Introduction: This section contains items of interest to me in subject, time & location associated with family history. This is a worksheet that is constantly being updated and corrected. Glean what you can; just understand that this is a work in progress.
The discovery of a "new world" presented some interesting problems. While Europeans fought over who would own, who would dominate, it seems absurd that no one seemed to consider that this "new world" was already inhabited. Native Americans did not share the same "ownership" concepts as the Europeans. The land, like the sun and the sky, after all, belonged to Creator. Also, while I agree with historians in some instances of their describing Native Americans as being "primitive", I really think folks need to re-examine their use of the word "savage".
A Spanish vessel, commanded by Vasques DeAYLLON, was driven by a violent storm upon the coast of Carolina. The natives were kindly. In return, DeAYLLON enticed a number of them on board his ship to carry them away to Hispaniola. The Indians preferred death to captivity. They refused to partake of any food & thus died of voluntary starvation.
While Spain was conquering from the Caribbean, the French sent Giovanni DeVERRAZANO to a more northerly location. He landed in the Carolinas but then pushed north, mostly along the coast, to Nova Scotia. However, even with Spanish explorers venturing along the coast of Georgia & South Carolina, it was the French who claimed the landmass north of La Florida. Still, Spanish priests set about establishing missions among the Indians between the Savannah & the Congaree rivers (South Carolina).
Spain sent Hernando DeSOTO to North America in search of gold and a short route to the Orient. Making his way thru South Carolina, it is recorded that he
met the Queen of Cofitachiqui at the junction of the Santee & the Congaree rivers (Columbia, South Carolina). DeSOTO also encountered "Chalaque" (Cherokee) as he pressed onward (Union, South Carolina) in his quest for gold & copper. Altho his exact path is not known, some studies suggest he moved on to Xuala (Saluda or Tryon, North Carolina) on the Blue Ridge. It is possible he went across the French Broad to the Cherokee town of Guaxule (Wa-salu-lee or Asheville, North Carolina). From there he likely moved west (via Canton & Waynesville) to Sylva, North Carolina, where he picked up the Tuckaseegee River. The river became larger after the confluence with the Ocono Luftee.
He may have camped across the river from the mouth of Deep Creek (Bryson City, North Carolina). The path from Bryson City led west past Alarka & crossed the Little Tennessee River where it joins the Tuckaseegee. Then to Chiaha, on or near Sawyer Creek (79 miles from Asheville and 15 miles from Bryson City). Chiaha is described by the Spanish as being on a large (13-mile-long) island.
DeSOTO entered Georgia-Alabama and met Lord COOSA. DeSOTO next moved his army to present-day Fort Payne, Alabama. From there he went south and passed the Etowah mounds before reaching the Coosa River, further west. Then he headed into the lands of the Creek to meet Chief TUSCALOOSA somewhere on the Coosa River. The Spanish arrived at a town called Mavilli (on the Alabama River about 100 miles above Mobile, Alabama, believed to be Prairie Bluff). At this place they were apparently ambushed by TUSCALOOSA. A battle ensued with the Creek vs. the Spanish. DeSOTO was injured. The Chickasaw may have been first encountered by DeSOTO at their outpost on the big island (Chiaha?) at the confluence of the Tellico & Little Tennesssee. There, in early 1541, DeSOTO met their major chief.
WEST. Ozark legend says Hernando DeSOTO ventured into southwest Missouri after hearing rumors about Indian silver mines. (The Cherokee called themselves Ani-Yun-wiya, which means "Principal People".) Also, Francisco Vazquez DeCORONADO was sent by Spain to the northwest thru Mexico.
EUROPE. ELIZABETH I began her reign as the Queen of England. Ireland & the small islands in the British Channel were the only dependencies of the Crown. Scotland was an independent monarchy. Because of her Protestant beliefs, ELIZABETH I had many who sought to dethrone her, including the pope.
When Jean RIBAUT brought French Huguenots to North America, they landed near St. Johns River (Jacksonville, Florida). Since RIBAUT was wise enough to realize the Spanish would not tolerate French occupation that far south, he moved his party north along the coast until they passed the Savannah River (Georgia-South Carolina border), which would have reasonably been considered north of La Florida.
No coast in the world is much more dangerous to ships than that of the Carolina. The sounds & the rivers which empty into them constitute a network of waterways separated from the ocean by a line of sand banks. RIBAUT brought the Huguenots to Parris Island (near Beaufort, South Carolina). They established Charlesfort at Port Royal Sound. The settlement only lasted about a year before French interests shifted further south (into present day Florida). All the men from RIBAUT's party eventually returned to France except for Guillame RUFFIN. RUFFIN chose to stay behind & eventually married an "Indian princess".
Frenchman Rene DeLAUDONNIERE built Fort La Caroline on a bluff on the south side of St. Johns River (Jacksonville, Florida), which was well within Spanish territory. In response, Pedro Menendez DeAVILES was sent from Spain to displace the French. The soldiers of La Caroline were killed; and the women and children were taken as prisoners. With the Spanish victory over the French, DeAVILES established the St. Augustine colony (further south) to cement the Spanish claim to the area. St. Augustine propered.
The Spanish took over the abandoned French La Caroline (Jacksonville, Florida) & renamed it Fuerte San Mateo. They also established the Santa Elena colony at the site of the abandoned French Charlesfort (Parris Island, South Carolina) & renamed it Fort San Felipe (Port Royal). This site served as the capital of Spanish Florida for about ten years & became a center for Spanish commerce. Other forts were built on the south side of Parris Island. Hernando BOYANO & Juan PARDO explored for gold among the Cherokee & were reportedly successful. The Spaniards began mining and smelting within the Cherokee Nation. It is said some of these mines stayed in operation until about 1690. Although the mines were kept secret by the Spanish, they were well known in the settlements of Santa Elena and St. Augustine.
Captain Juan PARDO built a blockhouse at a Cherokee village, known as Guatari, located on the Yadkin River. It was called Fort Santiago (Rowan County, North Carolina). The Creek Nation was in western South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama & eastern Mississippi. The Choctaw Nation included western Mississippi, Louisiana & Texas. And the Cherokee occupied eastern Tennessee & western North Carolina. The Chickasaw split off from the Choctaw. They moved east & then returned back west, settling north of the Choctaw.
The Creek Confederacy contained about a dozen tribes. It was the largest Indian grouping in the southeast. They were of the Muskogean language group. Europeans called them "Creek" from the tribe found living on the Ocheese Creek (Ocmulgee River). Sometime in the 1500s the Creek & the Cherokee came into conflict, with the Cherokee seeming to be pushing their way out of the mountains and into the flatter lands of north Georgia. There was a large battle at Slaughter Gap (Lumpkin County, Georgia) after which the Creek retreated south of the Etowah River. The Cherokee then drove the Creek further south to the Chatahoochee & Thronateekee (Flint) rivers. Next the Cherokee pushed west to the Coosa River in Alabama, cutting the traditional Creek Confederacy into the Upper Creek & Lower Creek tribes.
The Spanish settled on the coast, and used Indians to work their farms. They squeezed hard & demanded much. Even so, along with other prized possessions, European articles were placed in Indian tombs as funerary offerings.
A French ship, Le Prince, wrecked at Port Royal Sound. Survivors built a fort that was soon attacked by Indians who thought they were Spaniards. The Indians afterwards befriended the Frenchmen and took them into their villages.
Philip AMADAS & Arthur BARLOWE sailed two vessels from England to the west. They first saw the coast of North Carolina on 14 July. They anchored off an island called Wocoken at a spot they named Trinity Harbor. They returned to England with a large cargo of skins and valuable woods. They also carried back the first knowledge of the potato & tobacco.
EUROPE. Queen ELIZABETH I was so pleased with the glowing descriptions of the new country that she gave the country the name of Virginia, in honor of herself, the "Virgin Queen". After this time the potato became a principle food in Ireland.
Ralph LANE was appointed governor of Sir Walter RALEIGH's proposed colony on Roanoke Island. Seven ships brought 108 emigrants. Sir Richard GRENVILLE commanded the fleet. The "Cittie of Raleigh" was built at the north part of the island.
The "Cittie of Raleigh" was abandoned by the English. Sir Francis DRAKE took the weary "colonists" back to England, including Ralph LANE.
Santa Elena (South Carolina) was abandoned by the Spanish.
EUROPE. ELIZABETH I, Queen of England, died on 24 March. King JAMES I then took the throne. The Catholics hated him passionately.
John SMITH, Christopher NEWPORT & Thomas SAVAGE sailed up the York River to meet with the Powhatan. The Anglos & the Indians exchanged "hostages". Young SAVAGE stayed behind to live with the Powhatan & NAMONTACK went back with the English to live at Jamestown. These and others similarly traded would serve as interpreters and communiation links between the two peoples.
Samuel de CHAMPLAIN brought a group to the area around Montreal, Canada. They built a fort and a settlement. CHAMPLAIN established a trading post (at Quebec City). He also sent out traders to buy furs from the Indians. He made friends with the Hurons & brought in missionaries to live with them.
EUROPE. King HENRY IV of France was killed by assassins. Louis XIII took the throne. He was nine years old. His mother, Marie de MEDICI (HENRY IV's second wife) acted as a regent. She was considered incompetent so Cardinal RICHELIEU took over.
England's King CHARLES I gave Sir Robert HEATH a grant in the new world for all land from 31 to 36 degrees latitude to which the name "Carolina" was applied. However, attempts at colonizing failed.
Some historians report this when the Cherokee first encountered the white man. At this time there were only three major (by size) tribes in the Carolina region. The Cherokee of the western mountains was the largest. Next was the Catawba Nation of the Piedmont Plateau. Last was the Tuscarora of the Coastal Plain. The Cherokee & the Tuscarora were of the Iroquoian language group. The Catawba was of the Siouan.
Negro slaves from Africa were introduced onto Barbados plantations. Not able to compete with the cheap slave labor, many white planters then moved to the mainland. These folks became some of the first permanent European settlers of South Carolina.
EUROPE. England was engaged in a civil war (until 1651). It was Oliver CROMWELL vs. King CHARLES I. CHARLES was eventually tried for treason and beheaded in 1649. Congestion in Barbados plus the civil war in England brought many folks to South Carolina during this time.
The name "Virginia" was applied to all the territory claimed by England under the discoveries of GILBERT and RALEIGH. This was initially confined to the colony on James River. Sir William BERKELEY, governor of Virginia, had no authority over residents living "south of a line a few miles below where the ships approached the inland waters of Virginia". When this became known, many people around Nansemond River and adjacent localities went southward, towards Albemarle Sound, seeking homes where the "tyrant of Virginia" had no authority.
Roger GREEN, a clergyman, led a considerable colony to the banks of the Chowan and Roanoke rivers. He is credited with founding North Carolina's first settlement altho there were probably scattered settlements north of Albemarle Sound of which we have no documentation.
A village of 600-700 Rickahockan or Rechahecrian (as Cherokee were known by the Powhatan) had settled at the falls of the James River (Richmond, Virginia). With the assistance of the Pamunkey Indians, the Virginia Colony militia attacked the Rickahockan; but they were severely defeated.
English-armed Westo from the Virginia frontier assaulted indigenous groups of Georgia in search of slaves for sale to English traders. Fugitive Indians began to flood into the Spanish mission communities.
The coastal plains Indians numbered about 30,000. In the next fifty years smallpox, rum & intertribal warfare would reduce their number to about 5,000. The first permanent English inhabitants of North Carolina came down from Virginia about this time. They occupied the area north of Albemarle Sound, then called Albemarle County.
Westo descended the Altamaho River & attack Santo Domingo de Talaje (Darien, Georgia?). Survivors relocated to St. Simons Island.
Representing a group of New Englanders, William HILTON explored & then purchased the area known as Cape Fear (North Carolina) from the local Indians. The purpose of the settlement was to raise cattle. Then when a group came down to settle, they were hastily driven out. They left behind their cattle & swine. They also posted a note warning others not to settle there.
Virginia was partitioned. From now until about 1748 "Virginians" in the upper part of the Tennessee Valley mistakenly thought they were within the borders of Virginia. Tennessee was considered western Carolina. Sir John COLLETON & Sir William BERKELEY enlisted six courtiers to join them in a Carolina proprietary venture. Two charters from King CHARLES II gave control of an expanded Carolina to the eight wealthy English Lords Proprietors (landlords). This territory included all the lands south not already granted to the province of Virginia down to the Spanish line of Florida. There were already some white settlers in this area.
BERKELEY appointed William DRUMMOND as the first "Governor of Albemarle". A few years later BERKELEY ordered that DRUMMOND be hanged. Going further north this time, HILTON made a second exploration & purchase on behalf of some Barbadians. He went from the shores of Carolina, a distance of about 150 miles, along the course of the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River. HILTON was accompanied by Captain Anthony LONG & Peter FABIAN. One of the Barbados' planters sponsoring HILTON's expedition was John YEAMANS.
Indians (encouraged & armed by the English) had been taking & selling those of other tribes to the English as slaves. Indians refusing to cooperate with the English and/or participate in the slave trade would then become the hunted. Spanish mission communities along the Georgia-South Carolina coast soon became sanctuaries for hundreds of refugees from various tribes. Collectively, immigrant refugees in these towns became known as the Yamassee.
