by
Nancy Gilbride Casey
My husband grew up being told
that he was part Native American. When multiple DNA tests came back with
no traceable Native American DNA, he began to question his family
legend.1
I recalled an interesting letter I
received a few years back from his great uncle Earl Stephen, of the
family line where the alleged Native ancestry resided. I had written him
with some questions about his family's history. He generously wrote
back with his best recollections from historical books he had read, and
what he had been told by his father and grandfather.
Digging his letter out and rereading it, this line sticks out:
"He
was married in 1857 to an Elizabeth Kite. She was the daughter of the
Commanche Chief of this area her maid name in Indian was Morning Dew." 2
Like
so many other families, it appeared that our family also had an Indian
Princess myth. And as with most family myths and legends, this one was
also part kernel of truth, part random family facts, all mixed up in a
blender and spilled out into the present.
The family under discussion was the Stephen family and in particular, the "he" was my husband's 2nd great grandfather James Howard Stephen.
Let's untangle the bits of fact from the bits of fiction.
In
terms of the facts, James did marry an Elizabeth Kite, though the year
recalled by Uncle Earl was off by a few decades: James H. Stephen and
Elizabeth Kite married in 1876, not 1853.3
In the category of "almost true," there was an intersection of the Stephen family and the Comanche but not via marriage, and not involving a Comanche chief.
It
is certainly true that Comanche territory in the mid-1800s overlapped
the Stephenville and Erath County area in central Texas, where the
Stephen and Kite families settled. The map below shows the very large
territory covering parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, where various
bands of Comanche lived.4
 |
| Dark dashed line outlines the Comanche territory in this 1840s map. |
 |
| Detail
of map showing central Texas Comanche territory. Stephenville is
located southwest of Fort Worth & Dallas and west of Comanche Peak. |
The
recalled Stephen-Comanche connection may also reference the fact that
James Howard Stephen's uncle John Miller Stephen—one of the founders of
Stephenville, Texas—set up a trading post in the mid-1850s in what is
now Erath County, Texas. In the 18 April 1913 edition of Stephenville's The Tribune, a reprint of a speech entitled "Reminiscences of Stephenville," by speaker Mrs. Fred H. Chandler noted:
"Mr.
Stephens [sic] established the first store here carrying red calico and
such things as the Indians would trade for honey, hides and buffalo
hams."5
And in the category of "no idea where
that came from," is the idea that Elizabeth Kite was the daughter of a
Comanche chief, and had the memorable name of "Morning Dew." In fact,
Elizabeth's parents were Caswell Kite (1811-1897) and Harriet Kite
(1818-1878), born in North Carolina and Georgia, respectively.6
No reference to Native American ancestry has been found for this
couple. Though never say never in family history—new info can surface
and overturn previous conclusions at any time.
And
as family legends usually get their start in a nugget of truth, I will
be keeping my eye out for any further references to "Morning Dew."
Just in case...
1
Lack of a particular ethnicity in one's DNA does not necessarily
preclude that heritage. A person inherits about 50% of the DNA from a
parent; about 25% from a grandparent; about 12.5% from a great
grandparent, etc. The amount of DNA passed down is halved with each
generation. However, which percentage of DNA is passed down is
random. Over generations, this may result in DNA from some ethnicities
being passed down more than others and in some cases ethnicities being
completely lost.
2 Earl M. Stephen (Texas) to
nephew's wife Nancy Gilbride Casey, letter, circa 2004, page 2;
privately held, January 2021, by Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, Texas.
3 Erath County, Texas, Marriage Record, 1874-1880, Vol. B, p. 99, marriage of J.H. Stephen and Elizabeth Kite (1876); "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GP3B-SB : accessed 13 January 2021); FHL film 004820345, image 167/967.
5 "Some Reminiscences of Stephenville," The Tribune (Stephenville, Texas), Vol. 21, No. 16, Ed. 1, 18 April 1913, p. 1, col. 1; digital image, The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth882554/m1/1/zoom/ : accessed 13 Jan. 2021); citing Stephenville Public Library.
6 1870
United States Census, Texas, Burleson County, page 10 (penned), Line
14, dwelling 76, household 79, Elizabeth Kite, age 15, in the household
of Caswell Kite; digital image, Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4275547_00262
: accessed 13 January 2021) image 10/204; citing FHL film 1375181.
What a fascinating story! I loved that you just “reread a letter” received several years ago. You must be an organized genealogist!! Great writing style and sources.
ReplyDeleteHello! Thank you for your very kind words. To be honest, I'm operating off a list of suggested topics for a challenge I'm doing to post an document/photo, etc. each day in January. The suggested topic for the 52Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge topic was "Family Legend," which reminded me of the letter. So I combined them into one post. I used the letter aspect for the first challenge and the legend topic for the second. (Can you even follow this? LOL!). Anyway, usually a topic will remind me of something I have in my files. I am really glad I looked at that letter. My next task with it is to look at the other details to see if I can see if they were accurate or not - not so much to prove/disprove what this uncle said, but to see if there are any other nuggets to pursue!
ReplyDeleteActually, reviewing old documents and research not done in a while is a really important skill I've learned along the way. If you think about it, every day you become a more experienced researcher, so when you revisit something you see it with new eyes and in light of any new knowledge you've uncovered since the last time you looked at it. It may reveal things you didn't see before.
Thanks for reading and for commenting.
I like how you separated fact from fiction and were careful not to show a preference for one side over the other. Interesting family legend.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy, for reading and commenting. I try to look at items like this as clues for further research. I'm about to do another post regarding a county history entry for one of my husband's ancestors. I've started to verify the facts laid out in the account with actual records. So far, it's pretty accurate, which I know is not always the case with county histories.
DeleteLoved the style and writing of this interesting tale. Great use of sources.
ReplyDeleteHi Eilene, thank you so much for reading. Since I wrote this I've had a few people suggest perhaps Elizabeth was given a family name as an honorific. And I went back and looked more at some other tree which had her in it, and further back there appears to be some sort of Native middle name a man has. Definitely worth some more research.
DeleteFantastic! I liked your use of the map, particularly. I have a niece who has given all of us "Indian" nicknames, my in-laws are "Straight Arrow" and "Shining Moon", perhaps this is the case for your "Morning Dew". Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Barb, actually another friend mentioned that very thing to me. It does make sense that if she was well known in the area and had dealings with the Comanche, perhaps it was an honorific given to her and that got tied up with the family history as proof of Native heritage. I do need to look more into it. I will certainly update if I find anything more. Thanks for reading.
DeleteI agree with Barbara. "Morning Dew" sounds like the kind of name that a young girl might receive in a Comanche naming ceremony.As the family clearly traded with the local Comanche perhaps the relationship was very close to warrant such an honour. You might look at local Native American history for clues. I suspect if Elizabeth received a name then perhaps her father did as well, as he would be the one in the closest contact with local people. Great story, I loved reading it.
ReplyDeleteHi Ruth, all of you commenters are some smart cookies! I need to learn more about how that might work, and delve more into the history of the area to see. I mentioned above that I looked a few other trees on Ancestry which had her in it, and found that there was a collateral relative who appeared to also have a Native name, so maybe there really is something to the story, but perhaps not proof of actual Native ancestry. I definitely need to do more work on this one. Thank you so much for reading.
Delete