Guess or Gist; Part 2; #6
Updated: Nov 7, 2021
Below is an account of the actual record of what proceeded and the reason for the trial and hanging of Aaron Gist.
Petitions to the General Assembly of Tennessee
Abstracted from Tennessee State Library and Archives Microfilm Legislative Petitions 1799-1801, Roll 1 (partial list, as relevant to Aron Gess and John Gess only)
Petition #26, Series 1, 1801: Petition of William Grisham (no county given) for compensation for a bay mare stolen from him in 1800 by Aaron GEST. Grisham is a poor man with a large family of small children and cannot afford to sue GEST. No settlement is indicated on the document.
Petition #4, Series 2, 1801: Petition of William Grissem, by his next friend William Hord, for compensation as the state’s witness against Aaron GAST, “who was condem’d and Executed in the month of October last for horse stealing...”
Petition #6, Series 2, 1801: Petition of Jeremiah Vardeman for compensation for his services in the case of Aron GESS. “... in the month of November 1800 I had the unhappy misfortune to swap horses with a certain Aron GESS, and I received from him a certain mare which has since proven to be stolen, the property of William Grasam of Grainger County; whereupon I pursued the said GESS from Kentucky into this Commonweth and arrested him according to Law and committed him to the publick jail in this town...” Vardeman’s petition is endorsed by Wm McGeehee, Esq., Elisha Wallen, Matthew Sims and Jas. Lea.
A friend, Don Sticher wrote a summary about the hanging of Aron Gess. He was the researcher who found these documents and credit should go to him for his hard work. Here are a few excerpts from that summary.
From the Court Minutes of Anderson Co., Tennessee, Book I, 1801-1909 we have this record of Aron Gess, John Gess and Jason Cloud.
8 Mar 1802: The last will and testament of Aaron Guest was proved in open court by Hugh Montgomery Esquire, one of the subscribing witnesses thereto & ordered to be recorded.
14 Jun 1802: Ordered that Jason Cloud & John Guest be qualified as executors of the Last Will & Testament of Aaron Guest deceased they having given bond and security accordingly to law.
14 Sep 1802: Jason Clouds exhibits an Inventory of the Estate of Aaron Guess deceased which is ordered to be recorded.
14 Mar 1803: William Hancock Deputy Sheriff made oath in open court that the taxes returned on due by the following persons could not be collected they having removed out of the county (viz) John Guess, Owen Willis, Jonathan Rains, for the year 1802 - -
14 Mar 1803: Ordered by the court that Jason Cloud of the Executors of the last will and testament of Aaron Guess deceased have leave to sell the property belonging to said Estate agreeable to the tenor of the will –
Apparently Aaron Gist was accused of stealing a horse from William Grissem. He went to Kentucky and swapped horses with Jeremiah Vardeman. Vardeman for some unknown reason suspects the horse is stolen, and pursues Aaron back to Tennessee and arrests him.
John Gess was on the 1802 tax list for Anderson Co., TN - Jason Cloud's Company. I have a copy of that tax list. There are 65 names on that list. One is James McNutt, another John Gess, and Jason Cloud is also there. But we have John Ridenour Jr. and Joseph Ridenour, as well, as being 2 of those 65 names! So members of the Ridenour family, a descendant of whom wrote that book, “Land of the Lake”, were neighbors of and PERSONALLY KNEW John Gess, Aaron Gess, and Jason Cloud. So when they speak of John Gess as being a son of Nathaniel Gess and a Cherokee woman, they are speaking of knowledge held in their family.
Finally, remember in the Ridenour book that he mentioned Aaron Guest later acknowledged receiving the possessions of his deceased father, also named Aaron? Well here is a record of those documents:
Campbell County, Tennessee Deed Book D, Pages 150 and 151
Know all men by these presents that I Aaron Guest Jun’r of the County of Livingston and State of Kentucky for divers good causes and considerations do nominate and appoint Silas Williams Junior of the town of Jacksborough County of Campbell and State of Tennessee my true and lawful agent and attorney for me and in my name to ask for demand and receive or sue for and collect all my Right, Title, Clame, Interest and Demand that I have of in and to the estate of my father Aaron Guest Dec’d where Jason Cloud and John Guest were the Executors of said Estate and had the care of said money and the aforesaid Silas Williams hereby as fully authorised to collect said money and receipt for it in my name as I could do was I personally present at the doing of the same and I do hereby ratify and confirm whatsoever my said attorney may lawfully do touching the premises in my name. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 22nd day of November 1822.
In the presence of Joseph Hart, Aaron Guest (seal), Charles Maysey
State Of Tennessee ) Court of Pleas and Quarter Session
Campbell County ) 5th December 1822
The execution of the within Power of Attorney from Aaron Guest to Silas Williams was this day proven in open Court by the Oaths of Joseph Hart and Charles Maysey subscribing witnesses thereto and ordered to be Registered.
State of Tennessee ) Test Jos Hart Clk
Campbell County ) 13th December 1822
A True Copy , Test. Silas Williams Regis’d
So I suspect the younger Aaron Gist was the infant son of the unfortunate Aaron Gist who was hung some 21 years earlier. He wanted his part of the estate of his father, perhaps this was when he turned 21. So what Ridenhour said about his son later returning for his rightful inheritance is proven true. This is evidence that what he said about John’s relation to Sequoyah is also true.
On pages 70-74 of “Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, Day Book Number 2” [30] there is a story of James Vann pleading for a Cherokee Indian accused of horse stealing. Mr. Vann claims he was innocent, and blames the Creek Indians instead. Meigs says he is going to try to get the case transferred to a court other than the local courts, fearing he will receive the death penalty. From the record in this book, What is interesting is that Vann seems to have started his pleas for the life of his Cherokee friend in December of 1801. Aron Gess was hung on the 14th of October, 1801. Vann had obviously heard about the hanging of Gess, and Meigs saw to it that he wouldn’t be in the same type of local court as Gess, knowing the probable result.
And what became of Aaron Gist, Jr.? There are Cloud’s living near him in Western Kentucky. Perhaps Aaron Sr. had married Jason Cloud’s daughter. There is another John Gist living in the area, but there are clearly two John’s, as the one other is well known. Just what became of this John, the half Indian John, we may never know. However I strongly suspect he is my Harriet’s grandpa, so I want to find him, real, real bad . . .
There is one possible reference. Davy Crockett [31] wrote an autobiography. In it he mentions Richard and John Brown, having gone by both their houses (p 42, 46, 50, 58). On page 73 he mentions travelling for a short while with a “John Guess” during the Creek Red Stick War, which was part of the War of 1812. I suspect this is speaking of another John Guess, not mine. But still, it is there.
