Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 139 of 1,110
vii, 9-1011 p. incl. ill., ports. : ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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CI
~ ~ ~ ~ ITR OF"
DALLA COTY 3pecially to the investigating and plilosophical
mind. (Concerning this question conjectures
after conjectures and theories after
theories have been advanced by the most
gifted and learned historians; and even some
of the most distinguished philologists have
endeavored to ascertain, by tracing and
analyzing their means of communication to
achl otler, solne intelligent origin, but all
have left us still in the sea of conjecture.
A popular and somewhat common theory
accepted by many is that the Indians existed
in the " conjectural history of the world."
(thers have very sanguinely considered them
tlhe lineal descendants of the lost tribes of
Israel?'
Some aftirin that they have their origin
from this, that or the other ancient nation;
but whatever theory is right, it is nevertheless
a striking fact worthy of special mention
that almost all historians agree tllat this race
,must have by soine means crossed over from
Asia into this coulltry. It is claimed that
there was a period in the world's history
when Anmerica ad(l Asia constituted one and
the same great country, alnd tlat it was at
this reinote period of time tliat tlle Indian's
lot !was cast upon this soil. But from whatever
source, country or climate they cane
troml, ocl fact is apparent and strikingly so,
iamely, tllat they all bear similar claracteristics,
in manner of living, personal app)eart1,ce
and means of' communication, which is
aitl to be altogether different t front any other
taeel kown to have existed. Their la,,rua(ge
Il;s beel stumlling block, so to speak, to
tihe mIost emllilnet phlilololgist, as tllere liasnever been found any similarity whatever
in any of their languages to that of other
nations.
To show what widely different theories
have been assumed and advocated by some of
the most eminent scholars of the land concerning
this peculiar people found here in Dallas
county, and as is said to have been found in
all newly discovered countries of this continent,
the following is given from Bancroft's
history:
" The American Indians, their origin and
consanguinity have from the day of Columbus
to the present time proved a knotty
question. School-men and scientists count
their theories by the hundreds, each sustaining
some pet conjecture with a logical clearness
equaled only by the facility with which
he demolishes all the rest. One proves their
origin by holy writ; another by the writings
of ancient philosophers; another by the sage
sayings of the fathers; one discovers them in
Phcenician merchants; another, in the lost
tribes of Israel. They are tracked with equal
certainty from Scandinavia, from Ireland,
from Iceland, fioln Greenland, across Bering
Strait, from Asia across the Northern Pacific,
from the Southern Pacific, from the Polynesian
Islands, from Australia, and even from
Africa; venturesome Carthaginians were
thrown upon the Eastern shore; Japanese
junks onl the Western.
;"The breezes that wafted hither the American
priinogenitors are still blowing, and the
ocean currents by which they came cease not
yet to flow. The finely spun web of logic by
wllich these fancies are maintained would
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Lewis Publishing Company. Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas., book, 1892; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20932/m1/139/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.