Edward Langley and Nancy Weatkeaver were married 23 Apr 1859 in Edward’s residence on Jackass Creek in Jackson County, Oregon. Edward and his family are listed on the 1860 census in Forestville Precinct. The enumerator does not name Edward’s wife as Nancy but as Mrs. Langley. Since the 1860 census does not give relationship, by naming her as Mrs. Langley, the relationship has also been established within this record. The racial listing for Mrs. Langley and the child is marked "I". This census and her marriage are the only records found for Nancy (Weatkeaver) Langley, naming her. The combination of the two records determines Nancy’s identity and the fact that she was Indian.

The 1860 census lists Mrs. Langley’s age as 22 years. That would make her birth year about 1838. At that time there were only the original inhabitants living in the Southern Oregon and Northern California areas. It is very improbable that Nancy had a parent other than Native American. Also, records for Nancy’s children, Martha and Charles, name them as being half-blood Indian. These records provide the proof that Nancy was full-blooded Indian.

Indications of Tribal Affiliation

This author believes that the collected family stories and study of the local tribes did indicate that Nancy was indeed of the Shasta Nation. Several of Martha’s grandchildren had asked their grandmother about her mother, Nancy, and while Martha was not encouraged to speak about the Indian ancestry, some of the children had retained a memory of the information.

Dorland known as "Dode" Stephenson, another granddaughter to Martha, told of a baby book written by Pearl (Watkins) Stephenson. In this book, Pearl wrote that her grandmother, Nancy, was born in the area that is now Yreka, California. A study of the Native races of the Yreka area uncovered that only the Shasta Nation claimed that area as their territory. If Nancy was born in the Yreka area there is no other tribal affiliation possible.

Also during this conversation with Dode, she stated that it was her understanding that Great-grandmother Nancy had a tattoo on her chin. This tattoo was 3 stripes going down her chin. A study of the tradition of tattoos among the Californian and Southern Oregon tribes found that face and especially chin tattoos on women was common.

The practice of facial tattooing is mainly ornamental and only a little part of a young girls puberty rite. It was not part of the ceremony involved with her coming of age but she would be allowed to make this decision at this age. Each tribe had its own distinctive tattoo and a woman’s tribal affiliation was shown by her tattoo. Stephen Powers stated "In respect to this matter of tattooing there is a theory entertained by some old pioneers which may be worth the mention. They hold that the reason why the women alone tattoo in all other tribes is that in case they are taken captives, their own people may be able to recognize them when there comes an opportunity of ransom." The Shasta chin tattoo was three wide stripes.

One of the last indicators of tribal affiliation was found with the surname written in Nancy’s marriage record. Sometimes it is a practice to use the name of the tribe as the surname. This is a practice found in other records. A look at the Shasta language as presented in the book by Elizabeth Renfro, The Shasta Indians of California and Their Neighbors, found in the glossary for place names in the Shasta language were two similar words to the name Weatkever (Weetkever or Weat kerer):

• Mount Shasta - "Wyreka (also spelled Waiika)"
• Greenview (area around) – "Warikwi’aka (Wa-re-kwi-ah-kah)"