Family History?

[nurseangel]

I'm very interested in family history, but recently learned of something unsettling.  One of my cousins has recently been researching our family tree.  I know we have American Indian heritage, but she discovered something that sent chills down my spine.  One of my female ancestors, a Cherokee, was listed as marrying an Englishman.  In parenthesis, beside her name is the word "captive".   It bothers me to think about it.  I believe they had nine children together.  Even though she is long gone, I am haunted by the circumstances.  Was she already a captive and could her life have actually been made better by marrying him?  Or was she taken captive to be his wife?  I'll never know the answers.

Does anyone else know anything of their family tree?

 

[DreamerRose]

Yes, I know quite a bit about my ancestors. Most of them go back to the 17th century when they immigrated to the New World from the British isles. Someone traced my mother's surname back to 1000 AD; at least one of those ancestors was executed for poaching on the king's land.

My family has a legend that we are descended from Pocahontas, but neither I nor my father have been able to verify that. I wish I could take  DNA test to see if I came up with any Native American genes.

What is the time frame of your Cherokee ancestor? If you know the time she lived, it would be easier to figure out what is meant by "captive." Everything is relative, too. Pocahontas was a captive herself, but she certainly was not forced to marry John Rolf.

 

[denice]

I do know that I have a lot of Cherokee from both sides but I am not certain how much.  My coloring certainly goes more with Cherokee than the other groups in the mix.  My great grandfather on my fathers side immigrated from Norway.  My grandfather on  my mothers side was German and Irish.  The grandmothers on both sides was where the Cherokee came from.  I know one Grandmother wasn't full  Cherokee but I don't know what else was in the mix.  My Grandmother on my father's  side died when he was only 18 months old and he was raised by an aunt and uncle.  No one still living knows much about her.  His father actually ended up living in Saskatchewan Canada.

 

[AbbysMom]

The family tree on my father's father's side has been traced very far back, first in France, then to Canada, then to the US. My grandmother on that side was also French, but as far as I know, there has been no tree done.

My mother's father's family has been traced back to Portugal and they came to the US only a few generations ago. My mother's mother's family is Polish and I don't believe that has been traced.

 

[Willowy]

I think anybody with a British background (as they were the first immigrants to the US and generally the most wealthy) will find slaveholders in their family history :/.

My brother did one of those DNA tests and found that we're mostly British (primarily Cornish, apparently), with some German and a tiny bit of Swedish in the mix. And a surprise---some Moroccan! Who know where that sneaked in, lol. I don't think he's done research into individuals though.

 

[DreamerRose]

On my father's side, the families immigrated to Virginia, then South Carolina, then Alabama, and finally Arkansas. There were definitely slaveholders in Alabama, but it's nothing I'm ashamed of. That's the way it was back then, and I had nothing to do with it. Two of the men were officers in the Confederate Army. When the family moved to Arkansas, some of their former slaves went with them and are buried in the same cemetery.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I traced my fathers family back to the first census done in this country. They were already here at that time and I have not been able to determine where they immigrated to the US from.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i know nothing of my hereditary family tree. i was adopted. of course i have many unanswered questions, but this isn't something that bothers me at all. my 'real' family, my (adoptive) mother and father, have some interesting history -- which i don't know particularly much about. however, my aunt (mom's sister) has done a lot of work on family genealogy.

 

[donutte]

I've never done a DNA test, so only know what I've been told. And from what my mom said, there have been some embellishments on both my mom's and dad's side.

On my father's side, it's 100% Lithuanian - he was born there. And it really was Lithuania then (not USSR). Grandpa used to tell stories and some of them were so grandiose, we don't know if they were true or not. My grandmother, who I was named for, died at 33 years old. It was the during the war, and I forget what she had, but they treated her with the only medication which was available. That was insulin. And no, she wasn't diabetic. Aside from pictures I've seen of my grandfather's parents, I don't know much further back than that. And don't know anything about my grandmother's background.

On my mom's side, I'm German, Irish and Danish. On my grandmother's side, we only really know half of the story. My grandmother's mother was from Denmark. We don't know who her father was, as he was not part of the picture, ever, from what we can tell. Mom said her grandmother used to give different reasons as to why he wasn't in the picture, so we don't know what the truth really is. On my grandfather's side, his father was from Germany and his mom from Ireland. I don't know much more than that about that side.

 

[Willowy]

Women can't do the DNA test . You need to have your dad or a brother or uncle do it because it goes on the y chromosome.

 

[DreamerRose]

That's no longer true, and following the male line applies to finding a certain ancestor with the same surname. A DNA test can be done to show your ethnicity for either males or females. Females can also be tested for mitachondria, which is only carried through females. What that shows I don't know. Mitachondria is passed only from mothers to daughters. I had two sons, so my mitachondria line will die.

 

[handsome kitty]

Women can't do the DNA test

. You need to have your dad or a brother or uncle do it because it goes on the y chromosome.

Yes they can.  http://dna.ancestry.com/

I'm all Irish.  2nd generation on my mom's side.  My grandfather was in the IRA and had to leave when the question arose - let the north go or keep fighting.  He was willing to let it go.  There is a rumor the IRA had a hit out on him and he fled to Canada.  My grandmother went with him.  They were teenagers.  They eventually found their way to Chicago where he became a fireman and she cleaned houses.  There have been a few reunions for my grandfather's family.  Half the family immigrated to Chicago.  His father's generation immigrated to Boston.

Pretty sure I'm 3rd and 4th generation on my father's side.  I don't know much about them.  My dad didn't keep in contact with any extended family members.  We only saw his mom on Christmas and New Year's Day for dinner.  She only lived two miles away.