Westo settled on the Savannah River (near Augusta, Georgia). The river was known as the Westobou during the 1660-70s while the area was inhabited by the Westo (Chichimeco, Ricahecrian).
The eight Proprietors divided Carolina into three counties: Albemarle (along the northern coast of North Carolina, near Virginia); Clarendon, in the Cape Fear region (the southern coast of North Carolina (only lasted until 1667)); and Craven (South Carolina). Proposals to grant lands on a quit-rent basis helped draw settlers to Carolina. Between 1664-1689 the colonists drove five Albemarle governors from office. The Carolina elected assembly felt they had insufficient support against Indians and pirates. The Proprietors vetoed most of their early measures.
John YEAMANS led a band of colonists from Barbadoes to Cape Fear & purchased from the Indians a tract of land 32 miles square & settled at Old Town (Brunswick, North Carolina). The settlement was afterwards known as Clarendon Colony.
An expedition from Barbados, led by Captain Robert SANDFORD & Dr. Henry WOODWARD (surgeon), explored the South Carolina coast & landed at Port Royal. WOODWARD did not want to return home. Instead, he stayed behind at the Yamassee town of Santa Elena.
For the past two years Clarendon had been filling up with settlers. Homesteads were scattered along 60 miles of the river. Inhabitants were primarily from Barbados. At first Clarendon thrived; but it didn't last. Pretty soon it disbanded due to the lack of support from the Lords Proprietors.
After relentless slave raids by the Westo, Yamassee chiefs, headed by the chief of Santa Elena, sucessfully petitioned the governor of Spanish Florida for permission to settle at the Guale & Mocama missions on the Atlantic coast. Henry WOODWARD was turned over to the Spanish; but he later escaped.
The English colony of Charles Town (South Carolina) was established at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River. The settlement was named to honor King CHARLES II. (After 10 years these settlers moved to the present site of Charleston, between the Ashley and Cooper rivers.) Spaniards & Guale Indians attempted an assault on the new colony of Charles Town; but they were unsuccessful.
Ever since Clarendon was abandoned by white settlers, the Indians of the area were bitter towards intruders. Europeans unfortunate enough to have been shipwrecked along Cape Fear (NC) were treated very harshly by the locals. The Indians of the northern region were Siouan; & those by Charles Town were Muskhoean, a separate language group. As it grew, South Carolina became the southern frontier of the English colonies. It protected North Carolina against the Spaniards of Florida and the French of Louisiana. It did the same against the Creek, Choctaw & Chickasaw Indians, whose lands stretched clear to the Mississippi River.
Charles Town (South Carolina) settlement was in its infancy; & sugar cane plantations were flourishing in Barbados. English traders continued to maintain a presence among the Cherokee, usually marrying into the tribe.
Several References Abraham WOOD from Fort Henry (near Petersburg, Virginia) sent James NEEDHAM & Gabriel ARTHUR to Chota & other Overhill Cherokee settlements (whose towns lie over the Appalachian Mountains, along the Little Tennessee and Tellico rivers in North Carolina).
WOOD's primary intent was to gain a trade monopoly with the Cherokee. He was interested in exporting peltries, beeswax and bear oil to England. NEEDHAM & ARTHUR were royally welcomed by the Overhills. The Cherokee were particularly fascinated with the one horse they brought.
NEEDHAM described Cherokee villages as each having their houses situated around a townhouse where religious ceremonies and tribal councils were held. The Overhills had about sixty Spanish flintlock muskets and other European implements, clear evidence that the Cherokee had been in contact with the Spanish.
Gabriel ARTHUR, an indentured servant, stayed with the Cherokee to learn their language & customs. Disguising himself in ash & clay, ARTHUR accompanied the chief of Echota (name?) with raids on Indians & Spanish settlers in Florida, and on the Shawnee along the Ohio River. NEEDHAM was later killed by his Indian guide, HASECOLL (Indian John), after an argument. HASECOLL cut NEEDHAM's heart from his chest and held it up high towards the east as a gesture of contempt for the intruders.
WEST. (Fur trader, Louise JOLIET, & Catholic missionary, Jacques MARQUETTE, visited Chickasaw villages north of Memphis, Tennessee.) They had come down the Mississippi River along the western boundary of Illinois & were the first Europeans known to enter the Illinois country. They established the first settlement at Kaskaskia, Illinois, across the Mississippi from St. Genevieve, Missouri. (MARQUETTE returned in 1674 and started a Kaskaskian mission near North Utica, Illinois.) MARQUETTE & JOLIET reached the mouth of the Arkansas River in the fall.
Dr. Henry WOODWARD expanded Indian trade beyond the coastal tribes by signing a treaty with the Savannah River Westo. Slavery commerce in the South Carolina area also began. Carolina replaced Virginia as primary market for Georgia Indian slaves.
Gabriel ARTHUR was wounded & captured by the Shawnee. He was released back to the Cherokee at Chota after the Shawnee discovered he was a white man. ARTHUR subsequently returned to Virginia, escorted by the Cherokee chief.
Settlers were crossing over to & colonizing the south shore of Albemarle Sound (Carolina). Serious conflicts arose between the settlers of Albemarle County & the Chowanoc Indians. There were heavy losses on both sides. The complete defeat of the Chowanoc came in the summer of 1677 when the Indians were forced from their ancestral homelands on the Meherrin River to a reservation on Bennet's Creek. Separate isolated white settlements were emerging in Carolina. Between Albemarle Sound & the future Pamlico River settlement would lie about fifty miles of uninhabited "desert". For many years the white settlers of South Carolina remained situated near the coast.
Albemarle colony had two thousand taxpayers. Indian corn was the staple production. Additionally, 800,000 pounds of tobacco was produced this year. The colony enjoyed the prosperity provided by fertile soil, good climate & hard work.
The Shawnee began a gradual withdrawal from South Carolina which lasted more than 30 years. Mostly it was because of their many losses at the hands of the Catawba, allies of the English. Later, the Shawnee persued their old enemies with "unrelenting vengence" until the Catawba were almost exterminated. Their hatred towards the English was shown by their boast in the Revolution that they had killed more of that nation than had any other tribe.
Charleston, South Carolina, had a population of 1,000. The Appalachee, the Yuchi & the Chickasaw settled near the westward boundary of the established settlements known as the fall line. The fall line is a unique geological feature of land where rocky terrain meets soft, sandy soil, or the upland region meets the coastal plain. The fall line marks where the upland rivers of the Piedmont fall to the lower Atlantic Coastal Plain.
Dr. WOODWARD led Carolina colonists, Westo & other allied tribes in a raid against Georgia missions. About 300 warriors attacked the Yamassee town & mission of San Simon on St. Simons Island.
(??And last year they were friends??) Carolina colonists destroyed the Westo & replaced them with the Savanna band of Shawnee (Shawano, Savano), whose town near Augusta soon became a hub for slave & deerskin trade. (It is from this group that the Savannah River gets its name.) The Savanna, however, were themselves already migrating out of South Carolina. In fact, their voluntarily withdrawal had begun about four years earlier. Some speculate they were leaving because of their overall dissatisfaction with English settlers “who seem to have favored the Catawba at the expense of the Shawnee.” (By 1715 the “Savano” remaining in Carolina were reported to still be living 150 miles northwest of Charleston, having three villages.)
From the great port of Charleston, South Carolina, the Indian trade flourished. Traders carried on their business far into the interior. As a result of this enterprise, many tribes were under the influence of the South Carolina government long before white settlements reached them. The whites continued to enslave Indians. Many of these victims were sold outside of the colonies.
The crude Fort Prudhomme was built in Chickasaw country (Tennessee) by Sieur Robert Cavalier De LaSALLE near the mouth of the Hatchie River. The fort soon fell into ruin.
WEST. LaSALLE explored the Arkansas River Valley.
French and English pirates attacked Spanish missions on Cumberland Island. Yamassee immigrants under Chief Altamaha left Spanish territory to resettle in Carolina-Florida at Hilton Head Island.
WEST. Henri deTONTY established a settlement at the confluence of the White and the Arkansas rivers (Arkansas).
English pirates destroyed all remaining Spanish missions along the coast of Georgia. A Scottish colony called Stuarts Town (on the lower Carolina coast) formed an alliance with the Yamassee under Chief Altamaha. The Scotts provided guns; and the Yamassee ran slave raids across Georgia. (This is a complete reversal for the Yamassee. They used to be the hunted; now they were the hunters.) Even tho the Spanish were totally withdrawing from Georgia & South Carolina, reprisals destroyed Yamassee settlements. Then the Spanish destroyed Stuarts Town.
A strong & steady exchange of deerskin and Indian slaves existed between the Cherokee & the South Carolina traders. Indians were hunting for profit & becoming dependent upon the Europeans for trade goods.
There was a cultural shift from priest to warrior in Cherokee leadership.
Savanno Town was growing between Horse Creek and Hollow Creek on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. This would become one of the most important Indian trade centers in South Carolina. It was a jump-off point with trails to the nations of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw & Chickasaw as far west as the Mississippi River.
The first treaty on record was signed between South Carolina & Cherokee chiefs. Signing this document with their own particular mark rather than with the usual cross mark were CORANI, RAVEN of Toxawa; CANACAUGHT, the Great Conqueror of Keowa; SINNAWA, or Hawk, head warrior of Toxawa; NELLAWGITEHI of Toxawa; GOHOMA of Keowa; CAUNASAITA of Keowa; GORHALEKE of Toxawa; and OWASTA, the Beloved Man of Toxawa. The Spanish still maintained their small mining and smelting operation until about 1690.
Using Yamassee intermediaries, Carolina traders under the leadership of Dr. Henry WOODWARD establish trade with Coweta/Kasihta (Apalachicola province or emergent Lower Creek) of the lower Chattahoochee in west Georgia.
The Spanish built a fort in the heart of the Apalachicola Creek province on the Alabama side of the lower Chattahoochee. Most of those living in English-allied towns under Coweta moved east to trade with the English on Ocmulgee River, called Uchise Creek.
Future governor, James MOORE, accompanied by trader Maurice MATHEWS, from the South Carolina colony, ventured into Indian lands looking for gold. MOORE went up the Savannah River to Cherokee country, crossing the Appalachian summit. Cherokee trade flourished.
After the final Spanish evacuation from west Georgia the only major surviving groups in Georgia were Creek and Cherokee. Both groups were then allied with the English.
Martin CHARTIER, a deserter from LaSALLE's expedition, joined a band of Shawnee in the lower Cumberland Valley. The Shawnee had a fort on a large mound where Lick Creek joined the Cumberland River. An alliance between the Chickasaw and the Cherokee, however, forced the Shawnee out. CARTIER recorded leaving the valley with the Shawnee in 1692. The French, the Spanish & the English all claimed this land. Deputy governors began to rule North Carolina, altho a governor actually ruled the entire Carolina until 1712.
Chief Onacona White Owl ATTAKULLAKULLA Leaning Wood was born on Seviers Island, Tennessee. He is the father of DRAGGING the CANOE, the Savage Napoleon. Thomas HARVEY ruled Albemarle & John ARCHDALE was put in charge of all settlements in the future North Carolina & also those on Cooper & Ashley rivers in South Carolina.
A severe "fever" nearly destroyed all the Indian tribes along Pamlico Sound. Settlers began to move further south, feeling somewhat safer with the reduced Indian population.
France established a presence on the Gulf of Mexico coast. It supplied the Choctaw with guns and ended Chickasaw slave raids. The Chickasaw hoped to trade with France too; but France only had enough supplies for the Choctaw.
About 500 of the whites in South Carolina were French Huguenot protestant refugees. John LAWSON set off from Charleston on a 59-day venture into the Carolina frontier. He reported that every river he encountered had Indian inhabitants, each with its own ruler and customs. Often the nation bore the name of the river. The Santee, the Congaree, the Wateree, the Waxhaw, the Catawba, the Eno, the Meherrin, the Neuse, the Sapona and the Pamlico were all nations as well as waterways. French traders solicited business from the Cherokee; the English gave them firearms. The country about the mouth of Hiwassee River (Tennessee) was held by the Creek. Major Cherokee settlements were further north, on the Little Tennessee River.
John LAWSON (1700-01 expedition) wrote about the Savanna band of Shawnee. One time he wrote of them in connection with the Congaree & said they lived "to the south end of Ashley river". Then he said they used to live on the banks of the Mississippi and "removed thence to the head of one of the rivers of South Carolina, since which, for some dislike, most of them are removed to live in the quarters of the Iroquois or Sinnagars (Seneca) (by Chesapeak Bay)".
In the winter months came rumors that the Tuscarora were plotting with other tribes to destroy the colonists. Worried Pamlico River residents appealed to the government for protection. Robert DANIEL, deputy governor, called in various tribal leaders to a meeting. Peace prevailed for a short time.
Thru DANIEL's initiative the Assembly passed a law making the Episcopal Church the state church of the NC province. Settlers, especially the Baptist & Quaker groups, were outraged. Religious freedom was highly important to them. The Presbyterians of South Carolina sent John ASHE to London to protest the Episcopal law. It was annulled by Her Majesty, Queen Anne.
