Wordless Wednesday - A Must See for Cherokee Voters!

I have posted this before, but because we have an election coming soon, it is important to post it again. All Cherokee voters need to see this video. 

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Tombstone Tuesday - In Memory of Uncle Jimmy

My Uncle Jimmy passed away yesterday, April 18, 2011. He was only 45 years old, two years older than me. It is hard to write about the loss of a loved one when the shock of their death is still present - when the grieving process has just begun - but I want to post a song that makes me think of our childhood. Summers spent at grandma's playing outside from dawn to dusk, building blanket tents in the house, telling scary stories to each other in the night when we were supposed to be asleep, sneaking down the stairs in the night to listen to what the grown ups were talking about, and so many other things.

It had been quite a while since I had seen Jimmy, it didn't mean I didn't love him and it doesn't mean I won't miss him.

 James William Mitchell

1965 - 2011

Rest in peace, Uncle Jimmy. You will never be forgotten

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

CC
The Granddaughter

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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More: Alexander Barnes vs. Alexander Barnes

The descendant of the white Alexander Barnes disputes the evidence in the first blog post made about the two different Alexander Barnes men saying,

My uncle Ben moved away when I was a baby and I don't remember ever seeing him, I just knew he moved to Texas so I am not sure about the dates for him. 

My uncle Dave died in Poplar Bluff while I was living there. HE was run over by a dump truck not far from our house.

There is a problem with Nancy Barnes. She was living with my grandmother until after I married and left home in 1968. My mother, grandmother and I used to take her places with us and the last time I remember seeing her was in 1969. I didn't even know she was a sister to my grandfather until 3 years ago when I fond a census record saying she was sister to head of house. All we ever called her was 'Ole Indian Nancy". My sister was also shocked when we found out she was related.
On the 1860 and 1880 census none of those names are any of my family so it isn't the same Alexander.

So, some additional information to show that the David Wilken Barnes who was from Texas WAS her uncle is shown in his WWI Draft Registration card. Notice he lists for his nearest relative as Martha Smith, his sister. This is the Mary Martha E. (Barnes) Smith who was married to James M. Smith and daughter of Alexander Barnes. And she was in Hood Co, Texas, where she, James and Lucretia Barnes are all buried.

Also, the "Old Indian Nancy" "Jane" mentions now could not possibly be her grandpa's sister. Per this death certificate for Nancy Susan Barnes, sister of Arthur Alexander Barnes, she died in 1945, and before Arthur since he is the informant on her death certificate. Per Jane's information about her grandpa, she was only one year old when he died, therefore, she could not have known or remembered a woman who died 10 years prior to the death of her grandpa. Maybe she did know a woman named Nancy, but it was not the sister of Arthur A. Barnes, her grandpa.

So, the saga continues. Like I have said before, a wannabe will never accept they are not Cherokee, no matter what the evidence shows.They just keep changing the story as they go along.

Those are my thoughts for today.

Thanks for reading.

CC

The Granddaughter

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Wordless Wednesday - Fake Tribes

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Will the Real Descendants of the Cherokee Alexander Barnes Please Stand Up?

A couple of weeks ago, a woman (let's call her Jane) started posting on the Bill John Baker for Principal Chief facebook page claiming to be an unregistered Cherokee who's family never wanted to be associated with the tribe, but were Cherokee through her great grandfather, Alexander Barnes. She claimed he had two families, one in Missouri, the one she descends from, and one in Oklahoma, the one he listed on the Dawes Roll. She says her great grandfather abandoned his children after the death of his wife and went to Oklahoma and remarried and started a new family. She claimed he was visiting in Missouri when he was called back to Oklahoma to give testimony for Dawes and his family in Missouri never saw him after he left to go there. Not only does the story sound fishy, it irritated the heck out of my friend, who is a cousin to the real descendants of the Alexander Barnes who was listed on the Dawes Roll.

I was asked to research this and quickly saw the claim made by the woman touches several topics I have discussed in the past, including same name/different person; ancestor stealing; wannabes; and fake tribes.

Jane says this about her family -

My great grandfather, Alexander Barnes (born October 14, 1858 Arkansas- died November 16 1908) was married to Elizabeth (Eliza) Williams (born 1854 TN- died 1886 Arkansas.) Their son, my maternal grandfather, Arthur Alexander Barnes (born 1881 Warm Springs, Arkansas - died 1954 Poplar Bluff, Mo ) was married to Ida Luna Hays (born April 17, 1889 - died November 6, 1978 Poplar Bluff, Mo.) Alexander and Elizabeth's other children were Davis Washington Barnes (March 1885 - 1970) and Benjamin Franklin Barnes (May 1, 1886 - died in Texas, not sure of date.) My great grandmother (Eliza) died very shortly after giving birth to my great uncle Ben.

