Travel Bloggue:Blogging My Way ‘Round the World

En route to Tokyo
180 degrees Longitude (International Date Line)
North Pacific Ocean

In the time it took to type the preceding words, I’ve traveled through time from 2:45 pm Tuesday September 28 to 2:45 pm Wednesday September 29. Very weird.

So I did leave the country. My day job is taking me to the so-called “Far East” for about ten days. Though this trip has nothing to do with genealogy, I didn’t want the blog to be dark for that long. And maybe I’ll find some genealogical resources of note in Asia. As diverse as my American families are, there are no Asian connections to the best of knowledge.

Indian Museum Opens

Back at home last week, the National Museum of the American Indian opened on the National Mall after a couple of decades of planning. About 20,000 Indian people celebrated the opening along with many others, great and unnoted. (By the way, a prominent Indian leader whose acquaintance I’ve made was asked why it’s not called the “National Museum of the Native American.” He said the term “Native American” is not generally accepted in “Indian Country” and that if one must insist on labels, “American Indian” is acceptable and tribal names are preferable.)

Many Americans have Indian roots, of course. But genealogical research for American Indian ancestors has special challenges.

I’m aware of two of my American Indian ancestors. Mandy Martin (1861-?) was a Choctaw woman who lived in south Texas, but whose people apparently came from Mississippi. Sarah Gilbert (1849-?) was a Plains Indian from Missouri or Kansas. In both cases, I’ve had no success tracking any further. If we were still “quantifying,” I’d be 1/16 Indian.