Genealogy… Trying to Find Native American Ancestry

American Indians who lived in the Southeast, did not want to be relocated, but when they had no choice, they at least wanted to remain east of the Mississippi River. Here are the 26 states that are east of the Mississippi River: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Those of us who live in the west, don’t think about the Mississippi River as a boundary. We think of the Sierras, the Coastal Mountain Range, and the Rocky Mountains. But we need to imagine what a loss it would be, to be relocated across the big Mississippi. Far from family. From tribal lands.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Go to the Rivers, Lakes, Streams and Oceans to Feel Your Native American Ancestors

Like we do today, Native Americans settled densely along waterways, where they could fish and grow food. The coast especially held large Native populations. Native Americans living in Florida and California, take pride in their history and fight vigorously to defend it. Many of us search for answers. Some of us must settle for studying various tribal cultures and take a guess. Others with Native blood, believe that the ancestors speak to them, guide them, and give them clues. We have so much to learn about our genealogy. The new DNA technology is one tool that will no doubt get more precise through the years. For now, we stand on a bluff overlooking the sea, the river or the desert plateau and wonder. Who am I and who were they?

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Help Finding Native American Ancestry

It’s hard enough to prove Native ancestry, much less determine which tribe they belonged to. When the government pushed Native people into reservations or forced them into hiding, they were cut off from their cultural heritage. And if we find proof that our Native ancestors were associated with a tribe, it may not be the tribe that they were born into. I suggest that you take the surname and run it through Dawes List. Odds are, you won’t find your ancestor, but you may see the surname listed. Alongside it, will be the name of the tribe. If there are forty “Jones” listed and ten are Creek, twenty are Choctaw and ten are Cherokee, maybe just maybe you’ve narrowed down your Native ancestor’s tribe to three possibilities. It’s not much to go on but sometimes, it’s all we’ve got. You’ll find the link to the Dawes List in Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees, along with an abundance of other links and suggestions to help you find your Native ancestors.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Taking DNA Tests to Find Native American Ancestry

Now that DNA testing companies have succeeded in getting millions of us to swab our cheeks, do we still need to “talk” and “research” about our ancestry? Of course we do. In fact, after having taken DNA tests through both 23andMe and Ancestry.com, I appreciate even more, the research I’ve done through the years. Research and family gossip are valuable, maybe the most valuable information that we have. Don’t discredit oral history that speaks of your Native American ancestry, just because your DNA test shows nothing. As the science progresses and more people share their DNA with the public, who and what classifies as a Native American will change. And don’t think that less than one or two percent of an “ethnicity” is insignificant. It’s not. If your grandmother told you that you have Native American ancestry, don’t give up the faith. DNA science needs more time to evolve. In the meantime, keep asking questions and keep digging.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees:

Native American Genealogy… The Unbroken Chain… Might Start With a Tooth

Last week I read in the newspaper that a tooth was found during the construction phase of a large highway overpass. That single tooth stopped all construction. Native Americans came from south and west to analyze the situation. If the tooth were human, it could signify that the construction company was digging in sacred ground.

To non-Indians, holding up a multi-million-dollar construction site might seem ridiculous. To Indians… it is everything. An ancient burial site is the unbroken chain of ancestry… the mothers and fathers who came before them. Some might argue, “Well, you didn’t even know it was there, so what does it matter?” The reason the Indians didn’t know it was there was because they were run off during the 1800s when Europeans claimed the New World was theirs. If the Native Americans hadn’t been “removed,” they would be protecting their ancient burial sites to this day. Imagine what a sacred spot that would be.

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

Of Course White Americans Have Native American Ancestry

When Colonial Europeans walked into America’s wildlands, the roads they took had been well travelled for centuries by Native Americans. The rivers the European explorers paddled down were familiar to the Natives, having used them for trade routes all their lives and their fathers before them. Coastal villages were connected by shoreline paths. European men weren’t just looking for land, they were also looking for wives and when they encountered friendly Natives. You can see it in many an American face. And you can sense it in their heartiness, because who better to survive the remote wildlands than people who had been surviving for thousands of years in the same environment? Unfortunately, many of these frontiersmen gave their Indian wives new names, like Lucy or Ida, making it very difficult for us to decipher by looking at the names on paper. But like I said, you can see it in the faces of the American people and here we are…still… maybe looking more European than Indian but loving nature and surviving in the environment that our ancestors did so long ago.

