Showing posts with label native american. Show all posts
Showing posts with label native american. Show all posts

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Rosa McCauley Parks Ancestry, Family Tree, Ethnicity, DNA, Heritage by Mary Cummins, Genealogist

rosa parks, rosa mccauley parks, rosa mccauley, mary cummins, genealogist, ancestry, dna, ethnicity, heritage, african american, scottish, native american,indian, family tree

rosa parks, rosa mccauley parks, rosa mccauley, mary cummins, genealogist, ancestry, dna, ethnicity, heritage, african american, scottish, native american,indian, family tree

I researched Rosa McCauley Parks' family tree originally in 2010. I later uploaded it to Geneastar around the same time. Geneastar is a genealogy database of over 18,000 famous and historical people. Recently I was asked to do a presentation for The Rosa Parks Museum and Library with Rose McCauley Hampton who is the first cousin once removed of Rosa Parks. Hampton is generously donating historical items to The Rosa Parks Museum. I've since added to data base. Click any image to see larger.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an "American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement"."

Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, to Leona (née Edwards), a teacher, and James McCauley, a carpenter. In addition to African ancestry, one of Parks's great-grandfathers was Scots-Irish, and one of her great-grandmothers was part–Native American. Rosa Parks is African American, Native American, Scottish, Irish and English. 

Paternal

Rosa Parks' father James McCauley from Library of Congress


Rosa Parks' grandfather Anderson McCauley from Library of Congress

Parks father was James McCauley 1886-1962 born in Alabama. "James McCauley was born in Abbeville, Alabama, the eldest son of Anderson and Louisa McCauley. He became a skilled carpenter and stonemason like his father. James met schoolteacher Leona Edwards while visiting his sister Addie in Pine Level, Alabama. They married on April 12, 1912, at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Pine Level."

Paternal grandfather was Anderson McCauley 1850-1917. "Anderson McCauley was born in Georgia, the son of Ghiogee, a Creek Indian, and Charles McCauley, a soldier of Irish and Cherokee descent. Around 1884 he moved to Abbeville, Alabama, and ultimately acquired more than 500 acres. Anderson and his wife Louisa became parents of seventeen children. He worked with his sons building houses across Alabama’s Black Belt region."

Paternal grandmother was Louisa "Lou" Collins 1850-1941. "Louisa Collins was born in Georgia, the daughter of a mixed-race slave. She married Anderson McCauley, another mixed-race Georgian. Ten of their seventeen children survived to adulthood. All ten were literate. The eldest was Addie (b. 1884) and the youngest was George Gaines McCauley (b. 1904). Rosa lived with her grandparents as a toddler."

Maternal

Rosa Parks' mother Leona Edwards from Library of Congress



Parks mother was Leona Edwards 1888-1979 born in Alabama. "Leona Edwards was born in Pine Level, Alabama, the youngest of Sylvester and Rose Edwards’s three daughters. She attended Payne University in Selma but did not earn a degree. Leona became a dedicated rural school teacher, and her meager salary was the main source of the family’s income. She instilled in Rosa the importance of faith, self-respect, and education—values reinforced by her grandparents and the teachers at Miss White’s School, a school that Rosa would attend at age eleven."

Rosa Parks family bible maternal



Maternal grandparents were Sylvestor Edwards 1858-1923 and Rosena Percival 1859-1929. "This Bible register partially charts Rosa’s maternal lineage. Accordingly, her great grandfather James Percival, an indentured servant of Scots-Irish descent, married Mary Jane Nobles, an enslaved African. Their daughter Rose married Sylvester Edwards, the son of white planter John Edwards and his enslaved housekeeper and seamstress. They had three daughters: Fannie, Bessie, and Leona Edwards, Rosa’s mother."

Rosena Percival maternal grandmother

Sylvester Edwards maternal grandfather



Rosa Parks' brother Sylvester James McCauley from Library of Congress



Rosa's brother was Sylvester James McCauley. "Sylvester James McCauley, Rosa’s only sibling, was born on August 20, 1915, in Pine Level, Alabama. When their mother became seriously ill, Sylvester left school to help support the family. During World War II he served in the Army in the European and the Pacific theaters. While on leave he met his wife, Daisy, at a restaurant in South Carolina. After the war they moved to Detroit and reared thirteen children. Sylvester worked for the Chrysler Motor Company and did carpentry jobs on the side."


Genealogy of Rosa McCauley Parks

Rosa Parks has a diverse genealogical ancestry. On her father's side her ancestors came from Scotland, Ireland, Native America and Africa. On her mother's side her ancestors came from Africa and most likely other nations. Sadly the records for those of African ancestry don't exist with any certainty past the fourth or fifth ancestral generations born in America because of slavery. People stolen from Africa and brought to the Americas were given different names. The slave trader gave them one name generally a first name only. The slave buyer/owner then gave them another name sometimes adding the last name of the slave owner. When the slaves were finally freed they sometimes gave themselves a new first and last name. Soon after emancipation many ex-slaves used the last names of Presidents such as Washington, Jefferson even if that wasn't their previous name. This makes it difficult to do genealogical research based on written documents. Native American records don't exist with certainty for the same reasons and more in this case. In this case the ancestors were African and Native American slaves/servants and indentured Scottish/Irish servants. DNA records would be valuable to ascertain a more reliable ancestral lineage for those parts of the family.

There are at least reliable records from the paternal McCauley line. The McCauley lineage hails from Scotland and Ireland. Park's McCauley family first came to the US in the mid 1600's in North Carolina. They ultimately became involved in agriculture and land sales. They had slaves and paid servants. As was sadly common with slave owners some had children with their slaves and servants. This is why most African Americans today are of mixed heritage. 

If you look at the underlying genealogical records you will notice a few things. Names are generally misspelled. This is because the census and record takers wrote them phonetically based on how they sounded to their ear. There is also a wide variance in the census records as to race/color. For instance one person is listed as "black" in one census, "mulatto" in another" and "white" in yet another. There are also differences in places of birth, dates of birth. The census taker generally asked whoever was at home for the information. It could have been a young adult who did not know all of the information. As long as basic name, age, place of birth, family members match, it is the same person. This is why one needs multiple documents to try to confirm identity.

Famous distant relatives

I added Rosa Parks to famous people genealogy website Geneastar as part of my initiative to add African Americans, Mexicans, Latinos, Jewish people, women and others who are vastly underrepresented in the famous family tree database. I went a step further and linked Rosa Park's tree to other famous people in history. Every time I add an important person in history I try to find the route so we can all see our relationship to the person. There are many others in Geneanet working to connect famous people. Special thanks to Timothy Dowling who is one of the best and has helped me tremendously.

King Charles is a 14th cousin of Rosa Louise McCauley via King James V of Scotland.

Link to relationship


President George Washington is a 12th cousin of an ancestor of the 6th generation  (12th cousin 6 times removed) of Rosa Louise McCauley.


President Thomas Jefferson is a 10th cousin of an ancestor of the 8th generation of Rosa Louise McCauley. 


President Abraham Lincoln is a 15th cousin of an ancestor of the 5th generation of Rosa Louise McCauley.


President Barack Obama is a son of a 15th cousin of Rosa Louise McCauley


and not so famous Mary Cummins is a granddaughter of a 18th cousin of Rosa Louise McCauley. 

We are all related. It's just a technical matter of figuring out the route to someone's family tree to determine the degree of relatedness. As Kahlil Gibran stated, "Every man is the descendant of every king and every slave that ever lived."  

References

I made these trees and resources public to further public education about Rosa Parks. They include newspaper articles, photos, census records, birth certificates, death certificates and more. You can use them to figure out your relationship to Rosa Parks.



All data is based on best research practices. Data cannot be guaranteed due to the nature of genealogical records, lack of DNA data and human nature. I'm using Wikipedia and Library of Congress images because they aren't copyrighted.

_____________________

Genealogist at Geneanet and Geneastar
https://en.geneanet.org/profil/marycummins
 Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter
https://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com
 Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser
http://www.marycummins.com
 Mary Cummins
http://www.mary.cc
 Mary Cummins Biography, History in Wikipedia format
http://wikipedia.marycummins.com/
 Mary Cummins on LinkedIn 
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Monday, October 24, 2022

Sacheen Littlefeather aka Marie Louise Cruz family tree, ancestry, heritage, ethnicity, DNA by Mary Cummins

Sacheen Littlefeather, Marie Louise Cruz, Marie Cruz, actor, California, native american, oscar, academy awards, mary cummins, genealogist, mexico, mexican, dutch, father, mother, sisters, husband, dna,ancestry, family tree, heritage, ethnicity


Sacheen Littlefeather aka Marie Louise Cruz is indeed Mexican and Danish. I went back seven generations and see no American Indian whatsoever. I'm Latino from Mexico. My DNA shows Indigenous Americas-Mexico and Indigenous Americas-Central. On the map it's southwest USA and Mexico. Littlefeather looks exactly like her two sisters so she didn't have a different father.

Genealogist at Geneanet and Geneastar
https://en.geneanet.org/profil/marycummins
 Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter
https://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com
 Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser
http://www.marycummins.com
 Mary Cummins
http://www.mary.cc
 Mary Cummins Biography, History in Wikipedia format
http://wikipedia.marycummins.com/
 Mary Cummins on LinkedIn 
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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Vikings were first Euros in America - Native American DNA in Viking lineage, Carbon dating of Viking village, by Mary Cummins genealogist

Public domain via Wikipedia. 


