HOME PAGE FOR EAGLE EYE FAMILY TREE
If you are a member of Zella Eagle Eye's family, please do email us to say hello and to share.
Native American ancestry can be incredibly difficult to trace. Census enumeration did not start until 1885, and then only included registered tribes, and there are no church records for native religions.
We are very fortunate, however, in being able to trace the ancestry and extended family of Zella Eagle Eye. We have copies of letters written to Zella by his brother, Edward Black Bear. And one of Zella's descendants interviewed Edward Black Bear's daughter Stella. Were it not for that interview, we would not have known which Edward Black Bear belonging to the Oglala Sioux Tribe was Zella's brother. There was only one Edward Black Bear who had a daughter whose name was Stella.
We also have information from Zella's marriage to Anna Beck, stating that his father was Black Bear, and his mother was White Blanket. Our elation at finding that marriage record was quickly subdued, however, when we found that there is no woman whose name was White Blanket in the Indian Census records at the Reservations where we know his family lived - Pine Ridge for sure, and possibly Rosebud as well.
Zella Eagle Eye is said to have attended Carlisle School in Pennsylvania, and may not have even lived on a reservation after enumeration for the Indian Census rolls started after 1885. So, it seemed critical to trace his brother's history through the censuses at Pine Ridge. Since it is easier to search the Federal Census Records than the Indian Census Rolls, we started with searching Federal Censuses. And, we found Edward in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, but not in the 1900 census under the name Edward Black Bear. But, knowing that Edward had children born before 1900, we knew we should be able to find him, and set to work using a favorite genealogy tactic, search for another known family member instead.
The result of that search was a 1900 U.S. Federal Census record showing that Edward's name was Fooling Bear before it was changed to Black Bear. You can view the 1900 and 1910 Federal Census records for Edward and his wife and children at the following, to see for yourself.
Entry for Fooling Bear, "United States Census, 1900" - FamilySearch.org
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MST6-57G
Entry for Edward Black Bear, "United States Census, 1910" - FamilySearch.org
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MPXT-BSB
Then, armed with the knowledge that we needed to be looking for Fooling Bear, rather than looking for Edward Black Bear, we set out to find his Indian Census roll entries. When you can find your family in them, they can be incredibly helpful as the enumerations were taken nearly every year after 1885 at Pine Ridge, where the family lived.
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While reading our discussion below about the discoveries we made in the Indian Census records, we suggest that you start by also viewing our census transcriptions for Fooling Bear on his Personal Page in our Family Tree, and consider bringing those transcriptions up in another tab in your browser, so you can view the transcriptions while reading the narrative below. Similarly, to see the census transcriptions for the other people in our tree who are discussed below, simply click on that person's name in the discussion, and then scroll down their personal page in our family tree, to click on the links to the census transcriptions that are listed at the bottom portion of that person's profile. |
Fooling Bear had married his wife, Prays to Her, whose Indian name was Cekiyapi, around 1893, so the records we were the most interested in, for finding more about his siblings and parents, were for 1886 through 1892. We never did find Fooling Bear living with his parents, but we did find him living with siblings, and so we studied the census entries for these siblings, as well .
Fooling Bear living with his wife and their first child in the 1893 census. Then, when we go back to 1892, we find him living with his sister "Playing with Wood" and grandmother "Cane". There was no census taken at Pine Ridge in 1891, and before that, Fooling Bear was living in Pennsylvania, along with his brother Zella, at the Carlisle School, so would not have appeared on the census rolls at Pine Ridge.
We do not know, at this point, which side his grandmother "Cane" is on, but were able to trace "Playing with Wood" further. We find "Plays in Wood" listed in the 1886 census as a daughter of the Black Bear who was born about 1853. But we think this is a mistake, as she is listed as Black Bear's sister, as well as the sister of Paul Black Bear and Comes Out Holy, in the 1890 census rolls, and as the sister of Fooling Bear in the 1892 census. We also think we have identified her in the 1887 and 1888 census rolls, listed under an alternate rendition of her Indian name into English as Fly in the Woods, but she is living with other relatives whose location in our family tree, we cannot be certain about.
Our proof that "Plays in the Woods," along with Paul Black Bear, and Comes Out Holy, are children of Cow Goes First, comes from looking at the 1894 census.
In the 1894 census, we find Cow Goes First living with her husband White Blanket, and children Paul Black Bear, Thomas Black Bear, Kitty Black Bear, Herman Black Bear, and Harry White Blanket. Then, looking at the Federal Census record for Cow Goes First in 1900 (see link below), we see that she married White Blanket about 1879, and it seems that Harry was their only child. Note that her name was rendered slightly differently in the record, but we are sure it is the same woman. In that record, White Blanket and Cow Comes First are listed as having been married 21 years, and their son Harry is 18 years old. Harry is listed as a stepson rather than as a son, but this is probably a mistake made by the census taker, who was a government agent who likely knew that Cow Goes First's other children were all stepchildren of White Blanket.
"Cow Comes First" in the 1900 United States Census
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MST6-5W6
So, we are fairly certain that Cow Goes First was Edward Black Bear's mother, that Edward Black Bear was Zella Eagle Eye's brother, and that the husband of Cow Goes First was White Blanket at the time that most if not all of her children were married. Then, as we mention on Zella Eagle Eye's personal page, it seems very likely that he gave his mother's current surname, which was White Blanket, when he married Anna Beck in Illinois.
