Thacker Cherokee Women - All Things Cherokee

jsmith says

October 24, 2016 at 10:36 pm

You’d have to be a bit more specific with your individual query, and narrow down the lineages.

Also, bear in mind there were no Cherokee communities in Virginia in the historic era. The settlements and larger villages were further south (and west). The majority of lands claimed by the Cherokee in the state of Virginia were limited to the extreme western corner and represented mostly hunting grounds or a war zone. It was not really an area that was settled by the tribe, in other words. All of these lands were ceded before the Revolutionary War. The last foray of Cherokee war parties raiding White settlements in western Virginia was in 1794 with the defeat of Chief Benge. Essentially, there were practically no Cherokee women (or in extremely small numbers) in Virginia to marry during the early contact period. What Thackers ventured beyond Virginia, moving well south, coming into contact with Cherokees and establishing marital relations?

I do see a group of William Thacker descendants who claim a William Thacker married a “Cherokee” woman in VA in the early 1700s. But, her identity was not known, and the location and timeline seems to be way off. These Thackers were in Goochland and Hanover, Virginia. Also, some descendants along this lineage put in Eastern Claims applications in the early 1900s, claiming descent from distant ancestors said to be “half Cherokee.” These claims were rejected, as the family did not show connection to the Cherokee people.

There also seems to be some related threads being circulated on the Saponitown boards. To be frank, these represent some of the most spurious genealogical pages out there. Much of that content is based on speculation and cherry-picked information. Usually, claims are unsourced, or even fabricated. The fraction of legitimate research being conducted on Saponitown boards tends to focus more on the coastal Algonquin and eastern Siouan groups. However, “Cherokee” claims are presistent and frequently pop up there as well. The reality is most of these very early Virginia colonial families with lore of Indian blood are not usualy of Cherokee ancestry at all. Even those that put in Eastern Claims settlement applications and legitimately believed they were “part-Cherokee,” were claiming a false affiliation. This almost always represented either questionable lore, or very remote eastern tribal lineages (e.g. Cheroenhaka, former Powhatan confederacy or related tribes, or various other non-Cherokee remnant groups that are less- well known).

There was some intermarriage in the early colonial period in eastern Virginia, and some American families do indeed have the legitimate remote Algonquin or Siouan ancestry, but the Cherokee claims often represent a morphing of the family stories, and the details changing over many generations.

I’ll give you an example.

Let’s say a White Virginia settler living in the eastern part of the state in the late 1600s and early 1700s marries a Cheroenhaka spouse. The family lives in that general area for a while, or moves west over the expanding generations. They marry in with other White families and are immersed in Ango-American society, until the Indian link is stretched rather thin, or becomes just a distant memory. By the early 1900s, the connection with the Indian ancestry is pretty remote. The name was forgotten, but the Indian blood claim was passed along in vague fashion.. The Cheroenhaka affiliation morphs to “Cherokee” as a catch-all, since the latter tribe was more well-known by Americans. And rather than being able to clearly recite that GGGGGG gramma was a Cheroenhaka and giver her name, the descenant would likely provide the name of the oldest relative they could recall at that time (remember this was before the internet), which was usually a great-grandparent. They were then said to be part- or “half Cherokee,” or something lie that.

Speaking of how stories and details change with the retelling. Here is an example of a query asking about this same general Thacker-Cherokee connection:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080928153251AAZ10rd

Notice how the poster had mentioned the name Inconnue? The supposition is that this is a Cherokee name, right? Another person (who seems to be knowledgable) responds that this was an 18th century term for “unknown.” It appears you have Connoe listed as a surname in similar fashion.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/inconnu

Inconnue is the feminine version.

It seems very likley that the eastern Virginia Thacker “Cherokee’ connections might fall into this category. From what I can see, the researchers that adhere to sound genealogical principles and are more professional in their approach say that this connection is unsupported and unproven, while still being a persistent myth in the family (e.g. that they were of some “part-Indian” blood).

But, again, you’d have to specificy what lineages you are talking here to really clarify what we are talking about here.

