Surnames - FOSTER decendants of James Lafayette Foster and the James family who were sure they were Choctaw

Here is another of the Surnames I'm researching:

I was told that my great great great grandfather James Lafayette Foster ran away from home at age 14 because he didn't get along with his stepfather. This story is published in a certain book about the history of Missouri also with a picture of James' mother who I was told was 'Rose' Prewett and maybe half or full Indian of tribe unknown.

I have found out parts of this story are true and parts are untrue.

James Lafayette Foster was the son of Meriweather Foster and Caroline (James) Foster and while James seems to have left his home in Tennessee at gone to Missouri it was not at age 14 or because of a disliked step-father. James's father was still alive when James was said to have left home in 1863. Mel Foster didn't die until 1868. Caroline did not remarry until 1881 at which time James L Foster had long since moved to Missouri married and had kids.

I can't say why James L. Foster moved to Missouri though I can say he was older than 14, older than 18 even and likely had moved for the same reasons many young men did at the time. His older brother was a farmer and taking care of their mother and younger siblings so it is possible that James felt he didn't have to stay in Tennessee while big brother was taking care of things after their father's passing.

I can't say if James liked his step-father Duncan James Davis or not, nor do I know if they ever met each other. I also haven't found the news article about James that his mother was said to have seen while living in Oklahoma(when James was in Missouri) and let to a mother and estranged son reuniting.

Sure if things had happened that way it would make a better story, but the facts don't match the story.

Then again the facts don't tell all the details either.

What is know is that

Meriweather Lafayette "Mel" Foster married Mary Caroline James
29 December 1847 in Dekalb County Tennessee.

They had 9 children together:

1. Lloyd Price Foster b. about 1849

2. James Lafayette Foster b. 1 September 1853

3. Mary Caroline Foster b. about 1854

4. Andrew Jackson Foster b. about 1856

5. Louisa Tennessee "Doc" (Foster) Burk b. about 1859

6. California Belle "Callie" (Foster) Morrow b. 1861

7. David Edward Foster b. 1864

8. Meriweather Shields Foster b. 1866

9. Elevey Puritimey "Tema" Foster b. about 1869
(It seems that Caroline was pregnant when her husband Mel died.)

Caroline was thought to be named Rose which was not true and at one point was mixed up with another woman with the maiden name of PREWETT (who is also a relative of mine).

Caroline's maiden name JAMES was given on the death certificate of her son James L. Foster, as was the first name of his father though the father's name was very hard to read.

Nothing suggests that Caroline (James) Foster was Native American/Indian nor did she claim to be full blooded or half Indian. Though she, along with her brother Enoch and two of her daughters(Callie and Tema) and some of Enoch's kids, did all try to apply for recognition as Choctaw in 1900. As they had been told that their(Caroline and Enoch's) grandfather Daniel James was half Choctaw though Enoch and Caroline did not agree how much Choctaw Daniel was, or how he was related to them, or how much Choctaw it would make them.

Caroline claimed to be 1/4 Choctaw through Daniel. Enoch her younger brother(they shared the same parents and grandparents) claimed to be 1/16 through Daniel and of the two he had slightly more 'proof'. Well neither had any solid proof of their claims. The best they had was a very old aunt who testified that her father looked Indian as did her older half brothers, all having black hair, and that her father used to hunt with the Indians. None of the James family had any documentation to back up their story in 1900 nor had they heard of any of the laws or treaties between the tribes and the U.S. They had been told that Daniel James and his sons were in the Dawes rolls but had never looked to confirm it.

I looked to the best I could and did not find one person with the surname James in the rolls. However Caroline and her parents all appear Indian looking to my white (and partly German) eyes. I am not dismissing the idea that there could be some Native American ancestor in that part of the family, but I doubt they had the last name James or that such a relation could be proven at this late date.

If I am mistaken the their is a James family in the Dawes rolls I would not mind being corrected on this matter.

*(I have since found a few people in the rolls with the surname JAMES but still can't find a connection to the my JAMES family.)