Tracing Your Native American Ancestry, Part I
Since first posting my article about the Susquehannock, I have received numerous messages from people who have Susquehannock ancestry. Several of them were requesting my help in finding some direction in tracing that lineage. Unfortunately, I can provide no assistance. Native American history relied entirely on oral traditions. The written records we have today began in the 1800s when the US government began to keep censuses of tribal members. As we know, the Susquehannock tribe ceased to exist in 1763.
By then, most of the tribe had scattered throughout the Appalachian region, joining other tribes like the Oneida of New York. The only documentation of the Susquehannock, by name, are the few dozen names recorded by the colonial governments, which were limited to the tribal leaders who signed treaties and trade agreements. Naturally, none of these records provide useful genealogy data. Consequently, the only evidence of Susquehannock ancestry today relies on family stories and heirlooms, such as a letter or photograph.
Ethnic Genealogy
Tracing one’s genealogy is always a daunting task, but trying to find an unnamed native American ancestor grows increasingly difficult as the number of generations increases. Of course, a major obstacle is that, until recently, interracial marriages were viewed with disdain and shame. Not only was it common for parents to hide from their children the fact that Grandma was an Indian, or Great-Grandpa was a Negro, but also, there were very real social pressures which forced many people to deny their own ethnicity.
I am reminded of a classmate of mine from college. He was a second-generation American; his grandparents had emigrated from eastern Germany. My friend told the story of his grandfather making his first trip back to the homeland. He had great intentions of tracing the family tree, of reviving the family coat of arms, etc. But when he returned from Europe, he had nothing to say and refused to discuss his findings. My friend said that the other family members concluded that his grandfather discovered that they were Polish, not German.
Such is the origin of the group known as Black Dutch. This term is quite pervasive in American genealogic research, but it is, unfortunately, the kiss of death. Theories abound to explain the ethnicity of the Black Dutch (and Black Irish and Black Scots), but the evidence suggests that these terms were used by many people, of mostly interracial ethnicity, to hide their true ancestry of color. From a genealogic standpoint, having ancestors who are described as Black Dutch virtually guarantees a dead end. So even if you know exactly which line of ancestry you’re chasing, it’s doubtful that the normal civil records would be of any help, because they don’t routinely include racial data.
The Internet has greatly enhanced the hobby of genealogy. Contrary to the advertisements of genealogy software vendors and websites, there is no magic database. There is no place you can just plug in your grandparent’s name and find your great-grandparents, and so on and so on (although the WorldConnect Project aims to do just that). A lot of information is published online, but it’s hardly a drop in the ocean of paper records that have accumulated since Colonial times. Have you ever been to your own county courthouse and seen the rows upon rows of files (not to mention the ones that were lost a hundred years ago in a fire or flood)?
Native American Records
Tracing native American genealogy is difficult for many reasons. First of all, there are very few written records prior to the mid-1800s, when the federal government began keeping censuses of native tribes, and of course, some Indians did not use surnames well into the 20th Century. From a practical standpoint, genealogy, in the modern sense, simply was much less important to them.
While there were and are generational ties withing clans, and hereditary chiefs were held in high regard, actual blood lines did not hold the significance to which we attribute them today. For example, an adopted child, whether related by blood or not, was completely accepted into the family, clan, and tribe as a natural child. Because native Americans had a more communal sense of society, the census data provides less information about family relationships than does census data, for example, from the agricultural society of the Pennsylvania Germans. In other words, a household on the Reservation was much less likely to contain a simple father–mother–children unit.
Other relatives, even those we would consider distant relatives, often lived in the same household, making it difficult for the researcher to sort them out. Marriage is another matter. In white society, a marriage is defined by a ceremony recorded in a church or civil document. In many native societies, a marriage was a simple agreement between the two individuals and, perhaps, the parents and elders according to the traditions of the tribe. By the same token, a marriage could be dissolved by agreement as well.
Certainly part of the aculturation process of the 19th century was intended to force Indians to abide by the monogamous mores of Christian society. As a result, genealogy data of native Americans can seem like an endless trail of marriages and divorces, with half-siblings and step-children. But that does not mean that the family unit was less important to them. On the contrary, they simply defined family in a broader sense.
The US federal census is a hodgepodge with regard to native Americans. They can be some help, if your ancestors were enumerated as part of a Reservation, because they did record the tribe and even racial fractions. However, throw in a few remarriages, name changes, and step-children, and your head will be spinning. The US Census, in enhanced, indexed form, is available from the two main genealogy websites. It is an expensive subscription for the casual user, but an invaluable resource for the serious researcher.
The tribal censuses are kept in the collection of the National Archives, primarily in Washington, DC, but certain ones are also available at other field offices. The microfilm documents are accessible to all, but again, you have to go there and do the research yourself. They have no digital name indexes, so you have to know which tribe to research, and then go through the records line by line.
In the last few years, Ancestry.com has begun to make tribal census research easier, by putting the images of the handwritten documents online, available by subscription fee. The tribal censuses are far from complete, but they can be helpful for establishing ancestry from the turn of the century. Nevertheless, they have their own limitations as well. For instance, most do not include non-tribal spouses. When the father and mother were from different tribes, the children might be listed with either tribe. I have seen cases where some children were listed among the father’s tribe and some children were listed among the mother’s tribe. Ancestry.com does have searchable name indexes. Of course, the name index is only as good as the transcription and is hindered by the fact that native Americans often changed their name.
Civil Records
In my own research of our ancestors and their descendants, there were a number of factors which aided my efforts. Although my grandparents came from two different states, their families had lived in the same county in those states for more than a hundred years. I was also fortunate to find that Franklin County, Kansas, has indeed made many of their records available online. I could find my ancestors and relatives listed among the records of marriages, divorces, high school graduates, military service, and cemetery surveys. But the extensive online records of Franklin County is still the exception, not the rule. And you still have to know who is related to whom, and for that you have to rely on family history or family records. Of course, I was not searching for an unnamed ancestor. I already knew who my native American ancestors were; I know where they are buried; I have been to their graves.
