Elizabeth Warren's story of racist grandparents disputed by Cherokee genealogist (mad squaw alert)

Washington Times ^ | March 11, 2018 | Valerie Richardson

[Zakeet]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sought Sunday to bolster her shaky claims of Cherokee ancestry with the story of how her racist grandparents drove her parents to elope.

But Cherokee genealogist Twila Barnes says that account has its own credibility issues.

Ms. Barnes, who said her research into Ms. Warren's family found "no evidence" of Native American ancestry, has challenged key elements of the senator's tale of how her parents, Pauline Reed and Donald Herring, defied his parents by running off to marry.

[Snip]

After Ms. Warren said in the Globe that her mother told her "nobody came to her wedding at all," Ms. Barnes looked it up and found that her mother’s friend witnessed the ceremony, which was performed by a prominent Methodist clergyman, not a justice of the peace.

"This marriage does not look like an elopement. It looks very much like a Depression-era marriage ceremony instead," said Ms. Barnes in an August 2012 post. "Sometimes people didn’t have a lot of money to spend on a wedding so they just obtained their license, got married and then went back home."

She also found a detailed wedding announcement posted in the local newspaper in Wetumka, Oklahoma.

"If Ms. Warren’s parents eloped due to her mother being 'Cherokee and Delaware' and it was such a disgrace, why did they rush back to Wetumka the same day they were married and proudly announce it to everyone?" asked Ms. Barnes. "If there was shame associated with the marriage and it caused so many problems, why was it happily announced in the local paper?"

[Zakeet]

Me Cherokee princess name of Gray Beaver ... me on warpath against bad Indian who look at White man's records ... me tell story about how squaw mother and buck father sneak-em off and get married ... that make me Indian ... bad Indian say me speak with forked tongue ... bad squaw say me throw-em grand-buck and grand-squaw under buffalo stampede ... bad Indian say me need to take DNA test ... bad Indian no look at me high cheekbones ... bad squaw no look at me Pow Wow Chow cookbook ... bad Indian no think about me suckle papoose when me take law test ... Freeper ignore-em bad Indian ... Freeper no read article or make talk-talk on thread ... Freeper leave Cherokee princess alone ... Freeper no more call me Pocahontas ... that bad medicine ... !!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Zakeet. Warren's just a liar.

• Warren on taking DNA test to prove Native American heritage: 'I know who I am' [2018]
• Harvard Community Disappointed After White Male Selected as University President [2018]
• Emails Reveal Cordray's Plot to Appoint Own Successor [2018]
• Someone Needs To Tell Sen. Warren What 'Slut-Shaming' Means [2017]
• What exactly is Elizabeth Warren trying to say about Kirsten Gillibrand? [2017]
• Warren's Pow Wow Chow 'Cherokee' recipes were..COPIES of famous FRENCH chef's techniques [2017]
• Elizabeth Warren Native American / Cherokee Controversy [2016]
• Phony Elizabeth Warren Listed As Harvard's First "Woman of Color" In 1997 Article [2016]
• Elizabeth Warren Ancestor Rounded Up Cherokees For Trail of Tears [2016]
• Elizabeth Warren's Great-Grandfather Reportedly Killed a Native American [2012]
• Elizabeth Warren's white great grandfather shot an Indian [2012]
• Elizabeth Warren: Undocumented Cherokee Only HLS Prof Not From Top 10 Law School [2012]
• Elizabeth Warren's 'Native American' claims: if a Republican, the media would call her a racist [2012]
• The Academic Scandal Elizabeth Warren And Harvard Don't Want You To Know About [2012]
• No Way: Elizabeth Warren Plagiarized 'Pow Wow Chow' Recipes? [2012]
• Report: Elizabeth Warren's ancestor may have ... rounded up Cherokee for Trail of Tears [2012]
• Report: Elizabeth Warren's ancestor may have ... rounded up Cherokee for Trail of Tears [2012]
• Elizabeth Warren Ancestor Rounded Up Cherokees For Trail of Tears [2012]
• Elizabeth Warren's punchline problem [2012]
• Hokumhontas Warren's Stupid Horse Moment [2012]

[Slyfox]

When I was a little kid, my mother showed me a picture of my great-grandmother. It was a few months before she died and she had bandages on her legs and on her head. My mother said she looked like an Indian squaw and with my young impressionable mind I assumed that I too had Indian blood in me for the better part of 40 years, until I dug into our family history and asked my mom about my great-grandmother, the Indian squaw. She told me she was from Slovakia having arrived in 1914. I gotta admit I felt a little sad knowing that I wasn't the least bit Indian. And my recent Ancestry DNA test proves it.

Dang! If I had only known to get some free education while I was under my false impression.

[JockoManning]

Uhhhhhh

"squaw" has evolved into a pejorative epithet about female genitalia. Qx didn't realize that after 15 years overseas and got into big trouble thinking he was making a warm and culturally sensitive compliment to a group of Dineh women.

Living languages can be so fun ... or not, depending.

[reed13k]

yeah - I had always heard rumors about American Indian blood in my family. Turns out from what I’ve found that one of my ancestors had a hunting accident and blew off his arm with a shotgun. An American Indian found him and rendered assistance. So later - though I have yet to gain proof - he middle named one of his sons after the assisting Indian.

I do know my ancestor lost his arm as I have a photo from later in life. I just haven’t been able to obtain all the birth certs with middle names to prove that the naming happened as described.

Things pass through generations with little proof and everyone thinks they understand when they don’t have the full story.

[BigEdLB]

Old Crow Hop Just for liz

[SaveFerris]

She lookem' Crazy Hoarse - yes I did that on purpose and yes I actually have American Indians in my lineage - but not enough, I don't think.

[jonascord]

Does it count if family lore says an ancestor was raped by Saracen cavalry, east of Vienna, in the 15th century??

[PA Engineer]

Looks like Fauxcahonatas was a member of the Running Bullpoop tribe.

[Nifster]

Natives have never liked or appreciated the term squaw. It was perkirative from the beginning. It was a term used in a derisive manner....Never woman or wife or daughter....always squaw.

Don’t mess with the Dineh

[razorback-bert]

Navahos hold squaw dances.

[FreedomPoster]

Nicely done.

[wardaddy]

Pathetic sour bitch

[proud American in Canada]

She is a liar, pure and simple

[anton]

Threw her grandparents under the bus.

[Nifster]

Gee don’t you feel special.

[grey_whiskers]

Grey Beaver speaks with forked tongue...

[Rastus]

It brings a tear to my eye to think that the Big Bopper heard this heartwarming story and made it into a song:

On the bank of the river stood Running Bear, young Indian brave
On the other side of the river stood his lovely Indian maid
Little White Dove was her name, such a lovely sight to see
But their tribes fought with each other, so their love could never be

Running Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love big as the sky
Running Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love that couldn’t die

He couldn’t swim the raging river ‘cause the river was too wide
He couldn’t reach the Little White Dove waiting on the other side
In the moonlight he could see her throwing kisses ‘cross the waves
Her little heart was beating faster waiting for her Indian brave

Running Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love big as the sky
Running Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love that couldn’t die

Running Bear dove in the water, Little White Dove did the same
And they swam out to each other through the swirling stream they came
As their hands touched and their lips met, the raging river pulled them down
Now they’ll always be together in their happy hunting ground

Running Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love big as the sky
Running Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love that couldn’t die

[Palio di Siena]

She’s looks like she’s slapahoe or hekawi.

[wastoute]

I thought she had a cook book that proved her claims...