Perhaps I should have said that Indian Anne was the only native American in Christian Co. in 1870, according to the federal census. I had a gg-grandmother, Emily Jane Dewitt, who had three illegitimate children and came to Christian Co. in 1890 from the Appalachian woods of Rowan Co., KY, a notoriously lawless area. Several of her descendants believe she was native American, her pictures tend to back that conclusion and some descendants have tried to prove it -- to qualify their children for college scholarships. However, all the census information shows she was white, and no other documentation exists. What I consider most intriguing is the belief of descendants that they had American Indian ancestry -- even though those ancestors apparently tried to hide their ethnicity as much as possible. Indian Anne, as best I can tell, had few problems living in the community despite the common knowledge about her background -- but the Nixa community accommodated a surprisingly wide range of backgrounds and lifestyles in those days. Randy

It was illegal to marry if you were Indian, Illegitimate children were all she was allowed. Could not own land either. pat ----- Original Message ----- From: <ScandalMcC@aol.com> To: <MOCHRIST-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2005 2:27 PM Subject: Re: [MOCHRIST] LAW IN MISSOURI > Perhaps I should have said that Indian Anne was the only native American > in > Christian Co. in 1870, according to the federal census. > > I had a gg-grandmother, Emily Jane Dewitt, who had three illegitimate > children and came to Christian Co. in 1890 from the Appalachian woods of > Rowan Co., > KY, a notoriously lawless area. Several of her descendants believe she was > native American, her pictures tend to back that conclusion and some > descendants have tried to prove it -- to qualify their children for > college > scholarships. However, all the census information shows she was white, and > no other > documentation exists. > > What I consider most intriguing is the belief of descendants that they had > American Indian ancestry -- even though those ancestors apparently tried > to > hide their ethnicity as much as possible. Indian Anne, as best I can > tell, had > few problems living in the community despite the common knowledge about > her > background -- but the Nixa community accommodated a surprisingly wide > range of > backgrounds and lifestyles in those days. > > Randy > > > ==== MOCHRIST Mailing List ==== > Donations and volunteers being accepted now. See > http://www.rootsweb.com/~mochrist/ for more details > > ============================== > View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find > marriage announcements and more. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx > >