Many people I have talked to mention having an Indian or Native American in their Family Tree. I had heard the same in our family history, but I haven’t found any one. It seems that some are motivated by a chance to receive some money, or whatever. Others are mainly wondering if there is because of family stories. So and so has high cheek bones, or a darker skin color.
When God created man, He made us all as one race of people. I do not believe “different races” are taught in the Bible. We have different nations and people groups. That was commanded from the start. God said to “multiply and fill the earth.” After the flood, people kept staying together and not spreading out around the world. God stepped in when they decided to build a tower to heaven.
“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:5-9 KJV)
As people scattered, they of course married within those “people groups” and certain characteristics became prevalent. Eye colors, hair textures and colors, skin shades of color, nose shapes, etc., etc. Now today, as we trace our family generations back, we find these different characteristics and they have been concentrated in different countries, and cultures. Keeping records of births, marriages, and deaths, vary for group to group. AND THIS CAUSES GENEALOGIST HUGH HEADACHES!!! 🙂
Back to the tracing of an Indian or North American Native. My sister-in-law, has been told of Indians in her family and also took a DNA test. I am helping her trace her Roots. The trail leads to an Indian Princess married to her fifth Great Grandfather, Daniel Simpkins. He supposedly had a daughter named Martha Maisey Simpkins (1767-1850) [her fourth great grandmother]. The problem is that there is another Simpkins, that is Daniel’s brother, also listed having a daughter, Martha M Simpkins, same dates and family line. Yikes! What do I do? The Cherokees did not keep as many records and it makes it difficult to proceed up the tree. Many DNA matches lead right up to this Princess also. But I am not sure how to proceed.
Is this by chance another BRICK WALL?
Missing Parents for Great Grandmother
Lee's Ancestry Adventures 
Did you ever find any resolution to this? I am also related to those two people you listed above..
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I am related to this woman. I’m interested in finding out more about her and the Simpkins family as well as the Native American side
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Well I to I’m at this point…,because that is my great great great grandma too….so let me know if you find anything…
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I apologize to all three of you for my lack of response. We moved last year, my husband’s surgery, and my own busyness, I have not gone any farther. I keep telling myself that I will get back to working on my geneology one of these days. Sorry for not answering.
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I am descended from Travis Lawson and Maysie Simpkins. Our family story is that Travis’s mother was full blood Cherokee, but no one can determine who she was. We do know she was a stepmother of Travis and his other siblings (based on a letter Travis wrote). We’ve also been told Maysie, Travis’s wife was of native lineage. An ancestor’ on the Simpkins’s side did a DNA test but no DNA was shown, probably because it is more than 5 generations back. I, interestingly, show trace amounts though it is 6 generations back to Maysie and Travis and 7 to Travis’s mother. It appears what a Chief White Owl Raven of Maryland in some trees is fictitious. I was told by Cherokee Fire Keeper in AL that because everyone hid out down south after removal, it will be very hard to document the lineage. Then there is the paper genocide (you were white or black, not native; you chose citizenship or tribal membership, which ment you could loose everything, including your life). And they didn’t document marriages, births etc. If you find anything let me know.
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I am also a descendant of Raven Feather. She was my 7th great grandmother. I just broke through a brick wall! I had tried to find her, but only had info as an “unkown Indian maiden.” I descend through their son, Robert Simpkins who married Mercy Lawrence. The family ended up in Dutchess County, New York where she is buried. I have info on the Simpkins family if you are interested.
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Amy Thanks so much for your response. I’m descended from Travis Lawson (born 1776 N. Carolina), the son of William Lawson (buried in Snowflake, VA, next a Rebecca, who is his stepmother — is mother was per family stories full blood Cherokee). Travis married Martha Maysie Sue Simpkins (little is known about her ancestors), from either Maryland or New York depending on where you look. Both Travis and Maysie are believed to be buried in Linkous-Lawson Cemetary, Wolf County, KY, which is where Travis moved when he left VA (probably for work). It would not be surprising if they both had Native blood. We heard Maysie Sue had native blood and that there was a photo of her in buckskin somewhere. Many white-native mergers were to benefit the father, so he could trade and trap etc. on indian land without being harassed by them. The marriages and births were undocumented. The only reason we know Travis was born in N. Carolina is family stories (no birth records located). Any information you have on the Simpkins family would be greatly appreciated. Ruthanne Tickel-Logan
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Definitely interested. I am tracing this line for my sister-in-law who descends through Travis Lawson. She did a DNA test also.
