| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. The following site shows all the children of Major Ridge specifically listing Nancy married to William "Ritchey" <http://www.cville.com/members/ridenour/MRComplt.htm>:
"An Indian boy was born between 1765 and 1771 in the Cherokee village of Hiwassee, Tennessee. His parents died when he was young. He had a brother named David Oo-Watie, which means "The Ancient One." Their father's name was Oganotota. Ridge had a sister and three other brothers. No one knows the names of the other brothers or sister but one of the brothers may have been Soodohlee (Sudale). However, they died young.
Ah-Tah-Kon-Stis-Kee (other spellings include Ah-Tah-Con-Sti-Sky and Ah-Tah-Cun-Sti-Ske), last hereditary chief of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles), adopted this young Indian. The young Indian was named Ca-Nun-Tah-Cla-Kee (other spellings include Ca-Nun-Ta-Cla-Gee and Ka-Nun-Tah-Kla-Gee), meaning "The Lion Who Walks On The Mountain Top." The white man shortened his name to Ridge. Andrew Jackson gave him the name Major because he led a force of Cherokees in the Battle of the Horseshoe against the Creeks. Cherokees had previously used no surnames. Other Indians called him Nung-Noh-Tah-Hee, meaning "He Who Slays The Enemy In His Path." Major Ridge was a friend of Congressman Sam Houston of Tennessee. Major Ridge's portrait is in the archives at the Smithsonian (Museum of American History-Major Ridge geo. region 3008 4050 302 ID 3008 210 7159) along with John Ridge's.
Major Ridge married Ah-Tah-Kon-Stis-Kee's daughter Sehoya. Her christened name was Susannah "Susie" Catherine Wickett (1775 - 9/1849). Ah-Tah-Kon-Stis-Kee was Major Ridge's foster father and father-in-law. They married about 1792. Major Ridge and Susie's children were:
Nancy Ridge - died age 16 during childbirth ca. 1818 - married William Ritchey
John Ridge (Skah-tle-loh-skee) - born 1802 Rome, GA - died 6/22/1839 - married Sarah Bird Northrup.
Unknown baby - died at birth
Walter S. Ridge "Watty" - born 1806 - died 1851 - married Elizabeth. Watty was "slow and weak in the mind."
Sarah Ridge - born 1814, near present Rome, Georgia. Sarah's Indian name was "Sollee," pronounced "Sallie."
2. Contacted the Vann House Historic Site in Chatsworth, Georgia through their website www.alltel.net/~vannhouse for info on Nancy. Julia's email 23 Apr 2003 indicated they only know what is in Thurmond Wilken's book "Cherokee Tragedy." There isn't much since she died so young. The Vann House is the site of the Spring Place School. They also indicate that the Moravians who ran the school do not go into much detail about her. Nancy did not continue her education at Salem like her sister Sarah (aka Sallie). On 26 Apr 2003 I did ask if they had the "Springplace diary" refered to in the next comment below. They responded: "I talked to Dr. Rowena McClinton last week and Dr. Theda Perdue has finished with the editing of Rowena's translations of the Springplace Moravian Mission diaries. It's at U. of Neb. press as we speak. That's more my style, firsthand accounts! Look for it to be out before the end of the year. As Nancy, John, and Sallie went to school there it should have much more information about them and their personalities."
3. Contacted "Chieftain's House" in Rome, Georgia, where the home of Major Ridge has been made into a national historic park. I shared my Richey information with them. Part of the 25 Apr 2003 email from their director Carey L. Tilley at : "We have very little information on Nancy Ridge. This is the first I have heard about her marriage to Richie. Please let me know where you found that. It could be very significant to the story that we tell here. The accounts I have read (which may not be accurate) have said that she was married to a Cherokee. As far as a secondary source - Thurman Wilkins "Cherokee Tragedy" is a great start. The best primary source on the Ridge children is the "Springplace Diary." I still haven't had a chance to research the information in detail. I think it is available in the Moravian archives in Winston-Salem, NC. They are supposed to be published soon. I believe that a copy is on file at either the "Chief Vann House" or "New Echota" State Historic Sites. Also Dr. Alice Taylor-Colbert at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia has researched the Ridge Family and may be able to help you. I believe that she has access to the American Missionary Board records. Please pass along whatever information that you find. We would love to be able to better interpret the lives of the Ridge family. By the way - a man named "Richie" wrote a history of Rabun County, Georgia (maybe in the 1930's?) -and apparently his ancestors were early settlers of the area (extreme NE Georgia). Do you think there could be a connection between this family and the Ridge's? (For what its worth, there are people that claim to have seen the "apparition" of a young woman in the Ridge Home and they speculate that it is Nancy - I have seen nothing in my two years here, but I guess every historic house has to have its "ghosts")."
