State

Sequoyah and his “talking leaves" An Illiterate Who Educated A Whole Nation One» of the most inter¬ esting men who ever lived was a Cherokee half-breed. Sequoyah, also known as George Guess or Gist, was bom some time be¬ tween 1760 and 1770 in the old Chero¬ kee Nation which was made up of the present states of North Carolina, South Carolina. Georgia. Tennessee and Ala¬ bama. It is believed by many that he was bom in or near the town of laskigi near Fort Loudon. It is claimed that he. as a young lad. was present when a peace delegation of Iroquois Indians visited the C'herokees at Echoia, the tribal capital, in 1770. If this is true then he would have been born be¬ tween 1760 and 1765. His mother belonged to the Paint Clan and was of a very prominent Cherokee family, one of her uncles being a chiel in Echoia. Just who Sequoyah's father was has never been definitely determined. Some claim that he was Nathaniel Gist, a soldier and a man possessed of character and talents. Others claim that a German trader was his father and there are Cherokccs today who claim that Sequoyah was a full blood Cherokee. One reason for not having more definite information is that, although his father and mother had lived to¬ gether for some time, they separated prior to Sequoyah's birth. His mother died about the beginning of the 19th century and he inherited her business which was a trading post. He also became a silversmith, using the coins of the French, Spanish and English for work material. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and fought against the hostile Creek Indians. After his marriage to Sallie of the Bird Clan of the Cherokccs they made their home in Wills Valley. Alabama. During his early life he developed a lameness in one leg which was caused either by a hunting accident or hy- drathritic trouble. It effected his knee CHEROKEE ALPHABET. ГЛАВА CITR3 SYSTTUATICALLT ARRANOED WITH THE 80 CM DA. D a R e T i л о 0» u 1 V fl gn © kn b go У 8‘ A g<» J gu E g* ok ha P ho л hi b ho Г hu & hv W la <f le P li 6 lo M lu •q 1* *r raj (И me II mi ■5 DIO У mu e oa t. hna G nah Л DO h □i Z DO 4 DU 0* D* z qua J) quo V qui 4- quo <3 quu 8 qu« Л ■ U fa 4 *0 b si * «0 r su a •V I. da W ta s do X tcJ di a ti V to s du r dv л dia C tla L tie C tii V tin V Uu p tl* 0 t*a T t*0 Ir tsi К tso d tsu c= ttv A ss wo © wi C5 wo s wu e wv JO 7“ * 7® •b 7* Q 70 «Г yu в V* SOVNIMI HECKESENTtl» II V Yurt ».!.>. A aa a in father, or short os a in rival F. аа a in hate, or short as e iu met. 1 as i in pique, or short as i in pin. О as о in note, but as approaching to au in late. U as oo in moon, or short as u in pull. V as u in but, nasalized. CONSONANT SOUNDS G in sounded hard, approaching to к ; sometimes before c. i, o, u and v, it* tound U k. D has a sound between the English <1 and l ; sometimes, before o, •j aud v. it* sound is t; when written before I and ь the same analogy prevails. All other letters as in English. Syllabic* beginning with g, except ga, have sometimes the power of к . •vlUrtlr* written with tl except tla. sometimes vary to dl joint and made him a cripple in later life. Sequoyah moved to what is now Pope County. Arkansas, between 1818-1822. In 1829 Sequoyah, with some 2,500 other Cherokccs, left Ar¬ kansas and moved to Indian Territory. Sequoyah was the father of seven children. The four children by his first wife Sallie were Tcesey, George. Polly, and Richard (or Chusalcta). His sec¬ ond wife U-li-yu of the Blind Savanah Clan bore him three daughters A-yo- gu. Oo-loo-tsa, and Gu-u-ne-ki. In the spring of 1842 Sequoyah de¬ cided that he would try to locate some groups of Cherokccs that he had heard were living in Mexico. He set out for the southwest accompanied by his son Teesey and several other Cherokccs including the Worm. He took with him literature written in Cherokee as he planned to teach the bands of Chero- kees to read and write so that they NOTE: llil. inform»! ion h Ibr «ml of a pamphlet by ibr OUaboma stair Гагк< Diihkm. N»4 ltt»r. information rononttor Sr-jeoyaiT. father to North Carolina -Ul be pnb- Uthrd. might correspond in the future. He located at least one group of Chcro- kees living in Mexico. He died and was buried at Sanfcmando, Tamaulvsas. Mexico, in the summer of 1843. The Cherokee Alphabet Sequoyah’s invention of the Chero¬ kee Alphabet was the greatest achievement made by one man in the history of languages. Previous to this time the Cherokee language had been spoken but had had no written form. His curiosity in written words was first aroused at the time of the defeat of the American forces under the com¬ mand of Governor Arthur St Clair of Indiana, in 1791. As one of the war¬ riors of the victorious Cherokee. Creek and Shawnee allies, he realized the importance of the "talking leaf" for the Cherokccs. At the time, his as¬ sertion met with derisive laughter and was treated as a joke. In about 1809. Sequoyah began de¬ voting himself to making a Cherokee alphabet. Chance conversation with a THE STATE. FEORUARY 23. 1957 13