u/NightAccomplished523

Upon thinking more on the 7th fire story and how we New People will look back at the trail to retrace our ancestors footsteps to pick up the pieces lost along the way. Does anyone else think that's referencing both our Native American, and Native European ancestors?

And by Native Europeans I mean people like the Celts, Anglo-Saxons and many of the other cultures in Europe that are shockingly similar in beliefs and values to Native American cultures in regards to spirituality and land stewardship and also dealt with massive sudden cultural losses due to the spread of Christianity.

I only have this thought because amidst the land back movement, language reclamations, and the wins they have brought, similar efforts have occured in regards to understanding about pre-christian European beliefs, language, and cultures and honestly a huge shift in perspective has happened as well where the lens of Christian Exceptionalism is no longer skewing our perspectives of these complex and diverse people, our ancestors, before Christians came to label them primitive to take their land, resources, and ways of life.

Upon thinking more on the 7th fire story and how we New People will look back at the trail to retrace our ancestors footsteps to pick up the pieces lost along the way. Does anyone else think that's referencing both our Native American, and Native European ancestors?

And by Native Europeans I mean people like the Celts, Anglo-Saxons and many of the other cultures in Europe that are shockingly similar in beliefs and values to Native American cultures in regards to spirituality and land stewardship and also dealt with massive sudden cultural losses due to the spread of Christianity.

I only have this thought because amidst the land back movement, language reclamations, and the wins they have brought, similar efforts have occured in regards to understanding about pre-christian European beliefs, language, and cultures and honestly a huge shift in perspective has happened as well where the lens of Christian Exceptionalism is no longer skewing our perspectives of these complex and diverse people, our ancestors, before Christians came to label them primitive to take their land, resources, and ways of life.

So I've came across some brick walls on both sides of my family. My fathers side is from Southern Appalachia. I've found absolutely nothing to suggest my ancestors on this side were mixed with anything, but we have small but consistent stacking markers for African, Indigenous, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern which means we're without a doubt from Melungeon families. I'm not sure where to go as I can't find records that list them as anything but white. I have circumstantial evidence that we intermarried with some one or people from the Saponi or the Tsenacommacah tribes as we can trace back to Orange County, NC right before a major migration out west that took a lot of mixed families into the mountains.

The other side of my family is from CNY and moved there from Quebec. I have found 2 indigenous ancestors and it seems many families linked to early Eastern métis families. That's where I hit the wall though. I have traced to Marie Olivier Manitouabeouich and a Barette line with an unnamed indigenous matriarch. But métis families stayed tight knit usually right? If my earliest confirmed Indigenous ancestors are 11 generations back, how am I getting results that range from 0% from ancestry to 24% from Genomelink?

How can I break past that and find more ancestors and families? Is there anyway to find better documentation for Melungeon families and their indigenous ancestors? Is it just a crap shoot where I have to hope it didn't get destroyed?

One side of my family is rooted deeply in Melungeon communities in Appalachia. The otherside is rooted in early Eastern Métis families like the Prevost's in Quebec. On a DNA test I am about 70% North Western European, and the rest is a mess of small segments of African, Indigenous, Middle Eastern. Complexion wise I am bread. White as can be, but other Indigenous people can call me out for it in a heartbeat. By the literal definition my family would be mixed race, but how does everyone else see it for groups like Melungeons or disconnected Métis people's?

Also before anyone says it, I obviously know I have the privilege. I was raised with it, but in that same vein I have like 4 seperate cultures I am descended from and I only know about one because of how hard my ancestors tried to hide it away.

Please remove or give me all of the hostility if this is disrespectful. I am in no way apart of any culture and neither is my family. Rather we can trace some of our family roots to the isolated communities in the Applachians of mixed Europeans, freed slaves, and various tribes from the south eastern United States. That being said, none of our ancestors were ever on any of the rolls that I can find as those communities date back to the 1700s.

Melungeon communities formed in the 1600/1700s from families of mixed freed slave, Indigenous, and European descent moving west into the mountains to avoid racially restrictive laws and forced removal. The communities/families stayed very tight knit and on paper they all became "white" allowing them own property, vote, etc. Those communities stayed, flourished, and grew.

For my family we had the most connection with the Occanachee-Saponi tribe just north of Orange, North Carolina. Anyone else have any connections to these families? What are your thoughts on them and their history?