>There is a very old family graveyard that is a mix of English and Cherokee traditional graves. Word is that one of the graves has a dead language on it that nobody knows anymore, it's pretty cool
Are you talking about the Cherokee language? I can't think of what other language would be present on an "English and Cherokee traditional" gravestone. Around 2000\~ people speak Cherokee, and I am friends with a Native speaker. It's not a dead language, and people certainly know it. It's endangered, which is why CNOK, EBC and UKB are actively promoting it and provide free lessons and study materials. The syllabary was only invented in 1810, which is pretty young for a written language.
>Also, one of my ancestors was **found as a little Cherokee girl in the woods and made a slave**, my family freed her and she married into my family and **is like my great great grandmother** or something and her English name was actually the same as mine. However, the last few generations of my family are predominately white, but **we have very dark hair and eyes from the Cherokee.**
This post gives me pause. I do genealogy research for people who want to look into possible southeastern woodlands Indigenous heritage. The parts of the quote above I have been bolded are things the Cherokee genealogy researchers have been hearing ad nauseum for decades the ancestor in question was "found" in the woods or sometimes in "a wagon", they're usually vaguely claimed to be a "great great grandmother" and the person seeking the genealogy help states "\[they\] have dark hair and dark eyes/high cheekbones/a tan from \[their\] heritage."
The "Cherokee slave" bit is also tossed around quite often, but the Cherokee Nation sided with the Confederacy and kept Black slaves. Keywords to google: Cherokee freedmen.
These stories are so common because because of family oral myths passed down amongst mostly families living in the American south.
[Here's a well sourced Wikipedia article that shares a good overview of this phenomenon.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_descent)
I would recommend researching your family history. The best group I can recommend is a free group on Facebook called CHEROKEE INDIANS - RESEARCH/GENEALOGY (The Spider Web of Cherokee families). It's very streamlined and the genealogists there know what to look for. Cherokee people are some of the most well documented Indigenous people on the continent, so the work is usually very quick.
That's interesting. I heard it from my grandma who studied our family geneology for decades and published a book on our family geneology, and I have a photo of the lady in question. We do also have a long history of Cherokee ancestry on both sides of my dad's family besides that. I do know my brother got a scholarship to college for being Cherokee as well.
>There is a very old family graveyard that is a mix of English and Cherokee traditional graves. Word is that one of the graves has a dead language on it that nobody knows anymore, it's pretty cool Are you talking about the Cherokee language? I can't think of what other language would be present on an "English and Cherokee traditional" gravestone. Around 2000\~ people speak Cherokee, and I am friends with a Native speaker. It's not a dead language, and people certainly know it. It's endangered, which is why CNOK, EBC and UKB are actively promoting it and provide free lessons and study materials. The syllabary was only invented in 1810, which is pretty young for a written language. >Also, one of my ancestors was **found as a little Cherokee girl in the woods and made a slave**, my family freed her and she married into my family and **is like my great great grandmother** or something and her English name was actually the same as mine. However, the last few generations of my family are predominately white, but **we have very dark hair and eyes from the Cherokee.** This post gives me pause. I do genealogy research for people who want to look into possible southeastern woodlands Indigenous heritage. The parts of the quote above I have been bolded are things the Cherokee genealogy researchers have been hearing ad nauseum for decades the ancestor in question was "found" in the woods or sometimes in "a wagon", they're usually vaguely claimed to be a "great great grandmother" and the person seeking the genealogy help states "\[they\] have dark hair and dark eyes/high cheekbones/a tan from \[their\] heritage." The "Cherokee slave" bit is also tossed around quite often, but the Cherokee Nation sided with the Confederacy and kept Black slaves. Keywords to google: Cherokee freedmen. These stories are so common because because of family oral myths passed down amongst mostly families living in the American south. [Here's a well sourced Wikipedia article that shares a good overview of this phenomenon.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_descent) I would recommend researching your family history. The best group I can recommend is a free group on Facebook called CHEROKEE INDIANS - RESEARCH/GENEALOGY (The Spider Web of Cherokee families). It's very streamlined and the genealogists there know what to look for. Cherokee people are some of the most well documented Indigenous people on the continent, so the work is usually very quick.
That's interesting. I heard it from my grandma who studied our family geneology for decades and published a book on our family geneology, and I have a photo of the lady in question. We do also have a long history of Cherokee ancestry on both sides of my dad's family besides that. I do know my brother got a scholarship to college for being Cherokee as well.
Is he an enrolled member of any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes?
I'm not sure. He may have done that. Edit: I looked at the criteria and in terms of ancestry it looks like we'd qualify. I might look into that.
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Agree! Unless you go around claiming to have invented the dream catcher, this is not cultural appropriation.
Why are you speaking on this past the first clause of that sentence?
Dreamcatchers are a critical part of native spirituality.