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When my dad’s first cousin told us about the full blood Cherokee ggg .. grandmother (Travis Lawson’s mother per the story, who was brought up from N. Carolina and married Travis’s father, who is believed to be William Lawson, formerly the Scottish rebel [debunked]), I decided to do a little looking around. The line the story placed the native grandmother on was my dad’s mother’s line; her mother was Lucy Wells Sloan, daughter of Lucinda Lawson Wells (first time Lawson comes up in our line). Lucy Wells Sloan, my great grandmother hailed from Menefee, KY, which is where Maysie Sue was living per census (with Travis living with another of their children). The Lawson family have documented a lot of it. Google William Lawson Scottish Rebel. Here is geneology c.rootsweb.com/trees/203247/I00086/-/individual. But they’ve not always been right. Recently discovered was that William Lawson, Travis’s father was not the same Scottsman they thought (someone visited Scottland and discovered this). Then they found out the Rebecca buried next to William was a stepmother of Travis and his siblings because this was stated in a letter a family member had sent between Travis and a brother. Recently they think they found Travis’s grave but the headstones no longer have writing on them, so not 100% sure (Linkous-Lawson cemetary, KY). There is a lot of info on the Lawson website. Note that the grandmother is 8 gens back for me, Travis & Maysie Sue 7 gens, but I still show trace native American DNA. We had DNA consultants do my fathers native allele test (because native back 5 gens or more, in which case does not usually show) and he showed 2 native alleles (one parent – test was not specific to a parent’s line), one definite and one indicating a mixture of native DNA. They say it’s deep ancestry back to Chuchki, basically eskimos in northmost region of Siberia. They also said the most likely tribe due to results is Cherokee (of course DNA can’t prove this unless it matches a known Cherokee).The Lawsons say a granddaughter of Maysie Sue test her maternal line (mitochondrial), and no native. This is common and does not mean there is no native. If native came from Maysie’s fathers line it would not show up on mitochondrial test. I would like to test back to Williams unknown purported native wife, but I don’t believe there is unbroken female line in an ancestor alive today. The Lawsons aren’t looking for the native. I’m not interested in tribal membership or money, but if I could document this it would help me with my nonprofit work serving our indigenous people. And I’m very much drawn to native way. Nice to meet you. You can call sometime if you want 267-808-0809 This is a tough one, because natives had to hide out, didn’t document marriages or births. If someone searched the rolls they might find a relative, maybe even one who was rejected. Many natives were rejected. I suspect our ancestors hid out, stayed in the area and assimilated, with maybe one exception, a relative in my ancestry that shows up in Arkansas (that’s where Cherokee went ahead of Trail of Tears in anticipation of it.
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Well, what a great amount of information. I’ll share this with Patty.
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How can we get this information? Do you have your tree posted somewhere?
