Trying to find my Cherokee lineage; North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. Thanks
Allen C Connel [me]
Oveta Estelle Forrester [m]
Edgar Buford Connel [f]
Laura Belle Cheek [gm]
James Orion Connel [gf]
Rosa Lee Elizabeth Rich [ggm]
James Alexander Cheek [ggf]
Clarissa Amanda Morgan [2ggm]
Solomon Hill Rich Jr [2ggf]
Hannah Nickolson [3ggm]
Samual H Morgan [3ggf]
Janice Bryant [4ggm]
Wesley Morgan [4ggf]
Mary Margaret Sevier [5ggm]
“Colonel” Gideon Cogswell Morgan Jr [5ggf]
Elizabeth Lowrey [6ggm]
Joseph Sevier [6ggf]
Nanyehi Nannie Chi Gone Li Watts [7ggm]
George Lowrey [7ggf]
Agiligina Kenoteta Watts [8ggm]
Oconosta Ghi Go Neli [8ggf]
This is an older topic but I will reply in case it is still monitored. Our ancestry diverges after Margaret Sevier Morgan and Col. Gideon. My family descends from Margaret A.W. Morgan and Robert T. Hanks (their son Calvin J. Hanks–m. A-nee Smoker; their son Calvin J. Hanks–m. Cora Henson; and so on).
I cannot find the definitive connection to THE Chief Oconostota. The first “history” in which I find the connection is in the introduction to “Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History” by S.G. Heiskell. (“Governor Sevier’s oldest son, Joseph, married Elizabeth Lowrey, one-half Cherokee and the daughter of George Lowrey, Sr., Assistant Principal Chief of the Cherokees, and of Ootlootsa, daughter of Oconostota.” p. 8).
The name “Oconostota” is carried into others in the Morgan line and it shows up on the Dawes Applications, as well. (in Dawes, it seems like they are referring to G.W. “Oconostota” Morgan of the Civil War). I believe it is George Washington Morgan in the Civil War who takes the name Oconostota.
It seems unlikely to me that the wife of Chief Oconostota was sur-name Watts, since the Trader John Watts did not arrive until ca. 1750.
There is a lot of confusion on genealogical boards around this issue. Ghi-go-ne-li is sometimes referred to as Ghi-go-ne-li Rising Fawn, Ghi-go-ne-li Oconostota, or a daughter of Oconostota and sometimes as a son of Oconostota.
Additionally, there is some strange confusion about Oconostota’s date of death. The range is from 1780-1809. (The confusion stems from a reference by Return Meigs to a “greasy old Oconostota” in 1809). However, Oconostota died in 1783 after an extended stay at the house of Joseph Martin (due to the burning of Chota by Campbell and Sevier in Dec. ’80-’81).
I’ve done quite a bit of research — not genealogy related — into the Cherokee-Watauga Settlement relations between 1771-81 period. (Watauga was the frontier settlement on Cherokee lands — largely responsible for the Cherokee-American War of 1776. John Sevier arrived at Watauga in ’75). The research touches on the life of our ancestor John Sevier and our more-than-likely ancestor Chief Oconostota.
(Oddly, this also touches on the other side of my family’s ancestry via Andrew Greer at Watauga).