Indian languages American Indian culture Native American genealogy

Native Panhandle Genealogy

Q: I am interested to finding the tribal name of my ancestors in Southern Alabama and the Northern pan-handle of Florida. Can you identify any tribes that are/were indigenous to that area? You help will be so greatly appreciated.

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A: It's impossible to be sure of someone's tribal background solely by their location--Indian bands were frequently displaced to new locations after Europeans arrived, and smallpox epidemics wiped out many Indian towns, sending the survivors to take shelter with neighbors. But in general, the Florida panhandle area was originally inhabited by Creek and Choctaw Indians.

To learn more about your ancestors in particular, you'll have to do some specific genealogy research. That's not really my specialty, but here is Orrin's new page on Native American genealogy: http://www.native-languages.org/genealogy.htm It provides some good starting points for your search. I also like to recommend the book Student's Guide to Native American Genealogy. It provides an excellent introduction to the subject, especially for beginners, and many of our site's users have reported that it helped them track down an elusive ancestor.

Hope that helps!
Native Languages of the Americas

Native Panhandle Genealogy

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