Delilah Amelia McNair

Delilah Amelia is a Cherokee woman

Biography

Delilah was Cherokee.
Delilah Amelia Vann was born in the Cherokee Nation (East) in 1789, the daughter of James Vann and his wife, Elizabeth Scott, both Cherokee. On December 30, 1801, in Knox County, Tennessee, Delilah married David McNair, a white man, the son of James McNair (1745 – 1817) and Martha (Price) McNair (1750 – 1817). [1] Delilah's father was killed in 1809 and after intervention by the Cherokee Council his estate {which included numerous enslaved people) was divided among all of his children. The McNairs took a reservation under the treaty of 1817 [2] and became very wealthy. The 1835 Cherokee census lists a family of 9 living on Conasauga Creek. [3] Their property was valued at over $12,000 in 1836 at a time when most people's property was valued at a few hundred dollars. [4] David made his will in 1836 and left to his "beloved wife" enslaved people left to her by her father as well as their home. [5]

Delilah and David were the parents of six children:

Elizabeth McNair married first, Dr. Jesse E. Bean, married second, John Wier.

Mary Vann McNair (1805 – 1839)

James Vann McNair, (1809 – 1858)

Nicholas Byers McNair born 1810;

Martha P. McNair (1812 – 1875);

Clement Vann McNair (1814 – 1897)

David died in 1836 and by 1838 the Cherokee Removal had begun. According to biographer Carolyn Foreman, "When the Cherokees were compelled to emigrate in 1838, Mrs. McNair and her daughters drove away from their home in their fine carriage. While awaiting the arrival of the boats at Charleston, Bradley County on the Hiawassie River in Tennessee, Mrs. McNair died and the United States officers permitted her body to be returned home where she was laid to rest beside her husband. " [6] In 1839 her son-in-law William Rogers placed a headstone on the grave.

Research Notes

Emmet Starr incorrectly listed Delilah's mother as Elizabeth Thornton. Records of the Moravian missionaries and others make it clear that she was the daughter of Walter Scott and Sarah Hicks. [7]

Sources

1. "Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ48-KMF : 9 March 2021), David Mcnair and Delilah Vann, 30 Dec 1801; citing Knox, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 1,205,064.
2. Hampton, David K. transcriber “Cherokee Reservees” Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK 1979. p. 1
3. 1835 Cherokee Census. Transcript, Oklahoma Chapter, Trail of Tears Association, Park Hill Oklahoma, 2002. p. 7
4. Hoskins, Shirley. Cherokee Property Valuations in Tennessee, 1836. 1984. Upper (Second) District, #61
5. Foreman, Carolyn T. Captain David McNair and his Descendants, Chronicles of Oklahoma Vol. 36 #3. Digitized at will
6. Foreman, Captain David McNair, p. 272
7. Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 419.

WikiTree profile Vann-34 created through the import of MichaelGeneTerry_Family.ged on Mar 19, 2012 by Mike Terry.

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vann-34
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McNairs Grave: Just inside the TN line, where the Conasauga river bends again into Georgia, is a stone-walled grave, with a slab, on which is an epitaph which tells its own story of the Removal heartbreak. McNair was a white man, prominent in the Cherokee Nation, whose wife was a daughter of the chief, Vann, who welcomed the Moravian missionaries and gave his own house for their use. The date shows that he died while the Removal was in progress, possibly while waiting in the stockade camp. The inscription, with details, is given from information kindly furnished by Mr D. K. Dunn of Conasauga, Tennessee, in a letter dated Aug 16, 1890;

"Sacred to the memory of David and Delilah A McNair, who departed this life, the former on the 15th of August, 1836, and the latter on the 30th of November, 1838. Their children, being members of the Cherokee Nation and having to go with their people to the West, do leave this monument, not only to show their regard for their parents, but to guard their sacred ashes against the unhallowed intrusion of the white man."
Source unknown