Jason Cloud, Cherokee John Brown, and John Gist
Jason Cloud, as we know from the documents above, was an executor of the estate of Aaron Gist, hung in 1801 as a horse thief. In the “Land of the Lake”, by Dr. G. L. Ridenour are a couple of other interesting items about Jason Cloud.
p. 34 --Captain Jason Cloud and several river men transported the heavy hammers and the irons for the forge. Captain Cloud was active in the flatboat trade down the river and was associated with the small groups of men who played an important part in the settlement of the Mississippi River Valley.
p 97 -- [speaking of the war of 1812] -- several Campbell County men under the direction of Captain Jason Cloud and the Haley’s built the retaining wall at Suck Creek on the Tennessee River to enable the flatboats to transport provisions to General Andrew Jackson's Army.
The following excerpts are from “Footsteps of the Cherokee: A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation”, by Vicki Rozema, John F. Blair Publisher, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 2nd edition, © copyright 2007 by Vicki Rozema.
On page 66 is the following:
Around 1800, John Brown, a mixed-blood Cherokee who became prominent in the area, ran a ferry across the Tennessee River at Williams Island. He was known as the best guide for navigating the treacherous waters at The Narrows and the Suck along the Tennessee River.
John Brown was a top class navigator around “The Suck” and Jason Cloud, flatboat captain, helped build a retaining wall at “The Suck” to make it easier to navigate. Jason Cloud knew my Gist’s, and from this -- he knew some of the Cherokee Brown’s, also.
A. Our Gist’s per Genealogical Records
Much of the credit for this section should go to Don Sticher. Don doesn’t descend from this family, but has studied both DNA and genealogical records about us and other branches of the Gist surname. There were three Gist/Guess/Guest family groups that were early pioneers in the area of Alabama west of Huntsville. Two seem to be related to us, per DNA test results, so our genealogical study is of these two branches.
The First Migration of Our Gist’s to Northern Alabama
Ricky Butch Walker in “Warrior Mountain Folklore” [32] mentions a little about our families, but not much .He does say many mixed-Indian families lived in/near Lawrence/Winston/Walker Counties in Northern Alabama. Both our Brown’s and Gist’s were living there as well, but we had all left and there not present to tell out stories to him. We are here to speak out, now.
The first of these two families appears about 1818 in Lawrence County, Alabama. Thomas Gist, Richard Gist, Rachel Gist (wife of unknown Gist, possibly “?James?”) and Christopher Gist - apparent brothers, all born in Tennessee around 1800. These families first show up in Alabama in Lawrence County around 1818 where Thomas and Richard can be found in the marriage records (Thomas married in 1818 and Richard married in 1824). They first show up in Walker County, AL for the 1830 census. This family probably has origins in Tennessee in the area around Anderson County.
1830 Walker County, AL, pages 258, 270, 271, 272
GUEST, Richard 20-29 page 258 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 - 2 0 0 0 0 1 0
RONEY, Lewis 30-39 page 270-14 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 - 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 1
GUEST, Nancy 30-39 page 270-15 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
GUEST, Christopher 20-29 page 272-4 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
This group of Guest families appears to have origins in Lawrence County, AL, which is just north of Walker County. The correct spelling of the name appears to be GIST. There was a series of marriages in Lawrence County from 1818 to 1825 that matches this family. The Guests who married in Lawrence County were possibly all brothers and sisters from one family. These Lawrence County, AL marriages were:
Gest, Thomas Roney, Nancy 06 Nov 1818 Lawrence, AL
Guess, Rachel Talbert, Thomas 07 Dec 1820 Lawrence, AL
Talbot, Rachel McNutt, Emanuel 31 Dec 1822 Lawrence, AL
Gest, Richard McKinney, Jane 13 Sep 1821 Lawrence, AL
Guest, Susan Bowlen, Lewis 07 Oct 1824 Lawrence, AL
Guest, Jane Miller, Isaac 11 Aug 1825 Lawrence, AL
Guest, Susanna McDaniel, Wiley 10 Dec 1825 Lawrence, AL
The last three names seem to spell their names “Guest” and we are not related to them. Lewis Roney who lived next door to Nancy Guest in 1830 is thought to be Nancy’s brother. Richard Guest moved across the border into Mississippi around 1836 and can be found in Itawamba County, MS for the 1840 census and Pontotoc County, MS for the 1850 census (wife’s name “Jane”). Both of these Mississippi counties are just west of Walker County, AL. Rachel (my ancestor) had a third marriage to Emanuel McNutt and they moved to southwestern Tennessee, Shelby County. Thomas Gist disappears and his wife Nancy divorced him. She remarried a Rackley, and they move to northwestern Tennessee nearer the Mississippi River.
1840 Marion County, AL, page 059
GUESS, Christopher 30-39 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 - 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
This is Christopher Guest who had been living in Walker County, AL for the 1830 census. Marion County, AL is the next county NW of Walker County. Richard Guest, who was in 1830 Walker County, AL with Christopher, moved west into Mississippi about 1836. Christopher Guest cannot be found anywhere for the 1850 census but can be found in 1860 and later, living in Winston County, the county just east of Marion County and between Lawrence County and Walker County. In 1880 Winston County Christopher Guest was living in the household of James H. Haw, listed as grandfather, 76 years old and born in TN.
1840 Itawamba County, MS, page 147 (On MS border NW of Walker County, AL)
GESS, Richard 30-39 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 - 1 3 2 0 0 0 1
This appears to be the Richard Guest who had been living in Walker County, AL for the 1830 census. The number of children and approximate ages of everyone matches the 1830 Alabama family. There were two adult men in the household for this census, one 30-39 years old and one 40-49 years old. Which one was Richard, who was about 40 years old? And who was the second man?
Richard Guest married Jane McKinney 13 Sep 1821 in Lawrence County, AL. Richard kept moving west and can be found in Pontotoc County, MS in 1850 with a wife named “Jane” (next county west of Itawamba).
Christopher Gist not found anywhere in Alabama in 1850, by any spelling variation. He was in Winston County, AL for the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses. Richard Gist was living in Pontotoc County, MS in 1850. A search of Fayette, Marion and Hancock (renamed Winston in 1858) counties turned up nothing.
GUEST, R. 50 birthplace “Unknown” Farmer
Jane 50 birthplace “Unknown” (Jane McKinney)
Catherine 16 AL
Docia 15 AL
Elizabeth 13 MS
GUEST, J. 26 AL Farmer
Jinsy 26 SC
John 6 MS
Harriet 5 MS
Johnson 2 MS
This is the family of Richard Guest and Jane McKinney who married 13 Sep 1821 in Lawrence County, AL. Richard was in Walker County, AL in 1830 and Itawamba County, MS in 1840. The daughter Docia was born in AL in 1835 and the daughter Elizabeth was born in MS in 1837, indicating the family moved from AL to MS around 1836.
This family disappears after this census. One bunch of this family appears in Lawrence County, Arkansas, later.
1860 Winston County, AL census, Littlesville, page 1203, household #92
Christopher GIST 56 TN Farmer abt 1804
Mary Gist 53 TN abt 1807
Angeline Gist 24 AL abt 1836
Frances C. Gist 19 AL abt 1841
Martha J. Gist 17 AL abt 1843
William H. Gist 16 AL abt 1844
Romay E. Gist 12 AL abt 1848
Christopher C. Gist 10 AL abt 1850
This is the family of Christopher Gist and wife Mary McNutt. There were two daughters not shown here; Sarah, who married Thomas O. Gist, and a daughter recalled as “Rowena Eveline” Gist. Sarah’s death certificate gives her parents’ names as Christopher Gist and Mary McNutt. Per family recollections “Rowena Eveline” was born about 1845 and married William Richard Pace. “Rowena Eveline” may be the daughter Angeline shown above.
