" ...an urban Native of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent."
Wurth has claimed Cherokee ancestry thru her Martin family line. All of her Martin family lines are well-documented white people. I did find two different children on Cherokee census Rolls, who have a similar name, hence possibly misreading and believes these children were her ancestors. Wurth has stated herself that her grandmother was Oda Edith Martin sometimes called Ada. Oda's parents according to Wurth AND according to the documents regarding these ancestors that I found, were Edwin Martin and Lucreticia Woodall. The first Cherokee document reads a child born in 1894 named Ada Martin, Not Od Edith Martin but Ada Martin. She is listed with her mother Gracie, Not Lucreticia and she is listed with her siblings Claude, Oscar and Augustus who are Not Oda Edith Martin’s siblings. In addition, Ada Martin on the Roll was living in Oklahoma in 1903, whereas Oda Edith Martin had left Oklahoma by then and was residing with her parents in Kansas by 1900. This is a “similar name” issue. The second Cherokee Roll I have is for an Eva A. Martin, similar but not the same as Oda Edith who is “sometimes “ referred to as Ada. This child is also about the same age as Oda, but Eva A. is listed with her father William, and her siblings John A., Rosa C., and William H. Martin. These are not Oda Edith’s siblings or her father. This is again, a same name or similar name issue, not Wurth’s ancestors.
Wurth has lamented that her 2nd great grandmother Annie James nee Riggs, nee Coffin was born in 1871 o 1872. I found conflicting dates of birth. I found 1866, 1871 and 1872 on documents. The 1900 census for example lists her with her husband Albert Coffin and children as being born in 1866. Other census reports declared 1871 and another 1872. It is the same person on all the census reports, it does not change the genealogy or the fact that Annie James is white. Wurth has also confirmed that Annie James is her ancestor.
Annie over time was obviously known as Annie but sometimes the documents read “Tommie “ or “Annie Tommie”, two documents even read “Trinney” which is a misspelling for sure. The reason for which the censuses and other documents are correct for her is by identifying the other persons in the documents with her which are her children, two different husband’s, her parents and siblings. This is how we know despite the misspelling and/or nickname used or pet name “Tommie or Trinney” in combination with her name Annie or even separate from, we know it is the same woman who is Wurth’s ancestor. Wurth claims the added name or nickname Tommie “never sat well” with her. But again, it’s the other people in those documents that provide proof of who Annie is, it let’s us know it is the same woman. Sometimes ancestors can be complicated, but if one pays attention, almost everything can be worked out and proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Wurth has also recently stated she is Black in addition to having claimed for years Apache, Chickasaw, Cherokee. There are absolutely no records indicating even remotely that any of her ancestors are Black, much less, Cherokee, Chickasaw or Apache. I did find a person, a member on Ancestry dot com that had a person listed as a sibling to someone in Wurth’s family. The parents were white all the other siblings were white. But there was a mortality schedule attached to one of the children. Listing the 12 year old Black child as slave. This mortality schedule was for a slave child “perhaps “, not proven, owned by one of Wurth’s relatives and the Ancestry user accidentally saved that document to her tree. The poor child died of consumption. Could it be that Wurth found the same record and has errantly placed this Black child as her family member? Could be.
I also see that Wurth claims an ancestor named Mahala, a very common white settler name that for some reason a lot of people believe that name is American Indian for some reason. I personally have never known it to be an American Indian name but only thousands of white people’s name. But alas, we don’t go by first names to determine ancestry, we use only factual documentation to determine ancestry. And as far as the Cherokee and Chickasaw Tribes are concerned they don’t use DNA at all.
When we develop a person’s family tree it is our goal to find all of the American Indian ancestors, that’s what we want. We love to see it, we want to see it. But if the documentation is there we cannot invent them.
