The living relatives of “Gardner Green”

The non-profit groups in Missouri known as the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory and the Northern Cherokee Nation both claim descent from a Cherokee man who was listed as “Gardner Green” on the 1835 Census of the Cherokee Nation. That claim was debunked earlier in this series in a post titled “Young Wolf, son of The Mouse.”

Since publishing that post, many have wondered about the actual Cherokee family of Young Wolf, aka Gardiner Green. At this time, though no living direct descendants have been identified, many living nieces and nephews of varying degrees have been found.

Young Wolf had at least seven siblings through his father, The Mouse. One of those siblings was named Ool-stoo or Leaves on a Tree. There is an abundance of information that supports the conclusion that The Mouse was the father of both Young Wolf and Ool-stoo. Most of that documentation will be shared later in the biographies of The Mouse and Ool-stoo.

Ool-stoo’s daughter, Peggie Redbird, recorded her father’s name in her Eastern Cherokee application.

Peggie Redbird, Eastern Cherokee Application #4605, Fold3.com

She also said her paternal grandfather was Rat. (The same word can be used to describe both mouse and rat in Cherokee.)

Peggie Redbird, Eastern Cherokee Application #4605, Fold3.com

Peggie had several siblings, including a sister named Too-nah-ye and a brother named Stephen, both dead.

Peggie Redbird, Eastern Cherokee Application #4605, Fold3.com

Because Too-nah-ye died in 1904, she did not live long enough to file an Eastern Cherokee application but her daughter did.

John and Jennie Cornsilk

Jennie Cornsilk nee Walker listed her mother as Too-nah-ye Ool-stoo but did not state the name of her maternal grandfather on her first application.

Jennie Cornsilk, Eastern Cherokee Application #2271, Fold3.com

She did list both Peggie Redbird, living, and Steve Ool-stoo, dead, as her aunt and uncle though.

Jennie Cornsilk, Eastern Cherokee Application #2271, Fold3.com

Later, Jennie filed another application. Though difficult to read, she listed her maternal grandfather as Oo-loo-stoo.

Jennie Cornsilk, Eastern Cherokee Application #12540, Fold3.com

At the time of the Eastern Cherokee applications, Jennie Cornsilk nee Walker was the widow of a man named John Cornsilk. Their son, William Cornsilk, filed his own Eastern Cherokee application. He listed his mother as Jennie Cornsilk, and grandmother as Too-nah-ye. While this information seems redundant, it’s important because it links the generations together.

William Cornsilk, Eastern Cherokee Application #12543, Fold3.com

One of the relatives William claimed through was his great grandfather on his mother’s side, Oo-loo-stoo.

William Cornsilk, Eastern Cherokee Application #12543, Fold3.com

William also listed his wife as “Kattie Cornsilk”, 30 years old.

William Cornsilk, Eastern Cherokee Application #12543, Fold3.com

In 1910, William and Katie Cornsilk were living in Stillwell, Adair County, Oklahoma. William was 25 and Katie was 33. It was his first marriage and her second. They had two children together at that time, a son named Jesse and a daughter named Cora.

Ancestry.com

In 1920, William and Katie were still living in Stillwell, Adair County, Oklahoma. They had two sons, Jesse and Henry, and three daughters, Cora, Ruth, and Kate, at that time.

Ancestry.com

In 1930, William and Katie were living in Baron, Adair County, Oklahoma. They had an additional child born to them since the previous census. That child was a little girl named Josephine.

Ancestry.com

Josephine

Josephine Cornsilk grew up and first married Millard Tidwell. Later she married Ray Moreland. She was the mother of twelve children.

Josephine and family

She is the grandmother of Jeannie Tidwell who represents the Cooweescoowee District as one of nine United Keetoowah Band District Councilors.

Jeannie Tidwell

Josephine is also the grandmother of my dear friends, Jo Ann Tidwell and Sandee Tidwell Lovato, as well as many others.

Jo Ann Tidwell

Additionally, Josephine’s brother, Jesse Cornsilk, is the grandfather of David Cornsilk who is well known for his activism against fraudulent Cherokees and tribes.

William & Sandee Tidwell, descendants of The Mouse

This means The Mouse is the 5^th great grandfather of Jeannie, Jo Ann, and Sandee Tidwell and David Cornsilk. Young Wolf, the son of Mouse, also known as “Gardner Green”, is their 5^th great-uncle. 

To be clear, Jeannie, Jo Ann, Sandee, and David are four of the legitimate living nieces and nephews of the Cherokee man (re)named Gardner Green who was listed on the 1835 Census of the Cherokee Nation. 