A Frenchman, Charles CHARLEVILLE, set up a trading post in an old Shawnee stockade at French Lick, half a mile from the future Nashville, Tennessee. A group of German and Swiss established a settlement on the Neuse River in Tuscarora country (North Carolina). They were the largest tribe of this region. Relations between Indians & settlers in North Carolina had been pretty bad for the past few years. The Tuscarora were especially unhappy & asked Pennsylvania for permission to move there. Pennsylvania responded by asking the Tuscarora to first provide a certificate from the North Carolina government regarding their good behavior. "Their failure to obtain the certificate resulted in one of the great tragedies of North Carolina history. Unable to escape oppression, the Tuscarora turned in violence against their oppressors."(IWSC)
Anglo settlements in North Carolina had spread down the coast and along the riverbanks as far south as the Neuse River. North Carolina growth was still pretty much confined to the coast. It would remain so for the next twenty years A quick search of the LDS Ancestral File shows a line of John & Alexander BROWNS coming from Priesthill, Ayrshire, Scotland. They first settled in Paxtang, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, in the 1710s.
Several events led to the Tuscarora War. It is recorded that the Tuscarora of North Carolina killed John LAWSON, sticking him all over with pitch pine splinters before setting him ablaze. What followed was the most deadly Indian war in North Carolina. Chief John HANCOCK, from Catechna (near today's Grifton), led the Tuscarora in an attack of New Bern and other settlements in northern Carolina. (Some reports say he led the Neusiok and Olgonquin speaking Indians, neither group being Tuscarora.) Hundreds of settlers were killed. Their homes and crops were destroyed.
The upper Tuscarora, led by a half-breed named Tom BLOUNT, turned on the lower Tuscarora led by Chief HANCOCK. BLOUNT turned HANCOCK over to the settlers who hung him. Between 1711 and 1713 some three hundred Cherokee helped colonial forces drive the Tuscarora northward to the Great Lakes region. Some of the Tuscarora sought refuge among the Iroquois. The colonial militia destroyed many Tuscarora villages & took hundreds of prisoners before the fighting finally stopped.
The English, Spanish & French all took particular notice of the Cherokee. For many years these nations would "court" the Cherokee and use them to their own advantage. The three European nations, at this time, were contenders for the ultimate control of the future U.S.
The English Proprietors divided Carolina into North and South. North Carolina was placed under a separate governor. South Carolina petitioned the king for removal from the proprietorship; and South Carolina was eventually placed under royal control. The conquest of the Tuscarora removed a great danger from the settlements in Carolina. Tom BLOUNT & his people were assigned a tract of land as a token of gratitude. This reservation was first located south of Albemarle Sound but was later changed to a region known as "Indian Woods" in Bertie County.
Three hundred Cherokee warriors served with the South Carolina army of Colonel James MOORE against the Tuscarora. In a final battle, Colonel MOORE led his men, aided by Yamassee Indians, into the village of Neoheroka (North Carolina).
Cherokee war chief Bull Head led the Cherokee in defeating the Creek at Pine Island, near present Guntersville, Alabama. The site later became the Cherokee settlement of Creek Path.
There was a trader at Tuckaseegee named Samuel BROWN. (Side note: Two brothers, John BROWN & Samuel BROWN, are found in "Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A."; but the dates are unclear. John went to Florida & then Georgia before 1760. He is listed as a merchant accompanying William IRWIN. John BROWN had family members listed as Mary BROWN, Katherine BROWN & Susanna BROWN. John is also shown as "brother of Samuel B. in Alabama." Samuel BROWN is shown as “brother of John B.” and is listed as “Trader, Choctaw Nation.” He went to Georgia and then to Alabama before 1765. The record does not say how much "before". Another Scottish emigrant record lists a Jacobite prisoner named John BROWN. He was transported to Virginia on 29 Jun 1716. Some other Jacobite prisoners are known to have come from Virginia to become packhorsemen in South Carolina.)
An alliance between the Cherokee & the Chickasaw was successful in pushing the Shawnee back across the Ohio. Abuses by Indian traders resulted in the Yamassee War. About 400 settlers were killed. Together, the Yamassee & the Catawba nearly wiped out the South Carolina colony. Trade business stopped for a time. A resident of Albemarle, Colonel Maurice MOORE (brother of Colonel James MOORE), led a force of cavalry & infantry south to help the South Carolinians. Colonel George CHICKEN made his first visit to the area. He would return.
Fort Moore was built "up the River of the Savanoes" by the colonial militia for the protection of Savanna Town (named for the Savanna band of Shawnee). The fort was built at the site of the abandoned Savanna village. Trade goods were transported from Charleston to Fort Moore where friendly Indians promised to bring their wares to sell. Captain T. HASTINGS, John SHARP & Sam MUCKLERY controlled the factory at Fort Moore. From here, Carolina traders also carried goods to the distant Creek & Choctaw nations.
Fort Toulouse was built near Montgomery, Alabama. French traders were dealing with the Overhill Cherokee at the Cumberland River from its mouth near the Ohio. John BROWN was a packhorseman on the payroll of the Savannah factory of Fort Moore. His supervisor was John SHARP. Many of the Anglo traders & packhorsemen were marrying Native Americans.
The Carolina colonists sent the last proprietary governor home & requested that the king take over the colony. John MOORE served as governor until 1721.
WEST. Phillippe Francois RENAULT uncovered rich deposits of lead at the confluence of the Big & Merrimac rivers (Missouri), which then led to rapid expansion of that area. He brought in the first enslaved Africans to the lead mines.
It seems there was always intense rivalry between England & France over the fur trade in America. The Cherokee trade became so eagerly sought by both countries that it even caused "splits" within the Cherokee Nation.
"So long as the French colony of Louisiana remained in a feeble and thriftless condition, the English of Carolina were content only to annoy it occasionally; but now that it gave signs of durable vitality, under the auspices of a powerful company, they began to oppose it with the fiercest hostility. Rivalry in trade, together with the national jealousy, fomented quarrels, and caused blood to flow between the coureurs de bois (French "runners of the woods") and the English. (Most the runners lived among the Cherokee and often married into the Nation.)
"The French traders also met the latter in all parts of the Indian nations, within the limits of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. Each contended for the patronage of the savages, and each endeavored to expel the other from these situations where they had established themselves." The Carolina traders, many of whom had quartered themselves in the Chickasaw towns, arrayed that tribe in war against the French, and they committed the first act of hostility, by the murder of a French officer sent among them to cultivate friendship.
YUNWI-USGASETI (Dangerous Man) is said to have moved west to escape the white's insatiable appetite for land. His people became known as the "Lost Cherokee". A group of chiefs representing thirty-seven Cherokee towns met at Charleston with Sir Francis NICOLSON, the first British governor of South Carolina, and reached agreements concerning territorial boundaries. There being no supreme head among the Cherokee, NICOLSON appointed a chief named WROSETASATOW as such. He was also known as OUTACITE or MANKILLER. Altho white settlements were still east of the Appalachian Mountains, the common danger of white aggression aided the Cherokee in wanting to unite.
This was a departure from their past. OUTACITE was the first principal chief in their known history to attempt to represent all the Cherokee people. Up until now the Cherokee form of government was sort of a loose confederacy which consisted of many chiefs. Factional strife prevented any one chief of acquiring absolute control within their Nation. The clans sent delegated chiefs to a national council which in turn selected peace and war chiefs for their widely scattered towns. These far-flung communities had been mostly independent of each other and, to a large extent, a law unto themselves.
Richard SHELTON was given a baron of 12,000 acres for 21 years service to South Carolina. (Date conflict. See 1734.)
WEST. Frenchmen RENAULT & LaMOTTE explored near present day Potosi, Washington, Missouri. The French established a fort on the Missouri River (west of Jefferson City) at Fort Orleans.
WEST. Mine La Motte lead mine was established at Farmington, Missouri, by RENAULT & LaMOTTE.
There were about 14,000 whites and 32,000 slaves in the province of South Carolina.
Colonel George CHICKEN was sent to the Cherokee by the British to supervise trade and alienate the Cherokee from the French. CHICKEN had been in Cherokee country in 1715. After conferring with a group of Overhill Cherokee at Quanassee (near present Murphy, North Carolina), CHICKEN continued on with traders Eleazar WIGGAN (Old Rabbit) and Joseph COOPER past the Cherokee valley town of Tamantley (Tomantley) to Elejoy. The headmen of five towns in the area received CHICKEN in a very friendly manner. One of the leading men present was the head warrior of Great Terriquo (Tellico). He also visited Tunisee (Tenassee, Tonasee, Tennessee), where the "King of the Upper People" lived.
CHICKEN summoned Samuel BROWN to Keowee to answer questions. He was investigating complaints of Indian abuse by certain traders, especially that of John BROWN's supervisor, John SHARP. That might be a clue that this Samuel was related to the John BROWN (000 1695-1760) who was the packhorseman. Samuel was then a licensed trader at the Cherokee "out town" of Tuckaseegee (Tsiksitsi), North Carolina.
WEST. Mine a'Breton lead mine was established at Potosi, Missouri.
There seems a 000John BROWN that is chief after this date. (I've lost my source but will post it when I relocate it.) The government of South Carolina invited the Chickasaw Nation to move from Mississippi to South Carolina. Only a small band of about 100 under the leadership of Chief Squirrel KING responded. They settled at Horse Creek, about a mile upriver from Fort Moore. They remained there until the Revolutionary War.
All the proprietors except Lord CARTERET sold to the crown their interest in Carolina.
Royal Governor of South Carolina, Robert JOHNSON, ordered that 11 townships be laid out. The one at Fort Moore was called New Windsor.
There were land incentives for property along the Santee and Edisto rivers. Pamphlets were circulated in Switzerland, Holland and Germany inviting folks to Orangeburg, Congaree and Wateree. Other folks came from the British Isles.
Sir Alexander CUMING arrived among the Overhills. An energetic young Englishman of nobility (Scotish baron), CUMING had come to Charleston in 1729 hopeful of recuperating his family fortunes, which had fallen on hard times. Encouraged by his wife, who had a dream that her husband would do great things among the Cherokee,
CUMING now made a daring, extended journey among them and won the friendship of their chiefs and warriors. Accompanied only by a guide, CUMING proceeded to Keowee (near Clemson, South Carolina). There, against the advice of traders, and armed with guns and sword, he brazenly entered the town council house during a meeting of some three hundred elders. When CUMING wildly threatened to burn down the council house if the Cherokee did not recognize King GEORGE II, traders such as Ludovic GRANT expected the worst. CUMING's audacity, however, overwhelmed the Cherokee leaders; and they (on bent knee) pledged their loyalty to the Crown of England & against the French in North America.
WROSETASATOW had died the previous year. Since the Cherokee Nation had no single head of government, CUMING appointed Chief MOYTOY (meaning Water Conjuror or Rainmaker) of Tellico as "Emperor" of the Cherokee. He also recruited a delegation of seven Cherokee leading men and warriors from Tellico to travel with him to Charleston and thence to England to meet King GEORGE II.
The two most notable of these were the head warrior of Tassetchee, who was the highest ranked of the group and was generally accepted by the English as "King" of the Cherokee, the Oukah ULAH, and Ookounaka (Oukandekah), who later became famous as ATTAKULLAKULLA or The Little Carpenter. Others were KETAGUSTA, TATHTIOWIE, CLOGITTAH, COLLANAH, and OUNAKANNOWIE. The party was accompanied to England by interpreter Eleazer WIGGAN.
The Cherokee representatives met with the king of England & laid before him the tribal "crown of Tannasee," which "consists of the tails of the female opossum, put together in the form of a wig," plus four scalps of their enemies and five eagles' tails of peace. King GEORGE expressed his pleasure with the gift. He afterward escorted the American visitors to a gallery overlooking the castle terrace. When one of them spied a huge elk grazing in the park, he offered to display his skill with a bow and arrow. The king declined to have his stag shot. At the king's expense, the Indians were given a banquet of mutton at the Mermaid Inn, then provided lodging at Covent Garden. Their total stay was four months, plus a month (each way) at sea. Sir Alexander CUMING was not permitted to return with them.
When General James Edward OGLETHORPE, founder of the first Georgia colony at Savannah, learned about the trading village at Fort Moore, he persuaded Parliament to bind western trade to Georgia rather than South Carolina by requiring licenses for all traders.
Dr. John BRICKELL was sent by the General Assembly to explore the mountain region of western North Carolina. He wrote a book about the North Carolina of that day. He later wrote about his travels among the Cherokee.
From The State Records of North Carolina Collection of
Walter Clark, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NC, Volume
XXI (Richard SHELTON is mentioned several times beginning
as secretary to the Board of Trades in 1713.):
"Wednesday July 24, 1734, Mr. Shelton attending
acquainted the Board that he had a Warrant from the late Lords
Proprietors of Carolina granting him 12,000 acres of land but
that the Gov having lately refused to give directions to the
Surveyor to set out the said land he desired the Board
would please to order the Gov to set out the said land."