Angeline Gist married a “Pace” and was widowed for the 1870 census (Civil War widow?). See the 1870 and 1880 censuses for more information.
I was told the photo to the left was a son of Christopher Gist and Mary McNutt, born in 1849. That would make him Christopher C. Gist (b. about 1848) or Romay Gist (b. about 1850).
The Next Migration of Our Gist’s to Northern Alabama [32]
The other of these two families that is related to us came from the Southern Kentucky family of Aaron (b.1807) and Nancy Gist of KY. With apparent sons Elijah Gist, Thomas O. Gist, James Harvey Gist and perhaps Bowlen Guest. They first show up in Alabama in Marion County for the 1860 census. DNA testing in 2006-2007 shows this family is related to the Christopher Gist families above. While this family was from Kentucky, there were several of the Gist families from the Anderson County, TN area who lived just across the KY border in Whitely and Wayne County on the Tennessee border.
1860 Marion County, AL census, Allens Factory, page 688, household #518
Harvy GUESS 25 KY Farmer (James Harvey Gist)
Nancy J. Guess 20 AL (Nancy Jane Pace)
Nancy E. Guess 4 AL
Talitha Guess 1 AL
This is James Harvey Gist. Harvey lived next door to a Pace family (Moses, 31 NC and Martha J., 32 AL). Harvey was apparently a son of nearby Nancy Gist, who was the wife of Aaron Gist. Per Harvey’s Civil War records he was born Feb 1836 in Wayne County, KY. Wayne County, KY is just across the Tennessee border from Campbell County, TN, where many early Gist families are found. Harvey married 2nd Mary Ann Meek 1864 in Barry County, MO. Barry County, MO is in the southwest corner of the state near both AR and OK.
1860 Marion County, AL census, Allens Factory, page 690, household #527
Thomas O. GIST 28 KY Farmer
Sarah Gist 21 AL (Sarah Gist, daughter of Christopher Gist)
Lucy A. 1 AL
Thomas O. Gist is apparently another son of nearby Nancy Gist (wife of Aaron Gist). Thomas O. Gist married Sarah Guest, a daughter of Christopher Guest who lived in neighboring Winston County. Descendants claim both Thomas O. Gist and his wife Sarah Gist were Indian or part Indian. They also claim the second wife of Harvey Gist (Mary Ann Meek) was half Choctaw.
1860 Marion County, AL census, Allens Factory, page 690, household #???
Elijah GIST 23 KY Farmer
Nancy GIST 45 KY (mother?)
Elijah Gist was a son of Aaron Gist (b.1807 KY) and Nancy. Aaron Gist was born about 1807 in KY and died after the 1870 census in Colbert County, AL (NW corner near Lauderdale County where many Gist families lived from 1830 on). Elijah Gist can be found in 1870 Colbert County, AL with his father Aaron 63 and mother Nancy 53 in the household. Where was Aaron for this 1860 census? Perhaps Aaron was looking for the next place for the family to live.
1870 Colbert County, AL census, Newburg, page 43a and 43b, household #66
Elijah GIST 34 KY Farmer
Catherine Gist 27 AL
James Gist 8 AL
Nancy Gist 6 AL
Louiza Gist 3 AL
Lou Ellen Gist 1 AL
Aaron GIST 64 KY Retired Farmer
Nancy Gist 53 KY At Home
This is the same Elijah and Nancy Gist found in Walker County, AL for the 1860 census. Colbert County is in the very NW corner of Alabama. Evidently Aaron and Nancy Gist are the parents of Elijah. Only Nancy and her son Elijah were listed in the 1860 Walker County household. Nancy’s husband Aaron was not at home in 1860. Where was Aaron for the 1860 census? No trace of Thomas O. Gist who lived near Elijah and Nancy Gist in 1860 Walker County. James Harvey Gist moved to Barry County, MO before 1864 and can be found there in 1870.
Per land records in Marion County, Alabama, 1857-1859, Christopher Gist and Aaron Gist had consecutive land certificate numbers (27048 and 27049) indicating they probably visited the land office together. Were they brothers?
Some descendants of James Harvey Gist moved to Indian Territory, per Indian Pioneer Papers. Jim Sanders, a friend and fellow researcher, found a transcription of that document here –
and I have already included it in this report.
Where did these Gist families in Northwestern Alabama come from? Aaron can be found in Wayne County, Kentucky. James Harvey Gist aid in his Civil War pension application that he was born 15 Feb 1836 in Wayne County, KY.
1860 Winston County, AL census, Littlesville, page 1203, household #92
Christopher GIST 56 TN Farmer abt 1804
Mary Gist 53 TN abt 1807
Angeline Gist 24 AL abt 1836
Frances C. Gist 19 AL (female) abt 1841
Martha J. Gist 17 AL abt 1843
William H. Gist 16 AL abt 1844
Romay E. Gist 12 AL abt 1848
Christopher C. Gist 10 AL abt 1850
Harvy GUESS 25 KY Farmer (James Harvey Gist)
Nancy J. Guess 20 AL (Nancy Jane Pace)
Nancy E. Guess 4 AL
Talitha Guess 1 AL
1860 Marion County, AL census, Allens Factory, page 690, household #527
Thomas O. GIST 28 KY Farmer
Sarah Gist 21 AL (Sarah Gist, b.1838, daughter of Christopher Gist)
Lucy A. 1 AL
Thomas O. Gist lived next door to Elijah Gist (and Nancy) and is apparently another son of Nancy Gist (Nancy the presumed wife of Aaron Gist). Thomas O. Gist married Sarah Gist, a daughter of Christopher Gist who lived in neighboring Winston County. Descendants claim both Thomas O. Gist and his wife Sarah Gist were Indian or part Indian.
1860 Marion County, AL census, Allens Factory, page 690, household #528
Elijah GIST 23 KY Farmer
Nancy GIST 45 KY (mother?)
Elijah Gist was apparently a son of Nancy (and Aaron Gist b.1807 KY?). Aaron Gist was born about 1807 in KY and died after the 1870 census in Colbert County, AL (NW corner near Lauderdale County where many Gist families lived from 1830 on). Elijah Gist can be found in 1870 Colbert County, AL with his presumed parents Aaron 63 and Nancy 53 in the household. Where was Aaron for this 1860 census? Some researchers believe he may be the 52 year old (in 1860) Aaron GUESS found living in a Joseph Smith household in Whitley County, KY in 1860.
DNA tests show all these Gist families are very closely related. Moreover they are not related to most of the Guest families found in this same region.