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I have not done my own tree. When I was told of the native grandma who grandpa (William Lawson) married and brought up from N Carolina to VA, I found William Lawson (originally thought to be the Scottish Rebel, but now we know he was another William Lawson). Travis is on their tree as is his wife Martha Maysie Sue Simpkins who both moved to Kentucky. (link to that tree below). They have Maysie’s parents as unknown and birthplace maybe NY or MA. They also have their own Lawson geneology website. New info is that they believe they found Travis and Maysie Sue’s gave in Linkous Lawson cemetery (google it). Two stones together. No names on them at edge of cemetery. Family story is that when transporting the stones, they fell from the truck, and Travis responded “This place is as good as any.” Also, his father is not the Scottsman called the Scottish Rebel, per info obtained from a recent visit by Lawson family member to Scottsman (dates don’t jive). Lastly, the Rebecca married next to our William Lawson in Snowflake cemetery is a stepmother of Travis and Robert (and logically follows, all of Williams children) per a letter found my a family member. Who was Travis’s parents? William and unknown female my family says was full blood Cherokee (births and marriages undocumented – Travis’s birth and that of his siblings North Carolina and years per family stories. Also unknown are/were Maysie Sue Simpkins parents, but there is a photo somewhere of her in buckskin. My grandmother Ann Sloane Tickel’s grandmother was Lucy Well Sloane (married Hiram Murphy and then Cleveland Hendricks Sloane of NY, and her mother was Lucy Lawson Wells.
Tree: https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/203247/I00086/-/individual
Lawson family heritage prgm newsletter http://lawsondna.org/Media/williamrebel/vol2-issue3.pdf
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I’d like info on simpkins family. Ratickel@its.jnk.com. Also do you know if the picture included with leaves ancestry adventures is supposed to be Janet Raven feather?
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Martha Maysie Sue Simpkins Married Travis Lawson, whose father was a Scottish born William Lawson of VA and mother was a purported full blood Cherokee from N. Carolina (not Rebecca who is buried next to William, which was proven via an old letter to be Travis’s stepmother & recently it was discovered that this William is not the “Scottish Rebel” they thought he was. We don’t know the identity of Travis’s mother/Williams’s wife. William is buried in Lawson Confederate Memorial Cemetery, Snowflake (Scott County) VA, next to Travis’s stepmother Rebecca (first name only known). Travis and Maysie are believed to be buried in Linkous-Lawson Cemetery in Wolf County KY.; believed, because there are no names on two field headstones near the fence. There is a family story that says that the stones fell off the truck near the fence when being brought to the cemetery, which caused Travis to say “I guess this place is as good as any” or something to the like. My great grandmother Lucy Sloane was the daughter of Lucy (Lucinda) Lawson Wells who married Benajamin Franklin Wells (KY). This great grandmother, Lucy Sloane) lived in Menifee KY, which was originally Wolfe County, KY. It does appear that Travis and Maysie are my ancestors. At one point they lived with their children (split up though) in Wolfe County/Menefee, KY. I would love to hear more, esp. about the native connection (Maysie, Maysie’s mom, Travis, Travis’s mom). If you can find an unbroken female line from a native ancestor you can do a mitochondrian DNA test to document native lineage. I’ve not been able to do this, because there is no such unbroken line of females back to an ancestor in my lineage. Our family DNA tests were for both sides. My father has two native alleles on one side (we know it is not his full -blood German father — it’s his mother’s side where the native blood is said to come from, William’s full-blood Cherokee wife, the mother of Travis who married Maysie, and . I understand that Maysie may have been native too. Note that native blood will not show on a regular DNA test if its 5 gens or more back. I have trace amounts still, though we’re talking 7-8 gens back, but the Wells (also spelled Wills) side also is thought to have native blood, and maybe it is closer in the line. DNA consultants has a native allele test that is useful if blood is back 5+ gens. I want to laugh at the posts saying there were no natives in Kentucky. The truth is that many tribes inhabited KY (a real estate agent put a notice out that KY land was sale during settlement of the area noting no Indians were there) many of those mixed bloods that white enough when Travis was around went to Kentucky to find work. And it is true that there were many native-nonative marriages. Traders and trapper of non-native descent took native wives and then gained right to travel across native lands without being killed. These marriages and resulting births were not recorded/documented as nonnatives would document them. Its been an amazing journey trying to identify the native connection on my dad’s mother’s side. I suspect to prove it or confirm that we can’t identify Travis’s mother I will likely have to drop big $ in the future. Natives were all over Kentucky, but when it got dangerous to be traditional in KY (one of the Cherokee Double-heads who remained traditional in KY was killed because he was traditional) they disappeared, they hid out and assimilated. There was a paper genocide too. One native geaneologist told me they put all natives down as white in KY,. Why? Also, many times native or Indian was not an option, and all were either categorized as white or colored/mulatto in census.To complicate matters with Maysie, I believe her uncle had a daughter named Maysie Sue too or something is amiss. Any additional information on these lines would be greatly appreciated. I’d love to determine the lineage of Maysie’s parents. i’ve read her mother was Jennette Raven Feather, sometimes from NY and sometimes from MA. Her children put NY on her death certificate.
