Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-07-25
Question of Whether Sequoyah Was
Full Blood Indian Has Been RaisedaS
Sculptor ChiselS for Memorial Hall

complete. is said to have gone ahead
with the blanket idea. All of which
is very "discOmfiting intelligence to the
advanced and cultured members of
the old Cherokee nation. Always at
the head of American Indians, fur
nishing soldiers to the United states
i'm the war Of 1912, in the Mexican
war and in the civil war; its mem
bers often honored delegates 20 Wash
ington: men of it's blood filling re-
sponsible positions in county, state
and other public office, the idea Of
depicting the most distinguished
aboriEine of the new world as a bar
barian wrapped in a blanket has
caused a feeling of regret that so little
is known In the east of the Cherolsees
and of the career Of SequOyah. 1t is
felt that the Legislature Of oklahoma
should have gone further than it did
and should have designated a COM
mittce of representative Chcrokces to
decide upon a design for the
memorial.
SeQuoyah at the great council of
1S4S held in the public square at
Tahlequah, was one of the leading
spirits and it was due to his great in
%fluenCc that So many of the Indian
nations of the great western, or In
dian territory, were represented at
the council which had for its object
the making of a treaty of peace and
friendship between the various tribes
of the then far west. The Cherokee
genius was her very old and APP
Feared clad in the costume in which
he is depicted in his portraits. The
hest and original portrait is said to
hang in the gallery Of the war depart
ment at Washington, and it was from
this portrait no doubt that Mckinney
copied his picture for the book which
was published more than sixty years
ago.
Disappeared in New Mexico.
In the fall of 1S43, some months
after the great council had been held,
~Sequoyah, with q few companions,
among them his son, left for Mex
leo, it is said, to visit a band Of Cher
okees who were in that country, with
the purpose, 10 doubt, of inducing
them to remove to Indian Territory.
The travellers experienced consider
able discomfort in their journey. Sc
quoyah became very feeble and soon
after entering Mexican territory rap
idly failed. Near the Mexican viii
lage Of San Fernando de Taos his
companions left him i'm camp while
they went to the village for food.
Upon their return the old mar was
gone and no trace of him was ever
found.
Old-time Cherokecs, those best in
formed and who knew and remem-
bered S~equoyah, state hat he was a
full-blOOd Cherokee and was so re-
garded by his co%untrymen and the
missionaries who made use of his in
Vention. Like hundreds of other
Cherokees, he was called by an Eng
lish name. sometimes a Cherokee
will be known by one name for years,
then suddenly he may adopt a new
name.) The name by which the
Cherokee genius was known vas
George Guess. This name, according
to one of the scholarly C%herokees of
some years ago, caused a writer for a
magazine to reach the conclusion that
Guess was a corruption of Gist, and
having decided hat a full-blood Cher
/ okee- would not have sufficient brain
capacity to invent an alphabet this
writer convinced himself hat the
alphabet was due to the white mans
brain, which Sequoyah must possess
i'm half measure. So the writer an
nounced hat the inventor of the
! Cherokee alphabet was half white,
the son of a Dutchman named Gist
and of a Cherokee mother.
S~equoyah's descendants are very
few. Many have claimed to be his
grandchildren, but It seems that there
is only n grandchild alive, an aged
and intelligent woman who lives in
q remote section of the old Cherokee
nation.