Ellis Harlan

Biography

Ellis was born in Pennsylvania about 1732. In June 1764, the Society of Friends monthly meeting at London Grove reported that Ellis Harlan "...hath been guilty of drinking to excess, and also suffered such an unguarded disposition to prevail as to quarrel with and strike several persons, and while under dealing by that meeting, hath gone as is apprehended to Carolina."[1] Later that year, on 03 Nov 1764, Ellis Harlan was disowned from the Society of Friends (Quakers) due to that previous drunken quarrel. The monthly minutes report:

Report on Ellis Harlan’s drunkenness, New Garden Monthly Meeting Minutes
see https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/8/81/Harlan-426.jpg

"Whereas Ellis Harlan hath had a birthright amongst us the people called Quakers but for want of taking heed to the Grace of God in his own heart, which would have preserved him from Evil, he gave way to his own evil inclination, so far as to drink strong liquor to excess and also suffered his passion to rise so high as to strike several persons therein at different times, and when friends treated with him he did not seem in a suitable disposition nor inclinable to condemn the same, therefore for the clearing of truth and friends we do hereby disown him to be of our Christian society, until he come to see the evil of his ways, and by repentance and amendment of life, he return to truth and friends, which is our desire he may."[2]

Ellis Harlan disowned from Society of Friends
see https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/b/b1/Harlan-426-1.jpg

The family moved to South Carolina, near the Cherokee Nation. It's not known exactly when Ellis began trading with the Cherokee, but he was one of a number of traders present at the signing of the Henderson Purchase in March, 1775. In October, 1776 Harlan carried a flag of truce from the Overhill Cherokee to Virginia commander William Christian. When he returned with the message that the Americans still planned to attack, Dragging Canoe threatened to scalp him.[3] Ellis fathered a daughter named Susannah by a Cherokee woman about 1777.

Susannah (Harlan) Otterlifter
Starr lists Susannah Harlan as the daughter of Ellis and Ka-ti,[4] but court documents related to funds due to Ellis from the Revolutionary War make it clear that Susannah had a different mother.[5] Ellis married Ka-ti, the daughter of Cherokee Nan-ye-hi (Nancy) Ward about 1778. They were the parents of six children:[6]

Elizabeth Harlan
Ellis Jr Harlan
Sallie Sarah (Harlan) West
Ruth (Harlan) Phillips
Ezekiel Harlan
Nancy (Harlan) Starr

According to a 1788 letter from Joseph Martin in the Virginia State papers, Harlan was living in Chota until attacks from white settlers made it unsafe for whites or Cherokee to remain.[7] In 1797 Silas Dinsmore, then the U.S. agent to the Cherokee provided a list to Governor Sevier of Tennessee of white men authorized to be in the Cherokee Nation. The list included "Ellis Harlin Trader, licenced 18th January for 2 years."[8]

Ellis died in September, 1815 in the Cherokee Nation.

Sources

1. ↑ US Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935. Pennsylvania, Chester, New Garden Monthly Meeting. Minutes, 1746-1768. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA.
2. ↑ US Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935. Pennsylvania, Chester, New Garden Monthly Meeting. Minutes, 1746-1768. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA.
3. ↑ Brown, John P. Old Frontiers. Kingsport, TN: Southern Publishers, Inc., 1938. pp. 11, 156-157.
4. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Tulsa, OK: Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, 1979. pp. 350.
5. ↑ Hampton, David K. Cherokee Mixed-Bloods. Lincoln, AR: Arc Press of Cane Hill, 2005. pp. 236.
6. ↑ Hampton, pp. 106-107
7. ↑ Image at Fold3: Item Number: 71 Publication Number: M247 Item Description: Virginia State Papers, 1775-88 Item Title: State Papers, VA Volume Number: 2 Page: 623.
8. ↑ letter in Tennessee State Archives, transcribed by Helen Hewitt, posted on genealogy.com https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/dinsmore/646/

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Harlan-426
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