That is more than enough information to start a genealogical search, so I started looking. It became quite clear, very early in my research, that Jane either has very poor genealogical skills or she was intentionally adjusting information so she could lay claim to someone else's ancestor. 

Jane's grandpa, Arthur Alexander Barnes, was the son of a man named Alexander Barnes, but not the Alexander Barnes who is found on the Dawes Roll. Information on Arthur's father is fairly easy to find and clearly shows a picture of his life. Many but not all of the documents I used for sources are posted here. If you would like to read them, click on them and then enlarge them again if you need to.

Arthur's father, Alexander, was born in Tennessee, 1842, the son of John and Nancy Barnes. He was married at least three times, possibly four. He had at least five children who lived to adulthood, two daughters and the three sons. He served for the Union in the Civil War and was wounded while serving. He later received a pension for his service to the country.

The earliest I found Jane's great grandfather, Alexander Barnes, was on the US Census of 1860. He was 18 years old and shown living in District 15, McNairy County, Tennessee with his parents, John and Nancy Barnes, and siblings; Catherine, Elizabeth, Robert J, Martha M., John D., Nancy A., and James K.

Next, Alexander is found in his Civil War paperwork. According to the document below, he enlisted with Co. G, 6th Regiment, Tennessee Calvary on October 15, 1862. His enlistment was for three years.

After his service in the Civil War, Alexander married for the first time. In McNairy County, Tennessee on January 20, 1867, he married Mary J. Riley. 

Later, Alexander and Mary J (Riley) Barnes became the parents of Nancy Susan Barnes, who according to her death certificate, was born in McNairy County, Tennessee on March 2, 1867 to Alexander Barnes and Unknown Riley. According to most census information, Nancy was probably born about 1870 instead of 1867. The information for the death certificate was provided by Jane's grandfather and Nancy's brother, Arthur Barnes. (Nancy was found living with Arthur and his family on the 1910 and 1920 censuses and listed as his sister.)

Alexander was not found again until 1880 the US Census. He had apparently moved to Union, Ripley County, Missouri. He was listed as A.H. Barnes and was living with his parents, John and Nancy; a new wife, Louisa A.; and two daughters, Nancy S. and Mary Martha E. I am not sure if Louisa is "Elizabeth Williams" or if she is a different wife, but it seems likely she is NOT Mary J. Riley.

Though the ages of everyone seems off a little, the birth locations are consistent with everyone in the family, as are the names of John, Nancy, and Nancy S. Also, the addition of a new daughter to the family is supported by the information contained in the death certificate of Mary Martha (Barnes) Smith and on her gravestone located in Evergreen Cemetery in Lipan, Hood County, Texas.  She was born in Missouri in 1874, the daughter of Alex Barnes and unknown. 

Information was provided by her husband, James M. Smith, who she married October 30, 1895 per Ripley County, Missouri Marriage records.

Alexander is next found in June on the 1890 Veterans Schedule for Union, Ripley County, Missouri. As you can see, the enlistment date matches the one on the document above - October 15, 1862.

Later that same year, he also filed for and received a pension based on his service during the Civil War.

Sometime between 1890 and 1894, Alexander's wife, Eliza/Elizabeth Williams (Jane's great grandma) must have died because his last child with her was born in 1890 and Alexander married again in 1894. This is is shown by the death certificate of Benjamin Franklin Barnes.

As you can see, Benjamin was born November 12, 1890 and he was the son of "Alec" Barnes and Unknown Williams. Benjamin's birth year is verified again in his WWI information. (By subtracting 27 years and 5 months from April 14, 1918, you will come up with the year 1890.)

Though Jane has the parents of Benjamin correct, she is off by at least 4 years on his birth date and his mother's death date. This is a crucial piece of information. Benjamin was born in Missouri in 1890 and he was the son of Alec (Alex/Alexander Barnes and Unknown Williams.)


Now onto Alexander's next marriage. On September 16, 1894, in Ripley County, Missouri, he married Lucretia (Baker) Smith, a woman from Warm Springs, Arkansas. 

