Column: Some ways to trace your Wyandotte Nation ancestry

Do you have Native American ancestry? If so, your research should include tribal history, because each Indian nation lived in different areas, spoke different languages and had different religious beliefs, forms of government, naming traditions and marriage traditions.

One example is the Wyandotte Nation. To learn where the ancestors lived, study the treaties that affected that nation.

Those treaties describe the tracts of land where the tribe was living when each treaty was made, as well as the location of the land where the tribe was being moved to. In researching Wyandotte ancestry, one will learn about Northeast Oklahoma; Kansas City, Kan.; Upper Sandusky, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Anderdon, Ontario; and the St. Lawrence area of Canada.

Why did each generation move from one village to another in the same region? The answer is found in the clan system.

The ancient tribes had 12 clans with rules as to how those clans interacted. Members of some clans could only marry members of other specific clans. A couple could not marry without the consent of the bride's clan.