From the English Wikipedia page for Guntersville:

Guntersville was founded by German immigrant John Gunter (1765-1835) (the great-grandfather of American humorist Will Rogers), the wealthy owner of a salt mine in the early 19th century. In order to obtain more land to mine, John struck a deal with the Cherokee tribe that inhabited the area to use in his household as servants. As part of the deal, John married the daughter (Ghe-No-He-Li, aka Katy and Cathrine) of the tribe's chief (Chief Bushyhead of the Paint Clan) and agreed to give salt to the tribe. A town sprung up next to the mine and was named after Gunter.

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From Winter of Discontent: the Influence of Will Rogers' Indian heritage upon his life and philosophy, by S. Fred Roach, Kennesaw College:

http://archives.columbusstate.edu/GAH/1984/15-23.pdf

John Gunther married a 15-year-old full-blood (Cherokee) girl, Catherine by name, of the Paint Clan. Gunther, who owned a salt flat, acquired his wife's hand in marriage by offering salt to her Clan "white the grass grows and the rivers run." Evidently, Catherine never learned to speak English, and John Gunther would not consent to their children learning Cherokee. The result of this situation was the torturing experience of a mother being unable to communicate with her children. The bleakness of Catherine's existence imposed such pain upon her that she would visit her own people for weeks at a time. The desire to see her children tormented the distraught mother, and she would return home for short periods, during which she was virtually unnoticed by both her husband and children [25]. This type of traumatic experience, although it is obviously impossible to prove, could easily have a lasting impression on the family of John Gunther and their descendants. And just as easily, it could have planted extremely negative feelings in that family concerning its Indian heritage.

Footnote:

• 25. Telephone interview with James B. Rogers (Will Rogers' son), 6 January 1985; Day, Will Rogers: A Biography, p. 3. It should be noticed that James B. Rogers does not recall his father manifesting any sense of inferiority due to his Indian ancestry.