I have been hunting ancestral roots for many years and FINALLY got down to some solid information about my Choctaw ancestry. However, I need some guidance in order to go further. My quest begins with Bettie Warfe/Gavin in Cliftonville (Noxubee) MS. At the age of 61, she filed for recognition as MS Choctaw, along with her 8 adult children. The father of her children, Robert Gavin was white. In testimony to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes in 1901, she says that she was born in VA and brought to MS by "some white folks" when she was about 9 years old. She claimed her Choctaw ancestry through her grandmother, Mary Owen, whom she said was full blooded Choctaw from AL. She said her mother (Acey, Alcey or Elizabeth Owen or Hughes), was half Choctaw and that her father, Isaac Hoskiss, was a "Yankee". Although she claimed to have never been a slave, other information leads us to believe she came to MS with a John Warf, who was a slaveholder and was traded to the Gavin family. Warf migrated from VA to MS with 5 slaves. He made a stop along the way in AL. In any case, she did not make her claim as a Choctaw freedman. Her claim for Choctaw recognition was denied (MCR). However, her son Owen somehow managed to get a land grant in OK. Census records list him variously as mulatto and Indian. His children attended Indian schools. He was driven off of his land by night riders, during which experience his daughters were violated. In anguish, he committed suicide and the Choctaws refused to touch his body or bury him. The physical descriptions in the NARA records and family photos show that Bettie's children all looked Native American - long straight black hair, copper skin, thin lips - but, given their white admixture, that may not say anything. So far, I can't document much save for family memories and now the NARA records. Does anyone have any advice on where I might look for Bettie's mother and grandmother? Anything anyone can offer will be GREATLY APPRECIATED. BTW: MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!