.

Some of the Dennises who were in this area by the 1850s were born in Rhode Island and Maryland and other mid-Atlantic states.

Then again, whenever I run across the Dennis surname in early records, I have to look to see if they were English or Irish immigrants or not far removed from immigration!!

The Nicks in our area were Creek and some Chickasaw, and they migration track extened from NY through PA and through Gorgia and on to Overton and Rutherford Co, TN.

There are also a lot of Dennises in the central states who think of themselves as Melungeon and have the DNA to prove it. I am working on a lot of Dennises at the moment, and most of them are Melungeon, not Indian, from their migratory history and from their physical characteristics--confirmed by DNA.

If you look at the Indian rolls and modern day Indian censuses, there are also a lot of Dennises in the Choctaw Nation. Part of what I call the rush to be classified in the Five Civilized Tribes was the fact that the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (google that amazing topic) gave more than half of the Indian Territory to the Choctaw, leaving not so much for other groups right at the beginnig of the Dawes Commission. Therefore, a lot of people coming from states to the SE of OK in the first days of the IT quickly married Choctaw spouses in order to be more assured of quick enrollment (they really really needed the land after so many generations of removals and other depredations). Of course, the landscape of the Indian Territory, OK Territory, and the State of Oklahoma changed dramatically and rapidly over the next couple of decades.

There are some lists of surnames and how they might be affiliated, but today they aren't that useful. There are a few names I easily recognize as Cherokee--Howard, Bell, Martin, Cooper, for example. Some Choctaw names I see often in AR and MO are Thompson, Allen, Turner, Brashears, and Daniels.

From this, you can see that Indian genealogy using surnames is full of pitfalls. You just really have to know the history. Most of the "old" families became entrenched in a certain area by 1830. I love the county GenWebs for those kinds of histories and census records (for example, if you want to know about the Howards in Maryland, this might be a good place to start, and go from there to another county you are interested in):


This is a site I have used for some research on the Rainwaters. Interesting, and a good example of how you just can't so easily pin down the origins of a surname.

http://www.therainwatercollection.com/nativeamerican.shtml

I have to take care of some business, but would love to chat more, especially about the surnames we have in common.

[LindyLuu]

Wow, my bonnets off to you for 40 years of dedicated work. I have been off and on for 30 years, time permitting. I will share this with my cousin and we will together look at the links you provided. Thank you...

You never know what's under your nose

When I met my cousin -- he opened up a world of most of the surnames you see there with info. The BRASHEARS, another possible family link through PARKER -- still researching those two. But I have had some very odd encounters of meeting strong potiental family. MY girlfriend/couisn I met in Roanoke, VA and had known her for years until our ride up the road and she tells me her maiden name. I about fell out. The BRASHEARS link, she was one of my adopted son's PT specialist who came to my home for treatment. We got to talking and that's that's...I am totally green on the subject of Native American research how-to's

A lot to take in and I will slowly digest all the valuable info yo have provided here.

[LindyLuu]

Question...

This might not be the forum, but I was told that Chief Billie Bowlegs was connected to the HOLLAND clan. I was told there is a John HOLLAND. I also was told the person who shared this info could pass for my twin. This HOLLAND person lives in Virginia. I haven't found any info to back this. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[DAJ42]

LindyLuu, which branch(es) of Hollands interest you. I'm a descendant of Thomas Holland who married Phoebe Rickman in the late 1700s. They lived in Halifax Co, VA, as well as other nearby locales, before moving to Georgia. My line moved to southern Indiana, the Holland migrant later moving to Texas. Other descendants remained in Georgia and dispersed throughout Georgia and Alabama.

I've also got a relative in Richmond, VA, who descends from a long line of Hancocks/Hollands from southern VA. Pictures indicate a strong Indian ancestry. We think that our 2 Holland lines are connected. The working theory is that the Indian ancestry entered through the Rickman family, known to have Sapony ties in the Halifax Co, VA region.

[LindyLuu]

Hello and thank you for responding...

I can't tell you which HOLLAND's clan I hale from. There is a BIG chunk missing from our Annapolis, Maryland family history. I am hoping the family reunion in July will shed some light on our brick walls. But here is something to ponder...

The rule for dating in Annaoplis was don't cross the bridge, and you had better let us know who you are dating cause it might be your cuzin' --

Now let me shed light on my Mom's mother Josephine HOLLAND, an adopted granddaughter by Henry HOLLAND and Jane DENNIS. Grandmother Josephine's death certificate was filled out by my Mpm's older brother who was known not to tell the truth (or did he), anyway, Uncle Thomas stated that her parents were William HOLLAND (possible son of Henry & Jane) and Josephine HOLLINS which I have never found any HOLLINS in Maryland but in Roanoke, Virginia -- YES! I attended Hollins University there known for many HOLLINS' slaves living around that area. So, that being said, I think Josephine HOLLINS may not be the right surname and could possibly be really HOLLAND -- possibly related to my HOLLANDS or from another HOLLAND's clan -- don't know! So I don't know. But i will tell you that when my Mom's birth certificate showed up at age seven in time for school, her name changed from Margery B. HAMMOND (another tale to spin) to Marjorie Virginia THOMAS, a man who wasn't her dad. My theory is that Grandmother Josephine gave Mom that middle name to perhaps preserve family history in Virginia. Don't know, but I will stick with my spiritual hunches and theories until other wise proven different.

I'd be happy to share what I know. I have over 1,000 members in my family tree thanks to my newly found cousin since 2002. He and i work closely together.




LindyLuu, which branch(es) of Hollands interest you. I'm a descendant of Thomas Holland who married Phoebe Rickman in the late 1700s...

...who descends from a long line of Hancocks/Hollands from southern VA. Pictures indicate a strong Indian ancestry. We think that our 2 Holland lines are connected. The working theory is that the Indian ancestry entered through the Rickman family, known to have Sapony ties in the Halifax Co, VA region.