Was my grandpa wrong? How do I find out?

Question

He wrote down in the margins of the family records,"Jackson Lee Stamey and Andrew Forney Stamey were full-blooded Wyoming Indians". They were the kids of Alex and Belzora Stamey. Officially there isn't any mention of adoption. It just says, "born in.." I always thought I was part Blackfoot. This would be wrong too, right? I would be part Arapaho or Cheyenne, right?

Answer 1

you can find this out and that is what they wrote that stuff down for in bibles you hae to find out and ask and see if hes alive ask if not ask someo of the odler ones that may know now that they are alive. take care.

Answer 2

In the Census record for 1920, it says Jackson was White.  I wouldn't take that as a solid fact, you'd need to check further.  

There is a photo of Jackson and his wife and their children attached to a public family tree at this URL, please substitute a "." where I've put "dot":  http://trees.ancestry"dot"com/pt/person....

He does look like he COULD be Indian, or part Indian - - his wife and their kids look very fair-complected in the photo.  You might want to contact the gentleman who uploaded the photo and compare family notes with him.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

There is one other possibility that no one has mentioned. It's very possible that the kids were taken from their tribe and given away by the government. There was a very long, dark period of this in American history and it's a tragic reality. The Chippewa, Apache, Comanche and slews of other tribes were forced onto reservations. Then "in the best interests of the children" they were taken off the reservation and given to white families to raise them. It was yet another way to eradicate "the Indian problem". It was mostly boys, because if they grew up on a reservation and felt resentment, they might cause an uprising. But if they were raised white, then they'd supposedly see how good things were and not want to go back to their tribes. I've helped a few people trace their grandparents and great-grandparents back to their tribes. It's very painful for both sides. Sadly, because they were legally severed from the tribes, most can't regain their tribal affiliations. But at least there's some closure and they know what really happened.

Answer 4

There are counties named "Wyoming" in several states in the east. There's one in West Virginia and another in Pennsylvania. They have nothing to do with the western state.

Here are Alex and Belzora in 1880:

(Name  Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace)

Alex STAMEY   Self   M   Male   W   58   NC   Farmer   NC   NC  

Belzora STAMEY   Wife   M   Female   W   47   NC   Keeping House   NC   NC  

Enoch L. STAMEY   Son   S   Male   W   19   NC   Farm Laborer   NC   NC  

Jackson STAMEY   Son   S   Male   W   16   NC      NC   NC  

Robert STAMEY   Son   S   Male   W   13   NC      NC   NC  

Samuel STAMEY   Son   S   Male   W   10   VA      NC   NC  

Sarrah L. STAMEY   Dau   S   Female   W   8   VA      NC   NC  

Martha STAMEY   Dau   S   Female   W   8   VA      NC   NC  

Lilly STAMEY   Dau   S   Female   W   3   VA      NC   NC  

--------------------------------------...

Source Information:

  Census Place District 39, Old Town, Grayson, Virginia

  Family History Library Film   1255368

  NA Film Number   T9-1368

  Page Number   434B        

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/f...

Robert andJackson fit right in as natural sons - in 1880, if the wife was healthy and the husband wasn't a sailor, you usually see a child every 2 - 3 years, from marriage until the wife gets to be 40-45. (I've looked at thousands of these.)

They might be adopted and put down as "white" so they don't have to go to the Colored school. (1880 is 74 years before segregation was struck down. Virginia had two school systems, a good one for the whites, a bad one for the colored.)

They might not. At this distance it is hard to tell.

In 1870 they are in Pipers Gap, Carroll, Virginia:

Alexander Stamey 48  

Belzora Stamey 38  

J White Stamey 18  

Frances Stamey 16  

Josephine Stamey 13  

Enoch Stamey 10  

Lee Stamey 7  

Robert Stamey 3  

Samuel Stamey 1  

Everyone is white. Again, we're now 84 years before segregation was struck down.

If they WERE adopted, it was probably from a tribe named "Wyoming" or from a tribe in a county named "Wyoming". I don't really see Alex and Belzora meeting a train full of Indian orphans from the state of Wyoming and taking a couple home. (There were such trains, but they took white orphans from the East to the farms out west.) If you can get to a library or FHC with census access you can trace them forward until they die to see if they ever claim to be anything other that white.

========================

1860: Burke, North Carolina; Roll: M653_889;

Page: 416; Image: 382.

Alexr Stamey 38  

Belzora Stamey 28  

Paul Stamey 10  

James W Stamey 7  

Francis L Stamey 5  

Barbary Stamey 3  

Margaret Stamey 80  

Jones Ramsey 17  

Ann Tallent 26  

================

1850: Burke, North Carolina; Roll: M432_622;

Page: 351; Image: 324.

Alexander Stamey 28  

Belzora Stamey 17  

Danl Stamey 73  

Margaret Stamey 69  

Paul Stamey 1  

Logan Walker 16

If you get desperate, you can have your DNA tested for Native American markers.

Answer 5

I see no reason for your Grandpa to lie. He obviously loved his family enough to leave them this information, should they ever seek it in the future.

Answer 6

You could be Aarapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Shoshone, and I do believe when we began moving Natives into reservations as we settled land, we pushed the Lenape up there too.