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

Genealogy… Thirty-Seven-Thousand-Years-Ago

Usually when I think of my ancestors, I visualize them in fashions from a medieval era; stiff collars, lace up shoes or tunics and sometimes I’ll envision more primitive cultures who wore deerskin and loincloths. But imagining what they were like thirty-seven- thousand years ago is a strange sensation.

Native American historical timelines tell us migrating tribes came from Siberia to North America. If American Indians’ oral history is that there was no one else around, archeology discoveries aside, as a group they consider themselves America’s first people and deserve more than a little respect for that.

Visualizing our ancestors sitting on the side of a grassy hill wrapping a stone onto a stick to sling an animal or fishing in the warm sunshine along a rapidly flowing creek… can be good for the head. Primitive ancestral history belongs to us all. Whether you descend from European, African, Middle Eastern or Asian ancestry, it is our story. Why not take the time to visualize it?

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees. Available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-IV-Native-Americans/dp/1500756105

People Finding Native American Ancestry is Growing… So Should the Funds

New technology in genealogical research is helping more and more people find that they are American Indian. At the same time, resources for Indian college and health funds are stretched thin. Well maybe… just maybe… the government should kick out a little more. After all, when newly arriving Europeans were running out of land the U.S. government made the Indians compensate. If more and more Americans are discovering their Native American heritage, why shouldn’t they receive a small piece of that inheritance? Even just a little? Out of respect for their elders? It makes me dizzy when I see how much money our government wastes. The American people have lost billions of dollars through corruption, especially over oil in the Middle East. Let’s invest that money wisely and there’s no better place to start then in the health and education of Native people whose resources were taken long ago.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees. Available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-IV-Native-Americans/dp/1500756105

The Indians Were Cheated, So Who Should Pay and… Who Should Collect?

Americans know that traditional Indian lands were taken to accommodate newly arriving European’s hunger for land. The Indians, out-numbered and out-gunned, were pushed by the U.S. government from place to place. Everyone has heard of the “Trail of Tears,” but those who study American Indian history know… there were many trails of tears.

Fast forward a couple hundred years. Look around you. If you look deeply enough, you’ll see remnants of the lost tribes in the faces of many American people. Over the years, the American government has made reparations to Native People. Some would say a little… too late. Others line up to receive it. Why not? If it hadn’t been taken from their families in the first place, today they would have more resources and assets. But who should line up to take those reparations in the form of health care and college tuition supplements, be they ever so meager? What a loaded question. Wow. You can find these discussions on Native genealogical message boards and website forums across the Internet. Before you worry about whether you deserve any compensation for your rightful inheritance, it’s best to see if you can prove your American Indian ancestry. It’s not as easy as you think.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees. Available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-IV-Native-Americans/dp/1500756105

COOKING With Acorns… Are Acorns Safe To Eat?

I have asked this question myself, in the early days when I first wanted to eat wild foods. Are acorns safe to eat? The answer is yes. Acorns sustained Native Americans for thousands of years. Cultures throughout the world living in temperate climates where oaks grow, also ate acorns. In Spain, they made spirits from acorns. In England, the peasants ate them. Pagan history shows a grand reverence for the oak and the acorn. Naturalist John Muir recorded his travels and left us with his belief that the acorn was “strengthening.” My biggest surprise is that the “civilized” world has overlooked them for so long. I celebrated the New Year with a bowl of acorn dip, made from the acorns of California Valley Oaks. It was delicious and the next time I go to the store, I’m picking up the ingredients to make more.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Acorns and Eat’em, a how-to vegetarian cookbook and field guide for eating acorns. Find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Acorns-Eatem-How–Vegetarian-Cookbook/dp/1491288973