48 Facts About Sequoyah

Sequoyah, known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and neographer of the Cherokee Nation.

Sequoyah's achievement was one of the few times in recorded history that an individual who was a member of a pre-literate group created an original, effective writing system.

Sequoyah was an important representative for the Cherokee nation, by going to Washington, DC to sign two relocations and trading of land treaties.

Sequoyah was born in the Cherokee town of Tuskegee, Tennessee, around 1778.

James Mooney, a prominent anthropologist and historian of the Cherokee people, quoted a cousin as saying that as a little boy, Sequoyah spent his early years with his mother.

Sequoyah's name is believed to come from the Cherokee word siqua meaning 'hog'.

John B Davis cites Emmet Starr's book, Early History of the Cherokees, as the source for saying that Sequoyah's father was a Virginian fur trader from Swabia named Nathaniel Guyst, Guist, or Gist.

The Cherokee Phoenix reported in 1828 that Sequoyah's father was a half-blood and his grandfather a white man.

Bird says that Sequoyah was a full-blood Cherokee who always opposed the submission and assimilation of his people into the white man's culture.

Sequoyah had no siblings, and his mother raised him alone.

Sequoyah became lame early in life, though how, when and where are not known.

Sequoyah became a noted silversmith, creating various items from the silver coins that trappers and traders carried.

Sequoyah never signed his pieces, so there are none that can be positively identified as his work.

Sequoyah's store became an informal meeting place for Cherokee men to socialize and, especially, drink whiskey.

Sequoyah developed a great fondness for alcohol and soon spent much of his time drunk.

Sequoyah began to draw, then he took up blacksmithing, so he could repair the iron farm implements that had recently been introduced to the area by traders.

Sequoyah was doing a good business either repairing items or selling items he had created himself.

Up to this point, while Sequoyah was not formally educated, he recognized the advantage that comes with an established written language.

Sequoyah believed one of white people's many advantages was their written language as it allowed them to expand their knowledge, partake in many forms of media, and have a better network of communication.

In 2008 archeologist Kenneth B Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati announced having found carvings from the syllabary in a cave in southeastern Kentucky, where Sequoyah is known to have had relatives.

However, this date is too late, because Sequoyah was already living in Alabama when he enlisted in the army.

In 1817, Sequoyah signed a treaty which traded Cherokee land in the southeast for land in Arkansas.

Sequoyah's syllabary was completed about 1821 but it was not accepted by the Cherokee nation at first.

Sequoyah was one of the "Old Settler" delegates that went to Washington, DC to sign the treaty.

In 1829, Sequoyah settled in present day Sallisaw, Oklahoma, with his wife and daughter.

Sequoyah was hoping to spread his teachings of the syllabary and convince the migrated Cherokees to relocate to Indian Territory.

Sequoyah was impressed by their writing, and referred to their correspondence as "talking leaves".

Sequoyah knew that the papers represented a way to transmit information to other people in distant places, which his fellow American soldiers were able to do but he and other indigenous people could not.

Sequoyah said that he could invent a way for Cherokees to talk on paper, even though his friends and family thought the idea was absurd.

Around 1809, Sequoyah began creating a system of writing for the Cherokee language.

Sequoyah's wife is said to have burned his initial work, believing it to be witchcraft.

Sequoyah realized that his first approach was impractical because it would require too many pictures to be remembered.

Sequoyah tried making a symbol for every idea, but this caused too many problems to be practical.

Sequoyah traveled to the Indian Reserves in the Arkansas Territory, where some Cherokee had settled west of the Mississippi River.

Sequoyah asked each leader to say a word, which he wrote down, and then called his daughter in to read the words back.

When Sequoyah went to the eastern tribes, he brought a sealed envelope containing a written speech from one of the Arkansas Cherokee leaders.

Sequoyah continued to teach the syllabary to anyone who wished.

In 1828, Sequoyah journeyed to Washington, DC, as part of a delegation to negotiate a treaty for land in the planned Indian Territory.

Sequoyah holds a copy of the syllabary in his left hand and is smoking a long-stemmed pipe.

Sequoyah began to journey into areas of present-day Arizona and New Mexico, to meet with tribes there.

In 1829, Sequoyah moved to a location on Big Skin Bayou, where he built Sequoyah's Cabin that became his home for the rest of his life.

In 1839, when the Cherokee were bitterly divided over the issue of removal to Indian Territory, Sequoyah joined with Jesse Bushyhead to try to reunite the Cherokee Nation.

Sequoyah, representing the Western Cherokee, and Bushyhead representing the Eastern Cherokee, made a joint plea at a tribal council meeting at Takatoka on 20 June 1839.

Sequoyah dreamed of seeing reunification of the splintered Cherokee Nation.

Sequoyah was accompanied by his son, Teesy, as well as other Cherokee men identified as Co-tes-ka, Nu-wo-ta-na, Cah-ta-ta, Co-wo-si-ti, John Elijah, and The Worm:.

Sequoyah's work has had international influence, encouraging the development of syllabaries for other, previously unwritten languages.

The result of the diffusion of Sequoyah's work has been the development of a total of 21 known scripts, which have been used to write more than 65 languages.

Sequoyah was said to wear the medal throughout the rest of his life and it was buried with him.