>Indian Agent Gen. Joseph Martin had 2 Anglo and 3 or more Cherokee wives >at one time or another. Polygamy was allowed but not common in the >Cherokee Nation. Some Anglo women would overlook the husband's Indian >wife as it guaranteed her and her family's safety from Indian attack and >they were not in the same community at the same time. I could not let this one pass me by....maybe the wives kept quite cause women had so little to say about what their husbands did. If a man wanted to beat his wife, in many places that was his right. If he wanted a mistress, that was his right. Often the "law" on things such as this was the woman's own male relatives. I have heard stories about one family, the wife was beaten by her husband who did a lot of drinking and gambling....the woman's male relatives got a hold of the husband and worked him over, put him in a wagon (guess he was unable to walk) and threw him out at the county line and said he was a dead man if they ever saw him in their county again. They must have thought it was better than going to court for a divorce..... That is probably why it was so important who your mother's family was.....kind of like in Scotland. When you were in trouble, you could depend on your whole family - both sides - helping you out. Orphan children were often raised by grandparents or aunts and uncles from the mother's side. Maybe why so often the mother's maiden name, or even the grandmothers were used as middle names for sons - or even first names. I have found strange first or middle names as a clue to female line. I am still working on one named either Garman or Jarman born 1820s in Tennessee. Looking at the area the family was living then, I find both a Jarman and a Garman family....and even a Germany one. Old census records on this man, it is something different ever time so that is why I am not sure what it really was. Anyway, women often kept their mouths shut (yes it is possible) regarding what their husbands did. How many women do you think were real happy about packing up and moving off to the wilderness? Having babies while moving from place to place, being left at home so much while the husbands ran around saving the world? Not much is said about the women, and yet they were the ones who made the homes, kept the children, often educated the children....their lives were centered around not exploration but perserving the future generation. I have found in my research that the family which had an educated mother, did much better each generation. So much of how the family progressed depended on if the mother lived, and if she had some education. If she could read and write, the next generation seemed to leap ahead. If she died when the children were young, it was much harder on them. I love the stories about the pioneer women - anyone got one? My favorite I think is the one about Sevier's second wife....Bonny Kate. I know Charles can tell that one. Mary