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| + | <center>January 2007</center> |
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| + | Foreword |
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| + | ''This article is designed as a non-linear discussion of Indian Captivity Stories in the Handley, Cowan, and Walker families of southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. There are a number of these stories, some of which exist in multiple versions. As a whole, the stories include substantial family information which has been used by genealogists to shape their family histories' /lineages. The stories are not, however, necessarily consistent with each other, and some versions are thought to be more reliable than others. You can reach different conclusions about your family history, depending on which version of which stories are "accepted".''<BR><BR> |
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| + | ''The reader will find articles about the individual stories grouped by the principal persons involved. Other articles provide basic genealogic and family history information about the individuals mentioned in the stories, graphic depictions of the family trees developed from the different stories, and separate discussions of the genealogical interpretation of these stories. Ultimately, articles dealing with the historical and social context underlying the stories are also planned. One of the main purposes of this article---perhaps the main purpose---is to provide a sorting out of these stories, with the ultimate objective of contributing to our understanding of the family relations for the people contained in these stories.'' |
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| − | This article is concerned with Indian Captivity Stories that are told by the descendants of certain Walker, Cowan, and Handley families. These families settled on the Virginia frontier, and in Blount County, TN in the mid to late 18th century. In some cases other families bearing the same surname settled near by. Each of these families have oral and/or written family traditions that involve the capture and death of family members during the Indian Wars in the Virginia and Tennessee frontiers. There are broad similarities between these stories. In many cases the families used the same given names, with John, Samuel, and Mary being especially popular among all of them. These factors have made it difficult for members of subsequent generations to recognize which of these stories represented their own family history, and which were for other families with the same surnames. |
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| − | The stories in which we are here interested mostly deal with captivity or death of women from the Walker, Cowan, and Handley families. Our records for these stories vary in quality. Only one record is a first person account by a contemporary of one of the captives. One record relates what one of the captives told his son. Most of the others are are told by more distantly related relatives, beginning around 1880. The story of Margaret Handley probably founded on a first person account by Margaret contained in the Draper MSC, but is known here only through secondary sources. |
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| + | {{:Indian Captivity Stories/Index/Front Matter}} |
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| − | Many people have relied on these stories as primary sources in piecing together their family genealogy. [[Fleming, 1971|John K. Fleming]], in his "The Cowans of County Down" used some of these stories in laying out the family history of some of the Cowan families in which he was interested. Indeed, some of these stories are best known through his efforts. Unfortunately, with the exceptions noted above, most of these stories are not "primary sources" in the strict sense of the term. The distinction between primary and secondary sources is a significant one for this article. In most cases the stories represent the workings of oral tradition, written down long after the events themselves, in most cases by persons who were not present at the events, or in some cases, by persons who knew the stories only second hand. As such, there is an element of interpretation that inevitably creeps into the stories. Descendants heard these stories, told and retold by family members. Eventually someone in the family wrote them down, or told them to outsiders who recorded them. In most cases the stories do not take written form until long after the events in question. In between, the stories have been passed on orally in a chain of transmission whose details we know only dimly. Father told son, and son told daughter, who told grandson...And at each step in the transmission process a certain risk of information loss occurred. Stories are only partly understood, details of family relations lost, interpretations are made, and sometimes the story is embellished "to make it more exciting". What is finally recorded often bears only limited resemblance to the original events. To use these stories as a definitive source of information is something that can easily lead people astray. |
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| − | {{:Index to Articles Related to Indian Activity Stories}} |
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| − | Because these stories deal with a set of inter-related families there is a tendency for some elements of these stories to be attached to different persons. As a result, sorting out which events happened to which participants, is often difficult, and has led to considerable confusion about the family relationships. Some of the sources for these stories have attempted to "make sense of the incomprehensible", and drawn conclusions about the identity of their ancestors that in many cases are not factual. One of the consequences of this is that those trying to use these stories to flesh out the story of their ancestors, are often left with mistaken understandings of the relationships described in these stories. |
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| − | There is a core element of truth in all of these stories, but they vary widely in their overall accuracy and reliability as sources of genealogical information. The following tabulation examines some of these stories in tablular format. This is intended to permit people to easily compare the various stories, and allow them to get some idea of whatever distortions the stories convey. Each of these stories were related by people who were simply doing the best they could to untangle the information in their possession. There purpose was primarily to relate details as they understood them. Along the way, they attempted to resolve any inconsistencies as best they could. Some of these stories have been embellished to a greater or lesser extent, but I assume all of the original sources were basically honest in relating the stories---that is, if they added something, it was only to "make sense of the incomprehensible". |
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| − | These stories vary greatly in terms of specific events, time, place, and people. As a simplification, the stories can be divided into two groups, those dealing with Ann Walker Cowan, and those dealing with Mary Walker Cowan. |
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| − | *[[Comparison of Indian Captivty Stories/Ann Walker Cowan]] |
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| − | *[[Comparison of Indian Captivty Stories/Mary Walker Cowan]] |
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Latest revision as of 21:12, 31 May 2010
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Indian Captivity Stories of the Walker, Cowan, and Handley Families
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Foreword This article is designed as a non-linear discussion of Indian Captivity Stories in the Handley, Cowan, and Walker families of southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. There are a number of these stories, some of which exist in multiple versions. As a whole, the stories include substantial family information which has been used by genealogists to shape their family histories' /lineages. The stories are not, however, necessarily consistent with each other, and some versions are thought to be more reliable than others. You can reach different conclusions about your family history, depending on which version of which stories are "accepted". The reader will find articles about the individual stories grouped by the principal persons involved. Other articles provide basic genealogic and family history information about the individuals mentioned in the stories, graphic depictions of the family trees developed from the different stories, and separate discussions of the genealogical interpretation of these stories. Ultimately, articles dealing with the historical and social context underlying the stories are also planned. One of the main purposes of this article---perhaps the main purpose---is to provide a sorting out of these stories, with the ultimate objective of contributing to our understanding of the family relations for the people contained in these stories. |