Lucretia is possibly the mother of his son-in-law, James M. Smith, who married Alexander's daughter, Mary Martha E. Barnes, in 1895. I don't know for certain, but Lucretia is shown living in Texas near James and Mary on the 1910 US Census and she is buried in the same cemetery. And she did have a son named James who was born in the same year and location as the James who married Martha. But that is neither here nor there in our exploration of the two Alexander Barneses. What is important to know is Jane's great grandpa, Alexander Barnes, was still living in Missouri and remarried in 1894 after the death of her great grandmother. 

Alexander Barnes is next found on the US Census of 1900 living in Gatewood, Ripley County, Missouri. He is listed as head of household and living with his children, Nancy S. (born 1871), Arthur (born 1881), Davis (born 1885) and Benjamin (born 1890.) He is not listed as living with Lucretia, but she is still in Ripley County living with her Smith children from her previous marriage. She is also living in very close vicinity of James M. and Mary Smith. This is also a crucial piece of information!

 
I didn't find Alexander on any records after 1900, but I did find Lucretia living in Justice Precinct 2, Hood County, Texas. This is the same area she, James M. and Mary Martha (Barnes) Smith are all buried. More thoughts on this later.


Now that we have a clear picture of the Alexander Barnes who was the great grandfather of Jane, it is time to evaluate whether he could be the Alexander Barnes who is listed on the Dawes Roll as Cherokee by blood.


Cherokee Alexander Barnes was born in October 1858 in Arkansas, the son of Lofton and Mary (Brown) Barnes. He is first found on the US Census of 1860.

I believe Cherokee Alexander Barnes is found living in Ward 7, Caddo, Louisiana on the US Census of 1870. Though the head of household is listed as James, the initials, ages and birth places fit the children of Lofton and Mary Barnes; Melinda, Alexander, Hirim and John. 

Also, per the testimony given to the Dawes Commission by Cherokee Alexander's sister, they had lived in Louisiana. 

The next time I found Cherokee Alexander was October 22, 1889, when he was readmitted to the Cherokee Nation. At the time, he said he was 30 years old. 

This Alexander is next found living in Canadian District, Cherokee Nation on the 1890 Census of the Cherokee Nation. He is listed as a Native Cherokee, age 28, and married. There is a note that he was readmitted to the Cherokee Nation in 1889. He is listed with his wife, Caroline P, age 18, and his daughter, Martha, age 14 months. This is crucial information!

This Alexander is then found living in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory on the US Census of 1900. He is found living with his wife, Caroline (Parthenia), and their five daughters; Martha, Nancy B., Antonia, Mary L., and Melinda. Martha is listed as being born in 1888 and Nancy in 1890. The years they were born are another piece of crucial information.

 
Cherokee Alexander and his family are found again in 1900 when their application for the Dawes roll was made. He states he is 39 years old. Not only does he give the names of his parents, Lofton and Mary Barnes, he also lists his children and his wife, Caroline P. He is questioned about how long he has been married (13 years) and whether it is his first marriage (yes). He also says he has lived in Cherokee Nation for 13 years since he was married. More crucial information there!

The Cherokee Alexander Barnes died in Porum, Oklahoma on November 16, 1908. He is buried in the Coleman Cemetery with his wife.


Now, back to Jane's claim. She says "My great grandfather, Alexander Barnes (born October 14, 1858 Arkansas- died November 16 1908) was married to Elizabeth (Eliza) Williams (born 1854 TN- died 1886 Arkansas.)" 

She did have a great grandfather named Alexander Barnes and a great grandma named Eliza/Elizabeth Williams, but the dates she uses for them do not fit the parents of her grandfather, Arthur Alexander Barnes. The evidence and documentation clearly shows her great grandfather, Alexander Barnes, was born about 1842 in Tennessee. He is about 16 years older than the Cherokee man named Alexander Barnes.


Jane's great grandfather, Alexander Barnes, served in the Civil War. The Cherokee Alexander Barnes was approximately four years old when Jane's great grandfather enlisted.


Janes' great grandfather, Alexander Barnes, married Mary J. Riley in 1967 in Tennessee. The Cherokee Alexander Barnes was only 8 or 9 years old at this time. When Jane's great grandfather's first child, Nancy S., was born, the Cherokee Alexander would have only been about 11 or 12 years old! It is peculiar that Jane failed to mention Nancy as a child of her great grandfather's since Nancy was shown living with Arthur and listed as his sister on the 1910 and 1920 censuses. Is it possible Jane didn't want to mention this child because Nancy's age would make it obvious the Cherokee Alexander Barnes could not possibly be her father?

