Rick Black Elk

[rvblackelk]

Hello all, my name is Richard Vaughn Black Elk.  My name comes from the Black River/Swan Creek band of the Ojibwe in Saginaw, Michigan.  I was adopted at 6 months of age by the Vaughn family in Jackson, Michigan.  I did not know about my native heritage until about 2002.  Up until then I had not been interested in a bio father that probably didn't even know I existed.  It wasn't until I went to the Saginaw Chippewa tribe in Mt. Pleasant, Mi that I found out that my relation did know about me.  They had lost track of me when I went to the state and was adopted out.  According to the census starting in the 1860's, my family has been know as the Black Elk and the Elk.   According to a cousin in Mt. Pleasant, some have went with one name, others with the other.  I have documents from Isabella county, Mi where in my GGF is referred to as Black Elk.  I choose to have my name legally changed in 2005 from Vaughn to Black Elk. I kept the Vaughn name as a middle name to honor the people that raised me as one of their own.

[debbieredbear]

Welcome to our forum!

[earthw7]

welcome