Those are my thoughts for today.

Polly's Granddaughter

copyright 2019, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

A special 'Thank You' to Jo Ann Tidwell for sharing family pictures and allowing them to be used in this post.

**Other living nieces and nephews of Young Wolf, aka Gardiner Green, descend from Cherokee families with the surnames Rat, Rider, Swimmer, Tincup, Hogner, Wolfe, Spade, Manus, Scraper, and many more. Those lineages from The Mouse will be explored later in this blog.**

Tweet

A Final Rejection and the Emergence of a Fake Tribe

In the last post, False Heirs: The Gardner Green Estate, the claim to a fortune made by the Green family of Boone County, Missouri was discussed. This Green family claimed they were the descendants of a Cherokee man named Gardner Green and that the United States was holding a fortune of his to be paid out to them if they could prove their claim. Instead of probating the claim, as anyone who was claiming heirship to a fortune would, the Green family filed Eastern Cherokee applications, the applications required for those who made claim to a share of the money the U.S. Court of Claims awarded the Cherokees (or their heirs) who remained in the eastern homelands until after the Treaty of New Echota. Those Cherokees were considered parties to that treaty and therefore entitled to a share of the funds. No single Cherokee was entitled to all the money and no single Cherokee family was entitled to it all despite the story repeatedly told by the Green family.

The Green family filed 241 Eastern Cherokee applications for 552 claims (children were paid a share if approved but were listed on their parents' applications.) ALL were rejected.

The Eastern Cherokee applications filed that claimed descent from "Gardner Green" are below. The two final claimants appear to have no connection to the Green family from Missouri. That indicates people were finding a name on the 1835 Cherokee Roll and claiming on it whether they were truly related to that person or not. After all, if the claims on Gardner Green were authentic claims, the family lineages should have matched. They didn't.

Remember, ALL the applications filed by the Green family were rejected. Guion Miller, the commissioner appointed by the United States to oversee the roll and payments, wrote an extensive report on why the applications were rejected. First, the testimony given by numerous claimants conflicted with testimony given by other claimants. Second, the Greens claimed Gardner Green, their ancestor, was very old. He would have had great grandchildren born before the Treaty of New Echota and none of his purported children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren had ever lived in the Cherokee domain. Third, Guion Miller did not believe the Gardner Green claimed by the Green family was the same Gardner Green found on the 1835 based on the family description, though he admitted it was only supposition that he believed the male listed as under 18 was the child of Gardner Green.

The full report of Guion Miller is below:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Though Guion Miller had limited resources at the time he made his decision on the family's claim, today we have numerous documents available and can confirm this family was correctly rejected. The man listed as Gardner Green on the 1835 was Young Wolf, son of Mouse. He could not have been the progenitor of the Green family from Boone County, Missouri.

After multiple rejections, by both the Cherokee Nation officials and the agents of the U.S. government, the false claim by the Green family should have come to an end. Unfortunately, it didn't.

Today, approximately 110 years after being rejected by Guion Miller, the Green family descendants still claim to be Cherokee. They, along with others, created a fraudulent tribe that has splintered into additional fraudulent tribes. While the idea of fake tribes may sound funny, it isn't. Recently, one of the Green family "tribes" has caused a tremendous amount of harm. 

They have threatened to destroy Rocky Miller, a Missouri state legislator and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, for sponsoring a law to protect the consumers of Missouri from being tricked into purchasing fake Indian art. They have launched an online smear campaign against the Missouri Archaeological Society, Inc. for cancelling the speaking engagement of one of their members when the Society learned that person was not legitimately Cherokee. They have used their fake tribal cards to apply for and receive government contracts intended for minorities. Most recently, their group members threatened an Eastern Band Cherokee when he asked to speak at their event to explain that what was being presented as Cherokee culture was, in fact, not authentic Cherokee culture.

This farce must end!

It will end.

My next few posts will show the emergence of a fake tribe, through documents and other sources, while also sharing the accurate history of this fake tribe, the non-profit group that calls itself the "Northern Cherokee Nation", headquartered in Clinton, Missouri.  You don't want to miss this. Please stay tuned for more on this story, the legacy of Young Wolf, and what we can learn from it all.


Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

*Please click on images to enlarge.

