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Note: Researcher Pat Shirock of Emmaus, has come to the conclusion that Elizabeth Barbara may be the "Indian" in our blood line. She thinks the Indian was a member of the Wilkes-barre tribe of Indians who had something to do with the Wyoming Massacre. Pat was told by some member of Confer family the the Indian was supposed to be the daughter of a Chief. Pat Shirock, 714 Fernwood Street, Emmaus,PA 18049 writes in 1999 the following as the result of her Genealogy research: THE INDIAN The "Indian" merits a section to him/herself, because it was this Indian that got me started on this whole ancestor hunt many years ago � just because I thought my grandmother looked like an Indian. Because her father died when she was around two years of age, she had lost touch with his family. I became curious about who he was and about his family. I sent letters out at random to people of the Cunfer/Confer name in the Lehighton area. Imagine my surprise to get a phone call from a Mrs. George Cunfer (Dorothy) inviting me to a family reunion. I talked John (husband) into going with me and was startled upon walking into this group of people at how so many of them looked like Indians � reddish skin, hawkish noses, wild eyes. Dorothy introduced me to Lewis Cunfer, a cousin of my grandmother. When I mentioned why I was there to do some family research and how I had kidded my grandmother about looking like an Indian, he said "It's true. There was an Indian in the family and I can show you where she's buried." I don't know what John thought when he was commandeered to drive me and Lewis up the road to St. John's Cemetery. But off we went and Lewis guided us to the two oldest looking stones in the far comer. They were very weathered and in German script, but you could make something out. And I went back later to examine them carefully for myself. The stone Lewis pointed to was that of Elizabeth Barbara Cunfer born in 1791, the wife of George. Now, I wrote to many people in those days (back in the 1960s) and they almost all verified the existence of an Indian in the family. Here are some quotes from those letters: Mamie Zehner � (granddaughter of old Jacob Cunfer � George & Elizabeth's son) "It was not my grandmother Cunfer's side of the family that had Indian blood. It was my grandfather Cunfer's side of the tree....Grandfather Cunfer was not a full blooded Indian. Hope you will forgive me but all I know is that we have Indian blood." Ella Rauch - "Mother said her mother never mentioned the bloodline to her � evidently they thought it was something not to be spoken of. We have a picture of my uncle lrwin and it looks more like and Indian chief than an ordinary man � and my oldest brother Bill has the high forehead and cheekbones. " "My brother Ray has been working on the family background, especially since the "Indian" heredity came up, and there is definite proof of that but I can't think of the tribe anymore, guess I was relieved that it was not the dirty tribe that I put it out of my mind completely. Mother thinks it was the mother of Jacob or grandmother that you spoke of. It is supposed to be in the Cunfer blood line." Mary Cunfer � "I cannot find out much about the older people years ago. I asked Mrs. Zehner. She said the Indian name was Cunfer or Confer.... They said that the name was changed to Confer. That there was a record in Washington. That the name Cunfer was an Indian name." "Mamie said the Cunfer side came from the Indian descendant. But we have no record of it. So I guess we can't go back over a hundred years. I often did hear that the Cunfers came from Indian descendants. ... I often heard we came from the Indian family." "They do say we came from the Indian blood. We had lots of arrowheads in the field on the farm where the Indians had been years ago." Vema Schott� (I believe she was a granddaughter of Gideon or Stephen Cunfer, Jacob's brothers) "My mother often told us that she had Indian blood in her, but I never knew if it was my great grandparents on my grandmother's side or on my grandfather's side, she never told us who the Indian was." "...All I know is my mother often said she had Indian blood in her that it was on the Cunfer side, that her great grandparent was an Indian." Vernon Kemmerer �"I do not know too much about the Cunfer family. I know my father once told me that there was some Indian blood in us, that we were descendants of the Wilks barre tribe and had something to do with the Wyoming Massacre. So we jokingly referred to ourselves as belonging to the "Dirtyfoot Tribe". Mildred Parry �1, too, understand great great grandma Cunfer (Rabenold) was an Indian but I have no records." Mildred DeVito� (her mother was Irene, dau. of Lewis Cunfer) "From my mother it is my understanding that Caroline Cunfer was the Indian. I have no verification of that." Now, coming up to the present (April 1992), I just spoke on the phone to Lavine Harper. Her mother was the granddaughter of Ellen Cunfer, a sister to my great grandfather. Her mother's name was Beatrice and she told Lavine that the Indian was four grandmothers back: Beatrice, Emma (1), Ellen (2), Caroline (3) and Elizabeth (4). Mrs. Harper told me a Maurice Cunfer of Tamaqua told her the Indian was either Caroline or Caroline's mother. That whoever it was had been attacked by an Indian and an offspring resulted. Caroline was born about 1831, and I guess I find it hard to think there were enough Indians around then still raping people. I tend to think if it was something like that, that it happened earlier in time. A rape, however, would lend itself to something the family might not like to talk about. Well, I called Maurice and guess what! He is the son of that old Lewis who took me to the graveyard many years ago. All he could say was that he'd heard many people talk about it in the old days, but he didn't know who. He said I seemed to know more about it than he did since his father had never taken him to the cemetery. He claimed to be one of the only old timers left and said all he knew was that someone had been attacked by an Indian. And then I had a curious thought. I have found the birth/baptism records of all Elizabeth and George's children except Jacob (my great-great grandfather). He should have been there right smack in the middle of his brothers and sisters that were baptized at Ben Salem � but I haven't been able to find the record. Interesting why that one record is missing. Then I thought about this stuff Mamie Zehner wrote many years ago about a name change. She was very insistent that a name change had taken place and that it was on record in Washington. Could she have meant Harrisburg? Is it possible Elizabeth was raped by an Indian and Jacob was the result? And could he not be recorded in the church book because they didn't want to put down what had happened? Could Elizabeth's husband George have done something to legally change Jacob's name to Cunfer, so he'd be the same as his brothers and sisters? Could they not even be sure who was the father maybe until the child was born? Could it be possible that we're not really Cunfers after all? I have a picture of Jacob. He has a full beard and doesn't look particularly Indian, but then he may have looked more like his mother. An interesting theory I must pursue, although I don't know exactly how I'm going to do it. Now this theory doesn't wash either if you read what Verna Schott wrote. She writes the Indian was in the Cunfer line beyond Jacob. On the other hand, none of these people are too clear about anything. I'd say about the only thing one can put faith in in that there must have been an Indian, or else why would so many different sources say that there was.
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