Sequoyah Marries
Sequoyah eventually married,
and speaking of his wife
Foster (p. 69) says: "
This wife which Sequoyah took
was no common Indian
maiden. In form she was like
the women of her race; she was
tall, erect, and of a delicate
frame; her features formed with
perfect symmetry, and her
countenance was cheerful and amiable.
Both in her soul and that of
Sequoyah was a higher intuition
than appeared to be bestowed
on any other of the Cherokee
tribe. For a time their
sympathies were one, and for a time their
lives were markedly happy. For
all nature spoke in plainest
utterances to them that which
it only whispered unto others. "
Every bird that sung, every
scene of Nature seemed to inspire
new thoughts and awaken new
aspirations in Sequoyah. "
Even the wind playing melodies
on the tree leaves seemed
to him like words of the Great
Spirit, which his sensitive nature
translated into words of
wisdom. "
Nature was his teacher,
through which he lived a life beyond
the ken of all others in the
Cherokee tribe. But as the honeymoon
wore off, he became more
meditative and philosophically
inclined, and she more
thoroughly practical. She worked and he
dreamed, and thus their lives
grew widely apart. She became a
virago and on many a morning,
in later years, the voice of Se-
quoyah's wife could be heard
giving her lord 'Jesse' for the lack
of such industry as she
exclusively held in esteem. 'However,'
says, Boudinot, the Executive
Secretary of the nation, 'he
seemed to have taken all his
scoldings with great equanimity.
No doubt he put himself in her
place and made full allowance
for the disagreeable prospect
from her standpoint.' '
Excerpt from the book:
The Chickasaw Nation: A Short Sketch of a Noble People
By James Henry Malone
1922
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