Please note that, in some cases, in assembling the family tree, we have included brothers of Zella who did not live with any other known siblings in the records we found, because we know from relatives that they were siblings. One such brother whom we know about from the family, was Red Nest, and it is through his 1890 and 1892 census records that we learned about Zella's brother Herman, who we later do find listed as a son of Cow Goes First.
There are many more census entries relevant to how we put together the list of family members, and more siblings than we have spoken about on this page, but the above should give you the basic idea of how we put together the family tree. We invite you to visit the family tree now and look at the census transcriptions for each family member in whom you are interested.
To explore their census records, one possible starting point is to go to the family tree page for Cow Goes First, and click on the name of each family member to see their personal details and the census transcriptions at the bottom of each page. Or you can enter the person's name in the freefind search box on the page at the bottom.
Cow Goes First Descendancy Chart
http://thecohens.theunixplace.com/trees/oglala/onlyfamilydescI52.shtml
For more information about how to view different aspects of each person's information in the tree, read the section below about how to use and navigate our family tree.
And if you are a member of our Eagle Eye family, or have any questions, please do [an error occurred while processing this directive]email us.
GETTING AROUND OUR FAMILY TREES
Our Oglala Family tree for the descendants of Black Bear and Cow Goes First was originally posted at Rootsweb'S WorldConnect Project, but because of serious issues with the new version of WorldConnect, we have moved that tree to TribalPages. The advantage of TribalPages is it is graphically based, and may be easier for some people to navigate, but the site is not allowing us to post all the Census Transcriptions right now, so you will need to visit our text based site at http://thecohens.theunixplace.com/trees/oglala/ for the most interesting information about each family member. For those people whose names appear in our census transcriptions, we have included a link to their profiles at our text based tree in their notes at tribalpages, to make it easier for you to switch to the other tree to read the transcriptions.
Our Text Family Tree at TheUnixPlace
The home page for our text-based tree is at Eagle Eye family tree. On that page you will find a link to a descendant chart for the Descendants of Eagle Eye's parents, Black Bear and Cow Goes First.
At the top of most pages you will also find a link to the NAME index for the tree, and at the bottom of every page, there is a FreeFind box which may help you find family members who went by other names than the primary one shown in the NAME index. FreeFind will search all our trees on that site, so if you do not know which branch your ancestors were in, it should help you locate the appropriate pages in our trees there.
The tree consists primarily of text based individual profiles which show that person's immediate family members. To browse the tree, or to find out more about that person's parents, spouses or children, select the name of a in the profile, of either of their parents, or of their spouse or one of their children. Then click on that name to view that family member's profile.
Each person's profile will contain basic birth, marriage and death information, along with the names of the person's immediate family members, as well as any other names to be found for this person. There also is a NOTES section at the bottom of each profile with more information on various topics if that person has notes. And there will be links to all census transcriptions on our site that apply to that person. Simply click on those links to view the census roll transcriptions.
Our Black Bear Tree at TribalPages
Because of limitations at TribalPages, our graphical Oglala Black Bear Eagle Eye Tree is less complete than the tree at http://thecohens.theunixplace.com/trees/, and is more challenging to figure out because there are so many choices about how to view the tree. But it's pages show people's names in boxes so people's relationship are easier to understand. And it is great for generating reports on demand, which cannot be done at the text based site.
The HOME PAGE for the graphical version of our Black Bear Eagle Eye tree provides basic information about the tree, and about half way down the page, there is a section for "Getting around the Tree". The information below is meant to supplement that information, explaining how to make choices for viewing different parts and views of the tree.
At the top of almost every page, directly below any ads, is a black menu bar as shown below. Clicking on a word in that menu bar will trigger a dropdown submenu, and will take you to a page of that type in the tree. Below that black menu bar will be a list of the options for that part of the tree.
![[tribalpages menu bar]](./img/tpmenu-main.jpg)
To start with, you may wish to simply search for a person using the search box on the right of the menu bar, or click on "People" on the menu bar. The resulting choices, shown below, will give you the ability to visit either the "Last Name" or the "Name" index.
![[tribalpages menu bar for people]](./img/tpmenu-people.jpg)
Choosing "View" on the menu bar provides you with most of the ways available to view information about a particular person in the tree.
![[tribalpages menu bar for views]](./img/tpmenu-view)
Then, each page showing information about people in the tree will have a small box displaying a person's name, and selecting a different name in that box will change to a page or report that is for that person. If you are on a VIEW or REPORT page, changing the type of view or report (shown as a list of choices below the black menu bar) will cause the page to change to display that type of view or report for the person already selected.
About Names in Our Trees
In some cases, you will see a plus sign "+" or a question mark "?" after a name. What this means is as follows:
? single question marks have been appended to the surnames (i.e., a last name) of women whose maiden name is unknown
??? multiple question marks at the end of a name indicate that the full name is not clear in the source data
+ plus signs have been appended to given names (i.e., first names) when it is not clear whether the entry represents information belonging to a new person not currently in the tree, or to someone already in the tree - it is an unattached or possible duplicate entry
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Go to Graphical Family Tree (for reports) Go to Eagle Eye Family Tree (for more complete information) |
Back to Top of This Page Read how to easily find a specific person on a page |
This page is http://thecohens.theunixplace.com/family/eagleeyetree.html
Original URL: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~thecohens/eagleeyetree.html
Original discussion dated
January 27, 2015
Links revised May 20, 2026