---------- > Hi Ron, thanks for the correction. When will we get through wading in this mire > of misinformation? My data says that James Rainwater b. 1791 was born in > Cherokee Co., NC, rather than Richmond. Also, the stories Eli's granddaughter > told in the Rainwater Researcher indicate that Katie McCall was b. in Ireland, > not North Carolina. Here is a quote: "...I will take up James, the great > granddaddy of us all. James Rainwater, born 1791, oldest son of William and > Granny Cherokee, married Katy McCall, born 1795 in Ireland. Her parents were > Scotch-Irish. She was 7 when they came to the U.S. Where they landed, I do > not know, or why they came. They must have landed somewhere in the Carolinas > as they made their way across country to around Cherokee. James and Katy were > married (according to some records) in May 1809 in Rockingham, Richmond, NC. > If this be true, she certainly was a child bride. She always said she was 13 > years old wen her first child was born. The baby was Eli, my grandfather, born Nov > 1811. My father remembered Katy and spent much time with her when he was > small. She lived real close to his father, Eli, and was always alone. He > always regretted that he didn't learn more about our people from her but he > was too young to be interested. I too, regret that I didn't ask him more > about things he probably could have told me. The thing that impressed her > most was the ship and the sea and it being so rough. Guess she was scared. > ...it would be interesting to know why they moved on to Sandy Ridge, TN. We > do know that the Indians (Cherokee) had lived at one time all along the French > Broad River, which is now Douglas Lake, and in the Smoky Mtns. Long after > they had left the French Broad country and were making their homes in the > mountains, they would come back during the summer and fish, make baskets and > hunt along the river. Each year fewer and fewer would come, until they > finally quit. Daddy recalled when he was real small and at his Granny's house > (Granny Cherokee, William's wife and Katy's mother-in-law) some Indians > stopped at her home and talked with her and that he couldn't understand them. > She could talk to them and he said it all sounded like grunting to him, and he > was afraid of them. She told him they were from over on Lufty Ceek. This is > what she called the big creek that runs thru the Indian town now known as > Cherokee., NC and that she was talking to them about "our folk" and that they > would not hurt him." > This all sounds pretty authentic to me. Family histories tell a lot. > Annie