Hello, I have posted here a few times. I write a blog about fake Native Ancestry. I am hoping to tackle the myth of Sowega aka Gliding Swan who married Jacob Castle. Here is a brief description that i copied off an genealogy site about her:
SOWEGE "Gliding Swan" a Pekowi Shawnee married JACOB CASTLE, known as WHITE TASSEL, 1736 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She changed her name to MARY ELIZABETH. She was a Kispokotha ( Warrior Clan) Shawnee. Waupaathee is swan in Shawnee, therefore Sowega must denote some effeminant action of a swan.,perhaps "Gliding Swan" or "Swimming Swan". The Shawnee had 34 tribes (gens or clans) or name groups, as they are sometimes refered by. The Shawnee child is named by the elder of the tribe or gen of that particular division of the nation. In this case it would be the Kispokotha (Warrior Clan). "They generally bestow a name descriptive of some act of the animal or bird which is the totem of the infant named". (Trowbridge:1939,p.26)." "Women receive names within their totem tha convey an idea of softness or effeminacy". In general Shawnee "names are always more or less descriptive of some event which has occured,or of particular anticipated points in the character of the person, or of the animal which is their totem or name group." ( Towbridge:1939,p.27) Therefore it is fairly safe to assume that Sowegae is a name that identifies some effeminate nature of behavior of a swan.
I have also attached the URL from which I pulled this info. Can anyone help me poke holes in this stuff. Thanks, Jeanie
