Posted By:	James Patrick
	Email:
	Subject:	John Spears 1820 McMinn Mixed Cherokee
	Post Date:	May 03, 2008 at 09:29:08
	Message URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/tn/mcminn/messages/1074.html
	Forum:	McMinn County, TN Genealogy Forum
	Forum URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/tn/mcminn/

We're trying to pin down better information about John Spears, who seems to have been a friend of John Ross, the Cherokee leader of the early 1800s. Spears received a reservation of land in the 1817 application files, so he must have been at least in his early twenties by that time -- and could have been a lot older, so we guess his latest date of birth might have been around 1790, more or less. His 640 acres were located on the north side of the Hiwassee, at the mouth of Riley Creek, across the river from Lewis Ross, and just south of Calhoun, in McMinn County Tennessee. Our John Spears traveled with John Ross as an interpreter on more than one occasion, and seems to have been a mixed-blood Cherokee, but we can't find him in Emmett Starr's great genealogy of the Cherokee. Did John Marry? Have children? We suspect that this is not the same John Spears who was Justice of the Peace in McMinn County Tennessee around 1850, but we have no proof of any relationship between them. We don't know if this might be the Capt. John Spears who is listed as an officer in the Cherokee Troops. Can anyone help with information about this John Spears? Jim Patrick Researching 4 distinct lines: 1. Hall & House (MD>PA>KY>IN), Presley (MD?,PA? KY>IN), Banta (NJ>KY>IN>IL?), Britton (ENG>OH>IN), Brighton (Jay, Grant Co IN), Wetzel (Ger>OH>IN), Danner (GER>PA>VA>OH>IN), Pherigo (KY>IN), Fallis (KY), and Demarest (FR>Eng>NJ>KY) 2. Patrick (SCT>PA>NC>IN), Abel/Abell/Able (MD?>KY>IN), Beatty (VA>OH>IN), Shumway (NY>IN), Downs (OH>IN), Brown (CT>VT?>NY>OH>IN), Rockwell, (NS>CT>NY), Barney (MA>NY), Shidler, Holman, Jacobs (PA>NC>IN>OH), Dowden, Cheyney, Gaither 3. Groutage (Eng>CO>IL), Fletcher (Eng>IL), Raybould (Eng), Salisbury, Baker, Bucy, Freeman (NY>IL), Mendenhall, Clark, Plate, Gustine (NY>OH>IL) 4. Brown (GER?>PA?>VA>TN>IN>IL), Spears (KY?>NC?>TN), Tackett (NC?>KY?>TN), Casteel (Native American? PA?>NC>TN), Sherrill (NC>TN>IL), Payne (NC>TN), Trobaugh (GER>PA>VA>TN>IN>IL), Hull (GER>PA>VA>TN), Shields, Lingenfelter (PA>IL)