There has been a Seneca reservation at Cattaraugus for over 200 years, and Quakers have long-standing ties with it, conducting a school there. While the Seneca were victims of a land-grab by speculators around 1840, they were never forcibly removed as were the Cherokee and other American Indians to the west and south. Given the large number of Quaker Hoags in New York and New England, it seems plausible that some of them would have been at Cattaraugus. Tom Hamm >Dear Folks, > >I am helping a friend research his great grandfather, who family >legend has it, was a Seneca Indian with the surname of Hoag. Bob >Henninge's grandfather was a careful family genealogist who >researched his mothers' and fathers' family lines. But late in his >life, he told four close family members that his father really was >not his biological father. The grandfather told the story that his >biological father was a Seneca Indian who was, and this is not a >joke, the milkman. This took place in New Albion and Little Valley, >Cattaraugus County New York and the family name was Lawrence. The >story handed down through the family was when the Indians were about >to be rousted out of their homes, the Quakers would alert the >Indians so they could excape. Some of the Indians did escape, but >some were also taken into the Quaker homes and would be given the >Quakers' surname. In the Lawrence family case, a Seneca Indian by >the name of Hoag was the family's milkman and fathered a child by >Mrs. Lawrence, a son, the grandfather of my friend Bob. > >Has anyone ever heard of the Quakers in New York playing such a role >as this, taking Indians into their homes and giving them their >surnames? Were there Quakers in Cattaraugus County NY? I haven't >been given a time frame but it would be the entire 1800's. > >Thank you for any clues. > >Beth Zaring > > > >==== QUAKER-ROOTS Mailing List ==== >Quaker-Roots Archives - Search List Messages From 1996 On >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl