how can you research your native heritage

[Heyya_hey]

Hello, this is to anyone out there that may have some info on this.. Myself I am full blooded and enrolled in my tribe. Yet, I get a lot of people who ask me, how they find out about how to get enrolled in their tribes..or research their tribal history ? we'll I just tell them to contact their enrollment department from what ever tribe they are associating themselves with..as well dig into their families birth certificates..however , maybe there are various avenues I may have missed???? anyone out there know of any other resources that I may pass along to these folks. I work for a federally funded program, so there is many people (some that are just as native looking as you and I) that are also looking to qualify for benefits such as welfare or TANF, that is looking so please help me pass this info around on their behalf.. and go from there..lem lempt...thank you.

[Singing Eagle]

In Canada and particularly here in Manitoba, we can search the provinical archives which includes info from Hudson's bay company - helpful if family memebrs were trappers, treaty payments records - helpful to trace ancestors. Also sometimes church records are helpful as they record events like births (baptism), weddings, deaths. Another thing that is helpful is to talk to your family or anyone who is the same age as your parents/g-parents and knew them - they could provide names and places. There's also the local geneology group - they're a great resource as they know other places to look.

For those of us with parents living - get that info from them and record it for the ones to come - let's be sure that we preserve our history.

[chickendad]

It's tough. Censuses are on computer now that go back as far as the very early 1800's, some that go back to the 1700's. It's tough because of spelling of census records are not the same each time. As for my seach, sometimes they would use a nick name for the first name, so that makes things hard. Knowing the siblings helps, when you find the head of the house, there's usually hundreds with the same name, so you then look into the siblings and find a match. The problem with some states is that you were either black or white, Native wasn't even concidered. Some state tribes know who should be on their rolls, so if you can prove that your family lived in a certain area, chances are you might be enrolled into that state tribe. There's also the DNA thing to help to enroll into a state tribe. The federal tribes are tougher. The Cherokee require a member to be on a Roll. The problem with that is those who hid from the feds during the Trail of Tears changed their name, so tracing it back is almost impossible. Some refused to sign the rolls because they felt is was wrong to be counted that way, or to keep the knowledge of their where abouts from the feds. Good luch to all who search. Pass all info along to help our brothers and sisters.

[Privateer6]

As previously mentioned, church records and government records are the way to go. Also be aware of possible alternate spellings of names. Another potential source is the Mormons as they have the largest geneological database in the world. If your local library has one, a geneological librarian may be of immense assistance.

[WaterLily]

can someone plz tell me where can i go to have a test of my dna to find out wat type of indigena blood i have? btw my last name's Verdeja, does it sound related to some indian tribe? plz? i'm from Chihuahua state of the country of Mexico