St. Andrew’s Day

Growing up as an Nth generation American, none of my ancestral heritage was passed down to me. My dad's family sort of knew they came from Wales and had some Cherokee blood in there somewhere. My mom's family thought the might be Scottish. Getting past the Blevins and Blackwood names, I know even less of the families they married into. One thing I am sure of genealogically is that I am a Celtic mutt. 

My goal is to prune away generations of cultural neglect to find the beautiful rose of my mixed Celtic heritage. It's a bit fun to wade through the ambiguity to find fact. Some of it requires a measure of common sense and creativity to decipher. My Dad's mom's mom was Lottie Ervin Stinson, which originally was Stevenson many generations ago in Scotland. So "Stevenson" pronounced with a thick Scottish brogue was "Stee'enson", which over time and as recorded by various census takers became "Stinson". Coincidentally, My Dad's dad's mom's mom, Laura Ada Stinson, came from the same line of Stinsons.

With that said, here is an excellent piece from the University of Oxford Press on St. Andrews Day:

Celebrating Scotland: St Andrew’s Day:
30 November is St Andrew’s Day, but who was St Andrew? The apostle and patron saint of Scotland, Andrew was a fisherman from Capernaum in Galilee. He is rather a mysterious figure, and you can read more about him in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. St Andrew’s Day is well-established and widely celebrated by Scots around the world. To mark the occasion, we have selected quotations from some of Scotland’s most treasured wordsmiths, using the bestselling Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.
J. M. Barrie 1860-1937 Scottish writer

Robert Burns 1759-96 Scottish poet

From the lone shielding of the misty island
Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas –
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides!
John Galt 1779-1839 Scottish writer

O Caledonia! Stern and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child!
Sir Walter Scott 1771-1832 Scottish novelist

Hugh MacDiarmid 1892-1978 Scottish poet and nationalist

O flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again,
that fought and died for your wee bit hill and glen
and stood against him, proud Edward’s army,
and sent him homeward tae think again.
Roy Williamson 1936-90 Scottish folksinger and musician

I love a lassie, a bonnie, bonnie lassie,
She’s as pure as the lily in the dell.
She’s as sweet as the heather, the bonnie bloomin’ heather –
Mary, ma Scotch Bluebell.
Harry Lauder 1870-1950 Scottish music-hall entertainer

Robert Crawford 1959– Scottish poet

My poems should be Clyde-built, crude and sure,
With images of those dole-deployed
To honour the indomitable Reds,
Clydesiders of slant steel and angled cranes;
A poetry of nuts and bolts, born, bred,
Embattled by the Clyde, tight and impure.
Douglas Dunn 1942– Scottish poet

Who owns this landscape?
The millionaire who bought it or
the poacher staggering downhill in the early morning
with a deer on his back?
Norman McCaig 1910–96 Scottish poet

The Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations fifth edition was published in October this year and is edited by Susan Ratcliffe. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations seventh edition was published in 2009 to celebrate its 70^th year. The ODQ is edited by Elizabeth Knowles.

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My connection to Clan Douglas

Some time back I became interested in my Scottish roots and discovered that my maternal ancestors, the Blackwoods, were historically associated with Clan Douglas. I understand that normally, Scottish clan association is paternal, but given that my paternal ancestry is Welsh, I was curious if I could actually claim clanship through my mother's line, so I contacted the Court of the Lord Lyon to enquire.

Armed with this affirmation, I continue down the rabbit hole that is genealogy. 

