Sequoyah Cherokee (1770 - 1843)

Born 1770 in Cherokee Nation (East)

Ancestors

Descendants

Died Aug 1843 at about age 73 in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico

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Biography

Sequoyah Cherokee is Notable.

Sequoyah, known in English as George Guess, Guest, or Gist (names he never himself used) was a Cherokee man who became world-famous due to his invention of the Cherokee syllabary, a system for writing the Cherokee language. ^[1] He is believed to be the only person to have ever created a writing system for an existing non-written language. He always signed his name and referred to himself as “Sequoyah” although he generally appears in English language records as George Guess. Sequoyah never learned to speak English and throughout his life maintained and supported the traditional Cherokee ways.

When Sequoyah was born, there were few records kept of any Cherokee families and he does not appear in any written records until he was an adult. Most accounts agree that he was born in the Cherokee Nation near Tuskegee (near what is now Vonore, Tennessee) about 1770-1775.

Sequoyah himself did not know exactly when he was born. Descriptions by people who met him between 1828 and 1842 strongly support a birth between 1770 and 1780. Jeremiah Everts described him as “about 50” in 1828. John Howard Payne stated in 1835 that he was “about 60.” Ethan Allen Hitchcock said in 1842 that he was “between 55 and 60.” Stanley Hoig concludes that he was born about 1778, concurrent with the presence of Nathaniel Gist in the Cherokee Nation.

His mother was a Cherokee woman, called “Wurteh” or “Wuttee” by most accounts, described by some as the niece of chiefs Old Tassel and Doublehead. ^[2] There are no contemporary records which identify Sequoyah’s father. Emmet Starr suggested that he was a German trader, others suggest that he was a white man from Virginia named Nathaniel Gist, and one account states that his father was a Cherokee man. An 1828 article, in the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper said, “Mr Guess is in appearance and habits, a full Cherokee, though his grandfather on his father’s side was a white man.” ^[3] No siblings are mentioned in any accounts. Whoever his father was, Sequoyah grew up living with just his mother.

In 1835 George Lowrey, a relative by marriage, recounted his version of Sequoyah’s life to John Howard Payne. Lowrey said that as a child Sequoyah lived with his mother on their small farm and trading post, helping her with the animals and later joining in the fur and deerskin trade. He apparently enjoyed working with his hands, making improvements to their dairy equipment. He then began making metal items like hoes and axes and also decorating items like knives and harnesses with silver. ^[4] In 1799, Brother Steiner, an early Moravian missionary, described a young Indian who had inlaid his tomahawk with silver and who wished to go east to learn more about the trade. He did not mention a name, but this is widely assumed to be Sequoyah. ^[5]

Uncertain Father

Although Nathaniel Gist is attached as father here, there are no documents that identify Sequoyah's father. A newspaper article printed in Sequoyah's lifetime when he definitely would have seen it and had a chance to correct it stated that his grandfather, not his father, was white. ^[6] Nathaniel was first recorded in the Cherokee Nation in 1753, and was old enough to be Sequoyah's grandfather, so it may simply be that the generations are off. Gist returned briefly to the Cherokee Nation in 1778.

War of 1812

Although he had been lame since childhood, in 1813 Sequoyah joined the Americans in the War of 1812. He and about 400 other Cherokee men enlisted in a Cherokee regiment under Col. Gideon Morgan. The Cherokee troops supported American intervention in a Creek civil war. Sequoyah was discharged in 1814 and returned home to his family. ^[7]

Sequoyah lost his home in Tennessee after the Treaty of 1817 and moved his family to Willstown, in what is now Alabama.

