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What is my American Indian Heritage?
My name is James Constable I have recently found out that my lineage on my mothers side is American Indian.
All I know about my ancestor is that his name was Richard or Robert Moore (I’m not sure Richard or Robert), he jumped ship from America to Australia sometime in the 1800’s apparently he was from Death Valley California. He invented something in cameras that is still in use today and had something to do with the early days of Caritas (St Vincents De Paul). What I do not know know is what tribe he was from what age and where he died and about his children.
Hi Jim,
Unfortunately you don’t have much to go on by what you’ve provided. In Native American research you always find out the names of the tribes which were in the vicinity your ancestor was born to try and help identify the possible tribe. In Richard/Robert Moore’s case, if he was born in Death Valley, that would be the Timbisha Shoshone. Timbisha is a band of Shoshone or Shoshoni which lived in and “took care of” Death Valley. Death Valley is in and around Inyo County California
Take a look at the recent discussion on Looking for Native American Roll M595 on GenHelper. It should provide you some guidance for after 1884… unfortunately there really isn’t much you can look at from 1849 when whites first set foot in Death Valley and the first census being taken in the area of the country your ancestor was born.