I have to admit though, that the Blackwood line appears to be a little easier to trace than the Blevins line has proven to be. I have a fairly unbroken line from me to the Blackwoods who settled in North Carolina. The first Blackwood that I have found reference to in American was a William Blackwood who came over with a group of Presbyterians, first to Pennsylvania, and then on to North Carolina.  Here is my line to this gentleman:

Me > Donna Kay Puckett (Blackwood) > Wes Chester (1931-1997) > James Wesley(1884-1939) > James Monroe (1853-1924) > Joseph (1833-1863) > Isaac (1775-1855) > James (1732-1810) > William (1706-1774)

This William Blackwood was the son of Charles Blackwood (b.1680) and Agnes Hunter and was born in Glencarin, Dunfries, Scotland, and christened on 11 August 1706. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Craige after he had moved to Londonderry, Northern Ireland. They are purported to have immigrated to  Philadelphia 1740 aboard a ship named "Mary William", but I've found no ship of such name, though there were ships named Mary, Mary Ann, and William destined from Northern Ireland to Philadelphia about that time.

To be continued...

Sources:

• https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/9WRX-SP5
• http://books.google.com/books?id=MJssAQAAMAAJ&dq=History%20of%20New%20Hope%20Church%20of%20Orange%20County%2C%20NC&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q=william%20blackwood&f=false
• http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/BLACKWOOD/2002-04/1017698388

Henry Blethyn: apprentice on the Submission

I've started a new blog to capture all of my Blevins history: www.blevins.tk:

Blevins History: Henry Blethyn: apprentice on the Submission: Henry Blethyn is a bit of an enigma to many Blevins researchers. Little is known of his life, but his emigration to the American colonies is...

The moral right to lands lost in conquest

I'll not get into an academic discussion of the issue of whether or not various Native American tribes truly own the land their ancestors once occupied. The article below more than sufficiently deals with that, but I'd like to approach it from a layman's perspective.

‘Do Indians Rightfully Own America?’:
By Walter Olson

Bryan Caplan at Econlog revisits an old libertarian chestnut about land ownership, and following the lead of Murray Rothbard analyzes it in a priori fashion with little attention to the devices that Anglo-American law long ago evolved to adjudicate claims of ancient title, such as statutes of limitations and repose, laches, and adverse possession. But in fact we don’t need to consider these questions in a historical and empirical vacuum. Not only has Indian title been the subject of an extensive legal literature since the very start of the American experiment — much of it written by scholars and reformers highly sympathetic toward Native Americans and their plight — but Indian land claims resurged in the 1970s to become the subject of a substantial volume of litigation in American courts, casting into doubt (at least for a time) the rightful ownership of many millions of acres, until the past few years, when the U.S. Supreme Court finally brought down the curtain on most such claims.

The short answer to the question “Do Indians Rightfully Own America” is, “No, they don’t.” Last year I told a part of that story in Chapter 10 of my book Schools for Misrule, focusing on the modern litigation and its origins among advocates in law reviews, legal services groups and liberal foundations, while UCLA law professor Stuart Banner lays out a much richer and more comprehensive story, concentrating on events before the present day, in his excellent 2007 book How the Indians Lost Their Land.
I’m grateful to Richard Reinsch of Liberty Fund’s Liberty Law Blog for crafting a response to Caplan that draws at some length on my arguments in Schools for Misrule. The history may surprise you: it helps explain, on the one hand, how Indian casinos came to dot the land, and, on the other, how land claims by American tribes have emerged as a flashpoint for the assertion of human-rights claims against the United States by United Nations agencies. You can read Reinsch’s account here.

‘Do Indians Rightfully Own America?’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Throughout history, force has been the method of establishing the laws of the land, whether good or ill. The white Europeans and their descendants, often though force[1], displaced the native populations of the Americas. Incidents like the Trail of Tears show what depths of evil were conducted against the Native Americans in order to take their lands. This resulted in a near-genocide of the Cherokees. These are dark periods in American history.

I do not however, believe that the descendants of those indians who were wronged have a right to the land that their ancestors possessed. This is an especially painful conclusion considering that I claim Cherokee ancestry[2]. In my mind, the Native Americans have no more claim over the lands lost to them than the Welsh[3] and Cornish have for the lands their ancestors lost in the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Too much time has passed to return the land to what might be considered its rightful owners. Whether it is moral or not, might most often makes right, and both indigenous groups lost due to the overwhelming might of the invaders[4].

