Woooohooooo, lots of interesting information . Thanks very much. Richard B. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathie M. Donahue" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 9:04 AM Subject: [CREEK-SOUTHEAST] Metis and Acadian and Jesuit > The Metis Genealogical Society of Spokane, WA, was where I learned > genealogy, first. Members of that group, in the 1970's and 1980's were > descended from Flandreau Sioux, Plains Cree, Turtle Mountain Chippewa and > Salish-speaking tribes of WA, ID, and MT. > > Tribes, today, with a broadly-interpreted metis background include those > of the Great Lakes, the Dakotas, MT, ID, WA, OR, and some just south of > those northern tier states. The word, metis (feminine = metisse) is > French for mixed blood. The Red River (Winnipeg) metis were strictly > considered, at one time, to be, mixed Scots and Cree. > > Sources of genealogical information about these people can be found in > many Quebec genealogical dictionaries (Tanguay, Jette, Drouin [now online > at ancestry.com]) and some Quebec marriage repertoires (lists) such as > Rivest and Loiselle. Gail Morin, who lives just north of me near Coulee > Dam, WA, is the author of a significant group of books and CD's published > by Quentin Publications on the metis of the plains. The Red River, > Manitoba, censuses 1830-1870 are full of metis families. Interesting > reading about the metis on the subject of Louis Riel is an eye-opener to > political standing of these great people. Sprague and Frye's GENEALOGIES > OF THE FIRST METIS NATION mix church and census records of the Red River > era in a great reference on the early families. The Half-breed Scrip > records of Canada and the Great Lakes lend even more detail to the > picture. One of the most recent metis groups in the US to gain a > reservation were the Rocky Boy. They were the descendants of the! > Landless Chippewa of Montana who occupied a hill in Helena, MT, for many > years, poor and desititute, living in shanties and impossible conditions. > > The foregoing is sketchy, but you can get the general idea. > > The Acadian people, many of whom migrated from Nova Scotia (formerly > Acadia) to Louisiana are another story, although Acadians may be found all > over the world, even in France. There were significant groups along the > east coast of the US; all up and down the Mississippi; in Quebec, Ontario > and Manitoba and other places. Many were mixed blood before they ever > left Acadia. > > The Acadian genealogy is almost a known-quantity. Their origin in Acadia > and exit time is fairly certain which makes for a straight-forward type of > research. There are Acadian Genealogical Societies and experts, today, > who can help show the way. A recent book by Stephen White ought to be > looked at in one's Acadian research efforts. > > Well, that's the surface of it and maybe there's enough there to help. > There's a possibility some of the Acadian would be found among the Choctaw > and Chickasaw and certainly any of the tribes of LA (now, Cajuns, the > local corruption of Acadian). The catholics weren't allowed up into the > heartland of Alabama. Had the Jesuits made it up there, early (the > 1700's), I think we would have some dy-no-mite records to follow in > untangling the mysteries among the Creeks. But alas, they were kept away. > > Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents > http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/ is a wonderful history and > insight into the missionary efforts of these great priests who trod (often > barefoot) among the Indians and early communities of the Americas. Have a > look. Without their zeal, I wouldn't have the name of my earliest Indian > grandmother, Charlotte, an Okanogan, born, probably, in the Methow Valley > of WA in the first decade of the 19th century. > > In researching French-sounding surnames, don't forget the Huguenots. > Those that took over Manakin-town near Richmond, VA, in 1700, displaced > and absorbed many Saponi families, according the Dr. Peter Houck, author > of INDIAN ISLAND IN AMHERST VIRGINIA. Many of those families pushed west > or took ship to Louisiana and Texas in the early days. > > From several genealogies I've studied, but not been able to actually prove > Indian blood in, I've thought there were significant numbers of mixed > bloods among the Austin colonists of Texas. These were not generally > French-originated families but they were families that were found early > among the first settlers of KY, OH, and IN, among many other states, who > originated in the Mid-Atlantic states, VA and the Carolinas. > > I am being very general, here, and intending only to give clues to things. > If you have questions of corrections, that will be good. I have not dealt > with several of these subjects in any great depth and not for many years, > as most of my work has been among the Five Civilized Tribes. But I love > to work on the French lineages of the Indian people because the Jesuits > were hard at work with them, early, and provide wonderful records to their > histories. > > If you cut your teeth on Quebec and Jesuit records, as a greenie, as I > did, you thought, at the outset, "Hey, THIS is easy!" Well, it was, > relatively speaking. Reality, however, soon dawned. Not every ancestor > is Catholic and not every Catholic was ministered to by a Jesuit....and > outside of Quebec, where churches had to keep records in duplicate and > triplicate, even Catholic records were hard to find in a direct line from > early times forward. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >