I got a young start on my family history. I was in high school when my interest in pursuing my family’s genealogy began. Fortunately for me, three of my grandparents were still living. Others told me one good way to get started was to interview my grandparents and help them fill out a family sheet where they would be children in their family.

Grandpa Johnston wasn’t much help. After showing me an old photo of his parents and his family which was taken when he was about 10 years old (1909), he gave me the names of his brothers (some of whom were still living) and the names of his parents. I wasn’t satisfied to know only his parents; I wanted to know about his grandparents too. When I asked grandpa who his grandfather was, he didn’t answer. When I put it into his language (Who was your Pa’s pa?) he replied that his pa didn’t have no pa. That’s the subject for a future blog.

Grandma was a little more helpful. She told me she was only 9 months old when her father, George F. Mangrem, died but she knew a lot more about her mother’s side. One early clue she gave me, which I received with a great deal of interest, was that she thought she was 1/8 or 1/16th Native American on her father’s side.

That clue was always present in the back of my mind while I began tracing her line. Her father, who died when she was still a baby, had married twice before marrying my grandmother’s mother. In fact, his first two wives were sisters – Fannie and Annie Covington. My grandmother’s brother(my great Uncle Clarence, supplied me with another clue; he had a copy of an arithmetic book which had belonged to his father (he was but two when he died) which had a place name recorded in pencil written inside – Santa Fe, Tennessee.

Santa Fe, Tennessee was in Maury County, Tennessee and it was there that I found lots of records about George F. Mangrem. His father’s name was G.W. C. Mangrem and his grandfather’s name was Littleberry Mangrem. G.W.C Mangrem married Margaret Ellen Jamison. Margaret was the daughter of John Jamison and Elizabeth Rountree. George F.’s mother, Margaret died young, at age 41. Her children, among them my George F. Mangrem were entitled to some inheritance from their grandfather John Jamison.

On it went, the Mangrems became Mangums and could be traced to an immigrant in Virginia, the Jamisons dead ended in North Carolina. The Rountrees went back several generations to an Irish immigrant. WOW! I had learned a lot about my grandmother’s father – George F. Mangrem. But the one thing I had NOT learned was where the Native American blood came from. All of the ancestors identified were as Caucasian and European as could be. What had I missed?

I went over my work, my information many times, but I could NOT find the link grandma had told be about.

Now let’s stop for a moment. Suppose my grandmother had died soon after she told me of her belief that she had Native American blood. I would still be trying to prove that she was just what she said – 1/8 or 1/16 Indian blood.

Fortunately for me, she had not died; she was still very much alive. When the opportunity presented itself, with family sheets in hand, I reviewed with her my findings. We had a lively discussion as she learned about her father’s ancestry. I mentioned that only one thing seemed to be missing – the Native American blood she had told me about when I started my family history project a few years earlier.

I will never forget her reply, it went something like this:

“[Grand]Son, just look at my high cheek bones! My dad had high cheek bones too. I thought for sure there would be Indian blood in my dad’s line!”

The truth was out….she assumed she was part Native American because of one of her facial features – high cheek bones. That family legend would have gone on for many generations had I not been lucky enough to ask her about it again – after the facts were gathered.

I wonder just how many such stories are out there to be cherished by families. The truth of the matter is that many family stories cannot be proven when all the facts are in.

What about the legends in your family? Will they stand the test of good research?