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Back in the old days stories were shared

and notes were written and if we are

fortunate enough to place our hands

on these or perhaps an old family

Bible we can learn much more about our

pioneer ancestors to pass on to our grandchildren.

I have been amazed at the many little notes my mother and her granny had

jotted down over the years and even saved newspaper clippings. Apparently her granny kept up with her children's illnesses, allergies and every little scratch.

Our families immigrated from many different countries

bringing their skills, talents, and beliefs which

they shared with their new neighbors.

Some of their new neighbors were the original

Native Americans; they lived closely together,

worked and struggled together to survive, and intermarried with these

beautiful strong spirited people.

They had to create their own medicine to fight the many

new diseases brought to our country and some

had the divine gift of healing.

USGenWeb.com has vast amount of history

being contributed by volunteers all over the country,

along with many of the state's old records for us to search through

and I am adding my own research to their website.

NARA and CherokeeNation.org can lead one to find

the images of original registrations of our Native Americans

as they signed up in the new Oklahoma Indian Territory. Locating

your ancestors on these "Rolls" can lead you to becoming a member of

the Indian Nation, and you can order their application

packets to review if you are not sure.

One can also prove their Indian Blood

and become a member of their First Families which is something I would

love to do with our lineage but I am merely a few years into our genealogy

and have much more to learn before taking that step.

NARA can also lead one to find military records, as

we all had ancestors in the American Revolution,

and the Civil War, so you might even locate their pension

records. Joining the DAR would be very rewarding for our children

and grandchildren.

This author was never a good history student but has recently

become very interested in the locations of her ancestors

and the lives they had back then.

Most of my ancestors landed in Virginia,

and have claimed ancestry from Chief Powhattan

yet with his very many wives and dozens

of children, only a few were probably documented,

and we may just have to live with the legend of our

Indian Blood.

North Carolina was Cherokee Nation

and our ancestors spent much time there

before venturing into South Carolina

and Georgia; then it appears they all lived in

Alabama at some point in time.

Georgia was mostly Creek Territory and all of my

mother's family came through there, settled there for a while and

some married there. Some were Indian Traders, some were only

searching for gold, some continued to travel west.

Thousands of pioneers and indians had to leave

their homelands, due to the many battles

happening around them.

While some were Indian Wars, we will find

that some left because of their beliefs or religion;

some left to explore new land or to

find gold.

Many moved to find food and peace in the land.

Some Colonial church records indicate who did or did not pay their tithes, and many

new families did not want to join the Church of England which seemed to rule the new land.

Fascinating information can now be found on the internet

and we can build webpages to help others

connect as new cousins, and share

new important information.

One link leads to another

and mine begin here,

some factual, some family legend, which

I can only pass on with hope of finding the truth.

Our Cherokee Research with many pages linked

Polly Jones married Charles Weatherford and had our Catherine G Weatherford who married John C Wright and how does Thomas Jefferson fit into this picture or perhaps Chief Red Eagle

Sharing thoughts on our faith and spirituality

My Native American Family Tree

Cochran - Coonfield on Yahoo Groups

There are many stories on the net about our ancestors and one can easily put their names into a Search and read about them.

Captain George Little of Scotland, widower, married his son's mother in law

and they moved from South Carolina into Tennesee, then Kentucky

by 1800 and I have been able to follow his path through the census records. In fact in 1840 I found his son Jonas Little living near most of his grown married children all on one page at Panther Creek in Kentucky. George and a man named Jonas Little served in the American Revolution and I suspect this was his brother since it was also the name of his son. The elder Jonas lineage went south through Georgia and Alabama. There are many Little families found in early Texas which may come from both of these gentlemen.

One was lost in the Alamo.

Thomas Jones immigrated from England around 1619 and settled

in Bermuda Hundred, Henrico, Virginia, according to research done by our cousin L P Little but this information may connect to his mother and not ours. His paper trail is blurred and hard to follow.

John Bozeman started the Oregon Trail

and may be a distant cousin to my great granny

Lorena Bozeman.

A book "Sketches of Bozeman" did not include the Alabama lineage but the

author knew and wrote about the ones who moved from SC. I have gathered

enough information on the Alabama Bozemans to

fill another book.

Charles McClain left VA for SC due to Indian unrest. Some McClains moved into Kentucky and some moved to Oklahoma Indian Territory, but

mine came to Alabama during the Civil War. Charles had a son named Josiah

who had a son named James. James married an indian woman he called Anna in Georgia and named their son Josiah Marion McClain. JMM married

Elizabeth Broadway in Ramer, Montgomery County, Alabama and their

son Charles married Lorena Bozeman.

I found where grandpa Josiah served and was wounded in the Civil War and his widow received his pension. By 1910 she had remarried and I found her on a census with son Charles and his wife and their first baby.

Some Bozemans applied to join Indian Nation and were rejected.

Martin Weatherford and Mary Half Blood were banished from the state

of Georgia and fled to the Bahamas. I managed to locate some Georgia history about Martin being a wealthy planter.

John Stephens descendants eventually went back to Florida

then on to Cuba and Panama to grow and sell banana crops, even today they are doing well and have written a book about our lineage. Grandpa John

had served in the Revolution and married a full blood Cherokee. Their granddaughter Alice Stephens married John Bozeman and they had Lorena.

Jacob Cochran was one of the very first families to homestead in

Hill City, Kansas after they left Iowa. His daughter Clora kept my Aunt Bernice

informed of their history. The Cochrans had some awesome sky blue eyes and the men never went bald like we see some families like the Brooks men who had lost their hair before the age of 30.

Several Cochrans went to Arizona or California seeking gold. My father followed his family there seeking work, milking cows at the dairy and driving a tractor helping to clear some land and we went frog gigging in Mesa or swimming at Coonsbluff.

Matthew Fenn employed Indians on his plantation

in Eufaula Alabama yet might have been killed by one of them

and buried on his land. He is mentioned in the book " Early Settlers of Bullock County Alabama"

Many years later when the Fenn Plantation was sold, the

new owners lost a case in court to move

his grave. My cousin Nancy Fenn once worked at the courthouse

and traced her line to Matthew and fought to protect that legacy.

The Fann / Fenn line of England started in Virginia as some were found in Georgia as Indian Traders.

My grandpa Elijah Fenn married a Martha Rich in Emanuel GA and her mother was only known as Abiah.

Abiah Rich was born about 1760 in Creek Territory Georgia.

Elijah's son John was found in Macon Alabama in 1860 which was former Creek lands.

John and Matthew were cousins.

Many of these families were given land through the

Georgia Land Lottery and some

had land grants from the King of England

if they settled in Virginia or the new colonies. Some received even more land if they returned to England to bring back more of their family to help develop this new country.

Many land grants were given to the soldiers of

the American Revolution and a pension if they served at least 90 days.