Jamie K. Weinstein
  • Home
  • Resume
  • Portfolio
  • Artist Statement
  • Students and Kids

Tracing My Roots to Rising Fawn, Georgia

8/19/2013

19 Comments

 
“When we illuminate the road back to our ancestors, they have a way of reaching out, of manifesting themselves...sometimes even physically.” 
― Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina
Picture
Who am I?  The ubiquitous question driving me to chase my family roots. Is there a Formula to me?  Why do I like to sew, to make soap, to write?  How do my genes versus my nurture, affect who I am?  With the exception of sewing, I was never shown to do these things-- I sought them out. I think it is silly to dismiss our ancestry- we care more about the lineage and breeding of our pets than ourselves, I sometimes believe.

My full name is Jamie Elizabeth Kerr Weinstein.  I've always been told that the Kerr name is Scottish (and there's a huge and diverse amount of people in the Kerr clan history) and that the Henderson's (my mom's side) were Irish and Scottish.  I never really thought about the rest of the family, my grandmothers' sides.  On one side I have the Waltons and on the other side the Forresters.  I'd heard family rumors that one of my great-great grandmothers was an "Indian Princess" and that I was related to the Walton family featured on a tv show in the 1970s.

I decided to look for my answers to "Who is my family?", by starting at Ancestry.com (free 2 week trial available, you have to cancel within 10 days!)  I could easily trace the Kerr's but I started focusing on the Forrester Family.  My grandmother Robbie Forster (last name changed during faulty census taking, as the family was very poor and many couldn't read - Forrester became Forster) was the last child born to her mother in the early 1900s.  Medical attention was near obsolete, especially at home births, and my great- grandmother died during childbirth to my grandmother.

Picture
I started telling my mother about my search for my ancestors and lo and behold, after 33 years, I was given some facts about my family that allowed me to confirm the facts that I was finding online.  The "Indian princess" great-grandmother?   American Indians didn't have "princesses" but I am thrilled to find some truth in the legend!  It was family rumor that she was a physically beautiful woman and my gg-grandfather met her in Virginia where she was part of the Chickahominy tribe.  Her name was "Nancy" Mahalie Many Trees, according to family documentation I have found.  Her tombstone simply reads, "Wife of Francis, Chickahominy tribe" in Miller Cemetery, Georgia.  This is the same cemetery my grandmother, grandfather and aunt are buried, a fact I find somewhat curious as this is a maternal lineage but explained by the fact that my grandfather passed away first, giving my grandmother the choice of burial arrangements.  

Picture
My gg- grandfather was a founding member of Rising Fawn, a small trading town in Georgia and they settled on Lookout Mountain, Georgia.  I did a quick search on google maps to find Miller Cemetery.  I was astounded to find a small plot of land with all of the relatives I had been researching.  In my mind, the cemetery was huge, based on all of the people I had researched.  It is just a small plot of land and I must have looked at every tombstone there online, believing I was searching a plot with numerous families. 

Picture
The cemetery is just this tiny piece of land with most of my Forester relatives, including "Nancy" Chickahominy Indian woman".   I feel such a deep connection to this side of the family I barely know.  I believe our genes do dictate who we are.  We accept this on a physical level (i.e. gene deficiencies and diseases) but we don't accept this on a spiritual level.  I believe in both.  

Picture
I'm not a scientist or a religious figure but my opinions are just as valid.  I cannot explain my innate ways of being.  I have an extreme imagination.  I have a connection to plants and animals that most people don't.  I listen to the wind and I feel a kinship to nature that is grander than that of which I have with humans.  My mom brought me some of my packed boxes from childhood and I found a bag of shells and a little American Indian doll from my grandmother that I used to carry around as a child.  I was a collector of objects as I child (I still am!) and I'd often carry around items for good luck or comfort.   I barely knew my grandmother but there is a connection between us.  She felt so strongly about her family's (my family's) heritage that it was her chosen place of burial as well.

