Hold on now, we are not in Arkansas!! lol
HEY! I grew up in Fayetteville. My mother still lives there. My DD#1 was born in Conway while I was a visiting prof at U of Central Arkansas.
Hold on now, we are not in Arkansas!! lol
My grandmother's family split up in the 1830s, with most of the family heading out west, and a small part of the family heading west to Nashville. Lots of trouble in those days. My ancestors were big names in the Treaty Party, run by Major Ridge. There was a nasty war with John Ross' anti treaty party that lasted about 50 years.
One of my ancestors, "Chief Jack" Walker was assassinated at the Council of Red Clay in 1835 for advocating a treaty of removal. His widow, Emily Meigs, had no one to turn to, since her brother Return Meigs III was married to Johanna Ross, Chief John Ross' daughter, and John Ross had ordered the assassination.
Later Jack's father, Major John Walker was one of the signers of treaty. Return Johnathan Meigs the eldest signed for the USA.
Major Walker was assassinated in Indian Territory in what is now OK in 1838 by order of Chief Ross. Note that Major Walker had been Ross' commanding officer in 1812, under General Andrew Jackson, in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Creeks, who were allied with Tecumsah, and armed by the British.
All but one of the leaders of the Treaty Party were assassinated the same day.
Stand Watie, nephew of Major Ridge, killed his assassin, who turned out to be the same assassin who killed Jack Walker 3 years earlier. Watie was arrested in Fort Smith, and demanded to be tried in front of The Hanging Judge, since he could not get a fair trial in Indian Territory.
One of Jack Walker's daughters was married at age 14 and went to a farm outside Nashville, rather than heading to IT. I visited the farm in 1977. The family sold it in 1980, finally probating a will from the 1800s. Walker's daughter could not legally own land in Tennessee, since she wasn't white enough. One of my Okie cousins teaches physics at Vanderbilt, and keeps in touch with the kinfolk there.
Things really got nasty during the War. Ross sided with the Yankees, so of course his enemies sided with the CSA. Confederate General Stand Watie used the War as a way to get revenge. Note that Watie was the first non-white General in American history and the last Confederate General to surrender.
By the late 1800s the fueds finally ended. A lot of my family's Tenn branch went over to Indian Territory to be with their relatives. The last one over was my great-grandmother, who arrived in the very early 1900s. My grandmother was born just before statehood.
HEY! I grew up in Fayetteville. My mother still lives there. My DD#1 was born in Conway while I was a visiting prof at U of Central Arkansas.
That is very cool. I love hearing those stories and how people came to settle out here!
Should have said southern Arkansas. lol Fayetteville is a great place. Cool old town.
OK has a really unique history. My grandfather got to meet Quannah Parker shortly before the great chief's death, for example. At the time the UN was formed, there were more nations in OK than in the UN.
Or, the Cherokee have been the most highly literate and educated people in the history of the planet for the past 150+ years, with the other "civilized" tribes close behind. Sequoya had a lot to do with that.
I remember my grandmother showing me a picture of one of Sequoya's cousins and advisors. The guy had a ring through his nose and wore a turban. My grandmother put on her most serious face until she couldnt help grinning.
"Bob", she said, very solumnly, "this is your ancestor. Isn't he cute?"
Fayetteville has changed so much from when I was a kid. I get lost when I visit.