Comments on our Indian Ancestry

JOHN PATRICK EARL COLUMBA DESCOTEAUX writes:

"There are Descoteaux, Decoteau, Decoto, Dakota people on a number of reservations especially in the Dakotas. Check out Turtle Mountain Chippaewa Reservation in North Dakota. In Canada they are known as Metis, rather than Indian. A further complication is that in early Quebec there was usually no distinction made between children born or children adopted, no matter what the race. As I understand history of the Ttrois Riviere area, the men folk often left their families in Quebec to trap and trade in the West and North. Due to the Descoteaux Curse of unbridled passion, these chaps did not go without feminine companionship. There is said to be Indian ancestry on my side of the family from a collateral branch of Dow's. I know my father's family spent summers on or near a Reservation in New Hampshire. From the Gautier side came the St. Louis affiliation. Elizabeth Gautier was a large, robust woman who looked decidedly native. I have a Picture. She was mother to Grand father Aimee. Coloration and hair colour have no bearing on the matter. Many Southern French are dark due to the Mediterranean trade routes and various wars. Alkonquin people are often light skinned and blue-eyed. Don't forget, the puritans were met at Plymouth Rock by red bearded men speaking English and they were "Indian". At any rate, here in the West most Descoteauxs pronounce their name "Dakota" and often spell it that way. The Bureau of Indian Affairs in the states lists me, a Descoteaux, as Indian and I am an Aboriginal in Canada, a Metis. Just getting my two cents in the pot of mysterious knowledge, or lack thereof."

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