Blackfoot near Philadelphia, PA

[Linda]

This came to me in an email.


Hi! I have been told that my Great-great grandfather married a half breed Blackfoot Indian. His granddaughter, my grandmother, lived on a farm outside of Philadelphia. The last name is Dennison, my Grandmother's name was Alice Anna Dennison. I think his name was John Dennison. This is my first effort at trying to trace this, so any help you can lend would be very much appreciated.

Was Sunbury near present day Philadelphia? My road atlas isn't handy. Does anybody know off hand? (Sunbury is the location of a village where the Tutelo are noted as being. They were Virginia Indians we believe the Blackfoot ID is a marker for. )

[techteach]

Sunbury is farther west than Philadelphia, not quite half the distance from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. That is the location of some of my bunch. My gggggrandfather was a PA Ranger there. His descendents (or maybe he was?) were full or mixed-blood Cherokees(?), according to family history, and married into the children of my ggggrandmother who was native American who called herself "Blackfoot" and from the Pittsburgh area. Evidence indicates that the two branches were connected through more than marriage.
I do not recognize the name as related to any of my people, however, many ended up in Jackson/Jones County, Iowa. I had an aunt whose maiden name was Dennison before she married my uncle. They lived near where this bunch ended up in Iowa. I have no idea if her family had any rumors of native background nor where she was even from before my uncle married her.

Cindy (Teachtech)