1870 Colbert County, AL census, Newburg, page 43a and 43b, household #66
Elijah GIST 34 KY Farmer
Catherine Gist 27 AL
James Gist 8 AL
Nancy Gist 6 AL
Louiza Gist 3 AL
Lou Ellen Gist 1 AL
Aaron GIST 64 KY Retired Farmer
Nancy Gist 53 KY At Home
1870 Franklin County, AL census, Nelsonville Twp, page 535, Household #12
Thomas GIST 40 KY Farmer abt 1830
Sarah Gist 32 AL abt 1838
Lucy Gist 11 AL abt 1859
Eliza Gist 9 AL abt 1861
Rona Gist 7 AL abt 1863
Fannie Gist 2 AL abt 1868
This is Thomas O. Gist who in 1860 was in Marion County, Alabama.
1870 Franklin County, AL census, Nelsonville Twp, page 535, Household #11
William GIST 26 AL works on farm abt 1844
Melissa Gist 24 GA abt 1846
Andrew Gist 5 AL abt 1865
William Gist 3 AL abt 1867
William Gist was a son of Christopher Gist of Marion County, AL, making him a brother-in-law of next door neighbor Thomas O. Gist. Franklin County, AL is the next County north of Marion County.
There was a third bunch of Gist’s, often spelled Guest, who migrated to the same region. DNA testing shows that we are not related to them at all.
Southern Kentucky Gist’s
This second bunch of Gist’s we are related to came from Southern Kentucky. It is time to discover more about them while living in Southern Kentucky.
Our origins in Southern Kentucky go back to that report given in Early Times in Clinton County (Kentucky), Jack Ferguson, 1986, Page 8: Several miles upriver from Price’s camp a hunter named Gist, possibly Nathaniel, had a hunting camp called Gist’s Station Camp, in Pulaski County, on the southern side of the river nearly opposite the mouth of Pitman Creek. A trace led from Price’s camp to Gist’s Station Camp, which was generally used by Buchanan’s companions - “It was our crossing place when we came to or returned from Price’s Meadows.” Also remember Aaron was accused of going to Kentucky to trade a horse they said he’d stolen.
Wayne County, Kentucky Deed Book B, 1811-1822, (name index only)
190 Haven, Joseph Indenture (Deed)
213 Havens, Joseph Indenture (Deed)
216 Havens, Joseph Indenture (Deed)
217 Havens, Joseph Indenture (Deed)
325 Havens, Joseph Indenture (Deed)
332 Havens, Joseph & Mary Indenture (Deed)
334 Havens, Joseph & Mary Indenture (Deed)
336 Havens, Joseph & Mary Indenture (Deed)
338 Havens, Joseph & Mary Indenture (Deed)
261 Havens, Joseph & Samuel Indenture (Deed)
617 Havin, John Indenture (Deed)
39 Havin, Joseph & Polly Indenture (Deed)
162 Heavin, John J. Indenture (Deed)
392 Heavin, John Indenture (Deed)
731 Heavin, John Indenture (Deed)
874 Heavin, John POA (Power of Attorney)
849 Heavin, Samuel & John POA (Power of Attorney)
255 Smith, David Indenture (Deed) (Matches Beeson No. 254)
257 Smith, David Indenture (Deed)
522 Smith, David Deed (Matches Beeson No. 521)
852 Smith, David Indenture (Deed) (Matches Haven No. 849??)
Plenty of Haven’s and Smith’s. Remember David Smith’s mother was a Gist, and he married a Haven’s girl, but she was a daughter of James, and James Havens isn’t listed.
1810 Census Pulaski County, KY, Somerset Twp, page 147
GESS, Nathaniel 4 1 0 1 0 - 0 0 0 1 0
1M 26-45 (born 1765-1785, about 1775-1780 per later information)
1F 26-45
1M 10-15 (born 1795-1800)
4M 0-9 (born 1800-1810)
I can’t help but remember “Gist’s Station’s Camp” mentioned in 1777 was also in Pulaski County, Kentucky. There is a Nathaniel Gess living there some 33 years later, and we are related to him.
1820 Census Wayne County, KY, No Twp, page 81
GEST, Nathaniel 1 0 1 1 1 0 - 0 0 0 1 0
1M, 1F 26-45 (b.1775-1795, probably born about 1775-1780)
1M 18-25 (b. 1795-1802)
1M 16-17 (b.1803-1804)
1M 0-9 (b. 1810-1820)
1830 Census, Wayne County, KY, page 258
GIST, Nathan 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 - no females
1M 50-59 (b.1770-1780)
1M 10-14 (b.1815-1820)
In neighboring Pulaski County, KY in 1830 was:
1830 Census, Pulaski County, KY, page 026
GIST, Thomas 2 0 0 0 1 - 0 0 0 0 1
1M, 1F 20-29 (born 1800-1810)
2M 0-5
Thomas Gist is probably a son of the Nathaniel Gist who was in Wayne County, KY (an adjacent county) for the 1820 and 1830 census.
1840 Census Whitley County, KY, page 205
GESS, Aaron 1 2 0 0 1 - 0 0 0 0 1
1M, 1F 20-29 (born 1810-1820. Son of Nathaniel GIST?)
2M 5-9
1M 0-4
This is the Aaron Gist who later shows up in AL - born about 1807 and married to Nancy. The ages of the sons match those of Thomas O, James Harvey and Elijah who would have been about 8, 5 and 3 respectively in 1840.
1850 Census, Whitley County, KY, page 380
GIST, Aaron 50 TN
wife Mary 45 KY
son Allen 18 KY (b.1832)
son William 16 KY (b.1834)
dau Polly 14 KY
son James 13 KY (b.1837. James Harvey Gist?)
dau Lennida 11 KY
son John 9 KY (b.1841
son Lewis 7 KY (b.1843)
dau Jemima 5 KY
This Aaron Gist was born about 1800 and is not the same person as the Aaron Gess who was in Whitley County in 1840. Is this the Aaron whose father was hung in 1801, whose father was John, of whom it was said, his mother was Cherokee and some relation to Sequoyah? This then, takes us full circle, back to Northern Tennessee, and then back to Southwestern Virginia and was mentioned in the Dorsey book on the Gist’s, back to Nathaniel Gist, the one killed at Kings Mountain, and back to Maryland. However there is Aaron Gist of Livingston County, Kentucky who was born in Tennessee in 1801 per the 1850 census. This Aaron received eight land grants in Livingston County between 1831 and 1853 totaling 1,487 acres. Aaron Gist lived between two “Cloud” families for the 1840 Livingston County census and there were two “Cloud” children in Aaron’s household for the 1850 Livingston County census. We know Jason Cloud knew the Gist’s, and we know he also knew the Cherokee John Brown who was at Brown’s Ferry in Hamilton County, Tennessee. So we have two possible sons of the Aaron who was hung. In either case, we have come full circle.
1860 Census, Whitley County, KY, page 758
SMITH, Joseph 50 VA
wife Mary 40 VA
dau Hanah 11 KY
son William R. 5 KY
?? GUESS, Aaron 52 KY
This Aaron seems to be the one mentioned in 1840, not 1850. It is confusing. This is the Aaron who later appears in Northwestern Alabama. There appear to be two Aarons from the same region, one born about 1800 in Tennessee, and the other born about 1807 in Kentucky. And we have the third Aaron born about 1801 living in Lexington County, in Western Kentucky.