4. Reviewed Rootsweb.com Worldconnect 26 Apr 2003.
5. Contacted the Oklahoma Historical Society 7 May 2003 which is a major repository of Cherokee Indian records. They report some references to her father and her attendance at some schools. No further mention of her nor anything on William Richey.
6. Contacted Drs. Rowena McClintock and Theda Perdue 24 May 2003 via email. They were recommended by the Vann House as editors of the Spring Place School Diaries soon to be published. Both are experts and authors of several books on Cherokees in the Southeast and Cherokee women in particular. Both responded 26 May 2003 without much help; Rowena indicated the diaries will be published next year by the Univ. of Nebraska Press and Theda indicated she did not know anything on the subject.
7. Name variant may be Nannie.
BIOGRAPHY:
1. William Richey Letter to President Brigham Young - Feb 1, 1852. Source: LDS Archives [Film CR 1234 1, Reel 32, box 22, folder 18]. At the time of this letter, William's second wife Margaret Ann Adair was still alive when this was written, but she died 10 Feb 1852. Then William was called on a mission to the Cherokee in 1855, and spent 5 years there.
"Payson, U.T. Feb. 1, 1852
President Brigham Young
Sir, I have taken my pen in hand to write some of my feels or rather a narrative of my life. I was born in the State of South Carolina. When I was twenty years old my mind was stirred up to go west; after some previous meditations, I prepared myself to go to the state of Tennessee where I found my cousin, John McNary.. He was married to a half-breed Cherokee Indian. He lived across the Tennessee River, opposite the white settlement. I was very much disgusted to hear my cousin was married to an Indian; however I determined to make him a visit; when I got there, and saw a beautiful woman, possessed of a good education and honest and virtuous principles, and both of them belonged to the Methodist Church, and walking up to the best light that was in the world and when I saw the moral influence they held over the Cherokee Indians, my prejudices were all gone, although I had been raised among the old school Presbyterians, embraced the same principles of religion.
I lived with them about seven months and enjoyed myself first rate. During the time I lived there, Captain Riley stopped there. He was authorized to recommend industrious young men of good moral character, to a missionary establishment, that was organized in the nation. Capt. Riley gave me a letter of recommendation to the Authorities of that Society.
I took my leave of my cousin and started for the missionaries. When I got there I was gladly received by all the authorities of the place. When I learned they preached [Page 2] to the Indians every Sabbath day, when Sunday came I was astonished to see a large house crowded with half-breeds, quateroons, young men and women with fair skin and handsome features, dressed in good apparel, and kept good order. The noble men of the Nation kept bringing their sons and daughters to join the school. When Major Ridge, one of the head chiefs of the nation, came with his son and daughter to join the school, as soon as I saw her beautiful appearance, my mind was impressed to form an intimate acquaintance with her, which embraced every opportunity of being in her company. I found she had a good education, for she had been going to school, ever since she was seven years old, and she was eighteen.
After awhile I told her I was attached to her from the first time I ever saw her, and by investigation I found she had the same impression of mind. She then wrote a letter to her father recommending me to her father and requested him to send for her and me tot come to his house, which done. After I had been there about two months, we was married, which had to be done by mutual consent of her father and mother. When I asked her father for his daughter, I told him I was but a poor young man, but I had always cultivated honest and honorable principles, to which he replied, he had a plenty of prosperity for his daughter; all he wanted, was his daughter to marry a man with good principles and moral character. We was married and lived together in peace and harmony, for eleven months, when she was confined in child-bed. About two hours after she delivered of a fine daughter [Page 3] she died. The child lived six months and four days, and it died. I shall not try to tell my feelings at that time, as I loved her better than any woman I ever saw before, or since. I then concluded to go to Tennessee to see my people, expecting to return at some future period. It was not long till I was married to the wife I now have, and have been absent from them about thirty-five years. I am now come to the items, I wanted to inform you most particularly about.
When Brother Clapp preached the everlasting Gospel to me, when he preached on the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, and showing the promises and blessings of the ancient fathers and the Lamanites being the literal descendants of Jacob. My mind was struck with astonishment to see and hear the field of light and knowledge, that was brought forth by the Book of Mormon. This was the strongest testimony I had of the truth, before I was baptized for the remission of my sins. After I was baptized for the remission of my sins, I received a testimony by the revelation of Jesus Christ, that the Book of Mormon was true, and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I had a testimony by the same spirit to come to Nauvoo. I had a testimony by the same spirit to come to the valleys of the mountains. About three years ago I was traveling to collect means to make a fit out for the valley. I stopped at my brother-in-law's, living in the south west corner of Missouri.
I heard that the Cherokee nation was about twenty-five miles from there. It struck my mind, how glad I should be to go and preach the Gospel to them, if the time had come; however, I concluded to go and see some of them, which I [Page 4] did. I went to John Weighty's, a cousin of my wife, that was dead. Having been absent thirty-five years, at first he did not know me, until I told him who I was. He gladly received me into his house, which gave me great consultation, when I found that my moral influence was the same as it had been when I lived with them. As I was not sent to preach the Gospel to them, at last I concluded to make inquiry if they knew anything about a people called Mormons.
They said they had heard a great deal said against the Mormons, and he had seen some few of them, and had read a little in the Book of Mormon. I then told him that I was a Mormon. There being about five or six young men present, which raised a spirit of enquiry. I sat down by the fire and gave them a few items on the first principles of the Gospel, telling them that the time was close at hand when the Gospel would be sent to them.
They rejoiced in what I told them, and said, if that was Mormonism, they were always Mormons. The winter was cold and I went no further. They are a wealthy people, and the sects have pushed their conquest among them to preach for hire, and divine for money, that have got in confusion. They have churches of many denominations among them.
I add no more, but remain your humble servant,
William Richey."
2. The book "History of Sanpete [Utah] County," 1898, pp. 176, 177: "Richey, William B., of Manti, son of William B. and Margaret A. (Adair), born in Knox, Yuba County, Miss., May 17, 1840. His father was a planter but not a believer in slavery. He joined the Mormon church and moved to Nauvoo in 1846. He was engaged in missionary work many years in Mississippi and to the Cherokee nation in Florida, learned their language, married Nancy Ridge, the chief's daughter, and became a member of the nation. About a year later his wife died and he returned to Mississippi and married the mother of our subject. The family came to Utah in 1848 and in the fall of 1849 they came with the first company to Manti and passed through all the hardships and privations of those early days. The mother died in Manti in 1852 and the father in 1878 in Parowan. When William B. grew up he engaged in freighting to the mining camps in Nevada fifteen years. After the railroads were built he engaged in farming and now has a nice farm, also a comfortable stone residence, one of the first built after moving out of the fort. In both the Indian wars, he took his part. In 1862 he went to California, and in the employ of the Government shipped on board the Senator in charge of 200 mules. He started in the spring of 1863 with the California volunteers for Texas, but his sympathies being with the South, he was discharged at Fort Yuma and returned to Utah. He married August 26, 1868, Johanne, daughter of Rasmus and Magdalene Hougaard. Their children are Johanne J., John B., Benjamin and Margaret A., Mary M. and Emily deceased. Mr. Richey is a highly respected citizen, Democrat, member of Board of Supervisors and county jailer."
