The Indians of Iowa

A Closer Look: Do You Have Indian Blood?

A CLOSER LOOK Do You Have Indian Blood? Native American heritage forms part of every American’s identity in some way, historical, ancestral, and cultural, whether you actually have native blood or not. The encounter between the western and eastern hemispheres, for better or worse, made us what we are today. Many families tell stories about ancestors being “part Indian.” Some know the names of these ancestors, while others don’t have much more than vague rumors to go on. As settlement continued west, some white settlers occasionally married or had relations with Indians, most often a white man with an Indian woman. Over many generations, the exact history of the family would be lost, often out of shame and prejudice. This is a sad fact, and as a rule little can be done to recover these family histories . Whenever possible, most families who were lighter-skinned married among white people and tried to pass as white themselves. Darker relatives tended to marry other darker mixed-bloods or Indians , and so families often drifted apart. Although today some people hope to reclaim their connection with half-remembered Indian ancestors, usually through genealogical studies, success at such studies can be difficult to achieve. These people will often have to be content with family stories and proud of the connections that those stories pass down. Three kinds of people generally try to connect with their Native American past. People who have heard family stories that they had an Indian ancestor or “have some Indian blood.” The family is vague about the details or says the ancestor was part Cherokee or Blackfeet, but no one really is sure who it was or how far back it was. These people have a difficult road to travel. There’s no way they can go further in their quest until they answer some basic genealogical ques- Do You Have Indian Blood? 97 tions about their family. It takes work and a good chunk of time, dedication, and faith. More and more is available on the Internet. Look at the resource links to find out how to get started. Every U.S. census has different categories, and some include native status. Although it is reported that DNA tests may indicate a connection to biological native ancestry, these tests cannot determine tribal identity , which is political rather than biological. Peoplewhohavestudiedtheirfamilygenealogyandhaveagood idea which ancestor is Indian but have trouble finding out which tribe that ancestor might belong to. There is no systematic information online (or anywhere else) that tells which family names are definitively associated with which tribe. One way this can be done is through checking family names against tribal rolls, usually from the 1880s during the time when Indians were determining tribal membership for the Dawes Allotment Act. The Dawes Act aimed at dividing up lands held in common as tribal lands, which would make Indians assimilate into white society and would open up more lands to non-Indians. Each tribal member would be assigned a block of acreage, and the remainder would be sold to white settlers. Some tribes do have earlier rolls, for instance the Cherokees in the eastern United States, but for most tribes, including those of Iowa, anything earlier than 1880 or so is generally too early for specific surnames. The reality is that checking tribal rolls is useful only for people who know the names of Indian ancestors who lived between 1880 and 1920. To get a look at tribal rolls, you need to contact the appropriate tribes; resources for a particular tribe may also be online. People who are Native American but were adopted by nonIndian families and have lost connection with their tribe or don’t know what tribe they came from, as well as people who are descendants of this group. It may be tough if not impossible to get to your adoption records, but that is the place to start. If you learn who your birth parents are, it can be as simple as reestablishing contact with relatives on the reservation. Someone may actually have been looking for you for a long time. Without knowing to whom you are 98 Do You Have Indian Blood? related, it will be impossible to go any further. The same goes for the children and grandchildren of the original adoptees. This can be frustrating, especially for people who “look Indian” but don’t know anything about “being Indian.” Some groups are beginning to try to make connections between these “lost children” and...