Blackfoot in PA

[Vivian]

Hi Linda, I finally had the courage to post online. I am the one that sent you "Grandma's song"posted in this message thread 7/12/2003. My family lived in Fayette County, Bullskin Township near Indian Head Pennsylvania. My GGGrandmother handed down that she was Kentucky Blackfoot. My family says this area of Pennsylvania was where the 7 nations came together. I have not found any information on her except for the 1900 census in PA. Her name is Mollie (Pollie)Burket married to John Adams(Irish). Can anyone tell me or direct me to her family? Or does anyone recognize the words to her song? I have been singing this song for years and really would like to know what I am singing.

[techteach]

Vivian:
Welcome. I enjoyed your song. Your family is very near my Pennsylvania ancestors, one of whom calls herself Blackfoot also. I recommend that you post to the genealogy forum also, as Bill is great at finding families although he will see this and likely respond. In the meantime, I did find a few web sites of with the Burket name from near your location if this helps: http://groups.msn.com/BlairCountyPAGenealogyFamiliesPhotoAlbums/burketweyandt.msnw

and

http://home.comcast.net/~susanjackman/burketweb/index.htm


My names are Sinkey (BTW, I ran across a reference to Sinking Creek in Kentucky referred to as Sinkey Creek.), Potter, Lane, McLane, Huston, Green and assorted others listed under "possible other names" in the genealogy section.

Cindy

[techteach]

Vivian:
I am going to talk with my son who is a music major and see if he has any insights about your wav file. He might have some ideas about whether or not it might make a good research topic and have a name of someone at his college, which is known for music and close to where my people ended up in Iowa, who might be interested in taking this on. While we have not connected our two family lines with mutual names, it seems VERY interesting that we have almost the same story and the same PA location. My ggggrandmother was in Beaver County and my gggggrandfather was in Huntington County. The story from one was Blackfoot (Beaver County) and the other was Cherokee. I'll see if I can download the wav file now.

Cindy

[Vivian]

This was very quick, I am very excited to reach someone with a similar story. If you need help downloading the wav file I might be able to forward it to you by email. The Burket website link you provided was really interesting, I wish siblings were mentioned. Which of your ancestors called herself Blackfoot? I hope we can connect their names. My family is still in Pennsylvania, I moved to CA 34 years ago with my husband. I try to investigate each time I travel back there. The name Moyerstown near Connellesville came up in conversation with one of my Aunts as to the location of the family homestead.

[techteach]

Vivian,

Not a problem. I downloaded the file with no problem. I even did a look at the web. We might have some folks to tap into who might be able to help id that song, people who are singing in Tutelo (if that is the language). Turns out that one of the journals on ethnomusicology is right here in Chicago. But I am still talking with others first.
My gggrandmother's name was Nancy Agnes McLane (Lane perhaps), born in Beaver County in 1814. Bill connected her with another group in Huntington, PA. Your location is like almost right in between them. I have yet another group south and east of your location too, but the only one with the Blackfoot ID is the one from Beaver County, at least as far as I know.

Cindy