Cherokee Syllabary

Sequoyah had apparently been interested in the concept of a written Cherokee language since 1809, but after his move to Willstown, he devoted himself fully to developing his idea for the “talking leaves” and devising his Cherokee syllabary. The syllabary is a system of writing that has a separate character for each sound in the spoken Cherokee language. He was so intent on his creation that he lived in a hut apart from his family, angering his wife and neglecting his responsibilities. He first taught his young daughter to read and then presented his system to his neighbors with little success. In 1821 Sequoyah travelled to Arkansas, taught the syllabary to anyone who was willing, and then asked one of the western Chiefs to write a letter in syllabary and seal it in an envelope. Sequoyah brought the letter back to Willstown, broke the seal, and read it aloud to his skeptical neighbors. Many Cherokee suspected that witchcraft was involved, but Sequoyah demonstrated the system by sending his daughter out of the room and having people dictate messages which he wrote down. When she returned she promptly read the messages aloud. Sequoyah soon began training others to read and write and within a short time the leaders of the Nation recognized the value of the syllabary. By the time of the 1835 census, it was reported that the Cherokee had a higher literacy rate than their white neighbors. ^[8]

Later Life

In 1824 Sequoyah moved his family again, joining the Cherokee who had already settled in the Arkansas Territory.

In 1827 he went to Washington with a delegation of western Cherokee in attempt to preserve the Arkansas lands. While there he had his portrait painted ^[9] and signed the Treaty of May 6 in syllabary. ^[10] The delegation was unsuccessful and the members acceded to the treaty which gave up the Cherokee lands in Arkansas in exchange for land in the new Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In 1828, the U.S. Government told the Arkansas Cherokee that they must leave their homes and move to Indian Territory. Sequoyah registered a family of five and they moved in 1829, settling on Skin Bayou near what is now Sallisaw, Oklahoma. ^[11]

After Removal, Sequoyah worked towards reconciliation of the three Cherokee factions (the Western Cherokee, Treaty Party, and Ross Party). In May 1839 he signed the “Act of Union” between the Western and Eastern Cherokee and on September 6, 1839 signed the new Cherokee constitution. ^[12]

He was also concerned about the Texas Cherokee, a group that had moved from Arkansas to Texas (then under Mexico's jurisdiction) under Duwali/Chief Bowles in 1818. Sequoyah’s son Teesee (who had remained in Alabama) was married to one of Duwali’s daughters, and some accounts say that Sequoyah’s son George had moved to Texas with Duwali’s group. The Mexican government expelled the Cherokee from Texas in 1839. Although Duwali and many of his supporters were killed, some survived and moved to Indian Territory, some went south into Mexico, and a handful remained in Texas. ^[13]

In 1842 or 1843 (accounts vary), Sequoyah decided to search for the remnants of Duwali’s band in Texas and in Mexico. He set off with his son, Teesee, and several other men. ^[14] After an eventful trip, Sequoyah, Teesee, and a man named The Worm finally reached the Cherokee community in Mexico. Sequoyah stayed in Mexico for several months while The Worm headed back into Texas. While there, The Worm received the news that Sequoyah had died in San Fernando in August, 1843. ^[15] Several expeditions were later mounted to search for Sequoyah’s grave, but none were successful.

Wives and Children

Sequoyah had several wives and at least ten children. He once told a visitor that he had five wives and twenty children of whom ten survived. His first marriage probably took place in the early 1800s. Emmet Starr lists the first wife’s name as “U-ti-yu” but he may have confused her with a daughter-in-law by that name. ^[16] Sequoyah married his second wife, Sally Waters, in 1815. She survived him and was noted by John Ross in 1842 as “his only surviving wife.” ^[17] Although the family did not actually emigrate to Arkansas in 1818, Sequoyah signed the emigration roll indicating that his family had twelve persons. Since he and Sally had only been married three years, clearly some of the children were from another mother or mothers. ^[18]

Starr lists two wives for Sequoyah, U-ti-yu and Sallie, and seven children: Tee-see, George, Polly, Richard, E-ya-gu/Rachel, Oo-loo-tsa, and Gu-u-ne-ki/Patsy. ^[19] The Old Settler Roll lists Sallie and three additional children, Andrew, Lucinda, and Susie. ^[20]

A visitor in 1840 stated that Sequoyah had an eight-year-old son named Joseph as well as an unnamed two-year-old, but given Sallie’s age at the time, these were more likely grandchildren. Sequoyah is believed to have had a son named Richard by a woman named Lucy Campbell. Two men, Moses and Samuel Guess, may also be his sons but there is no documentation to support their claims. ^[21]

