Yates and Cooper Cherokee-Choctaw-Sephardic GenealogiesUpdated March 13, 2008 |
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| UPDATE: I have moved to New Mexico and am now owner of DNA Consulting, an Internet genealogy service that combines DNA testing with surname research and population studies. Visit DNA Consulting at www.dnaconsultants.com I began by researching my father's family, the YATESES. I wrote The Bear Went Over the Mountain in 1995. "Yates" comes from Goetz, a contraction of the two Hebrew letters GZ standing for Ger Zedek whose meaning is "Righteous Convert." The earliest known bearers of this surname were French Jews living in medieval Speyer--other surnames from the same common ancestor are Stuart, Caldwell, Ramey, Sanford, Rodriguez and Etheridge (Oesterreicher, "Austrian"). My "Deep South" Yateses are descended from John Yates/Yeatts, a saddler of Dan River, through William Yates, R.S. who settled in Heard County, Ga. These Yateses recently tested out as being French Jewish through DNA samples analyzed by Family Tree DNA in Houston. Elisabeth Yates, said to have been a fullblood Cherokee and my great-great-grandmother, was also mixed Sephardi, related to the family of Col. Will Thomas. Her parents were William Oliver Mitchell of South Carolina and Anna Thomas (born in Buncombe Co., N.C.). For the past two or three years I have been researching my mother's side, the COOPERS. The earliest figure here is William (Abraham?) Cooper, a North Carolina trader and scout for Daniel Boone who died in the defense of Nashville. He may be the son of James Cooper of Southwark Parish, Surry Co., Va., whose father was probably Robert/Rueben Cooper, a London goldsmith of Portuguese extraction. Ultimately, however, the Coopers, like the Yateses, were French Jews of Visigothic stock. William's wife was perhaps Malleah/Malilah Labon, a Choctaw halfbreed woman. William's son Henry Labon Cooper married Molly Houston, daughter of Robert Houston of Caswell Co., N.C. Their son Isaac Cooper, b. about 1770, married a daughter of Cherokee chief Black Fox (Enola, d. 1811). Another daughter, Mary Ann Black married William Davis, d. Jackson Co., Ala., 1848. The Coopers are considered to be Melungeon, Portuguese or Black Dutch, and are sometimes found listed as Free Persons of Color, Mulatto or Indian. Naming patterns, family traditions and DNA testing confirm they are Jewish. It is the same story with the DAVISES, ADKINS, BLEVINS (all three Welsh-Jewish, the Blevinses Semitic), SIZEMORES (early mixed with Indian in the male line acc to recent DNA testing but Jewish in faith in Colonial times), LACKEYS and SHANKLES (from Holland via Scotland). Names prominent in the reports on these pages are: ADAIR, ADKINS, BLACK, BLEVINS, BONDURANT-BUNDREN, COOPER, BURKE, DAVIS, DENNEY, GOBLE, FOSSETT/FAWCETT, GRABEN, MITCHELL, LACKEY, MUSE, SHANKLES, SIZEMORE, THOMAS, WEAVER, JORDAN, REDWINE, MCDONALD and YATES. Tribes represented are CHEROKEE, TIHANAMA, CHOCTAW, CHICKASAW, CREEK, YUCHI, EASTERN BLACKFOOT, NIPPISING, REDWINE, POWHATAN and SHAWNEE." |
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Donald N. Panther-Yates 1274 Calle de Comercio Santa Fe, NM 87507 A-United States 505-473-5155 dpy@dnaconsultants.com |
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