How can I find my Native American ancestors or Melungeon ancestors?

Question:My grandmother said they all changed their names and cut their hair. All of my ancestors but one I found on Ancestry.com are from Europe and Great Britian. One was listed as unknown native on a reservation in Georgia.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My grandmother said they all changed their names and cut their hair. All of my ancestors but one I found on Ancestry.com are from Europe and Great Britian. One was listed as unknown native on a reservation in Georgia.

If you can document an Indian ancestor in Georgia post-European contact, they would most likely be Creek or Cherokee, depending on the time frame in which they were there. However, the Cherokee absorbed a number of smaller tribes' members such as the Catawba, etc. before being forcibly moved to the west, to prevent them from being wiped out, so there can be further subdivisions there... You have to start with some corroborative documentation to prove ancestry, but please also understand what a lot of people seem to miss - - - - just because you can't document tribal membership does NOT mean that you are 100% non-Indian. What it does mean for certain is that you have not yet been able to prove it. In my experience and readings, there have been far more Indians try to pass for something else (Portuguese, Black Dutch, Mediterranean, white...) than there have been people of other races trying to pass for American Indian. The reason?... because Indians were horribly treated, the last to get the right to vote, and on and on. With American Indian research it is completely and utterly essential to NOT discount the oral history you have from your living and passed ancestors. Look for corroborations. A good book for you to start with is "Cherokee by Blood". I hope that helps you, wherever you go and whatever you find.

my approach, Chloe, is to always document the ancestors with facts, before accepting any tradition of Native or Melungeon. Melungeon, especially, is a topic that is not proven either way.
SOME persons of mixed background, would claim Native ancestry as a cover, when it may have been otherwise. That's how it was. You cannot be sure. You often can find much more, by setting the traditions to the side.. finding the core info, then evaluating.
edit.
is susannah collins thought to be Melungeon? that is one of the better known surnames, IF YOU document it.

At one time in this country it was very dangerous to be Native American. So we hid in plain sight. If we could get by with claiming some other ethnicity then we would. Black Dutch & Black Irish, were just a couple of the ethnicities invented during that time.

What time frame are we talking about here? Since there were not and still aren't any reservations in Georgia. You are going to come up with more information on this person, to narrow down the search. Have you found this person in any census records? If you email me through my profile, I'll be glad to do some searching for you... Please include all information you have for this person...