I'm still trying to learn more about the parentage of Fereby Benton/Looney (not sure what her actual last name was). Having gone over the Rootsweb search engine for postings on Fereby over the past 3 years. I thought I'd post what I've found and try to make sense of it. First, here is what most family researchers consider "settled" regarding Fereby. She was born sometime between 1745 and 1750 in North Carolina. the 1850 Madison County Mortality schedule lists her as being 105. She died in May, 1850 in Madison County, Arkansas. Some have said she was born in 1850, I however favor what the records say. Around 1772, she married William Vaughan in Sweetens cove, Tennessee. In 1773 their son Thomas Vaughan was born in the town of Cherokee, in land that was part of the Cherokee Nation (now Swain County)in North Carolina. Other children include William, John, Samuel, David, Daniel, Martha and Elizabeth. There is some connection to Ayres Vaughan, but if his year of birth is correct, he could not be the son of William and Fereby. I won't touch on that now. William was in Capt. David Looney's company in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, serving with Daniel Boone. William and Fereby had no children during the years that the Revolutionary War was going on. They lived in Hawkins County, TN, then moved west, with brief stays in NE Missouri. By 1821 they were in Crawford County, Arkansas, near short Mountain Creek, living across from a large Cherokee Village until 1826, when they were forced to move. They lived in Evansville in Washington County, AR and moved to Cane Hill in Washington County in 1826, then to Tuttle Settlement on Richland in 1828. This information is from "Vaughans in Wales and America" by James Vaughan. They ended up in Washington, Madison and Carroll Counties in Northwest Arkansas, and there they stayed. My Great x 3 Grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Vaughan lived with William and Fereby -his grandparents- for some years, and on October 27th, 1892 made a sworn deposition in a case that a relative had brought before the Cherokee Nation in OK. In this deposition, Ben, a former State Representative and 3 time Sheriff of Madison County, states that he knew that his Grandmother Fereby was commonly thought of as a Cherokee Indian by Blood. He wrote, " I also became acquainted with a Cherokee Indian in my boyhood who was in the habit of visiting my Grandparents and who claimed to be a cousin of my Grandmother. The Indian's name-Looney Tol-lem-Tees-Key, and was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. (And further) That I was a grown up man at the time I knew him. That I have often heard the Roggers (sic) (John and James) say that the Vaughans should have a right in the Cherokee Nation and old Capt. John Roggers wanted the deponent to remain in the Cherokee Nation while the deponent was there, for the reason that the Vaughans were descendants of the Cherokee Indians by blood." Ben further said that Fereby's maiden name was Benton and that her mother's maiden name was Looney and she was the side the Cherokee came from. William Vaughan died about 1838 in (probably) Madison County, Arkansas. He is said to have been buried in Clifty Cemetery, but had no tombstone, and nobody knows where he was laid to rest. That is what is "fact" on Fereby Benton/Looney. Now here is the family "stories", none of them proven. 1.) Fereby was the daughter of a Cherokee sub-chief and was 100%, 50%, 25%, ect Cherokee Indian. 2.) Fereby was the daughter or granddaughter of a Raincrow, a Cherokee. Or she was the niece of Chief Doublehead and there was a court case which "proved" it in Washington or Madison Counties. Or she was cousins to chief John Jolly and Chief Tahlonteeskee (born about 1776) 3.) Fereby was the daughter of a Malinda or Martha Looney and a James or Jesse Benton(born 1724 in NC). Malinda/Martha's father was John Looney, born about 1700 in Bradley County, TN, who was 3/4ths Cherokee. 4.) Fereby was somehow related to Capt. David Looney (1738-1810) whom her husband served under in Lord Dunmore's War. This would make her a descendant of the Robert Looney line. 5.) Fereby's mother wasn't a Looney as two of her grandsons swore in court, but her maiden name was Benton, which Fereby took in Cherokee fashion. Her father was an unknown Looney. 