Blackfoot in North Central PA

[Linda]

I've decided I should try and post as many as possible of the messages I get from people with genealogical inquiries, so that they can benefit from other's input. This lady has Blackfoot ancestors in PA, which we've been talking about a lot lately.



I was wondering what info you may have on the Blackfoot in the North Central PA area. My dads side of the family are all from Columbia, Northumberland, Lycoming, Montour counties, some in Tioga; I don’t know if any of them came from anywhere else. My grandmother always told us we were Cherokee, and dads cousin says Blackfoot. I know there were some Tutelo and Saponi in Northumberland Co, at Shamokin (now Sunbury, PA) and in Columbia Co at Catawissa. I haven’t been able to find a whole lot, other than what is posted on Saponitown site; which is very extensive, I’m glad its out there. Some of my paternal lines are Fox (or Faux), Gardner, Harvey, Pursel, Trump. I’m thinking its from the Fox and Pursel line. The Gardners were Scots-Irish, the Harveys, Welsh, the Trumps I think were German, but these lines are all intermarried. I have small jpegs of my grandmothers, dad and me, if you’d care for me to send them to you, right on down to me the coloring and features are still there and my grandmother and her sibs looked fullblood. Thank you for your help

[techteach]

Central Pennsylvania is the area that my ancestors come from. They too intermarried, but the names that you include in your posting are not names that I recognize. Interestedly enough, though, my gggrandfather, whose mother was born in Beaver County, in 1814, was known as "The Fox" although his mother was McLane and/or, as I now believe, Lane. His mother is the one who had the Blackfoot ID. And my family, two branches who do not know one another, both say that they were Cherokee. (And they intermarried with Scots-Irish.) The names in my family are: Sinkey, Potter, Huston, McLane, and others that I have listed in the Genealogy section. They came from what used to be "Old Bedford County," in PA, from the same area described in your email: Huntington, Sinking Creek, Bald Eagle areas.
Do you have any more names?


Cindy

[techteach]

And if you wish to send your photos, it is fun to see others' ancestors. I have to post my gggrandmother sometime, now that she has been connected with the ancestor who has the Blackfoot ID. I think that she looks a lot like the picture on the Internet of the "last full-blooded Tutelo."

Cindy

[hat creek girl]

hi cindy
none of your surnames match any of mine. some of my other surnames are everhart, hirleman, lucas, moon, rook, yocum. all columbia co except rook and moon, they are lycoming co.

[Linda]

Isn't Lycoming County heavy on the historical documentation side for Tutelo presence? Am I remembering this correctly?

[hat creek girl]

linda, ive heard much about that but havent read much on it, which is part of my frustration :) i would love to read more on docs pertaining to that. this area was rich in delaware culture as well. it was part of the susquehannock's area prior to that. ive been reading in some township histories in this area of pockets of seneca, mohawk and iroquois here and there too. while my family moved in and out of those counties, both sides of my family have never lived more than a mile from the susquehanna river, they tended to relocate along it and in lycoming co along lycoming crick, which empties into the susquehanna.

[Brenda Collins Dillon]

There is a real good History of Lycoming County on the Genweb site. Let me know if you need the link. It has a part about the Native Americans of that area.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/pa/county/lycoming/history/lyco-history-01.html

Brenda

[techteach]

Lycoming County is the location or very near the location of Shamokin, a documented location for the Tutelo. It is also the location of Chief Logan's father's village, Shikellimus. It is part of "Old Bedford County." I was going to suggest that you search for the county history, but you have already done that. Further suggestions I might have are to post in the genealogy section and see if Bill can find your folks. He found mine and connected one branch with another.

Hey, check out this URL: http://www.rootsweb.com/~pahuntin/townships/barree/records.htm. This is one of the areas created from "Old Bedford County" as was Lycoming County.

There are Foxes mentioned on this Web site and, see, here are my people, the Sinkeys. I continue to have this gut feeling that they were the Indian part of my Sinkey-Potter line. And two Sinkey daughters, from this line, married children of my Blackfoot McLane ggggrandmother from near Pittsburgh, one of who was known as "The Fox."

Cindy

[techteach]

I have found another Fox in this area for you to check out. There is a Fox in the Paxton Ranging Company, listed at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/bedford/military/militia-1.txt . I found this web site while searching for the Sinkey ancestor who was a patriot. My William Sinkey was a Ranger in Boyd's company on this list. I was told that these companies consisted of guys who were very frontiers-like and often the result of mixed marriages (thank you, Bill). My William had a mother with no last name born in Maryland, moved to Huntington area and then Ohio, and finally Iowa. This is the path (at least to Ohio) of the Tutelo/Saponi.

Cindy

PS: Oops. I stopped after I found the first Fox. Keep looking. There are more on that page. Also, I posted this web site before, but I will list it again: http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/isr/sheary/annalsbv.html I am not through the book yet, but I am gradually working my way through. There might be something relevant there.