This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: HELTON, HYLTON,HILTON, Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/IMi.2ACEB/429.437.439 Message Board Post: Hi LiRae, when OUR HELTONS were in England the name HYLTON was commonly used, from there it became HILTON, and when our great gramps WILLIAM (the pilgrim)HELTON came to America it was written as HILTON, meaning 'man from the hills' ,i believe,......... as time passed and our family spread out across America, the spelling of our name changed, those in the Northern areas mostly stayed with the Hilton, those of ours that went into N.C. TENN. KY, etc became HELTON, BUT......spelled HYLTON, HILTON, HELTON, ..... WE OF THE TRUE LINE CARRY OUR NAME WITH PRIDE, AS WELL AS OUR CHEROKEE BLOODLINES, .HANDED DOWN FROM PARENT TO CHILD, FOR GENERATIONS, ... SOME BY ROLE, ..OTHERS BY WORD.......... THE WORD OF OUR PARENTS, OR FAMILY BEFORE US, WE CARRY OUR CHEROKEE BLOOD WITH THE PRIDE THAT 'LOVE' HAS BUILT INTO US, and we look into the faces of our forefathers or in the mirror,and see the DARK SKIN,EYES,AND HAIR,.......and we wait for our babies and grandbabies to come and carry on this coloring, YES COUSIN, WE HILTON,HELTONS 'ARE' CHEROKEE, 15 years ago when i first moved to OKLAHOMA with my young daughter, we went to the NATIONAL HOLIDAY in TAHLAQUAH OKLAHOMA a week long 'FAMILY REUNION' GATHERING,....CELEBRATION , at POW-WOW one evening a very very elder lady and man was looking at me, they came up and said...... are you cherokee?? '........ a little embarrassed and shyish as it was my first pow-wow, (and i'm blond with blue eyes) i said' YES, I'M A LITTLE CHEROKEE.............. the elder placed a hand on my arm gently and said............ NO, YOU ARE NOT A LITTLE CHEROKEE, ....... i was a little shocked/surprized as my mommy and daddy told me all my life i was,...and then she said, "YOU 'ARE' CHEROKEE............ you see dear there is no little cherokee, IF YOU HAVE ONE DROP OF CHEROKEE BLOOD ....THEN YOU ARE A CHEROKEE", and she told me the story of my BLOND HAIR AND BLUE EYES, yes, i've learned ALOT in 15 years of belonging to my heritage, but most of all i have learned the LOVE and the PRIDE, that OUR people have deep within them,....... and we, my beautiful Indian-dark daughter, and my carbon-copy 2 year old grandaughter,and i, dance the INTERTRIBAL DANCES at the POW-WOWS with the pride that my daddy, and his mommy passed onto us, the pride of being CHEROKEE...... but better yet, of being a HYLTON,HILTON,HELTON CHEROKEE, this coming year my beautiful grandaughter will dance in our judging dances, carrying on the PRIDE ,and in HONOUR of her great-grandparents and those before them, In reading the email this morning from Cousin Jim in Texas, i too have found the tradition/research/family stories of JAMES and PETER 2, 2 of my gramps, to be the same as Jims, JAMES MARRIED INTO THE CRISMON FAMILY, AND PETER 2, MARRIED INTO A CHEROKEE LINE ALSO, as a researcher about 5 or 6 years ago posted, SUSANNAH was called LADY HELTON, and was Cherokee, (perhaps she could have been from the Crismon line also, as often brothers or sisters married into the same families,) but i know my mommy and daddy was strong in their knowledge of WHO they were,and the belief in the blood they carried, i salute our cousin JIM, for his love of his family and the stories/traditions that have been handed down that he believes in, and i agree that our forefathers would not have carried on the tale of being CHEROKEE, or any other INDIAN BLOODLINES, if it was not so, and just because they weren't on the roles, DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE NOT INDIAN, REMEMBER THIS years ago, to declare/admit you were INDIAN, meant that YOU AS A CHILD, AND YOUR FUTURE CHILDREN COULD NOT GO TO SCHOOL, YOU COULD NOT OWN LAND, YOU WERE MARKED IN THE CENSUS OFTEN, AS BEING ' COLORED'.........or "NON-WHITE", YOU WATCHED PARTS OF YOUR FAMILY LEAVE THE FOLD, AND MARCH IN THE TRAIL OF TEARS TO OKLAHOMA TERRITORY, having given up their familes. losing their land, and often losing newborn babies and other loved-ones along the trail...because they admitted to being INDIAN, ...it wasn't easy to claim your heritage in yesteryear, so many simply laid aside their beloved bloodlines, to live and work and survive in the world they were in, waiting for the time to come that their childrens children (like our cousin Jim and thousands of others) would take up our heritage and carry it, as we do our ENGLISH, SCOTTISH,IRISH, WELCH, and many other lines, of OUR HYLTONS,HILTONS,HELTONS, with PRIDE. so LiRae,keep on searching your lines and never give up believing what your parents/family has told you as you grew up, that was LOVE and PRIDE they were giving to you, not a feiry-dream for unbelievers, lovingly in kinship, Deborah Dora Lee Parton (a double HELTON, and born a PARTON) ***home email; willows@enid.com***