Tracing ancestry

One of the easiest or one of the hardest things to do is trace ancestry.

Not too long ago I found from my aunt that our background wasn't entirely Narragansett, but Mashantucket Pequot with a dash of Narragansett. Most people who lived in this area in the 1700's and earlier intermingled with other tribes, and there were many concentrated in the same area. Some were friends and some were foes, and some just didn't care about who was in what tribe or nation.

My challenge was exacerbated by the fact that the Native bloodline runs through my father's side of the family. He and my mother separated before I was born. I did return to the area on occasion and met family members including my grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle and cousins. I was very young and much of the history and information has been forgotten. All have passed on except an aunt and some cousins. The other kink in the line was that my father remarried, and I have a half sister and half brother. The half sister has all my aunt's paperwork as she was going to try to get a job at Foxwoods. My half sister was a bit of a problem child, and no one seems to know exactly where she ended up (or if the paperwork is sill somewhere that she can get her hands on it).

Meanwhile my aunt is trying to remember, locate my half sister, and research also. It is hard as these tribes didn't have written records back in the 1600 and 1700's. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but having to do research never stopped me before. I have some friends helping who are descended from the same tribes, like my aunt.

I am just going to ask the reiki energy to get that paperwork back to us. It will make things so much easier.

Meanwhile the search on the other end has shown me some fascinating facts. Families of 13 and 14 children were two or three died in infancy. It also shows (by census records), my grandfather and his wife living in a house behind her family, yet housing the mother in law under their roof. There was more family across the street. What would that have been like???

Their jobs were things like weaver (at the mills), brakeman on a railroad, a policeman, and a plethora of other silk mill jobs.

It is actually fun to look up the old records, although the family link that goes back to the Native Americans , ends in the 1800's, I have to find that link yet. I can take other family members back to the 1600's in Quebec, but not the one family member that I know is the link. A friend said to me this morning that some will not have the records or information because they were ashamed. I sure hope that I can dig it up anyway, or my aunt can find the paperwork that should be locked in a safe deposit box somewhere.

Someday , if you are bored, start to research, you don't need much info, I didn't have much, but each record will tell you more. Most of my family didn't step foot on this continent until the 1896! They came well after all the major events that shaped this country, yet before many advancements.

Sometimes to make your journey, you need to know where you began!

Research, learn and grow!!!



Peshaui Wequashimese




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