- Adventures in Genealogy
Native American Chat
Or "Rednecks, Native American Chat, Where to find your roots and get a good laugh"
by Uncle Hiram
Y'all may not know it but I spend a lot of time wandering around the web looking for ideals and sites. I will admit I shameless steal ideals from the chat rooms for subjects on my column. (GRIN) One of the chats I spent some time in recently is the Native American Chat (Mondays, 8:30 EST at http://genealogy.about.com/hobbies/genealogy/). Over the last few years I have spent a great deal of time in various genealogy chat rooms and even did a little hosting for awhile and as a result I am seldom impressed with a host or "off the top of her head" knowledge. Dont get me wrong, I am not saying that most of the hosts in the various genealogy rooms arent good, I am just saying that it takes a lot to get my attention.
Bearing that in mind I wanna tell yall about NAHostMichelle. Not only does she run a good chat (No obsentity, No sex checks, No age checks, and No abusive behaviour put up with) but she is extremely knowledgeable on the subject of Native American research. Let me give you an example of something I learned in her chat:
<![CDATA[
04/09/01 20:02:17 <Sharon> Michelle, andif the were NA and NOT on the
reservation?
04/09/01 20:03:46 <NAHostMichelle> Well, here is the problem with that
explanation. Not all Nations/Tribes HAD reservations. We're back to that
Sovereignty thing again. Most claimed the Tribal lands for the Nation,
under their own govt (particularly in the East).
04/09/01 20:04:01 <NAHostMichelle> Reservations really didn't exist
until the 1870s and on
04/09/01 20:04:14 <UnkHiram> Question
04/09/01 20:05:17 <UnkHiram> I thought that the Trail of Tears ended with
the Cherokee put on a reservation
04/09/01 20:07:38 <NAHostMichelle> Nope.Ahh, you have to love our
school taught history. The "Trail of Tears" for theCherokee brought the
forced citizens to the lands west of Arkansas in 1838. This land was
sectioned for all FCT in Indian Territory (today's OK) plus other Nations.
We were and still are a Sovereign Nation with our own Constitution
(ca1838). The Cherokee were removed to Indian Territory, not to a
reservation. The ONLY tribe in Indian Territory to have a reservation
is/was the Osage. Unk, also... the Trail of Tears is commonly associated
with the Cherokee, but the four other "Civilized Tribes" had their own
forced removals from the Southeast. The Five Civilized tribes were
Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Seminole and Creek.
]]>
This is just a small sample of the information that flows out of this hosts fingertips. (Makes a terrible mess on the keyboard) If you have any Native American Roots I would strongly suggest you check out this chat. Or just check them out to hear the jokes I edited out of that sample (GRIN). When You drop in, tell them UnkHiram sent you and if I am there at the time please say hello.
OK, Now I know y'all all been waiting with baited breath (Use Scope next time) for me to announce our Monthly site awards. First Thing I wanna do is thank the new batch of Genealogical Elves that have joined with me in picking these sites. They are prompt, fair and dont leave cookie crumbs on the couch. Ok, enough stalling here we go:
County Site of the Month for April 2001
Nichols County, WV (http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvnichol/index.html)
Home Page of the Month for April 2001
George's Genealogical Filing Cabinet (http://www.mindspring.com/~baumbach/index.html)
Misc. Site of the Month for April 2001
Native Links (http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/)
All Great Sites, I strongly recommend. Again I want to ask everyone to submit sites to me for Nomination as site of the month.
Coming Attractions: Next Week either a review of the Legacy Genealogy Software or a discussion of the "Beginners" Chat room at About.com/Genealogy
In the Near Future (IF i can arrange it) an interview with Kimberly Powell of About.com Genealogy and Illya D'Addezio of GenalogyToday. I am also going to try and set up an interview with DearMyrtle. I am also open to suggestions for future columns.
- Adios and Keep Smiling!
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