Susannah Martin

Not a wife of Brigadier General Joseph Martin, Jr.

Susanna Emory was a Cherokee woman

Biography

As with most early Cherokee women, there is little documentation for Susannah. She was born about 1745-1750 in the Cherokee Nation (East), generally believed to be the daughter of Mary Grant, a Cherokee woman, and William Emory, a white trader. She was the granddaughter of white trader Ludovic Grant and his Cherokee wife. She had two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary.[1] James Hicks and some other researchers believe that she also had a half-brother named Will Emory.[citation needed]

She had eleven children by three white men:[2][3]

By John Stuart:

Bushyhead; (curator note; this appears to be conjecture. It is possibly true but evidence has been lost to history, see the discussion @ Oo-na-du-to ‘Bushyhead’

By Richard Fields:

Richard,
George,
Lucy,
John,
Turtle,
Thomas,
Susannah

By John Martin:

Nannie,
Rachel
John, Jr..

Researcher James Hicks believes that some of the Fields children had a different Cherokee mother, but presents no documentation.[citation needed]

Evidence supports that she lived in the Tugaloo region along the South Carolina border until her death about 1796.[4] Although her exact date of death is unknown, an 1831 letter relates that Susannah died when her youngest son, John Martin, was an adolescent so she must have been dead before 1800. [5]

Research Notes

Although some researchers believe that Susannah was too young to have borne a child by John Stuart, Starr and others list Bushyhead as their son. The story in Starr's book that Stuart fathered a child with Susannah while serving at Fort Loudon cannot be accurate, since she would have been at most 10 years old. Stuart was in the Cherokee Nation until 1779, so a later date is probable.

Starr's book also erroneously named Joseph Martin as Susannah's husband and the father of her three youngest children. An 1831 letter from Benjamin Cleveland to Georgia Gov. Gilmer clarified that John Martin, not his brother Joseph, was the father of John, Rachel, and Nannie Martin. [6]

Fellow contributor Donnie Daniel states: "noted historians and authors have long since conceded that John is (Rachel's) father and it was recorded on her slab marker before someone 'turned it over'."[7]

NOTE: The Find-A-Grave memorial gives "1747 Tennessee" as date of birth,[citation needed] however there is NO SOURCE to back it up.

Sources

• 1. Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979 p. 306. Digitized at Google Books, link
• 2. Starr, History, p. 306. =
• 3. John T. Adair testified in 1887 that George Fields was the half-brother of John Martin, and that George had a brother named Tom. Cited in Shadburn, Don & Strange,John. Upon Our Ruins, Cottonpatch Press, Cumming, GA. 2012. p. 164
• 4. Crass, David C. The Southern Colonial Back Country, University of Tennessee Press, 1998. Chapter 10. "Between Two Cultures: Judge John Martin and the Struggle for Cherokee Sovereignty," Elizabeth Arnett Fields.
• 5. Warren, Mary B. & Weeks, Eve, ed. Whites Among the Cherokees. Heritage Papers, Athens GA 1987, p. 93
• 6. Warren, Mary B. & Weeks, Eve, ed. Whites Among the Cherokees. Heritage Papers, Athens GA 1987, p. 93
• 7. FindAGrave: [1] Memorial# 61972720. Created by: DMLeForce --Record added: Nov 21, 2010.

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Emory-136

Children of William Emory and Mary Grant:

iv. Susannah Emory b.1750 Tomatly, Cherokee Nation (NC) d.c. 1796 near Tugaloo, Georgia

SUSANNA4 EMORY (MARY3 GRANT, LUDOVIC2, JOHN1 GRAUNT) was born Abt. 1747 in CNE [TN], and died in CNE [TN].

She married

• (1) JOHN STUART, CAP Abt. 1766. He was born Abt. 1730 in Scotland, and died February 21, 1779 in Pensacola, FL. [NO]
• (2) RICHARD FIELDS, SR Bef. 1770. He was born Abt. 1740 in England, and died Abt. 1780.
• (3) JOHN MARTIN, COL Bef. 1781, son of JOSEPH MARTIN and SUSANNA CHILES. He was born Abt. 1752, and died April 05, 1823.

More About SUSANNA EMORY: Clan: Ani'-Gilâ'hi = Twisters, Braids, or Long Hair Clan (Mary Grant) Starr's Notes: K131

Notes for JOHN STUART, CAP: Old Frontiers, by John P Brown, 1938, Southern Publishers, Kingsport, TN; A young Scot nobleman with the British army, came to the Colonies as an Indian Agent.

According to Indian custom of giving names based on physical characteristics, the young officer was called "Bushyhead" in recognition of his very large crop of curly red hair.

John was stationed at Ft Loudon as the Captain of a British company in 1757. The fort was besieged and captured by the war chief O-go-no-sto-ta on August 7, 1760. Nearly all the garrison was killed, but Captain Stuart was rescued and taken to Virginia by the civil chief, Atacullaculla. Stuart was later appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs, South of the Ohio River and married Susannah Emory.