There is a happy story to tell of one group of Native Americans who were able to game the system in their favor. After the removal of the Cherokee from their native lands, some of them were able to hide out in the Great Smoky Mountains and evade the fate that waited them. Their story can be found elsewhere[5], so I'll not diminish it by retelling it here. For me the best part of the story is how, through the ingenuity of chief William Holland Thomas[6] (the 'adopted' white son of Yonaguska), they were able to buy the land that would become the Qualla Boundary, and thus securing the homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokees. While other tribes were fighting to maintain land they held under precarious treaties, the Eastern Cherokees owned their land outright, and generations before their western counterparts, they were U.S. citizens entitled to the same rights and privileges as their white neighbors.

My point in all of this is that we cannot undo the past. We can't depend on courts to make things right, either. We have to, like the Eastern Cherokee, work within whatever system system we find ourselves bound to be able to create the future we desire.

~~~

[1] Not always through force, though. The dilemma of individuals selling lands that were held to be tribal possessions was such an issue that the Cherokee Nation enacted a blood law, where those found selling lands within the Cherokee Nation were sentenced to death.

[2] I suppose my claim to Cherokee heritage can be seen as similar to Elizabeth Warren's (see here, here, here, and here), but I do not claim to be Cherokee. I am "American by birth, and Southern by the grace of God". Also, I am not a proponent of white people playing indian. I wore "regalia" while volunteering at the Native American pavilion of the Panoply Arts Festival several years ago, and it was one of the most awkward experiences of my life. I'm just too pale to pull it off, and I don't have an emotional connection to a Cherokee heritage that (if genuine) has been lost to my family for generations.

(You can read more on the topic of wannabees/undocumented Cherokees here. Note the link to the statement by Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith is broken. A good link for it is here. See also a paper published by the Cherokee Nation titled Stealing Sovereignty. The three federally recognized Cherokee tribes seem to treat Cherokee-ness as a brand that they have exclusive rights to. Maybe they do, but state departments like the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission would conclude otherwise.)

[3] I have Welsh ancestors as well, but it doesn't draw the ire of the Cymry when I claim that heritage.

[4] An argument could be made that the same culture (Anglo-Saxon/English) decimated both the Native Americans and the native Britons, but I'll not poke that hornet's nest here.

[5] If you ever have the opportunity to visit Cherokee, NC, I recommend seeing Unto these Hills, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the Oconaluftee Indian Village , and buying something from the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual.

[6] He may have been the only chief that did not have any Cherokee blood, but he was by no means the only chief of the Cherokee or the rest of the Five Civilized Tribes that had more european than native blood coursing through his veins. See also John Ross(Guwisguwi), William McIntosh(Tunstunuggee Hutkee), and William Weatherford(Lamochattee).

William Blevins, Long Hunter

One of the legendary ancestors of the Blevins family in early colonial America was William Blevins, the Long Hunter. Since I started researching my family's genealogy, I have read scattered bits and pieces about him. My ultimate goal is to determine whether or not my line descended from this man. There are lots of stories of William Blevins on different genealogy sites, but I will attempt to stick with published sources. I'll try to piece the complete story together as best as possible in a series of posts.

Note: Despite some family claims, I don't know if I am a descendent of this William Blevins or not. I just can't fill in enough gaps to substantiate the claim at this point.

Which William Blevins?

