No really, I live in Tennessee near Ta'Na'Si, where the old Overhill Village used to be.
Hello, my name is Jeff. Long time lurker (without being signed up) and signed up last week to post. I am Siouan-Algonquian. My father, grandfather etc.. were Euchee. My grandmother and her family Eastern Shawnee. Another grandfather Catawba. Cherokee grandmother. Due to a lot of moving around that particular great grandmother who was Cherokee, ended up moving to Euchee Town near Little Euchee Creek not far from Coweta Town, they lived there before the Town was in New Alabama, her sons left Georgia and moved to Alabama where they purchased 86 acre farms, they were used in the original petition for Federal Recognition for the Poarch, as part of the history and they are correct, they did move down to Alabama. My 4th great grandmother was Susannah Sookie McDaniel. Her granddaughter who died in 1910, my 3rd great grandmother, Mariah McDaniel, is buried in our family cemetery, along with a lot of other different family members, native Americans. My great, great uncle was Lower Town Mic'co Andrew Jackson McDaniel and his brother James ended up staying in Arkansas after the Civil War, and fighting under Stand Watie. They were originally from Amherst and Halifax, Virginia but ended up in Georgia. Her last husband who is not my grandfather was an Ocoee from Nash County, North Carolina. Meaning he was also Catawba. We have family members in the Poarch, in the Shawnee Tribe of Miami, Ok. In the Eastern Band as well as the First Families out of Tahlequah. I am acquainted with both Shawnee Tribal Historian (And head of economic development) Greg Pitcher, and Cherokee Historian Gene Norris as well as some other tribal historians. The old lower Euchee path runs directly through our family property in Georgia, where my family has lived since the 1780's, and my paternal grandparents even longer, and where most of the roads are named after us. I am related to the Wilde's, Europeans, of the Maximilian Wilde's family of the last "Georgia Indian Massacre" by the men of Chief Billy Bowlegs. Our grandparents, all buried in our family cemeteries (Historical) fought with the First Georgia Division, Militia, in the Creek Civil War, as well as all three Seminole Wars and on forward, Confederate Army, etc. I am 54, I was raised by a man, my grandfather, who lived in the same house on the same farm with his grandparents who went through the forced Relocation as children. My 3rd great grandmother was born in 1829 and died in 1910, my 3rd great grandfather was born in 1826 and died in 1920. Four generations of the same Indian family lived on the same farm at the same time. When my 3rd great grandfather who had gone through the forced relocation died, the man who raised me was 15, knew him well. So I know him well. We are not that far removed from that history. My great great grandfather was the last Euchee speaker in the family, but I am trying to learn it at least conversationally. This last part I dont care to talk about but am going to, primarily because of Ward Churchill's story and outcome. I do not really know his story, but I can legitimately state that I am related to some of Richard Tyners family. Richard Tyner had a daughter with his second wife who married one of the Purcells. Matilda Purcell (Creek) daughter Charity Purcell married my grandfathers uncle and she has my last name, and is buried in our family cemetery and the Purcells are my cousins today because of it. I dont like mentioning it because he did it, it appears to me, to claim descendancy from a Chief or something. I dont know the details to tell you the truth. There is a lot more to our American Indian family than that, and although I am eligible to be enrolled in a couple of different Tribes, Shawnee, Absentee Shawnee (My great, great grandmother Martha McDaniel is on the 1937 Citizen Potawatomie rolls but died in 1937 and another older grandparent is on the 1937 Shawnee rolls), it isn't something I am jumping through hoops to do at the moment. Hopefully this doesnt make someone mad, but I am Indian by virtue of being born an Indian. And an Indian-Scot. I dont feel I need to be a Government Approved Grade "A" Indian to call myself and identify as an Indian. I'm an American Indian, Native American, period.
The reason I signed up to comment was because I thought it would be prudent to let some people here know about our organization in the event someone ran across our header and came here to ask "You ever heard of this group"? I would rather not be called out as some sort of fraud because someone did not know who we are. So I am here to tell you who we are in advance, provide any documentation you might like to see, including photographs, because we have photographs of most of our ancestors including my third great grandmother who went through the Forced Relocation, and refer you to any tribal historian I need to. We are real Indians. Not new age, not pretendians, dont have fake names. Don't make up fake names for our ancestors. (Because we know who they are and visit their graves regularly). When your name is John and you have lived through the Forced Relocation, fought in two Militia-Indians Wars, the Civil War and drove in a car and died after Airplane Flight was invented. Then John will do. Names like Princess Unicorn Stardust doesnt work for us.
