caption native_name_lang death_date death_place children birth_place other_names image_size nationality parents native_name birth_date spouse image article_title occupation
se-quo-yah tribes of north america . this lithograph is from the -- portrait painted by charles bird king in 1828 . a lithograph from history of the indian cherokee yes 1843 1770 08 san fernando , tamaulipas , mexico four with first wife , three with second tuskegee , tennessee -rrb- , cherokee nation -lrb- near present day knoxville george guess or gist 250px cherokee '' wut-teh '' and unidentified father ᏍᏏᏉᏯ c. 1770 1st 2nd : '' u-ti-yu '' : sally -lrb- maiden name unknown -rrb- , sequoyah.jpg sequoyah
 silversmith , blacksmith , teacher , soldier
sequoyah

sequoyah -lrb- ᏍᏏᏉᏯ `` ssiquoya '' , as he signed his name , or ᏎᏉᏯ `` se-quo-ya '' , as his name is often spelled today in cherokee -rrb- -lrb- c. 1770 -- 1840 -rrb- , named in english george gist or george guess , was a cherokee silversmith .
in 1821 he completed his independent creation of a cherokee syllabary , making reading and writing in cherokee possible .
this was the only time in recorded history that a member of a pre-literate people independently created an effective writing system .
after seeing its worth , the people of the cherokee nation rapidly began to use his syllabary and officially adopted it in 1825 .
their literacy rate quickly surpassed that of surrounding european-american settlers .