"November 6, 1734, An Order of the Com of Council of Nov
1, 1734 refer to the Board Mr Shelton's petition & a
warrant from the Late Lords Prop granting him a Barony in South
Carolina and praying a confirmation of the same was read &
directions were given for prepare Dft of a Report in favor
thereof which was sign'd on 19 Nov 1734."
“The Cherokee towns were now swarming with the half-breed offspring from this opportune amalgamation of the vigorous, unadulterated English stock with the more beautiful and robust of the Indian females.” “The English were at this time conducting a lucrative commerce with the Chickasaw and a portion of the Creeks.” “Hundreds of pack-horses, pack-saddles and curious looking men in half-savage garbs, together with huge piles of packed merchandize, ready for conveyance to the Indian country.” “The regular experienced English trader was a man of no ordinary traits of character. He was always remarkable for enterprise, shrewdness, courage, and an astonishing fertility of expedients." "He encountered many risks as well as hardships both on the lonely trading path and in the Indian country while in the exciting pursuit of his favorite calling.” History of Upper Carolina 1735.
WEST. The (first) permanent settlement at St. Genevieve, Missouri, was established.
The South Carolina lieutenant governor issued trader's licenses to those engaged in the hide trade; but this was difficult to enforce. Altho Savanna Town was now but a landing on the Carolina shore of the Savannah River (about 100 miles upstream of the present city of Savannah, Georgia), this little village was still an important terminus of the hide trade. Rivalry between Georgia & South Carolina over trade resulted in some harassment of the Carolina traders by Governor OGLETHORPE's militia of Georgia. OGLETHORPE built Augusta and garrisoned it with a detachment of soldiers to protect the village from Indians, Spaniards and French. A party of Frenchmen visited the Cherokee Overhill towns. Though shunned by ATTAKULLAKULLA, who strongly relished his visit with King GEORGE, OCONOSTOTA, the Great Warrior of Chota, and some others flew the French flag from atop their houses. Christian PRIBER went to Tellico, learned to speak Cherokee & married Moytoy's daughter. He also set up his Kingdom of Paradise society with a confederation of Catawba, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw & Cherokee.
ATTAKULLAKULLA was captured by the proFrench Ottawa. He spent 6-7 years in their captivity.
Emperor MOYTOY was killed in battle.
David SHELTON & Lewis SHELTON were in Wateree Township in South Carolina.
In the eyes of the British, the Cherokee were still without a central head when the newly appointed royal governor of South Carolina, James GLEN, arrived at Charleston. GLEN was greeted by a delegation of some two hundred Cherokee who had been summoned there for the occasion. British officials appointed Moytoy's thirteen-year-old son, AMMONSCOSSITTEE, to succeed his father. AMMONSCOSSITTEE was provided a royal reception, with cannons booming, as the governor's coach carried him to the capitol to be enthroned as the new emperor of the Cherokee (in the eyes of the British). After placing a silk and fur crown on the boy's head and then receiving Cherokee headmen of various towns, the governor displayed the treaty that had been made in London in 1730. AMMONSCOSSITTEE & OLD HOP both claimed leadership. Much movement into North Carolina by white settlers began about now and continued for the next fifteen years.
Choctaw War Chief Red SHOES formed an alliance with the British & touched off the Choctaw Civil Wars. The French governor assassinated Red SHOES. John VANN presented the government of South Carolina a bill for expenses incurred in dealing with the Cherokee. Goods were brought to the Upper Creek town of Wewoccaws.
James ADAIR asked Governor GLEN for a trade monopoly with the Choctaw & later the Chickasaw. John VANN of the Ninety-Six community was hired to transport ammo to the Choctaw, Chickasaw & Creek. Dr. Thomas WALKER was sent by the Loyal Land Company of Virginia into Tennessee. WALKER went to the present Kingsport where he noted bison trails. He then went into Kentucky thru the Cumberland Gap, which he named after the Duke of Cumberland.
While crossing middle Georgia, ADAIR fell in with a party of "the French Shawano" (Savanna) who, under Cherokee guidance, were on their way to attack English traders near Augusta. These Savanna were described as being friends of the Cherokee.
There is a new generation John BROWN, packhorseman on the Savannah factory payroll, along with Jerome COURTOUNE. BROWN & COURTOUNE teamed up as trade partners. John GUNTER came to Great Bend, probably Mr. BROWN went at the same time to Creek Path. GUNTER married Catherine (Ghegoheli), Chief Bushyhead's daughter.
WEST. The Ogala moved into South Dakota near the Missouri River. There was also trading with the Arikara.
The RAVEN was now head man of Hiwassee. James BEAMER (BEAMOR) outfitted seven Indians from Toogalo for their winter hunt in exchange for skins. John VANN was trading exclusively with the Cherokee and ran an establishment near Ninety-Six Creek including the "unsavory characters" of three negros, a mulatto and a half-breed Indian. Retired Indian trader, Isaac CLOUD, made his home on a branch of the Little Saluda. The head of the stream was called Cloud Creek. At this place were several springs from the Congeree to Fort Moore and from Ninety-Six to Orangeburg. All the CLOUD family were murdered save Mary, wife of Isaac.
From an Upper Creek settlement John BROWN & Jerome COURTOUNE wrote to Daniel CLARK regarding problems with the Choctaw. ATTAKULLAKULLA often "faced dangerous opposition from his own people for supporting the British". It is recorded that ATTAKULLAKULLA a half-blood named Johnny's Brother became engaged in a quarrel, severely injuring ATTAKULLAKULLA. When it was rumored AMMONSCOSSITTEE of Tellico tried to sell Cherokee northern hunting grounds to Virginia, Old HOP (Connecorte) of Chota managed to gain some power over AMMONSCOSSITTEE. As the new Beloved Man, Old HOP led a delegation to Williamsburg, Virginia, to speak to Governor Lewis BURWELL regarding matters of trade.
John BROWN, John BUCKLES & John TANNER wrote to John PETTYROW about more problems with the Choctaw. They mentioned concerns for the "safety for their wives and children". South Carolina Indian Affairs Documents Governor GLEN hosted a delegation of Cherokee leaders headed by ATTAKULLAKULLA. GLEN complained about abuses by the Creek Nation. ATTAKULLAKULLA complained about abuses by South Carolina traders.
Canadian French advanced south & seized the forks of the Ohio. They took over & finished building Fort Duquesne (later Fort Pitt & then Pittsburgh) at the conflux of the Ohio, the Allegheny & the Monongahela rivers. Governor Robert DINWIDDIE (a former Scot merchant) dispatched 21-year-old George WASHINGTON to "warn the French away". When that didn't work, he called the Virginia militia into service. He also made alliances with various tribes for support of a campaign against the French. Nathaniel GIST (recommended by George WASHINGTON, also 21 years old) was sent to Chota to offer Virginia trade for Cherokee fighting men.
Virginia's governor & South Carolina's governor had different intentions regarding the Cherokee. South Carolina wanted protection against attack & Virginia desired using the Cherokee in an offensive to drive the French from the Ohio country. The two governors quarreled about the construction of a fort among the Overhills. Virginia only paid one thousand of the seven thousand pounds South Carolina had requested. Fort Prince George was built among the Lower Cherokee near Keowee.
Whites along the Yadkin & Catawba rivers were attacked by Cherokee from Settico. Afterwards, Old HOP & Little CARPENTER sent peace messengers to the English. Considerable Cherokee land was ceded by warriors & headmen in a meeting with Governor James GLEN. Spokesperson for the Cherokee was CHULOCHCULLAK at a meeting at Saluda (25 miles northwest of Greeneville, South Carolina). Old HOP agreed to cede Cherokee land in South Carolina (amounting to the western fourth of the state). Governor GLEN responded by directing Fort Prince George be built on the land of the Catawba, far up the headwaters of the Savannah River, on the Cherokee path near Keowee. (Fort Moore was built about 170 miles further down, just below and opposite Augusta.)
The British & the French were both courting Indian tribes to sway support in their favor. On 2 Jul 506 Cherokee chiefs, headmen & warriors gathered in a grove of trees near Saluda for a meeting with Governor GLEN. It was this day when ATTAKULLAKULLA became known as a great orator & spokesperson for his people. OCONOSTOTA led an expedition against the French & their Indian allies in the Illinois-Wabash country. He was the "first warrior" of Chota. He also commanded about 500 warriors in a campaign against the Creek. He drove the Creek out of northern Georgia. At the battle at Taliwa, Nancy WARD earned her title as War Woman of Chota when she fought after her first husband, KINGFISHER, was killed. Nancy was the niece of ATTAKULLAKULLA & later married Brian WARD, an Irish trader. OSTENACO OUTACITE or MANKILLER (also known as Judd's Friend because he saved the life of a white man) took 130 men north to help protect the Virginia frontier from the Shawnee.
Virginia commissioners Peter RANDOLPH & William BYRD were sent to the Catawba & the Cherokee to recruit more fighters. They met the Cherokee on the French Broad River in North Carolina. They offered to build a school for Cherokee boys; but the elders wanted a fort instead, explaining that once the men knew their women & children would be safe, they would be willing to leave them & go fight. OSTENACO joined with a 250-man Virginia force in a campaign against the Shawnee. The Virginia force fell apart after their canoes overturned and dumped much of their armament & supplies into the river. Major Andrew LEWIS was sent by Virginia to Chota to build a fort. Altho he was welcomed by Old HOP. there was dissension.
With the French & Indian War came fierce competition among various tribes. LEWIS built a log fort on the north bank of the Little Tennessee a mile above Chota. Afterwards he recommended to DINWIDDIE that he crush the Cherokee into submission. Governor GLEN was being replaced. Before leaving office GLEN sent Captain Raymond DEMERE to Fort Prince George for repairs. Then DEMERE was assigned to move on to Chota. He arrived there with two hundred troops and a long packhorse train loaded with materials, supplies & presents. Old HOP's captive servant, French JOHN, was considered a French agent.
ATTAKULLAKULLA had risen in power dramatically. There was rivalry between him and Old HOP. William DeBRAHM, a German engineer, was part of DEMERE's party. So was Captain John STUART. STUART was commander of a company of South Carolina provincials. DeBRAHM began constructing a fort on a narrow ridge near the conflux of the Tellico & the Little Tennessee (south of present day Knoxville). The new post was named Fort Loudoun in honor of the Earl of Loudoun. Fort Loudoun was the westernmost English outpost for three years. It was abandoned at the outbreak of the Cherokee War & reoccupied after 1761.
Of the older John BROWN’s character, Daniel PEPPER wrote Governor William Henry LYTTELTON from Ockchoy, Upper Creeks in 1756: “I have known Brown from a boy. He is a sober and careful man, has distinguished himself bravely in war with the Chickasaws against their enemies and has conduct and courage sufficient in their way." Also in a letter to Governor LYTTELTON, PEPPER spoke of John BROWN as "being a half-breed by a Cherokee woman." In his letter, PEPPER requested that BROWN be given a commission as captain & command over a company of Chickasaw at Bread Camp.
A major military expedition under Colonel Archibald MONTGOMERY with 1200 soldiers marched from Charleston to relieve Fort Loudoun. The column was ambushed in the mountains north of Keowee. The Army burned a few towns and hastily fell back to Charleston. Twenty-three settlers were killed three miles outside the present site of Troy, South Carolina, in what is known as the Long Canes massacre. The Cherokee War went from 1760 to 1762. The Cherokee had traditionally sided with the British in the imperial wars; now a faction sought help from French officials in New Orleans.
The Catawba aided the Carolinians against both the Cherokee and the French, which then caused war between the Catawba & the Shawnee. The whites were left paralyzed somewhere in the middle. Many frontiersmen were also being massacred since war parties did not always distinguish between Catawba and settlers. Smallpox & the unrelenting burning of Cherokee fields and villages (by colonial forces) finally brought this terrible war to an end. John BROWN was commander of the Chickasaw at Bread Camp & was now called Captain.
WEST. Spain took control of French Louisiana at the Treaty of Fontainebleau. The land north of the Arkansas River became known as Illinois & was ruled by governors at St. Louis, Missouri. The Spanish governors allowed French customs and language to remain in use.
A John BROWN was present at the signing of a peace treaty after the Cherokee War. So was a John ROSS. They were listed under Head Men, Warriors etc. in the Ockchoy Square present for Governor LYTTELTON’s talk. Jerome COURTOUNE was given a journal from a Chickasaw Trader. COURTOUNE had a partnership with John BROWN. Hiawassee & Nottelies Cherokee killed trader John KELLY, quartered his body and set his head and hands on stakes. ELLIOTT's post at New Keowee was attacked. At the middle settlement of Tuckaseegee, James RUSSELL and James CRAWFORD were killed. Creek Indians of the Upper Nation murdered upwards of twenty of the English traders among them. A few only are supposed to have made their escape to the Alabama fort and Pensacola. Some reached Augusta.
A deposition of Robert FRENCH, packhorseman, arrived at Fort Augusta from the Upper Creek Nation, taken on oath on 23 May 1760. Lachlan McGILLIVRAY & George GALPHIN also wrote. Richard HENDERSON sent Daniel BOONE into Kentucky to find good land for settlement.