Wayne County, KY Tax Books, 1801-1825, LDS Film 008269
Note by Don Sticher Feb 2009: These tax lists are in a very mixed state of legibility. Some pages are very clear while others are completely faded out. Some years are completely faded. Searched for Gist (all variations) and Havens.
1801 David Smith
1802 ??
1803 Joseph Havens
1804 ?? Poor condition, hard to read
1805 Completely faded out
1806 David Gass or Gess (hard to read)
1806 John Haven
1807 Nath Gess Poor condition, hard to read
1807 James? Haven Poor condition, hard to read
1808 James Guess Clean page, clearly “James Guess” -- he appears only here
1809 Faded out
1810 Very faded and hard to read
1810 census James Heavin
1811 ??
1812 Nancy Guess?
1812 Joseph Havens 150 acres cleared
1813 Joseph Havens
1814 Joseph Havens
1815 ??
1816 Richard Havens
1817 ??
1818 ??
1819 Nathaniel Gess
1820 Nathaniel Gest
1821-1824 Nothing found
So our David Smith, our James Havens, and several other Smith’s and Gess/Gist’s and Havens are also mentioned. Was James Guess/Gist Rachel’s first husband? Rachel’s father James Havens lived here near James Gist. However our family story doesn’t mention Kentucky – only Tennessee and Northern Alabama. However other of our Gist’s do mention Kentucky. So . . .
B. True Stories and Tall Tales
Much has been written online about a band of Cherokee found in Southern Kentucky in the same region our Gist’s lived. Did my Gist’s belong to it? I hate to burst anyone’s bubbles, but in historic times, there is no physical evidence for such a band. There were people of mixed race who moved into in Pulaski/Wayne/Whitley County region, but the stories of “Cornblossom” and “Tuckahoe” are fiction. Comet Press Books, in 1958, published “Legion of the Lost Mine, Stories of the Cumberland” by Thomas H. Troxell. Most of the stories you see online about this Cherokee community of Southern Kentucky originate from here. In the forward of the book we see the following:
Foreword
The location of this story is along the Cumberland River and the Great Cumberland Plateau in Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. The time is before Kentucky became a commonwealth or Tennessee became a state. The names of some of the characters are fictitious, and any resemblance these may have to those of persons now living is purely coincidental.
If you have ever read a novel about World War Two, the names of the generals and politicians and a few of the characters may be correct, and the geographical locations may be accurate. BUT – the story line is fictitious, something that makes good reading. On page 8 Troxell mentions Christian Priber in the footnote section. He says Priber lived at Great Tellico during his stay with the Cherokee. He also mentions Collins book “History of Kentucky” as a source. He even mentions “great bars of silver” being carried off. Of course we all know there are no silver mines in Eastern Kentucky.
There was an excellent book published in 1983. On the back cover it says “The Kentucky Historical Society said that it provided ‘an exceptional reading experience’”. The book is “South Fork Country” by Samuel D. Perry [33].
On page 106 Perry says:
After 1805, no Cherokee had any legal claim to South Fork Country [Vance’s note: meaning Wayne, McCleary, and neighboring counties in Southern Kentucky] . . . though they did not own the land, Cherokees continued to be a visible part of the regional scene. Many individual Cherokees had allied themselves with White families through marriage . . . The mixed blood offspring of these marriages blended easily into the frontier scene and experienced few difficulties as a result of their racial heritage.
I emailed Mr. Perry for a few months, and purchased this book from him. Mr. Perry sent me two attachments. One he said was property of a local newspaper in South Kentucky and said I didn't have permission to copy it to anyone, but he said he'd be more than welcome to let me foreword this to others.
Many people have all seen and heard about the Cherokee still in Southern Kentucky as it is all over the internet. So now please listen to the "rest of the story", as Paul Harvey would have said. Please know the man who wrote this is a descendant of the "Slaven" family and their family history is mentioned in these stories. Here is what his research showed --
Mr. Perry also sent me the following -
YAHOO FALLS AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Located in McCreary County, Kentucky, Yahoo Falls is considered to be Kentucky's highest waterfall, although it is believed that a similar waterfall in the Red River Gorge exceeds Yahoo Falls in height by a few inches. It is a very scenic waterfall and is surrounded by magnificent vistas and natural arches. In the gorge into which Yahoo Falls plunges there exists a rarity in Kentucky, a sizeable tract of virgin timber, protected from harvest over the years by the inaccessibility of the gorge.
When the Cumberland National Forest was created in 1937, ownership of the Falls and surrounding second-growth timberland passed to the Federal government and management of it was entrusted to the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture. Always off the beaten track, so to speak, the Yahoo Falls area languished for more than twenty years as the Forest Service gave the land an opportunity to heal itself after decades of high-grade logging abuse, uncontrolled burning, and erosion.
In 1953, supervision of the Cumberland National Forest was assigned to Robert F. Collins, a professional forester, sportsman, and far-sighted manager of natural resources. Collins was also a history buff and admirer of the Kentucky explorer and pioneer, Daniel Boone. So much so, that in 1966, he was almost solely responsible for having the name of the Cumberland National Forest changed to that of Daniel Boone National Forest. In his seventeen-year tenure as Forest Supervisor, Collins made a name for himself as a progressive land manger and undertook many innovative projects that transformed the Forest from a virtual wasteland into a haven for lovers of outdoor recreation and a sustainable source of wood products.
Collins had a sincere interest in the history of the region that became the Daniel Boone National Forest and sought to establish sites on the Forest where that history could be used to attract visitors and educate the general public. As a Boone enthusiast, he was, naturally, attracted to the northern reaches of the Forest where Boone had spent most of his time while in Kentucky. However, the southern districts could not be ignored and Collins began to look around for something he could use as a basis for interpreting the history of that region. He found it in an obscure booklet entitled LEGION OF THE LOST MINE, published in 1958 by a Scott County, Tennessee resident, Thomas Harlan Troxel.
LEGION OF THE LOST MINE is a short collection of stories based upon the traditions of the Troxel family and centers around an intriguing person in the history of the Cherokee, Chief Doublehead. In the book, Troxel creates additional characters to supplement the Doublehead story. Big Jake, Princess Cornblossom, Hans Blackberne, and the romantic Brave Tuckahoe all romp through the pages of LEGION OF THE LOST MINE like characters in a Walt Disney drama. Although Thomas H. Troxel was careful to note in the foreword to his book that the names of some of the characters are fictitious, many well-meaning persons have used his work as a framework upon which to build a fraudulent history of the region drained by the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. Robert Collins used it to create the Yahoo Falls Recreation Area on the Stearns Ranger District.
