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Sweet Little Indian Roots

Updated May 24, 2009

About Our Family Research


Osiyo

Working with family stories of the old days, tales of medicine women, and their beloved soldiers of the many wars in our country, I may not be able to prove or officially document
our Native American ancestry, yet knowing it is in my heart and in my spirit, is all that is really important.

The stories consist of one great granny who was a well known healer in Dublin, Alabama; one who could read the ashes after smoking her pipe; one aunt born with a veil over her face ( which was removed three times) which was the sign of a seer. The amazing intuition of my father, who left work immediately when it thundered, knowing that his baby was about to be born, and yes, I was born that day, in Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Then we are told of Mr Ward, working in his field, as a strong
thunderstorm approached, he slammed his axe into the ground,
and the skies cleared.

Our families pass on many interesting stories but they all
spoke the English language, yet practiced good survival skills.


I would love to learn more about their culture and language, and teach our children to respect these and the ways of our elders. Yet we have the stories to pass on and the love, truth and respect that were taught to me.


When Indians learned about Christianity, they welcomed new knowledge of GOD and the afterlife with their elders. They were in awe, learning of Jesus, and of course we were told the Mormons believe that Jesus appeared to the Old America, so perhaps this faith was quite welcomed by most the tribes when the Europeans arrived.

So when they were Baptized, many were given new names to use and they are almost impossible to trace now. Some Indians changed their name more than once during their lifetime.

Our Stephens line in 1760 married an unknown full blood Cherokee woman in NC and gave her a Biblical Name.

Due to Indian unrest and the Trail of Tears, many Eastern Band Cherokee fled south or up into the mountains (OverHill) to escape the laws and disease of the white man. Our family believes that Charles Weatherford "may" have fathered our Kitty Weatherford in Virgina before moving to Alabama and fathering Chief Red Eagle. We also might connect our Cochran, Little, Wright lines to Cleopatra, sister of Pocahontas. Many of this line came from South Carolina and Virginia into Tennesee and Kentucky before moving to the Midwest.

Mother's line in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina came into Alabama for quite some time before some moved west.
(Moon, McClain, Bozeman,Anderson, Stephens)

Census takers were very prejudiced and would not recognize Indians owning property so they put most down as blacks or mulatto - in some cases the Indian feared the government finding them so they called them selves blacks or whites.

After the Trail of Tears, they believed that no Indians existed in other areas, so no Indians appeared on census records, and had to be found on the Indian Nation Rolls in Oklahoma.

Thus we hope to find our ancestors registered on the Indian Rolls, somehow, but it sure seems to be an endless journey.

Wa do

 
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