DNA Study Debunks Indian Genealogy Myth

The origins of Shawnee Indian chief Blue Jacket have been debated for years. According to legend, a young man named Marmaduke Van Swearingen, wearing a blue coat, was captured and adopted by the Shawnee around the time of the American Revolutionary War. His younger brother, Charles, watched him being taken, but was allowed to live. The legend also claims that years later, after earning the trust of the Shawnee and rising to the position of war chief, the white man, now viewing himself as an Indian, killed his brother in battle.

The story is even reenacted every year in Xenia, Ohio, as part of a pageant that has drawn more than 1 million visitors over the last 25 years.

It is a great story, but apparently it is untrue. New DNA evidence shows almost certainly that Blue Jacket was in fact an American Indian and not white, as the myth had claimed.

Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and Technical Associates Inc. in Ventura, California, collected DNA from six living male descendants of Blue Jacket and four direct relatives of Swearingen. The team's report states, "Barring any questions of the paternity of the Chief's single son who lived to produce male heirs, the 'Blue Jacket-with-Caucasian-roots' legend is not based on reality."

Carlyle Hinshaw, an Oklahoma genealogist and seventh-generation descendant of Blue Jacket, was of assistance in finding relatives as he had "done some updating of genealogy and developed a good database." Hinshaw explained that Blue Jacket's people were first resettled to northeast Kansas, then, after the Civil War, to Oklahoma to live with the Cherokee.

You can read more about Blue Jacket at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Jacket and more about the recent DNA study at http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/top/3_1_EL04_A1INDIAN_S1.htm

Comments

[Elizabeth Shown Mills]

For the genealogical evidence that disproved that myth 12 years ago, see Louise F. Johnson, “Testing Popular Lore: Marmaduke Swearingen a.k.a. Chief Blue Jacket,” *National Genealogical Society Quarterly* 82 (September 1994): 165–79.

The research and analysis done back then by Johnson and Robert Van Trees was a tour de force that could serve as a blueprint for everyone who seeks validation of a family legend.

ESM

[Carlyle Hinshaw]

Actually, the first debunk of Thomas Jefferson Larsh's false tale of 1877 was done in print by Pearl Tecumsah Bluejacket in 1937 by the Oklahoma Historical Society. The next appears to be by Helen Hornbeck Tanner of the Newberry Library in 1969. Rev.Charles Bluejacket himself debunked it to a nephew before he died in 1897, but it was not
printed except by a letter from Donald Eugene Bluejacket to Robert Van Trees in 1963. Van Trees uncovered the Pennsylvanian Registered Traders trading records with Blue Jacket (1750 to 1753) in 1985. True research wins out.

[Robert V. Van Trees, Fairborn, Ohio]

A fourth edition of my "Banks of the Wabash"
is being printed and available in late Sept 2007.
It relects seven decades of research concerning
the unsupported tale by Thomas J. Larsh in 1877
claiming his great uncle, Marmaduke Van Swearingen,
became Chief Blue Jacket. Allan Eckert added the
totally false tale of fratricide in 1967 alleging
the Captain Van Swearingen KIA 4 Nov. 1791 where
Fort Recovery, OH stands today was a younger
brother of Marmaduke. DNA testing in 2000 and 2006
using DNA samples collected by Van Trees support
his research conclusions that the Chief was Shawnee
and not Caucasian. The facts, not fiction, are
discussed in the 302 pages of Banks of the Wabash.

[mary c]

i'm tracing my family history we've been told that my family is suppose to be some kin to blue jacket.i'm tring to put these pieces together and it's getting closer cause i have found a swerangen in 1700's in our family tree. we do have indian blood in our family

[Adam Elledge]

I am doing an I-Search paper for my English class in college. I'm trying to search my family history. I've been taught all my life that Blue Jacket is a relative. After reading about the DNA testing I see things differently. Do you have any more information on Van Swearingen line of decent? Any information is greatly appriciated.