One of the problems when researching William Blevins is knowing which "William" Blevins the information is pointing to. It seems like almost every generation in my family has had a William Blevins or two. This goes back to William Blethyn, Bishop of Llandaff in Wales, and many generations before him. Even in my immediate line, my father was Roy William Blevins, his father was Quillen William Blevins, his grandfather was William Smith Blevins... I think you are starting to get the picture.

There are even multiple William Blevinses that were Long Hunters. The William Blevins we are examining had a son named William who was also a Long Hunter, and later in life was known as "Old Bill". This second William was purported to be a cruel man that would hang the meat from his hunts from the rafters of his house, but not allow his wife to have them, instead giving them to a mistress that he kept on his property (Williams, 2003).

The William Blevins that I want to analyse here was a contemporary of  a couple other men that are a little more well known: Elisha Walden (also Walling, Wallen), Lt. Henry Timberlake, and one of the most famous frontiersman, Daniel Boone (Draper, 1998). William Blevins was married to Agnes, Elisha Walden's sister. Elisha may also have been the son-in-law of a different William Blevins, married to that William's daughter, Mary (Withers, 1895, Luce, 1995).  Other sources give Elisha's wife's name as Catherine Elizabeth, the daughter of a John Blevins (Wallin, ). According to Luce:

Within the Walden family there is a tradition that the Waldens left New Jersey and went along the Pennsylvania wagon trail across western Maryland and into Virginia accompanied by Blevinses from Rhode Island. This is very plausible as we know this was the common route of people moving south from the New England states.

There is also a bit of confusion as to who this William Blevins father was. Some say he was named John, others Jack, but again from Luce's text:

Colonel John Sevier, writing in his journal, referred to Jack (John) and Will Blevins as having hunted along the Obias River, in what is now Fentree County, Tennessee.

The Long Hunt

The Long Hunt was a historical period of early American History that occurred in the 1760s. This was a period when very few settlers had ventured into what is now Kentucky and Tennessee. The men of the Long Hunt were the kind of pioneers that legend have been based on. William Blevins was one of these such men. There are several stories of his adventures in the wild. Here is one account recorded by O. Taylor:

There is no name on the hunter roll more familiar than the name of Blevins. Once William Blevins had to go through the mountains to salt his cattle. he came across them in a small clearing and was just in time to see them stampeded by a panther that had just killed a small heifer. As soon as the panther saw Blevins it leaped for him and succeeded in reaching his belt, which it tore from him, but with a dextrous swing of his knife, Blevins freed himself, the beast paying the penalty for its rash deed (Taylor, 1909).

Record of one of the early hunts is recorded in T. Belue's The Long Hunt:

In 1761 Elisha Wallen, a tall, strongly built Long Hunter in his early thirties, led a score of like-minded men from the Smith River in Virginia to the Holston Valley. Jack and William Blevins, William Pittman, Henry Skaggs, Charles Cox, William Neuman, and William Harrison rode with Wallen. They skirted the Clinch and set up camp on Wallen's Creek near the Cumberland Gap and slew game prodigiously for nearly two years. Wallen and his men returned to the region in 1763 for their fall hunt, this time pushing through the gap and into southeastern Kentucky, hunting and trapping along the Rockcastle, going as far as Crab Orchard. On both hunts the Virginians had reaped far beyond their expectations. Frontier Virginian John Redd, who knew Wallen well, said that "he always returned home from his hunts with his horses heavy laden with skins and furs". (Belue, 1996).

Watauga Purchase

The next major event in American history to which Willaim Blevins was party was the Watauga Purchase, a contract between Charles Robertson, trustee for the Wataugah Settlers, and the Cherokee Nation:

