My Yankee's

So, my Dad always told my Mom she was a Yankee.

Well, almost, but not quite. Even though my Hager's, Rogers and Adams were from the South (first Tennessee and then Arkansas), all of these kinfolk did fight for the Union. My Choctaw kinfolk (immediate family) did not fight at all, but most all of the Choctaws were staunchly on the Confederate side. So much so that those who decided to remain loyal had to be protected.

My mom's family is strictly English on her mother's side, and a hodge podge of Indian, Scots Irish, Welsh and German on her Dad's. My mom's grandmother was the first of her family to be born in the United States. Another great grandmother's father didn't come until about 1835. And the other side has been in the United States since the 17th century. All of these folks were English, and lived in New York State. Both the Hinds and Paxtons served for the Union side.

My Hager's, while they have roots in North Carolina before Tennessee, probably originated with Hagerstown, Maryland as the same families (Hagers and Steeley's) appear in both places. Eventually, though not in many records, my Hager's worked their way across Tennessee, down through Arkansas and into Texas. Southern in roots, all of the Hager's who fought in the Civil war fought on the Union side in Arkansas.

The Rogers and George W. Adams came from Hamilton County, Tennessee (at least we think so with George Adams) and moved to Shoal Creek Arkansas. Though family legend has it they were in the Indian home guard, the only thing I found was that they fought also for the Union from Arkansas.

Interestingly enough, though again, southern in roots, neither the Rogers nor the Hagers owned slaves. Perhaps they were just too poor.

My Choctaw side were slave holders. The Riddle's, Hall's and the Trahern's all owned slaves, though after the murder of Sarah Hall's three brothers at the end of 1862, she and her husband sold all of their slaves. Even though he could have fought, James Trahern did not participate in any war what so ever.

Whenever my Dad teased my mom about being a Yankee, he meant it was because she was born in New York. He had no idea about her family. Even though my grandfather, is in all aspects a Southerner, and so was his family, the truth is, in Mom's family, everyone was a Yankee.