The Minks Family

[madrock]

This is a new thread established to begin discussion of the Mink family.

[hermin1]

mink: it would help if we knew when your son-in-law's gr. father was born and where.Does he know who his grandmother was, and when she/where she was born?

[mink]

The family that I am interested in researching is actually called "Minks"--not to be confused with me, good old Mink. Unfortunately, I do not have too much information right now and should get in touch with my son-in-law's mother, maiden name Minks, who ought to know more. The Minks family, insofar as I am aware, were Cherokee and something else [Apache?]
who were displaced and took part in the migration called the Trail of Tears. Somehow, they ended up near Farmington, Missouri. I'll try to get more info. There is a Minks family page on some genealogical website, but I can't find any connections.

[mink]

I found what seems to me must be the grandfather's gravesite at Findagrave. I found the great-grandfather, too. Here is the grandfather's info:

Clyde Charles Minks
born Jan. 27, 1928 St. Louis City, MO
died Jan. 28, 1981 Farmington, St. Francois County, MO Parkview Cemetery

married twice 1. Maryann Beck [1934-1988] 2. Nancy Martin [1937-2010]

I don't know which one is the grand-mother of my son-in-law right now. He wanted
to take a DNA test to prove his Native American heritage but I don't know if it will do
any good looking at this picture. Your haplotypes [the part of your DNA that shows where your ancestors lived] is contained in your y-DNA [passed in an unbroken chain from father to son] and your mt-DNA [passed in an unbroken chain from mother to daughter]. A man can inherit his mother's mt-DNA but cannot pass that on to his children. My son-in-law's father is not NA to my knowledge. His mother is--but if *her* mother was not NA, she would have no NA haplotype to pass onto my son-in-law in her mt-DNA. That's how it works, but I really know nothing about the grandmother, what her heritage might have been. Of course, the haplotypes are only a part of your DNA. There are other genes you inherit from both parents. But the haplotypes, part of haplogroups, are the only way researchers can tell what part of the world your more distant ancestors came from according to your blood--and that is helpful to those who have no paper-trail regarding their ancestry.

[mink]

Okay--found the great-grandfather. From Findagrave:

Clyde Carl Minks

Birth: May 8, 1905
Vineland
Jefferson County
Missouri, USA
Death: Jul. 30, 1953
St. Louis City
Missouri, USA

Death certificate for Clyde Carl Minks states date of birth as May 8, 1905 in Vineland Missouri. Mother's name is Mary Stanford, and Father's name is Marian Minks. Lists occupation as a laborer in the plumbing industry. Informant Margaret Minks.

Death Certificate for Clyde Carl Minks states that he died 7 30 53 in Firmin Desloge Hespital in St. Louis, Missouri. Burial was Aug 3, 1953 in the National Cemetery in St. Louis County.

Family links:
Spouse:
Margaret Jane Bradfield Minks (1907 - 1995)*

Children:
Robert Carl Minks (1926 - 1967)*
Clyde Charles Minks (1928 - 1981)*
David Roy Minks (1929 - 1996)*
Evelyn Jane Minks (1931 - 1932)*
Mark Allen Minks (1950 - 2000)*

[hermin1]

Clyde Carl's parents were Francis Marian Minks and Lucinda Chapman or Chatman. Mary Alice Stanford's parents were Thomas Stanford, and Amanda Jane Derrich or Derrick.
Ref. www.familysearch.org

[mink]

Hi, Hermin--I found them all and there is a LOT of genealogy on this family on one site--goes back a long way! But can I trace them back to 1838 and the Trail of Tears? I don't know. I am taking it for granted that the the Minks side of my son-in-laws mother were the native Americans but it could be her maternal side. I was told that the family was called "Minks" because that was what the name of their tribe meant in their language--mink. I wish I could remember which tribe because I was able to confirm that some time ago. [They are not only Cherokee.] But perhaps this is only family lore--who knows? Well, I know a lot more about this family than I did yesterday so progress has been made.

[mink]

BTW, I think those "children" listed above are only the deceased ones. There are other living ones. I know that Mark Allen Minks (1950 - 2000) was the uncle of my son-in-law and therefore the brother of his mother.

[mink]

At this site

www.geni.com/people/Peter-Minks/6000000003434148432?through=6000000003434201135

I hit a dead end so far. The last man back is Peter Minks, born 1821 and died circa 1865.
Doesn't say where. His wife was Anna Burton, born 1823.

[mink]

I spoke with my son-in-law today and he said his mother is definitely Cherokee on the Minks side. He has always heard that his male ancestor died on the Trail of Tears and left a wife who was always known just as "the Widow Minks". Checking over some of the Minks or Mink [this last branch admits to dropping the "s"] geneaological websites, it does not seem to me so definite that this Peter Minks is actually the farthest ancestor of all of them. If the Minks ancestor actually died during the Trail of Tears, he certainly cannot have lived until 1865.

[hermin1]

mink: You know who isthe uncle of your son-in-law,right? find his obituary and you will find the name of his sister-your son-in-law's mother.
Peter minks may have been the son of the Minks-unknown who died during the Trail of Tears.
I'll do some more checking at my haunts on the net and see what I can find.

[hermin1]

mink: belowis link to the Trail of Tears Route map. it makes sense tht the Minks ancestors would find themselves in Missouri.

ngeorgia.com/history/trailoftearsmap2.html

[hermin1]

here you go Mink: cherokee Translation for Mink/Sur Ky family:

pminxk.blogspot.com/2011/06/cherokee-listings-of-name-mink.html

the Trail of Tears occurred way before 1865 by @25-30 years.
there are members of the Mink family in Oklahoma.