WEST. Cherokee began migrating into northern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri after the French defeat by the British. They were given land & welcomed in by Spain. Francis BRETON settled near Potosi and began to operate a mine bearing his name. This was the first permanent European settlement in Missouri. The territory west of the Mississippi was ceded to Spain by the Treaty of Paris at the end of the French & Indian Wars. It stayed that way until 1800. (Little Turkey Southern Division The Badger.)
There were great migrations along the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, which passed thru Charlotte, North Carolina. Tens of thousands of German, Scotch-Irish, English & Swiss settlers came south for the cheap land of South Carolina. They were predominantly Presbyterian folks who could trace their heritage back to the early 1600s, from lowland Scotland, to northern Ireland, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then to the Carolina Piedmont or upland area of the Carolinas known as the Waxhaw. (Many then moved to Camden in northeastern South Carolina.) The Waxhaw area is about 160 miles northwest of Charleston, stretching from North to South Carolina. It was the homeland of the Catawba. They lived along the Catawba River. The Catawba had long been allies of the English against the Spanish and French. Included in this Siouan group were the Wateree, Congaree, Santee, Waxhaw & the Seewee. The Piedmont was experiencing huge growth by whites. Pierre Laclede LIGUEST, a furrier merchant, built the first house on the site of present-day St. Louis, Missouri. This location soon became the primary trading post of the Mississippi River Valley.
WEST St. Louis, Missouri, had developed into a thriving town of over 500 nhabitants, rivaling St. Genevieve as the largest settlement on the Mississippi north of New Orleans.
William BEAN built a cabin on Boone's Creek near the Watauga River. Several families soon joined him. Bean's settlement, Carter's River Valley settlement of 1771 & the settlement on Nolichucky River of 1772 were collectively known as the Watauga Settlement.
WEST. The population of St. Genevieve, Missouri, was about 600. This was about 100 more than St. Louis. Spanish Governor Alejandro O'REILLY prohibited Indian slavery in Upper Louisiana; but Africans could be enslaved. Legal issues arose concerning people of mixed Indian/African ancestry. O'REILLY also established a process whereby settlers would acquire land titles which stayed in force until the American takeover: (1) A settler would make a request of the local district commandant; (2) The commandant would certify that the land was vacant & did not conflict with other tracts; (3) The request and the commandant's certification went to the lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana; (4) The lieutenant governor ordered a survey, placed the applicant in possession of the land & ceded the land (which was called a concession); (5) The application was then forwarded to the governor-general (later the intendant) at New Orleans for approval in the name of the king of Spain; The governor-general "perfected" the concession & converted it into an official grant. This formal process was so lengthy that in time (with only a few concessions actually making it to New Orleans for "perfection") a simple concession came to be treated as legal ownership during the whole Spanish period. (Extension of the Land System, pp 17-18, A. H. Rose) O'REILLY's tenure was from 1769 to 1772.
Creek & Cherokee met with Ohio tribes at Scioto after Iroquois cession in 1768. (Lochber Treaty.)
John DONELSON, Sr. was appointed to survey the ministerial line from a point near Lon Island of Holston north to Louisa River. This was to mark the boundary of the Cherokee.
Folks from the Watauga Settlement formed their own government called the Watauga Association. Their records have been destroyed and so little is known about them.
WEST. Luis UNZAGA was the Spanish governor of Louisiana until 1779. Both he & his predecessor had little luck attracting settlers.
Thomas WOOTEN of North Carolina was granted 200 acres on the north side of the Broad River opposite the mouth of Long Canes. (Lord Dunmore's War. Land disputes.)
(Transylvania Land Company (Henderson Purchase). Iroquois sold Shawnee land (Kentucky).)
WEST. French Creoles from British-side villages in Upper Louisiana, were relocating to the Spanish side, A few Americans did also, but in small numbers. One of these was John HILDEBRAND & his family. They settled on the Meramec, midway between St. Louis & St. Genevieve. (They gained a concession from Lt. Governor Fernando DeLEYBA in 1779.) HILDEBRAND's family might claim to be the first successful establishment of an American family in Upper Louisiana "away from the villages".
The Wataugans had no legal title to the lands they occupied until Richard HENDERSON's purchase on behalf of the Transylvania Land Company. HENDERSON then sold the land to the settlers with Charles ROBERTSON as trustee for the Watauga community. John HINKSTON & other settlers built fifteen crude cabins on a broad flat ridge above the south fork of the Licking River (Harrison County, Kentucky) along an old game trail from McClelland's Station (Scott County, Kentucky) to Lower Blue Licks. Fort Boonesborough was built by Richard HENDERSON and Daniel BOONE of the Transylvania Company near Lexington, Kentucky.
WEST. Large numbers of Cherokee began moving west of the Mississippi. This was encouraged by the Spanish governor.
Mohawk, Shawnee & Ottawa ask Cherokee to fight in Revolutionary War. The majority were neutral; but the Chickamauga form alliance with the Shawnee & participated in attacks of North Carolina forts, Eaton's Station & Fort Watauga. Upper Creek & Cherokee attacked frontier settlements in Tennessee and Alabama. A frontier militia was organized. British agents lived among them with native wives. When war broke out, the Wataugans organized themselves into a military district which they named after George WASHINGTON. This Washington District was incorporated as Washington County. John STUART was assigned to supply the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw & Chickasaw with guns and ammo to use against the settlers.
John DONELSON attended the Cherokee treaty signing at Long Island. Soon after arriving on the Cumberland DONELSON became interested in SEVIER, MARTIN, CASWELL & BLOUNT in securing lands from Georgia, and in exploiting the lands in the Great Bend of the Tennessee in north Alabama. Between 1777 and 1788 six North Carolina counties were formed (Washington, Sullivan, Greene, Davidson, Sumner and Tennessee.) (Treaty of DeWitts Corner & Treaty of Holston.) North Carolina appointed James ROBERTSON as Indian Commissioner to the Overhills. Virginia appointed Joseph MARTIN. MARTIN married Elizabeth "Betsy" WARD, daughter of Nancy WARD. The thriving Chickamaugan towns became headquarters for British authority south of the Ohio. British agents Colonel BROWN & John McDONALD were established there. McDONALD's store became the British commissary. Chief Old Tassel (Onitositah) complained to NC governor about Wataugan land stealing. Nothing changed.
Only a few hundred white people had lived in the Illinois country before the Revolution. These were mainly French & Spanish explorers, missionaries, fur traders & a few English farmers. George Rogers CLARK succeeded in conquering the Illinois country. After CLARK and his "Long Knives" captured Kaskaskia and Chokia from the English, the area became a county of Virginia. Many settlers crossed over to the Missouri side of the Mississippi at this time. Also, many soldiers under CLARK returned to the land as settlers. Others came in from Kentucky and Virginia. Forty boatloads of emigrants from the Holston settlements traveled via the Tennessee River to settle in the Illinois country. In October, General Henry HAMILTON retook Fort Vincennes. (The Americans called him "The Hair Buyer" because he had put a bounty on American scalps.) The British started to plan an attack on Georgia and the Carolinas to take place in the spring of 1779. General Henry HAMILTON, British governor of the Northwest Territory headquartered at Detroit, was instructed to raise an Indian offensive to divert the American attention from the coast. James ROBERTSON, agent to the Cherokee, learned of the plot after the marching on Augusta. He told Joseph MARTIN who then warned Governor Patrick HENRY of Virginia. By the end of the year the Chickamaugans had 1000 warriors & Dragging Canoe had become the most powerful Indian war leader in the south. Spanish Governor Bernardo ALVEZ was energetic in promoting growth in Upper Louisiana.
On 6 Jan Patrick HENRY wrote Governor Caswell of North Carolina about a joint campaign by their two states against the Chickamauga. Afterwards, Colonel Evan SHELBY was told to raise 300 men in his district, then destroy all of the offending Chickamaugan settlements. Colonel CLARK took Kaskaskia, Vincennes & arrested British Governor HAMILTON on 25 Feb. HAMILTON was sent to a Virginia war prison. After his arrest, the Chickamaugans decided to attack the Holston settlement.
John STUART died on 26 Mar in Pensacola & Alexander CAMERON became British agent for the Chickasaw & the Choctaw. Thomas BROWN became agent for the Cherokee, Creek & Catawba. CAMERON, however, continued to live among the Cherokee. In Apr Col. SHELBY, assisted by Captain John MONTGOMERY, marched from Watauga & proceeded to attack Chickamaugan towns with 600 North Carolina & Virginia volunteers. They burned 11 towns, took 20,000 bushels of corn & appropriated McDONALD's stock of peltries & ammo. The Shelby and Montgomery expedition against the Cherokee was very disastrous to the Indians of Hamilton County. Their villages and fields were laid waste and they were dispersed to the mountains.
Most of the Chickamaugan warriors, however, were then on a campaign in South Carolina & Georgia, assisting the British. Dragging Canoe & his followers (some of them Creek) chose not to rebuild. Instead, they asked the Creek Chief Alexander McGilivray for permission to build on Creek land. They built along the base of the Chattanooga Mountain the settlements which would become known as the "five lower towns". They were: Nickajack (near Shllmound, Tennessee); Running Water (below Hale's Bar Lock & Dam); Long Island (Bridgeport, Alabama); Crow Town (near Stevenson, Alabama on Crow Creek); and Lookout (Mountain) Town, on the east side of Lookout Creek. Wills Town (Willisi) was built later on. Running Water became headquarters to Dragging Canoe. Lookout Town became a meeting place for Dragging Canoe, Doublehead, Pumpkin Boy, Bob Benge (called "The Bench" in Tennessee and "Captain Benge" in Virginia), Will WEBBER, Bloody Fellow, Glass, John Bowles (The Bowl), Middlestriker, John WATTS (Young Tassel), Little Owl (Attacullacuulla's son & Dragging Canoe's brother), The Badger & others.
Isaac RUDDELL enlarged & fortified a station built by Simon KENTON & Thomas WILLIAMS in 1776. After that the site was interchangeably referred to as Ruddell's or Hinkston's.(Harrison County Kentucky) Martin's Station was a few miles away. A large number of Pennsylvania German families were there. Near Nashville a group of settlers built Fort Nashborough and started their own government for a time. Stephen SHELTON entered land at Kendricks Creek. This was a North Carolina land grant in Tennessee. Others receiving these grants were Daniel SHELTON, David SHELTON, Lewis SHELTON, Ralph SHELTON, Samuel SHELTON, Joseph BROWN, William GOFORTH, James HENDERSON, John HARRIS & John BROWN.
The NC/VA boundaries commission finished. Settlers of Watauga & Holston (including Cumberland) found themselves in North Carolina and not Virginia as they had believed. North Carolina made them the County of Washington (Tennessee). A grant of 20,000 acres in Hamilton County was made to Stockley DONELSON (son of John) by North Carolina but the boundaries described contained nearly 150,000 acres. When the first settlers arrived, they found it was Cherokee land. The county seat of Washington County (present Tennessee and then some) was Jonesboro.
In the fall John SEVIER was appointed Colonel of Militia of Washington County, NC; and the Cumberland settlement was founded. James ROBERTSON and the male prisoners headed to the "Illinois country" went by land over the Kentucky Road to the Cumberland. Colonel John DONELSON took his flotilla of 30 boats and 200 people & headed for the Cumberland by going down the Holston & Tennessee & then up the Cumberland. They left Fort Patrick Henry (Kingsport, Tennessee) on 27 Dec and headed to the French Salt Licks. Cold weather stopped them for a time.
While war raged in the east, other folks were migrating into middle Tennessee. Henderson's Transylvania Company was denied title to its purchases within Virginia's territory so HENDERSON selected the Cumberland River region for settlement. Nashborough was formed.
DONELSON's flotilla resumed its journey on 27 Feb. Warriors began following them after they passed Settico. At Moccasin Bend, Indians ambushed the party.
Twenty-eight people were killed or taken prisoner. One of those captured was Jonathan JENNINGS' son. The rest of the flotilla proceeded on; but it was fired upon several times while passing Muscle Shoals. DONALDSON reached the mouth of the Cumberland on 24 Mar, On 31 Mar he finally reached Nashborough (Big Salt Lick).
John ROGERS (the "White Trader") ransomed JENNINGS from the Chickamaugans; but the other young man was burned at the stake. Major Patrick FURGUSON and a British force of about 1,200 men raided western settlements. On 7 Oct FERGUSON was defeated by about 900 Americans under SEVIER, SHELBY, CAMPBELL & WILLIAMS. FERGUSON was killed. When John SEVIER got back to his home on the Nolichucky River, he was met by Isaac THOMAS and Ellis HARLAN. They told SEVIER about a campaign being planned by the Cherokee. Within 3 days SEVIER gathered 250 men and was on his way to the Cherokee towns. When his scouts reached Boyd's Creek, they recognized Indian signs & tricked the Cherokee war party (from Chota) into following SEVIER's scouts. When the Cherokee became aware of the trap, they turned and ran. There was a skirmish in which the brother of John WATTS was among those slain.
