This is from the same friend: http://www.cherokee.org/CULTURE/HistoryPage.asp?ID=138 John Jolly 1818-1838 Emigrated west to Arkansas Territory in 1818. As early as 1820, he was made Principal Chief of the Old Settlers, and he held this office until his death in 1838. He was a wealthy merchant and planter. JOLLY SPOKE NO ENGLISH, and dressed in buckskin with a hunting shirt, leggings and moccasins. He was a brother of Old Settler Chief Tahlonteeskee, and both were uncles of Cherokee Chief John Rogers. He was also the uncle of Tiana Rogers, Sam Houston's Cherokee wife and of Chief John Rogers, Jr. end of quote from website =================================== If he spoke no English as it says, he had to have a translator. I bet Houston spoke Cherokee having lived with the Cherokee in Tennessee as a youth and later in Oklahoma -- I bet he was fluent in the Cherokee language, and as Jolly's adopted son, he would have been an ideal person to have translated the letter. ----- Original Message ----- From: Joyce G. Reece To: CherokeeGene-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 7:49 PM Subject: [CherokeeGeneCommunity] Fw: [chickamauga_researcher] John Jolly I took the liberty of asking a friend who is somewhat of an expert on the Cherokee. Here is his rely as concerns the word 'wigwam' in reference to Cherokee usage.