Yes, supposedly my Great Grandmother has Indian Blood, Cherokee as I am told. However, I can't even find her let alone prove blood line. Yes, somewhere back in our family tree there is Indian blood. That's why everyone in our Irish/German family has olive skin, dark hair and dark eyes (except me, I'm the oddball) and so the story goes...maybe one day I'll find the truth. How about you?

My paternal grandfather was a direct descendant of Princess Mary Kittamaquund who married Colonel Giles Brent in St. Mary's, MD in 1643.

Hi all! Our family lore: our g-g-grandmother was half Indian. Her mother's name was Storms - makes sense if you think about the way I've heard Indians name their children. Thanks to a distant cousin, I've been able to correct the story about our g-g-g-grandma. Her name WAS Storms, but it was her last name, not her first! It seems her paternal line was German, the name originally spelled Sturm, probably with an umlat above the "u". My dad had his mtDNA tested, and it turns out to be U2 - British Isles/Northern Europe, not Native American. G-g-g-grandma's husband, Abram/Abraham Knapp, born 1832-1838 in PA, could possibly be the Indian connection, which would make the family lore valid. My trouble is not being able to find him beyond the 1850 Census, where he was living with a family named Jewitt/Jewett-the father being from Ohio. There were scads of Jewitts in Ohio, but have not found a Knapp family near any of them in the Censuses before 1850.

I'm sure there's Indian blood in our family, tho'. As I noted, we have mainly German-Irish roots, and 4/5 of us kids look it. One brother, however, definitely looked Indian! 3/5 of us have slanted eyes, we all have the shovel teeth (called Mongoloid, I think, found mainly in Chinese (Mongolia, hence the name), Japanese, and American Indian). My great-uncle had the most beautiful profile - looked like an Indian Chief.

Yes, I too heard the story growing up. I have found an indian link, ggg- grandmother was born on a reservation and there is no record of a last name prior to marriage to a Forehand. Forehand surname itself has been listed on several minor indian rolls. Soo, shy of DNA testing, I have nothing concrete. My line of the family, especially my brother, myself and 1st cousins are have unmistakable German feature; which I have found tend to be dominant in anyone having slightest bit of German blood. None-the-less, my dad and grandfather loved to tell this story. Still keep searching, maybe she's out there!

Kiril,
Wow, I have never heard that euphemism. Hmmmm. Could be....

The family story was that my grandfather's grandmother was an Indian Princess when she met his grandfather. They fell in love and her father forbade the marriage so she denounced him and ran away to married my great great grandfather.

So saying someone was an Indian Princess was actually just an euphemism for saying she was a negro slave? I never heard that before!!

The scary thing about all this? My great great grandfather was 36 when my great grandfather was born. The "Indian Princess" was 14.

I couldn't resist posting something to this Group, because it's true! When I was a kid, my grandfather was always telling me "My mother was an Indian Princess!" Well, there must be some grain of truth to it: he went to an Indian school at Mount Pleasant, MI, the school records show that his mother was 1/2 Chippewa. So if her father was the Chief, that would make her a Princess right? Well, further research finds a few Native American links, but most are further back than just 2 generations. And tracking Native American genealogy in Canada seems virtually impossible (most of the Native American sites key on locations in USA). Plus, since they tended to "hide" their Native American background, it is tough to tell, when all the records just say "French". It seems to be a dead-end, even though I can trace back quite far, mostly back to France. The surname of my Great-grandmother "Indian Princess" is JOLICOEUR from the Renfrew, Ontario area. Diana

LOL! Love the name of this group!

Well, truth is...my g-g-grandmother was Cherokee, born in North Carolina...married my Irish g-g-grandfather, and they migrated to Iowa, where she was a midwife in the community for many years. No Princess, though. lol

Indian princess, No, but….

My maternal great grandmother was American Indian, as was my grandmother and grandfather, my mother and my dad was half Indian. Grandma was born on the Chickasaw reservation, no birth cert. in Oklahoma. My great grandmother’s family is on the Dawes rolls.

The real kicker is in 1932 my grandparents went to the tribe in Oklahoma and denounced all their heritage for themselves and their posterity. I found this out from my mom first, and thought, “Yah, right!” But, when sending for records I was sent a copy of their removal papers.

Curious about how one can be removed from an ethnic group, I had to ask how this was possible. The answer was they are still AI, but all the rights afforded to the tribe will not include them, their four children or and future generations.

My grandfather was know to have told many people that, “If you can’t make something of yourself without help, you don’t need to be livin’.” When he and grandma divorced she tried, in vain, to get herself reinstated (I’m not sure of the term) but they said, “Sorry.”

I just had to make a post to this group. My great grandmother was Marie Gijigokwe Shawan. She married Charles Bomakeghick in Garden River, Ontario, Canada. Marie's father was a band chief so Marie would have indeed been a princess. Does the princess status continue on down the line to my grandmother, mother, to me?

Folks most of these stories are psychological defense mechanisms that were built into American society to protect us from the awful truth of the matter. There are no such thing as Indian Princesses! LOL Most likely your Indian or "Blackfoot" (that one gets me every time!) ancestor was the product of a sexual relationship between a black and white person. Some of these relationships were generational creating a group of people who were varied in color from cafe au lait to white and wavy hair to straight dark colored hair. For most African-Americans this is not a surprise or unknown, at least the ones who care to study history. I found it surprising when I was able to document my Afro-Native American/Central American ancestry through census records and oral family history. I would suggest anyone who thinks that they may have Native American ancestors, please take a DNA test to be sure. I know that for some people that this may be a bit difficult to accept as it is also a part of the American Mythos to believe that some groups are inferior to others. But hey, I'm cool with not being Native North American... ;-)