Kerry's notes on the above:
a. Yuba County does not exist and should be Noxubee County which is consistent with other Richey histories. I believe Florida in above citation is probably an error for north Georgia after reading the sources below on Nancy's father Major Ridge.
b. There is a Mormon temple marriage sealing recorded between Nancy Ridge and William Richey that occurred 24 Jan 1846 in the Nauvoo Temple with Margaret Adair acting as the proxy for the deceased Nancy. This confirms the marriage.
c. Nancy's father, Major Ridge, was very famous in the Cherokee history of Northern Georgia. He was a major chief, friends with Pres. Andrew Jackson, and is largely responsible for the events that let up to the infamous Cherokee Trail of Tears that led to the betrayal and death or him and his son John Ridge. His residence is now part of National Park Service. Click for more on him on this site <http://roadsidegeorgia.com/int/1456> Click on also "Chieftain's History" for his story. It is an amazing and fascinating read. Notice on this same site the map of Adairsville and that Major Ridge homesteaded in Adairsville, Georgia before relocating to Rome, Georgia - is this more than coincidence? It was Major Ridge who allowed missionary work to his people which evidently led to William Richey's presence there and eventual marriage to his daughter. For another website with a picture of Major, go to <http://ngeorgia.com/people/ridge.html>. This latter site does not name the oldest child but does mention the following: "Ridge turns his attention to his family as Vann and Hicks lead the fights in council. Susanna gives birth to a girl, then a boy, John. A third, another boy, dies at birth. Later additions to his family would include Walter or "Watty" and Sarah, who they called Sally." Later the same article says: "He leads the Cherokee during the Seminole War(1818) as well and his daughter dies during Child-birth." The LDS family search program has one entry showing Nancy and William marrying about 1817 and Nancy dying in 1818 in Georgia. This aligns well with the Sanpete history above where it says William married his Margaret Adair about a year later (10 Feb 1820). What is also interesting is that Nancy's brother John and cousin Elias Boudinot both married white women which was very controversial and inflammatory. On the other hand, a white man marrying a Cherokee woman was accepted.
d. This website has many excellent books on the events surrounding Major Ridge: <http://www.nativestudy.com/Cherokee%20History.html> Note especially the one entitled "Cherokee Cavaliers" which has over 200 pages of Ridge family correspondence. Also there appear to be hundreds of websites under Major Ridge or Chief Ridge.
e. Since William was there as a missionary long before the Mormon church was established, for whom was he working. Margaret's brother Samuel Jefferson Adair was also I believe a minister - same church?
f. The following site shows all the children of Major Ridge specifically listing Nancy married to William "Ritchey" <http://www.cville.com/members/ridenour/MRComplt.htm>. This site notes she died in childbirth.
3. 20 Apr 2003 Rootsweb.com World Connect database ":2461971" (Jan at granauntejan@direcway.com) indicates that she was 3/4 Cherokee and that she had the following education (Jan cites source as website http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks/index.html?Welcome=1050932389):
15 Jun 1810 at Spring Place Mission School in Georgia near Chatsworth in Murray county.
14 May 1817 at Brainerd Mission. [Internet indicates this mission functioned from 1817 to 1838 in Brainerd, Tennessee very close to where Chattanooga would eventually exist. This is just across the state border from Northern Georgia. The mission operated as an indian boarding school. At the time of the infamous "Trail of Tears," the school ended. A list of missionaries of 1817 -1838 at www.rootsweb.com/~tnhamilt/brndmssn.htm doesn't list a Richey.]
It may have been at one of these mission schools at which William Richey met her as a missionary.
Jan also recommends the book "Trail of Tears, The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation," by John Ehle; it is about the Ridge family.