6.) Fereby was not Cherokee at all, but her family and the Vaughans lived with and near the Cherokees and tried to pass themselves off as members of the tribe, especially since the early 1900s. That is pretty much where all of us descendants stand today on Fereby research. Here is what I've pieced together. I feel it is safe to assume that Fereby was indeed born in 1745. Her children's ages would match well, although her daughter Elizabeth, born 1790 would have made Fereby about 45 years old at the time of the birth. Still possible, but at the very edge of the childbearing years in the 1700s. If Fereby was born in 1745, her mother would have had to have been born no earlier then 1700. Fereby's mother would have been born no later then 1730 (making her 15 at the time of Fereby's birth). So the range of years for the birth of Fereby's mom is 1700-1730. A safe assumption is that her mother was born between 1705-1725. We can't track her father's birth years the same way, as men sometimes sired children into their 70s. So to find Fereby's mother, we need to locate a Looney or Benton with a birth date of 1700-1730. Most of the children of Robert and Elizabeth Looney (who Capt. David descends from) are known. It's a large, well-researched family, and none of their children married Bentons. Capt. David Looney was born in 1738 and would be too young to be Fereby's father. He did have a daughter named Elizabeth who married a John Vaughn (no "A" in the name) sometime before 1801. Although this Looney family lived in Sullivan County, TN., I don't think David is Fereby's father. Could he be her brother? Well, Robert and Elizabeth Looney had a son, Joseph, in 1740. Most Looney researchers say Elizabeth was born in 1700, so she could have had Fereby at age 45, but there is no record of it, and I doubt it. My theory on the Looney side is that Fereby was the granddaughter of a brother of Robert Looney. I suspect that her mother was indeed named Malinda or Martha. Malinda's father may not have been Robert's brother but a Cherokee that took the last name Looney out of respect for the Looney family living near by. The John Looney that was 75% Cherokee could indeed be Martha's father, and Cherokee records would have to be consulted from the 1700 time frame, and even if there was a record, he'd probably be listed by his Indian name. The James or Jesse Benton stories as the father of Fereby have been impossible to track. Some have claimed that Jesse Benton lived in the "Southside Virginia" area and later in Sullivan County, TN. There is one interesting possibility. In "Abstracts of the Wills of Edgecombe County, NC 1733-1856" on page 37, there is the following will, which I will reproduce in part: BENTON, Charity April 5, 1818 August Court. 1818 book E page 22. Son and Exr: James Benton 1/3rd of estate. Daughter: Pherabe (SOUND IT OUT Pherabe and FAIR-A-BE), 20S already provided for. Other children: Allen Knight, Elizabeth C. Benton, Polly Corbin, Sally, Kindred Knight (deceased), John C. Knight (deceased), Elizabeth Nicholson (deceased). Now, if Pherabe and Fereby are the same person, Fereby would have to have been 63 years old when Charity died. The interesting thing is, three of Charity's kids are listed as deceased. As if their Mom was very old and had out-lived them. If Charity was 83 years old, then it would work easily. The thing is, after Pherabe is the "20S". Does that mean that she was 20 and single or mean that she received 20 shillings or something else. This is where I plan to aim my research next. Also not that Charity's oldest son was named James. Usually the oldest son was named after his father, and if that was so, then we have a James Benton who had a daughter named Pherabe. Regarding the Rain Crow links; I know that the Looneys had some neighbors with the last name of Crow living near them in Virginia. From what I can tell, they weren't Indians and none were named Rain. David Looney had dealings with them. Doublehead and John Jolly are famous Cherokees, and there is no indication that Fereby was related to them. I have no documentation on that, but she still could have been. Tol-lem-Tees-Key is a white person's attempt to phonically spell out Tahlonteeskee. The word means "Woodcuck Catcher". Fereby was a Tom-lem-Tees-Key's cousin. There is no indication that this means that the same man as Tahlonteeskee, who was a chief and John Jolly's brother. The Cherokee name was popular. John Jolly and Tahlonteeskee's father was Robert Due, and if Fereby was his cousin, that would mean that one of Robert Due's siblings was either Fereby's mother or father. Both chiefs came to Arkansas, part of the Old Settler group, and William and Fereby lived nearby and probably knew them. But that doesn't mean that Fereby was a cousin. Sadly, Cherokee records are scant and proving this would be nearly impossible. So in summary, I suspect that Fereby was the daughter of a Malinda Looney and a Jesse or James Benton. She may be the same as the Pherebe listed in Charity Benton's will. I suspect that her mother (whatever her name actually was) was part Cherokee, but her father was white. The stories told by Fereby to her children stayed in their minds and were enlarged by the 1800s to make her the daughter of a chief and related to the most famous chiefs. I suspect that Fereby's Looney grandfather was either a brother to Robert Looney or else an Indian that knew Robert that took the Looney name as his "white" name. I would love any comments on this research, any suggestions or "proof" that any of you might have. Eddie Davis [email protected]