Sa-ga-ha ‘Nancy’ Blackbird

Nancy Blackbird was a Cherokee woman.

Biography

Nancy was born as Sah-ho-yah (or Sa-ga-ha) [transcription of Tsagali name] in August, 1860 at the Flint District in the Cherokee Nation West (current day Delaware County, Oklahoma). She died as Nancy Blackbird on 13 Sep 1942 at the home of her daughter, Ada Vann, in Short, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.

Nancy was the daughter of George Packinghog, also known as George Guess, and of Anna Sawney.

She married Joe Blackbird (1855-1907) before 1879. He was the son of Will & Annie Blackbird, and also a “full blood” Cherokee.

The children of Joe and Nancy Blackbird, born at Indian Territory (Sequoyah County, Oklahoma as of 1907) were:

1. Josie or Wo-dey-ski Blackbird (b. c. June 1879 - d. January 1908)
2. Ada or Ah-na-se Blackbird (b. February 1881 - ). Married Cornelious Vann.
3. Jennie or A-ge-ne Blackbird (b. April 1883 - ). Married John Littlejohn.
4. John Blackbird (b. November 26, 1887 - ). Married Eliza Jane Baldridge.
5. William Blackbird (b. August 1893 - ) (died young)
6. Rosa Belle or A-do-quah "Rena" Blackbird (b. c. February 1895 - ). Married Eljerry Fleetwood, Jr.
7. William "Willie" Blackbird (b. Aug 21 1896 - ). Married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Pearl Robertson
8. Annie Blackbird (b. c. August 1897 - ). Married Albert " Timmie" Weavel

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Comments

The Nancy Blackbird on the Pioneer Papers interview is the woman on the Dawes, mother of William Blackbird, Grandmother of Ava Vann. On her Eastern App she said that her father died in 1877 but his half-sister Lydia said he died in 1861. The mother of Lydia and George was a woman named ["Uk-tee-yah" or “Go-da-gar-we""Uk-tee-yah"] according to the Drennan Roll but "Go-da-gar-we" according to Nancy Blackbird. Her father IS listed on the Drennan Roll as “George Guess" but I don't think there is any connection to Sequoyah 'George Guess' Gist.

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https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GXCB-J1C

This is an educated guess. Nancy Sagaha Blackbird and Nancy Guess Blackbird have virtually identical records, children and spouses. Since she is known on the Cherokee Nation Census as Nancy Sa-ga-ha Blackbird, this may be one and the same person.

Supporting data

Among the Cherokee in Flint District in 1872

Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Dawes Census Cards for Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 for William Blackbird. Cherokee By Blood. 01345-01482

Nancy Blackbird obituary (Sequoyah County Times, Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Friday, September 18, 1942)

References

• Joe Blackbird in the Eastern Cherokee Applications of the U.S. Court of Claims, 1906-1909 < Fold3 >; (document attached) 1860 - birth of Sah-ho-yah (Nancy Blackbird) (page 4) (document attached); siblings & ancestors of Nancy Blackbird (page 5) (document attached). “Remarks: my name is Nancy Blackbird and I have a sister named Nancy Charles. Sisters very frequently bear the same name.”
• Among the Cherokee in Flint District in 1872. Posted on June 22, 2015 by Roberta Estes < link > “I found this article quite interesting, written by someone settled among the Cherokee in the Flint District of Indian Territory in1872. It tells us about their lives and how they lived. I also find it interesting that the author mentions that “thousands of the Cherokees you cannot tell from white people.”
• Joe Blackbird in the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Dawes Census Cards for Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914. < AncestrySharing >
• Joe Blackbird in the U.S., Native American Applications for Enrollment in Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 (August 14, 1900). < AncestrySharing >; < Fold3 > (page 2, document attached)
• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSRG-ZH1 : 10 March 2022), Nancy Blackbird in entry for Joseph Blackbird, 1900.
• Nancy Blackbird in the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Land Allotment Jackets for Five Civilized Tribes, 1884-1934 (20 September 1904). < AncestrySharing >
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML7X-8ZN : accessed 14 February 2023), Nancy Blackbird, Long, Sequoyah, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 200, sheet 9B, family 164, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1272; FHL microfilm 1,375,285.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN1S-PLM : 3 February 2021), Nancy Blackbird, 1920.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC4V-7LH : accessed 14 February 2023), Mancy Blackbird in household of Ada Vann, Long, Sequoyah, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 9, sheet 8A, line 37, family 134, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1931; FHL microfilm 2,341,665.
• Nancy Blackbird in the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Indian and Pioneer Historical Collection, 1937 < AncestrySharing >
• Nancy Blackbird in the 1940 United States Federal Census < AncestrySharing >
• Sequoyah County Times, Sallisaw, Oklahoma · Friday, September 18, 1942 < newspapers.com > PIONEER RESIDENT DIES AT HOME OF DAUGHTER Mrs. Nancy Blackbird of Short. 88 years of age, died Sunday, Sept. Id. at thp home of her daughter, Mrs. Cornelius Vann, of Short. Services for Mrs. Blackbird were held at 2 p. m. Monday, Septeni-Ut 14. at Bcllefonte cemetery, with Hcv. John Bolen of Wohher Falls officiating. Burial was under the direction of Agent Funeral home. Mrs. Blackbird, a full-blood Indian, was born in Oklahoma in 1854. She is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Vann, and several grandchildren.
• This Nancy Gist is not listed in Hicks https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0021... GUESS I (WURTEH5WATTS, SISTEROF4DOUBLEHEAD, GREAT3EAGLE, MOYTOY2, A-MA-DO-YA1) was born Abt. 1764 in near Tuskeegee, Monroe Co, TN, and died August 1843 in near the village of San Fernando, Mexico. …
• https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-171723521-1-16107/nanc... shows Nancy Blackbird (born Guess) 1851 - 1942 daughter of George Guess & Anna Sawney.
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LLCH-FPC shows Nancy Guess b June 1857 daughter of George Packinghog
• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/5621559/person/700...