Various blood connections to the Cherokee pre-removal includes an Indian agent who lived on Hiwassee Island, allied with Chief John Jolly, and travelled west with some of the first Old Settlers. Distant relatives include members of the Vann and Haney families. My ancestors mostly mixed with Anglo/Irish settlers in what is now present-day Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Other connections to the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) include relations from the Morton, Swanson, Terrell, Hamm, Hays, and Hicks lines. While at least one of my grandparents was enrolled, many ties are hard to connect and family stories remain unsubstantiated.
I am the direct lineal descendant of Indigenous women enslaved in Louisiana, including Marie-Jeanne Elisabeth “Lisette” de l’Isle (Nanatsoho/Nasoni/Caddo or Lipan/Canneci), and her daughter, Marie-Louise.
My great-grandmother, Marie-Louise, was emancipated after the death of her enslaver and presumed-father, Sieur Dauphine. Dozens of her Afro-Creole descendants were born free, also descended from Angelique (Hasinai/Caddo).
My ancestors married into and were enslaved by the St. Denis family. Jeanne de la Grande Terre (Chitimacha) was my great-aunt’s mother-in-law. Afro-Creole relatives include the Dumont, Davion, Gagné, Bertrand, and Derbanne lines.
Leila K. Blackbird 