Blackfoot in Detroit, Michigan

[Linda]

Another inquiry I received yesterday:



I am trying to research to find out if what my father told me was true that we had ties to the Blackfoot Nation. He was raised in Michigan for part of his life, near Detroit. If you can suggest a way for me to research this, I would deeply appreciate it. Sincerely, Richard Areeda

I responded: What surnames were in that line? We believe the Eastern Blackfoot tie to the VA/NC Siouan, and there is a group that's documented as migrating to Michigan, where they were actually listed as Indians for a time. This group has been important to others trying to document that their families, related to this Michigan group, were also Indian, and not (solely) mulatto or white.


Thanks for your response. My grandfather's name was Alexander Areeda. Originally, it was spelled Arida, before it was "anglicized." . . . I don't know my grandmother's last name, as she died when my father was five. My grandfather died when my father was twelve, and he was raised by his elder brother, George(Sr.). I appreciate how quickly you responded; if true, this would explain a number of things I haven't been able to explain otherwise in my life.

What kind of things were they?

[tautog]

Please don't laugh. I didn't even fit into my own family...everyone else seemed just fine with city/suburban life. I ended up fishing and hunting, with a sense of humor that others just didn't get. Some fellow tuned me on to a book some years back about someone that was called a Heyoka. All I know is it hit me square in the forehead, sort of like a stone, "that's it!!!!!" But of course, I couldn't tell anybody. That, and the dream I had when I was five about a maple seed falling into a fire that seemed to go on forever, but it was all in black and white(I almost always dream in color). I never knew why, but the dream terrrified me back then. I am thinking now it may have had some spiritual significance, but, who knows? Anyhow, all I know is that if I could not be outside in the open air at least some of the time, it would kill me. Yeah, I know....all that doesn't mean much, but to me it seemed that even now, in my forties, I still do not fit into Corporate America(and I've been trying hard, too). That stuff is just the basics, but I think that's plenty for now.

[Linda]

My husband is like that. The others boys were growing up and starting to hang out at the pool hall, but he was still out in the woods. He could never live in town, he has to be out in the country.

I've had someone tell me that in her tribe they sometimes wonder if a person could be someone coming back. I asked her if they believed in reincarnation, and she said sometimes some people come back.

[tautog]

I have a strong belief in reincarnation, and karma in general. I have seen the reap what you have sown too many times in my life not to believe in it. I think we keep coming back until we "get it right," and then we are allowed to move on to something/place else. I find almost an absolute nausea to see "developers" plop what we in New Jersey call "McMansions" in the middle of good land. Made of chipcore and plastic, they sell for upwards of $750,000. We had an addition put on the back of our small cottage, and I told the guy to use dimensional lumber(real wood), and he laughed. "Okay, if you want to use the old fashioned stuff." It is getting VERY hard to find land to bowhunt on....the people from the city who are moving here all think meat comes from styrofoam and plastic packages. When I smoke a striped bass, though, the neighbors come from all over. They are very quick to devour that. I felt a difference in High School. Back then, my peers felt it was okay to just shove our parent's and grandparent's ideas aside, and protest all over the place while their parents footed the bill. I ended up hunting, fishing, and spending time with the seasons. Sometimes I wish I could go back. My wife and I(she tries so hard to tolerate me)are planning to move to Maine in the next decade. I told her I did not want to grow old and die having to dodge a traffic jam on the way to my own funeral, and could not bear the thought of my last sight being that of one of my hunting spots becoming a mini-mall. If I am not Native American by blood, somehow, I think, I my heart found its way to that place. Okay, I have spilled too many words. I just wanted you to understand not just what or why I think the way I do, but why.why

[techteach]

If you look over this Web site, you will find a large number of people who feel the same as you do. I grew up taking long walks outside every night and still feel like the best way to relieve stress is to get out in the open. And when I was able to verify that the rumors in my family were true, about the native background, suddenly, everything fit. Of course, all along, as Grandma said it and Mom said that she thought it was not correct, I believed Grandma. Too much fit.
I am not familiar with the Michigan names, but I do know that a couple of on my genealogy ended up there, in a county just across the border. And I email a distant cousin from the Detroit area regularly. Her side of the family (who were native) ended up there. They are tied to my gggrandmother who called herself "Blackfoot." However, she was from Pennsylvania and therefore not tied to the Montana Blackfoot nation. She was too early to have been from the Blackfoot Nation but educated at Carlisle. Other family members call her Cherokee and family movements coincide with many people on this forum. Do you have any other names?

Cindy

[vance hawkins]

I was raised in a rural setting but always -- as a child -- wanted to go to the "city". Once there tho I never fit in -- out of place all my life -- and here as I am older now -- 51, have returned to the small town "In them Oklahoma hills where i was raised." :) That's mostly a quote from a Woody Guthrie song by the way.

