Native Americans in Georgia genealogy help request

Question

Hello all! I'm working on an African American family with Native American roots who lived in Georgia and I don't know much of the history of Native Americans in Georgia. I have an Emma McFarland born 1906 in Georgia to John McFarland and Lou Cox (according to death cert). John was said to be a Geechee and Lou a Cherokee. They were said to have met along the Ogeechee River. I can't find any records for Emma before 1920 when she's living with her husband in West Point, Troup, Georgia.

If John and Lou were living with their people before and after Emma was born, do you have any idea where they might have lived and if they might be enumerated somewhere? I'm not finding them in the U.S. Census records.

I'm trying to find John and Lou.

Thanks for any help. This has stumped me!

Comments

Indians, although they were not citizens until 1924, were enumerated with the U.S. census beginning in 1900.  Those who were living on tribal lands were listed on special "Indian Schedules,"  but  those living apart from tribes were listed with the general population.

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Thank you, Kathie.

Answer 1

There were very few Native Americans remaining in Georgia following the cession of tribal lands of the Creeks and Cherokee in the 1820's and 1830's and the forced expulsion of Native Americans via the so-called "Trail of Tears"; Lou Cox is therefore unlikely to have been a full-blooded Cherokee (and given that "Cherokee" was a frequent claim in cases of mixed European and African ancestry I'd question the reliability of the claimed Native ancestry).

"Geechee" is not Native American; Geechee is the same thing as Gullah (which refers to the heavily-African-influenced dialect spoken by enslaved Africans in the Carolina low country and along the Georgia coast, and to the speakers of the language more generally).

Comments

I forgot that about the Geechee term. Thank you for the reminder. And I agree, we are likely not talking about a full blooded Cherokee, but they might still be living on tribal lands even if not full blooded?

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There were no tribal lands in Georgia after the 1830's, because of the Federal government's policy of "Indian Removal".

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The Cherokee and Creek lost all their lands in treaties of 1832 and 1835 which forced them to Indian Territory.  There were no tribal lands of any kind in Georgia after that date.

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Thank you both. As you can see I'm more of a people connector than a historian. I need people like you to help me with the correct historical facts.

Answer 2

Maybe the name was wrong?  Here's a Georgia marriage record: 

John McFarland Gender: Male

Marriage Date: 26 Sep 1900

Marriage Place: Troup, Georgia, USA

Spouse: Lou Cameron

Spouse Gender: Female

"Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXJB-95R : 7 February 2020), John Mc Farland and Lou Cameron, 26 Sep 1900; citing Marriage, Troup, Georgia, United States, Georgia Department of Archives and History, Morrow, FHL microfilm 295,859.

Comments

Oooh, let me look!

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There's a "Lula" Cameron, age 19, on the 1900 census in Troup County; she is listed as "Black", not "Indian": https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3VX-J8D

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I read something recently that census takers in some years were told to record mixed Black-Native individuals as black.

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I doubt that a census taker would know anything about the ethnic background of  most of the people they surveyed.  If a person appeared to be black then that's how they were recorded and in many states that's what the law required.  DNA testing has shown that a much smaller number of Black people have Native American ancestors than are claimed, just like with whites.

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I've discovered this entire country (Troup) is full of McFarlands and Camerons. However, I cannot find a John McFarland with a Lou in the county in 1910 (when Emma might have been in the census). What's even more confusing is I found a John McFarland married to an Ida Heard with a huge list of children. In one census, one of the children is living with his grandparents with the last name of Cameron. Ugh.

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And by the way, I went line by line through the entire 1910 Troup County census records.

Answer 3

The majority of family stories about Native American heritage are bunk. I'd first work from the assumption that it's false, and not be looking for Natives, at all.

Comments

I'm doing both at the same time. The fact Lou is seen in a photo with Native American clothing is what makes me not completely dismiss the idea.

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Indians in the southeast dressed like everone else in the19th century, shirts, blouses, trousers, and skirts.  Most of what people think of as “Indian dress” - buckskin clothing and large feathered headdresses - is clothing worn by Plains Indians.

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That’s what Plecker would have you believe. There was ALOT of mixing in the mid-Atlantic and the SE. See misogyny laws enacted along the way to verify. Most people do know more about their families and numerous heritages included than George Plecker. :)

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None of this has anything to do with Walter Plecker,who was an official in Virginia.  It’s not impossible that the woman in question had an Indian ancestor, but it would have been a great-grandparent or even farther back.

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I agree it was probably another generation back at least based on history timeline.

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No clue who you're talking about. I've worked on multiple trees with Native ancestry claims. Not a one has panned out. One was a massive, and fairly blatant, hoax, including over a dozen "Indian Princesses", yet tons of people connected to that family believed, and still do believe, the hoax. No, most people don't know their family history back that far, well. No, there wasn't "ALOT" of mixing, and even less African-Native Americans mixing. If you've seen any of Henry Louis Gates Jr. reactions to people telling him there's a family story of Native ancestry, you'd know that. 

https://www.theroot.com/high-cheekbones-and-straight-black-hair-1790878167

 

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In fact, the hoaxer even plagiarized a Native American story from an author writing about a family in New York state, to include in his fabricated Native heritage. Turns out the family was actually African American, and they had no Native American ancestry, either.  No, dressing up like a Native isn't actual evidence, either.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bearce-45

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There are millions of peoole in the U.S. who claim Indian ancestors, at best with no documentation other than a vague famiily story, at worst outright frauds like Bearce.  Most claims are very easy to disprove, but people prefer their fiction to the truth.  Many become quite angry when asked for documentation, even here on Wikitree where documents reign.  I don’t think it’s asking a lot to expect Indian claims to be supported by facts.

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I was just looking for help to find Emma's parents. (I'm kind of partial to her name). I use every clue available when searching no matter the reliability. I don't care what ethnicity they end up being.

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Well, in 1900, there is one unmarried John McFarland/McFarlin in Troup that is definitely old enough to have kids in 1906. 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3V6-ZK5

There are a couple others, that would only be 18 or 19, but possible. It's also possible their ages aren't exact on the census and they're a little older. 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3VX-T4F

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3V6-V9Y

There's a Lula Cox who would be 18.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3VX-MHC

There's a Lula Cox who would be 16. 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3V6-NTD

There was also another Lula Cameron who married a John McFarland/McFarlin.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGY-GYQ3

Online, there doesn't seem to be a marriage record (I checked Ancestry too), or there is and it doesn't name their parents, which makes it hard to pinpoint which persons they might be on censuses. Do you know where John and Lou are supposed to have died? Death records might name parents, like this Lula Cameron/McFarland's does, and pinpoint which ones they are on censuses. Her parents are on the 1900 census. 

I think you have some candidates, right in Troup, even more if you include surrounding counties, or the entire state. I don't think you need to hunt for Natives, maybe just better paper records for the area. 

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Note that the John H McFarlin, who would be about 19, in 1906, has a mother named Emma.