Family Stories from the Trail of Tears
edited by Lorrie Montiero

Payne, Mary

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Life and Experience of a Cherokee Woman

            My father was David Israel, a full-blood Cherokee and my mother was Martha Jane Miller Israel, a quarter Cherokee.  They were born in Georgia.  My mother in 1836 and my father in 1837.  They were brought to Indian Territory by their parents over the “Trail of Tears” when the Indians were driven from their eastern homes by the United States Troops.  They were too young to know of the tragedies and sorrows of that terrible event.  My aunt, who was 15 years old at the time, told me of the awful suffering along the journey.  Almost everyone had to walk as the conveyance they had were inadequate for transporting what few possessions they had and their meager supply of food.  Only the old people and little children were allowed to ride.  They died by the hundreds and were buried by the roadside.  As they were not allowed to remove any of their household goods, they arrived at their destination with nothing with which to start housekeeping.

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