The book that made it all come together for me was Red, White and Black by Gary B. Nash. There was a family legend on my mom's side that my 3rd great granddad's second wife (not my 3rd great grandmom) was Cherokee - including that, in the late 1800s, she rode the train out to Oklahoma to see her family. My 3rd great granddad had lived in Rutherford County, but they had married in South Carolina - always something of a mystery. This book says that NC had laws against White-Indian marriage but that SC did not - and I suspected right then that we knew why they married in SC. I am descended from the Whitesides and Ledbetters, at least one of whom married a John Bradley in the early 1800s. Fran -----Original Message----- From: Kit McChesney [mailto:kitmcchesney@msn.com] Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 10:22 PM To: Fran Akridge Cc: NCRUTHER-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NCRUTHER-L] Marriage records, missing, or never recorded? Fran-- This is good information. As it turns out, my Bradley ancestors were native american (so says family legend as well as the 1880 census, the first year persons could be identified as such--in prior years they were listed as "mulatto" and "free colored persons") so maybe there is a connection there. What is your source for this info about prohibitions between "indians" and "white"? Kit ----- Original Message ----- From: Fran Akridge Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 5:22 PM To: 'Kit McChesney' Subject: RE: [NCRUTHER-L] Marriage records, missing, or never recorded? I think this applies to earlier (like the early 1800s), but I have read that NC had laws against Indian/White marriages. Some went to SC, which did not have such laws, and some lived as man and wife without the license.