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Hi this would be my 6th or 7th Great Grandmother. I would love more information on this family line too since this is also my Brick Wall. I have been researching for decades and have well estabilshed tracing up until this point that I would be willing to share.
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Well I’m her family too
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This is fascinating. I haven’t done much genealogy, but I started a family tree on FamilySearch, and they always send me emails about my ancestors. I see FamilySearch has filled in my family tree back to “Jennet Raven Feather Raven.” She would be my 5th great-grandmother and Martha Maysie Simpkins would be my 4th great-grandmother. From there, according to FamilySearch, Martha Maysie Simpkins had a son, William Lawson, who had a daughter, Sarah M. Lawson, who had a son, John Maxwell Lambdin, who had a daughter, Helen Dorothy Lambdin, who was my grandmother. How accurate is FamilySearch? Are some sources saying Jennet (Jeanette?) Raven Feather Raven is fictional? I know a lot of sources are saying the man who is supposed to be her father (White Owl Raven) is fictional. Thank you.
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I think the meaning of fictional is that it is not adequately documented. Of course that does not prove nonexistance. For couple hundred years native was not option on census 17-1800s, only white of colored. And native births and marriages were not documented as birthday were in settler communities. In kentucky births were not recorded until 1900. Lastly White Owl and Raven were originally a title not a name. One family member mapped Maysie Sue’s side back to Attakullakulla aka White Owl (though he had many other names, he was A White Peace Chief of Cherokee, adopted Algonquin per his son). One Alabama fire keeper (Cherokee) told me it’s really hard to document lineage during this time as natives were hiding out. His family was able to stay in homeland because they said they were black Dutch. When I retire in couple years I plan to research this side some more. I will likely wind up paying a genealogist exorbitant funds to find out they don’t know who Travis’s mother was (purported full blood Cherokee per my family’s story). Maybe we can clear up the native lineage on Maysie Sue’s side though? Incidentally. Chief John Ross of the Cherokee, Chief at time of removal of as 1/8 Cherokee by blood (also Scottish) and full Cherokee by birth (his mother was Cherokee, also some Anglo). If there is any European blood on mother’s side a non native haplo group may show upon genetic testing. Not that simple to determine native lineage. And if your ancestor was not famous male, good luck.
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Thank you, Ruth. I appreciate your valuable info. I had heard that there were a lot of made-up people. I didn’t know if White Owl was a real person. It seems like Jennet (Jeanette?)/Raven Feather must have been a real person and also her daughter Martha Maysie Simpkins. One of my concerns is how accurate FamilySearch is with the details of the descendants of Martha Maysie Simpkins down to my grandmother. They say Martha Maysie had a son, William Lawson, who had a daughter, Sarah M. Lawson, who was my 2nd great-grandmother. Those names are pretty common names, so they could get mixed up. I see two different sets of children on the FamilySearch website for William. They both have the same wife for William, but one list of children contains only my 2nd great-grandmother and the other list has 14 children, including a child named Sarah E, but she is not my 2nd great-grandmother, so I don’t know what to believe. It sounds like you are a lot farther along in your research. I wish you luck in your search for Travis’s mother. Until a few days ago, I didn’t know that I might have Native American ancestors. I grew up thinking I was mostly Scottish, Irish, and English, with a little German. I would be honored if I had Native American family, too. I took an American Indian Studies college course a couple of years ago. It was very eye-opening, and I enjoyed it so much.
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