 

[denice]

I have thought about getting it done.  I found this article from last year that compares the different ones available.  http://www.legalgenealogist.com/2015/02/02/2015-most-bang-for-the-dna-buck/   The way I understand it the bigger and more geographically diverse the companies database is the more accurate the results.  

 

[DreamerRose]

Those of you interested in learning more about who your ancestors are may be interested in some of the genealogy sites on the Internet. A good free one is RootsWeb - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ . It was purchased by Ancestry.com, which is a subscription site, but RootsWeb still free and has a lot of good information on it. There is a search function in which you can enter the name of your oldest known ancestor along with a little basic information, and all family trees with that person in them will come up.

I did a lot of research on RootsWeb years ago, and not only learned more about my own heritage, but found many cousins I never knew I had. I still correspond with some of them, and I am so glad I found them. The most amazing thing was to find Thomas Jefferson, the third president, in the family tree. We aren't direct descendants, but he's a many times great uncle.

 

[cheshirecat]

I did a DNA test from Ancestry . com that was supposed to tell me the geography of where my ancestors came from.  It didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know.    The only information I got was on my mother's side.

Also, I did their free trial to get access to their data bases to see if it was worth paying for.  Most of the information I found could have been gotten free from other sites.  In some cases the information they pointed out were records that I had created myself on a site that tracks cemetery records.           

 

[DreamerRose]

I've always been afraid of that - that they would just have the information I posted myself. I think Ancestry is rather expensive, so I've never used it. RootsWeb has everything I need, and a lot of stuff is online if you know where to look for it. FindaGrave has cemeteries and many counties have their old marriage and probate records posted. We even found a 1794 will online.

 

[Willowy]

Hmm, I just read an article saying the DNA tests aren't very accurate. . .and can never be, because people have always moved around too much. No purebreds to check it against like dog DNA tests . Oh well, it's kinda fun anyway.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Three sets of my Great-Grandparents came to the US in the early 1900's.  The other came a generation prior.  I don't know a whole lot about them; but some.

My mother's father's parents were sheep farmers from Italy.  I believe not too far from Rome.  My mother's mother's parents came from Krakow, Poland.  I don't believe they knew each other well before they were married and that only happened because my Great-Grandmother wanted to come to the US.  She spent the rest of her life wanting to go back to Poland.  She had been a maid in a wealthy mans house.  They still had 7 children in spite of their less than pleasant sounding marriage.  She was also part Greek; but I know nothing else about her parents.  When my mother was in school she did interviewed my Great-Grandma and did a long project detailing family history.  Gram said my Mom talked with her for hours!  After Mom turned in her project and it was graded; the teacher threw them all out instead of returning them to the students!  Gram never got over that one!  Apparently Great-Grandma had opened up to Mom about things even my Gram didn't know.  

My father's fathers lineage is somewhat more interesting.  I was told that my Great-great Grandparents were Germans living in Russia. There were 7 brothers who all came to the US at different times; as they were able.  They were required to serve in the military for a period of time because they were living in Russia (I could not tell you where.) and that was what prompted them to each leave as they could to come to the US. They never all saw each other again though.  My father's mother's parents I know a little more of because my Grandmother used to tell so  many stories.  They were from northern Italy and came here to start their family.  I have pictures of them that my Grandmother had.  My Grandma is short; she cant be much over 5' tall; I'd be surprised if shes even 5'2".  My cousin and I were going through pictures and found a picture of my Grandma and 2 of her sisters standing with their father and they were all about the same height!!  Then I saw a picture of my Great-Grandparents together and my Great-Grandma was also about the same height!  I clearly did not get my height from Gram's side! 

  

My DH's lineage is much more interesting and can be traced more easily I believe.  Mostly because they were better educated and spoke English primarily.  My ancestors seemed to have come from poorer backgrounds.  I know names were changed when they came here; either on purpose to sound more influential or by accident.  DH's grandma was very passionate about preserving her father's legacy and the things he had accomplished in his lifetime.  He was orphaned during the Civil war.  DH's grandmother was one of his youngest children and she would be well over 100 if she were still with us.  She had a sharp memory until a few weeks before she passed away. She was keen on writing journalists and editors to correct them on historical facts.

  Her father is named on a statue in a town near where she grew up; but for the sake of family privacy I won't share that here now.  MIL said that DH's roots can be traced back to a famous American explorer as well. 

 

[nurseangel]

 
Yes, I know quite a bit about my ancestors. Most of them go back to the 17th century when they immigrated to the New World from the British isles. Someone traced my mother's surname back to 1000 AD; at least one of those ancestors was executed for poaching on the king's land.

My family has a legend that we are descended from Pocahontas, but neither I nor my father have been able to verify that. I wish I could take  DNA test to see if I came up with any Native American genes.

What is the time frame of your Cherokee ancestor? If you know the time she lived, it would be easier to figure out what is meant by "captive." Everything is relative, too. Pocahontas was a captive herself, but she certainly was not forced to marry John Rolf.

Sorry all that I'm just now getting back to this thread.  I find all the replies very interesting!  I'm not sure the time frame of the particular Cherokee ancestor.  My aunt mentioned the Trail of Tears, so I believe around then. There were other Cherokees in the family, but the one who was listed as captive was the earliest that I know of.  My dad's family is mostly of German descent.  I look a lot like my dad's side of the family; blue eyes, dark hair, and light skin.

 

[DreamerRose]

If she lived during the time of the Trail of Tears, that would be 1838. It could be your ancestor was listed as a captive because she was married to a white man, and therefore was not forced to move to Oklahoma.