When attempting to prove a Tribal claim, the burden of proof is on the person making the claim, in this case Erika Wurth. Yet she has not ever said exactly who her Chickasaw, Cherokee or Apache or Black ancestors were. She has all the names of her family members. So why hasn’t she ever once said who is American Indian or Black? And she has never produced even 1 document proving the Tribal Citizenship of those ancestors, but yet she knows she is American Indian. I have never encountered in my life so far, any American Indian who claims Tribal ancestry or descendancy who Doesn’t Know who those ancestors are.
Author Erika Wurth continues to fake a Native identity for personal gain.
Wurth describes herself as an ‘urban Indian of Chickasaw, Cherokee and Apache descent’, and often speaks on a range of American Indian issues as if she has an American Indian perspective, which she will never have.
In reality, Wurth’s family were white settlers from the Eastern United States, who settled into Texas in the 19th century. NONE were American Indians, but all occupied American Indian territories.
Erika Wurth continues to center herself as a “Native American” and an authoritative voice on American Indian issues when she is neither. She continues to be invited to speaking events, such as the Greensboro Bound festival, which was forced to find a new venue at the last moment for their panel featuring a pretendian fraud when the Greensboro History Museum heard from TAAF and refused to allow a Pretendian to be platformed there. Yet they still propped up frauds Wurth and Allison Hedge Coke. Greensboro Bound received a failing grade from TAAF on the allyship scale. The Museum received an A+. Now StokerCon 2023, the Horror Writers of America’s yearly convention in Pennsylvania, is platforming Wurth and “Owl Goingback” (fraud Russell Heidbrink). They are also receiving complaints. We will see what kind of grade they will receive.
Representation matters because it shapes how the wider public views the world. American Indians have long been under-represented in American culture, and much of what Americans know about American Indians is based on monolithic stereotypes and lies. Allowing non-American Indians to market themselves as having an American Indian identity continues that harm by perpetuating stereotypes and silencing actual American Indian voices.
The Tribal Alliance Against Frauds is an intertribal anti-fraud non-profit whistleblower organization comprised of federally recognized tribal citizens and our allies.
CASE: Erika T. Wurth, author
Sovereign Nations falsely claimed: Chickasaw, Cherokee and Apache
Determination: Ms. Wurth has no American Indian ancestry whatsoever
Erika T. Wurth describes herself as an “urban Indian” of Chickasaw, Cherokee and Apache descent. Her genealogy has been done. While the burden of proof lies solely with the person making such claims, it has been amply proven that Ms. Wurth is of settler ancestry, not American Indian ancestry. None of the tribal nations she claims descent from claim her. She is not a citizen of any of those sovereign nations and neither of her parents ever had a tribal connection with any of them. Actual Indians understand that there is a preponderance
of clear evidence that Ms. Wurth is lying, and it's ourunderstanding that should carry the weight, not the lack thereof among non-Indians who are making decisions that will harm us further by quietly supporting the frauds.
Thus, it is the conclusion of the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds that Erika T. Wurth is defrauding her readers by writing about fictional American Indian characters whom they believe were created and written about by an American Indian author, writing with an American Indian perspective that Erika T. Wurth will never possess. It is also the conclusion of the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds that Ms. Wurth is harming the people of the tribal nations she falsely claims by clearly misrepresenting them and thus, Ms. Wurth owes reparations to those tribal nations and individuals.
The Tribal Alliance Against Frauds invites dialogue and offers education that fosters genuine, uncolonized allyship between American Indian people and non-American Indian people. The first step towards such allyship is: Deep listening. The only relevant voices here are legitimately American Indian voices. Center thosevoices. Learn what it means to become an ally.
The truth is the defense against accusations of defamation of character, libel or slander.
You can find the details on Wurth's claims--and the reality--through the following link:
http://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/
The New York Post also covered this story recently, and you can find it here:
https://nypost.com/2023/01/25/native-american-author-erika-wurth-accused-as-fake-indian/
Genealogical evidence and further explanation and education are available upon request.
None of Ms. Wurth’s stories about having American Indian ancestry are remotely true.
Signed, Lianna Costantino (Director, Tribal Alliance Against Frauds and press POC)