The legend of my "Indian Princess" great, great grandmother may have been skewed but the facts support the folklore.  I am so intrigued by this part of the country now that I am planning a family vacation there (as funding will permit in the future! -- Positive projection! ). I didn't have the best family growing up, so I've found comfort in the adage, "You can't choose your family but you can choose your friends".  Through this journey though, I am beginning to find comfort in the complexity of heritage and our natures.

Picture
I can't remember much about my grandma Kerr (Forrester surname).  I remember she was quiet, opinionated, set in her ways, had lots of perfumes, inexpensive jewelry and trinkets and always had "Chicken in a Biskit" crackers for me in her cupboard.  My grandmother died when I was a pre-teen.  Maybe I can't go back in time to talk with her but I can learn more about her by researching her choices and seeing the same locations in nature that were so important to her, like Rising Fawn, Georgia.

And so this "Nancy" Chickahominy woman, generations removed from me, is still affecting her (my) family because it is my curiosity in her that led me to finding someone a little closer to me, my grandmother.  

What makes us, nature or nurture?  I can't answer that as I'm still resolving the answers for myself but I'm happily resolving the nature in me.

19 Comments
jim weathers
11/6/2014 01:33:01 am

Hello, like you, we share a ggg grandmother. My grandmother was mamie hale, her father was Oscar hale. as a child everybody knew we had indian blood because of our dark skin tone. I just thought it was Cherokee. now I know her name, thanks to you. I live on lookout mtn. thank you, jim

Reply
Nancy Wetmore
10/9/2015 08:20:21 pm

Hi new found relatives, I also thought I was Cherokee,My gg grand father was Jousha ( Jock) Tatum. His wife Ada Chadwich.
My name is Nancy, Nancy Mahillie is my ggggg grand mother.
I remember going to a family reunion in Rising Fawn as a kid. It was at my great uncle Dan Tatums house.My grand mother was Mildred Tatum.

Reply
mark tatum
3/5/2016 07:10:29 pm

her grand daughter marry forester was my 6t ggmouther married haedy l tatum dade county ga

Reply
Jamie
11/6/2014 09:38:37 am

That's awesome Jim! I'm glad this brought us together!

Reply
Brittany
11/7/2014 02:43:07 pm

Nancy Mahilia Many trees is also in my family tree. I am from dade county and now live on the other side of lookout mountain but She is my gggggg grandmother :) Francise Forrester's son Havelow(he was a twin) had a son named Edward that had a son named Adolphis which is my mom's great great grandfather. Pretty neat. I I also knew I had indian in me but we always thought Cherokee too.

Reply
john mccullough
12/19/2014 02:31:27 am

Reply
john mccullough
12/19/2014 02:54:46 am

Nancy Mahilia Many Trees { Chickahominy Indian Tribe } is also my family tree. Her husband , Francis Forester , was the Pioneer of Dade County whose son and grandson was Havelow and Edward Forester of the 34th Georgia Regiment CSA. I also knew I had Indian in me and likewise also thought it was the Chickamauga Cherokees. My Forester family ended up living on the other side of Lookout Mountain even though my Grandmother Emalie Forester was born in Rising Fawn , Georgia on Feb. 28 , 1895 to Peter Forester { Dec. 19 , 1862 } and Georgia T. McKaig. She married Walter Little McCullough of Coweta County , Ga. who was a Railroad foreman for the TAG Railroad. Her youngest son was Perry Walter McCullough who was my father. This family is still alive in my heart.

Jann Stiver
1/4/2018 01:41:00 pm

Nancy Mahilia Many Trees was my forth great grandmother. I too had been told I had Cherokee heritage but found it is Chickahominy. My husband and I visited her grave site in October. So many other family members are also buried there and in nearby cemeteries. Havalow Forester was my 3rd great grandfather, Peter Forester was my 2nd great grandfather, Louisa Jane Forester was my great-grandmother, Susan Ella Bible was my grandmother and Rebecca Louise Wheeler was my mother. The search is fascinating.

Reply
Kathy & Hank Mitchell
5/15/2018 02:48:21 pm

Hi, Jann. This is Kathy, Hank's wife, your cousin via his mom Margaret Elizabeth Wheeler Mitchell. Saw this post and thought I would connect. Hank has been doing Pope/Montfort/Wheeler/Bible research (with my help) so this popped up when I was searching the Bibles of Rising Fawn. Give us a hollar.

