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I find it very ironic that the two words, Native, (belonging to a particular place by birth), and American, (a native or citizen of the United States), when combined together has a different meaning.
I was born here in the United States but can't call myself a Native American because it means,( a member of any of the indigenous peoples of the Americas) even though my entire history and culture throughout my entire life has been in a territory called America but my Grandparents came from Europe.
Indigenous: Indigenous people are people defined in international or national legislation as having a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and their cultural or historical distinctiveness from other populations that are often politically dominant.
It seems from this forum that it's almost always a Cherokee and almost always a great-grandmother and often a "princess". It's very strange, and it makes me wonder if this wasn't some bedtime story once popular to tell children, who grew up thinking it was real.
I feel left out. We never had the Cherokee Indian Princess story. Our biggest surprise was to find out that the g-great-grandmother who came from Manchester, England was born in Dublin. Probably shouldna called my Irish ex-husband those names.
Oh, I forgot about the princess thing. You are so right! Always a princess, with occasional 'chief' thrown in.
Are you from the south? It seems like every southern family claims Native American blood lines. My family is southern but they never claimed that but when I began doing genealogy it was everywhere, seemed like every family claimed to be part Native American. I wonder why so many families claimed that to be true?
Perhaps as a more politically correct way (at least in the South) to explain a darker complexion? After all, everyone who has even one drop of Native American blood takes such pride in THAT.
I also think that black Americans (I'm black) claim the NA ancestry because they don't want the shame of being white in their family. May be odd to know by some whites but of all my older relatives that I interviewed, none of them liked white people very much, even one of my paternal grandmothers who was probably more white than black (her mother was a "quadroon" 3/4 white and her father was a extremely mixed race "mullatto" who looked like a white man with a tan - maybe Portugese).
My maternal great grandmother mentioned above who lied to me about NA ancestry, I believe may have also been part white. She had green eyes. Not too many green eyed NAs around that I am aware of lol.
My sister's MIL, now long gone, did not like it at all that her son was with a white woman. She was polite to my sister, but that's it. Some of my BIL's cousins feel that way to this day, just as some of my cousins don't like it that my sister married a black guy and are nothing more than polite to my BIL. It's been 40 years. My sister and BIL just learned to live with it.
But my BIL did his DNA, and he definitely has some NA in him, along with about 20% European. His family story of an Italian great-grandmother proved to be untrue, though.
Just goes to show you can't believe everything you hear... no matter how much you (or a large group of people) repeat a story and believe it to be true..!
Just goes to show you can't believe everything you hear... no matter how much you (or a large group of people) repeat a story and believe it to be true..!
True. My great-aunt, born in 1900, died in 2000, 3 months short of 100, told us that her grandparents and their infant son, her father, came from England to Hartford, CT, then the wife died, the father married the housekeeper who wasn't nice to her stepson, and his uncle ftom Paterson NJ took the boy to live with him. We had no reason to think that wasn't true.
But my sister has done the research. My g-g-grandparents came directly to Paterson from England. They were never in Hartford. It's weird.
True. My great-aunt, born in 1900, died in 2000, 3 months short of 100, told us that her grandparents and their infant son, her father, came from England to Hartford, CT, then the wife died, the father married the housekeeper who wasn't nice to her stepson, and his uncle ftom Paterson NJ took the boy to live with him. We had no reason to think that wasn't true.
But my sister has done the research. My g-g-grandparents came directly to Paterson from England. They were never in Hartford. It's weird.
That's weird. I wonder if it's possible that they did live in Hartford for a little while but not long enough to be on a census.
In a similar vein, I just found out my immigrant grandfather who entered the country through Boston, was bound for Lawrence, MA. Lawrence is now an ugly, run down place of old defunct mills and my grandfather was a machinist so it makes sense. But my dad was born close to where I grew up and he was born within a year of my grandparents' arrival. Makes me wonder what the real story was--guess the job in Lawrence didn't last very long!
I find it very ironic that the two words, Native, (belonging to a particular place by birth), and American, (a native or citizen of the United States), when combined together has a different meaning.
I was born here in the United States but can't call myself a Native American because it means,( a member of any of the indigenous peoples of the Americas) even though my entire history and culture throughout my entire life has been in a territory called America but my Grandparents came from Europe.
...
Are you from the south? It seems like every southern family claims Native American blood lines. My family is southern but they never claimed that but when I began doing genealogy it was everywhere, seemed like every family claimed to be part Native American. I wonder why so many families claimed that to be true?
Its all about receiving what I call Blood Money . I am of Native Heritage also .The white man came up with the name Cherokee if you listen to the stories the Natives call them selves Human Beings .Did not wear Headresses but Cotton Turbins or a small piece of cloth with Feathers .Its more than a Bloodline its a respect for all . Caring for all and a better way of life than we live now . 7 Clans are in my heart not my Blood .
Why do mistaken Native Americans always think that they are Cherokee?
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