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The Cherokees of South Carolina

The Martins, A Cherokee family.

One such family, the Oglesby (Oglesvie) family who were of Native American and Scottish-Irish ancestry which resulted in their classification as "Free People of Color" in early South Carolina records. It should be noted here that there was a significant migration to South Carolina from 1756-1763. White settlers fleeing from the unrest and uprisings in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, surrounding the French and Indian War (The Seven Years War) took refuge in the South Carolina hill country. It is likely that the Oglesby family, because of their mixed Cherokee and Scottish ancestry, also fled the Virginia frontier to settle in South Carolina for this same reason. It is recorded history that during one such uprising in 1760 eleven (white) traders were killed and their stores ransacked, yet during this uprising "many other traders were warned and protected by their Indian wives." Therefore, it was not uncommon for the Traders to have Native American wives and children.

Early historical documents also recount one of this family's ancestor, "W. Oglesvie and son" specifically trading with Native Americans in the Tugaloo region, for skins and pipes. This is documented in the South Carolina Indian Affairs Documents of 1751 in the Deposition of James ]Francis. Another prominent family in the Cherokees of South Carolina was the Allen Family. The Allen's were members of the Cherokee Nation, from the surrounding region including Georgia (Tugaloo Village, Taccoa /Elberton), South Carolina (Tugaloo Village), North Carolina. The immediate ancestors moved across the Tugaloo River, from Georgia into South Carolina in the late 1700's. Yet, they probably continued to move back and forth across the river when beneficial for farming, hunting, work or for family interests.

The Allen family homestead was along the banks of the Tugaloo River, near the Chauga Indian Village in the rural area outside present-day Westminster. The Tugaloo Indian Village is among the well known "Lower Cherokee Villqges." The Tugaloo Town, along the Keowee, was one of the most powerful and important towns of the Cherokee Lower settlements in the eighteenth century. Francis Varnod's 1721 census lists Tugaloo Village as having seventy men, sixty-six women, and sixty-eight children. Tugaloo, whose name comes from the Cherokee phrase meaning forks in a stream, was visited numerous times and has a substantial documentation cannon including Colonel Chicken George in 1715, Commissioner of Indian Trade John Herbert in 1727, again in 1749, and 1751 and Andrew Williamson in 1776.

The Allen's were descendants of very early Indian Agents, sent by the Federal Government. Dave Allen is mentioned in documents dating 1750 with a meeting at Tugaloo Cherokee Village and trading Indian pipes with the Cherokee. These early encounters produced the Native American Allen's and they are the patriarchs of the Allen family, as we know it, today, and the origin of the Family name. Many of the Allen family members were to run unto the hills, due North into the Smoky Mountains, while others were to go to Oklahoma and still others were to remain in South Carolina, along the Tugaloo and Chatuga Rivers. Although the Allen's maintain an oral history of an elderly matriarch that did not survive the removal, it is clear that her sons, who accompanied her, did reach Oklahoma. A headmaster, named Allen headed the first Indian school in the new territory, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. In addition, Mrs. M. Eleanor Allen served as principal and faculty and is depicted in An Illustrated Souvenir Catalogue of the Cherokee National Female Seminary, Tahlequah, Indian Territory, 1850 to 1906. like these, there were other Allen family relatives who also survived the forced removal and became members of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

There would be many treaties, wars and agreements with the State of South Carolina's Colonial government and the Cherokees throughout the years of history. After the attempted "Indian Removal" by the federal government these dealings would lessen although legitimate Cherokee Native Americans would continue to reside in South Carolina. Of course during the 1870s-1880s many Cherokee Indians from the Smokies would periodically visit, pass through and stay in Walhalla. They would come en route to or from the Seneca River where they would go from time to time for the purpose of making bows and arrows, blowguns, trinkets of various kinds, and for trapping. Walhalla was a natural wayside on the old trail from Quallatown. Around 1860, a group of "Indians" would even be present in Walhalla to play the "Indian Stick Ball game for spectators at the opening meeting of the Tennessee River Rail Road, which was never completed. These are the kinds of family oral histories, and stories that would retain the Cherokee of South Carolina Tribe through the many years of being overlooked and ignored by the State and the United States government.

The Cherokees of South Carolina survived against the many obstacles of systematic disentitlement, institutionalized prejudice, structural disenfranchisement, de fact facto segregation, de jure segregation, and blatant racism during the early 1900s during the "Jim Crow" era and up until contemporary times. To any rational person, it should come as no surprise that contemporary Cherokee people are like folks everywhere, in that they possess an abundance of individual differences. These run a range from physical characteristics to life style to philosophy and attitudes on any given subject. With a history of close contact with the non-Indian world and other Indian cultures and people for several hundred years, it is no wonder that a considerable amount of intermarriage has occurred. It was not until more recent generations (or post1900) that tribal members began marrying out of the community and across color lines in great numbers, which they had not previously done. For this reason much of the tribal history includes stories of cousins marrying cousins. This custom was not only present in Oconee but was prevalent in many Native American communities of that era. Consequently, the present tribal population ranges from those of the full degree of Cherokee blood to many whose genetic heritage is to a high degree non-Indian. According to the official rolls around 20 percent are full Cherokee while an equal number are a quarter degree Cherokee or less.

Today the Cherokees mode of life is much like others, though there are some differences. Certain traditionally Indian foods, such as greens, "fried Corn", hominy, sweet potato pie, bear meat, rabbit, bean bread, pickled beans, chestnut bread are still found on their dinner tables. In addition, the Cherokee Indian people are very skillfull with their hands. The baskets made by the Cherokees are excellent in design and workmanship of their unglazed pottery is original and interesting. Baskets, pottery, lovely hand woven articles of wool and linen, braided rag rugs, furniture and wood carving, beadwork, finger weaving, art metal work, and curios of all kinds are among the Cherokee products that reflect their unique culture. The Cherokees of South Carolina never forgot what their forefathers gave them, their culture, history and Cherokee heritage.

A few Cherokee people hid "In the land of a thousand smokes", and escaped the tragic Trail of Tears. Those who remained, and the few who returned, are known by various names, including: The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, The Over the Hill Cherokee Indians of Tennessee, cherokee Indians of Georgia and the Cherokee Indians of South Carolina.

These Cherokee descendants became heirs to an ancient culture and the custodians of the Cherokee art of craft making. The Cherokees of South Carolina continued the traditions inherited from their forefathers.

These Cherokees who remained in South Carolina would continue to express themselves by using the traditional arts, crafts, and folkways as passed down from their ancient ancestors.

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NATIONAL Native American Indian Organizational LINKS:

National Congress of American Indians

American Indian Movement

Office of American Indian Trust

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

First Nations Development Institute

National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development

Department of Labor, Native American and Indian Programs (Welfare to Work, TANF)

Department of Defense and Native American Programs

National Indian Policy Center (George Washington University)

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Council of Energy Resource Tribes

Native American Rights Fund

National Indian Telecommunications Institute

Native American Cultural and Educational Authority

INTERNATIONAL LINKS:

International Indian Treaty Council

Center for World Indigenous Studies

International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs

UN Documents on Indigenous Peoples

Inuit Circumpolar Conference

Economic Development and Cultural Change