The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-02-15
BILL ARP ON THE HISTORY OF INDIANS.
THE CREEKS AND THE CHERo-
KEGS.

Fell in Love with u Beautiful White
Girland Married Her.
Fragments OF Indian history have ac-
cumulated upon me Of late and as they
conccrn the Greeks and Cherokees and
are OF u romantic character, | am con.
strained to record them. These two
tribes are our Indians and make up
quite a chapter ia the history of
Georgia, Alabama and East Tennessee.
North Georgia was especially the home
Of the Cnerokees, Tor their chiefs
lived near Rome as far back as we have
their history, and the Greeks, or Mus
cogee". 70 they are more properly
called, lived south of the Tallapoosa
river. These tribes are not to be class.
ed with savages, for they were OF a
higher grade, and but for the greed OF
the white nan would no doubt nave
continued to advance in civilization
and refinement under the lead OF such
chiefs as Ross, Ridge, Boudinot and
Mcintosh.
Everybody is familiar with the story
OF P~Ocahontas.
Longfellow wrote q beautiful story
about Hiawatha and William Il. Rich
ards penned several pretty legends
about the Indian girls OF Tallulah falls,
and so | will pen the story Of John
Ridge and Boudinot as given to me.
Ii L oIoIy was SSuU W ulC Dy DTS. Ellen |
Nj. Gibbs, of Crystal Lake, Ill. Her
mother, Mrs. Taylor, who died in 1878,
wrote this romantic sketch in 1877,
when she was seventy-siX ears of age,
and left 1T for her children, who had
often heard her repeat it. BY some
strange coincidence | have recently re.
ceived a letter from q lady, Mrs. Vir-
ginia Williams, OF Bloomfield Fla,
giving The ancestry OF John Ross, whose
| Org N n a l44. NAl0 IA Snnfnh f,rA
named Mcdonald. The writer, Mrs.
Williams, traces her lineage back to
the same Mcdonald tree. Her mother
was a daughter OF William Day, who
married Agnes Mcdonald. Mrs. Will
liams would like to learn more about
Ross and his parents and hopes this
publication may attract the attention
OF some one who can inform her.
And now comes q marked COPY of q
New York paper called Sabbath Read
ing, in which John Ross, u son OF the
old chief, appeals for preachers and
teachers to come Out to the Cherokee
nation and help to educate and train
the children in the Christian faith, and
especially to teach them in their Sun
day schools. This appeal is dated De,
cember, 1897, and MIR. II )ss's address
is No. 10l Gold street, New York.
And here is The Vlnita Leader, an
able paper published in the nation, and
contains General Andrew Jackson's
letter to the Cherokee chiefs, written
in 1885, and which urges and e%ntrcats
them to accept the terms Of the treaty
and move at once to the territory as
signed to them.
And almost by the same mail comes
an interesting and beautifully written
, sketch of the present condition of the
Muscogees Tor Creeks.) 1t was written
: by Mr. w. w. Ramsay, Of Maryville,
, Mo-, a gifted and scholarly gentleman
, who is deeply interested in Indian
affairs. Other fragments have come to
me and if [ do not abridge and compile
} and have them published in your pa
per, much valuable history of these
+ Indians will be forever lost.
; But to the story
: In 1917 a foreign mission school was
, established at Cornwall, Conn. 1t was
a charity school for Indians mainly,
though there were some white pupils
+ there and some betrayed their own eX-
! penses. Students from several Indian
! tribes were there to acquire the Eng
lish language and a rudimentary edu-
( cation. Some white pupils also ac-
a CURED the Indian language and vert
( out as missionaries to the tribes. Be-
t sides the Chippewas and Choctaws and
q C~herUkees, remember there were two
from the Sandwich islands.
"Mr. Diggett was the first principal
, of the school and Mr.. Andrews the last.
, Every May there was a public exhibit
q tlon and the Indian boys spoke on the
stage. first in their W language and
q then in ours. They were genteel and
+ songs in their native tongue, all way
ing their hands in harmony with the
music. They were never allowed to go
beyond the limits or into peoples
houses without invitation. When they
visited us we laid aside our work and
f entertained them.
Q Among these students was q Chero-
kee youth named John Ridge, the son
OF a chtef-a very noble young man, of
) gentleman in his manners and depOrt-
) ment. For two years he was afl lcted
| with a hip disease. While be boarded
. at MIR. Northrup's and Mrs. Northrup
had the care of him, sometimes her
, daughter Sarah, a sweet and lovely
girl, waited upon him. One day Dr..
Gould, who was my cousin, said to Mr..
Northrup: John is about well. He
! has no physical disease about him and
trouble and you had better find out
what Is the matter
, That afternoon while Sarah was
away her mother took her knitting
and went to sit and talk with John.
While there she took notice of his mel
ancholy and begged him to tell her
what troubled him so much Of late.
Az first he denied having any sorrow,
but being pressed told her that lie
loved Sarah and knew that he could
never marry her, for he was an Indian.
Have you ever mentioned it to Sarah?'
she asked. NO said he, Il dare not,
but hCw could | help loving her p
"W.on Sarah came home her mother
said: Sarah, do you love John Ridge?'
Yes, | do, mother she said. Then
came the family trouble. Mr.. North
rup at once took Sarah to her grand
parents in New Haven and begged
thcm to wean Sarah from her Indian
iover-to give parties and introduce
her to nice young men, which they did,
but 1T was all in vain. She remained
there three months and seemed to be
pining away In silent grief. Her
parents BEGAN alarmed and brought
her home. What was to be done, for
1t would be an awful thing for Sarah to
marry him AS q last resort Mr..
Northrnp told John Ridge to go bone
and stay two years, and il he got en-.
tlrely we'll he might come back and
marry Sarah. He did so and when the
time was out came back accompanied
by his father, Major Ridge, the chief
OF the C~herOkees Thew trauelel In