*Video clip used with permission. Credit: Chris Penick

Previous posts in this series:

Part 1 - Young Wolf, son of Mouse

Part 2 - Identity Fraud: Ghosting Gardner Green 

Part 3 - False Heirs: The Gardner Green Estate

copyright 2018, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

Tweet

False Heirs: The Gardner Green Estate

In 1907, the town of Moberly, Missouri was abuzz with excitement over some of its citizens being heirs to a fortune. According to Jim Green, an heir and tonsorial artist at the Oak Barber Shop, the descendants of Gardner Green were gathering in order to try to settle an estate worth 4 1/2 million dollars that they had a claim on. He said the money was in the U.S. Treasury in Washington D.C. and they, the family, had spent several thousand dollars trying to take possession of it but had, thus far, been unsuccessful.

Moberly Weekly Democrat, Moberly, MO, July 26, 1907, p.3.

Other articles made it abundantly clear, this was the same Green family who had unsuccessfully tried to gain citizenship in the Cherokee Nation in 1896. They were trying to "take possession" of an estate they insisted belonged to their purported ancestor, a Cherokee named Gardner Green.

Moberly Weekly Democrat, Moberly, MO, August 6, 1907, p.6.

It's unclear why the Green family claimed they were heirs to such a large fortune, but their story evolved over time and changed into something more shocking and nefarious. They no longer claimed to simply be heirs to a fortune, but instead, claimed to be a tribe called the "Eastern Cherokees" and that they, the descendants of Gardner Green, alone formed what was called the "Eastern Cherokees." They also claimed Congress appropriated four and half million dollars to them for their shares of the Cherokee land taken in the east.

Moberly Weekly Monitor, Moberly, MO, August 25, 1908, p.3.

We know, for certain, that the Green family were not heirs to the money the U.S. Court of Claims awarded the "Eastern Cherokees" in 1906. That money was owed to the Cherokees for unpaid funds due them from the forced removal. Those funds were to be paid out per capita to Cherokees and/or their descendants who were entitled to them.  

To make this point perfectly clear, the money the United States paid was for the entire citizenry of the Cherokee tribe who remained in the eastern homelands until after the Treaty of New Echota. 

The term "Eastern Cherokee" did not strictly apply to the modern day Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, though it did include them. "Eastern Cherokee" certainly did not indicate descent from the Cherokee scholar named Gardner Green by the Moravians. Even if it would have, the Green family from Missouri were not his descendants.

From the first post in this series, we already know that the Gardner Green listed on the 1835 Census of the Cherokee Nation was actually Young Wolf, son of Mouse. We also know that Young Wolf died in 1837, leaving only two heirs, his wife, Aley, and young son, Ooahhusky. His estate, valued at $383.50, was divided between his two heirs in 1838. The Gardner Green Estate claimed by the Green family of Missouri was fictitious. Therefore they were false heirs.

From the second post in the series, we know that the Green family from Missouri who claimed descent from the Cherokee Gardner Green could not have descended from Young Wolf. Even though they failed in their attempt to gain citizenship in the Cherokee Nation in 1896, eleven years later, the same family again tried to claim Young Wolf as their ancestor in order to try to get money.

The next post will explore the documents filed by the Green family in their attempt to obtain their mythological fortune. Stay tuned for more on Young Wolf, his legacy, and what we can learn from it all.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

copyright 2018, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

Tweet

Young Wolf, Son of Mouse

In April 1820, while on his way back to the Moravian mission school at Springplace after visiting his family, a Cherokee boy and the relative accompanying him were met by a white man in the woods. The man appeared angry and pulled a knife on them. Terrified, the two Cherokees retreated into the woods and found a different route back to the school. The boy was only eleven years old. His name was Young Wolf and he was the son of Mouse from Rock Creek near Rabbit Trap in the Coosawattee district of the old Cherokee Nation in the east.

Young Wolf entered the mission school at Springplace on February 2, 1819 when he was ten years old. The missionaries wrote that despite his name, he had the appearance and behavior of a sheep rather than a wolf. Mouse and his wife visited at the end of the month and expressed gratitude for the love the missionaries showed their son. His parents obviously loved him very much because that was the first of several visits they made to the school over the following years. 

By the end of 1822, Young Wolf had left the school due to lack of clothing. Shortly after his departure, an anonymous donor from Boston contacted the Moravians with an offer of $25 per year (equal to approximately $566 today) for the support and education of an Indian boy with the conditions the boy would be named Gardiner Green and raised for service. The Moravians struggled with the issue of giving a child a new name. Because there were both ethical and financial implications, the decision to accept the donation was not one they took lightly. The donor inquired about his offer at least twice after he made it because the missionaries had not made the decision to accept it yet.