This indenture, made the 19th day or March, 1775, by O-con-os-to-ta, Chief Warrior and First Representative of the Cherokee Nation or Tribe of Indians, and Attaculleculley and Savanucah, otherwise Coronoh, for themselves and the rest of the whole Nation, being aborigines and sole owners by occupation from the beginning of the time of the lands on the waters of Holston and Wataugah Rivers, and other lands thereunder belonging, of the one part, and Charles Robertson, of the settlement of Wataugah, of the other part, Witnesseth, &c. "The consideration was "the sum of two thousand pounds, lawful money of Great Brittain, in hand paid." The deed embraced "all that tract, territory, or parcel of land, on the waters of the Wataugah, Holston, and Great Canaway or New River; beginning on the south or south-west side of the Holston River, Six English miles above Long Island, in said river; thence a direct line near a south course to the ridge which divides the waters of Wataugah from the waters of Nonachuckeh; thence along the courses of various said ridge nearly a southeast course to the Blue Ridge or line dividing North Carolina along the Virginia line to Holston River; thence down the meanders of Holston River to the first station, including all the waters of Wataugah, part of the Waters of Holson, and the head-branches of New River or Grate Canaway, agreeable to teh bounds aforesaid, to said Charles Robertson, his heirs and assigns, " etc.
"And also the said Charles Robertson, his heirs and assigns, shall and may, peaceably and quietly, have, hold, posess and enjoy said premises, without let, trouble, hinderance, or molestation, interruption and denial, of them, the said Oconostota and the rest, or any of the said Nation."

Signed in the Presence of John Sevier, Wm. Bailey Smith, Jesse Benton, Tillman Dixon, William Blevins, Thomas Price, Jas. Vann, Linguister.

Oconostota, and his X mark (Seal), Attacullecully, and his X mark (Seal), Tennessy Warrior, his X mark (Seal), Willinawaugh, his X mark (Seal) (Dixon, 1989).

The Revolution

Being of Welsh descent, one might assume that William Blevins might not have a strong allegiance to the British Crown, but whatever his reason, in 1777, he renounced his allegiance to the Crown:

I do Swear or Affirm that I do renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, his Heirs and Successors, and that I will be Faithful and bear true allegiance to the Common Wealth of Virginia, as a Free and Independent State and that I will not at any time, do, or Cause to be done, any matter or thing that will be prejudicial or Injurious to the Freedom and Independence thereof, as declared by Congress, and also, that I will discover and make known to some one Justice of the Peace for said State, all Treasons or Traitorous Conspiracies which I know or hereafter shall know to be Formed against this or any of the United States of America, so help me God.
James Blevins, Jr., William Heard,  Julas Scruggs, William Blevins Jr., Ignatius Sims William Blevens, Sr., Joseph Newman, Daniel Newman, Samuel Blevins, Whilliby Blevins, Elisha Walden, John Blevins, Dillion Blevins (Wallin, 1990).

More soon...

References:

Alderman, P. (1980). The Overmoutain Men. Johnson City, TN: The Overmountain Press.

Belue, T.F. (1996). The Long Hunt: Death of the Buffalo East of the Mississippi.  Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.

Dixon, M. (1989). The Wataugans: First Free and Independent Community on the Continent. Johnson City, TN: The Overmountain Press.

Draper, L.C. (1998). The Life of Daniel Boone. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.

Hamilton, E.L. (1984) The Long Hunter. Retrieved from http://www.danielboonetrail.com/historicalsites.php?id=156

Luce, W.L. (1995). The Blevins Hicklin Connection. Retrieved from http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~standridge/dboone.html

Taylor, O. (1909). Historic Sullivan. Charleston, SC: Bibliolife.

Wallin, C.D. (1990). Elisha Wallen the Long Hunter. Johnson City, TN: The Overmountain Press.

Williams, C.D. (2003). Tales from Sacred Wind: Coming of Age in Appalachia : the Cratis Williams Chronicles. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

Withers, A. S. (1895). Chronicle of Border Warfare. Derby, UK: Leonaur Ltd.

Woman traces ancestral heritage

This is a pretty interesting genealogy story:

Woman traces ancestral heritage:
The great-great granddaughter of a woman banished to Tasmania on a prison ship has made an emotional return to her ancestral home.

Origin legend of the name "Blevins"

As far as things go, Blevins, is a recent (a few hundred years old) variation on ancient Welsh word, Bleiddwn, which can be translated as Wolf-man, from the Welsh word for Wolf, "Bleidd". Other variations on the name include Bleddyn, Blethyn, Blethin, Blethen, and Blevin. I've also heard that the -yn at the end of Bleddyn refers to the diminutive, and could be rendered as "Wolf-cub", but for the sake of this story, we'll stick with the former interpretation.

