Dear Jim, My mother kept all family history from me because she was half Cherokee Indian. I was threatened that if I ever looked up my line ... so in school when we did family trees I made mine up, handed it in and destroyed it before bringing it home. I always felt something was missing. I love history and use to dream about who my family came from. My mother died two years ago and three months ago with my sisters help we started looking. I have met some relatives that are so nice. Family stories and history has been exchanged and I have my fathers side back to the revolutionary war twice (one on the brits and one on freedom.) I am very proud of this and excited when I hear the stories lift from the history pages and see my relatives there. Then I have my mothers mother back 4 generations but her dad's is a dead wall. Enmon Martin should be an easy name to find but it isn't and he wrote down two different birth dates (6 yrs apart) and two different birth places (TX and OK.) My mother changed her named, lied about where she was born and it has been really hard .... am I proud to be Cherokee ... YES! Why..... because it is a part of me, their struggles, their dreams, and their hopes. Just like I want to pass all of these on to my kids, grand kids and great grand kids. I am proud of all my forefathers and mothers. Their stories fill a hole in my sole. You may think that is corny but it is true. -----Original Message----- From: Jim Guest <jguest@republic.net> To: Indian-Territory-Roots-L@rootsweb.com <Indian-Territory-Roots-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sunday, June 06, 1999 9:14 PM Subject: Re: Missing mail >Jerri (Rogers) Chasteen wrote: >> >> It's just been very quiet this past week, Charlene. Perhaps your message will >> stir some of the "lurkers" into submitting their information! > >============== > >Jerri, > >Maybe this is the time to ask a question that has >been on my mind for a long time. Maybe it will >"stir" something up. > >Why in the world do some people want to be kin >to an Indian? Over the years I've seen people >want to get into the DAR or the Mayflower bunch >or some other "status" group and it has turned >me off. > >Same for folks who seem to think there is some >kind of status in being kin to an Indian. How >often do we hear something like, "My grandmother >was supposed to be full/half/quarter (take your >pick) Indian. I even heard one lady "brag" about >some supposed kin of her's that she said was a >"three-feather Cherokee princess", whatever that's >supposed to be. > >My grandmother used to tell us kids that our >grandfather's, grandfather was some famous >Indian chief in Alabama in the early 1800's. > >Because of this story, this was the LAST line >I did when I began doing research. I figured >it was just another one of those "Indian stories". > >As it turned out my grandmother was right, but >does it make me any different because some guy >180 years ago was an "Indian"? He was no different >from any other of my ancestors. Was he more >"noble" or "braver" than my other ancestors. Not >in my opinion. So what's the big deal with having >an Indian in your "closet". > >Jim