Family Tree vs. Family Tradition

Hmmm.  That last post got me to playing around on the internet, and I found a really cool site called "Trails of the Past."  I typed in some names and, POOF! up pops a pretty extensive history of my momma's side of the family (for free!)

Momma was born in Texas, her daddy was born in Texas, HIS daddy was born in Georgia, and his granddaddy was born in North Carolina.

Now.  Where does the Native American part come in?  Hmmm.  I don't know.  Names don't look like American Indian names...  one doesn't even look American!

The way I remember the family stories is that my grandfather was like 1/4 Indian - and he certainly looked it!  That made Momma 1/8, and therefore I would be 1/16th. 

At a family reunion a few years ago I heard a story about my great-grandmother coming from a family out of Georgia.  Seems the menfolk got crosswise with the law somehow and decided it was a good time to move to Texas.  On the way out of town they are said to have burned down the courthouse in order to destroy all of their "history."  Now, that just might be a "reunion" story, but when I try to follow that branch of the family tree -- it stops dead in its tracks in Georgia!  Hmmm.

Add this to the mix:  The timeframe was mid-1800's.  Let's see.  What was going on in the mid-1800's?  Oh yeah!  The Civil War!  And what happened in Georgia during the last days of the Civil War?  Sherman's march to the sea, yes?  There was a lotta burnin' goin' on then!!  Maybe that's where the records went and where the story came from.


No solution to the Native American in me...

Inputting my father's name, though he was born in New York, the records stop dead in their tracks right there.  You would think that, old as New York is, they would have pretty good record keeping - certainly going back into the 1800's.  Could be that the "Trails of the Past" is all about Texas records?  Dunno.

Oh, well.  I am who I am not because of my parents (completely) but because of the choices I've made in my life.  I'm certainly different from my brothers and sister!!  That's totally okay.  I like who I am.  Makes me think of that "Sound of Music" lyric:  Somewhere in my wicked childhood, I must have done something awfully good."  Woo-hoo!

And that's all you're gonna get out of me about THAT!