There is a story in the Mabonogion called "Math the Son Of Mathonwy" that tells of Gwydion and Gilfaethwy, who raped Goewin, the daughter of Pebin. Gwydion and Gilfaethwy were the maternal nephews of Math ab Mathonwy, who was lord over Gwynedd. Goewin was under the protection of Math, and Gilfaethwy had become greatly enamored of her.

The two concocted an adventure to acquire swine, which were unheard of in that time, from Pryderi, king of Dyfed. Gwydion, being a magician (trained by Math in those arts), conjured illusions to trick Pryderi into trading him the swine for apparitions of fine horses and greyhounds. The trick would only last a day and the brothers and their retinue quickly fled back to Gwynedd. They reached Caer Dathyl, Math's residence.

That night, after Math and his men had left to secure the swine, Gilvaethwy stayed in Math's chambers, and he and Gwydion rudely chased out all of the women from the chamber, except for Goewin, who they forced to remain.

On the next day a battle ensued between Math's and Pryderi's men over the trickery of Gwydion. Pryderi suffered major losses and negotiated terms of peace. Pryderi made his case against Gwydion, whom he called out for battle. With Gwydion's magical advantage, he slew Pryderi.

After Math and his men returned home triumphant, he went back to his couch and placed his feet on Goewin's lap, as was tradition at that time for a lord with his maiden. She informed him she could no longer fill that role, as she had been defiled. She told Math how Gwydion and Gilfaethwy had raped her. Math declared to avenger her honor and took her as his wife, bestowing upon her dominion of his lands.

Gwydion and Gilfaethwy avoided Court in a form of self exile, until it was forbidden for others to provision them. After a while, they returned to Math's Court. They made kind speech to the kings, but he was set on punishing them for the needless deaths of many of his warriors, with the death of Pryderi being the only worthy action they had done. He then commenced to inflict punishment upon them.

Being a very strong magician himself, Math took out his wand and turned the two into deer. He commanded them to mate and return to him in a year. After the year, they returned, with a fawn. He then struck them with Magic to turn them into wild hogs. He took the fawn and turned him human, having him baptized and naming him Hyddwn, meaning "Stag-man".

A year later the brothers in the form of wild hogs returned to him with a young hog with them. He then turned the brothers into a pair of wolves. He took the young hog, turned him human, had him baptized, and named him Hychddwn Hir, or ""Sow-man the Long", for the long auburn hair that he had.

After the third year, the brothers returned with a wolf cub. He took the cub, turned him human, had him baptized, and named him Bleiddwn, or "Wolf-man". He then told the brothers that his punishment of them was complete and turned them back into humans. They were washed and restored to their noble state.

So take it for what it's worth. Let not facts get in the way of romantic legends.

William Blethyn Pedigree Roll

In the history of the Blevins/Blevin/Blethyn/Bleddyn name, one of the more famous characters in the past thousand years would have to be William Blethyn, Bishop of Llandaff, who lived in the 16th century. There is a fair amount of information on him in out of print books, many of which can be found on Google books. At a later date, I'll go back and give a better biography of him.

The one piece of historical information that is by far the most valuable, and in my opinion, of great importance to Welsh national heritage, is the William Blethyn Pedigree Roll kept at the Glamorgan Archives. A zoomable copy of the Pedigree Roll can be viewed here. One of the amazing things to me is that this roll purports to trace the lineage of William Blethyn back through the Welsh kings of antiquity and on to Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of Britain. And even more astounding, the top left corner of the roll take the genealogy from Brutus all the way back to Adam. I'll leave it to individual opinion how much of the genealogy presented is to be accepted as fact.

Copyright Glamorgan Archives (Reference CL/PED/1)

