Passing on information about the family through oral history is sometimes the only way we have clues to the past. Some of that history proves to be true, other pieces cannot be proven as true or false, and some parts are just plain wrong. Oral history indicated that part of the family was Native American. Charlie Andrews had coppery skin color and high cheek bones, which does not mean you have Native American heritage, but gives you pause. Jimmy DeBoise, son of James, and who spent a lot of time with Charlie and his wife, told us that the family had Native American heritage – he thought Mohawk but wasn’t sure. Richard and I attended our first Pow Wow in Sioux City, South Dakota. One of the dancers looked like one of Richard’s brothers, carried himself the same way, and had the same mannerisms. Again, that doesn’t prove anything, but to me it’s the past calling and waiting to be discovered. Researching the children of Calvin and Lovina verified the Native American heritage when at least one child was identified as Indian on several censuses, and indicated that her father was of Mixed Race. Census takers did not always ask what a person’s race was. Indians were often marked as mulatto or Negro/black. Additionally, Indians were being pushed west so you didn’t always broadcast your heritage. Native American heritage was also verified by DNA results.

Shortly after Calvin and Lovina were born, Andrew Jackson was elected the 7th President of the United States. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which forcibly removed most Indians in the Southeastern United States to territory West of the Mississippi. The “Trail of Tears”, a phrase coined to describe the forced removal of much of the Cherokee Nation in 1838 in which large numbers of Cherokees died of starvation and disease, is often used to refer to these actions. These removals did not just occur in the Southeastern states. I have found some of my non-Indian family members who had married Native Americans and were living in Indiana also forced to relocate to “Indian Territory” along with their families during this period.

Calvin Dexter Andrews was born March 5, 1825 in Ludlow, Massachusetts, the son of Continue reading “Calvin Dexter and Lovina (Jones) Andrews – the Connection to Native American Heritage” →