Knowing that it would be cost-prohibitive to attempt to extract the mature timber from within the Yahoo Creek gorge, the decision was made to turn Yahoo Falls into a scenic attraction and lure visitors to the Stearns Ranger District. An all-weather road was built from the Alum Ford road to the top of the gorge and a picnic area was established with sources of potable water, fire pits, and toilets. Trails were constructed and a long flight of steel stairs led visitors down into the gorge past towering cliffs and nearly vertical slopes lush with mountain laurel, rhododendron, and not a few threatened and endangered species of plants.
For the history buffs, Collins ordered the construction of a cemetery at the entrance to the Yahoo Falls Recreation Area. This cemetery would contain only one grave, that of a Jacob Troxel, one of the major players in LEGION OF THE LOST MINE. With the help of a local congressman, a government-issued marker was acquired and installed at the head of the "grave". The marker would identify Jacob Troxel as a veteran of the Philadelphia County Militia in the Revolutionary War.
Today, management of the Yahoo Falls area is the responsibility of the National Park Service and hundreds of visitors come to stand under the immense overhang beneath the Falls and to navigate the trails that penetrate the pristine creek gorge. Presumably, some of these visitors also pause at the entrance and look at the lone gravestone enclosed by a rustic fence, not knowing that the stone stands over an empty grave, and that it honors a man who, in all probability, never existed. To his credit, in LEGION OF THE LOST MINE, Thomas H. Troxel never mentions Jacob Troxel, referring, instead, only to a Big Jake, going so far, even, as to suggest that he might be "Jacob the conjuror, as spoken of in connection with Indians in Virginia colonial history." However, because of the intercession of Robert Collins and others, it has been assumed that Big Jake was, indeed, Jacob Troxel.
Shortly after his retirement, in 1970, Robert Collins was commissioned by the Forest Service to write a history of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Since its publication in 1975, A HISTORY OF THE DANIEL BOONE NATIONAL FOREST has become the definitive work (and the only work) on the subject, even though it has been the object of negative criticism within the agency, itself. In his book, Collins perpetuates the Big Jake-Princess Cornblossom-Chief Doublehead legend and enhances it, going so far as to lend credence to what is, perhaps, the most notorious of the myths, the alleged massacre of innocent Cherokee at Yahoo Falls by Indian-hating whites. This grievous indictment of the non-Indian citizens of Wayne County, Kentucky, particularly the Gregory family, is an unforgivable breach of professional ethics by Collins or any reputable historian. By making such charges without proof, Collins ensures that he can never be taken seriously as a historian and leaves all of his work open to question and debate. In his wisdom, even Thomas H. Troxel makes no mention of a massacre at Yahoo Falls in his published writings.
For many years, I was a believer in the Big Jake-Princess Cornblossom-Yahoo Falls Massacre legend. When I undertook the research which culminated in the publication of my own book, SOUTH FORK COUNTRY, I quickly learned that much of what I had believed in my younger days about the legend was based upon pure speculation, wishful thinking, and, as time went on, deliberate attempts to deceive. After much study, I concluded that, although there was, indeed, a Chief Doublehead (though bearing no resemblance to the Doublehead of the legend), both Big Jake (Troxel) and Princess Cornblossom were, both, simply, figments of Thomas H. Troxel's imagination and that the Yahoo Falls Massacre was simply an add-on to the legend designed to serve personal agendas.
The oft-repeated (even on the Internet) story of a mass murder at Yahoo Falls is based, not upon empirical data, but upon hearsay and revisionist history. It is an unconscionable smear of the descendants of Hiram Gregory, who is charged with leading the assault upon the Cherokees, and serves, not to unite the people of the Big South Fork region, but to divide them.
In the past, good, but misinformed persons have sought to create a heritage for the people living within the drainage basin of the Big South Fork whom they regarded as having none. They used their influence to put up historical markers and headstones, wrote about the region in national forest histories, and, patronizingly, tried to give what they thought was the region's due. They cannot be faulted for this because they did what they believed was right. But, we are at the dawn of a new era in historical research and the citizens of Wayne, Pulaski, and McCreary counties now know that their true heritage can be based upon real people and real events. We must not be afraid to subject our sacred cows of tradition to the historical method and evaluate the data objectively and responsibly. I have done that to the Chief Doublehead-Big Jake-Cornblossom-Yahoo Falls Massacre, and have found it to be what it always will be-a series of fanciful stories not based upon factual evidence.
Samuel D. Perry, Copyright: 2002
So although there were admittedly many mixed race families living in the area where some of our Gist’s lived, the stories you see online mentioning Cornblossom, Tuckahoe, and the Yahoo Falls Massacre – these people and events are fictitious.
Priber
There is one other often quoted Cherokee story I feel I need to mention before ending this writing. Christian Gotlieb Priber is mentioned with respect to Doublehead’s wife. They say Priber’s daughter married Doublehead. With all due respect, there is no proof Doublehead ever married her, or if she even existed. Doublehead was said to be Sequoyah’s great uncle, so mentioning Priber is a legitimate subject of this short family history.
A well-known Cherokee Historian, Robert J. Conley, was asked by the Cherokee Nation to write a history of the Cherokee Nation. The end result is “The Cherokee Nation, a History” published by the University of New Mexico Press, copyrighted by Robert J. Conley and the Cherokee Nation in 2005. So many people say Christian Gottlieb Priber was a major personality in the 1700s in Cherokee history. Was he? Here is what Robert Conley says of him:
Once again, the English chroniclers and their followers who have blindly followed them have given us a tale full of contradictions. Priber was German, but was a French agent. He was a Jesuit priest, but railed against religion. He was a dangerous French agent who urged the Cherokee to trade with both the French and English . . . Among a matrilineal society, he spoke of wives as property without being killed, thrown out of town, or even laughed at. Among a people with a strong clan system, he advocated that children be raised as ‘public property’ . . . The man himself has been painted as a bundle of contradictions, and the idea he is supposed to have proposed to the Cherokees and supposed to have influenced them would never have been listened to by Cherokees. The entire tale is ludicrous.
So much of earlier history is simply unknown and much is also unknowable. Priber did exist, but all we know of him was written by the English who were his enemies. It is possible most of the things were written of him never happened. Did mixed race families exist in Southern Kentucky. Evidence says overwhelmingly, yes. Are the stories of Tuckahoe, Cornblosson, and the Yahoo Falls Massacre true? We see them all over the internet! They are fiction. There were mixed race families who lived like the neighboring whites, and like their neighbors, just tried to do the best they could raising their families. Many of these people are well-meaning and sincere. But I can’t with a good conscience say Tuckahoe or Cornblossom ever existed. They are good and interesting stories well written by Thomas Troxell. But he himself said some of the characters in his book were fictitious. If you ask the Cherokee themselves about this “Cornblossom” (and I have) all you usually hear is “Corn has no blossoms!” with a light hearted chuckle as they walk past.
