My cousin uploaded a bunch of old family photos. It's probably no surprise my Anglican (Tuscarora/Mohawk) side has way more photos than my tradish side (Cayuga/Mohawk). What really touched me is seeing new photos of foundling babies.

You hear stories of yts dropping their babies off in the old days, but seeing those kids is something else. My grandfather's youngest sister came to our family this way too. She came to our family because my great grandmother could care for her

Look at my spiffy grandpa Jick with aunt Lu and aunt Marj

My aunt Lu lived in Rochester and got remarried to a guy she met in her retirement home in the 90s. I remember her and her little sister Carol coming back home for a visit and Carol saying DID SHE TELL YOU WHAT SHE DID?!?! Lu absolutely did not bring that guy home

There were more siblings, of course. My aunt Marj as a baby with another brother, Arnold. Their parents, my great grandparents, Sam and Minnie Anderson, photographed by Frederick Waugh in 1915

Another photo of Minnie, holding baby (great aunt) Lu at a quilting bee in 1923. The lady 2nd from the left is Martha Burning, a non-native foundling child raised by the Burning family who spoke fluent Mohawk

Sam Anderson, with his parents, John R and Mary (nee Thomas) Anderson. This photo is probably taken around 1930. Anderson's live a long time. My own grandpa Jick was born in 1919 (ish? They forgot what year he was born)

Mary again, with Herman, a foundling white child she took in.

Mary's parents, the oldest family photos. Esther was Mohawk. She married John, who was born in 1818 in England. Both are buried at St John's Church, where Sam, Minnie, Jick, Lu, Marj, and my grandma Iowne are buried. Photos from 1850/1860

We look back on history as if those people were less accepting/tolerant than we are. But John Thomas married a Mohawk woman and was buried at Six Nations. People like him and these foundling babies make our families and nation more than what the Indian Act says we are