Family stories/lores are just another piece of a puzzle, if you ignore them just because they are a lore/story, then you really can be missing a lot. I grew up knowing I had Cherokee in our family tree. My dad always thought it was his grandma that was the connection, because he was with her when she filled out her application. She actually had to go back a 2nd day to provide more info. then what was on her app from the first day, but she didn’t have money for a boarding & food, so they rode the train back home. But that was part of the story. I could have just stopped there but then I wouldn’t have discovered that our connection goes back 2 more generations. The problem (I’ve seen over the years) is that when someone who claims “to know more” then the person seeking helping, is that if they are of proven NA blood, they have a big chip on their shoulder (NOT all) & look down on those who are taking bread crumbs (lores/stories) to help them search. And then they chastise the search for believing such crap. I had an individual do that to me on this list years ago. My great grandma claimed to have drawn “bread money” from the Cherokee tribe in a certain year. Well, the “know-it-all” (yes, she (in my opinion) came across as such) thought she was better at researching my family & said my G-grandma had lied, that she had been in Mo. Having baby’s. So I made her prove it to me (hey I’m all for excepting my family being wrong, but I want proof first) the family she found, though related to me, was my G-grandpa’s side of the family. But its stuff like that, that causes people to quietly do their research w/o asking for help because (as you said) they’ll get blasted for offering or for asking for help. I have a lot of lores/stories to follow up on & until something changes…….I’ll follow the bread crumbs :0) I’ve been given great help & a census was supposedly found that shows my 4th great grandma listed as Cherokee, but my helper vanished :o( so I’m still searching for that mysterious census record that list’s her as well as her husband, which I fully believe is out there. Keep on verifying or searching for your stories :0) From: Kathy Burns [mailto:kbswanie95@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 5, 2014 2:22 PM To: Alli :); cherokeegene@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CherokeeGene] pride Family lores most of the time are just that. Not all lores are the complete truth. Some of the important information has been lost in the story being brought down through the generations. And then again some of it has been embellished. I recently finally after 20 years of searching found a story that has been past down in my family... Most of what I knew was correct in the story. It was a newspaper article written about my great great Grandfather and his family in Comanche Territory in Montague Co., Texas. You do have to keep looking to see if you can find some truth in it. I really thought it was a made up story because I had been looking for it in Illinois and not Texas.....You have to get your facts right before you know where to look. As far as people not sharing....It could be they really don't know it all and have said something about it and got blasted by others. I have had that done also. You can only take a family story for what it is....It is a lore and until you prove it is true that is what it is....A Lore. Kathleen

Alli, I agree with you all my life my mom has told me we had Cherokee blood, when I was a child I ask her who was the Indian in our family she told me she thought it was on her mom's side, (my grandmother) which does look native. So far I have not been able to document this. I also have a great-grandmother that looks native, she is my grandfathers mother this is still on my moms side of the family. I have hit a brick wall on my great-grandmother. I never heard of any indian blood on my dads side of the family but one day I just ran across where my 3rd great-grandfathers brother married a cherokee. I am still searching my moms side. I have really enjoyed doing the family research, it is a challenge and also fun Susan Smathers -----Original Message----- From: Alli :) via Sent: Wednesday, November 5, 2014 4:36 PM To: cherokeegene@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CherokeeGene] pride Family stories/lores are just another piece of a puzzle, if you ignore them just because they are a lore/story, then you really can be missing a lot. I grew up knowing I had Cherokee in our family tree. My dad always thought it was his grandma that was the connection, because he was with her when she filled out her application. She actually had to go back a 2nd day to provide more info. then what was on her app from the first day, but she didn’t have money for a boarding & food, so they rode the train back home. But that was part of the story. I could have just stopped there but then I wouldn’t have discovered that our connection goes back 2 more generations. The problem (I’ve seen over the years) is that when someone who claims “to know more” then the person seeking helping, is that if they are of proven NA blood, they have a big chip on their shoulder (NOT all) & look down on those who are taking bread crumbs (lores/stories) to help them search. And then they chastise the search for believing such crap. I had an individual do that to me on this list years ago. My great grandma claimed to have drawn “bread money” from the Cherokee tribe in a certain year. Well, the “know-it-all” (yes, she (in my opinion) came across as such) thought she was better at researching my family & said my G-grandma had lied, that she had been in Mo. Having baby’s. So I made her prove it to me (hey I’m all for excepting my family being wrong, but I want proof first) the family she found, though related to me, was my G-grandpa’s side of the family. But its stuff like that, that causes people to quietly do their research w/o asking for help because (as you said) they’ll get blasted for offering or for asking for help. I have a lot of lores/stories to follow up on & until something changes…….I’ll follow the bread crumbs :0) I’ve been given great help & a census was supposedly found that shows my 4th great grandma listed as Cherokee, but my helper vanished :o( so I’m still searching for that mysterious census record that list’s her as well as her husband, which I fully believe is out there. Keep on verifying or searching for your stories :0) From: Kathy Burns [mailto:kbswanie95@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 5, 2014 2:22 PM To: Alli :); cherokeegene@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CherokeeGene] pride Family lores most of the time are just that. Not all lores are the complete truth. Some of the important information has been lost in the story being brought down through the generations. And then again some of it has been embellished. I recently finally after 20 years of searching found a story that has been past down in my family... Most of what I knew was correct in the story. It was a newspaper article written about my great great Grandfather and his family in Comanche Territory in Montague Co., Texas. You do have to keep looking to see if you can find some truth in it. I really thought it was a made up story because I had been looking for it in Illinois and not Texas.....You have to get your facts right before you know where to look. As far as people not sharing....It could be they really don't know it all and have said something about it and got blasted by others. I have had that done also. You can only take a family story for what it is....It is a lore and until you prove it is true that is what it is....A Lore. Kathleen =====*NOTICE THIS*===== Cherokee genealogy; certain conversation is allowed to do genealogy; and sort fact from (fiction). List archive http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=cherokeegene please take non genealogy to Cherokee@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHEROKEEGENE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message