For many years there were stories that the Vikings actually were the first to sail to the Americas. At the time there was no solid physical evidence to confirm this. Today there is evidence. The first and most recent evidence is in the form of carbon dating of a Viking village from around 1021. This is almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus allegedly "discovered" America. The second is much older Native American DNA which was found in the Viking lineage pre 1700. It was known that Vikings took slaves and concubines from places they visited and conquered. Below are two articles which summarize this research. 


October 19, 2021

"Vikings from Greenland — the first Europeans to arrive in the Americas — lived in a village in Canada’s Newfoundland exactly 1,000 years ago, according to research published Wednesday.

Scientists have known for many years that Vikings — a name given to the Norse by the English they raided — built a village at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland around the turn of the millennium. But a study published in Nature is the first to pinpoint the date of the Norse occupation.

The explorers — up to 100 people, both women and men — felled trees to build the village and to repair their ships, and the new study fixes a date they were there by showing they cut down at least three trees in the year 1021 — at least 470 years before Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492.

“This is the first time the date has been scientifically established,” said archaeologist Margot Kuitems, a researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the study’s lead author.

“Previously the date was based only on sagas — oral histories that were only written down in the 13th century, at least 200 years after the events they described took place,” she said.

The first Norse settlers in Greenland were from Iceland and Scandinavia, and the arrival of the explorers in Newfoundland marks the first time that humanity circled the entire globe.

But their stay didn’t last long. The research suggests the Norse lived at L’Anse aux Meadows for three to 13 years before they abandoned the village and returned to Greenland." (rest of article in link above)


American Indian Sailed to Europe With Vikings?
Centuries before Columbus, a Viking-Indian child may have been born in Iceland.

NOVEMBER 26, 2010

"Five hundred years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, a Native American woman may have voyaged to Europe with Vikings, according to a provocative new DNA study.

Analyzing a type of DNA passed only from mother to child, scientists found more than 80 living Icelanders with a genetic variation similar to one found mostly in Native Americans. (Get the basics on genetics.)

This signature probably entered Icelandic bloodlines around A.D. 1000, when the first Viking-American Indian child was born, the study authors theorize. (Related: "Vikings' Barbaric Bad Rap Beginning to Fade.")

Historical accounts and archaeological evidence show that Icelandic Vikings reached Greenland just before 1000 and quickly pushed on to what is now Canada. Icelanders even established a village in Newfoundland, though it lasted only a decade or so (regional map).

The idea that a Native American woman sailed from North America to Iceland during that period of settlement and exploration provides the best explanation for the Icelanders' variant, the research team says.

"We know that Vikings sailed to the Americas," said Agnar Helgason of deCODE Genetics and the University of Iceland, who co-wrote the study with his student Sigrídur Ebenesersdóttir and colleagues. "So all you have to do is assume … that they met some people and ended up taking at least one female back with them.

"Although it's maybe interesting and surprising, it's not all that incredible," Helgason added. "The alternative explanations to me are less likely"—for example the idea that the genetic trait might exist independently, undiscovered, in a few Europeans.

The study authors themselves admit the case is far from closed. But University of Illinois geneticist Ripan Malhi—an expert in ethnic DNA differences who wasn't part of the project—agreed that the report holds "strong genetic evidence for pre-Columbian contact of people in Iceland with Native Americans."

Through genealogical research, the study team concluded that the Icelanders who carry the Native American variation are all from four specific lineages, descended from four women born in the early 1700s.

Those four lineages, in turn, likely descended from a single woman with Native American DNA who must have been born no later than 1700, according to study co-author Ebenesersdóttir.

The genealogical records for the four lineages are incomplete before about 1700, but history and genetics suggest the Native American DNA arrived on the European island centuries before then, study co-author Helgason said.

He pointed out that Iceland was very isolated from the outside world in the centuries leading up to 1700, so it's unlikely that a Native American got to the island during that period.

As further evidence, he noted that—though the Icelanders share a distinct version of the variation—at least one lineage's variation has mutated in a way that would likely have taken centuries to occur, the researchers say.

This unique signature suggests that, in Helgason's words, the Native American DNA arrived in Iceland at least "several hundred years" before 1700." (rest of article in link above)



Genealogist at Geneanet and Geneastar
https://en.geneanet.org/profil/marycummins
 Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter
https://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com
 Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser
http://www.marycummins.com
 Mary Cummins
http://www.mary.cc
 Mary Cummins Biography, History in Wikipedia format
http://wikipedia.marycummins.com/
 Mary Cummins on LinkedIn 
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