C. More About Sequoyah [34]
So we have established that we might be related to Sequoyah. The next section is more information about him. Much has been written about Sequoyah. George Everett Foster says in “Se-Quo-Yah, the American Cadmus and Modern Moses: A Complete Biography of the Greatest of Redmen (1885)” his father was a German Salzberger trader named George GiBt (my keyboard can’t make the exact German letter that looks sort of like an uppercase “B”. This letter has a long “sssss” sound. Salzberg is in Austria now, but once was part of southern Bavaria. His family came to America about the same time as the Moravians who came with Oglethorpe when Georgia was just being settled. But there is no proof that he even existed. In Grant Foreman’s “Sequoyah” he says Sequyah’s father was Nathaniel Gist, the son of Christopher. Mr. Foreman wrote on p. 77, In the Bureau of American Ethnology in Washington is a letter written by John Mason Brown of the Louisville bar, a descendant of Nathaniel Gist [Vance’s note: He is not talking about MY Nathaniel. Brown descended from the famous one], who stated that Sequoyah had visited the Gist descendants in Kentucky, probably on his way to or from Washington in 1828. On this occasion he was looking for his White kin. Apparently Sequoyah thought his father was named Nathaniel Gist. But what if he was seeking the WRONG Nathaniel?
The Cherokee Phoenix and Other Writings
There are many who claim Sequoyah was just 1/4th Cherokee Indian. However those who knew him personally say he looked full blood Cherokee. Some suggest he had NO White blood. The truth is probably in between. He had some White blood, probably ranging between ½ and 3/4ths Cherokee. Dad once bought a small book “The Mysteries of Sequoyah, Centennial Edition” written by C. W. “Dub” West. The author signed it for him. This was a hard cover, “special edition” of 1776. His copy says “387 of 1000 copies”. So I know at one time Dad was interested in the family stories. West explores all the contradictions. Some put his birth about 1760 and others at 1775-7. As for Sequoyah’s mother, every researcher except one, Mooney, say his mother was a full-blood – Capt. John Stuart, Jack Kilpatrick and others, they all agree. Mooney is the only researcher that says Sequoyah’s mother was a Watts. But when reading other researchers, they all say his mother was full-blood Cherokee. Alice Marriott says his mother was Wut-tee and her brothers were Tahn-yan-tah-hee and Tahlonleeska. Mr. Payne who lived near Sequoyah said his grandfather on his mother’s side was Shawnee. So just who were his parents? If people only read Mooney they will get one opinion saying she was a “Watts”, but EVERY OTHER Sequoyah researcher – and there are about a dozen of them -- rejects this notion!
From “Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 11, No. 1, March, 1933, CAPTAIN JOHN STUART'S SKETCH OF THE INDIANS”, By GRANT FOREMAN we have the following:
The Arkansas Gazette for June, 1837 carried the following advertisement:
"Just published and for sale at office of Arkansas Gazette 'Sketch of the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians,' by John Stuart, Captain U. S. Army, price 37 ½c."
Grant Foreman then quotes from this 1837 article by Stuart, as recorded by the Arkansas Gazette:
"George Guess, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, is a man of about sixty years of age. He is of a middle stature, and of rather a slender form, and is slightly lame in one leg, from disease when young. His features are remarkably regular, and his face well formed, and rather handsome. His eyes are animated and piercing, showing indications of a brilliancy of intellect far superior to the ordinary portion of his fellow men. His manner is agreeable, and his deportment gentlemanly. He possesses a mild disposition, and is patient, but is energetic and extremely persevering and determined in the pursuit or accomplishment of any object on which he may fix his mind. He is inquisitive, and appears to be exceedingly desirous of acquiring information on all subjects. His mind seems to soar high and wide; and if he could have had the advantages of an enlightened education, he would no doubt have brought himself to rank high among the acknowledged great men of the age in which he lives. He has been in the habit, ever since he could apply his language in that way, of keeping a journal of all the passing events which he considered worthy of record: and has, at this time, (it is said), quite a volume of such matter.
"His connection in blood with the whites, is on the side of the father. His mother was a fullblood Cherokee; and he was raised entirely among the uncultivated portion of the Cherokees, and never received much, if any, advantage from an intercourse with the whites. He does not speak one word of the English language. [Vance’s note: when this was written, Sequoyah was still alive and lived only a few miles from the Arkansas border. The author, Capt. John Stuart, had personally met him.] From a very early age, he has possessed a natural talent for drawing, and very far surpasses any man in his nation in that art; but he never received any kind of instruction from any practical artist. He can draw a horse, hog, deer, &c. remarkably well; and no man in the United States can surpass him in drawing a buffalo. He can also draw rough portraits, a circumstance which, connected with his fondness for drawing, contributed very much toward inducing him to attempt the formation of a type for his language.
"Mr. Guess, when engaged in the very laudable purpose of inventing his alphabet, had to encounter many very serious obstacles, and which but few men would have surmounted. No one had the least confidence in the success of his project, and thought him to be laboring under a species of mental derangement on that subject. He was laughed at by all who knew him, and was earnestly besought by every member of his own family to abandon a project which was occupying and diverting so much of his time from the important and essential duties which he owed to his family—they being, in some measure, dependent on his daily labor for their subsistence. But no argument or solicitation could induce him to change his determination. And although he was under the necessity of working much at night, by lights made from burning pine, he persisted until he accomplished fully the object of his desire. Even after he had completed the alphabet, and the art of applying it to writing, and when he was fully able to write anything that he might wish, and when he made records in books, and kept a running book account of his monied transactions, &c.— even then, it was with great difficulty that he could induce the members of his own family to believe that it was anything more than a wild delusion. At length, however, he prevailed upon one of his young daughters to learn of him his newly invented alphabet, and its arrangement, she being the only one of his family, and in fact the only person, he could prevail on to undertake the supposed useless task. She made rapid progress in learning, and soon became able to write and read with ease and fluency anything the father would write. This began to open the eyes of the family and of some of the neighbors, but did not prove to be entirely satisfactory. A meeting, therefore, was held, of the people, on the subject, and by separating the father and daughter, and requiring them to write, as dictated to, by the company, and to read, while separated, the writing of each as dictated to them by others, and that being accordingly done in every instance, led the persons present into a full conviction of the truth, as well as the utility, of the invention. And several of the most influential men in the nation immediately learned it, and discovering all its practical advantages, recommended it in high terms to the people. From that time it spread into a general use; and the people of the nation are at this day in the full enjoyment of its great benefits.
"George Guess, in forming an alphabet for the Cherokee language, found that eighty-six distinct characters would be necessary. To make so many distinct figures differing so much in their shape, as to be easily distinguished from each other, and, at the same time, to be easily and quickly made with a pen on paper, was a matter of much difficulty. But, being one day on a public road, he found a piece of newspaper, which had been thrown aside by a traveler, which he took up, and, on examining it, found characters on it that would be more easily made than his own, and consequently picked out for that purpose the largest of them, which happened to be the Roman letters, and adopted them in lieu of so many of his own characters—and that, too, without knowing the English name or meaning of a single one of them. This is to show the cause and manner of the Roman letters being adopted."
The only other record of his parents made while he was alive was in by the Cherokee themselves was in the Cherokee Phoenix, part of which is quoted below. I have the entire article in Appendix 1, and the end of this report.