Just after the Boyd's Creek encounter SEVIER got a letter from Colonel Arthur CAMPBELL asking SEVIER to wait for him & his men to join forces. CAMPBELL arrived 22 Dec with 400 men. The Wataugans of Washington County rallied at Sycamore Shoals under John SEVIER. They trailed eastward and were reinforced by Shelby's Indian fighters and the force of Virginians led by CAMPBELL. They headed for Chota but found the town empty. The troops stayed a week. From Chota they sent out detachments to destroy Chilhowee & Tallassee. The army went to the Hiawassee towns via Tellico. Captain James ELLIOT was killed at Tellico. Hiawassee was also deserted. Both Hiawassee and Chestuee were destroyed. Hanging Maw and other chiefs asked for peace.
The relative calm that came after the destruction of the Chickamaugan towns made it possible for Transylvania troops to send many expert riflemen to the American forces at Kings Mountain, where "the course of the war turned in favor of the American colonists." During the Revolution Nancy WARD (Ghi-ga-u) helped American prisoners escape. Often she gave food to starving pioneers. While the Americans were fighting at King's Mountain, settlers "rear guarding" the frontier became short of rations. WARD agreed to furnish beef and had some cattle driven in. British agent CAMERON urged the Cherokee to destroy the frontier settlements while the Americans were away fighting FERGUSON. CAMERON told them that supplies would be withheld if they did not join in. The Upper Towns joined Dragging Canoe.
Ruddell's Fort was attacked by Captain Henry BYRD and his British and Indian troops. About twenty inhabitants were killed at the site. The survivors were subjected to a forced march to Detroit where they remained prisoners for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. Ruddle's Station is on the east bank of the south fork of the Licking River about 7 miles from Paris, Bourbon, Kentucky.
The Sevier expedition led by Colonel William CAMPBELL attacked the British entrenchments on Kings Mountain. Roderick SHELTON & George SHELTON were among the men in this battle (not proven). The Battle of Kings Mountain, just over the border into South Carolina was pivotal. General SEVIER also fought Indians on Lookout Mountain defeating them badly. Among those listed were Patrick MARTIN, James BROWN, John BROWN & John RUSSELL. Many ProBritish Cherokee went to Arkansas. There was a large post war migration through the Cumberland Gap (before the State of Tennessee existed). This area was considered part of North Carolina, and then Washington County, Virginia. The first large migration was from Augusta County, Virginia, but others quickly followed. Among this first group were the LOWEREYs, DAVIS', CRAIGs (David, Robert & James) & the BLACKBURNS. In the spring some 300 enemy British, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre TARLETON, attacked patriot soldiers in the Waxhaws. It was a brutal massacre which spilled over into the summer. The people of the Waxhaws lived in constant fear.
The only Revolutionary War battle west of the Mississippi was fought at St. Louis, Missouri. While 300 Indians went with pro-British Frenchman, Jean Marie DUCHARME, to attack Cahokia, the rest of this command attacked St. Louis. Led by Emanuel HESSE, this force included a small contingent of British Canadians, 200 Santee Sioux (commanded by Chief WABASHA), a "party" of Chippewa (commanded by Chief MATCHEKEWIS), a "large contingent" of Winnebago and Menominee, 250 Sauk & Fox & other warriors from a "half dozen other tribes". The residents of St. Louis were totally off-guard. Many were out picking strawberries. Among those killed were Jean Marie CARDINAL (trader & explorer) and his Pawnee wife, Careche-Carauche. This battle overall, however, was considered a failure. So was DUCHARME's attack on Cahokia. George Roger Clark's Virginians scared off the attackers.
5 Dec: Buncombe County, North Carolina was formed. (Treaty of Long Island of the Holston.) Tension grew so bad that there a terrible civil war in the Waxhaws. Colonel Arthur CAMPBELL criticized SEVIER (in a formal report) for not waiting for "the main body of the army" before launching an attack. SEVIER learned the middle Cherokee towns planned to revenge the Overhills. In early March SEVIER led 130 men to the Middle Towns where he burned 15 villages. In Apr Dragging Canoe attacked white settlements in the Cumberland.
In middle Tennessee the North Carolina Military Reservation (or Military District) was created. Officers and men from North Carolina that served in their Continental Line during the War of Independence were issued military warrants which were redeemed in land within this reservation. When the title to the land passed to the individual, it became a land grant. Warrants for land and land grants were both given by North Carolina even into Tennessee's statehood period. Some North Carolina warrants were used for land outside the reservation. The opinion of North Carolina regarding Chickamauga land claims was that they fought on the side of the British, lost the war, and lost their claim to the land. North Carolina's middle district was east of the Military District explained above. It encompassed much of today's Upper Cumberland and was considered Indian land. This Middle District ran southward and then westward. This was really Indian land and was not ceded until 1805 at the Treaty of Tellico and the 1807 Convention which ended all Chickamaugan land claims. Black Fox had a camp site at the SW corner of the reservation.
Settlers ignored treaty agreements which defined Cherokee territory as being south of the Nolichucky River. Settlements were established on Dunplin Creek, on Cherokee land. In September Indian Agent Joseph MARTIN forwarded a "talk" from Old Tassel to Governor MARTIN of North Carolina which protested the violation of the treaty. Governor MARTIN ordered John SEVIER, as Colonel of the Militia, to order settlers to withdraw at once. SEVIER did not comply. While Old Tassel sought peaceful measures for removal of illegal settlers, the Chickamaugans attacked. War parties raided the new settlements during the spring and summer. They passed thru the upper towns where some warriors often joined them. In July the North Carolina assembly authorized General Charles McDOWELL and Colonel John SEVIER to raise a thousand volunteers to destroy the Chickamauga towns. McDOWELL did not take part in the campaign; SEVIER commanded it. This was considered the last campaign of the American Revolution.
SEVIER & 250 men left Big Island of French Broad River in midSeptember. At Chota SEVIER met John WATTS & Noonday (called "Butler"). WATTS offered to guide SEVIER to the Cherokee towns; but WATTS was a friend of Dragging Canoe's; and SEVIER felt he could not be trusted in this. Hanging Maw met the army at Tellico. Both Tellico and Hiawassee were peaceful towns. They were left alone. The troops went on to Settico, Bull Town, Vann, Chickamauga and Tuskegee. John ROGERS (the White Trader) left a note saying he wanted to join the whites but was afraid. ROGERS came in the next day bringing Jack SIVIL, a negro who had been captured on the Cumberland. WATTS did not lead SEVIER to the new "Five Lower Towns". Unaware of their existence, SEVIER now thought he had demolished all of the Chickamauga settlements and proceeded along Chickamauga Creek over the mountains to the Coosa River. Patrick CLEMENTS, a Tory refugee was captured and killed when he tried to escape. At Spring Frog Town, some Indians were chased; but they escaped. Next Ustinaula on the Coosa was destroyed. Robert BEAN's detachment captured a squaw, several children and a warrior of small stature with a very good rifle. SEVIER next destroyed Ellijay and Coosawatie, also on the Coosa. He then sent word that he was ready to meet the Chiefs at Chota for a peace talk. In October SEVIER met with Oconostota (his last public appearance), Old Tassel & Hanging Maw at Chota. The peace pipe was smoked. The Chickamaugans and the Five Lower Towns were left untouched; but SEVIER did not know this. The Treaty of Paris was signed in November between the U.S. & the English. This signified that the United States stood independent. The English returned Florida to Spain,
WEST. Another migration flow of proBritish Cherokee came into Missouri. (See 1763). Also, Americans were coming in ever-increasing numbers. Altho the Spanish had previously been encouraging folks to migrate, they were now worried about land seizure, threats to their fur trade & relations with the Indians. Finally, Governor Bernardo de GALVEZ recommended that Americans be allowed to enter in small numbers, so they wouldn't "pile up" on the banks of the Mississippi. This was a bold policy change for the Spanish official.
North Carolina passed the "Land Grab Act" which permitted citizens to claim Indian land in Tennessee. Attacks upon the new settlers were so bad that most of them fled as far away as Kentucky. In one incident in the Cumberland, Indians made off with most of the horses in the Bluffs. Captain PRUETT took 20 men & got most of the horses back. They spent the night at Duck River. At dawn Indians attacked & took all the horses and killed 5 men. Estaban Miro, governor of Florida, promised the Chickamaugans a fort on the Tennessee River. Peace between the Americans & the Chickasaw brought some much-needed peace to the Cumberland in November.
John DONELSON served as a commissioners to the Indians. He located at the beautiful tract of land on Stone's River near its mouth, known as Clover Bottom. He was active, along with HENDERSON & ROBERTSON, in forming the Cumberland Compact of Government.
From the Journal of State of North Carolina House of
Commons for 18 Apr 1783. Among those listed as a person "duly
elected to represent" his respective county was
"Caswell, David Shelton"
Also for 22 April 1784: "The returning officer for
County of Caswell certified that David Shelton was duly elected
to represent said County in this House, whereupon the said
David Shelton appeared, was qualified agreeable to the Law
and took his seat."
Then in the Fall of 1789: "Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen,
... Received also the resignation of David Shelton. Justice
of the Peace for the county of Caswell endorsed "Accepted"
which was read, accepted by this House and returned."
Recorded, Stephen SHELTON given Kendricks Creek property for RWar service. North Carolina Land Grants in Tennessee 1778-1791 US.CAN 976.8 R2d shows 250 acres on north fork in what was Washington. He entered on 10 Nov 1784. The Watauga and Cumberland settlements petitioned the Assembly of North Carolina for the benefits of government. North Carolina ceded the entire over mountain territory to the Federal Government due to Indian troubles. Congress was given two years to accept or reject the grant. Angry settlers from Washington, Sullivan and Greene counties met at Jonesboro and discussed having the western State of Franklin. They even adopted a constitution. British forces left South Carolina. John McDONALD & Alexander CAMERON continued to live at Running Water & supplied the Chickamaugans to some extent.
Five hundred Rev War veterans had recently crossed the French Broad and built homes on Boyd's Creek, just a day's walk from Chota. On 19 Apr the North Carolina assembly passed William Blount's Act whereby all lands of North Carolina west of the Alleghenies were ceded to Congress to pay that portion of the Revolutionary debt. This encompassed the counties of Sullivan, Washington, Greene & Davidson which had been made from the original Washington County. In June the Creek, Choctaw & Chickasaw agreed to trade only with Spain. On 23 Aug the Wataugans called a convention at Jonesboro where they passed resolutions petitioning Congress that the counties of Washington, Sullivan and Greene, released by North Carolina, be declared a state. In Oct NC repealed the act because of bitter opposition in the state. On 14 Dec the Wataugans, unaware that NC had repealed the Act of Cession to Congress, adopted the name of Franklin for their "state" and elected John SEVIER governor. Governor MARTIN of NC wrote SEVIER in Dec offering him an appointment of Brigadier General of the western NC counties. Sevier did not reply, even after Governor MARTIN wrote a second time.
Spain closed the Mississippi River to free use from the Americans in places where Spain controlled both banks. They also charged taxes or deposit fees for transshipment at New Orleans. Spain was also encouraging Indians (who were being displaced from the western United States) to enter Upper Louisiana while at the same time trying to prohibit American immigration.
Gov. MARTIN of NC issued a manifesto against the "State of Franklin'. On 31 May at Dumplin Creek, Governor SEVIER made "A Treaty of Amity & Friendship" with Ancoo of Chota. He was a representative of Old Tassel. On 18 Nov U.S. commissioners met with Cherokee leaders at Hopewell, SC, on Keowee River. Wm BLOUNT was commissioner for NC; John KING & Thomas GLASSCOCK were commissioners for GA. Old Tassel, 36 chiefs & 918 people attended (all Overhill). Soon after the Treaty of Hopewell, some Cherokee went down the Tennessee, Ohio & Mississippi rivers, and up the St. Francis which was then in the Spanish province of Louisiana. Many Cherokee people moved there. The State of Franklin ignored the treaty. John SEVIER entered into an agreement with Georgia to colonize the Great Bend of the Tennessee River. The GA legislature sold 3,500,000 acres of Cherokee land near Muscle Shoals. The GA assembly passed an act creating Houston County at the Great Bend. SEVIER was one of the commissioners. His brother, Valentine SEVIER with 90 emigrants arrived late in 1785. They issued land warrants which were signed by John Donelson as appraiser. The President proclaimed the settlement of Muscle Shoals would place them outside the protection of the United States & referenced the Treaty of Hopewell which recognized that the Cherokee had a right to expel squatters. St. Genevieve, Missouri, was flooded and destroyed. The town was rebuilt on a hill north of the original site. The policy to block Americans from migrating to Upper Louisiana continued into Governor Esteban MIRO's administration. In July he wrote Lt. Governor Francisco CRUZAT, stating that no Protestants were to be admitted into Upper Louisiana, only French Catholics, and preferably those with slaves.
Valentine SEVIER & his settlers found it impossible to accomplish anything with Dragging Canoe's constant attacks. Illinois b Colonel John Donelson, the surveyor, was killed on the Kentucky Road. became part of the Northwest Territory. Virginia had given it back to the U.S. in 1784.
