> "Richard A. Pence" wrote: > > > > > (I KNOW there was one there somewhere in our family, but can't find > > > them ANYWHERE!!!!) > > > > Dena: > > > > If you can't find "them" ANYWHERE, how do you KNOW "there was one > > there somewhere"? > > > > Aside from "the three brothers" and "the name was changed at Ellis > > Island," the most commonly believed (and rarely true) family > > tradition in American genealogy is the one about Indian (aka "Native > > American") ancestry. > > > > Like most other genealogical puzzles, the solution likely lies in > > carefully tracing each generation back. If you then encounter a > > person whose background might lead you to believe the person could > > be an Indian, then this is the time and the place to try to > > determine the details. > > How is one supposed to know that? I have a pile ... a large pile ... > of dead ends in counties created in Georgia and Alabama in the late > 18th and early 19th century as the Cherokee and Creek lands > dwindled. This alone says that while they might have come into > these lands from Georgia or the Carolinas or even (as we know is > true) Scotland, they well may have been there all along. The > question is, how do we find out? > > > > The essence of these discussions is that it is usually a > > losing strategy in genealogy to set out trying to prove your are > > related to some specific person - be he or she rich, famous, an > > Indian or a horse thief. > > Well, I tried that with Pocahontas and proved conclusively that one > of her grandchildren was my aunt unpteen times removed. One teensy > little generation off! > > And it's not terribly silly to try to prove connections with famous > people if you know for sure that there is only one missing > generation to prove or disprove. Usually it is very easy to > disprove, and in every case but two I have done so, but there is > that one nagging one that mildly reputable sources imply that I > simply cannot disprove. So I might as well keep looking. > > Doug McDonald <mcdonald@scs.uiuc.edu> "We hope to find some clue among the extensive records of Timothy Barnard, U.S. agent to the Upper Creeks. Bernard was half Scot/half Creek, and was m. to a Euchee Indian woman. His son, Billy, m. Peggy Sullivan." This is part of correspondence from Jack Crenshaw Grantham, Jr., a noted Dallas, Texas genealogist and professor, who researched the Creek, Cherokee and Sioux tribes for connections with the Bull family. If you do a search in the NARA, you'll find documents concerning Timothy Barnard and other Indian agents. This may help you.... Roger "Data" <bulldata.nospam@hotmail.com>