Looking for data on my great great grandmother.her name was Sharlote Williams Hale. The family history says she was Cherokee and walked 800 miles behind the wagon to Booneville In. And married James Hale , who was killed in the Civil War.
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An 1858 Marriage record and the 1860 Census confirms that this couple was in Indiana at that time period. However, after James was killed, Charlotte married a man named Wilkinson, about 1870. She is found in subsequent records with that surname. She is buried here:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=47587611&PIpi=72877958
Her death certificate gives her parents’ names as Wesley Williams and Hariet Northam..This was actually Charles Westly Williams and Harriet Northam, married in Sumner County, Tennessee in 1830.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~we3sumneritesjblcsf/mrg_will.htm
Here is some very detailed information for this family:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~providence/scr_elinorth.htm
Charlotte shows up with her parents and siblings on the 1850 Census, living in Sumner County, Tennessee. In the 1840 Census, the family is listed as Chas. W. Williams (Charles Westly) although at that time, the enumerations only listed head of household and a tally of family members by age range. This couple is found in the 1870 Census living in Warrick County, Indiana. Their places of birth are both listed as Kentucky.
The research included in the link above traces the Northam line specifically, but it does mention that Charles Westly Williams was born in 1809.
It is quite clear that the Williams and Northam families moved into north central Tennessee as settlers that came in via a Kentucky route. Then they moved into Warrick County, Indiana, sometime in the 1850s.
There is no indication that this family has any connection to the Cherokee people. The story that Charlotte walked on the Trial of Tears to Booneville, Indiana, is absolutely inaccurate. The last group of Cherokees on the actual Trail of Tears arrived in Indian Territory in March, 1839. Charlotte was born in northern Tennessee at the end of that year. And she is shown living in northern Tennessee up until the 1840s. Her family had no association with a Cherokee community or the removal process. They owned property and were part of White society.
Here is the household listed in the 1850 Census (Sumner, TN):
Westly Williams 40
Harriet Williams 35
Elizabeth Williams 15
Mary Williams 14
Charlotte Williams 12
Malvina Williams 9
John Williams 7
Eli Williams 5
Thank you for your research . The family oral history says they had money and adopted white names and clothing .
Again that you very much for your time and trouble. Funny how family stories get twisted up.
Barry Bateman