And now for the really interesting claims. Jane says her great grandfather, who she claims was the Cherokee Alexander Barnes, left his children after their mother died and started a new family in Oklahoma. She claims the new wife was Caroline and the new family was the children of Cherokee Alexander and Caroline. This cannot be true.

The Cherokee Alexander Barnes married Caroline in 1887, at least three years BEFORE Jane's great grandmother, Elizabeth Williams died. We know this because Elizabeth's youngest child, Benjamin Franklin, was not born until November, 1890. Why would Jane claim Benjamin was born in 1896 when the evidence clearly shows he was born in 1890? To make her story fit so she could claim a Cherokee ancestor, perhaps?

Also, the Cherokee Alexander Barnes' testimony for his Dawes application clearly shows he did not have another family before marrying Caroline. He states he has been married to her for 13 years and it is his first marriage. In addition to this testimony, we can also see that Cherokee Alexander and his wife Caroline already had at least two children together by the time Jane's great grandmother died. Jane's story does not fit the evidence!

And what about this 1894 marriage between Jane's great grandpa, Alexander Barnes, and Lucretia (Baker) Smith? Since they had two households in 1900, could this be the woman Alexander married and started a new family with? Though he didn't appear to have actually had children with Lucretia, she did have several young children from her previous marriage, so maybe Jane's great grandfather spent most of his time with Lucretia in her household and helped raise those children. Maybe it was her family and his own that he kept going back and forth between. Or perhaps Jane's great grandfather left Missouri after 1900 and went to Texas with Lucretia. Perhaps he died in Texas before 1910. That might explain why he left and never came back. 

Honestly, I don't know what happened to Jane's great grandpa. I don't know if he stayed in Missouri, died and was buried there or if he went to Texas, died and was buried there, or if he went somewhere else, died and was buried there, but I do know where he isn't buried -- in the grave in Porum, Oklahoma where the Cherokee man named Alexander Barnes is buried. 

Not only was Jane's great grandfather not the Cherokee man listed on the Dawes Roll named Alexander Barnes, he was not a Cherokee at all. On all the historical documentation, he is listed as white. There is no indication, other than Jane's story, that the man was Cherokee. Jane has been told this, but she won't accept it. She says it is a free country and she knows who she is and can claim to be Cherokee if she wants. One might wonder why someone would continue a claim like this after so much historical documentation and evidence is shown to them. Normally, I would say I don't know, but in Jane's case, it is very clear. There are reasons she can't allow her claim of Cherokee blood to be shown untrue, but that topic is for another time!

Those are my thoughts for today. 
Thanks for reading. 

CC 
The Granddaughter 

Below are the death certificates for the other children of Jane's great grandfather, Alexander Barnes. They also provide some evidence in the things stated above.

And Lucretia Baker Smith Barnes' death certificate

And more here.

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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The Vann House - My Review

If you have been following the blog, you know I recently did a Wordless Wednesday - photo tour of the Vann House in Georgia. I visited there in September 2010 during a trip to several historical Cherokee sites in the southeast. 

When we arrived, we were the only people there, so my experience might have been a little different had there been more people visiting at the same time. Anyway, there were about five different "segments" of our visit. The first two include a short movie that includes some Cherokee history as well as the history of the Vann House and the museum. We were allowed to walk around the museum at our leisure and spend as much or as little time as we wanted there. Photographs are allowed (as you can probably tell from my previous posts!)

After we were done viewing the movie and visiting the museum, we were taken on a guided tour of the house. We were allowed to walk around and spend as much time as we wanted looking at the various rooms, taking photographs and asking questions. The tour guide was knowledgeable on the house and restoration of it. He shared lots of information including how they discovered the original colors of paint on the walls and the fact that the floating staircase was quite unusual, especially for the time it was constructed. He did, early in the tour, say the Vanns owned all the land there, and I felt the need to say something about that statement since the land belonged to the Cherokee Nation and the Vanns only owned the improvements on the land. The tour guide appeared to think it was a small thing, but it isn't. I can't explain it any better than my friend, David Cornsilk, did later when we spoke privately about it -

The concepts of the tribe's land base and its disposition, both east and west of the Mississippi, greatly impacted the lives of the Cherokee people. Land was at the heart of every negotiation that took place between the whites and Cherokees. Land was the root of every conflict that has ever surfaced in our tribe. And the private ownership and loss of our lands due to allotment has profoundly changed who we are as a people. For the sake of our ancestors and what made them who they were, the land, we must always say something.

