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Marriage of History and Native American Genealogy, Part I

© Carolyne Gould

Studying the history of the area your ancestors lived in, and the events that shaped their lives, is a tool professional genealogists cultivate. That tool is particularly important when that elusive ancestor is Native American.

Epidemics, floods, wars and natural disasters affected both where our ancestors lived and how they died. Native Americans were affected by all those things and many more, including the social customs of their tribe.

One of the first resources a genealogist turns to is a census. (Future articles will deal exclusively with the multiple census-types available regarding Native Americans) For now, let's look at a fairly common census situation for Native American families that did not live on a reservation and were considered a part of the general population.

An 1860 census lists your great-great-great grandfather, Charlie Two Horse as the head of household. There are three males ages 0 through 9, one female age 26 through 44, and 1 male slave, age 26 through 44. (Yes, some Native Americans owned slaves.) You then follow this family's travels through the 1870 and 1880 census.

The documentation you have on file verifies that this is your family. Other documentation shows Charile Two Horse died in 1878, so when you move to the 1880 census, you don't expect to find his name, but you do expect to find the names of all other family members. (Names of all family members were first officially used in the 1850 Federal census; although there are some other types that used this form earlier.)

When you review the 1880 census, your great-great-great-grandmother is still alive, some of the sons have taken wives and and older man named John White Feather has appeared. Looks like ggggrandma took another husband. Well, maybe "yes" and maybe "no."

In many native tribes, it was the duty of a woman's brother to take over caring for her and her family in the event the husband died. Census takers often just asked who was the head of the household and the number of people living in the household. Any assumption on our part is just that - an assumption. The fact is, even Charlie Two Horse may not have been your ggggrandfather. Many tribes followed a matriarchal heirarchy in which the brother of the mother acted as the teacher and role model for the male children because only through the mother could ancestry be truly verified. The woman's husband didn't even live in the same tipi, wigwam, or lodge.