Cherokee Phoenix; Invention of the Cherokee Alphabet
This was written in 1828 by an acquaintance of Sequoyah’s, a Cherokee. It was published in the Cherokee Phoenix in both English and in Sequoyah’s own syllabry. He was still alive at the time and he was a reader of every issue of the Cherokee Phoenix. Had he disagreed what was said about his family, don’t you think he would have responded to it? It says that although he appeared to be full blood Cherokee, his paternal grandpa was a White man.
Sequoyah - according to an acquaintance
CHEROKEE PHOENIX Wednesday August 13, 1828 Volume 1 No. 24 Page 2 Col. 1a-2a
INVENTION OF THE CHEROKEE ALPHABET
Mr. Editor- The following statement respecting the invention of the Cherokee Alphabet, may not be altogether uninteresting to some of your readers. I have it from a particular friend of Mr. Guess, who lived near him at the time he made his invention.
Mr. Guess is in appearance and habits, a full Cherokee, though his grandfather on his father's side was a white man. He has no knowledge of any language but the Cherokee, consequently, in his invention of the alphabet, he had to depend entirely on his own native resources. He was led to think on the subject of writing the Cherokee language by a conversation which took place one evening at Sauta. Some young men were making remarks on the superior talents of the white people. One said, that white men could put a talk on paper, and send it to any distance, and it would be understood by those who received it. They all agreed, that this was very strange, and they could not see how it could be done. Mr. Guess, after silently listening to their conversation for a while, raised himself, and putting on an air of importance, said, "you are all fools; why the thing is very easy; I can do it myself:" and, picking up a flat stone, he commenced scratching on it with a pin; and after a few minutes read to them a sentence, which he had written by making a mark for each word. This produced a laugh and the conversation on that subject ended. But the inventive powers of Guess's mind were now roused to action; and nothing short of being able to write the Cherokee language, would satisfy him- He went home, purchased materials, and sat down to paint the Cherokee language on paper. He at first thought of no way, but to make a character for each word. He pursued this plan for about a year; in which time he had made several thousand characters. He was then convinced that the object was not attainable in that way: but he was not discouraged. He firmly believed, that there was some way in which the Cherokee language would be expressed on paper, as well as the English: and, after trying several other methods, he at length conceived the idea of dividing the words into parts. He had not proceeded far on this plan, before he found, to his great satisfaction, that the same characters would apply, in different words, and the number of characters would be comparatively few. After putting down, and learning all the syllables that he could think of, he would listen to speeches, and whenever a word occurred which had a part, or syllable, in it, which he had not before thought of, he would bear it on his mind, until he had made a character for it. In this way he soon discovered all the syllables in the language. In forming his characters, he made some use of the English letters, as he found them in a spelling book, which he had in his possession. After commencing upon the last mentioned plan, I believe he completed his system in about a month.
During the time he was occupied in inventing the alphabet, he was strenuously opposed by all his friends and neighbors (sic). He was frequently told that he was throwing away his time and labor (sic), and that none but a delirious person, or an idiot, would do as he did. But this did not discourage him. He would listen to the expostulations of his friends, and then deliberately light his pipe, pull his spectacles over his eyes, and sit down to his work, without attempting to vindicate his conduct. After completing his system, he found much difficulty in persuading the people to learn it.- Nor could he succeed, until he went to the Arkansas and taught a few persons there, one of whom wrote a letter to some of his friends in the Nation, and sent it by Mr. Guess, who read it to the people. This letter excited much curiosity. Here was a talk in the Cherokee language, which had come all the way from the Arkansas sealed up in paper, and yet it was very plain. This convinced many that Mr. Guess' mode of writing would be of some use. Several persons immediately determined to try to learn. They succeeded in a few days, and from this it quickly spread all over the nation, and the Cherokees ( who as a people had always been illiterate,) were in the course of a few months, without school, or expense of time, or money, able to read and write in their own language.
This astonishing discovery certainly entitles Mr. Guess to the warmest gratitude of his country; and, should the Cherokee language continue to be spoken, his fame will be handed down to the latest posterity.-
G. C.
From the Cherokee Nation’s Official Website
The following was taken straight off of the web page of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma where they speak of Sequoyah and the Syllabry.
Family tradition tells us that Sequoyah (S-si-qua-ya) was born west of Chillhowee Mountain, which is approximately one and a half miles east of Tasgigi, Monroe County, Tennessee. This location is only about 8 miles from Echota, the capital of the old Cherokee Nation. As far as his birth year, the best estimation is from 1760 to 1765. Sequoyah stated that when an Iroquoian Peace Delegation visited at New Echota in 1770, he was living with his mother as a small boy and remembered the events. While in Washington in 1828, he told Samuel Knapp he was about 65.
As the traditional Cherokee society is matrilineal, and one's clan is obtained through the mother, this information is of most relevance when researching the man's history and background. Her name was Wu-te-he, and she belonged to the Red Paint Clan. She had two brothers, Tahlonteeska and Tahnoyanteehee. The only certain information regarding his father is a statement made during Sequoyah's lifetime about his father, which appeared in the Cherokee Phoenix (August 13, 1828). This stated his paternal grandfather was a white man. Sequoyah's father was half Cherokee and his mother a full blood. His father's name has been identified as either George Gist, a German peddler, or Nathaniel Gist, a friend of George Washington's and ancestor of the Blair family of Washington, D.C. Sequoyah also had at least two brothers; one was named Tobacco Will who was a blacksmith in Arkansas and also a signer of the Cherokee Constitution. The Old Settler Chief, Dutch (U-ge-we-le-dv), was another brother.
Copyright ©1998-2002. Cherokee Nation. All rights reserved.
So according to the Cherokee themselves, Sequoyah had a little White blood, but not much. His mother was a full blood. His mother was Wut-tee or Wu-te-he, and his father was either Nathaniel Gist or a German peddler named George Gist. The truth about his parentage is we really don’t know much about them. Some said he was a Baptist Minister but the people who personally knew him said he wasn’t even a Christian. There are so many contradictions.
And about Captain Dutch being his brother – we have
Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 9, No. 3, September, 1931, THE CHEROKEE WAR PATH, With Annotations, By Carolyn Thomas Foreman
The Cherokee War Path, Written by John Ridge in Washington City as Narrated by the Cherokee Warrior of Arkansas, John Smith who was present and principal actor in the Warlike Expeditions in the Pararies of the Far West. March 25th, 1836. It says:
The Cherokees are divided into 7 clans; each clan having a peculiar name, & are considered one family & are not permitted to intermarry in their own clan under the penalty of death. It is an ancient, civil institution of our forefathers. The names of these clans are the Wolf, the Deer, the Paint, the Blind Savana, the Green Holley, with the sharp thorney leaf, The Long Flowing Down Hair, and the Deaf. The last of these is mine & that of Dutch—we are brothers.
Sequoyah’s mother (and thus Sequoyah) was said to be Paint Clan. Dutch and Sequoyah have different clans! This means they have different mothers. The only way we can have them being brothers is if they had the same father. As I have said before and will continue to say, there are many contradictions.
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