Who are the Indians in your family?

When I was young I would occasionally hear my elders mention Grandma Olsen’s Indian ancestors. It was asserted that Grandma’s mother Loretta Case showed Indian characteristics and that Loretta was an excellent hunter. Loretta’s mother Amanda Green was presumed to be part Indian. I think that Grandma Olsen might have acknowledged that family belief at one time, but she disputed it when I interviewed her in 1981. See my reposting of that interview: From the archives—Recollections of Verda Olsen.

Here’s a bit of family context:

• Grandma Olsen was born to Edwin and Loretta Case near the now-vanished community of Titus in Sheridan Township, Mecosta County, Michigan on October 15, 1899. Her birth registration in the office of the Mecosta County Clerk records her name as Goldy V Case. She was known most of her life as Verda, and gave her name as Verda G. Olsen when I knew her. Verda married Aden Loyal Springsteen on her 19th birthday, October 18, 1928. Marriage registers record the place of marriage as Remus, but it might have been at the family home nearby in Titus. Aden and Verda’s oldest child, John, died in 1934 after a farm accident. My father, Edwin Springsteen, is the fourth of seven children in their family. Aden died on March 6, 1941 in the Carson City hospital. His death was the result of injuries sustained as a passenger in a car-train accident in Stanton. Verda married Fred O. Olsen on July 22, 1945 in Sheridan, Montcalm County, Michigan. Grandpa Olsen died on January 19, 1975 in Clearwater Florida. Grandma died on July 27, 1984 at the United Memorial Hospital in Greenville, Michigan.

• Cynthia Loretta Green was born to Thomas and Amanda Green on October 6, 1860 or 1861 in North Plains Township, Ionia County, Michigan. She married John Wesley Criss on February 28, 1877 in New Haven Township, Gratiot County. Their daughter Stella died in 1881. Wesley and Loretta were divorced by decree of the Montcalm County Circuit Court on March 7, 1883. Loretta married Edwin Case sometime in 1883. Verda was the sixth of their seven children. Loretta died on March 19, 1930 in Sheridan Township, Mecosta County. Edwin Case died on November 23, 1935 in Sheridan Township. Their home in Titus was later the home of their youngest son Theodore “Pete” Case and his wife Pearl (Buxton) Case. After their death it was the home of Pete and Pearl’s son Burgess, who died in 2010. Fortunately, the framed portrait of Thomas and Amanda Green was removed from the the old Case home sometime before the house burned in 2011.

• Amanda R. Brown was born to James Brown and an unknown mother on February 5, 1838 in Medina County, Ohio. Amanda was presumably married to John Rene Clark, the father of their son and daughter who were born in the late 1850s. Contrary to the statement in her obituary, she probably married Thomas M. Green around 1860, before the birth of their first child, Cynthia Loretta Green. Amanda died in Stanton, Montcalm County, Michigan on April 19, 1906. Thomas married Elizabeth Maria Whiteman on July 5, 1907 in Greenville, Montcalm County. He died in Greenville on December 30, 1910.

Does Amanda look to you like a daughter of native American ancestry? Neither my father nor I exhibit any DNA markers commonly associated with native American populations. If Amanda were half native-American, Dad would probably have inherited some of that DNA.

The other suspected native in our family tree is Anna, wife of Staats Springsteen. Anna was born about 1770 of unknown parentage. She died on February 22, 1861, presumably at home with her son-in-law and daughter Robert and Debby Chambers in Deerfield Township, Livingston County, Michigan. Staats served in Butler’s Rangers under the British North American Indian Department during the American Revolution. Staats was not of native American ancestry, but he fought alongside Indians during the war and was reported to know at least one native dialect. As a Loyalist, he was granted land in Upper Canada, now part of Ontario, after the war. Descendants of his older brother Caspar Springsteen, also a veteran of Butler’s Rangers, have heard of claims that Staats’s wife was native. A notation on one of the land petitions filed by Staats asserted that his children might be illegitimate, which could be explained by an unsanctioned marriage to a native woman. See Staats and Anna Springsteen—So Many Questions for more about this subject.

As we know, people were native to our continent long before it was called America. In the United States we refer to these people as Native Americans. In Canada, they are called First Nations. There was a time in our country’s history when people were ashamed to be known as descendants of what were then politely called Indians. Many native ancestors and their associated family heritage were intentionally lost in the mists of time. In more recent times it has become somewhat fashionable to claim native ancestry based on vague family tradition. Cherokee ancestry seems to be particularly popular. How many people who claim native ancestry have any understanding of native culture and heritage?

Do you have Native American or First Nations ancestry? You might, but don’t just take family tradition at face value. As with all family research, you should look for solid evidence.