With half of us on this wonderful list being from a BELL line, I'm passing this on from another list, with permission. Very interesting and has BELL names. Reply to Mdeanhunt@aol.com Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 11:19:17 EST From: Mdeanhunt@aol.com Hello Friends, I have been told a MOST AMAZING story by my brother; one that I had never heard before. He told me that, in a conversation with our father, Dad related that he had been told several times by his mother ( Rachel Hiram Hedgespeth Hunt) and his grandmother (Rebecca Jane Bell Hedgespeth) that Morning Star Oakes (who was Rebecca Jane's mother) was full blood Cherokee, and not the natural child of John D. Oakes. The story goes that Morning Star, as a very small child, and her natural mother escaped during the forced relocation from the ancestral lands in what was known as The Trail of Tears. The half-starved mother and her child were befriended and given aid by John D. Oakes, a Separate Baptist minister, and his wife. The story continues; the mother died shortly after, maybe months, maybe a year or so, and the little orphan Morning Star is reared by the minister and wife and allowed to use the OAKES name, the real name not known or forgotten. Morning Star OAKES is my paternal great-grandmother! All my life I have been told that along with my English, Scottish and (recently found) Swiss blood, I was also one-eighth Cherokee! I had always thought that it was a different ancestor and have spent much time chasing the wrong rabbit. In the interest of keeping this brief, I will send another e-mail giving some specifics regarding this line. PLEASE! If there is anyone on these lists that has ANY information supporting the facts of this story, please respond to me. If there are ANY other descendant of Morning Star OAKES and John B. BELL on these lists, please respond to me. I have already proved that the part of the story about the escape from The Trail of Tears is not true. Morning Star was born about 1812 (census says in KY), and The Trail of Tears took place in 1838-1839. By this time she was already married to John B. BELL (1835). Waiting anxiously, M. Dean Hunt Louisville, KY