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Question: Was my grandpa wrong!? How do I find out!?
He wrote down in the margins of the family records,"Jackson Lee Stamey and Andrew Forney Stamey were full-blooded Wyoming Indians"!. They were the kids of Alex and Belzora Stamey!. Officially there isn't any mention of adoption!. It just says, "born in!.!." I always thought I was part Blackfoot!. This would be wrong too, right!? I would be part Arapaho or Cheyenne, right!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
There are counties named "Wyoming" in several states in the east!. There's one in West Virginia and another in Pennsylvania!. They have nothing to do with the western state!.

Here are Alex and Belzora in 1880:

(Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace)

Alex STAMEY Self M Male W 58 NC Farmer NC NC
Belzora STAMEY Wife M Female W 47 NC Keeping House NC NC
Enoch L!. STAMEY Son S Male W 19 NC Farm Laborer NC NC
Jackson STAMEY Son S Male W 16 NC NC NC
Robert STAMEY Son S Male W 13 NC NC NC
Samuel STAMEY Son S Male W 10 VA NC NC
Sarrah L!. STAMEY Dau S Female W 8 VA NC NC
Martha STAMEY Dau S Female W 8 VA NC NC
Lilly STAMEY Dau S Female W 3 VA NC NC
--------------------------------------!.!.!.
Source Information:
Census Place District 39, Old Town, Grayson, Virginia
Family History Library Film 1255368
NA Film Number T9-1368
Page Number 434B

http://www!.familysearch!.org/Eng/Search/f!.!.!.


Robert andJackson fit right in as natural sons - in 1880, if the wife was healthy and the husband wasn't a sailor, you usually see a child every 2 - 3 years, from marriage until the wife gets to be 40-45!. (I've looked at thousands of these!.)

They might be adopted and put down as "white" so they don't have to go to the Colored school!. (1880 is 74 years before segregation was struck down!. Virginia had two school systems, a good one for the whites, a bad one for the colored!.)

They might not!. At this distance it is hard to tell!.


In 1870 they are in Pipers Gap, Carroll, Virginia:

Alexander Stamey 48
Belzora Stamey 38
J White Stamey 18
Frances Stamey 16
Josephine Stamey 13
Enoch Stamey 10
Lee Stamey 7
Robert Stamey 3
Samuel Stamey 1

Everyone is white!. Again, we're now 84 years before segregation was struck down!.

If they WERE adopted, it was probably from a tribe named "Wyoming" or from a tribe in a county named "Wyoming"!. I don't really see Alex and Belzora meeting a train full of Indian orphans from the state of Wyoming and taking a couple home!. (There were such trains, but they took white orphans from the East to the farms out west!.) If you can get to a library or FHC with census access you can trace them forward until they die to see if they ever claim to be anything other that white!.

========================
1860: Burke, North Carolina; Roll: M653_889;
Page: 416; Image: 382!.

Alexr Stamey 38
Belzora Stamey 28
Paul Stamey 10
James W Stamey 7
Francis L Stamey 5
Barbary Stamey 3
Margaret Stamey 80
Jones Ramsey 17
Ann Tallent 26
================

1850: Burke, North Carolina; Roll: M432_622;
Page: 351; Image: 324!.

Alexander Stamey 28
Belzora Stamey 17
Danl Stamey 73
Margaret Stamey 69
Paul Stamey 1
Logan Walker 16

If you get desperate, you can have your DNA tested for Native American markers!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There is one other possibility that no one has mentioned!. It's very possible that the kids were taken from their tribe and given away by the government!. There was a very long, dark period of this in American history and it's a tragic reality!. The Chippewa, Apache, Comanche and slews of other tribes were forced onto reservations!. Then "in the best interests of the children" they were taken off the reservation and given to white families to raise them!. It was yet another way to eradicate "the Indian problem"!. It was mostly boys, because if they grew up on a reservation and felt resentment, they might cause an uprising!. But if they were raised white, then they'd supposedly see how good things were and not want to go back to their tribes!. I've helped a few people trace their grandparents and great-grandparents back to their tribes!. It's very painful for both sides!. Sadly, because they were legally severed from the tribes, most can't regain their tribal affiliations!. But at least there's some closure and they know what really happened!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

In the Census record for 1920, it says Jackson was White!. I wouldn't take that as a solid fact, you'd need to check further!.

There is a photo of Jackson and his wife and their children attached to a public family tree at this URL, please substitute a "!." where I've put "dot": http://trees!.ancestry"dot"com/pt/person!.!.!.!.

He does look like he COULD be Indian, or part Indian - - his wife and their kids look very fair-complected in the photo!. You might want to contact the gentleman who uploaded the photo and compare family notes with him!.

Best of luck!Www@QuestionHome@Com

you can find this out and that is what they wrote that stuff down for in bibles you hae to find out and ask and see if hes alive ask if not ask someo of the odler ones that may know now that they are alive!. take care!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

You could be Aarapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Shoshone, and I do believe when we began moving Natives into reservations as we settled land, we pushed the Lenape up there too!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I see no reason for your Grandpa to lie!. He obviously loved his family enough to leave them this information, should they ever seek it in the future!.Www@QuestionHome@Com