First
My birth certificate says I am Vance Hawkins, born December 28th, 1952 in Okmulgee, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. It also says Alpha Omega Hawkins is my father. Dad’s birth certificate says he was born August 15th, 1915 in Manitou, Tillman County, Oklahoma. Dad said however, he was born on their farm with his grandma, Josephine [Brown] Richey being the midwife who delivered him. Their farm was near Manitou, Tillman County, Oklahoma. His birth certificate says his mother was Lona (Loney) Clementine Richey. Her birth certificate (delayed) says her parents were Jeffrey Hoten Richey and Josephine Brown. It is through my paternal grandma, Loney, that we have stories of having some Indian ancestry. I have spent a great many years trying to document or disprove these stories. This has proven to be a challenge.
Family Stories
Dad's Story As I remember It
I once heard a cousin say “we descend from Sequoyah”. But I know that is not exactly what Dad said. Below is how I remember his story went.
Dad used to tell me the following story. He said he often walked to school barefoot, because during the dust bowl era, there were times when he owned no shoes.. I used to have access to a photo of him barefoot at a one room school, but when mama died it vanished, and I have asked for a copy but no one seems to know what became of it. He also said his grandparents lived between his house and the school, and said sometimes on the way home from school, he'd stop by their house for a time. He said on occasion, his grandma looked through his Oklahoma History book, and said she pointed to a picture of an Indian in the book, and said, “Do you know you are related to him?” Dad always said he didn't remember which Indian it was. Now since Dad's grandma's maiden name was Josephine Brown, and Josephine's mother's maiden name was Harriet Guess, well many of us suspected maybe it was Sequoyah. I later in his life, showed him famous artwork showing Sequoyah. I asked him if that was the picture his grandma had seen. But his reply was always the same, "I just don't remember."
So I went out researching to see other family stories of us being related to Sequoyah. Dad still had one sister living. I wrote her a letter asking if she had heard any stories of us being related to Seqouyah. Here are the excerpts of her response.
Aunt Lorena's Story
I remember more about what our mother told us than grandmother Richey. We had a wonderful grandmother and I suppose she talked more about Sequoyah to the boys than to us girls. Alpha was almost 6 years older than I. She was a Brown before she married grandfather Richey. Her mother was a Guess before she married great grandfather Brown. I think mama said she was a niece of George Guess, “Sequoyah”.
She ended the letter by saying;
I know you didn’t ask for a lot of the things I have written. I’m proud of them and still love to think about their early lives, so different from today . . .
I’m quite sure it was Great-grandmother Brown who was a Guess and was a niece or great niece of George Guess.
With love and best wishes,
Aunt Lorena
Great Uncle O.T. Richey's Descendant's Story
I have a great uncle, Oscar Taylor Richey, grandma's brother, whose relatives talked about his family in "A History of Kiowa County, a county in southwestern Oklahoma. My great grandpa leased land from the Kiowa. In that report his descendant said "Oscar (O. T.) was a direct descendant of Sequoyah.
So in Conclusion . . .
So in clusion, I have found three stories of us being related to Sequoyah. Dad's (1915-1992) story says we were related to "an Indian" whose photo was found in an early day Oklahoma History textbook. His younger sister, Aunt Lorena, wrote that she was told Sequoyah was her great grandma's uncle or great uncle., And a third story written by one of my second cousin's stating that our family directly descended from Sequoyah. Armed with these family stories, I went out to see if I could prove them to be true, or not.
I found no mention of a Harriet Guess in the line of Sequoyah's family. Harriet was however, the daughter of a Rachel Guess. Sequoyah did have a daughter named Rachel -- however it is recorded that it was said of her that she had no children. And "Guess" would have been her married surname, not her maiden name. Back to square one . . . My search continues . . .
Here is a tin-type (early day photograph) of Harriet (Guess) Brown, my great-great- grandma. The baby she is holding is thought to be Harriet's grand-daughter, grandma's sister, Aunt Ettie, since it was her family that managed to preserve this old tin-type.. Noone knows when it might have been taken.. She was born about 1818 or 1820 (The exact year of her birth is unknown.) or so and died in 1886. per family story. Some census records have her birth in Tennessee and others say Alabama. Noone has found her grave. or records of her death.
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