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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 2003-04 > 1049809696
From: Tom Hamm <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Quaker/Indian Marriages(?)
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 08:56:13 -0800
References: <NEBBKBPMKLACDELNKOALGEGDDAAA.jap@highstream.net>
In-Reply-To: <NEBBKBPMKLACDELNKOALGEGDDAAA.jap@highstream.net>
I've wondered about this myself. I've found a few Virginia/North
Carolina Quaker families, such as the Brays and Hubbards, with
traditions of Indian ancestry. The ancestor, however, is before the
family became Friends. I have not found any record of a Friend
marrying an Indian before 1850. I'd also be interested in knowing if
anyone has found such a case.
T Hamm
>I suspect many of us have brickwalls where an ancestor, very soon after the
>Quaker settling of Pennsylvania, married someone who seemingly popped out of
>nowhere. One would expect that the pool of families in that era from which
>a wife could have come would have been small enough for the parents of most
>brides to be easily surmised. It's troubling, therefore, to write-off so
>many such cases as examples of unmarried women immigrating without family
>members (or at least, without family members sharing their surname) and
>without appearing in surviving ships' registries.
>
>Another possibility I once heard was that, supposedly, some Indians lived
>near or amongst the English settlers, that they would commonly be given
>English surnames (typically, common English names such as Smith or Jones),
>and that they sometimes intermarried with the settlers. It's understandable
>why the parentage of such a bride would not have been known or would not
>have been recorded. Unfortunately, I don't recall ever seeing documentation
>of such a marriage or of such a naming practice.
>
>This evening, while researching an interesting story about Caleb Pusey
>accompanying Gov. Keith on a mission to the Susquehanna-area Indian tribes,
>I ran across the following from "The History of Pennsylvania...," Volume 2,
>by Robert Proud (1728-1813):
>
> At a council held at Coneftogoe, July 7th, 1721,
> Prefent, Sir William Keith, Bart. Governor
> Richard Hill,Jonathan Dickinfon,
> Caleb Pusey, & Col. John French, Efquires,
> James Logan, Secretary, with divers gentlemen,
> Sinnekaes Nation. Onondagoes Nation.
> Ghefaont Tannawree
> Awennoot. Skeetowafs.
>
> Cayoogoes Nation.
> Sahoode
> Tchehughque
>
> Smith, the Ganawefe Indian, Interpreter from the Mingoe language to the
>Delaware...."
>
>If "Smith" was a Ganawefe Indian, it adds credence to the idea that some
>Indians adopted English names as described above.
>
>I'm curious if anyone...
>
>- Has knowledge of an early Quaker marrying an Indian?
>- Knows anything about Indians adopting English names?
>- Has an early "brickwall" where the maiden name is a common English name
>such as "Smith", "Jones", "Taylor", etc.
>
>Jeff Palmer -
>* * *
>Quote of the Week: The man that hath not anything to boast but his
>illustrious ancestors is like a potato: the only good belonging to him is
>underground. Thomas Overbury, Characters, 1637
>
>
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