Source of Information received from a personal
interview.
Mrs. Watt's
maiden name was Elizabeth Miller. She was born in 1859, in the
Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation and is a full-blood Cherokee
Indian. Her first marriage was to a Mr. Whitewater, now deceased, and
in 1894, she was married to Mr. Watts. Each marriage was consummated
under the Cherokee Laws.
Her mother
was Mrs. Nancy Tony - Miller and she was born on the East bank of the
Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee, in 1837. Her grandparents
were enroute from Georgia on the “Trail of Tears”. They camped at the
river several weeks waiting for the river to recede. Disease broke
out among them and many died, but Nancy was born and she, at least
replaced one of those who died.
Mrs. Miller
died in 1876, and is buried in Goose-Neck Band neighborhood, east of
Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Her father,
Wilson Miller, was born in the Cherokee Nation. Was an orphan. He
was reared by Uncle Joe Robertson, who was the father of Miss Alice
Robertson, late Congress-woman from Oklahoma. His home was with the
Robertson’s at the old Tallahassee Mission, in the Creek Nation at the
present town of Tallahassee, Oklahoma. He knew little of his parents,
and likewise, Mrs. Watts knew nothing of her grand-parents on her
father’s side. He is buried three miles south of Broken Arrow,
Oklahoma.
Grandparents on Mrs. Watts’ mother’s side were named Richard and
Nellie Tony and they came to the Indian Territory in 1837, due to the
removal of all Cherokees west of the Mississippi River.
THE REMOVAL AS TOLD TO
MRS. WATTS
BY HER GRAND-PARENTS
The
Cherokees owned a large acreage in Georgia. After Jefferson was
elected President by the United States, he had agents to come to the
different Tribes to induce them to come west. Their inducement was
much more land than they had there. They had lived there in Georgia
for years and years. They had good land, that was left, for already
the white people had encroached and taken much of their land.
Naturally, most of them did not want to leave and go out into the
wilderness and start life anew. To do so, was like spending a nickel
these days for a grab bag, or like the saying, “Buying a cat in a
sack”. They did not willingly want to do this. Time passed. The War
of 1812 came, and removal was delayed. A new President, Madison, was
elected and he traded land in Arkansas, north of Fort Smith, for their
land and agreed to move them and give them supplies, guns, clothing,
ammunition, and utensils. A few of them agreed and came. The most of
them still refused. This greatly separated the Cherokees. Those that
came to Arkansas, had trouble there. The Government then moved them
to what we call the Strip Country.
Those left
in Georgia began building larger homes, put in larger crops, planted
orchards, and advanced by leaps and bounds. It was during this period
the Cherokees adopted the Sequoyah alphabet in Georgia. Sequoyah also
came west to the ones in the Strip country and taught it there.
The white
people used all means to get the Indians out of Georgia. Claimed they
were barbarians, and they, the Cherokees, made new laws, just like the
ones we had here in the Nation. John Ross was elected Chief of all
the Tribes of Cherokees. Ross did all he could to get to stay there,
but the Georgia white man passed laws and more laws, and law or no
law, they destroyed the Indian’s fences, and crops, and killed their
cattle, burned their homes and made life a torment to them.
The
Cherokees began to think of joining the West Cherokees. They simply
could endure no longer. Like everything, it took a leader, and Major
Ridge, his son, John Ridge, and two nephews, Elias Boudinot and Stan
Natie became leaders. Of course, John Ross was the Chief and they all
got to squabbling. Ross did not want to move his people, but by some
hook or crook, Boudinot and Ridge signed a treaty to move, and claimed
it was the will of the majority, but it was not, and the Government
united a little while and sent Gen. Scott and two or three thousand
soldiers. The soldiers gathered them up, all up, and put them in
camps. They hunted them and run them down until they got all of
them. Even before they were loaded in wagons, many of them got sick
and died. They were all grief stricken. They lost all on earth they
had. White men even robbed their dead’s graves to get their jewelry
and other little trinkets.
They saw to
stay was impossible and the Cherokees told Gen. Scott they would go
without further trouble and the long journey started. They did not
all come at once. First one batch and then another. The sick, old,
and babies rode on the grub and household wagons. The rest rode a
horse, if they had one. Most of them walked. Many of them died along
the way. They buried them where they died, in unmarked graves. It
was a bitter dose and lingered in the mind of Mrs. Watts Grand-parents
and parents until death took them. The road they traveled, History
calls the “Trail of Tears”. This trail was more than tears. It was
death, sorrow, hunger, exposure, and humiliation to a civilized people
as were the Cherokees. Today, our greatest politicians, lawyers,
doctors, and many of worthy mention are Cherokees. Holding high
places, in spite of all the humiliation brought on their forefathers.
Yes, they
reached their Western friends and started all over again.
Lands
promised, money promised, never materialized only with a paltry sum,
too small to recall, for what they parted with and the treatment
received.
