Shawnee Prophet

Shawnee Prophet

Am I part Indian?  Do I qualify as a tribal member, so I can receive a share of my local Casino profits?  Many people have these questions.  We decedents of June Evans Overhiser had always believed we were part Native American.  The Evans-Indian link has been researched by Blanche Evans Wilkinson and others.

Here is what we currently know.  Chief Tecumseh's brother Tensquatawa (1775-1836) was a Shawnee warrior and prophet.  Google him for details.  He had three wives and 20 children.  Priscilla Perkins and Tensquatawa had a child, Marsha Bates (1/2 Native Am).  Marsha had a daughter Juliette Cummings (1849-1925) (1/4thNA).  Juliette and William Misel had a daughter Dora Ida Misel (1870-1961) (1/8thNA).  Dora and Adelbert King had a daughter Pearl Mae King (1888-1971) (1/16thNA).  Pearl and Homer Evans had a daughter June Pearl Evans (1917-1997) (1/32thNA).  June and Albert Overhiser had three sons (1/64thNA).  These son's children would be 1/128th NA and the son's grand children would be 1/256th (0.39%) Native American from the Tensquatawa line.  Conclusion: us living descendants of Tensquatawa should not pursue Casino profit sharing unless you can prove more NA blood from other lines.

If you are a descendant of this line, check yourself for Native American characteristics.  The photos in this blog show the prophet, Dora, Pearl and June.  Do you see Indian facial features?  Below is more information to help you determine if you have Native American features.  Happy hunting.

The Native Americans originally came to North America by way of the Bering Strait land bridge that formed during the last ice age. These people were from Eastern Asia and Siberia and display Asian physical features.  Most have very dark brown or black shiny hair and an olive or darker skin tone with yellow undertones.  People of Asian decent like the Native Americans have projected cheek bones. So usually their cheek bones tend to be very high and quite pronounced, giving them a wide looking face. They also have a wide, almost half-circle shaped palate, which lends to the physical feature of very broad straight teeth, whereas Caucasians have narrower, more crowded teeth in general. Most have a fold of skin near the eyes by the bridge of the nose. This is what gives Asians and Native Americans the look of slanted, narrow, or small eyes, as well as a broader, flatter nose bridge.  Not all Native Americans will display these characteristics, but most do.  North American Indians comparatively look like the Inuit or Eskimos, while South American Indians may appear more Hispanic.

For more information about Native Genealogy see this Laurie Beth Duffy article   http://imblackeagle.tripod.com/looks1.htm

At the Farm April 1, 2011

Sixteen year old Wes Leonard, a Fennville basketball player, died after scoring the winning basket in the last game of a perfect season.  His death has impacted the students and the whole community.  Aaron is best friends with Wes's younger brother.  Just another reminder that life is fragile and should be lived and cherished while we are here.  There will be time to rest when life is done.

The next big visible event at the farm will be blossom time.  Keep tract of the blooming of your trees and do a drive by the farm.  Cherry blossoms are blooming in DC and Lucy and Martin are there taking it all in.  On the 27th of March 1912, President Taft's wife and the wife of the ambassador from Japan planted the first of Washington D.C.'s cherry trees.

Albert Meets June

Albert Meets June

In the 1930s, the Evans family loved going to Grand Junction, Michigan located between Saddle Lake and Silver Lake.  The white pine and hemlock trees first attracted the white man to this area.  The town was settled in the 1870s when it was known the railroads were coming.  The Grand Rapids to Chicago Pere Marquette and the Kalamazoo to South Haven Michigan Central Rail Roads crossed at Grand Junction.

The Pottawatomie's still roamed the area after Grand Junction was established.  Chief Pokagon had these thoughts about the changes,  "our campfires have all gone out!  Our wigwams, and they who built them with their children, have forever disappeared from this beautiful land.  And where we walked in single file along our winding trails, now locomotives scream as they rush along their iron rails like beasts of prey!"  I understand his feeling.  When I return to familiar places I find overgrown fields, dark rotting farm buildings, buildings gone and deserted swimming holes.  As we zip through our life here on earth we do not get do-overs.  We change, friends changes, places change but we were there.  Celebrate those memories and God's everlasting love for us.

As your travel guide, I will now start sharing farm history that occurred during my life time which started in 1940.  Click on photos to enlarge.

Meet the Evans family in 1940:  William Henry Evans (1854-1928) and Ellen Adele Griffin (1855-1897) settled the farm where my grand father Homer (1887-1962) was born.  Adelbert (1858-1911) King and Dora Ida Mizel (1870-1961) were the parents of my grand mother Pearl Mae Evans (1888-1971).  Pearl and Homer raised 11 children on that farm and my mother June Pearl was in the middle.  The uncles used the Evans farm like a sportsman's club (fishing, hunting and poker playing).  Uncle Eddie (Ethel) Michaud, who work for Ford, always had a new car to show off at the Sunday gatherings.

While Helen (June's sister) was attending Maher's Business School (1937-39) Helen dated Al Sankofski (Albert's best friend).  This led to Albert and June double dating with Al and Helen when Albert was home from hauling cars.  The dance hall in Grand Junction, was a frequent destination.  It may have been the same bar and dance hall where Albert helped Uncle Tobe remove his slot machines right after Prohibition ended.  Albert impressed Pearl and Homer Evans with fruit from the farm and June impressed Edna and Bill as a teacher.  Both fun-loving families pulled pranks on the young lovers while they were dating.  Grandpa Bill would often use poor English to test the teacher.  In the fall of 1939 Albert and June eloped to LaPorte, Indiana to get married.  After marriage they rented a house near the family fruit farm.


I was in the 1940 Evans family photo but had not yet been born.  I was to become the third of 21 grand children for Pearl and Homer.  Ernie Butler Jr. and Carole Evans preceded me.  On the Overhiser side of the family I was the first of 16 grand children for Edna and Bill.  Can you get the picture of what Sunday gatherings at the Evans or Overhiser farms would look like.  Yes, there was lots of food, cousins, aunts, uncles, cats, dogs, chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows. 

At the Farm March 1, 2011

The family did get up north to Boyne Mountain for a ski and water park weekend.  Trimming of the apple trees is almost complete.  Trimming of other trees will continue all spring.  Tax records are being worked on and a new software program is being learned.  This program is for recording information on the application of chemicals.  These records are required by EPA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and have been recorded by hand in the past.  Allan and his spray consultants are trained and licensed to apply chemicals.  They also set insect traps to more accurately determine what problems need attacking.