Blackfoot and Fort Christianna

[Heather]

The other day I was talking with one of my aunt's about the research I've been doing with our family history. I started telling her about Fort Christianna and how the Blackfoot could be tied to it. She told me that when she was a girl my grandpa told her that our family came from Fort Christianna and that we were called Blackfoot because of the burning method of farming. This makes me wonder, maybe you guys have found the link to all our Blackfoot ancestors.

[Linda]

I think I missed this post last November. This is very interesting, Heather. Where was your family living? Did your grandfather say anything else? What surnames were in your family?

[Heather]

My grandpa was from Maryland, but he moved out to California and got married to my grandma, so I didn't get the opportunity to ask anyone from over there if they knew anything. My aunt told me that he talked about having some family in Virginia, but other than that she said that she thinks he might have said other things, but can't remember anything else. I never got a chance to talk with him about anything cause he died when I was still young. It's actually been a pretty difficult road figuring this one out. I wonder what other things he knew.

[Linda]

What surnames were in your grandpa's line? Do you know how long the family lived in Maryland?

[Heather]

The surnames in my grandpa's line that I know of are Campbell, Weir, Kelly, Quinn, and Asher. Kelly and Quinn are more likely to have something to do with the Blackfoot line though. I know that some of my family has been living in Maryland since at least the 1700s found through our last name Campbell. It's been difficult to find how long the Blackfoot part of our family has been in Maryland though, but I can tell that they were there at least since the early 1800's. I have been working on trying to find the link to Virginia, it's just with native heritage, there may or may not be records so it's pretty difficult. I'll have to go over to Maryland and see if I can find anything one day.

Are you compiling a list of surnames with people claiming Blackfoot decent?

[Kamama]

Heather,
I was wondering about your Weir line. My 3rd great grandmother, Rebecca Morningstar (her photo is on here) was Blackfoot from Ohio. We are wondering how she came to live with a white family. Her mother was a Weir from Pennsylvania.
There is a family rumor about a kidnapping and bringing a child with her from the Blackfoot tribe.
Another family rumor is that Rebecca was kidnapped in compinsation for another white child that was kidnapped or killed.
The 4th great grandmother was Anny Weir and my 3rd great grandmother was Rebecca Morningstar

[beeleaf]

First... Heather, are you still here?

Second, I have a list of Ft. Christanna names compiled by Richard Haithcock. Don't want to run into copyright issues by posting, but am happy to look for your peeps.

Disclaimer: the source for this list is not given.

Quite a few names being searched for on this forum, but a noticeable absence of surnames from modern Occaneechi/Saponi/Catawba communities. Different names in different places. If they didn't get the surname by marriage (if it was picked or assigned), you could be related to someone with an entirely different name and not even know it by now. :~(


Something interesting (maybe only to me and my cuz) is that several of the names kinda appear to might be Cherokee. Our family that appears to be on this list has handed down tradition of being Cherokee, but recently we learned that some refer to themselves as Blackfoot. Whichever is right, one was still listed as Indian on tax list around 1811. An unusual hopefully good clue.
We also had family story of a grandfather living on reservation, although which side of family is not clear at this point.

Have wondered if maybe sometimes the storyteller actually said "Cheraw", but the listener added "kee" on the end because it was familiar. Possible to be both, of course.

[beeleaf]

Oh, how I wish we could go back and re-phrase when we misread stuff.
:eek:

[Barbara K]

I am new here and this is my first post. For over 20 yrs I have been researching and looking for my grandmother's family. As a child, I spent my summers with her and she told me about them, us, the Blackfoot Indian. I was to tell anyone who asked that we were Black Irish. As I grew older, I figured she just had the words wrong, everyone knew the Blackfoot tribe was nowhere near Alabama. Yet as I have researched, I have found her Mother's family, the Kennedy/Cannady's, her father's family, Vinson's, and even her husbands line, Hagens/Hagans/Haggins all from various places in NC, SC and Pittsylvania Va. The more I read and researched, the more I believed that she knew what she was talking about, and I so regret no getting more information from her as I grew older. Some census reports had her as black, some as white. None classed her as Indian. I need someone to help me find my roots, it is so important and getting more important as I see the times of my days thinning and too soon the time will be no more for me to seek my answers. My Jesse Vincent/Vanzant/Vinson came from Pittsylvania about 1790. His father was named either Richardson or Jesse. The Vinson/Vanzant/Vincent's and the Canady/Kennedy family were said to have traveled together from Va through SC and down into Alabama. Grandmother lived in Satsuma Al, close to Mobile. Anyone here that can help me?