All Things Cherokee

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Nancy M. White

by 4 Comments

Searching for my GGG grandmother’s Cherokee connection.
Nancy M White,
b September 11, 1824, Hallifax, NC
died April, 25, 1878 in Washington Co, Arkansas, buried in Combs Cemetery, Fayetteville, AR
married
Thomas Edmondson (Edmonsond)
b August 25, 1818, Edgecombe, NC
died April 21, 1877 also buried in Combs Cemetery
Their son
Asa Randolph Edmonsond b May 1849 in NC
His daughter Hattie Viola Edmonsond Wilcox
Her daughter
Francis McCoy Wilcox Bronaugh
Her daughter
Martha Sue Bronaugh Watson
Her daughter
Susan Camille Watson Breese

Someone on July, 16, 1899, submitted to the US Native American Applications for Enrollment in Five Civilized Tribes 1898-1914 a request for Nancy Edmondson, in document states, Cherokee by blood

Comments

  1. There are a number of trees on the internet that are getting these people confused, and grafting incorrect information into the various branches. So, we need to clarify just a few things first.

    There is one Nancy Edmonson and one Nancy Edmondson showing up in the Dawes records. Edmonson (without a D) is on Dawes Card 3454 as a “Parent” for Mattie (Adair) Dameron. According to this card, This Nancy’s husband was John T. Adair. These individuals were living in Indian Territory.

    Nancy Edmondson (with a D) was alive during the enrollment process about 1900 and her maiden name was Thompson.

    Your Nancy (White) Edmondson, can be found living in Sevier County, TN in 1850. In subsequent decades they could be found living in Arkansas. They don’t seem to have associated with the Cherokee community from 1850s through the early 1900s.

    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49520011&ref=acom

    • My Nancy M. White was born in North Carolina, was in Tennessee in the 1850’s and then to northwest Arkansas.
      Her husband was Thomas Edmonsond-Edmonson-Edmondson. Unfortunately due to lack of education, the last name was not spelled correctly in all official documents. Even brothers buried in the same cemetery have their names spelled differently.
      Following family lore, her grand daughter, my gg grandmother, Hattie V. Edmonsond Wilcox was 1/4 Indian.
      In tracing that Indian connection, someone filed an application in 1900 for Native American status following Nancy’s death in 1878. It was a written statement that said Cherokee by blood. I never found any follow up of acceptance or denial.
      I’m not sure how to find if she was ever accepted. Even without acceptance, she still could have been from Native American roots.

      • I’m not sure what application you are referring to. However, the names with these variant spelling found on Dawes are included in the first post. No other applications pop up in the main data bases (by the way, I cross check 4 different systems). And keyword searching or looking for “Parents” that may be passed away at time of enumeration are also included in this data.

        If you can clarify what application file you are referring to, perhaps I can follow up with some additional information. However, as far as this Nancy White goes, you are right she was born in NC and then lived in TN and ended up in Arkansas. And through her life she had no apparent connection to the Cherokee people. She isn’t found on the main rolls and didn’t live anywhere near a Cherokee community and she was listed as White in records (although this element is probably the least indicative of ancestral connections).

        Until her lineage is confirmed, it’s hard to say what her possible roots might be. Another circumstance that is quite common is that claiming Indian or “Cherokee blood” was a way to downplay African ancestry. That was very common, yet many modern descendants that inherit the family lore, which was a secret mean to hide something that family was insecure about, only get the romantic cover story and don’t like to accept that the claims might not be accurate (or, that it actually Black blood that was being hidden). There are more Americans with Black ancestry than Native American. But, again, without clearly tracing a tree this is all lore and supposition.

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