Post by freebooter on Nov 13, 2009 19:50:07 GMT -6
Hello all,
What do you think "being Cherokee" means? Is it the same for all of us or is it something different and special for each individual? I think if on listens to one's heart it will tell you things.
So, I noticed there were no threads here so I figured I would say something. I don't know if I have any Native American blood in me but have long surmised that we did due to the skin tone, hair, and eyes of certain family and relatives, not to mention feelings my brother and I shared. Only recently did I hear from someone on a Rodgers/Rogers (my mom's maiden name) genealogy discussion board that our line, which came from Eng to Va then to N. Kentucky, indeed had Native American blood and that she had always heard that it ws Cherokee).
But long years before I heard this, when I was a boy watching "Daniel Boone" with Fess Parker, I was always enamered with Dan'l's Cherokee friend "Mingo" and had a special feeling in me towards him, something my young mind could not put finger on nor understand. Something in him, or his Cherokee charactor, reached out to me, and something in me seemed to reach out to him , for him, or his Cherokee identity I should say. I am 54 yrs old now and have never forgotten Mingo, or those feelings, thinking of him often over the years. Is all that being Cherokee?
As a young man when my brother and I were in a field where he had found many arrowheads and pottery shards over the years, where we stood and voiced our feelings that we felt a kindred spirit with the Native Americans of our land, and both found, within moments of each other and only a few yards from each other, "Thunderbirds" (Those things carved out of black shiny stone that resemble the German Eagle with downstretched wings), we stood and stared at each other in awe, both having a feeling of being close to something, some being/s. We have always considered them gifts from the Great Spirit, or some spirit. Is that being Cherokee?
And as young men in our Alabama history classes my brother and my hearts always went out to those on the trail of tears and hated Andrew Jackson, not only for what he did to the Cherokee, Creeks, etc, but because he broke his word, his bond, and his friendship with the Cherokee after they had helped him in the Creek war and then turned on them ande made them move too. That not only bothered our hearts for the Indians' sake, but also our sense of honor as Southern gentlemen. Is that being Cherokee?
And as mentioned above, only recently have I heard that my Rodgers/Rogers line has Native American blood in it. That made me happy but something in me sort of rejoiced when I heard it was Cherokee. Is that being Cherokee?
I probably will never know or find out if, when, how, from whom, or where that connection was in my line, but it is a special thing to me. Is that being Cherokee? I just don't know. But I do know how I feel when I am in the woods, or somewhere like at the spot where 800 Creek Redstick warriors were killed at Horseshoe Bend park and where the United States Cherokee allies were posititioned, or in some field and find an arrowhead, or when the breeze comes up out of nowhere to caress my face as I stand and behold an ancient Indian mound.
Forgive the long windedness of this post, but I felt like sharing some of those longing feelings, thought someone out there might understand.
Later,
Freebooter
Alabama
What do you think "being Cherokee" means? Is it the same for all of us or is it something different and special for each individual? I think if on listens to one's heart it will tell you things.
So, I noticed there were no threads here so I figured I would say something. I don't know if I have any Native American blood in me but have long surmised that we did due to the skin tone, hair, and eyes of certain family and relatives, not to mention feelings my brother and I shared. Only recently did I hear from someone on a Rodgers/Rogers (my mom's maiden name) genealogy discussion board that our line, which came from Eng to Va then to N. Kentucky, indeed had Native American blood and that she had always heard that it ws Cherokee).
But long years before I heard this, when I was a boy watching "Daniel Boone" with Fess Parker, I was always enamered with Dan'l's Cherokee friend "Mingo" and had a special feeling in me towards him, something my young mind could not put finger on nor understand. Something in him, or his Cherokee charactor, reached out to me, and something in me seemed to reach out to him , for him, or his Cherokee identity I should say. I am 54 yrs old now and have never forgotten Mingo, or those feelings, thinking of him often over the years. Is all that being Cherokee?
As a young man when my brother and I were in a field where he had found many arrowheads and pottery shards over the years, where we stood and voiced our feelings that we felt a kindred spirit with the Native Americans of our land, and both found, within moments of each other and only a few yards from each other, "Thunderbirds" (Those things carved out of black shiny stone that resemble the German Eagle with downstretched wings), we stood and stared at each other in awe, both having a feeling of being close to something, some being/s. We have always considered them gifts from the Great Spirit, or some spirit. Is that being Cherokee?
And as young men in our Alabama history classes my brother and my hearts always went out to those on the trail of tears and hated Andrew Jackson, not only for what he did to the Cherokee, Creeks, etc, but because he broke his word, his bond, and his friendship with the Cherokee after they had helped him in the Creek war and then turned on them ande made them move too. That not only bothered our hearts for the Indians' sake, but also our sense of honor as Southern gentlemen. Is that being Cherokee?
And as mentioned above, only recently have I heard that my Rodgers/Rogers line has Native American blood in it. That made me happy but something in me sort of rejoiced when I heard it was Cherokee. Is that being Cherokee?
I probably will never know or find out if, when, how, from whom, or where that connection was in my line, but it is a special thing to me. Is that being Cherokee? I just don't know. But I do know how I feel when I am in the woods, or somewhere like at the spot where 800 Creek Redstick warriors were killed at Horseshoe Bend park and where the United States Cherokee allies were posititioned, or in some field and find an arrowhead, or when the breeze comes up out of nowhere to caress my face as I stand and behold an ancient Indian mound.
Forgive the long windedness of this post, but I felt like sharing some of those longing feelings, thought someone out there might understand.
Later,
Freebooter
Alabama
