[AlexLopez143]

Hi there,

I'm not sure how this type of thing goes, but I'm taking a stab at it. My name's Alexandria, but you can call me Alex.

I know that I'm native, but I don't know what tribe. My grandma is from Texas, but I don't have her maiden name. I know that she married a Portillo and had a son named John (who then had me). She was registered with her Native tribe, but when my mom asked her to register me, she said no. She thought my mom would take it for the money. I can't ask her to register me now, as she passed away two years ago.

Since I'm so separated from my Native roots, where can I begin? Where do I begin? I want to go to a Powwow and connect with others, but I get worried about being shamed for not knowing who or where I come from.

Any help?

-The Lost Native

[wardancer]

Greetings and welcome to powwows.calm ! I lived in Texas years ago and knew some ndns named Portillo. The family I knew was Comanche and originated up around Walters , Ok. Last I knew they had returned to that area in Oklahoma. One of the girls stayed with us in Austin to finish out the school year and then we took her to family in Cache Ok. That's been since around 1988 or 89 maybe. I don't really remember the names , sorry.

[Niigig]

Hi there. I am a young newcomer and don't know a lot, but I can tell you what others will probably tell you.

Do you know what county your grandma died in? If you can get a hold of her death certificate or even her obituary, there may be some mention of which tribe she was registered with. All you have to do after that is get the birth certificate of whichever of your parents belonged to her, then your birth certificate listing that parent's name, and you have a direct, legal paper trail proving your lineage. Basically a pedigree. Take those documents to the tribal office of the appropriate tribe, and attempt to register. They might help you get in, or they might try to hold their foot in the door, depending on your blood quantum and how badly they want you in, I guess. Tribes are not compelled to allow anyone entry who is below a certain percentage of blood relation, and in some cases, the US government will not allow them to register you even if they want to, due to a low blood quantum. This is the government's way of breeding the native people out of existence so that they do not have to rectify the damage they have done to them in generations past and present. If your grandma was mentioned as 50% native, and your dad was 25%, that would leave you at 12.5%, making you relatively thin-blooded, and facing some fairly steep odds in terms of getting registered. If no blood quantum is mentioned, they might not even ask, unless you look white. I have never personally heard of a tribe forcing someone with a legitimate paper trail to have a DNA test taken, usually if you have an established link to a registered ancestor, they will just let you in. Some tribes are pickier than others.

[Niigig]

Wardancer is faster than me lmao.

[AlexLopez143]

Wardancer, I couldn't tell you if that's family or not. I was born in '94, but thanks for the help anyway!

Niigig, that sounds like a good idea. It's okay if I don't get registered, but I do want to know where I come from. Everyone has these cool connections to natives everywhere and I'm all by myself. Haha. But I'll start with the death certificate to find out what she was registered as.
Thank you!

[Niigig]

You are the same age as my brother.

Just so you know, some counties charge money to recover documents, like even if all they need to do is hit a couple keys on a computer. You could be looking at a couple hundred bucks.

[milehighsalute]

we like using the word enroll instead of register......we aint dogs or horses

anyways.......

anyways how about asking your dad what tribe her mom was from? that should be simple enough.....there has to be mention of it amongst your family,,,,,ask aunts, uncles, cousins

hey @wardancer the Comanche portillo family is related to the famous david yeagley

but I think she said her grandma was ndn

[AlexLopez143]

Niigig, that's important to know haha thanks for the heads up!

milehighsalute, I don't talk to my dad. Most of his side lives back in Texas (around Midland area). I've seen him like 3 times in my life haha but I'm guessing I'll have to ask him. He's told me I'm Apache, but who knows if that's right?

[wardancer]

Originally Posted by milehighsalute

we like using the word enroll instead of register......we aint dogs or horses

anyways.......

anyways how about asking your dad what tribe her mom was from? that should be simple enough.....there has to be mention of it amongst your family,,,,,ask aunts, uncles, cousins

hey @wardancer the Comanche portillo family is related to the famous david yeagley

but I think she said her grandma was ndn

He must be famous in your world , I don't know him. The Portillo family I knew was Comanche ! I've been to their home , I let one daughter stay and finish the school year with my daughter. They dance.They have eagle feathers. They are tribal members. They live in ndn housing. I don't know the Yeagley family and couldn't say anything about them or their relations.

[wardancer]

O.K. so I had to look him up to see who he was......interesting views for a ndn to have ! But he's dead , so it no longer matters !( actually , it never mattered to me anyway!) Life goes on. Nothing I read said anything about him being related to the Portillo Family.

[wyo_rose]

I would search for your grandmother's death certificate, at least to get her maiden name. Maybe even some searching on something like Ancestry.com could get you that info.

Then all you need to do is contact all the tribes, starting in Texas, OK, and wherever and see if she's enrolled. (Also, ancestry.com has some Indian Census - older ones usually)