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| Ole Bear Has Been Visited |
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| Tsilugi |
| O'siyo |
| Oginallii |
| "Hello" |
| "Welcome" |
| "Friend" |
| Come sit by my fire |
| Otsalanvlvi "We are all Brothers and Sisters" |
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| My Story |
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| This memorial to the John Bryant family "John Bryant is my fourth great grandfather" is located in Poplar Springs Cemetery near Skullbone in Gibson County,Tennessee. John Bryant, a mixed-blood Cherokee Indian, and several of his children and their families were among the first pioneer settlers of Gibson County, Tennessee |
| If anyone should see something on these pages that are theirs or that they want removed please send me a friendly e-mail to doveswing7@aol.com |
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| This marker is installed at the Smithgall Woods for our grandmother Lucy "My fifth great grandmother". It is embedded in a large boulder right beside the road and at the head of the trail leading to the waterfall. Today this is part of Smithgall Woods Nature Conservancy near the town of Helen,White County, Georgia. Located near Dukes Creek. |
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| And now, my grandmother, the job is done..... So hear me-no more tears! Once again, the rays of a warm and welcome sun shine brightly over Chu-nan-nee, burning the haze away. The eagle is back, doaring high and free. And the music of the wind in your mountain valley always reaches crescendo. Copyright © Tony Mack McClure,PhD. |
| Page Copyright © Morningdove 2001 |
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| Today, there are many living descendants of Lucy and John Bryant, over 135 of whom still proudly profess their Cherokee bloodlines and take an active part in Cherokee culture through enrollment in the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama, one of seven native tribes recongized by the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission |
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| Guledisgohnihi "Morningdove" |
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| So my slow walk down the Red Road begins, come join me and others as we travel back through time to follow our grandmother's footsteps and into the future as we try to keep her alive in our hearts. This page and others that will follow are about our Cherokee heritage, I don't claim to know all there is to know about it, There is still much to learn. I will share with you as I learn and begin to understand. First I will start with our grandmother she is my fifth Great Grandmother Lucy Briant/Bryant. LUCY BRYIANT/BRYANT Lucy was born in 1760 and died 1848 we don't know for sure yet if she were a Cherokee Indian princess or not. It has been said by family memebers that she was the daughter of a very important Indian. She was a poor widowed Indian woman, living in hard and heartbreaking times. She livied in a place called Chu-nan-nee in the rugged Smokey Mountains of North Georgia. Near the town of Helen. We do know a little about her. She did not want to go West in 1817 and her name is on the Reservation Roll. She lived on a 640-acre reservation "#91" that was granted to her by the Turkey Town Treaty of 1817. In 1826, after gold was discovered along Dukes Creek on her property, her home was taken from her by the laws of the land at that time. Indains were considered savages if not of the Caucasian race thus on census reports many hid the very fact that they were Indian. This is were we get the saying to day of "Black Dutch" many that claimed to be "Black Dutch" were really of mixed bread Indian or some other race. We don't know if Lucy was in the Trail of Tears or not but we do know her heart must have been heavey and she must have shed tears at the loss of her beautiful mountain land, all she owned, and the hatred that now spread across the land. |
| Please Leave Your Paw Prints |
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| Next comes our grandfather John Bryant he is my fourth great grandfather. Lucy's son. John Bryant John was born 1775 in Virginia and died about 1855 in Gibson County, Tennessee. He was on the 1850 census for Gibson County. His occupation a farmer. One of John Bryant slaves made a sworn statment. Her name was Dinah Bryant she was age 69 years old lived in Milan, Gibson County, Tennessee all her life. She said she was a slave of John Bryant before the Civil War she was born one of his slaves and belonged to him until his death. She said, "She heard John Bryant say often he was Cherokee Indian". It was the general understanding and generally talked by the people in the neighborhood where he lived, that he was a Cherokee Indian. Dinah says that she heard him say that he was born where the Cherokee tribe was then living and while he was a boy was stolen and carried to South Carolina. Some say that John traveled with David Crockett to Gibson County others say not, but the two families did live near one another. John owned land near Popular Springs, Gibson County Tennessee. The land joined his daughter Carolin Bryant White and his son Martin Brown Bryant my third great grandfather. It was said that John Bryant was a quiet man he went to church and stayed in the community. He and his wife Frances Nance Bryant raised fifteen children. After his death in 1955 a number of his children and great grandchildren migrated to Indian Territories in what was to later become know as Oklahoma. They went to claim their rightful stake in the western Cherokee Nation. For some the journey was met wtih dismay. Some where accepted and others were declared as intruders by their own people ! |
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| LINKS TO COUSINS PAGES |
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| OTHER SITES BY MORINGDOVE |