At some point in the future I'd like to transcribe the text of the roll and redraw the arms listed and research them one by one until I have a clearer picture of what all is here. Given the magnitude of information listed, this could turn into a life-long project. If there is anyone else out there interested in helping, please let me know.

John L. Knighten - Just the Facts

Below I will share the undisputable factual information that I have heard or found on my own that I have documents to back up.  Ancestry.com has been my friend for most of this, but it also includes visits to the Morgan County Archives and trips to cemeteries.

I guess the "set in stone" record of John L. Knighten's life is his headstone at Ebenezer Cemetery, in Falkville, Alabama. 


View Larger Map

According to it, he was born on March 20th, 1849, and died on July 4th, 1933.  The first chronological record that I have found is the 1850 Census for District 27, Cherokee, Alabama.  He is the last entry on the page and listed in the household of Jeremiah (20) and Amanda (19) Nighten.  John would have been just around a year old when the census was taken.  The right bottom corner of the page is damaged, so not all of the information is legible.  In the column for race, no entries were made on the entire page, so it can be assumed that the census-taker was counting everyone as white.

1850 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

The next record is the 1860 Federal Census for Calhoun County, Alabama.  According to it, he was living in the household of Jeremiah Knighten, who was 23.  John was 11.  Also listed in the household were Johann, female, 20, Sarohan (Sarah?), female, 1, and Malissa, female, 8.  I'm not sure what the deal was on Jeremiah's age.  He should have been 30 based on the 1850 census, unless there somehow were two Johns that were the same age, both living with Jeremiahs.  Also, Calhoun County isn't that far from Cherokee County, so that is not a issue in my opinion.  People move around.  Note again that no race is listed for anyone on the page.

1860 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

There are stories of John L. Knighten serving as a courier for the Confederacy during the Civil War.  I can't substantiate this legend at the present, but I can say that there is a record of a PVT John L. Knighten in Company K of the 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment.  According to the National Park Service Soldier and Sailor System the

22nd Infantry Regiment completed its organization at Montogmery, Alabama, in November, 1861, then moved to Mobile. Its companies were raised in the counties of Walker, Clarke, Cherokee, Mobile, Pike, Choctaw, Montgomery, Calhoun, and Randolph. The unit suffered severe losses at Shiloh under General Gladden, then saw action in Bragg's Kentucky Campaign under General Gardner. Later the 22nd was attached to Deas', G.D. Johnston's, and Brantley's Brigade, Army of Tennessee. It fought in many conflicts from Murfreesboro to Atlanta, was part of General Hood's winter operations in Tennessee, and ended the war in North Carolina. After the Battle of Shiloh, the regiment reported only 123 men fit for duty. It sustained 94 casualties at Murfreesboro, and lost fifty-three percent of the 371 engaged at Chickamauga. In December, 1863, it totalled 272 men and 171 arms. It reported 5 killed and 35 wounded in the fight at Ezra Church; many were also disabled at Franklin and Nashville. The regiment was included in the surrender on April 26, 1865. Its field officers were Colonels Zach C. Deas, B.R. Hart, John C. Marrast, and Harry T. Houlmin; Lieutenant Colonels E. Herbert Armistead, Napoleon B. Rouse, and John Weedon; and Majors Robert B. Armistead, Robert Donnell, and T.M. Prince.

Is it possible that John L. Knighten served during the Civil War?  Sure, but bear in mind that he would have only been twelve years old when the war started in 1861.  I'm just not sure what capacity that someone that young would have been able to serve in.

Now up to 1870.  The next record I have is John's marriage to Caroline Gipson on January 4th, 1870, in Morgan County, Alabama.  You may have noticed from the images that the spelling of Knighten is really fluid.  It bounces between Nighten, Nighton, Knighten, and Knighton.  In this instance, it was spelled Knighton.

Marriage license scanned from microfiche at Morgan County Archives

