peaches@strato.net wrote: does anyone know of any resources available on "indian traders/agents" located in south carolina and/or georgia prior to 1870?? family rumor has it that an ancestor was an "indian agent" & supposedly married a cherokee woman... would be hugely appreciative of any suggestions... thanks!!! FROM MY GENIE NOTES, which may only be confusing. Sherry There is controversy regarding whether Lavinia Downs was white, Indian, or part Indian. She married Col. Benjamin Hawkins, Indian Agent. As for being the "Queen of Tuckabatchee" , I personally believe that is a legend, among legends, and made for great reading in the book "True Women" by Janice Woods Windle. THE RUMOR......................................................................................... http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~markfreeman/downs.html The URL is for Mark Freeman, researcher who states: 1. "Lavinia Downs is thought by many family members to be of the Ocmulgee Creek Nation, and they insist she was first the wife of Chief Long Side of Tuckabatchie (Tookautchee). He was killed in a raid, and she was widowed with a young son, Silas. Her son Silas is said to have been born in 1792 which conflicts with Lavinia's reported birth date of 10 May 1781. Later info suggests that she was NOT the wife of Chief Long Side, nor was she the mother of Silas Downs." 2. "There is evidence in the Moravian Diaries that Lavinia indicated she was white. Suspicion that she was Creek has been voiced since shortly after her death, including comments such as "there is no truth to the rumor that she was an Indian." 3. "But her medicine cape (prayer shawl) of calf skin and beads, and definitely of Creek origin, has been handed down to the women descendants of her family and has been shown at family reunions. Was this a family heirloom or a gift from a friend?" http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/crkchf3.html "General William McIntosh, Creek Chief, born at Coweta, Creek nation, probably about 1775, who was the son of Captain William McIntosh, of the British army, and a full blood Creek woman. "He had two wives, named Peggy and Susannah, one of whom was a Creek, the other a Cherokee, but in the lack of records, it cannot be decided to which nationality each one respectively belonged. His Creek children were two sons, Chilly, who succeeded him in the chieftainship, and Lewis, and three daughters, Jane, Hetty, and Lucy. Jane was the oldest daughter. She first married Billy Mitchell, a son of the Creek agent David B. Mitchell; she next married Sam Hawkins, whose death has already been noted. She then married Paddy Carr, but left him and went to Arkansas Territory at an early day. General McIntosh HAD ONLY ONE CHEROKEE CHILD, A DAUGHTER, WHO MARRIED BEN HAWKINS, a brother of Sam. Ben was killed years afterwards in Texas." "William McIntosh: A Lower Creek Chief born at Coweta in the present Russell County; massacred at his home in Carroll County, Georgia March 31, 1825." http://www.pentimento.com/ga1a.htm An astute businessman, McIntosh (educated in Savannah) amassed considerable wealth. His plantation in Carroll County was the home of 40 slaves, many head of cattle, and sheep, as well as much land under cultivation. McIntosh was married three times: to Susanna Coe (a Creek woman), Peggy (a Cherokee), and Eliza. Each lived in her own home on a nearby plantation. MY NOTES: After reading Freeman's, very helpful, research, and others, and then doing some research of my own, it seems apparent, to me, the "rumor did begin after Lavinia's death" in 1828, and is based on coincidence and similarities to Gen Wm McIntosh, Creek Chief. In response to: 1. Dates contradict content, as stated. 2. Rumor "DID" start after Lavinia's death in 1828. 3. Lavinia and Benjamin lived among the Indians, he was the Indian Agent, it's easy to accept that the shawl was a gift, then handed down through generations. Synopsis: Lavinia Downs married Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, lived among the Indians for many years, and gave several of their children Indian names, one was named Cherokee. William McIntosh had a Cherokee daughter who married a white man named Ben Hawkins, though not to be confused with Col. Benjamin Hawkins. It's easy for me to understand how "the rumor" got started, how people "assumed" that Lavinia and her children had Indian blood, and living among the Indians, learned many of their habits and traditions, teaching them to be more tolerant and at ease among the tribes, and how the rumor and the prejudice snowballed in later generations, but "kept the secret alive"......... Note of interest regarding Chief McIntosh: His father, William McIntosh, received 14 English Crown Grants in St Andrew Parish (Liberty Co) in Georgia 1755-1775, totally 2,494 acres of land. The other members of his family; Angus, Anne, Donald, George, John, Lachlan, and Roderick received 49 English Crown Grants totally 15,218 acres.