So My great great grandmother was Native American, & of course for YEARS I thought it was Blackfoot

[LaydeeBug]

and it turns out, my laid back father just made that up. At this stage, everyone has passed that would know which tribe.

All I know is that it was based out of Annapolis Maryland, may have started with an "N" sound, but my dearly departed great aunt's recollection is that it was something like "Gn" but had an "N' sound. There was a picture of my father as a child, in fifties jeans and penny loafers and a white tee, about 11 or 12, sitting that the foot of this woman, with a grand head dress on. I remember thinking it was beautiful, and I knew that was my grandmother's grandmother, but my grandmother died when my father was a child, so I never *really* had an association.

Where do I start?

[csziggy]

1. It would probably be best to just work on the genealogy and see where that takes you

The only Maryland area tribe I found with an "N" beginning was Nanticoke. See:
http://www.nanticokeindians.org/history.cfm


http://www.native-languages.org/maryland.htm

People: The Nanticoke Indians are a southern offshoot of the Lenni Lenape, considering that tribe their elder kin. Today most people of Nanticoke descent have either merged into Lenape groups or passed into American society, but about 1000 people identifying as Nanticokes still remain today, primarily in Delaware.

History: The Nanticoke tribe originally occupied the area between the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, in what is today Maryland and Delaware. After the British conquest of the east coast, the tribe was granted a reservation near the Nanticoke River, but the British soon disbanded it and forced the Nanticokes off the land. Some Nanticoke people fled north to Pennsylvania or joined the Delawares on their westward migrations to Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Ontario, Canada. Other Nanticokes remained behind in their traditional territories. Dispossessed and isolated, the Nanticoke tribe became known for sheltering escaped slaves during the early days of American history--one 18th-century recording of "Nanticoke" vocabulary turned out to be Mandinka, a West African language! After emancipation many Nanticokes passed as black, or sometimes as white if they were mixed-race, but despite losing their language and much of their culture, other Nanticoke people have maintained their heritage to the present day.
http://www.native-languages.org/nanticoke.htm

Start with what you do know and can find easily - your parents, grandparents, etc., names, dates, where they lived. Interview all living relatives so you have a record of their memories, though sometimes those may not be reliable, especially once you go back more than a generation or two.

See if you can find them on the census and what the entries say. Usually non-whites are noted and often the primary language is indicated. If you need help finding census, let me know - I can do some look ups on Ancestry.

[LaydeeBug]

12. Thank you so much for this...It was supposed to be near Annapolis, so maybe Nanticoke is it...

If it weren't late, I'd holler. LOL

This is inspirational, really. I tried to search this all back in '96 or '97 and didn't get very far, but the 'net has come a long way since then.

Thanks again!

[pipi_k]

14. I would bet

that's probably what it is, too, and I'm really surprised I couldn't think of the name since I've read James Michener's "Chesapeake" at least five times, and he includes the Nanticoke tribe in the history of the area.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Do you have the photo?

I'd start there and try to get an ID on the headdress. That should narrow down the tribal groups at a minimum.
Also, if you know her surname and where she was born, try to match that data to names of tribal members in that geography.

It also is important to try to trace her through census records, paying particular attention to where her parents were born because if one or both were from other areas you may need to look in those areas for the tribal link.

I had an Indian grandfather who had been adopted into a white family as a child and we didn't know much about his biological family. He died as a young man and rarely talked about his bio roots other than to describe himself as an Indian. We used to think he was from one tribal group but through my research it 's far more likely that he was from another, the group living where his mother was born and where his father had lived and where many tribal members had his father's surname. My grandfather and his siblings all looked very much like members of that tribe and not at all like the other tribal group.

[jwirr]

7. Very good advice. Most cultures had their own original clothing styles. National Archives may be

able to match it with other photos.

[csziggy]

13. The only problem with tracing costume is that many groups lost their heritage

When they began trying to recover it in the early 1900s, no one had memories of their specific ceremonial and daily garb and for most tribes, there were no visual records. So often they used what was known of other tribes' heritage even if they had no relation to their own people.

Around here, when the Miccosukee Indians first having Powwows, they used Plains Indian outfits and head dress. Eventually some anthropologists researched the tribes of this area and found more authentic descriptions and a few illustrations from Florida and they've now reconstructed what seem to be more historically accurate outfits.

[kdmorris]

3. My father always said that my paternal grandmother's family was Blackfeet

Turns out she was a Pottawatomie. And she was quite a bit further back than my father had originally claimed. She was born in the Ohio region around 1765 and given the English name Hester Smith (which sucks).

Truthfully, all I have it written records that have been passed down in my father's family... nothing "official". Her grandson was described on his Civil War enlistment papers as having straight black hair, olive complexion and "black eyes". He was tall for the times - 5' 11.

[jwirr]

8. While the English names suck they are often the only way we can trace our Native anscestors. The

problem in my family is that as you go back the spellings of the names make it almost impossible to determine who is who.

[kdmorris]

9. Oh, no... I meant the "Smith" part

Those are the hardest to try to trace.

[jwirr]

10. Well that is a problem - I have a few Smith families in mine to and it is hard to follow them.

[Sherman A1]

4. Interesting case

I have a co worker who when talking genealogy with, mentioned she was African American, Irish & Blackfoot Indian. I think I will print this list of resources for her. Might be of help should she decide to do some research on her family lines.

[Waiting For Everyman]

5. I'm from Maryland

and there is/was a sizable contingent of Lumbee Indians here you might want to check into. They were known to be heavily represented among the steelworkers who built the Bay Bridge because of unusual balance skills at great heights. Most of the tribe was located in North Carolina.

Not an "N" word, but you never know.


* found the correct name spelling and a link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbee

[pipi_k]

6. Same problem here...

My father always said there was Penobscot on his side of the family.

The truth is, it's MicMac.


My great-great-great grandmother, Euphemie with her husband and daughters.

There's an eerie resemblance between her and my dad, despite the generation gap between them.

[GentryDixon]

11. Great picture. n/t