Now, the 1870 Census, John (20) and Caroline (17) are living in Basham's Gap, Morgan County, Alabama.  This is the first census where race has been recorded on the page.  Both John and Caroline are listed as white.  John's occupation is listed as farmer, and Caroline's as "keeping house".  The surname on this one was Niten.

1870 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

This gets us up to the 1880 Census.  Apparently, John and Caroline had a lot of free time in the 1870s.  The following are children are now brought into the picture:

• Jeremiah Lafayette, male, 8
• Missouri Ann Adeline, female, 7
• Amanda "Mandy" Melissa, female, 5
• Sarah Francis, female, 3
• Mary Elizabeth, female, 1

1880 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

Skipping over the 1890 Census, which was destroyed by fire, we get to the 1900 Census, where John and Co. are now living in Holmes Gap, Cullman County, Alabama.  This is still really close to where he has lived since getting married in 1870.  A lot has changed in the household since the 1880 Census:

• Loria Beatrice, female, 16
• Luria Zula, female, 16
• John Doss, male 13
• Thomas Grady, male, 11
• Wesley Harvey, male, 9
• Arzo Hampton, male, 7
• Lonzo Hamilton, male, 7

Personally, I can't imagine being 50 years old and having two sets of twins at home.  Hopefully, the older kids that had already moved of helped out some.

1900 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

The 1910 Census shows John living at Nunn's Mill in Morgan County, Alabama.  At 59 years old, he still has a house full of kids:

• Wesley Harvey, male, 18
• Arzo Hampton, male, 16
• Lonzo Hamilton, male 16

Also, if interest to me, is that when I look up the page, I see another ancestor, William Smith Blevins, whom the census-taker had apparently stopped to visit a few houses prior.

1910 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

It appears that by the 1920 Census, John and Carline had moved to Eva, Morgan County, Alabama, with their daughter Missouri, and her husband, Grant Morgan.  Grant and Missouri had quite a family of their own by that time.

1920 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

The last Census to document John L. Knighten was the 1930 Census.  He was still living with Missouri, and by that time two of her grand-children were living there as well.

1930 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

Our last record takes us back to the first, the headstone tells us that he passed away on July 4th, 1933.

Cherokee Knightens - Intro

In Morgan County, Alabama legend, there exists the enigma of John L. Knighten, who some claim to be a full-blooded Cherokee who lived from 1849 to 1943.  He was my great-great-great grandfather.  I don't believe that the legend has been fabricated, but some of the details may have been embellished over the years.  The problem is, everyone with first- or even second-hand knowledge has fallen victim to time themselves.

John L. Knighten sometime in the early 1900s

I have spoken with both proponents and opponents of the validity of John L. Knighten's Cherokee blood.  Those who support the claim that he was Cherokee often refer to him as Johnny Lighthorse Nightingale, prince of the House of Winds (Anigilahi).  Those who think he was just a regular white guy refer to him as John Littleton Knighten.  Personally, I probably fall somewhere in between those two camps.  I believe that he had Cherokee ancestry, but may have not been full-blooded.  You might say that there are no official documents to support this claim, and I would retort, that many people of South Eastern Native American lineage wanted it that way to avoid persecution, and I believe (possibly naively) that the origins of this story are too old to have been totally fabricated.  It traces back to long before it was "cool" to be an Indian.

I'd like to take a moment to credit my aunt, Nancy Blevins, for allowing me access to photos that she had.  I spent a day with her and uncle Vaughn several years ago scanning the pages of her photo album and some handwritten notebook pages that she written.  The notes were based on conversations that she had with Zudie Morgan, who was either, John L. Knighten's granddaughter or great-granddaughter.  If anyone knows, let me know.  So for the information that I have that I haven't personally researched, Ms. Morgan, via Nancy Blevins, is my ultimate source, unless otherwise noted.

John L. Knighten's Headstone at Ebenezer Cemetery, Falkville, AL

More to follow...