OUR CATAWBA BLOOD
We are NOT enrolled, nor are we eligible. We were part of the "Western Catawba" that were rejected.
I am dying of cancer and wanted to get my research known to others. I placed my 30 years of work online. Most responses were thanking me, but I got a couple of nasty comments, too. I am a 70-year-old man and took those nasty comments to heart. I could have argued, but I tire easily, and I have my genealogy all over the internet. The Wayland's are the easiest route..
My Wayland’s
Nevil Wayland came to Charleston, South Carolina from Cashel, County Tipperary. Ireland, where he was born in 1745. He served in the American Revolutionary War. He married Keziah Gibson, daughter of Thomas and Mary Gibson. Thomas died in 1780 and mentions "Keziah” in his will (1) (spelled “Cusiah" in the document). Nevil, Keziah and Mary, his mother-in-law are all three mentioned prominently in the minutes of the Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Church (2 &3). I have been told by many that the Gibson’s were Saponi Indian [See Dr. Richard Carlson’s PhD thesis]. The Saponi were a band of the Catawba [see any of a number of books on the matter – link to references] (4).In a study of the Melungeons, it was discovered that the Melungeons might have been mentioned in Arkansas in 1809 (5). My Melungeon/Wayland family moved to Arkansas in 1815, The first non-ambiguous mention of the Melungeons is found in the Minutes of the Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Church. The church clerk at that time was a descendant of a French Huguenot family. Low and behold there is a French verb “melungeon” which is first person plural, and means “we mix” (6).
There is a Dust Bowl Era historical project (7) to get old-timers to tell of the hardships they endured in Indian and Oklahoma Territory. My great Uncle wrote about us. He said his parents lived near Ft. Smith on the Ok/Ark border. He said when his parents married in 1872, they moved into the Choctaw Nation, mentioning Leflore County. This is the very location the Catawba were said to settle. The Choctaw even adopted 19 Catawba (see “A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma” by Hazel Muriel Wright). Ms. Wright was the granddaughter of a previous Principle Chief of the Choctaw. She was for many years the head editor of Oklahoma’s historical journal, “Chronicles of Oklahoma”. My great uncle goes on to say my great grandparents moved on to Denton County, Texas for a decade before returning to Indian Territory, but this time in the Chickasaw Nation. I found a record of my great-grandpa leasing land from the Kiowa Agency to raise cattle (8).
But the 1897 congressional record rejecting the “Western Catawba” as the were to be known if they’d have become known, explains why the Oklahoma Catawba were rejected. That 54th Congressional document even referred to us as “former members of the Catawba tribe”.For once they included former Saponi, Pedee, and Cheraw as part of a greater Catawba nation. Chief Haiglar sought this so it would have made him happy.
Here are some family photos
Me, taken @ 2015 – DNA test said I was 90% Caucasian, and that I was part Native and African American as well.
My parents, Dad (1915-1992) is triracial. Mama (1915-2002) is 100% Caucasian. Dad used to say that during the dust bowl era, he walked to school barefoot because he didn’t have any shoes. He was in what he always called "the CC's, but it was the C.C.C.'s during the Dust Bowl/Great Depression Era. He (and all his generation) used to say "I would have starved to death if it weren't for Roosevelt's policies." He was a WW2 veteran, being stationed at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, Hawaii when the Japanese planes flew over as they were standing in a chow line outdoorswaiting to be served breakfast. Dad had a brother who died 8 years before I was born. He is buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. So when these right -wing Republican Nazi's go around telling LIES, I want to tell them to read their history books!
Here. is Uncle Eual Lee Hawkins' final resting place in Normandy, France. He died on July 18th, 1944. You probably can’t read what is on his grave marker. Or maybe you can, I don't know. Anyhow; it goes; “Euel L. Hawkins, CPL, 315 INF, 79 DIV; Oklahoma, July 18, 1944." He is buried at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. I was told he died between St. Lo. and the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo of grandma. This is how I remember her. She passed away in the 1960s. That vine behind her is a honey suckle vine. She died about the time I was 10 years old. I will always remember her walking over to that vine, pulling a bloom, and showing me I could suck out it's sweet nector.
1909-1910 school photo from a rural school in Tillman County, Oklahoma. I have blown up the photo’s of 2 of grandma’s brothers. .My Wayland’s married my Richey’s in Arkansas. On the other side, my Brown’s married my Guess/Gist’s in 1841 -- both families were from Alabama and moved to Arkansas. This should explain some of the surnames.
Here are the two blow up photos of grandma's brothers, uncle Otho and Uncle Hoten.
Otho died in great Flu epidemic about the time of the end of WW1. Uncle Hoten, like grandma, lived into the 1960s.
Great grandma Richey. Her maiden name was Josephine Brown (1854-1932). I had seen this photo, but didn't have a personal copy. So when my great aunt's daughter-in-law sent this to me, I remembered what I was told. This is my great grandma and dad's brother, Uncle Andrew. She didn't know who the man was, so he was partially cut out of it. This was taken during the dust bowl era.
Jonathan Wayland (1819-1882) became a Methodist Minister and for that I am grateful, for we have his photo. The Methodist-Episcopal South Church took his photo and put it is a book about the origins of the Methodist church in Arkansas. Here is a copy of a page in that book, followed by a family photo that it was taken from a relative still had. Jonathan was first copy to my ancestor. So although we don't have her photo, the have the photo of a close relativer of hers from her generation.
And here is the version a relative had of that same photo. It was his grandma that was Keziah Wayland, whose maiden surname was Gibson and was said to be Saponi Indian, of that group that had been at Fort Christanna, and later settled along the Kentucky/Tennessee/Virginia border and later became known as "Melungeons".
Great-great-grandma Hariet Guess (1818-1886). Her brother came down to us as James Gist (1822-1865), so both spellings seem to work, Both Guess/Gist’s were married in the same county. He was a Civil War vet, and although we don’t have his photo, his civil war papers said he was of a dark complexion, with dark eyes and dark hair. And before you ask -- NO! we do not claim to be descended from Sequoyah, My aunt told me grandma told her Harriet was Sequoyah's niece or great niece. I have been researching this for years and could find no other familiar connection. Dad told me his grandma told him one day when she was thumbing through his Oklahoma History 8th grade book she saw the picture of an Indian in it; and said to him (paraphrasing); "Do you know we're related to him?" I think we are related on his Caucasian side.. We do have Native American blood proven by a DNA test. But any speculation further about us being allegedly related to Sequoyah is just unknowable.
Tin-type of Harriet Guess Brown. It is believed the baby in this photo was my Great-Aunt Ettie. It was her descendant that got this photo directly from from my great aunt and has pssed it on. Aunt Ettie, like grandma, was Harriet's grand-daughter.
I wrote part of this from the hospital Now I’ll go home and enter it into the computer.
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