4. Parents are Major Ridge, Cherokee chief and Susannah Wickett. Per rootsweb world connect database "17886" parents are also known as Nunna 'Hidihi NUNGA' and Sehoya Schoya Susannah Wickett. Other names for the father include Kah-nung-da-tla-geh or Nunna'hidihi Nunna'Hattarchee, Pathkiller II, Man On The Mountaintop or The Ridge. She is also known as Nannie. The book "Cherokee Planters in Georgia 1832-1838 - Historical Essays on Eleven Counties in the Cherokee Nation of Georgia," by Don L. Shadburn, Pioneer-Cherokee Heritage Series, vol. 2, 1989, FHL Library book and film, has an illustration of Major Ridge with he following caption: "Major Ridge, a Cherokee planter and slaveholder, lived on the Oostanaula River in Floyd County. For his role as a leader of the Treaty Party,he was fatally shot from ambush on June 22, 1839. [Illustration] courtesy of Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Library." The same book on page 13 states: "Major Ridge, the principal leader of the Treaty Party in the early 1830s, owned 15 slaves and a plantation home on the... [next page not copied]"
5. Appears that most records including missionary information may be with the Oklahoma Historical Society Archives in Oklahoma City and are known as pre-removal and missionary records. See www.ok-history.mus.ok.us
6. In the book "Trail of Tears" by John Ehle, there are mentions of Nancy as follows. This opinion of Ehle's reliability was received from the Vann House Museum (see above for source): "This is why Ehle, though a very nice man, drives me crazy ... "and took seats, Indian style," what is Indian style? Which Indians? I know what he means but it is such a Hollywood stereotype . . .plus, how would he know? What source states how Ridge received mourners? It makes me nuts when historians delve into dramatic historic fiction yet publish it as historic fact. That being said, Ehle's book is an okay start but I much prefer Thurman Wilkins book, Cherokee Tragedy. If you look in Ehle's documentation you'll see he sites Wilkins far more than any other source. However, Ehle obviously adores Ridge and has done much to change opinion of the Ridge family." The quotes from Ehle's book:
Page 64: "Her (Susanna) first child to touch her, to suck and cry, was a girl and Ridge, swelled in pride, named her Nancy."
Page 82: "The route chosen lay through Greensville, South Carolina, where they turned northeast through the piedmont of North Carolina, arriving at the Moravian town of Salem. While there the Indians began to grasp the goals of the Moravian mission back home at Spring Place, where Ridge and Susanna planned to enroll Nancy and John in a year or so."
Page 88 & 89: "The boy was only seven and it was his father who had engineered his leaving home, who was sending him to live with foreigners, all in order to get a white education. She (Susanna) resented this deeply, and would not hear of Nancy ever leaving. Ridge had designs in her case, too, was going to have her live near Spring Place with Margaret Vann, John's widow, until such time as the Moravian quadrangle provided a room for her... Nancy and to other girls did arrive finally, so eleven children were enrolled."
Page 124: "Mr. Gambold was opposed to the enslavement of other Indians or of blacks, and he dared to say so to the children. "Love all people, no matter what their color," he taught. He said God was the Creator and Father of all men. This was a remarkable, mind awakening statement to John, Buck, and Nancy.
Page 125 & 126: "The American Board's mission houses were paid for by the federal government, were equipped by the government, and a federal subsidy was provided for their first school, which was Brainerd Mission in eastern Tennessee, two miles north of the Georgia border, at Ross's Landing. No sooner had their doors opened than Major Ridge drove up in a white carriage, bringing his daughter Nancy and son John. A year earlier he had taken them out of Spring Place at Susanna's insistence and had hired a tutor, but the tutor had turned out to prefer whiskey to teaching. Consequently the major had his excuse to send his children to a better school away from home. This was in May 1817."
Page 147: "It was at this juncture that a family tragedy interrupted everyone's life. Daughter Nancy, who had married a Cherokee, died in childbirth. The day-by-day expectation had been for a celebration, and the reality was bitter as gall." Susanna and Major Ridge buried their daughter near their home and took seats, Indian style, along with John, at the front door of their home, in grief receiving friends."
Note: There is no mention William Richey. I have no idea how accurate this book is. The above was transcribed and emailed to me 22 Apr 2003 from Jan of granauntejan@direcway.com - she is a descendant through Susanna's mother, Kate Parris.
BIRTH:
1. Per SGEOR temple ordinance info per citation below. Husband was still alive at time and living in S. Utah and probably submitted the data.
MARRIAGE:
1. Per Julia of the Vann House Historic Site in Chatsworth, Georgia (website www.alltel.net/~vannhouse) by email 23 Apr 2003 : "I don't know that you will find a marriage certificate for Nancy. Cherokee at that time often had no formal union ceremonies and monogamous Cherokee unions were actually quite rare in the early 1800s. (The Ridges being a notable exception). However, when Cherokee women "of stature" married white men there is sometimes a record. For instance, when Delilah Vann (James Vann's daughter) married Captain David McNair in Tennessee they did obtain a license. I believe there are military records of Sallie Ridge and Paschal marrying at Fort Wool. But, it's a shot in the dark whether or not these Cherokee documents exist."
DEATH:
1. Per SGEOR temple ordinance info per citation below. Husband was still alive at time and living in S. Utah and probably submitted the data.