First, at no time in our families history have we ever "not" been Indian. We are not a group that all of a sudden found out that we had a Cherokee 9th great grandmother and decided we were Indians. We are in the same places we have been in for well over 300 years and the last place in Georgia for 230. We've been there and we are still there. We practice the practices and traditions our grandparents practiced, and we have had the same family reunions in honor of our Indian ancestors for over 100 years. Our families were at Fort Hawkins, and we (Including me) are related to Benjamin Hawkins descendents. They are our cousins. We teach about our family history, we hold annual get togethers were we teach about our ancestral history and going back to the Woodland and all the way back to the Paleo periods. One of my cousins handmakes his own clothes, bows, arrows, stone and flint points, knives, and is an expert on early historic, woodland and paleo period Indians in the Southeast and also teaches it, he started from his grandfather 50 years ago. We want to insure that our families, especially our youth, have the correct history. We want them to know that our ancestors didnt wear war bonnets in Georgia, but rather furs. That a Chinese made Dreamcatcher doesnt count as an Indian relic. That "not everyone was a Cherokee'. And the difference between Tribal Governments and language groups. Where our family lived, six different languages were spoken at one time, in 1820, including Euchee. Basically, we are doing what both Archaeologists and Tribal leaders in the 1990's called, and is still called "Ethnic Revivalism". And we are trying to get it right.
So who we are, are "The Society of Ohoopee River Indians". We are currently made up of 47 families and have been around going on four years. You may not have heard of us because entry into our group has some strict requirements. No one comes in our group that cannot prove and document their American Indian ancestry. We made it this way not to be above anyone, but to maintain the integrity of our organization. We are not a Tribe, nor are we a band and we do not claim to be. What we are, are families and descendents of members of the old Lower Creek Nation, Creek Confederacy, and the old Cherokee Nation as well as some other groups who eventually migrated south. The Purcell's, of the Lumber River Scots for example, back when it was Drowning Creek. The McDaniel's who were caught up in Dunmore's War, ended up at Fort Christianna, lived and were born in Halifax and Amherst, lived in South Carolina and finally in Georgia before 1800. Meigs, Jarriel's, Rewis's, Padgett's, Rogers, Adairs and so forth. No official documentation, no membership. It is harder to become a member of our Society than it is to become an enrolled member of a Federally Recognized tribe or band. Maybe I shouldn't say harder, but that the standards of proof are as high or higher.
We are a community, still live in the same areas and a "group". We all have family members in the same areas as well as extended family members who ended up in other States for various reasons, job requirements, military and so forth. We operate as a non profit, pretty much out of our own pockets at this point. For now. The reason we are a "Society of Indians" rather than calling ourselves a tribe or band is because a. We arent and b. Our families, even going back to the Creek Confederacy and old Cherokee Nation were still Shawnee (Even the Shawnee-Cherokee had to change their name to Shawnee Tribe in the 1990's), Euchee, Cherokee, Creek, Muskogee, Potawatomie, Catawba and others.
We hold all of our reunions through June and July like everyone else, but we have been recognized for "who we are" by Governor Deal of the State of Georgia by Proclamation of Native American Families of the Ohoopee River Week, August 7th-13th in Georgia, that is when we meet. Last summer we had members and their families come in from areas around Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North and South Carolina and Mississippi.
We dont like New Age and Pretendians any more than you all do. I personally follow Indian politics closely and have for more than 30 years. However, some of the things that go on in Indian politics are not much better. Everything that Russell Means and Wilma Mankiller told the US Senate was true then and is still true today. In some cases worse.
If you need any further proof of who we are, what our objectives are, official documentation, photographs or anything else. Let me know.
On a side note, my wife's and her family are Hiwassee Cherokee. A couple of her family members are on the board of the Removal Memorial at Blythe's Ferry and helped raise funds to build it, I believe they told me to build it was 15 million. Her cousin is the Treasurer. If someone is ever this way you should stop and see it. It is an amazing memorial. One of the letters written back to Georgia to ask for help for the Indians was written by one of my grandfathers, James A Powell. He too, buried in our family cemetery. He was a teamster on the Trail. Contact me if your coming this way and Ill show you my ancestors on the Georgia Monument.
Because we are real Indians.
