Jean, I have some of the same questions you have. My mother was born in Golconda, Pope County, and there has always been a family story about our Cherokee ancestry. Since the northerly route of the Trail Where They Cried crossed the Ohio River by ferry at Golconda, I used to speculate that my mother's ancestors had slipped away, hid out, managed to pass for white, and that my mother's family had descended from them. Although I live in California, last year I visited Marion (Williamson Co.), where I still have distant relatives; Harrisburg (Williamson Co.), near the cemetery where many of my mother's ancestors are buried, including my mother's mother and aunts; Brookport (Massac Co.) where my father and his family were from; and Golconda (Pope Co.). In Golconda I met with a local historian, Mildred McCormick, who proved to be very helpful. I discussed with her my speculations. I had many questions about the Trail through Golconda. Basically she disagreed with me about my theory. According to Mildred, there was not a lot of sympathy in the area for the people on the Trail, that the main concern of the locals at the time was to move them out of the area as quickly as possible. Consequently opportunities to slip away and hide out were close to nonexistent. I still reserve the possibility of my theory but it could only be true (1) if Mildred were somehow wrong or (2) that maybe there is an overriding concern among the modern inhabitant families of the area, some of whom have been there for between at least 180 years, to not have it shown that they have Indian blood in their family. Indians are, after all, people of "color". Plus, although Indians are "cool" among many people today, to many others, they are not to be talked about. When my own mother was 5 or 6 years of age, her mother told her to never tell anyone that she is Indian. Many people today don't want the subject to ever come up. This is a possibility I wonder about but push to the back of my mind while I follow another direction and I certainly hope that no one on this list is offended by my words. On another GenForum list, the list administrator doesn't even allow discussions of Indian ancestry on the list. Since I am new to this list, I don't know what the consensus or the rules are here. The new direction is one you should consider, Jean. That direction is that your Cherokee ancestry came from another branch or generation or both and then ended up in the Southern Illinois area. I'm discovering that is true in my family history. Then I have also other relatives who fought in the Black Hawk War against the Sauk and Fox Indians of Illinois to open up more territory for settlers. The Cherokee to my knowledge were not inhabitants of Southern California. The Shawnee were the most prevalent of that area. But I could be wrong about all of this and would like to hear what others know. I wonder who your Cherokee ancestors are, Jean, since we could be relatives and would like to know about that too. Others on the list - if you have any answers, please pass them on. Thanks for any help. Bill Neal [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 6:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Native Americans in southern Illinois Dear list members: I am in need of some advice as to Indians in southern Illinois. I have become aware of a family members (3rd great grandfather) being of the Cherokee tribe. I know one of the Trail of Tears routes went across the southern tip of Illinois not far from Williamson Co. Connection to the Trail of Tears seems more logical than the alternative explanations of Cherokees being native to Illinois or a Cherokee pioneer migration to Illinois. But herein lies my problem. My Cherokee ancestor was in Illinois by his marriage date of 1825. His grand children have roll #s. Can anyone recommend any books that might point me in the right direction for learning the history of the native Americans in southern Illinois? Thank you for any response. Regards, Jean Wilson [email protected] ==== ILWILLIA Mailing List ==== Check out the Williamson County, ILGenWeb Archives: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/il/williamson/williamson.htm ============================== 9 Health Tips for Computer Genealogists http://www.thirdage.com/features/tech/ouch/