The Northwest Territory was created, prompting migration to the French-held Ozarks. The Northwest Ordinance forbid slavery in the new territories; hence, many slave owners left the Ohio River Valley and the Kentucky-Tennessee regions and went into Louisiana. Illinois became part of the Northwest Territory. Virginia had given it back to the U.S. in 1784.
Chickamaugan power peaked out this year. Dragging Canoe maintained contact with the English at Detroit and the Spanish at Mobile, Pensacola and New Orleans. John WATTS (Young Tassel) was often in the American settlements and kept Dragging Canoe informed. Cherokee who had been allied with the British received permission from the Spanish governor at New Orleans to settle in Spanish territory west of the Mississippi. Duwali was then chief of Running Water Town. North Carolina repealed the act of cession of Franklin. A general assembly met at Greeneville and chose officers to act under Governor John SEVIER.
Alexander McGILLIVRAY was considered by George WASHINGTON to be head of the entire Creek Nation. His mother was Muskogee and his father was Scottish. Tory William Augustus BOWLES was born in Maryland. He fled the British military by living among the Seminole & Creek. On 26 May Congress created the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio. This area included the land between Kentucky & Alabama. William BLOUNT was named governor & Congress gave him jurisdiction over the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw & Chickasaw.
Fort Deposit was built below Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Fort Blount was built in Jackson County, Tennessee. It was originally known as Big Lick Garrison or the Block House on the Cumberland. The Treaty of Holston was signed with the Cherokee on 2 Jul. It is written that there was a "Savannas" town among the Creek which was occupied by "Shawanese refugees".
Zenon TRUDEAU became the Spanish governor of Upper Louisiana. He strongly favored colonizing the land and holding off the English. He also ordered that nonCatholic preachers be expelled but it was not enforced. Moses AUSTIN, William REED & William MURPHY all got grants from TRUDEAU.
Cape Girardeau (Missouri) was established by LORIMIER. New Madrid & New Bourbon (MO) were also established.
News of the Mussel Shoals incident was widely circulated; but, it seems, few knew the entire story. William SCOTT was owner of the boat that was attacked. (Will be addressed later.) Chickamauga steadily migrated into Missouri until about 1799. Treaty signed with new American nation. Chief Bowles and Chickamaugans encountered white men on their way back home. A fight ensued. Fearing they will appear to have not honored the agreement, Bowles takes his group to Missouri. (Mussel Shoals Massacre) More of their people came west to join them, including John Lucien BROWN. Major James ORE was ordered to defend the "south of the Ohio" territory against the Creek & Cherokee of the lower towns.
There was a land rush in Missouri from now until about 1805. Many folks went for free land being offered by Spain. The Constitutional Convention was held 18 & 19 Dec.
Roderick SHELTON & Mary Franklin Glumdalclitch had William Franklin Duckworth SHELTON. Mary Franklin was Cherokee.
Daniel BOONE left Kentucky and settled in Missouri. Potosi was already thriving. William REED, from Greene County, Tennessee, & wife, Helen WATSON, got permission from DELUZIERE, commandant of New Bourbon, to start a settlement. His daughter and son-in-law ran the saw mill. Thomas WRIGHT was first pastor of the Methodist Church. Perhaps the first really permanent settlement was at Caledonia. Ananias McCOY, Benjamin CROW & Robert REED came from Tennessee and settled about twelve miles south of Potosi. Others followed and the settlement prospered. These folks were farmers and carried their produce to St Genevieve for shipping. "They enjoyed the fertile soil, plenty of water power and nearness to mines."
Isaac SHELTON, son of David & Catherine MILLER, was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina (abt). Mentioned in Robertson County, Tennessee were Robert BARNETT, James McDANIEL, Francis BYRD, William MILES, James HENDERSON, Patrick MARTIN, Thomas YATES, William FARMER, Samuel HENRY, Eppa LAWSON, Levi MOORE, George BELL, Samuel CROCKET & William LOWERY.
Spain ceded lands west of the Mississippi back to France via the Treaty of San Ildefonso. Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory. Relations between the U.S. & France were "strained" because of French interference with American shipping. The U.S. worried the French might shut down the port of New Orleans, thus shutting down Mississippi River trade.
The population of the Illinois district was over 6000. The territory obtained from Spain by NAPOLEON was sold to the United States for $15,000,000 and became known as the Louisiana Purchase. Many folks had secured Spanish Grants and had to settle them with the U.S. purchase. Andrew GOFORTH was one of these people. War between the Osage & the Western Cherokee was common. David SHELTON received a land grant for military service. Many of the claims in Missouri at this time became known as "Squatter Sovereignty." Several rather elaborate dwellings were erected. There were three stores, two distilleries, a post office, flour mill, sawmill & several lead furnaces. Miles GOFORTH's son was named Zachariah. Miles had a cabin on a low bluff near a spring northwest of the junction of Highways 21 & 32 in Caledonia. His daughter, Sarah, was born in Tennessee. When the GOFORTHs arrived in the valley, there were only eight families.
Ira P. NASH & two companions went up the Missouri River and staked the first claim on public lands in Howard County. Cooper's Landing was located on part of the Spanish grant owned by Ira P. NASH. The sons of Daniel BOONE, Nathan and Daniel M., heard of the salt springs in the upper Missouri country. Bellevue Valley, ten miles from Mine a Breton, had 20 American families, no French. Among those who came from Tennessee were the CROWS, REEDS, GOFORTHS, GREGGS & WOODS. It was mainly from this group that the Methodist Church came into being. The first school in Bellevue Valley was built. Miles GOFORTH became the first teacher. Before being called Bellevue, the valley was called Big Lick.
Daniel BOONE's sons, Nathan & Daniel Morgan started a salt making business in Missouri. Boone's Lick is north of Petersburg. The Santa Fe Trail began as an extension of the Boone's Lick Road. The first post offices of the new Louisiana Territory were St Genevieve, Cape Girardeau & New Madrid. Mail arrived by boat and then horseback.
"New Diggings" south of Potosi in the Mine a Breton area, was discovered in Washington County, Missouri. New Diggings was in Liberty township near what became known as Palmer, Missouri. About this time Stephen SHELTON (b. 1777) married Lydia HEATH in North Carolina. They moved right away to Ohio.
Cherokee visited a trading post at Natchitoches (Louisiana) and reported they lived further up the Red River (probably in southwest Arkansas & northeast Texas). Nathan & Daniel M. BOONE took GOFORTH, BALDRIDGE and MANLY up the river to manufacture salt. All of the country above Cedar Creek was called Boones Lick country. Cedar Creek became the boundary line between Callaway and Boone counties. It was considered the western boundary of St. Charles. Washington County was divided into six townships, Breton, Bellevue, St Michaels, Big River, St Genevieve & Cinque Homme. Thirty Scotch Irish Presbyterians arrived in Bellevue Valley from South Carolina. They organized the first of their churches west of the Mississippi. William and Robert SLOAN were heads of the group. They stopped in Christian County, Kentucky, to make one or two crops. These folks really made a difference in the building up of the area. "All over Bellevue these families scattered, acquiring Spanish grants and locating their homes near good springs. Indian wigwams and teepees dotted the landscape as well as the early settlers homes.
The Secretary of War instructed their U.S. agent, Colonel MEIGS, to "use every inducement" to get Cherokee people to exchange their homelands for lands west of the Mississippi. By now there were already about 2,000 Cherokee in northern Arkansas. The Osage were complaining about Cherokee hunting along the White River without permission. Colonel Benjamin COOPER built a cabin near Boone's Lick, Missouri. He came from Madison County, Kentucky. For awhile he was below Gasconade River, Loutre Island. About this time Stephen SHELTON & Lydia HEATH moved with two children from Ohio to West Virginia where they had seven more children.
ggGrandpa Stephen SHELTON born in North Carolina. The Palmer Lead Mining Company was operating in Washington County, Missouri. Lead was hauled to St. Genevieve where it was then transported on the Mississippi River. Most mines were surface or shallow shaft mines. Congress created Wisconsin & Illinois as the Illinois Territory. Kaskaskia became the capital. Miles GOFORTH became constable of Bellevue Township.
Duwali, Tsulawi and Talontuskee had moved their people west of the Mississippi. Also, Samuel HENDERSON (b. 1785) & Mary GOFORTH moved near Caledonia, Washington County, Missouri. Samuel (son of James & Hannah SOLLARS) HENDERSON married Mary GOFORTH in Greene County, Tennessee. They had three children there before moving to Missouri. Five forts were built in Old Franklin area in Missouri. Coopers Fort, Kinkaids Fort, Fort Hempstead, Fort Head and Coles Fort. Samuel HENDERSON served in the War of 1812 in L. DODGE's command of Missouri Militia. Stephen SHELTON (b. 1777) who married Lydia HEATH & Judith NEAL, served in the War of 1812 as a soldier from Virginia. Mary's brother might be Major Andrew GOFORTH (b. 20 Jun 1791 in TN.) He fought in the War of 1812 & lived in Belleview Township, Washington County, Missouri. Samuel HENDERSON signed a petition to the Land Commissioners of Louisiana Territory. He was first a member of the Belleview Presbyterian Church in Washington County, Missouri. Then he converted Mormon. He and Mary GOFORTH had a dozen kids. The first three born in Tennessee. Isaac (1766-1784), George (1785-1794) & Stephen SHELTON (1785-1794) are on the Buncombe Census from North Carolina, next to each other. David is there too. This David was born no later than 1765. David, son of Lewis, was born 15 Sep 1812 in Buncombe County. He moved to Missouri with his dad in 1819. This David fought in the Black Hawk War of 1832 and the Mormon War of 1837. Washington County had its first murder trial. The defending attorney was Henry M. BRECKENRIDGE. He lost. Peter JOHN was convicted and hanged for the murder of John SPEAR.
(abt.) Nancy BROWN born. New Madrid was one of the first settlements in Missouri. "All the worst elements of a frontier river town were to be found in this place. The inhabitants were a mixed class of English, Spanish, French, Indian and Negro. The New Madrid graveyard sank into the Mississippi River on 16 Dec, the day of the big earthquake. Nearly the whole country known as Little Prairie was flooded. The motion on the river caused a tidal wave and reversed the direction of the flow for a short while. Gabriel NICHOLLE, a French Canadian, claimed he purchased land on Saline from Wapcha, Chief of the Peoria., possibly chief of a small Indian village near St Genevieve.
Missouri was first called by that name. Before now it was the Illinois District, Upper Louisiana, District of Louisiana and the Territory of Louisiana. Now it became the Territory of Missouri. It included a considerable part of northern Arkansas. Cedar Creek area was now a village. The town that became Old Franklin was known as the Boones Lick Road. Andrew JACKSON led a group of Tennessee troops to victory against the Creek Indians during the War of 1812 and David CROCKETT, who had volunteered as a scout for JACKSON attained the rank of captain. William BUFORD went to Kentucky and then Missouri, bringing a large number of horses. William bought land on which Caledonia is located from Miles GOFORTH.
About 1/3 of the Cherokee were living west of the Mississippi. Many lived near the mouth of Petit Jean Creek in today's Conway County, about 10 miles northwest of Perryville. Agent William LOVELY reported conflicts between the Cherokee and Osage. He further reported that some whites living in the area were of the "worst character" and also posed a threat to the cause of peace in the region. Many Osage moved further south as more Cherokee came west. Washington County, Missouri was formed from St. Genevieve County. The seat of justice was at the village of Mine a Breton (Potosi). The Missouri Fur Company did trading in Harmony, Washington County, Missouri. The county is 762 square miles. The county seat of Potosi was named after Potosi, Bolivia, a silver mining town. It is a South American Indian word which means place of much noise. Other towns are Caledonia, Irondale & Mineral Point. Local legend has it that the Jesse JAMES gang frequently camped in a cave there. The Ozarks Trail, Trace Creek Trail and the Moses Austin Trail are thru Washington County. The forced march of the Cherokee in the Trail of Tears also passed thru. William CLARK became governor of Missouri, until 1821. Five original counties were St Charles, St Louis, St Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid.
Among the first Grand Jurors for Washington County was Andrew HENRY. The Fourche a Courtois Mines opened, named for a nearby stream, in Washington County, Missouri. These mines were in Liberty township near what became known as Palmer, Missouri. William RUSSELL described the area in a letter to William RECTOR, P. D. Surveyor for Missouri, dated 20 Apr 1814. Of Washington County he wrote, "It is situated immediately west of Saint Genevieve on the head waters of Grand River and other southern branches of the Marrameek, includes all the principal lead mines now or lately worked in this territory and several good farming settlements ... In this county there are many private claims which cover some of the most valuable lands." Mr. Russell added, " … most of the settlements being already tolerably strong so as to prevent apprehensions of danger from hostile Indians." He mentioned they had mills, schools and other benefits of society already established which he suggested surveying into townships. "Indeed the scattering of private claims would seem to make it necessary in order to identify their particular locality … in what township they are situate." Washington County got its first sheriff, Lemuel BROWN. William STEVENSON was appointed by the Washington County Court to work with a Road Commission of three men to lay off a road through Bellevue Valley to the John LEWIS place. Bellevue was also called Crossroads. The first two public buildings in Bellevue Valley were the school and the Methodist Church, called the Shiloh Meeting House.
