Hello! This is my first time on this list, so if I am making any mistakes in posting my query or mystery, please bear with me. My mystery started about 6 months ago. My name is Jeannie Frazier and I am a direct descendant from Moses Bowen/Rebecca Rees, through their son John Bowen/Lillian McIllhaney, through their son, Lt. Rees Bowen/Margaret Louisa (Levisa) Smith. These people were born between 1654 and 1741. And here is the mystery.: When I first started researching my family tree, all I had were names on my grandmother's DAR papers. My immediate family are all gone, my VA family not yet found. I was wondering through a battery of Historical data bases and I came across the Dawes Commission Rolls. Out of curiosity I entered several surnames that belong to my family. Ward's and Bowen's. You can imagine my surprise when up popped several Surnames with my family name patterns. The Bowen's have a very unique naming pattern and it very seldom matters what the Surname is, there always recognizable. I noted the names and didn't pursue it any further. 4 month ago, I made contact with my VA family. A second cousin, Robert Perry, (His grandfather, my grandmother, sister and brother), and a battery of other cousins several times removed. One cousin, Judy Anderson, author of "Ward's and Thompson's of VA and TN" and I correspond on a regular bases. Not to long ago she was approached by someone with information about possible Cherokee heritage in my family. It consisted of several applications for Cherokee citizenship throw the Dawes Commission. She had written to me as well as my cousin Robert Perry, our family historian, asking if we had any knowledge of this, because she had never heard such a story. It was a total shock to Robert. He lives in Bluefield, Tazewell CO., VA, not far from Ft. Maiden Springs, which is where Lt. Rees Bowen/Margaret Louisa Smith, built their first home and founded the fort. In fact, a Rees Bowen has been in constant residence in the home for over 225 years. I'm explaining all this because I wish for all to understand that this is the heart of where all my ancestors who are involved in this mystery lived and died, and that from generation to generation, still are. Robert began contacting all the family members closest to the applicants and would have knowledge of any kind of lineage. Nothing. Big fat zero. Judy sent me copies of the Applications, and what was the biggest shock was WHO the applicants where citing was the source of the Indian heritage. It was Margaret Louisa (Levisa) Smith. What is so unusual about her being named is that her father was Capt.>Col. John Smith, renowned for his heroism during the French and Indian War and along with Col James Patton settled the James River area. He was born and bread in England, as was his wife, Margaret and most of their children. In fact, the only one born in VA., was Margaret Louisa, in 1741. The family is so well documented, there is absolutely no hint of Cherokee or any other Indian heritage mentioned. The living family knows nothing about it either. It would appear the Indian representative, Chief S M Mayes, didn't believe the applicants either. He demurred, stating that the applicants did not prove their heritage and cited the fact that neither the applicants, nor their parents nor anyone associated with the family had ever made applications, nor let be known in any way, that they were of Indian Lineage. The Applicants were, Charles Ward, Rufus Ward, Rees B. Ward, also Rees T. Bowen (of which there are many in my family), and Reece M Bowen. All applicants denied. The denial, however, is not the end of the mystery. As I have begun to examine other family records of collateral line's, there appears to be mysterious hints of other members having Cherokee heritage. One in example, Rebecca Bowen, who was the daughter of Rees Bowen/Margaret Louisa Smith, married as a second husband, one Britain Smith. In history of Britain's descendants it is stated, "There is a tradition in the Smith family that a wife of Britain was Cherokee. These traditions do not pertain to Rebecca Bowen, whose ancestry is known.". I have not been able to trace the author of these notations, but if her knowledge of Rebecca's ancestry is of modern origin, no there would be no history of Indian heritage. If the history is old, it could very well mean Rebecca. Of further note: One of the sister's of Charles Ward, a Rebecca "Sallie" Ward, was noted to have died in 1896, in Chelsea, Indian Territory, OK. at the age of 81. How did she get there? Did she marry someone with Indian heritage? Or did she file at a later date and was accepted? Was the Indian Ancestry really from Margaret Louisa Smith, or were these applicants opportunists. Seeing the chance to aquier new land, submit a false application? That's what the Indian representative thought. But, why all the other little "histories" of there being Cherokee heritage in other segments of the family? I realize that after they moved from VA., that many entered into mixed marriages, especially those who moved to AR and OK. But my family has remained for the most part, where they originally immigrated too, Tazewell CO., VA. In fact the first to move were my grandparent's in 1920's, to Kennewick, Washington. So! Can anyone help me? I have checked all the existing rolls, talked to family members, some in their 90's, read and reread the family history of both Bowen's and Smith's. Talked to Smith and Bowen researchers, and I'm no closer to solving this mystery than the day I originally read those names on the Dawes Commission archives. HELP!!! Sincerely, Jeannie Frazier [email protected]