2. Contacted "Chieftain's House" in Rome, Georgia, where the home of Major Ridge has been made into a national historic park. Per 25 Apr 2003 email from their director Carey L. Tilley at : "We have very little information on Nancy Ridge. For what its worth, there are people that claim to have seen the "apparition" of a young woman in the Ridge Home and they speculate that it is Nancy - I have seen nothing in my two years here, but I guess every historic house has to have its "ghosts")."
3. Per Julia of the Vann House Historic Site in Chatsworth, Georgia (website www.alltel.net/~vannhouse) by email 23 Apr 2003 : "I've wondered about where Nancy might be buried, seeing how I live fairly close. The Chieftains museum now faces away from the river. When this home was built by Ridge it faced the river. So, if Wilkins is correct in stating that she was buried behind the house in a meadow - depending on how far behind, she could be under the road or under what was formerly the Celanese company (now a lumber yard.) There is so much development in that area now, I assume it would be nearly impossible to ever find her."
4. Email dated 1 Jul 2014 from Preston Richey . I concur with the uncertainty of the location, but I defer to William Richey's St. George LDS Temple record for dates since he was both the groom of Nancy and father of Hester:
"I noticed that you put the place of death for Nancy Ridge and her daughter Hester Richey at Oothcaloga. I've been in contact with Paul Ridenour, who maintains an extensive website on the Ridge family (he is married to a direct descendant of Sarah Ridge). He passed on the following information:
"From Chieftains. From the NPS report for the house and property, we use the year 1819 as the "official" date that the Ridge family moved into the house on this property. However, the archaeologist that conducted the digs here at the site found items that date from 1817. We have never confirmed that Nancy Ridge is buried anywhere on the original farm, but that has always been the rumor.
"This is what I have about Nancy: Nancy Ridge - born circa 1801 Calhoun, GA - died circa 9/1818 - married William Ritchey or William Ritchie circa 1817. One daughter born circa 9/1818 - died circa 5/1819 Cherokee Nation East, now GA."
5. Refer to the William Richey Letter to President Brigham Young - Feb 1, 1852 (Source: LDS Archives Film CR 1234 1, Reel 32, box 22, folder 18) quoted in a separate note.
Judging from the time periods therein, it was almost 35 years before that she died. The letter is dated Feb. 1, 1852, which would make Feb. 1, 1817 if fully 35 years before. On the other hand he was 20 when he went to Tennessee. This would then be sometime after Feb. 20, 1816. He was 7 months with his cousin and then 2 months before he got married (not counting how long he was age 20 before going to Tennessee nor how long in going from his cousin to the Indian school). At the very earliest it would not be before Nov. 20, 1816. They were then married 11 months which would make Nancy's death and Hester's birth no earlier than Oct. 20, 1817. Hester then lives another 6 months and dies no earlier than late Apr. 1818. William mentions Nancy was 18 when they married, which gives credibility to the 1799 birth year he gives the St. George Temple for Nancy. Paul Ridenour's estimate of 1801 appears erroneous. If she was born 1799 and was 18 when married, then we have 1817 (or early 1818) for the marriage. With 11 months of marriage, she was most likely 19 when she died. Paul's estimate of Hester's lifespan of 8 months is incorrect now that we know she was only 6 months old. I am not estimating Nancy's death and Hester's birth as abt 1818 and Hester's death as abt 1819.
BURIAL:
1. See Death citation above.
SOURCES_MISC:
1. Nauvoo LDS Land and Records Office research file (copy in my possession as of 2 Jun 2007 and also partially viewable at www.earlylds.com). Includes family group sheet from Ancestral File.
ACTION:
1. Per Vann House Museum recommendation, look for the following book: "Dr. Rowena McClinton and Dr. Theda Perdue has finished with the editing of Rowena's translations of the Springplace Moravian Mission diaries. It's at U. of Neb. press as we speak. That's more my style, firsthand accounts! Look for it to be out before the end of the year." The originals may be in the Moravian archives in Winston-Salem, NC.
2. Per Chieftain Museum recommendation, look up Dr. Alice Taylor-Colbert at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia who has researched the Ridge Family.
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1799 - Abt 1817 (18 years)