Comments

jsmith says

October 24, 2016 at 10:36 pm

You’d have to be a bit more specific with your individual query, and narrow down the lineages.

Also, bear in mind there were no Cherokee communities in Virginia in the historic era. The settlements and larger villages were further south (and west). The majority of lands claimed by the Cherokee in the state of Virginia were limited to the extreme western corner and represented mostly hunting grounds or a war zone. It was not really an area that was settled by the tribe, in other words. All of these lands were ceded before the Revolutionary War. The last foray of Cherokee war parties raiding White settlements in western Virginia was in 1794 with the defeat of Chief Benge. Essentially, there were practically no Cherokee women (or in extremely small numbers) in Virginia to marry during the early contact period. What Thackers ventured beyond Virginia, moving well south, coming into contact with Cherokees and establishing marital relations?

I do see a group of William Thacker descendants who claim a William Thacker married a “Cherokee” woman in VA in the early 1700s. But, her identity was not known, and the location and timeline seems to be way off. These Thackers were in Goochland and Hanover, Virginia. Also, some descendants along this lineage put in Eastern Claims applications in the early 1900s, claiming descent from distant ancestors said to be “half Cherokee.” These claims were rejected, as the family did not show connection to the Cherokee people.

There also seems to be some related threads being circulated on the Saponitown boards. To be frank, these represent some of the most spurious genealogical pages out there. Much of that content is based on speculation and cherry-picked information. Usually, claims are unsourced, or even fabricated. The fraction of legitimate research being conducted on Saponitown boards tends to focus more on the coastal Algonquin and eastern Siouan groups. However, “Cherokee” claims are presistent and frequently pop up there as well. The reality is most of these very early Virginia colonial families with lore of Indian blood are not usualy of Cherokee ancestry at all. Even those that put in Eastern Claims settlement applications and legitimately believed they were “part-Cherokee,” were claiming a false affiliation. This almost always represented either questionable lore, or very remote eastern tribal lineages (e.g. Cheroenhaka, former Powhatan confederacy or related tribes, or various other non-Cherokee remnant groups that are less- well known).

There was some intermarriage in the early colonial period in eastern Virginia, and some American families do indeed have the legitimate remote Algonquin or Siouan ancestry, but the Cherokee claims often represent a morphing of the family stories, and the details changing over many generations.

I’ll give you an example.

Let’s say a White Virginia settler living in the eastern part of the state in the late 1600s and early 1700s marries a Cheroenhaka spouse. The family lives in that general area for a while, or moves west over the expanding generations. They marry in with other White families and are immersed in Ango-American society, until the Indian link is stretched rather thin, or becomes just a distant memory. By the early 1900s, the connection with the Indian ancestry is pretty remote. The name was forgotten, but the Indian blood claim was passed along in vague fashion.. The Cheroenhaka affiliation morphs to “Cherokee” as a catch-all, since the latter tribe was more well-known by Americans. And rather than being able to clearly recite that GGGGGG gramma was a Cheroenhaka and giver her name, the descenant would likely provide the name of the oldest relative they could recall at that time (remember this was before the internet), which was usually a great-grandparent. They were then said to be part- or “half Cherokee,” or something lie that.

Speaking of how stories and details change with the retelling. Here is an example of a query asking about this same general Thacker-Cherokee connection:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080928153251AAZ10rd

Notice how the poster had mentioned the name Inconnue? The supposition is that this is a Cherokee name, right? Another person (who seems to be knowledgable) responds that this was an 18th century term for “unknown.” It appears you have Connoe listed as a surname in similar fashion.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/inconnu

Inconnue is the feminine version.

It seems very likley that the eastern Virginia Thacker “Cherokee’ connections might fall into this category. From what I can see, the researchers that adhere to sound genealogical principles and are more professional in their approach say that this connection is unsupported and unproven, while still being a persistent myth in the family (e.g. that they were of some “part-Indian” blood).

But, again, you’d have to specificy what lineages you are talking here to really clarify what we are talking about here.

Log in to Reply

Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply