by Leland P. Morrill Adopted Native American Citizenship Affected by The REAL ID Act of 2005 on Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 11:26am
As many of you know by reading my previous entries, I was adopted out of the Navajo Nation without a Certificate of Indian Blood, Census Number or Birth Certificate. The Real ID ACT of 2005 makes it necessary to prove birth by a National Birth Certificate or a U.S. State issued birth certificate. I am trying to do this by July 13.2011, after that date, I am effectively an illegal alien that was born in Albuquerque New Mexico...new birth place right now as that's where my biological Aunt and Uncle have updated where I was born. BUT I still need my bio-parents birth dates in order to fill out required documents for the request to the Navajo Nation or to a State Vital Statistics office. It would also be helpful to know where in Albuquerque I was born. My biological Uncle Bob is helping me with that.
Some of you may be aware there are certain native american customs regarding death. If you were adopted because your biological parents died and you do find blood relatives, they may be reluctant to talk about the dead or in some cases may have forgotten many details about your biological parents such as birth, death dates, where they were buried, etc. For many forms you will need your biological parents birth dates, maternal and paternal clans.
Though it may seem more of a complication, hassle, frustration...whatever word you use to describe the delay in finding information from blood relatives, it would be in your best interest to research your tribal nations customs regarding remembering and talking of deceased persons.
In my particular case, my biological mother's untimely death (car accident) in Albuquerque in the late 60's complicates my search for her birthdate, where she is buried, which cemetary, etc.
Navajo Belief
Navajo people believe that when someone dies, they go to the underworld. Certain precautions must be taken during the burial process to ensure that they don't return to the world of the living. These visits are to be avoided at all costs, and for this reason, Navajos are very reluctant to look at a dead body. Contact with the body is limited to only a few individuals.
LEGEND
A Navajo legend explains why death exists in the world: One day, the Navajo people placed an animal hide in water. If it did not sink, then no one would ever die. However, if the hide sank into the water, then death would be part of life.
The Navajo did not watch the hide, but turned away from it instead. While their backs were turned, a coyote threw some rocks on top of the hide. Of course, this made it sink down into the water. The coyote's reason was that if no one ever died, there would come a point at which there wouldn't be any more land on which the people would live. This is the reason death comes for all of us eventually.
Sometimes the search to find a person is exhausting but please persist!!
From my Aunt Ruth:
"We spent an hour looking for your mother's grave yesterday, but no luck. We have a couple of people to visit on Bob's mother's side of the family as the Kirks don't seem to remember anything about your mom. We were at Uncle Oliver's with about 50 others for a pot luck with fry bread and nashchizzi (Corn stew). We stopped by another relative's place, but she wasn't home. perhaps I can get Bob to call her today. As you know, leaving no stone unturned can be an exhaustive process! Love, Ruth"
My research may seemed to have been stalled, but I do have a lead. I know that my Aunt Ruth & Uncle Bob looked in Ganado for my biological mothers grave. So, now I can look up the cemetary and perhaps ask an employee who works there. Sometime you have to look outside the box when researching. That will be my next step, who knows, perhaps they have an old record book that shows when people were buried. Ganado is a small community so, I'm hopeful this will be a step that helps me.
Now to call Ganado Community Cemetery and Ganado Mission Cemetary to see if anyone there knows...Wish me luck!!!!
AWESOME UPDATE from my Aunt Ruth:
Lee, i don't know if you are familiar with ganado... but the cemetery Bob remembers going to for her burial was just South of town on Rt 191 off to the left. There are a lot of Catholics buried there and a number of veterans. Very few were wealthy enough to have a headstone. Ruth
This narrows the first phone call to Ganado Community Cemetery.
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO AUNT RUTH AND UNCLE BOB for their effort and wandering around the cemetery.
FURTHER UPDATE
Aunt Ruth suggested calling St. Michaels Catholic Church who sometimes has death records for cemeteries in Ganado so I did. I talked to Brother John and he helped with the assistance of Father Flann. They could not find a death certificate in the 1960's for a Linda Kirk. I asked about a birth date. They found a record for Linda Carolyn Kirk born in Ganado Arizona on DECEMBER 17, 1943 but no death record. On one of my Gallup PHS Indian Hospital documents the name Linda "C" Kirk is handwritten in by a hospital staff member. It always looked like a "C" to me. C=Carolyn?!? Sounds pretty likely. So, I called my biological Uncle Bob and told him and he wrote that down. YAY!!!! THANKS Aunt Ruth!! Appreciate the lead...perhaps we are on the right track with a birth date for my bio-mother!
Brother John also said sometimes it was common for people who were Catholics in Ganado to have funeral services at the Ganado Presbyterian Church and to check with them. Well, they are only open Monday -Friday but have an email. I sent an inquiry.
My Uncle Bob just called back to confirm my biological mothers name is indeed Linda Carolyn Kirk. He talked to my Aunt Jan in Albuquerque So the birth date of December 17, 1943 sound more likely now. Also another tidbit of information. Linda Kirk worked as an office clerk at the Federal Building but went by "Lucinda" (according to Aunt Jan) so that may be another angle to research and may be the reason it's hard to find a death date or real concrete information.
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