I am trying to find out what tribe that my anncesstors possibly came from and I am not sure where to look.?

Question

I know that my great grandmothers first name was Menota, my grandmothers name is Jaunita. I think that my grandmothers maiden name was a form of Wannus (don't know the correct spelling). She was raised in South Dakota. Other than that I am at a dead end. I have searched google and ancestory websites and have come up with nothing.

Answer 1

the most likely tribe she would be from if raised in south dakota would be the. The Lakota or Teton Sioux or you could look at the dawes final roll and see if you see any names that look familiar.

Answer 2

Set aside the limitation on finding a tribe, for the moment, and concentrate on documentation for what you have.  To do that.. determine what you have verified for grandmother.. ie dates and places of birth/ marriage, etc.  In those records, will be the clues to take to the next generation back, and that documentation.

Your grandmother's maiden name should be on her death certifcate, or birth certificate, depending on when she was born. If she was born prior to 1930, the trail should be in the census.

Placing them in a verified location and time will enable you to determine if there was a tribe in that area, or if it is likely she was actually enrolled or not.

Answer 3

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

For absolute proof of Native American ancestry, opt for a DNA test.  I used www.familytreedna.com

Answer 4

The spelling is WANOUS !!!  I think I found a genealogical gold mine for you :)

I am pretty sure that I not only found them on ancestry.com, but I am looking at a photo of your great great grandmother. There are all kinds of documents and photos of your family on this link including her birth certificate and even her parents' home!

I don't know if this URL will work, but go to - http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx... (if not, try signing on for a trial subscription.  Obviously someone out there is working on your family tree and you should make contact w/ her.  This way you don't have to duplicate the work.)

Menota Elizabeth DENSON born in 20 April1918 in Kidder, SD and died on 21 Jul 1968 in Britton, Marshall, SD

Menota marries...

Robert Charles WANOUS

Born: 11 Oct 1916 Blooming Praire, Steele, MN  

Died: 8 Jun 2000 Aberdeen, Brown, SD

Menota's parents below -

Father: Fredrick Ernest DENSON

Born: 29 Apr 1876 IN  

Died: 21 Mar 1922

Aberdeen, Brown, SD

(nice photo of him!)

Mother:   Alma Dakota VOSS

Born: 17 Aug 1884

Faulkton, Faulk, SD  

Died: 12 Jul 1966

Aberdeen, Brown, SD