: James SHELTON md Polly Ann BRISTOW at Grainger, TN. They moved to Franklin, MO. and had Leroy. His father is William SHELTON and mother is Sarah DOGGETT. Lived in Grainger TN. James was born in 1797 and Wm 1770s about??
Boones Lick area was now attracting the most immigrants. Old Franklin was two miles from the present town of Franklin. It was laid out in what was called Coopers Bottom, opposite the present city of Boonville. Santa Fe trade was exchanging fur & salt for coffee, silver and wool. Prairie schooners were pulled 8-10 horses or oxen. The Presbyterian reverend Samuel GIDDINGS organized the Concord (now Bellevue) church. John HARRISON and Mary CROCKETT of Virginia moved to Missouri with son, Thomas. Went to Saline. John, James & brother Thomas are sons of Captain John.
Turkey Town Treaty signed. Four thousand Cherokee ceded their lands in Tennessee in exchange for a reservation with the western Cherokee in northwest Arkansas. Some Georgia land was also ceded. Headed by Major William BRADFORD, Fort Smith was built at Belle Point, at the confluence of the Poteau and Arkansas Rivers. The fort was to help keep peace between the Osage & the Western Cherokee. Ralph SHELTON, who married Anna TAYLOR, owned a ferry on the Clinch near Pucheons Camp Creek. He owned Shelton's Ford in Claiborne. From lower Canada, thru Vermont came the "Fanatical Pilgrims". They esteemed their leader to be a prophet and arrived at New Madrid, Missouri in boats, to establish a new Jerusalem. They settled on Pilgrim Island opposite Little Prairie. At one time they numbered in the hundreds. "Many (finally) made their escape from the island and scattered over the southern part of Missouri. The sect finally removed to Arkansas where their leaders died" and the sect did too. A Methodist minister, William STEVENSON, left Washington County to start a group in Arkansas. Chief Attakullakulla ceded large parcels of land in Tennessee, Kentucky & North Carolina. His son, Dragging Canoe, rejected the land sale and vowed to keep and protect the land from white encroachment.
Cherokee migrations into Arkansas en masse. One reference has a John BROWN leaving Creek Path for Arkansas in October. Sam HOUSTON moved west also. John JOLLY, the new western chief, was his adopted father. Blount County was pretty settled except for that portion known as Brown's Valley in the area of Knoxville. John HARRIS & wife Abigail GREGG were then living in Knoxville. My Stephen SHELTON was now nine years old; I don't know where he was living then. The Cherokee held Brown's Valley until 1839. Besides the Cherokees, there was a colony of about 200 refugee Creeks settled there, governed by John SHANNON, a half-blood Creek (called John OGEE). The Creeks had been brought there for protection soon after the Creek War had started. The man who brought them in was Colonel Richard BROWN (b. abt 1776). (Source for this information is A Description and History of Blount County by George Powell.) Missouri applied for admission to the union as a slave state.
Cherokee western migrations still heavy. By now there was about 6,000 Western Cherokee. The Bowl with several families settled south of Dardanelle on Dutch Creek. By 1819 they had moved south to a prairie near Red River in Miller County. After a year Duwali and about 60 men moved to Texas and settled in Caddo Indian Country.
Naturalist Thomas NUTALL ascended the Arkansas and wrote that "both banks ... were lined with the houses and farms of the Cherokee." One account settled near Dallas and afterward to Rusk County. Clough SHELTON got land patent in Ohio. Seibert SHELTON received land patent in Carroll County, Missouri. So did John BROWN. Samuel HENDERSON bought lot 44 in Caledonia, Washington, Missouri. Lewis SHELTON moved his family from North Carolina to near St. Joseph, Missouri. His son, David, was born 15 Sep 1812 in Buncombe County, North Carolina. John SHELTON is in Franklin, Missouri, then Washington County. Moccasin Bend in Hamilton County, Tennessee, "contains some of the richest and most significant historical sites in the United States". Following a treaty with the U.S. the Cherokee were moved south of the Tennessee & Hiawassee rivers. Certain Cherokee and mixed bloods were, however, allowed 640 acre reservations. A John BROWN was one of these people. His claim was a reservation on the right bank of the river at a spot that took his name, Brown's Ferry. The Moccasin Bend terminus of Brown's Ferry is located where the present sewage treatment plant. The western terminus is on private land. BROWN's 640 acres tract on the north shore included a dwelling located on the road from old Washington.
Stephen SHELTON received a land patent in Parish Louisiana.
25 Aug: Cephas WASHBURN, Albert FINNEY, Jacob HITCHCOCK & Colonel James ORR arrived in Arkansas. Established Dwight (named for Timothy DWIGHT) Mission near present Russellville, Arkansas. Met with John JOLLY & James ROGERS. James ORR was a Colonel from Nashville. In 1800 he went bankrupt and began mining gun powder for the Indians. Samuel HENDERSON, Andrew GOFORTH & William WOODS lived at Township 35, Route 1 East (Sunlight and Belgrade). Nancy BROWN arrived as a missionary to Dwight. Duwali and others moved to the extreme southwest part of Arkansas in spite of government orders stating they were to use the Arkansas River for a southern boundary. From Arkansas Duwali got permission from the Spanish to move into Spanish Texas. The Missouri & Pennsylvania Lead Company was located in Harmony, Missouri & had mines of lead and other ores and minerals in Washington and Crawford counties in Missouri. Samuel HENDERSON, Sr. moved back to Tennessee so he would not need to give up his slaves when Missouri joined the union. William WOODS & Samuel BROWN lived at Township 35, Route 2 East (Belgrade & Bellevue on Cedar Creek). Thomas R. HARRIS lived at Township 36, Route 2 East on Big River. Robert BOGGS lived in Township 37, Route 2, South of Potosi (Breton). Andrew HENRY and William HENDERSON lived in Township 36, Route 3 East (Concord).
Sequoyah settled permanently in the west. Duwali sent Richard FIELDS to Mexico to negotiate with the Spanish government for a land grant. Spanish governor Antonio MARTINEZ estimated there were 25,000 Cherokee, Choctaw, Miami & Kickapoo then in Texas. Lewis SHELTON is in Gallatin Township, Clay, Missouri. Rev. Lewis of Baptist Church was in California Town, Moniteau, Missouri. He sold land to Thomas SCOTT and moved eight miles south.
A new post called Cantoment Gibson was built near the convergence of the Arkansas, Verdigris and Grand Rivers in now northeastern Oklahoma. to help keep peace between the Osage & the Western Cherokee. Fort Gibson was built closer to the Osage. It was about a half-day's ride south of the Union Mission. Fort Smith was abandoned.
Lewis SHELTON got a land patent in Moniteau County, Missouri. William H. SHELTON got one in Clay County, Missouri. Mary Goforth HENDERSON died. This would be about the time Stephen SHELTON (b. 1809) was told by his father that he was about to marry his half sister.
Creek Indians were removed from their eastern homelands and sent west. Stephen SHELTON got a land patent in Township 15-N, Sangamon County, Illinois. This is the Stephen b. 1777 who married Lydia HEATH. Joel SHELTON got a land patent in Rush County, Indiana. Thomas SHELTON got a land patent in Marion County, Illinois. James SHELTON got a land patent in Boone County, Missouri & in Franklin County in 1831.
Elijah SHELTON got land patents in Decatur & Shelby counties in Illinois. Samuel HENDERSON of Caledonia, Washington County, Missouri, married second to Elizabeth HARRIS. They had nine more children. They moved southwest of Belgrade near where the mill stood. Samuel was a member of the Belleview Presbyterian Church. Major John HARRISON and wife Mary CROCKETT settled on Harrison's Branch, Callaway, Missouri. Leroy C. was born to James SHELTON and Polly Ann BRISTOW in Missouri.
Isaac D. SHELTON got a land patent in Howard County, Missouri. Arkansas white settlers were demanding removal of Cherokee & Osage to a place called Lovely's Purchase. A delegation of Cherokee, including Sequoyah, visited Washington. They were eventually pressured by John Q. ADAMS' administration to give Arkansas land for Oklahoma. Lovely's Purchase was 7 million acres. A large number refused to move to the Indian Territory and moved south to join Duwali in Teas under Mexican jurisdiction. One of these was Chief Tahchee or Dutch, one of the early emigrants to Arkansas. William SHELTON got a land patent in Sangamon County, Illinois. Ralph SHELTON 2nd md Anna TAYLOR, sister of Joel. Ralph might be the son of Azariah. If so, three of Ralph's brothers became physicians and wrote medical texts. Ralph and Anna had Penelope who married Robert BEELER at Rutledge in 1861. Robert & Penelope moved from Clear Spring, Grainger, Tennessee, to Elk Farm, McDonald, Missouri. They had 15 children. Both died at Neosho, Newton, Missouri in 1924. John B. BROWN is mentioned in a marriage record.
Zebedee SHELTON married Lavina MILLER in Franklin County, Missouri. Gabriel N. SHELTON got a patent in Pettis County, Missouri. James BROWN and John BELL plus Brackenridge are in Franklin County.
Gggreat Grandpa Stephen SHELTON appears on U.S. census at Harmony Township, Washington County, Missouri. First Liberty, then Harmony, then Webster, then Palmer, Missouri was laid out but from 1830 to 1867 its post office was called Harmony. The village was located in Harmony township, 15 miles southwest of Potosi. The village was also known as Webster during this time. The site was purchased by Courtland PALMER Jr. of New York in 1870. Samuel HENDERSON is on the Washington County census. It is not known when Stephen (1809) first heard about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Church came to Missouri in 1830; but Stephen wasn't baptized until 1837. On 20 Dec 1930 Parley P. Pratt wrote, "We halted for a few days in Illinois, about twenty miles from St. Louis … although in the midst of strangers we were kindly entertained, found many friends and preached to large congregations in several neighborhoods." Ephriam Hixson Jr. (b. 1797) bought John BROWN's 640 acres for $5500. This was in the vicinity of Fields ferry on the Tennessee River and the Brown reservation. HIXSON is of the same family known for Hixon Station. Semore DAVIS from Maryland married Elizabeth G. SHELTON b 1810 in Lincoln Co., Missouri. Liz is the daughter of David & Rhonda G. HURT and sister to James D. SHELTON.
Marimon SHELTON got a land patent in Ray County, Missouri. Pines H. SHELTON got a land patent in St. Charles County, Missouri. Robertson SHELTON got a land patent in Lincoln County, Missouri. The Mormons were now in Independence and had a newspaper called the Evening Star. On 25 Jan, in Franklin County, Missouri, Samuel SHELTON married Prudy MILLER. David SHELTON got land patent in Lincoln County, Missouri. John SHELTON got one in Miller County. The Mormons moved to Clay, Carroll and Caldwell counties where they built up Far West by today's Kingston. Mary Ann SHELTON was born to Stephen SHELTON (b. 1809) and Nancy BROWN in Harmony Township, Washington, Missouri. Parley P. PRATT wrote: "In the beginning of 1831 we renewed our journey and passing through St. Louis and St. Charles we traveled on foot for three hundred miles through vast prairies and through trackless wilds of snow, no beaten road, houses few and far between … "
Parley arrived at Independence in the County of Jackson on the extreme western frontiers of Missouri and of the United States around Feb 1831. Along the way he preached the gospel to tens of thousands of Gentiles and two nations of Indians, "baptizing, confirming and organizing many hundreds of people into churches of the Latter Day Saints. This was the first mission performed … in any of the states west of New York. We were the first members of the Church which were ever on this frontier." James SHELTON's will mentions wife, Lydia, children Marymon, Nancy, Larkin J. & Polly. Youngest dau Virinda is underage. Othen names mentioned in this area are the CROWs, John BROWN & Nancy RICHARDSON.
(Sauk Indians, led by Black Hawk, were faring poorly after removal to Iowa. They crossed the Mississippi to their former cornfields to plant new crops. Sauk followers of Black Hawk were massacred by Illinois militia led by General Henry ATKINSON. It is written that the old men, women and children were all killed without regard for pleas of mercy or white flags.
(abt) Nancy BROWN died. Also, the Cherokee & the Creek met at Cantonment Gibson to settle boundary disputes. John B. BROWN married Martha ADAMS in Franklin County, Missouri.
Marimon SHELTON got a land patent in Ray County Missouri. An act of deposement was drawn against John BROWN & John ROGERS. BROWN went to Mexico.
Treaty of New Echota gave the Cherokee Nation the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Griffith D. SHELTON got a land patent in Monroe County, Missouri. James N. SHELTON got one in Lincoln County, Missouri. Mary M. SHELTON got one in St. Charles County, Missouri. Milton SHELTON got a land grant in Franklin County, Missouri. Peter R. SHELTON got a land patent in Lincoln County, Missouri.
MerryMan SHELTON got a land patent in Ray County, Missouri. William SHELTON got one in St. Louis County, Missouri. Elisha BROWN lived in Two 36, Range 1 West (Harmony on Cub Creek in Washington County, Missouri. Afgey SHELTON married Nancy SHOOMAN in Franklin, Missouri. 