I'm interested to read what you write since my "significant other" has had distinct trouble proving a widely-held contention among his father's people. He'd always heard from his dad "oh we're American Indian through my grandmother Stanton". It's
so difficult to prove we found out.
Well, it's nice to know we're not alone in our seemingly futile search. That is the problem with a tribe or race with a largely oral tradition-details are lost, forgotten, changed, or misinterpreted over the years with each generation.
His strong Dutch line is well-documented like yours since they followed the predictable route up the Hudson from New Amsterdam.
My sister was pleased as punch to discover we were descended from Dutch nobility. Looking at old photos of my maternal ancestors one can see the fair-skin, light eyes, blond and red hair -- physical characteristics I share with them. And they're quite tall. I wasn't surprised to read the recent article about the Dutch being hailed as the tallest people in the world although at 5'8" i'm short in stature by comparison. :tongue:
Again- he and I have perused census after census and have not found substantiation for the oral history from his father's people about his Indian ancestry. However I suspect it would not have been widely documented since we're talking about the late 18th century here if it exists.
My sister said that the reservations often only have records dating from the turn of the century. Those early documents are the result of the few caucasians who took an interest in their culture since most couldn't read english or write. Many are tall tales written for a caucasian audience, too.
His most recently immigrated European line is through his great grandmother whose people came from the lowlands of Scotland to Canada first then migrated into the Finger Lakes region where his grandfather was born to a Scottish mother and "Yankee" father. It was a slip of paper in a family Bible which said his great grandmother was "born in __________ , Scotland and her uncle was the Laird of Drumwhirn". Had that paper not been preserved we'd never have actually visited his ancestral churchyard and two family houses where cousins reside to this day.
How fortunate for him. I love to hear stories like this.
One a side note I'll tell you that I had an extremely rocky time early-on with his mother. I'd made him gay you see. :tongue:
Oops.
Only when I began to inquire about her historical past did she begin to ease up on me as her son's partner. Subsequent to that the three of us made yearly treks to New York State to visit his Dutch great grandmother who lived to be well into her nineties. Not only did he discover his historical past but he connected with his great grandmother and extended family in a way that would never have been possible were genealogy not the initial catalyst.
How fascinating. Clearly you have a knack for this type of research. And it opened a door for you and your relationship with his mother, that's wonderful. Once upon a time I was content knowing I was an American mutt until my sister began her research and now i've hounded her for details so often she updates me every time she finds something new.