I am looking for information on my Grandmothers’ Family, Dorthy Wells lived in Kentucky.
She was Cherokee and Born into the Cherokee nation, around the late 30’s early 40’s ~ish. Unfortunately, my great-grandparents were victims of racism. They had moved into the wrong neighborhood and sadly paid with their lives. At the time Native rights were not upheld to the same respect as they are now, and that’s saying something…
My Grandmothers’ extended family was “denied” guardianship, and she was adopted by a white family. (from what I’ve been told)… My mother Wilma (named after Wilma Mankiller) lost contact with her, due to other circumstances. Learning of her death after looking to reconnect. I am now attempting to reconnect with my lost family. My Mom has gone above and beyond, as did hers, to educate us on our heritage, but I still have Questions…
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You didn’t specify if this was your grandmother maiden or married name. So, it’s hard to really do much research on this. About the only thing I can do is contextualize the surname disposition within the Cherokee Nation. And the context is rather limited even then.
But, here it is:
The surname Wells is not particularly common in the Cherokee Nation. In the 1907 Dawes Roll, 26 Cherokee By Blood individuals were enumerated with this surname. They were found in 8 family groups, and were mostly of very low blood quantum. There were only 2 quarter bloods that made it to final enumeration (their 1/2 blood parent died in 1904, but is still listed on the roll index). The blood quantum disposition of the other Wells individuals is as follows:
1/16 – 10
1/32 – 11
1/64 – 2
In only point this out to highlight that any Cherokee Nation citizens that comes from these Wells families would not be of high blood quantum and would not be facing racial discrimination based on their looks. They would have appeared Caucasian, phenotypically speaking.
However, no real research can be done when the query is missing necessary details to help researchers narrow down the individuals. Basically, you’d need to include spouses names, dates of birth or marriage and any other details that you might have to help establish the lineage starting point.