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Georgia's ethnic cleansing touched local families
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If you're saddened by the convulsive effect of our current recession and how it determines where and how people live, just consider the cataclysmic events taking place in these parts 175 years ago.
Those were pioneering days in this area of Georgia, when our earliest white settlers were struggling to survive and the Native Americans (Cherokee) were beginning to be forcefully removed from their homeland to be resettled in Oklahoma and other points to the West.
An old friend, the late Dr. Bernice McCullar, a historian and educator, in her defining book "This Is Your Georgia," recorded that the first expedition of what came to be known as the "Trail of Tears," left the Hiawassee area in March of 1834.
The federal government had expected 1,200 to sign up for the kickoff of its re-settlement plan.
But only 475 Cherokees, temporarily housed in 28 log shelters outside Hiawassee, made the departure. In April, the McCullar account goes, the contingent had reached the Arkansas River, but 81 had died – 50 of them from cholera.
The following year, on Dec. 29, 1835, the United States government met with some of the Cherokee leaders at New Echota, their capital near present-day Calhoun.
There, a treaty was executed for the forceful removal to the West of all Cherokees who remained in Georgia. This was despite the fact that many of them had already been living peacefully, some intermarrying, into white families.
Cherokees had taken their fight for their lands peacefully through the American legal system up to the Supreme Court and had won. President Andrew Jackson simply ignored the court. Cherokees found it difficult to appeal the point of a bayonet.
After Georgia officially took possession of the Cherokee land May 18, 1838, the U.S. Army under General Winfield Scott began removing Cherokees by the thousands from the Georgia mountains and foothills.
Thus began in earnest the infamous "Trail of Tears," where a ghastly 9,000 Cherokees, on foot or on water, died.
The above brief recitation on a not-so-proud episode in our state's history came to mind a few days ago after I spent a delightful afternoon with two lifelong friends — and fellow natives of Roswell — Barry Mansell and his first cousin, Linda Mansell Martin, at Emory University's Woodruff Library Special Collections section.
Our object was to locate and learn from a rare collection of early records kept by their own great-great-great grandparents, which provided great insight into white and Cherokee Indian history of this area.
The priceless collection, "Store Ledgers and Miscellaneous Papers of James Dorris," were the documents of a resident of what later became Crabapple, beginning in the early 1830s. More than 125 years later, the collection was placed at the Emory Special Collections Section in 1962 by Martin's father, the late Roswell merchant, Joe Mansell.
James Dorris (Oct. 26, 1801-July 8, 1877) and his Cherokee Indian wife, Nancy Cook Dorris, (March 3, 1799-death date unknown) lived happily, raising a large family whose offspring include many of today's outstanding citizens of the North Metro area.
The Dorris Store's "Ledger Books" and "Miscellaneous Papers," in various groupings, all now faded but still legible, cover the years 1832-1869.
Mr. Dorris' wrote and signed his will, utilizing one full page of one of his Dorris Store ledgers.
Dated June 1, 1875, Milton County, Georgia, the will included adequate provision for "Nancy, my Wife," during her remaining years, and "all balance of property both real and personal be sold to the highest bidder and after paying my debts, if any, to be equally divided among my children." (Offspring unnamed in will.)
Among the more-prominent white settlers who traded at the James Dorris Store were Simeon Rucker from South Carolina, an early captain of the Georgia State Militia in these parts and progenitor of the vast Rucker Clan, still very much around. Captain Rucker liked to pay his accounts "By Cash."
Among the many Cherokee Indians maintaining accounts at Dorris' Store was a man named "Bark Chichen," who paid $2 for "1 pr. shoes." The year was 1835.
Could Mr. Chichen have planned to use that brand new "pr. of shoes" for the trek to Oklahoma, then moving into high gear?
Apparently not too moved by the federal and state pressure for the Cherokees to leave their beloved homeland was a brave by the name of "Sleepy Man." Apparently a lover of alcohol and jewelry, he was still here in 1836.
The thrill of discovery clearly was reflected on the faces of Barry Mansell and his cousin, Linda Martin, as they were allowed by the Emory librarian/archivist to examine those documents so lovingly kept by their ancestor.
Reader Comments
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Many Georgians have links to the Trail of Tears
March 17, 2009 | 05:10 PM
I knew for most of my life that I had Cherokee ancestors. Upon conducting some geneaological research I found that one branch of my family - from Alsace - had spent several generations in Cherokee, NC and the east Tennessee mountains during the family migration from Alsace to Bucks County Pennsylvania to North Georgia. This family, the Hacklers (from Eichler), had intermarried extensively with native Americans during their history in the appalachian mountains. One branch of the family managed to avoid the round-up but one branch did go to Oklahoma. The family name survives both in Oklahoma and in Tennessee to this day. It is interesting to read of the history of the settlers and the Cherokees. There was never any real conflict between the two and they, for the most part, lived in close proximity and in peace. Many many families intermarried. The trail of tears was an act of theft and of politics - it was not an act of the people.
Mike Morgan, Atlanta
Georgia's Ethnic Cleansing Touched Local Families
March 15, 2009 | 09:29 PM
Thank you, Aubrey Morris, for the delightful day we spent at Emory
University Library reviewing our Great Great Grandparent's legacy,
enjoying conversation and lunch with you, and especially for the
well-written article in The Milton Herald on March 12, 2009. Let's do it
again real soon. You are a Blessing!! Linda Mansell Martin
Linda Mansell Martin, Ellijay, GA
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