After the tour of the house, visitors are free to walk around the grounds and the Vann Spring Interpretive Trail. Though they take less time than the other parts of the tour, there are interesting things to see and I suggest everyone spend a little time on both. 

I really enjoyed visiting the Vann House site and taking the tour despite the mistake made by the guide concerning land ownership. I highly recommend it as a "must see" stop if you are interested in historical Cherokee places. Allow plenty of time (I think we were there for 3 hours) on this stop because there is a lot to see. The site is open Thursday - Saturday, 9 - 5. The cost is $5 for adults, $4.50 for senior adults (62 and above), and $3.50 for youth (6-18). Children 5 and under are free.

Those are my thoughts for today. 

Thanks for reading. 

CC 

The Granddaughter 

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Wordless Wednesday - Mingo Falls, Cherokee, NC

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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Dr. John Worth - We Are Still Waiting - What Were Your Sources?

It has been quite some time now since the Crane Eater fiasco yet I have not heard back from John E. Worth, The Coosawattee Foundation. Since it has been publicly pointed out that "a representative of the Foundation and a noted archaeologist says the relationship (between Crane Eater and the Keith family) is real. The Cherokee researcher says it was not", I contacted Dr. Worth for more information on February 10, 2011.

Hi,
I have decided to contact you personally since this claim of Cherokee ancestry by the Keith family seems to not fit the evidence my fellow Cherokee historian and genealogist, David Cornsilk, and I have uncovered. XXXXX, a researcher of the Keith family, asked David to look at something for her and he asked me to do some research since he had other more pressing issues. XXXXX is basing her claim on something you wrote.

What we found was first, the Guion Miller application filed by William Loranzo Dow Keith was rejected. That is usually a good sign the family could provide no evidence they actually descended from the person they claimed to descend from. Lawyers were traveling all over the country telling people the Cherokees were going to get money and that they had no records, so for a small fee, the lawyer could get a family some of the money. Of course, the Cherokees had very good records and nearly all of the fraudulent applications were rejected. It is very unusual to find a real Cherokee who had a lawyer file their claim for them, but very common to see a white who was eventually rejected use one. William LD Keith did have a lawyer. He also wrote letters to Guion Miller and it was clear he was in need of money. These things make his application very suspect and not a good source to use for claims of Cherokee ancestry.

Also, the births of the children the family claims were those of Crane Eater were not born in Cherokee Nation, but instead, on land ceded to the United States by the Creek Indians. The evidence we have seen says the family didn't move into Cherokee Nation until 1839, after the Cherokees were rounded up and forced to leave.

The Crane Eater I researched had 11 full bloods in his family. William LD Keith claimed his grandfather was full blood, but that his grandmother was white. This would make all the children mixed bloods and the grandmother an intermarried white. This family does not fit the description of the Crane Eater family. Also, the Crane Eater family was living in Cherokee Nation in 1835 while the James Keith family was living in Meriwether, GA at that time, so this appears to be two completely different families who have no connection at all.

We have not found the names of the Keiths on any of the rolls taken of the Cherokees who stayed in the east, but we have learned that one Keith researcher says this James Keith who fathered and grandfathered this family received land in the land lottery. I am in the process of trying to find that information myself since I have not seen it.

Do you have anything other than the claim filed by William L.D. Keith that says James Keith and Crane Eater are the same man? If so, I would be interested in it if you would be willing to share it.

Thank you for your time.

As you can see, I shared our sources and conclusions with Dr. Worth. As of yet, he has not shared his sources with us, though we know his conclusion. I would like to believe a noted archaeologist would have a lot of evidence before stating there was a connection between the  Keith family and Crane Eater. Surely he would base his conclusion on more than a rejected Miller application. But this point, I don't know because he remains silent on the topic. I know he might be a busy man, but his research and writing has come under scrutiny, so I would think he would find it important to clear up the matter. Apparently not. But, I know if it was my research and someone questioned it, you can bet your bottom dollar I would be sharing my sources and research notes to validate my conclusions. So why isn't he? I don't know, you decide.

 

Those are my thoughts for today. 

Thanks for reading. 

CC 

The Granddaughter 

copyright 2011, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

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