Page "Native Americans in the United States" Paragraph 104

Others were patriarchal, although several different systems were in use.

In the patrilineal tribes, such as the Omaha, Osage and Ponca, hereditary leadership passed through the male line, and children were considered to belong to the father and his clan.

For this reason, when Europeans or American men took wives from such tribes, their children were considered " white " like their fathers, or " half-breeds ".

Generally such children could have no official place in the tribe because their fathers did not belong to it, unless they were adopted by a male and made part of his family.