Complexities of a Tri-racial Heritage

by Wynter Cuthbert

My grandmother passed when I was seven and all of my other grandparents were already dead, so my only link to the past was gone--or so it seemed. As a girl I was sometimes told that we had some "Indian" ancestry, but I'd always assumed that it was well back into the 1700's or so--my fair complexion and long hair were not questioned by me (even though the other black children I went to school with harassed me about it) at the time.  It wasn't until around 1995 or 1996 when my uncle began encouraging me to research our family history that I questioned anything. That's when I met my cousins Eula (passed in 2005 at 100 years of age) and Louise (soon to be 95).  Fortunately, they were old enough to remember Mary and to tell me stories about her, my great-grandmother and my grandmother.  I never knew what strong, determined stock I came from until I started digging, questioning and researching.

My great-great grandmother, Mary (no maiden surname, but I know her mother was named Harriet) was born in Indian Springs, Butts County, Georgia c. 1832.  I know that she was not involved in the removal because she was in Georgia in 1870 (I doubt that she would have made her way back to Georgia from the Indian Territory) and she told my cousins stories of hiding from the whites and frequent moving around in the woods and mountains of Georgia and Alabama.

The history books and the government would have us believe that all of the Native Americans were removed--something that I personally never thought was possible or probable--thereby discrediting the stories of my great-great grandmother and those in similar situations. The census' listed Mary as black or mulatto (I guess according to who the census taker was) even though, as Eula and Louise told me, it was quite obvious that she wasn't black, but I have never understood why they would have felt so threatened that they needed to do that.

Both Louise and Eula said Mary told them they moved around a lot, being careful to avoid roads or paths that the whites took and remaining stock still when they heard the sounds of horses or wagons. Eula said Mary was able to cross the Chattahoochee with ease (even when she was by herself) and only in her really advanced years (last few years of her life--she was about 95 or so when she died in 1927) did she begin to take the ferry.

My cousins said Mary used to go into Eufaula all of the time and the people there appeared to know her well and like her because she talked to everyone (or so it seemed to them as children).  Sam was a farmer who was born in Alabama, so I assume Mary met him in her travels or maybe he joined up with her as a runaway--all I know is they were together and having children in 1861. Louise said she used to love it when they went to Eufaula to buy material to make dresses to wear for the corn festival.

Louise said she looked forward to the trip into Eufaula for the material, but she was never happy about the concoction (some sort of black tea)Grandma Mary gave her and her siblings as it always cleaned them out.  She said that before the corn festival they cleaned out the house from top to bottom, and then Grandma Mary would clean them out from top to bottom. Every time I think of the way she said it I laugh.  Both Louise and Eula said that Mary sometimes smoked a pipe--that seems kind of odd to me.

I have wondered why she and her husband Sam Parker (a former slave who was of mixed races but looked white) would have settled in Florence, Georgia?  There may not be a reason, but I often believe there must have been some rationalization for choosing Florence as opposed to any other place.  I also believe that she might not have been the only person in her group to have settled there because I know that my great-great grandmother (via great-grandfather) was also Native American and I often wonder what the chances were that they didn't know one another prior to ending up in Florence, Stewart County, Georgia.

Editor's Note: Thoughts on why Mary and Sam Parker may have settled in Florence, GA. You speak of Mary crossing the Chattahoochee River, so I presume this is where some of those crossings took place. Existence for Creeks following the removal was not nearly so hazardous in Alabama, so being able to slip across easily is one clue. Another is that Eufaula, AL is not far away, and we know that this was once a major town site for Creek people. So, there could have been a connection there.

Wynter Cuthbert is author of a historical novel: Eliza's Dream (A Memoir of a Southern Soul)