Seems like we may have discussed this before (?). In the book , "Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians" written about 1905 , there was mention of how/when Yuchi (Euchee) became part of the Creek Confederation. The source said that on the colonial frontier, the Euchee were bothersome to the colonials and inhibiting westward movement. The colonials provided firearms to the Cherokee , who were enemy at time according to the description. Explanation was that although the Euchee were fortified behind log walls, the rifles could still be fired between the logs. Further , the Euchee were virtually exterminated except for a very small number of women and small children. These remainders were taken in and became part of the Creek Confederation. The Creeks gave the Euchee the official job of being the fire keepers. It would be such a sad thing to do, I'm sure the whites would not long remember that ... or the Euchee who were nearly exterminated. Richard B. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 6:20 AM Subject: [CREEK-SOUTHEAST] Do any of your Creek families have known Yuchi orShawnee ancestors? > One of the many puzzles I am trying to solve in my study of the Southern > Highlands is the disappearance of Yuchi and Shawnee communities. The > Yuchi > were all over the place in the 1700s. There were large Yuchi towns even > in the > vicinity of Marion and Old Fort, NC (on I-40 east of Asheville) up until > the > mid-18th century. Joara, which the Warren Wilson College archaeologists > are > mistakenly calling a Cherokee town, was undoubtedly Yuchi since it was > near > modern-day Marion. The main body of Cherokee immigrated into North > Carolina > from the west during the late 1600s, and never lived east of the Blue > Ridge > Mountains in North Carolina. In fact, there were only two small Cherokee > hamlets in the entire French Broad River > Valley(Asheville-Hendersonville-Marshall > area) in the mid-1700s. The surviving Indian place names in the French > Broad > River valley are all Muskogean words - eg Etowah & Swannanoa > (Suwanee-owa) > > As late as the early 1800s, we see maps of northern Georgia and western > South Carolina with Yuchi and Shawnee villages on them. The Shawnee were > in the > Highlands long before the Cherokee. They were either allies or part of > the > Creek Confederacy, but ethnically not Muskogean. Suwanee, GA in north > Metro > Atlanta, where the Falcons have their training camp, was obviously a > Shawnee > town when the white settlers arrived in the 1830s. > > The State of Tennessee has documented the presence of ethnic Yuchi hamlets > in the rugged Cohutta mountains of Polk County, TN and Fannin County, GA > as > late as 1911. However, by the mid-20th century these families had > seemingly > disappeared, and most locals today do not even know what a Yuchi is. > > However, POOF! All the Shawnee towns and most of the Yuchi towns > disappeared once the main body of Alabama Creeks were deported to > Oklahoma. The > "Friendly" Hitchiti Creeks of Georgia also seemed to disappear from > history. Yes, > there are still Yuchi communities in Oklahoma and the Florida Panhandle, > but > not nearly approaching the number of Yuchi communities scattered around > the > Southeast in the 1700s and early 1800s. > > So, did the ethnic Shawnee and Yuchi just melt into the woods and > intermarry with European and African neighbors? Did they cease calling > themselves > anything but Creek? Did they move to another part of the country? Did > they > merge with the Creeks, Cherokees and Choctaws in Oklahoma and lose their > ethnic > identity? > > So do any of you have ancestors, who were known to be Shawnee or Yuchi, > but > intermarried into Creek families and thus became known as Muscogee-Creeks > in > Oklahoma? > > > Inquiring minds want to know! > > > PS - After a month I have not received a response from Moccasin Bend > National Park about us camping there this Fall, so I guess the answer is > no. We > will look elsewhere. > > Richard T. > > > > > > **************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your > travel > deal here. > (http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >