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Hi Margaret! Well, we share the same Ancestor,"Commie" was my GG Grandpa. He was the first son of William Colberts third wife, Sarah. You probably have a relative with a book they passed out to fam. members in 1956 titled"Decendants of William Colbert" Willaim was born in 1772 and died in 1848. If your like me you can see our family has a few Questions that need to be awnsered. There are absolutly no references to Indian heritage in our family tree book even though our family seems to be born out of heart of the Chickasaw Nation. Our history parralels that of the Chickasaw Tribe.
The awnser Is difficult. This is what I know,.. My grandpa, Only when he got Drunk, would claim that he was A Chickasaw Indian. He also apparently knew some of the language.
I've been studying closly the times of people from which he came. The pre-Civil-War Colberts of the South were Wealthy and extremly proud. They were Slave-Owners. It is my opinion that most of the Southern Colberts were decended from one family in North Carolina. I think James was a part of that family. James Logan Colbert Whom is referred to alot in this forum was first a trader between the colonies in N.C. and the Chickasaw Tribe. James was a polygamist. Sure he had three Indian wifes up up in the hills but I wonder what he had going on down at the colonies? Back in those days there wasn't so much prejudice against Native Americans and many traders had Indian Wifes. However; things changed. James's ofspring were half-bloods, some of them went wholeheartedly the the future of the tribe and some did not. They all vigorously befriended the all white colonial government in the hope of preserving their tribe and land- All the way through Andrew Jackson.
The truth is, after all that the Chickasaw Nation did to help the colonies get started, the Government, led by people like Andrew Jackson- stabbed them in the back.
So what does this have to do with our branch of the family? Simple. By the time of the Indian Removal Act, our part of the family was very, very wealthy. They had all of the luxuries of the day, fine plantions, slaves and even sent their children to white schools in Virginia to be educated. There was only one problem- they were part Native American. Because they were not marrying back into the tribe many of our people could pass for white. So here is the deal, do you give away your thousands acres plantations, and get forced off to Oklahoma or do you lie and deny your Indian Heritage to save your home and Family? Basically, I think this Whole thing started out with our family living in fear of being "found out" by the government and losing everything they owned.
-After that it turned in to a big family secret. Many of those in our family whom this day hold racist ideals and know the truth would still deny it. My Grandpa could only embrace his roots and not be ashamed of it just before he died. Ask your relatives if they could.
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