Research Notes

A previous version of this profile attached as a daughter a North Carolina / Tennessee woman, Lucinda Guess (who married a Daniel Palmer). Sequoyah didn't live in North Carolina and did not have children who remained in Tennessee. He moved with his family to Alabama about 1818, then on to Arkansas, then Indian Territory. Wilson, Tennessee was not in the Cherokee Nation, (it's 150 miles away); there is no "Daniel Palmer" on the 1835 Cherokee Census or Lucinda Palmer on the 1851/52 Cherokee Siler and Chapman Rolls.

For additional information about Sequoyah, see the free-space page, Sequoyah, and biographies by Stanley Hoig: Sequoyah The Cherokee Genius. Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, 1995, and Grant Foreman: Sequoyah. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK. 1938. Sequoyah was famous in his own lifetime and there are also many contemporary records of persons who visited him between 1828 and 1843.

Sources

1. ↑ Some of his honors and recognitions were: 1824 the Cherokee National Council voted to have a medal struck in his honor; 1847 Austrian botanist Stephen Endlicher named the giant California redwoods “Sequoyah gigantea” in his honor; 1890 an Act of Congress created Sequoia National Park in California; 1917 Sequoyah became the first Native American to have his statue placed in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol building.
2. ↑ Anderson, Brown, Rogers, eds., The Payne-Butrick Papers. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2010. pp. 138-139.
3. ↑ Cherokee Phoenix, August 13, 1828, p. 2, column 1. Image at: Cherokee Phoenix
4. ↑ Notable Persons in Cherokee History: Sequoyah. Recounted by Major George Lowrey, translated as he spoke, and recorded by John Howard Payne, 1835. Missionary John Huss also transcribed the account in Cherokee. Reprinted in the Journal of Cherokee Studies, Vol. II, No. 4, Fall, 1977 pp. 385-392
5. ↑ Williams, Samuel Cole. Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, 1580-1800 Johnson City, Tennessee, Watauga Press, 1928. pp. 494-495
6. ↑ Cherokee Phoenix, August 13, 1828, p. 2, column 1. Image at: Cherokee Phoenix
7. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration. War of 1812 Pension files, indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 - 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815. Images at Fold3
8. ↑ Hoig, Stanley W. Sequoyah The Cherokee Genius. Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, 1995. pp. 31-42
9. ↑ Portrait
10. ↑ Image of signature at Signature
11. ↑ Sequoyah’s cabin
12. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979 pp. 121-130
13. ↑ Starr, Emmet. Cherokees “West”, chapter “Texas Cherokees.” Emmet Starr, Claremore, OK. 1910. pp. 153-164
14. ↑ Starr, Emmet. Early History of the Cherokees. Emmet Starr, Claremore, OK. 1917. Digitized by Google. pp. 63-67
15. ↑ Cherokee Advocate newspaper, May 14, 1846, account of The Worm.
16. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 366
17. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, War of 1812 Bounty Land Applications, 1855
18. ↑ Baker, Jack D., transcriber. Cherokee Emigration Rolls 1817-1835. Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK. 1977. p. 7.
19. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 366
20. ↑ Hampton, David K., transcriber Cherokee Old Settlers, combined transcript of 1851 and 1896 Old Settler Payrolls. 1993. Skin Bayou, family group #7. p. 268
21. ↑ Hoig, Sequoyah, p. 110

See also:

• Wikipedia: Sequoyah

• Wikidata: Item Q313595

• There are numerous published biographies for Sequoyah, but few are considered reliable. In addition to sources cited above, generally reliable sources are:
  • McKenney and Hall, Sequoyah in History of the Indian Tribes of America, Philadelphia, 1856 (language is extremely dated, but text appears to be accurate)
  • Cherokee Advocate newspaper articles published during Sequoyah's life
  • Cherokee Phoenix newspaper articles published during Sequoyah's life