Hello,
I would like to have research done for one set of my great-grandparents, their parents, and grandparents, all of whom I believe have Cherokee ancestry. Their information is below:
Full Name Great-Grandmother = Fannie Mae (nee Sawyer) Clements; Year of Birth = 1890?; Year of Death = 1952 in Illinois; City and State Where Lived = KY (Union County?) and Nashville, TN; Names of Siblings = Unknown; Names of Some of Half-Siblings = Mattie Dillahunty, Reba Dillahunty, Gertrude Dillahunty; Names of Children = Fred Clements, Beatrice M. Clements, plus one who died.
Full Name Great-Grandfather = Bird Frederick Clements; Year of Birth = Unknown; Year of Death = 1924 (Illinois); City and State Where Lived = KY (Union County?); Names of Siblings = Joe L., Carrie B., Leo W., Flora M., Andrew B., Annie B; Names of Children = Fred Clements, Beatrice M. Clements, plus one who died.
Full Name Mother of Fannie Mae Sawyer = Mattie (nee Sneed) Sawyer; Year of Birth = unknown; Year of Death = 1934 in TN; City and State Where Lived = Nashville, TN.
Full Name Father of Fannie Mae Sawyer = Felix Sawyer; Year of Birth = Unknown; Year of Death = unknown (died in TN before 1909, when records lost in fire I believe); City and State Where Lived = TN.
Full Name Maternal Grandmother of Fannie Mae Sawyer = Mary Taylor; Year of Birth = in TN.
Full Name Maternal Grandfather of Fannie Mae Sawyer = J.P. Sneed; Year of Birth = in TN.
Full Name of Father of Bird Clements = Rain Fred Clements; Year of Birth = Aug 1848 in KY; Year of Death = in KY; City and State Where Lived = KY.
Full Name of Mother of Bird Clements = Agnes (Harriet) McClure; Year of Birth = May 1855 in KY.
Thank you very much for researching your records.
Sincerely,
Valerie J. Phillips
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Hi Valerie,
You’ve already got this lineage back to ancestors with birth years of 1848 and 1855, and both born in Kentucky. They show no affiliation with the Cherokee people from that time period to the present. And they are found in records residing far away from the extant Cherokee communities. There were no Cherokee settlements in Kentucky, ever.
Fred Clements was found on an 1880 Census record. His parents are listed with places of birth as Kentucky, and he is recorded as “Black.” Agnes is also found on that record, except she is listed as ‘mulatto.” Her parents place of birth are KY/KY.
So, that suggest this family unit is African American from Kentucky roots stretching back to the 1820s-1830s. Although the record trail is rather thin, what exists is highlighting or strongly suggesting a non-Cherokee status.
For a frame of reference, the only recognized Cherokee descendants residing in the 1850s (on Siler and Chapman Rolls) in Kentucky were a family cluster of Nancy Ward descendants, and they had moved north into Kentucky much later, and originally came from southeast Tennessee. Other than that, you wouldn’t find Cherokees in that state from the early 1800s to the present time period. Unfortunately, I can’t find much more detail, but this is just some demographic and historical context anyway. This family doesn’t appear to be Cherokee from what records are extant.
Hi JSmith,
Thank you for your reply. What you found on Fred Clements and his wife Agnes McClure is interesting and exciting. Although these two are apparently not Cherokee, at least from the extant record, my oral family history also includes Black ancestors so your results are in keeping with that. Based on what you said, I did a little quick research on free Blacks in KY at that time period and found several resources that I plan to look into further. I would ultimately like to write a book about all my family history.
Fred Clements was the paternal side of my grandmother Beatrice Clement’s family. Did you find anything on the maternal side of my grandmother’s family (that would be the Fannie Mae Sawyer line)?