''Tahlonteeskee'' (or "'Talotisky' '") was a Principal Chief of the first

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

, and one of the "

Old Settlers Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

" of the Cherokee Nation–West.

Early life

Tahlonteeskee was a

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

headman of Cayoka town, on Hiawassee Island (in modern-day

Hamilton County, Tennessee Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the southern part of East Tennessee on the border with Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 366,207, making it the fourth-most populous county i ...

). Following the decision he and Chief

Doublehead Doublehead (1744–1807) or Incalatanga (''Tal-tsu'tsa'', ᏔᎵᏧᏍᎦ in Cherokee), was one of the most feared warriors of the Cherokee during the Cherokee–American wars. Following the peace treaty at the Tellico Blockhouse in 1794, he serv ...

made to sign over large parcels of traditional

hunting grounds to the United States in 1805, they found themselves considered by many Cherokee to be traitors.''Gore, Oklahoma: Tahlonteeskee - Oldest Capital in Oklahoma''
webpage; Leisure and Sports Review; accessed November 2015 After Doublehead was assassinated in 1807 for his part in the land transfer, Tahlonteeskee emigrated into the west in 1809, one of the first of the "Old Settlers" of the new Cherokee Nation then being established in the

Arkansaw Territory The Arkansas Territory was a territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1819, to June 15, 1836, when the final extent of Arkansas Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Arkansas. Arkansas Post was the first territor ...

. He was the son of Tahlonteeskee "Aaron Price" Bloody Fellow and Wurteh Betsy Watts, who was the mother of Chief John Jolly Due, Chief Robert "the Bench" Benge, and Sequoyah George Gist. Tahlonteeskee became the third Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation -West in 1817 (succeeding Takatoka), and served until his death in 1819, when he in turn was succeeded by his brother, John Jolly. He was the first western chief to allow Christianity to be taught to the Cherokee, and permitted missionaries to establish Dwight Mission in the Nation's holdings in the Arkansaw, before the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

forced the Old Settlers even further west, into the area of the future

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

Extended family

According to the Cherokee genealogist, Dr. Emmet Starr, the alternative spelling of his name, "''Talotisky''," was possibly an alliterative spelling of Tahlonteeskee (since at that time there was not yet a uniform system of writing Cherokee sounds into English). He was the older brother (or possibly a half-brother) of

John Jolly John Jolly (Cherokee: ''Ahuludegi''; also known as ''Oolooteka''), was a leader of the Cherokee in Tennessee, the Arkansas Territory, and the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. After 1818, he was the Principal Chief and after reorganization of the t ...

. Tahlonteeskee married Jennie Lowrey, sister of Assistant Principal Chief George Lowrey. Lowery may have been a cousin of

Sequoyah Sequoyah (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, ''Ssiquoya'', or ᏎᏉᏯ, ''Se-quo-ya''; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American polymath of the Ch ...

. Lowery's wife was Lucy Benge, a half-sister of Sequoyah. Lucy was the sister of

Chickamauga Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment * "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce * "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe * "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album ''Anodyne (album), Ano ...

warrior,

Bob Benge Robert "Bob" Benge (c. 1762–1794), also known as Captain Benge (or "The Bench" to frontiersmen), was a Cherokee leader in the Upper Towns, in present-day far Southwest Virginia during the Cherokee–American wars (1783–1794). Early life He w ...

(often referred to as 'Captain' Bench), whose uncle was John Watts (or 'Young Tassel').NOTE: The Cherokee embraced the

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...

clan system, in which uncle-nephew connections were more important than father-son relationships.

Namesake

Tahlonteeskee, Oklahoma Tahlonteeskee, Oklahoma (Cherokee variant: ''Tahlontuskey'') was the first capital city of the early western Cherokee Nation. It was named for Tahlonteeskee, who was the third Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation -West (1817–1819). Today, t ...

, the first capital city of the early western Cherokee Nation, was named for him. The town acted in that capacity from 1828 through 1839, when the new capitol building was completed in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; ''Cherokee'': ᏓᎵᏆ, ''daligwa'' ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century ...

, and the seat of government moved there. It is the oldest governmental capital in Oklahoma.''Tahlonteeskee''
photo of roadside marker klahoma Historical Society at waymarking.com; accessed November 2015.

Notes

References

*Wilkins, Thurman. ''Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People''. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1970). {{DEFAULTSORT:Tahlonteeskee Year of birth missing 1819 deaths Chickamauga Cherokee Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907) 18th-century Native Americans