Reply
Charis Forester Adam
2/17/2019 11:55:04 pm

Peter Forester is also my 2nd great grandfather. His son James is my great grandfather, Fred is my grandfather, and Jonathan is my father.

Reply
Barbara Bates
1/7/2018 08:01:12 pm

My husband has been doing his family tree and it shows that Nancy Mahalie is his 4th great grandmother (starting with parents Frances and Charles Bates, then grandfather Templeton Hale, great-grandmother Laura Forester, gg-grandfather Edward Forester, ggg-grandfather Havelow Forester, and gggg-grandfather Francis Newton Forester (Nancy's husband).
It's great to see how others connect to the same family!

Reply
jimweathers08@gmail.com
2/13/2018 11:08:58 am

Hello, does your tree have Dolly, Mamie, Lorrie or Mack Hale? father Oscar Hale, mother Laura Forester. Mamie Hale Weathers was my grandmother

Reply
Barbara
9/7/2018 01:17:24 pm

Oscar Hale is my husband's great grandfather and Laura his grandmother which makes Mamie my husband's great aunt.

Paula Olson
2/12/2018 11:01:48 pm

I'm also related! We were told the same "Indian Princess" story growing up. My dad's grandmother on his mom's side was Eunice Looney (born Eunice Forester). Her father was Augustus Forester, his father was Peter Forester, his father was Havalow William Forester and his parents were Francis Newton Forester & Nancy Mahilie Many Trees. We're in Arizona and I've never been back to where this all began, but maybe someday (that will mean a trip to Scotland too).

Reply
Tim Hartman
3/29/2018 06:46:20 am

Nancy Mahalie Many Trees is my gggggg-grandmother. That side of my family left Georgia in the early 1900's and ended up in Ohio, where I also live. I had always been told since I was a child that we had a 'Cherokee Princess' as an ancestor, as it seems many of you were also told. Glad to know the truth. I recently did the 23andme DNA test, which said I was just under 0.4% Native American. If you do the math, gggggg-grandmother equates to 1/256, which equals 0.39%. Pretty remarkable!

Reply
Roland Cross
11/12/2018 10:08:23 pm

I to am 4th great grandson of Nancy Mahalie Many Trees I live in Rising Fawn Ga. moved here in 1993 had NO IDEA I was moving to a place that was practically the center of all my mothers people, The Coopers, Morgans, Burkes,Blevins, Sizemore, Forresters, are all grandparent surnames of my Mother like you I had heard of Cherokee, Choctaw, and to my surprise Chickahominy........my gggrandfather Cooper was born and raised as was his mother not five miles of my home.......so nice to hear stories from different sides of my FAMILY

Reply
Roland Cross
11/12/2018 10:17:18 pm

I also am 7th GGrandson from my Cooper lineage to Chief Black Fox (Enola) and his daughter is supposed to be where the Town of Rising Fawn got its name from

Reply
Erin West
9/15/2019 09:33:16 pm

Hello, distant relatives! I'm also a descendent of Mahalia Many Trees. My family is from the Rising Fawn/Trenton GA area, though we moved to VA when I was young. It's neat to see how all our lineages intertwine. Thanks for sharing!

Reply
Tammy Swart
1/15/2020 08:43:52 pm

Hi, Nancy Many Trees & husband Francis Forester are my 4th Great Grandparents, I was also always told it was Cherokee especial cause my grandma looked so much like an indian long black hair til she passed dark skin tone, everyone always said I looked the same?? My question is has anyone found any info on her parents?? I have been on ancestry 3+yrs looking and other places with no success. Any help would be wonderful. It's nice to meet you all!! My email is tswart2505@gmail.com

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Jamie K. Weinstein

    Just a girl with a lot to say!

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Crafts
    Feminist/ Humanist
    Herbs
    Home/family
    Motherhood
    Richmond
    Spiritualism

    Archives

    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Pinterest Page

      Want to comment or contact me? Submit form below.

    Submit
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.