[mink]

Good detective work, Hermin but I can't see a connection to that interesting page. I have been working on this for the past couple of hours [was too busy the rest of the day] and finally found the best website of all on the Minks family in question. I forgot to copytthe URL fo it but can add it on in a subsequent post. I think the connection of my son-in-law's family to Peter Minks and his wife, Anna, nee Burton, is inevitable. Both of these people were born in Kentucky. Try as I might, I can find no connection to the Trail of Tears or to Cherokees. In fact, the grand-father several times removed of my son-in-law was named for Francis Marion, a so-called Revolutionary "hero", also known as "The Swamp Fox", who waged a brutal campaign against the Cherokees. Hard to believe any descendants of that nation would name anybody after him! I am going into detail about this in case any Minks/Mink surname person comes across this site by Googling.

Now, looking at my son-in-law and his family, down to my five-year-old grand-daughter, you would be sorely tempted to believe they were Native Americans of the West. They have the sharp, pronounced features, dusky skin, fine dark eyes, and are very good-looking. [Older testimony about that later]. All of my son-in-law's mother's seven children fit this description but one--who is blond. Their appearance does not seem to fit in with all the Yankee [British] names on their family tree. Whatever caused them to look like they do is shrouded in mystery and probably no one will be able to uncover the reason. Who was "Widow Minks"? Several women could fit that designation, as I'll explain. So here's the lineup, beginning with the grandfather of my son-in-law:

Clyde Charles Minks 1928-1981

Clyde Carl Minks 1905-1953

Marion Minks 1871- 1942 [so far all were born in Missouri]

Francis Marion Minks 1841-1917 [he was born in Indiana]

The parents of Francis were Peter Minks and Anna Burton. As I said, bother were born in Kentucky but, for some reason, were married in 1840 in Harrison County, Indiana. Peter Minks was born in 1821 and Anna in 1823. Since the county marriage records states that Anna, only 17, was married "by consent of her, father, present", it is very doubtful she can have had a previous husband or any children that Minks adopted.

An 1850 census has Peter and Anna Minks now living in Missouri. They have four children, ages 13 to 4, all but the youngest born in Indiana. An 1840 census has the Minks living in Blue River Township, Harrison County, Indiana. The 1860 census, Dallas County, MO, indicates the Minks now have 7 children. The 1870 census does not show Peter Minks, who seems to have died around 1865, and some of the older children, but the family appears to have grown to 9 children with the addition of two small boys.

The 1880 census of Phelps County, MO, has an Ann Minks, a WIDOW, white, age 57, living in the house next to that of a Michael Dyo, also age 57. Ann Minks is his housekeeper. Michael Dyo, whose parents were born in France, is married to Ann's daughter, Sarah Elizabeth [Minks], who was already a WIDOW, her first husband having died. This Sarah was reputed to have been a beautiful woman with long, black hair and black eyes. [This description also fits my son-in-laws mother when she was young]. People thought she was French--and who knows--but Michael Dyo, her husband in 1880 was French for sure. Sarah's first husband, Charles Lankford Birge, born about 1867 in Indiana, died in 1873 in MO, having been poisoned by eating the roots of wild parsnips.

The second husband, Michael Dyo, was born in 1820 in Six Mile Prairie, Madison Co., Illinois, and died in 1907 in MO. After Sarah died, Michael Dyo married pne of her Burton relatives. Sarah had one child with her first husband and I can't recall if she had any with Dyo. However, the Minks in question are descended from Sarah's elder brother, Francis Marion Minks, who may have resembled Sarah in appearance.

Francis Marion Minks married Lucinda Chapman, who was a WIDOW for a very long time.
Her husband died in 1917 and she didn't pass away until 1935 at the age of 92.

[mink]

Here is the URL where I got much of my info:

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jlbrown1820/Minks%20Family%20Tree.html

[hermin1]

yes ,i saw tht website mink.could Anna hve had children with mr.Dyo?if he is of french descent,some of the French were dark skinned.
i went to a Minks family forum at ancestry.com and apparently the writers feelthat this native American ancestry is nothing more than a rumor.

[mink]

I have noticed that people called "Mink" have the same rumor. How it began is the mystery. The family with its various surname spellings seems quite large--but then people had a lot of children in the 19th Century. Anna was just Mr. Dyo's housekeeper--but also his mother-in-law. It was Anna's daughter, Sarah, who was married to Dyo and I can't find any record of their having had any children. When Sarah died, Michael Dyo married one of her Burton relatives, Catherine Wagonseller. He had at least one child with her. But my son-in-law's family is not descended from Sarah but from her elder brother, Francis Marion Minks.

[mink]

Hermin, I think I will turn my research to this aspect--the Melungeon. I have done some research on these people before and it was in the back of my mind as I was coming up with nothing Cherokee for the Minks family. If you have not heard of the Melungeons, this might interest you:

sparksgenealogy.net/melungeons.html

Here's a quote from the page:

“If your family has an Indian Grandmother (father) 'myth' which you have been unable to prove, and they have been hard to trace and they lived in NC, TN, KY, VA, WV areas in the early migration years or if they seem to have moved back and forth in these areas and if they share any of the mentioned surnames and characteristics, you may find a connection here. Some descendants do not show the physical characteristics and of course, there are many people with the surnames who are not connected to this group.”

However, "Burton", the maiden name of Anna Minks, is one of the surnames listed among the Melungeon ones. And, of course, Peter Minks and Anna Burton were from Kentucky. The Melungeons married persons of the native tribes, including the Cherokee.

[hermin1]

Interesting theory.Too bad no one did any DNA Studies on these people.

[hermin1]

minl is it possible that some of these Minks may have been a mixture of the Seminoles and/or Cherokee?