The photos and screenshots this blog entry refers to are at the link.
---------
http://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/2015/08/michelle-smith-aka-weeya-wakeeweeya.htmlMichelle Smith aka Weeya Wakee/Weeya Smith
First rule to this post, all information and content of this blog is PUBLIC information, including photographs that have been posted publicly by Michelle Smith aka Weeya, and genealogy information which is public record.
As stated earlier, I generally do not post about Cherokee frauds. This is because I am not Cherokee, and there are many Cherokee people who deal with these kind of frauds who doing appropriation of their culture. But I was sent a screen shot of this woman's claims a while back.
[screenshot]
I chuckled over this, because this woman is obviously trying to say her family is on the Dawes rolls, here are surnames, but gee, she will not give first names. Even though no first names are given, it still can be researched out. But, someone else beat me to it.
On a discussion group, this was posted by various people regarding Michelle Smith:
"
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/cherokeenativeamericansclub/conversations/topics/1825 September 9, 2006
Michelle McCormick
Wrote
Weeyawakee
My family comes from N.C. originally but migrated to Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, where I was born. There was a settlement of Natives on Oneonta, Alabama where my family lived. They were a mixture of Natives.
Wado-Weeya Wakee"
So a genealogist begins to work on Michelle's claims:
"I have researched the paternal line to the 1840s and each and every family member is listed as White.
I've gone as far back as Mahulda Johnson, daughter of John and Sarah Johnson. The family appears on the
1840 U.S. Census in Cherokee County, North Carolina and are listed as White. John was born about 1809 and
Sarah was born about 1810. The paternal line clearly is not Cherokee and did not walk on the Trail Where They Cried.
Paternal family surnames include McCormick, Nowling, Johnson, Lindsey, Prescott, and Cain."
"Juanette McBride was the daughter of Horace B. McBride; Here's a link to his 1935 census record:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNKW-PB3"
"Here's a link to the 1850 Census Record for Mahulda Johnson, one of Michelle McCormick Smith's ancestors from
Cherokee County, North Carolina."
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4YB-NMT Of course there is a lot more on her family genealogy that shows she is not Cherokee, she is not Shawnee, and I doubt there is Penobscot, that she claims a "dash" to.
This gets very interesting...
Michelle posted this on July 29, 2015, and pay close attention to that date, because she was busy spamming the NAFPS message board system, and a moderator got after her, so she replied...
"
Logged
Offline Weeya Wakee Smith
•
•Posts: 3
•
Re: The Medicine Way; Weeya Wakee Smith
« Reply #20 on: July 29, 2015, 10:58:55 pm »
My apologizes. I was trying to edit a post that I made years ago, December of 2010, where I made an error, but someone brought this to my attention. I would like to correct the post and say that though I have family members who are enrolled, I am not enrolled. I tried to correct the post, but was unable, therefore I am posting it here."
It took her over four years to realize she made a error in stating she was enrolled, when in fact, she is not? And she did not claim just one enrollment, she claimed being enrolled in both the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. You cannot be duel enrolled with those tribes.
So now comes the true reason for blogging about Weeya Wakee Michelle Smith, and her over four year change of her post....
I have recently learned, group of eight people, was sent a letter dated July 28th, 2015 from a Barry Stern, attorney from West Bend, WI, and honestly, this would be sad if it were not so pathetic.
First, this letter sent to eight people, but only one person is directly addressed... the letter is directed to one person, and at the end CC'd to seven others that got copies of the original, and these seven others are not mentioned anywhere else in the letter except the sentence" "As you know, you (and the other individuals receiving copies of this letter)" the letter goes on to "Direct" people to "remove" all defamatory actions or statements published within 14 days from the writing of the letter.
*Only a judge hearing this case can order someone to remove something they wrote from online*
Of the eight people, two people who were CC'd do not live at the addresses listed, nor even in the state of which the letters were sent. One person who the letter was sent to, and accused of posting in Facebook groups about Weeya Michelle Smith is not a member of those groups, seven of the eight are not involved in a message board of which they were accused of writing about Michelle Smith, and of all eight, none has ever posted to her, or about her on the message board they are accused of doing.
The letter gets better.
Mr. Stern goes on to state "I have reviewed Weeya's ancestry and genealogy records with her. There is no question that Weeya is of Cherokee descent, both sides of her mother's side and on her father's side"
Obviously. Mr. Stern has no legal authority to state if anyone is Cherokee! There are three Federally Recognized Cherokee tribes, two of those FEDERALLY recognized tribes, his client has claimed to be from. That is the Eastern Band of Cherokee, and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. AND Only those tribes have the AUTHORITY to say who is, and who is NOT of their Nations.
Mr. Stern has no authority to order anyone to do anything! We are talking about PUBLIC records. HIS client has made PUBLIC statements which are FALSE and she is MISREPRESENTING herself to be something SHE IS NOT!
One person who was sent the letter has never posted about Weeya Michelle Smith, but upon request of one of the tribal leaders, asked them to contact Weeya Michelle Smith, in private, about her claim to being Shawnee and having ancestors on the Dawes, as there are THREE Federally Recognized Shawnee tribes, and only one of those tribes uses the Dawes, because if her claims were true, she could enroll in that tribe! I was told that Weeya was contacted and she replied, in a very rude and condescending manor. This persons ONLY contact with Weeya Michelle Smith, in a private message which is not public... Mr. Stern has threatened this person with defamation suit, but the person he made the threat to never said a word in public, and private is not defamation, because it must be published to be defamation.
So, to set this record straight, in order to continue with her appropriation of others cultures, Michelle Smith went and got a attorney, who he wants to try to bully people into not saying anything to nor about Michelle.
[photo]
Photo above is a photograph that Weeya Michelle Smith published in a public setting so therefore no copyright is involved I have no idea who the guy is that is with her. Michelle claims she dresses "Pre European contact" Her attorney claims "she gives historically accurate presentations about the Southeast Woodland people, dressed in historically correct attire" see the red paint across Michelle's face? Cherokee women do not paint their faces. Around her neck she wears clam shells, the Cherokee women do not wear clam shells, Native people did not have cloth before European contact.
Michelle has been busy deleting comments she has made, deleting and changing things on her websites, but there are some really savvy people who have gotten screen shots of the things she has written, and the claims she has made long before she had Mr. Stern send out the letters.
I think about Barry Stern and his client Weeya Michelle Smith, and I have to wonder, do they know the tribes will back their tribe members on these appropriation and false representation issues? Do they think that the few they have tried to silence will not be silent? They have FREEDOM of SPEECH, and if they can PROVE Weeya Michelle Smith is MISREPRESENTING HERSELF with documents from the US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT on HER family, then, where will Weeya Michelle Smith and her attorney stand in court? Will they be charged with false prosecution? Counter suits will be filed.
Perhaps Mr. Stern should consider sending out some apology letters to the people he has made false accusations to. The Wisconsin BAR Code of Ethics does have a issue of misrepresentation of facts to non clients. It only takes one person, of the many who got this letter, to file a complaint.
Mr. Stern, you want this column removed? Think about that apology.
In ending, I will say, Michelle is a beautiful woman, and sadly, from what I have seen from her attitude to others who question her, is not pretty. Michelle, keep the red paint off your face, it is insulting to Cherokee women.
One other ending note... What is Mr. Stern going to do if some of these people who he sent letters to, or those who are posting, live on reservations? Did he consider that for one second? How much money does his client have to take this case to a Indian reservation, which would be heard in a tribal court. How far can this simple little issue be pushed?
Posted Yesterday by Sam
