Following the research of cousin Laura Simmons Little Hawes
The daughter of Lucius Powhatan Little and Louise Addison Holloway.
Her father must have shared many family stories with her. He was a Kentucky lawyer, judge, writer, and genealogist, born in 1838 while his father was born in Kentucky 1809. She continued his work in seeking the Indian Princess they talked about.
They believed that Pocahontas had a sister named Cleopatra and we are connected to the great Chief Powhatan which is something that no one will ever be able to prove, yet Laura managed to trace many of the ancestors to 1600s Henrico County Virginia.
While researching this family on the internet I received an email from her granddaughter, followed by a package of copied documents she had once shared with my daddy's cousin Dorline, thus putting me in touch with a new family researcher seeking the same answers.
Laura's grandmother was Martha Ann Wright born in Charlotte Virginia about 1815 to parents Catherine G. Weatherford and John C Wright who had married in Charlotte in 1811. The marriage record in the Virginia documents states that Benoni Smith was the surety of this marriage and that Catherine was the child of Charles Weatherford.
Charles was the son of Martin Weatherford and Mary Half Blood
So did grandpa Charles also marry an indian? He is not found in Charlotte on the 1810 census but there is a "Patsy" Weatherford there with three daughters and nearby is a younger Charles who could have been her son - however history tells us that Charles Weatherford and Sehoy lived in separate dwellings in Alabama.
We do not know anything about this Patsy Weatherford.
Back to Catherine - her middle initial was a G - was that for Georgia? Was her father in Georgia with his Dad, Martin, who was banned from the state of GA?We find girls named Georgia later in this lineage,
Her husband John C Wright is shown by Laura to be the son of Thomas Wright and "Ester" who thus far are impossible to trace, but Laura's father might have given her this information.
Researching census records I find John and Catherine Wright living with her daughter and son in law in the 1850 Kentucky census: Mary Elizabeth and Andrew Waltrip. In 1860 they are found in the household of another daughter Martha Ann Wright Little and her husband Douglass but they have also taken in the Waltrip children indicating Mary Elizabeth has passed away.
Knowing that two of Martha's children died of tuberculosis, we might assume it also struck the Waltrip household.
Martha Ann's other sister, Nancy Catherine has also passed away because her children are also living in this household in 1860.
Nancy Catherine had married her sister's brother in law, Hiram Lucius Little and had a son named John Wright Little in 1843. John claimed to be Cherokee, served in the Civil War, Kentucky Infantry under General Sherman, and he was a blacksmith. John told his children they were Cherokee and the story has been passed on.John was residing in 1870 with another blacksmith, Abraham Crigler, and then married his daughter Catherine Crigler who wore her hair in long braids. Catherine's mother was Catherine Roby, a daughter of Catherine Simmons and Reason Roby. Reason's mother was only known as "Catherine" and family suspects she was also a native american.
Dear cousin Laura had done extensive research on her family and had a memorial erected in Owensboro KY to her great grandfather for his service in the War for Independence, leaving newspaper articles for her granddaughter Martha. When Martha sent copies of these documents to me, and I realized there was a new cousin Dorline also researching our line, I tried to phone her, but her husband told me that Dorline had passed away but had a sister named Verna who might help me and then I called her. Verna was a beautiful dark complected delightful lady who was so excited to hear from me, saying she remembered my father at the family gatherings and also sent me pictures of him as a child.
Verna also mailed a package of information to help me along with the genealogy. She said that her sister Dorline had been a member of a Pocahontas Club. Verna said they were indian blood
Verna and Dorline's mother Amy was the sister of my dad's mother Luella. Amy had married Joseph Gray and his mother was a Wright.
I have not found a connection of this Wright to the above mentioned Wrights but it is unknown how many siblings our John C Wright had, nor how many children he had. There is speculation that Miss Wright's father was a son of John and some say they refused land allotment in Indian Territory.
My family believes that John Wright Little also refused a land allotment when he chose to leave Kentucky for Arkansas in 1900 where his daughter Lattie married and had Amy and Luella.
We have not yet found any correspondence between Lattie and Laura but surely they must have kept in touch, as they were very close in age.
My dad's sisters are about 90 now and have worked on this for many years collecting many documents and records and I shall continue the work. 11/1/2007
Here are some of my favorite websites:
Letter to Laura Little Hawes in reply to her Indian Blood Inquiry (http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~brooksgenealogy/IndianPrincess)
Followup from her granddaughter Martha to Dorline and to Me
Home (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brooksgenealogy)