'Tsa-la-gi'

This page is dedicated to my grandfather, George Key Cumsey and to my father , Robert.

Osiyo! (Hello!) I would like to provide some information on the Cherokee people of the United States and something about their culture. My name is Mary;  I am of Cherokee descent and researching my family's history. My family settled in Northeastern Oklahoma in the 1830's after a long walk from North Carolina on the 'Trail of Tears.' There is much information about the Cherokee's and other Native American's that are at the touch of a button. Please take some time to learn more about the Native American's.

The Cherokees called themselves the Ani-Yun' wiya meaning leading or principal people. The original Cherokees lived early times in Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The Cherokee seal (above) was designed to embrace the early government structure and the eternal endurance of the Cherokee Indians. It was adopted by Act of the Cherokee National Council, and approved in 1871. The seven-pointed star symbolizes: (1). the seven age old clans of the Cherokee: (2). the seven characters of Sequoyah's syllabary, meaning "Cherokee Nation." (The Cherokee characters are phonetically pronounced "Tsa-la-gi-hi A-yi-li") .. The wreath of oak leaves symbolizes the sacred fire which, from time immemorial, the Cherokees kept burning in their land. Oak was the wood traditionally burned, different species of oak having ever been indigenous to Cherokee country, both in North Carolina and Georgia as well as in the Indian Territory to which the Cherokees removed in the early 1800's...The margin wording proclaims the authority of the seal in both the English and the Cherokee languages, and records the date (1839) of the adoption of the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation West...This seal was imprinted on all documents until the dissolution of the Cherokee Nation at Oklahoma Statehood.

References: Muriel H. Wright, "Seal of The Cherokee Nation." The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume XXXIV (Summer, 1956): original painting by Guy C. Reid.

INDIAN REMOVAL--THE CHEROKEES

The Cherokees were once a powerful detached tribe of the Iroquoian family formerly holding the whole mountain region of the sourthern Alleghanies, in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina and South Carolina, northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and northeastern Alabama, and some claiming even to the Ohio River. The tribal name is a corruption of Tsalagi or Tsaragi, the name by which they commonly called themselves.

At the height of their prosperity gold was discovered near the present Dahlonega, Georgia, within the limits of the Cherokee Nation and at once a powerful agitation was begun for the removal of the Indians.

A considerable number of Cherokees having voluntarily removed to what is now Arkansas to enjoy the fine hunting in that region. Governor McMinn of Tennessee and Andrew Jackson induced a number of compliant Cherokees purporting to represent that part of the their tribe in Tennessee, as well as 3,700 Cherokees previously removed to Arkansas, to meet them at the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee in 1816, where they entered into a treaty yielding part of their domain in that state for certain nominal considerations. The next year on July 17 they were induced to make another treaty at the same place, in which they parted with more of their land and the government promised to furnish flat boats for those who would agree to removed to Arkansas, as well as provisions, traps, blankets, etc.

NATIVE AMERICAN SITES ON THE WEB

The Five Civilized Tribes

The Cherokee Nation
The Chickasaw Nation
The Seminole Nation
The Choctaw Nation
The Creek Nation

A Little Bit 'O Cherokee: TSALAGI

The Cherokee Syllabary
Cherokee Language Lessons
Cherokee History: Important Dates
Brief History of The Trail of Tears

This is still (sorry) under construction and I will be adding stories and other interesting items about The Cherokee's