Sequoyah Is The 5th Generation Grandfather Of Lisa Christiansen
Published by WhoSay
Researched by Pam Wilson
Authenticated by The Cherokee Nation
Research documenting the lineage of Christiansen to Sequoyah (Creator of the Cherokee syllabary.) The records are verified through the Cherokee Nation and the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Sequoyah is our very own Lisa Christiansen’s 5th generation grandfather. George “Sequoyah” Gist was the son of Wut-Teh, the daughter of a Cherokee Chief and Nathaniel Gist/Guess, a Virginia Fur Trader He was born in Tennessee but left as a youth and removed to Georgia. There he worked as a silversmith. Sequoyah did not sign his works since he did not know how to write. He was born in Tennessee but left as a youth and removed to Georgia. There he worked as a silversmith. Sequoyah did not sign his works since he did not know how to write. He began to study how to spell his name, and in 1809 he began working on a Cherokee writing system.
At Willstown, Alabama, he enlisted in the Cherokee Regiment, fighting in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, which effectively ended the war against the Creek Redsticks. During the war, he became convinced of the necessity of literacy for his people. He and other Cherokees were unable to write letters home, read military orders, or record events as they occurred. After the war, he developed a phonetic system, where each sound made in speech was represented by a symbol. He created the “Talking Leaves”, 86 letters that make up the Cherokee syllabary. In 1821 the Cherokee Nation adopted Sequoyah’s alphabet, and thousands of Cherokee became literate. In 1824 the National Council at New Echota struck a silver medal in his honor. Later, publication began on the first Native American newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix in the same town.
H.A. Scomp, member of Emory College faculty, declared that ‘…perhaps the most remarkable man who has ever lived on Georgia soil was neither a politician, nor a soldier, nor an ecclesiastic, nor a scholar, but merely a Cherokee Indian of mixed blood. And strange to say, this Indian acquired permanent fame, neither expecting or seeking it.’
Sometime between 1843 and 1845, George died during a trip to San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, when he was seeking Cherokee who migrated there at the time of Indian Removal. His resting place is believed to be in Zaragoza near the Mexico-Texas border.
The following document gives the most circumstantial account of the death of Sequoyah: Warren’s Trading House, Red River,
April 21st, 1845. “We, the undersigned Cherokees, direct from the Spanish Dominions, do hereby certify that George Guess of the Cherokee Nation, Arkansas, departed this life in the town of San-fernando in the :month of August, 1843, and his son Chusaleta is at this time on the Brasos River, Texas, about thirty miles above the falls, and he intends returning home this fall.:Given under our hands the day and date written.”
STANDING X(his mark) ROCK
STANDING X (his mark) BOWLES
WATCH X (his mark) JUSTICE
WITNESSES
Daniel G. Watson
Jesse Chisholm.” In 1938, an expedition of scholars set out to find Sequoyah’s grave in Mexico. They were unable to conclusively determine the grave site. A possible burial site is also noted in Coahuila, Mexico, where pilgrimages are held in honor of his legacy.
In 2011, the Muskogee Phoenix published an article relating a discovery in 1903 of a gravesite in the Wichita Mountains that they believed was Sequoyah’s. The site was in a cave and contained a human skeleton with one leg shorter than the other, a long-stemmed pipe, two silver medals, a flintlock rifle and an ax. However, the site was far north of the Mexican border.
Direct descendants of Sequoyah are Sosti (Mary Ann Eslinger) Groundhog-deceased ( http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39694654 ) ,
Survived by Gi- Dee-Thlo-Ah-Ee ( Lisa Christiansen *the only bilingual direct descendant fluent in both Cherokee and English ) ᎦᏗᏠᎡ ᏖᏁᏔᏗ, Ciarre Christine, and Cherise Nancy.
Sequoyah is survived by Lisa Christiansen (birth name GI-Dee-Thlo-Ah-Ee is from his wife Lucy Guess (A-Ga-Di-Ya) Lisa is the only Bilingual living direct descendant of Sequoyah.
Sequoyah, 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.
The following was researched and recorded by the Cherokee Nation (Sequoyah is Lisa Christiansen’s great, great, great, great grandfather)
“Now we come to Lisa Christine Christiansen’s other great, great, great grandparents on her grandmother, Sallie Dick Groundhog’s side of the family. Stealer and Betsy Jumper’s daughter Nancy married George Dick. Their children are: George Junior, Cherokee Roll 20,850; Mary (Mrs. John Dreadfulwater); Wahlesah; and Lilly. George became a citizen on July 10, 1905.
Sequoyah’s great granddaughter Mary Guess (Gist) is Lisa’s great, great, great grandmother. Mary married Charley Dirteater…. Their children are Willie (Gist) Guess; Belle Dirteater; Jim Wolfe; Henry Dirteater; Dick and Stan Dirteater. Maggie Sourjohn and Mrs. Sam Shadoin. Their daughter Belle, Cherokee Roll 18,498, field card 7886 on Cherokee Card 9093 shows she married George Dick on November 3, 1906. On that same day she became a citizen of the United States of America. Lisa Christine Christiansen’s great grandparent’s records are:
Application, Census card, name, Roll# 16964 9093 9685 George Dick CRN 20850 17188 7886 9686 Belle Dirteater 18498 10389 9919 12741 Joseph L. Groundhog 26091 14697 10244 12742 Nannie Gritts 29265
The records are at the Fort Worth, Texas regional office and at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
In the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Cherokee Volume 235, page 5; a schedule of the property belonging to the estate of Ground Hog, dec. totaling $99.53/1/2 is recorded. It is not dated but the schedule of property of another Cherokee just below it is dated 1867.
On page 61 of the same volume is Captain Budd Gritts’ will dated December28, 1867. In volume 52, page 505; Elizabeth Ross stated in 1937 “The organizers of the Kee-too-wah Society in 1857, through the first head Captain, Budd Gritts (later a Captain of one of the Cherokee Companies in the Civil War) decreed that an annual convention be held somewhere at a convenient distance from Tahlequah.
In the National Archives in Washington these files include genealogical information as well as data concerning their land allotments such as official land descriptions and listings of improvements.”
Burial: Non-Cemetery Burial
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