Native Americans Hidden In Our Family Trees

In the late 1700’s Colonists left the East Coast and ventured over the Appalachians. That was going west for them. They encountered great Indian resistance. Eventually, in 1825, pockets of Indian land were made into reservations and “Indian Country” was officially between the Red River and the Missouri River. Then five years later the Indian Removal Act relocated more Natives (Eastern Indians) to Indian Country. Then, due in large part to the building of railroads, the Homestead Act and the Civil War, Indian Country shrunk, a lot. In 1854, the northern part of Indian Country became the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Kansas’s northern border is Nebraska and its southern border is Oklahoma. We’re talking Indian Country. If you were always told that your ancestor was born in Kansas or Nebraska but they were born before 1854, they were born in Indian Country.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees. Available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500756105

Does Ancestry Hunting Promote Acceptance or Bigotry?

When I began sharing tips on genealogy, I believed it would open our mind to our true origins and encourage love of self. But does DNA testing, shove us into camps with percentages of this and that and put us into categories that lend to bigotry and ethnic supremacy?

There will always be people who want their world small, and easy to understand. But my vote is on the plasticity of the brain and the capacity of the human heart, to love others, as much as they love themselves.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy VII – DNA, Jumping Into the Gene Pool. A High Tech Gathering of the Tribes. Available here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078X5F7YP