My grandparents were all 4 part Cherokee or Creek Indian, so which names are Indian?

Question

My other ancestors are Anglo Saxon, Scottish, Irish, French...?
The surnames are:
Holcombe, Nash, Minor, Lavender, Pinkerton, Carson,
Owens, Mehaley, Mitchell, Marsh, Wright, Phipps, Edmundson, Gibbs

I think all these people were from around the Smoky Mountains, and I've guessed that the Indians were the females, but I also only have the history back to mid 1800's so far.

Answer 1

Family histories on any website should be taken as clues not as fact as most is not documented. Even if you see the same information over and over by different submitters, a lot of copying is being done.

Since you have gone back to the mid 1800s, you apparently have already done some ground work. Ancestry.Com has lots of records and is obtaining more all the time. Check the genealogy section of your nearest public library and see if the don't have a subscription to Ancestry.Com.

My stepmother's mother was a Holcombe.
Her father was a Moore and he had some Indian. There are a lot of Holcombe descendants up in Houston County, Texas.

Now since you have given names someone will furnish you with a link to a coat of arms peddler. These companies sell them solely on a surname which is not valid. I understand some will do 'research" and "link" you to a person granted a coat of arms. Many coats of arms actually have the same name as they were different for
other family members and more than one individual was granted one. The vague family histories that come with them might be your family history and might not.

Answer 2

Well there are over 500 Indian tribes (Native American ones) in the USA alone. Not counting the ones in Canada and South America along with Indians from India. You can't just pick and chose what tribe you belong to. They're all completely different cultures. That's like being French and saying "Well I heard my dad was French and Asian so I decide I'm gonna be part Chinese as opposed to the hundreds of other cultures in Asia." Anything's possible but not the way you're going about it.

Answer 3

Hi I think those names are more European than Indian.. You have back to the mid 1800's so I would start with the census records if you know where they were living.. That will tell you who thier parents were an so forth..I prefer Genealogy.com and rootsweb instead of ancestery.com.. They offer more for free and have a much bigger data base than ancestery.. Also look in the family home pages there for any similar connections to your family.. Good luck to you... Also try to research through the state they lived in as some states have thier own genealogy site within thier pages and you can search by county.. Bye

Answer 4

Without any hostile meaning... maybe the largest "road block" for researchers, is attempting to rely on a surname. For example.. John Nash (a hypothetical person) may have 2 sons, one of whom married an English girl, the other married a Native girl. Thus... those who descend from the first son, won't have Native ancestry, while his brother's children will. And.. it is a total generalization to think that those with Native ancestry, won't have "European" surnames.
For accurate genealogical purposes... you absolutely need specifics... a person, a place, a date. What may be true for one grandparent (and his/her ancestry) won't be true for the other. You are standing there, looking at a whole forest and hoping for a solid fact... when you have to work each tree as separate. And the same applies to the other ancestors, and their ethnic background.
http://www.cyndislist.com/native.htm
Here's a huge list of sources for Native American research. But these won't be of much use to you, until you focus on one certain person, and the records that verify him or her.

Answer 5

Mitchell huh from the great smokey mountians North carolina or tennessee My mitchells were there in the 1790's we might be kin ;) and My great grandmother was a cherokee but any of those names could have been passed onto Cherokee or Creek Indians my great grandma's family name was Dallas she was half scots and half Cherokee so go figure. Anyway nice to see another Mitchell.

Answer 6

What you will find by 1830s to mid-1800s is most often (as I've read it) that mixed families stayed and called themselves white and paid taxes. Those who had wanted to continue being known as indians and not pay taxes were moved along. Those who moved on are who will be on indian rolls and those who didn't mostly won't be. That's kind of the short version. You are proceeding the right way though, going back through the generations.

Answer 7

you might check the census for the 1800's. Back then they listed if they were Indian. You might also check Dawes to see if you find them registered. They may not be registered and therefore you would not be entitled to become registered. I do know lots of Creek and Cherokee but none of the names listed ring a bell for me. Sorry I can't help you more

Answer 8

My Indian G-G-G grand parents were named Wright, so I'd start there! We might be on the same path and be relatives too. My family was Cherokee as far as I can tell.
Let me know if this helps you and we can maybe help each other find answers to our families pasts. Try these sites, it's difficult at first but you get the hang of it as time goes by and that's the problem, time keeps going by when you get on these sites!! Thanks and I hope this helps you!!

Answer 9

The surnames all appear to be European. I would try to go to ancestry.com and see what other information you can get. My mother uses ancestry.com and got more research done in a few days than she's managed to do in a few years.

Answer 10

I honest don't think that Native Americans had surnames. They definitely didn't have any of the names you listed. It is not necessarily true that your Indian relatives were female.