|
|
| Birth: | 10 MAY 1781 in Creek Territory, Alabama |
| Death: | 22 MAR 1828 in Crawford Co., GA |
| Sex: | F |
| Father: | |
| Mother: | |
| | |
| |
 | Spouses & Children |  | |
| | |
 | |  |
|
| |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
| |
|
| |
| Notes | | |
| | |
| | |
|
| |
Text:
[Try1.FTW]
Lavinia Downs was of the Lower Ocmulgee Creek Nation, and was first the wife of Chief Long Side of Tuckabatchie (Tookautchee). He was killed in a raid, and she was widowed with a young son, Silas. He is said to have been born in 1792 but was more likely after 1794. Her reported birth date was 10 May 1781. White men had been trading with the Indians of Alabama and Georgia from before 1730, and it was the custom that Indian maidens would take white husbands without much hesitation. It was common that all children of a Creek woman were considered part of the Creek community. It is possible that Lavinia was full, half, or less Creek, but was considered Creek and was married to a chief, or town leader. Lavinia passed to her daughter, Cherokee (Hawkins) Lawshe, her Creek prayer shawl which was passed on later to her daughter, etc., and is still owned by a descendant (in 2000). Lavinia lived at the Creek agency (in Crawford Co., GA) with her husband, Col. Benjamin Hawkins until his death. At her death, over a decade later, she was still living in Crawford County. One of her daughters was buried in Roberta, the county seat, and records from a lawsuit / complaint indicate that that daughter, Jeffersonia, lived with Lavinia. She was buried at Ft. Hawkins, and her grave is not marked. Her obituary was carried in the Milledgeville paper, as that was a major center and one-time state capital.
Page 60 of the Crawford County Guardian Bonds Book A states that Richard W. Ellis was appointed administrator of her estate on March 3, 1834. Hiram Troutman and Bryan Bateman acted as security and a bond of $500 was posted. The minimal bond indicates that Pound was correct in stating that she lost most of her inheritance from Benjamin. Hiram Troutman was the father of Joanna Troutman who sewed the famous flag carried into the Texas Revolution by the Georgia volunteers. The Tuckabatchie tribe was Ocmulgee, part of the Mississippian Indians known to have inhabited the southeastern United States and known for the building of ceremonial and funereal mounds. Adjacent to Fort Hawkins is one of the better known sites of Ocmulgee heritage, Ocmulgee National Monument. The Tuckabatchie community (all males of fighting age) was wiped out (at the same battle as were many others) by a force led by Andrew Jackson, probably shortly after the War of 1812. Two of Lavinia's sons-in-law participated in the War of 1812 under Jackson but no family stories exist of any involvement against the Indians. That Lavinia was Creek was kept secret throughout the part of the family that remained in Water Valley, Mississippi after 1850. The part of the family that moved to San Marcos was aware of the secret and kept the history alive. Her heritage is commemorated by the book True Women by Janice Woods Windle, which has been made into a mini-series (and slightly fictionalized by screen-writers).
|
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
| |
|
| |
| SmartMatches | | |
| | |
| | |
|
| |
Individuals from other files that are believed to be the same person:
Click the  icon to see a SmartMatch in side-by-side windows.
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
| |
|
|
|
