Looking for the family of my great-grandmother Mary Jane Westfall born June 6, 1889 in or around Buchannon, WV. Married Horace M. Thorne. Was told she was full blood Cherokee.
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Hi,
I have the Cherokee Roll books back to 1817 and there are no Westfalls in them I checked each one. Was this her married name? Maybe Ancestry.com can help you find out her maiden name.
There are no Cherokees enumerated on the main rolls with the surname Westfall. This indicates or suggests that, first of all, this is not a name associated with any known fullblood Cherokee family.
However, if you are interested in really tracing actual ancestry, you have to be methodical about it, and just go where the trail takes you. Build a tree moving back in time and simply go with where the records indicate your ancestors lived. What society were they are part of? How were they listed? Where did they live? These are the kind of things that are more important than any single claim of Cherokee blood or a query based on family lore. In other words, just do the research and then accept the findings, wherever that takes you (if you’ve amassed enough documentation that you feel confident with ancestral connections between each generation and parentage is clearly established).
In this case, Mary Jane (Westfall) Thorne’s parents were Thomas Westfall (b. 1837) and Mary Barrickman (b. 1846). They were both from VA/WV and were not from Cherokee backgrounds. They are found listed as White in several records, living in north central WV. They were married in Upshur County, WV in 1868.
Mary Barrickman’s parents were Henry Barrickman (b. 1803 VA) and Catherine Scott (b. 1805 VA).
Her death certificate:
Name: Mary J. Thorn
Death Date: 12 Oct 1925
Death Place: Upshur, West Virginia
Father Name: Tom Westfall
Mother Name: Mary Barichman
She is found living with her parents in Barbour, VA in the 1850 and 1860 Census. Henry and Catherine were married in Upshur, VA (now WV) in 1826. This family is actually quite well-traced.
This link has info about Catherine and Henry. In particular, it shows that she was the daughter of Major David Scott (VA Militia). Just keyword search “Henry Barrickman” or “David Scott.”
http://www.archive.org/stream/brandfamilyonmon00bran/brandfamilyonmon00bran_djvu.txt
There are other sources that could take you back on the Scott line even further, see:
“A genealogical history of the Scott family : descendants of Alexander Scott who came to Augusta County, Virginia, ca. 1750 : with a history of the families with which they intermarried. unknown: unknown, 1939.”
Thomas Westfall’s parents have not been clearly established from what I can see, but we can narrow him down a little bit. He was born in VA (or, what is now WV) in 1837. He is listed as White in records and lived in a White community, married to a White spouse. His surname is also not associated with the Cherokee people. There were never any Cherokee settlements in VA or WV and the very last raids or skirmishes between White settlers and Cherokees that took place in the extreme southwest part of the state were in 1794. That was it. No Cherokee communities moved into that state after that point, or persisted there. The scenario of a solitary fullblood Cherokee family with the surname Westfall moving north from fullblood communities in western NC or eastern Tennessee, coming into what is now WV during the Trail of Tears era to give birth to a fullblood child who supposedly lived in a White community for the rest of his life and was listed as White on records, and married a White spouse, is next to impossible.
Mary Jane Westfall’s mother was White, from ancestry that is readily traced. Her father was almost assuredly a White man as well, although his actual parentage still needs to be established. The lore of her being a fullblood Cherokee is incorrect, and there is no indication that she had any connection with the Cherokee people at this point. It would still have to be established, and it could only potentially come through her father’s side as her mother’s line is well-traced and go back to standard European roots. This seems highly unlikely though.
Hope this at least helps with building your tree, as you move further back on the Westfall line.