Thoughts from Polly's Granddaughter: Theories Can Be Wrong

The Cherokee woman, Sally Hughes, owned a ferry on the Etowah River in the early 1800s. Her life is fairly well documented in Cherokee records and there is a lot of good information posted about her all over the internet and in books on Cherokee history. The problem is, there is also a lot of inaccurate information posted about her, mostly by descendants who claim her as their ancestor.

The theory is:
"The Mhoon family lived next to the Indian reservation in Bertie Co., NC-Sallie was born 1890 in Bertie Co., NC-She married James Mhoon (perhaps) in 1810-1811-Stark Mhoon was born in this timeframe. The Mhoons moved to Alabama in 1801, but there is a bastard child listed by the Moravian Church. Sometime between 1811 and 1828 she married Bernard Hughes and Indian trader....Sallie is listed in the 1820 Census of Lauren Co. SC-Hughes may have been there also?-1828 she enrolled as an immigrant, a widow-1829 Sallie was on the Alabama River-1831 Georgia Cherokee map shows a road from Sallies home to New Echota 1801 to 1835 she was paid $4888.62 for something-1836 bought land in Washington County Arkansas, Round Mountain, where Stark Mhoon and Mathenia moved in 1836, being the first settlers on the Mountain. Sallie was paid over $14,000 for her ferry and property in Georgia, 1840 Census of Washington County, Arkansas shows Sallie living with Stark-Death 1845"

Do you see how this person, with the theory, is all over the place? There seems to be a case of "name searching" without verifying if the person they found in the records is THE Sally Hughes they are trying to research. They just grab every Sally Hughes they can find and lump them together into a "composite Sally." They also ignore historical facts.

Breaking it down, this is what we can say -

"The Mhoon family lived next to the Indian reservation in Bertie Co."

Not really, unless you think living within 500 miles of the Cherokee domain is living next to the "reservation." 500 miles is a long way, even by today's travel methods. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, it would have seemed much further and the travel time would have been much longer, especially considering the mountainous terrain of the area where the Cherokees lived in North Carolina.

"Sallie was born 1890 in Bertie Co"

First, I think there is a typo because Sally was dead before 1890. They must mean 1790. But that isn't correct either, because the Cherokee Sally Hughes was older than that. Our research indicates she would have been born about 1777-1780. Also, all research indicates Sally was born in the old Cherokee Nation East, not Bertie County, North Carolina which was nearly 500 miles outside the Cherokee domain.

"She married James Mhoon (perhaps) in 1810-1811"

Based on what documentation? Oh, I forgot, this is a "theory."

"Stark Mhoon was born in this timeframe."

I agree, Stark Mhoon was born about 1810-1811. But what does this have to do with the Cherokee woman, Sally Hughes who was living in the Cherokee Nation in this time frame?

"The Mhoons moved to Alabama in 1801, but there is a bastard child listed by the Moravian Church."

This may or may not be true, but once again, what does it have to do with the Cherokee woman named Sally Hughes?

"Sometime between 1811 and 1828 she married Bernard Hughes and Indian trader"

Once again, based on what documentation? In her Eastern Cherokee application #1449, Na-key Baldridge, granddaughter of Sally Hughes, claimed through her grandfather, George Hughes. Same surname does not a marriage make! Where is the documentation that says Sally Hughes married Bernard Hughes?

"Sallie is listed in the 1820 Census of Lauren Co. SC-Hughes may have been there also?"

While there may be a woman named Sally Hughes listed on that census, what indicates it is the Cherokee Sally Hughes? Nothing indicates the Cherokee woman Sally Hughes ever lived outside the Cherokee Nation domain. And what would indicate a Sally Hughes in South Carolina was connected to anyone in the Mhoon family? They were living in Bertie Co, North Carolina.

"1828 she enrolled as an immigrant, a widow"

This is information about the Cherokee Sally Hughes.

"1829 Sallie was on the Alabama River"

Do they mean the Etowah River?

"1831 Georgia Cherokee map shows a road from Sallies home to New Echota"

This is information about the Cherokee Sally Hughes.

"1801 to 1835 she was paid $4888.62 for something"

A date span of 34 years and getting paid for "something" doesn't tell us very much. But, I believe this is also about the Cherokee Sally Hughes.

"1836 bought land in Washington County Arkansas, Round Mountain"

What documentation shows that the Cherokee Sally Hughes did this?

"where Stark Mhoon and Mathenia moved in 1836, being the first settlers on the Mountain."

This reveals a lot, but you would have to be looking for the truth instead of trying to link your family to a Cherokee to see it. But I agree, Stark Mhoon and his wife moved to Washington Co, Arkansas about 1836.

"Sallie was paid over $14,000 for her ferry and property in Georgia"

Once again, this is information about the Cherokee Sally Hughes who has not been linked through documentation to the Mhoon family.

"1840 Census of Washington County, Arkansas shows Sallie living with Stark"

Really? Show me the documentation that says Cherokee Sally Hughes was living with Stark Mhoon in 1840 in Washington Co, Arkansas. That census only lists head of household and then the others in the home are listed by gender and age. There is a free white female in Stark's household, but she was between the ages of 50-59 which means she was born between 1781 - 1790. Though the earlier birth year is close to that of Cherokee Sally Hughes, there is nothing to indicate that is her on the census with Stark. It could be anyone that was free, white and female in that age range!

"Death 1845"

Once again, based on what documentation?

In genealogy, as we search for information, we often form theories. I don't take issue with that. The thing I take issue with is that so many people have taken this theory for gospel truth and haven't bothered to do their own research. This is an extremely flawed theory and based on the number of trees on Ancestry.com with this information, no one seems to question it. There is only one document we have found that lists a Sally Hughes as the mother of Stark Mhoon and that document is the 1896 application of his son, William Green Mhoon. This seems to be where the claim that Stark Mhoon's mother was Cherokee started. The interesting thing about that claim is that William Green Mhoon focused on a claim through his mother, not his father. He had one sentence in the claim that stated he knew little about his father's family but his father's mother was Sally Hughes and she was Cherokee. From that one sentence, a huge family myth has grown and led the descendants of the Mhoon family to now claim Cherokee Sally Hughes, my ancestor, as theirs. (Remember, the 1896 applications were thrown out due to so much fraud and false testimony.)

Doing an exhaustive search of records and then resolving conflicting information is important in genealogy. Simply by doing this, the descendants of Stark Mhoon could have avoided making such a glaring mistake in their assumption that they are also descendants of the Cherokee Sally Hughes.

Stay tuned for the next posts in this series on the 1896 applications where I not only show that the Cherokee Sally Hughes is my ancestor and cannot possibly be the ancestor of Stark Mhoon, but also how easy it is to trace a Cherokee ancestor and how far back our documentation and records go. If you think the Cherokees have no records, then you are in for a surprise!

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.