"Way down yonder in the Indian Nation

I ride my pony on the reservation

in them Oklahoma hills

where I was born."

I have always loved hiking and still can hike ten miles through the Wichitas (local mountains here in SW Ok) -- hard part is finding someone who'll go with me. I can jog 10 km in about an hour & 20 minutes -- meaning I come near last place in any 10k marathon, but I find solice as I wind up ahead of everyone of the walkers! :) I have not really trained that much for it.

I have always had a sense of humor for corny, self-afacing jokin' around and my dad told such corny jokes all his life. Kids loved him and their parents I think hoped he'd shut up . . . I was also raised not to take "lip" from anyone. Anyone insults me, my friends or family - I was raised to think you were honor bound to "fight". Dad was a golden gloves boxer in the army in WW2. But my religious beliefs are in conflict with that. So I can argue either side with conviction (should have been a politician, huh? :))

I have no problem talking about my Christian beliefs. But I have taboos about talking about Indian Spirituality in a public forum, but not so one on one with a single person. I really don't know why that it. When people talk about Indian Spirituality here I cringe up, but one on one I have no problem with it -- and I don't know why I feel that way, to be honest with you.

When I have gone to local pow-wows I usually just look at the vendors wares, talk about the weather, joke a bit, but let the enrolled people lead everything as they are sponsoring the event. They have a right to control what happens -- I am their guest. They respect you for that and see that you "understand" without havin to be told. Most people can only enter the circle when payin' respect to the dancers, singers and drum, but occasionally that's not the case. Dancin' is an honor, not a right. You don't go there and expect to run your agenda. If you don't understand something just discreetly ask someone before you try to do it, and if it is okay they'll say "sure" and if not you'll be told that too. But you be humble -- no showing up anyone, no gaudiness, no uninvited showmanship and no lack of respect.

As far as my non Christian Spirituality, well -- just live a good life and as my Dad always said, ALWAYS do the "right thing" and you'll know what that is when the time comes. Reincarnation -- I have no idea. How could I? I have never been known to die yet. Maybe we are reincarnated and maybe we are not.

The rain falls on the just and the unjust equally so I don't really believe in Karma. We may NEVER be rewarded in this life for anything we do -- but that isn't important -- what is important is that you do the "right thing" no matter the consequences, even tho you expecxt "bad" consequences. Do as your heart bids you to do and let the chips or consequences fall whereever they will. Maybe you will regret it later. That's life, deal with it the best you can.

That's about it I suppose. Oh, and the best advise I could ever give anyone -- I might be wrong about anything jus about so don't listen to ME -- listen to your OWN heart! . . . :)

vance

[George]

I am going to try and respond to the 2 above posts

In the state of Michigan ,There was a large population of aboriginal people who were forced out of the south east who ended up in CASS COUNTY MICHIGAN.

The drive to find your aboriginal ancestors{culture},your outlook or perception{comprehension} of your enviroment , your respect for all of creation.My Elder calls this BLOOD MEMORY.

George

[Brenda Collins Dillon]

A group of my Collins also went to Michigan shortly after the Civil War. Can't remember the county but there was a town called Collinsville. I always figured it had something to do with the tension after the war. The branch that went north was from the line of Edward Collins ,son of Meredith. I believe one of the sons names was Hiram Collins. Soemwhere around here I have the cnesus information I filed on them.

Brenda

[tautog]

Cindy, Vance, Tech, Brenda,
So nice of you to reply so warmly! Maybe it is blood memory. There is an actual scientific observation called synchronicity. I spent about 5 years of my wanderings in, of all places, Carlisle. I flyfished my brains out for one of those years. I know, however, what they did to Native Americans there. It broke my heart to find that out then, and it still hurts. The source of everything somehow balances everything out, and I watched a special on Discovery some months ago about what might happen millions of years in the future to animals. Funny thing is, we weren't in the equation, we had "extincted" ourselves right out of the picture. Of course, no one knows the future for an absolute certainty, but I would like to think the people from the Stars would somehow have a small place in it. Even if I am not Blackfoot, I would like to think that even the small acts I am capable of rendering in apositive way will make some difference down the line. I wish I had more names.....I know a distant uncle, named Joe Areeda, was a police officer(like I once was) on the Detroit Police Department. But, that is all I know. Even wracking my puny brain I can't come up with more than that. Even if I am not Blackfoot, it is a good thing to have heard from people who think from the heart, as well as the brain. Someone once said I was their "brother from another mother." He said it in jest, but I am not so sure that ther isn't a grian of truth in theere, somewhere!

[techteach]

One of my Sinkey line ended up in Montcalm County, Michigan.

Cindy