Tori Amos - Eastern Cherokee ancestry not confirmed

Private User

2/17/2020 at 8:51 PM

Tori Amos has said in interviews that she had two maternal second-great-grandparents who were enrolled Eastern Cherokee. Genealogists have never been able to find the records, but since her statements are more specific than the usual, I thought it was worth pursuing.

I've now gone through all 16 of her second-great-grandparents, and I've found that her ancestry is European. There are a couple points worth double-checking, however:

1) Anderson Jackson Copeland -- his wife and son are listed as white, so that makes it improbable for him to be Cherokee

2) John Akins and Sallie Akins -- as with Jack (above), their son is listed as white, so once again improbable

If anyone is interested in pursuing this, those would be the only points to check; the other 13 are very clearly white. If not, we can assume her family story was inaccurate.

Private User

2/17/2020 at 9:01 PM

Here's what Ethnicelebs has to say, which matches what I found. For Margaret Loraine Rice, she's listed as white on the 1880 and 1900 U.S. Federal Censuses.

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"The first of Tori's great-great-grandparents cited as Cherokee was a woman named Margaret Loraine Little. Margaret is listed as 'White' on United States Censuses. Margaret's mother's name is sometimes cited as Elizabeth J. McAllister.

The second of Tori's great-great-grandparents cited as Cherokee was a man named John Akins. John’s son, Tori's great-grandfather, John Calhoun Akins, is listed as 'White' on United States Censuses."

Private User

2/17/2020 at 9:06 PM

There's this, from https://www.ncpedia.org/amos-tori:

"Amos had a close relationship with her maternal grandfather, Calvin Copeland, a member of the Eastern Cherokee Nation."

I cant find Calvin Clinton Copeland in the rolls, but maybe someone else can.

Private User

2/17/2020 at 9:19 PM

Calvin is listed as white on his WWI draft card, his WWII draft card, and his death certificate. That plus not being in the tribal rolls means he wasn't enrolled.

So I guess that answers that.

Tori Amos - Eastern Cherokee ancestry not confirmed

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