http://cherokee1838.tripod.com/thomas_starr.htm

Biographical Sketch of the Family of Thomas Starr (1813-1890) By Phil Norfleet

A white man named Caleb Starr (1758-1843) was the patriarch of the Starr family. He was of Quaker parentage and had immigrated from Pennsylvania to the area of Cherokee Nation (now southeastern Tennessee) after the end of the Revolutionary War. In about 1794, Caleb married a 1/2 blood Cherokee woman named Nancy Harlan, and in so doing he became a member of the Cherokee Nation. Caleb and Nancy had twelve children, including Ezekiel Starr (1801-1846), James Starr (1796-1845) and George Harlan Starr (1806-1879). Caleb Starr and his sons became leaders within the Cherokee Nation and were involved with the Cherokee Treaties of 1816 and 1819, and with the final removal Treaty of December 1835.

By the early 1830's, the Starrs became convinced that removal of all Cherokees to new lands west of the Mississippi River was the only way to keep the Cherokee Nation from being completely destroyed by the Government of the State of Georgia, aided and abetted by the Federal Government led by President Andrew Jackson. Even so, most Cherokees were opposed to removal. In 1828, an anti-removal party came to power in the Cherokee Nation who attempted to preserve their remaining eastern lands. John Ross was elected principal chief of the Nation. Ross and his followers strongly opposed removal. However, during the 1817-1837 time frame, many Cherokees voluntarily emigrated to the lands west of the Mississippi and became known as the "Old Settlers."

Caleb Starr and his sons supported emigration. Ezekiel Starr and his family traveled to the west in 1834. James Starr became a leading member of the Treaty Party, On 29 December 1835, James Starr and 19 other Cherokee leaders, signed the controversial Treaty of New Echota, which required the Cherokees to move west within two years after U. S. Senate ratification of the Treaty. The treaty was ratified on 23 May 1836 - thus the removal deadline for the Cherokees was 23 Mayfield 1838. James Starr and his family removed to the Cherokee portion of Indian Territory in 1837.

The majority of the eastern Cherokees, under the leadership of Chief John Ross, fiercely resisted removal and were were forcibly removed to the west in 1838-1839 time frame. During this removal, they suffered severely on what came to be called the "Trail of Tears."

Upon arrival in the Indian Territory, the differences between the Anti-Treaty or Ross Party and the Pro-Treaty or Ridge Party erupted into violence. On June 22, 1839, three leaders of the Treaty Party - Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot - were assassinated by members of the Ross faction. James Starr and Stand Watie were due to be killed the same day, but they found refuge at Fort Gibson. John Ross was elected principal chief of a new, "unified" Cherokee government in the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory.

In the Cherokee election of 1841, Ezekiel Starr was elected to the Cherokee legislature from the Flint District, and his brother, James Starr, was elected to serve from the Goingsnake District. However, the supporters of Chief Ross were still eliminating the supporters of the removal treaty and many murders were being committed by both sides. James Starr's son, Thomas Starr (1813-1890), reacted to attempts on his father's life with violence. He was accused of attacking and murdering the Ross supporter and trader, Benjamin Vore and his family, at their home near Fort Gibson in 1843. This Cherokee civil war included murderers perpetrated by both sides to the conflict, but the majority Ross faction labeled Tom Starr an outlaw. A reward of one thousand dollars was offered for his capture.

In 1845, Ross followers decided that James Starr would be held accountable for the actions of his son, Tom, and on November 9th they acted. Thirty-two armed men raided the home of James Starr in the Flint District. Starr was gunned down on his front porch, as was his crippled son, Buck. Both were dead. Starr's other three sons barely escaped the massacre. According to Tom Starr, in retaliation, he killed every one of the thirty-two men except for those who became sick and died in bed before he could get to them. A truce was called in 1846, and a resulting peace treaty between the two factions included a special clause that "all offenses and crimes committed by a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.......are hereby pardoned." It was the opinion of many Cherokees that the pardon was for Tom Starr.

Tom moved to land in the southern portion of the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation, near present-day Briartown. Tom Starr served in the Civil War as a scout for General Stand Watie and was acquainted with William Clark Quantrill. After the war, some of Quantrill's former guerrillas frequently came to visit Tom, including Cole Younger and some of his brothers. As a result, that part of the Canadian River near Tom's ranch became known as "Younger's Bend." Tom raised eight sons, including Samuel Starr (1857-1886). In 1880, Sam Starr married Mrs. Myra Belle Shirley Reed, widow of an outlaw named James C. Reed. She henceforth became known as "Belle Starr."