The Scots-Irish came into Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and intermarried. The tribe removed beginning in 1836. Tribal headquarters are in Okmulgee, Oklahoma: www.muscogeenation-nsn.gov Smaller recognized tribes are in Alabama and Georgia.
When considering mixed-blood genealogy for Ulster roots, records often list a Muscogee by their tribal name. This was a matriarchal society so property was passed through the mother. If a family was trying to “pass for white” they would have associated with the father’s family.
Muscogee records can be found at the National Archives: www.archives.gov; Family History Library: www.familysearch.org; Oklahoma Historical Society: www.okhistory.org; and the Alabama Archives: www.archives.state.al.us
Three books written in the nineteenth century can provide some insights found nowhere else: George Stiggins’ Creek Indian History: A Historical Narrative of the Genealogy, Traditions and Downfall of the Ispocoga or Creek Indian Tribe of Indians, edited by Virginia Pounds Brown (1989); Thomas Woodward’s, Woodward’s Reminiscences of the Creek, or Muscogee Indians, Contained in Letters to Friends in Georgia and Alabama) (1859, 1939); and Benjamin Hawkins’ A Sketch of the Creek Country, in the Years 1798 and 1799, and Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796-1806 (1974).
By treaty (1832) the Muscogee ceded their lands to the U.S. which allotted parcels to individuals. They could sell, remove westward, or stay and be absorbed into the white community. For background information see; Mary Elizabeth Young’s Redskins Ruffleshirts and Rednecks: Indian Allotments in Alabama and Mississippi, 1830-1860 (1961). The names of Muscogee can be found in the Bureau of Land Management: www.glorecords.blm.govdatabase.
U.S. Government Rolls have been extracted on various websites. These include: Abbott and Parsons (1832); Lower Creek Census (1832); Old Settler Roll (1857); Dunn Roll of Citizens (1867); and Stidham Roll (1886).
If you have a legend of an Indian ancestor, then it’s worth your time to explore Muscogee records. You might be surprised to find your Scots-Irish ancestors mentioned.
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