• ***************************** Starr states that John Stuart died in Pensacola, FL; but, James Mooney states... "he fled to Florida and soon after sailed for England."
  • **************************** Old Frontiers, by John P Brown, 1938, Southern Publishers, Kingsport, TN; "...Stuart called a great congress of all southern Indians at Mobile during March and April, 1764... [Hewatt, 2, 283-288] "Stuart was at the time in his sixty-fourth year, and spry, though troubled continously with gout.
    • *************************** Old Frontiers, by John P Brown, pg 174 "Pensacola, 26th March, 1779 "My Lord Germaine;\\ "We think it our duty to acquaint your Lordship that on Sunday the 21st instant, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Col Stuart, His Majesty's sole agent for and Superintendant of Indian Affairs for the Southern District of North America, departed this life after a long and painful illness, which he bore with resignation for several months. We are with great respect, Your Lordship's most humble and most obediant Servants, Alexander Cameron Charles Stuart

More About JOHN STUART, CAP: Blood: Non-Cherokee Emigration: 1733, America

More About RICHARD FIELDS, SR: Blood: Non-Cherokee

More About JOHN MARTIN, COL: Blood: Non-Cherokee

Child of SUSANNA EMORY and JOHN STUART is:

7. i. BUSHYHEAD5, b. Abt. 1767; d. Aft. 1838. [sic: unknown]

Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 577. Digitized edition at Starr < Archive.Org >

[John Stuart] "married Susannah Emory a quarterblood Cherokee and was known on account of his mop of hair as Oo-no-dut or Bushyhead. He and Susannah had one son, who never had any other name than Oo-no-dut and from that time forward the Stuarts in the Cherokee Nation and invariably been known as Bushyhead."

Children of SUSANNA EMORY and RICHARD FIELDS are:

8. ii. JOHN FOX5 FIELDS, b. Abt. 1770, CNE [TN].
9. iii. RICHARD FIELDS, JR, CHIEF, b. Abt. 1772, CNE [TN]; d. February 1827, near Nagodoches, TX.
10. iv. GEORGE FIELDS, CAP, b. 1774, CNE [TN]; d. April 14, 1849, Locust Grove, CNW.
11. v. TURTLE FIELDS, b. Abt. 1776; d. Abt. September 1844, Illinois Dist, CNW.

Children of SUSANNA EMORY and JOHN MARTIN are:

12. vi. JOHN CALVIN5 MARTIN, JUDGE, b. October 20, 1781, CNE [Cass Co, GA]; d. October 17, 1840, Ft Gibson, CNW.
13. vii. NANNIE MARTIN, b. Abt. 1784, Virginia; d. 1829, Lynch Mt, GA.
14. viii. RACHEL MARTIN, b. March 01, 1788, CNE; d. September 23, 1843, Lumpkin Co, GA.

Clan Long-Haired Clan (Mary Grant)

Starr's letter books K131

Susannah Fields (born Emory 1/4 Blood Long Hair...

There is no Mary Susannah Emory Fields. Mary and Susannah Emory were sisters, born about 1750., daughters of Mary Grant and William Emory. Susannah had seven children by Richard Fields, none of whom was named Hiram.

Richard Fields : adventurer in the Indian trade http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnpolk2/fields.htm

Who is Richard Fields?

He was born c.1744 and came to South Carolina (from England or Virginia) with his father Richard Fields by 1754. Richard Fields Sr. was reimbursed by the legislature in January 1755 “for a Negro Slave of his that was executed for poisoning.” [SC Commons Journal of 8 Jan 1755, 12 Mar 1755, 9 May 1755]

Around 1765 or 1766 he met and married Susannah Emory (b.1750), daughter of William Emory (d.1770). It is likely they met near Charleston, probably at Goose Creek. This Susannah Emory was NOT the mother of Bushyhead (b.1758), the son of Captain John Stuart.

A 1766 deed locates Richard Fields Sr. on the Savannah River, on the South Carolina side, in what became the Abbeville District. [Langley, SC Deeds, III, 305]

By 1770 Richard Fields Jr. was established in the Indian trade with the Creek Indians of upper Georgia. Although he was married to a powerful Cherokee girl, the Cherokee trade was over-exploited and unprofitable after the Cherokee War (1762). After the murder of George Beck and Thomas Jackson by Creek Indians in 1771 in upper Georgia, Richard Fields was part of a group of traders that suggested the Creek Indians be allowed to pay off their debts to traders by transferring land to the traders. Indian Commissioner John Stuart (the father of Bushyhead) rejected the plan, though the governor of Georgia then presented it to the king. [Col Recs GA, Coleman XXVIII Pt 2, 351-361)]

It would be socially impossible for Richard Fields, a proud Englishman, to go to John Stuart, a proud Scotsman, with this plan if Stuart had fathered a child by the wife of Fields. It just would not happen. This is one of the more convincing facts toward proving that there were two Susannah Emorys.

References

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61972720/susannah-martin
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61976254/nancy-lynch
• [http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/B...]
• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via daughter Ruth West (born Fields) by SmartCopy: Feb 9 2015, 20:50:56 UTC
• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees via son George Fields by SmartCopy: Feb 9 2015, 20:57:58 UTC
• GEDCOM Note She was of the Long Hair clan.
• http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0015-...

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• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 12 2023, 17:08:23 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 21 2023, 17:37:05 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 27 2023, 18:28:16 UTC