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From:
Subject: [NativeAmericanDelmarva] Re: [LDR] BLAKE (prev of Scotland?) & color
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 01:42:53 EDT

In a message dated 6/29/2003 12:47:40 PM Mountain Standard Time,
writes on the Lower Delmarva Roots List:

"Interestingly, there were also free black Blakes from the middle of the 18th
century in Worcester. ...I did a fairly close look at this family some years
ago, and just don't think you'll find your candidate is from the lower
Maryland Eastern Shore."

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While this message may not apply to this particular search, please don't
reject colored ancestry out-of-hand. Many "white" members of the Mitsawokett List
were initially surprised to find mixed ancestry. We have always known about
ours. But you won't know by appearance -- photo: <A HREF="http://www.mitsawoket.com/Photographs/TerryBetty&Ray.htm">;
http://www.mitsawoket.com/Photographs/TerryBetty&Ray.htm</A>; . And you can't really conclude from the records
just what the derivation of color was, whether African, Native American or
Mediteranean. In the old records, free black does not necessarily equal a more
recent child from our collective homeland, Africa, despite Paul Heinegg's take
on it ("If she thought of herself as an Indian, why didn't she say so")
<A HREF="http://www.mitsawokett.com/Self-Identifcation.htm">http://www.mitsawokett.com/Self-Identifcation.htm</A>;


We have often wondered whether the "free black" total would have been lower
if the census had been conducted during winter without the presence of
melatonin-enhancing summertime sun--LOL.

You are invited to read the historian and archaeologist Ned Heite's words
about assimiliated Indian populations and misclassifications of 19th and 20th
century persons of color (Delaware) at <A HREF="http://www.mitsawokett.com/HeiteReport1.htm">;
http://www.mitsawokett.com/HeiteReport1.htm</A>;

Occasionally we have found one person morphing between "black," "Negro,"
"Moor," "mulatto," or "colored" over the years (perhaps the summer sun was
responsible). Perceptions of the record maker played a large role in determining how
one's color was recorded. Analysis of emigrants moving from a state where a
racial agenda weighed mighty, such as Delaware, to a state not as concerned
about color elucidates interesting descriptions of a persons color/race. See
what happens when persons of color moved from Delaware (where the "I" word
(=Indian) was never used) to Michigan in the mid-19th century: <A HREF="http://www.mitsawokett.com/MigrationMichigan/WayneDeaths.htm">;
http://www.mitsawokett.com/MigrationMichigan/WayneDeaths.htm</A>;

Here is a racial/color analysis of 113 Michigan death certificates of these
emigrants from Delaware to Wayne County, MI compared to their description in
other records in Delaware before their emigration:

Delaware: all but one described in one of the terms meaning color, except,
of course, "I".

Michigan:
Negro 1
African 3
Black 11
Mulatto 14
Colored 9
Dark 1
Indian 6
White 63
No designation 5

Total 113

White 63? How many of those descendants would be surprised to learn of their
interesting--read colored--Delaware lineage?

Similar results obtain from an examination of Michigan birth and marriage
records.


Some examples of color changes:

1. Our friend, Lynn Jackson <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/jacklyn001/">http://members.aol.com/jacklyn001/</A>; has written
about the William Carty and Elizabeth Wyatt family of Maryland --

"Elizabeth and William appeared in the 1820 Caroline Co., MD census. William
was listed as white, his wife and 3 children were listed as "M". William's
daughter, Henrietta Carty MORGAN, told her son Napoleon Morgan that her mother
was a full blood Maryland Indian although she did not know the tribe. It is
interesting to note that, in later censuses, William's race was changed to "M" to
reflect that of his wife and children. His brothers and their families
continued to be listed as "white." This is just one of many indications that race in
the 18th & 19th century on the Delmarva peninsula was more about the
perceptions of the record keepers than about accurately reflecting the true racial
make-up of the community."


2. Ila Miller had been looking for her husband's ancestor, Thomas Carney, in
Delaware, without success. <A HREF="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dmasilm/debrix.htm">;
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dmasilm/debrix.htm</A>;

Her message of 25 Sep 2002 mentions --
.
"I had found Thomas (Carney) before in the census but he was listed as "all
others" or "free colored persons" and "mulatto" well I was confused and just
said wrong one. After reading your information I must say I am least better
informed. <A HREF="http://www.mitsawokett.com/Probate.htm#1858">http://www.mitsawokett.com/Probate.htm#1858</A>;

And can't wait to show my father-in-law that his family does descend from the
Delaware Native Americans. And I have only been working on his Mayflower
line<G>.


3. From Chuch Consellor, "Hoosier Indian," 12 May 1998 -- "Until late last
year, I had never heard of any Indian connection in the Counceller family. I
have never heard of any Indiana Counceller mentioning having Indian ancestry. I
have known since a child of my Cherokee ancesty on my mother's side but I
don't think the
Councellers of Indiana every knew of any Indian, at least in the last 100
years. When I first started communicating with Ned (Heite), and he mentioned the
Indian ancestry, I thought "this guy has his wires crossed". My Dad had
never known of this, for he would have been proud to have known it. However, as
time and information flowed, it became more and more obvious that Ned was
correct. And here I am today with newly found family."


4. With regard to opportunities to escape the "stigma" of color, we have in
our possession a marriage certificate from Delaware in which the parties asked
the Vital Stats Bureau to amend their record FROM the original description of
"white" TO "Moor." (Pre-Manchurian Candidate brainwashing?)


5. Early on, lone European male settlers did need a helpmate: Selections
from Ned Heite --

--Well, guys alone on the frontier, eating their own cooking, the rest is
history.
--So where did Thomas Consela get a wife? Picture yourself about to start a
winter in a makeshift cabin on the frontier."

Ned provides a sequence this guy might follow to wind up with "colored"
progeny --

--He appears on the frontier apparently as a single man.
--He settles in an area near the Indians. The place where he lived, in
Mitsawoket, was under Indian control when he moved there.
--If he was Catholic or Jewish, he would be unlikely to marry a Protestant,
and they likewise would be disinclined to socialize with him. There were lots
of Jews with Iberian names running around the Netherlands.
--His children intermarry with families of Indian heritage if he doesn't.


We have collected a few more examples of race-change-by-emigration at <A HREF="http://www.mitsawokett.com/IdentifiedIndians.htm">;
http://www.mitsawokett.com/IdentifiedIndians.htm</A>;


Our group has been intrigued by large numbers of colored Delawareans moving
to Michigan in the 1850's-1860's. Perhaps it had something to do with the
trial of Levin Sockume, mulatto, in 1856. Read an account at <A HREF="http://www.mitsawoket.com/Photographs/SockumeLevin&Eunice.htm">;
http://www.mitsawoket.com/Photographs/SockumeLevin&Eunice.htm</A>;


So don't reject non-northern European ancestry out-of-hand. Our perception
of our racial ancestry, beyond the physical appearance of our immediate
families, has been influenced largely by the reporting of semi-literate, somewhat
biased data collectors who were following their society's racial agendas.


Apologies to multi-list subsribers who have received more than one copy!

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