Gardiner Greene, Merchant: Probable anonymous benefactor from Boston

Young Wolf returned to school in December 1823 and was welcomed back with joy by the missionaries. Because his parents were "blood poor" and because he had to completely support himself, early in 1824 the donor's offer was accepted and the financial support was applied to Young Wolf. The missionaries justified their decision to the donor by describing Young Wolf as always being orderly and eager to learn as well as showing love for the Savior. To accommodate the donor's wishes, Young Wolf's name was changed to Gardiner Green.

The affection between Green and the missionaries was strong as shown in March 1824 when Green gave them a new water pail he had made completely by himself. In return, they gave him a calf whose mother had died of horn disease shortly after its birth. The Moravians also appeared to believe Green was dependable and could be trusted with important tasks. It was not uncommon for them to send him to deliver letters or messages on their behalf. In June, 1824, Green helped disseminate the cowpox  vaccine near his home with the hope it would stop the smallpox epidemic that was raging in the Cherokee Nation at that time.

In the spring and fall each year, the older boys at the Springplace Mission often returned home to help their families during the times of planting and harvesting. Green was no exception and in the spring of 1825,  he was home for nearly a month. During that time at home, three of his toes had nearly been chopped off.

While it is unknown how much of Green's education and upbringing at the mission school caused him to have internal conflict between his formal education and his traditional ways, as he got older, communications from the Moravians revealed there were some difficulties. From a letter dated July 8, 1825, "Gardiner Green is still here, but we do not know for how long, since he is already 16 years old and can soon be a help to his parents. He is a very orderly boy and also has learned to read and write very nicely, but we cannot get him to speak English." [Emphasis mine.]

As Cherokee boys grew older, it was expected that they would begin to participate in ball games with the men. This tradition likely caused additional conflict for Green. The missionaries did not approve of the Cherokee ballplay, viewing it as "an unholy thing." Traditional Cherokees viewed ballplay, the Little Brother of War, as necessary, a rite of passage so to speak, and a way for a boy to learn the art of war, thus becoming a man.

Signage at the New Echota Historic Site in Georgia.

Twice the Moravians made reference to Green's participation in ball games:

• "Today we heard that our scholar Gardiner Green, who was taken home for a visit some weeks ago, was forced by his father to participate in a ballplay where he was hit with the ball stick by an Indian and trampled so that from noon until sundown he just lay there completely lifeless. But, he finally came to himself again and was taken home on a horse by his father." (August 1825)
• "Our scholar Gardiner Green allowed himself to be talked into going to another ballplay, where he twisted his leg." (September 27, 1825)

Despite having a benefactor and changing his name to satisfy that benefactor, Green continued to struggle to meet his basic needs at school. In a letter dated January 18, 1826, it was noted that the students had not been receiving clothing from the friends of the scholars. Green owed for 3 frocks, 3 pairs of overalls, and 3 shirts. He eventually left school for the final time later that summer on August 14, 1826 when he was about 17 years old.

Green returned to Rock Creek after he left school and eventually married Aley, a full blood Cherokee. They welcomed a son, Ooahhusky, about 1831. The family was listed on the 1835 Henderson Roll as living near his father "Rat" (Mouse and Rat are the same in Cherokee) on "Rocky Creek" in an area that later become Murray County, Georgia. The household of "Gardner Green" included one male under 18 (Ooahhusky), one male over 18 (Gardiner), and one female over 16 (Aley.) All three were listed as full bloods. They had one farm with ten acres in cultivation. One person in the household was a reader of English. Two were readers of Cherokee.

In the spring of 1835, Green was dispossessed of four acres of land by a United States citizen. The compensation for "rent" on those four acres was included in his valuation of property recorded when the U.S. government was preparing to remove the Cherokees from their homeland.

Property Valuation - Young Wolf/Gardner Green

Unfortunately, when the Cherokees were removed to the west, Green did not make the trip with his family. According to testimony given by Ellis Harlin in 1838, Green died in the fall of 1837 leaving a wife and child, Aley and Ooahhusky, as "...his only heirs." [Emphasis mine.]

Register of Payments - Young Wolf/Gardiner Green/Heirs

Harlin testimony - Click to enlarge

At the time of his death, Young Wolf, aka Gardiner Green, was, at most, 28 years old. He left behind only two heirs to his estate that was valued at $383.50. Though his life ended in 1837, his death was far from the end of his story. Stay tuned for more posts on Young Wolf, his legacy, and what we can learn from it all.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Thanks for reading.

Sources:

• The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Vol. I & II, Edited/Introduction by Rowena McClinton
• Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees, Vol. 5-7, Edited by C. Daniel Crews & Richard W. Starbuck
• Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793 - 1999
• Private collection(s)

copyright 2018, Polly's Granddaughter - TCB

Tweet