Sources differ as to the identity of Sequoyah's father. Davis cites Emmet Starr's book, Early History of the Cherokees, as the source for saying that Sequoyah's father was a peddler from Swabia named Guyst, Guist, or Gist.[6] According to Goodpasture, some believe the father was an unlicensed German peddler named George Gist, who came into the Cherokee Nation in 1768, where he married and fathered a child.[8] Grant Foreman identified him as Nathaniel Gist, son of a Christopher Gist, who later became a commissioned officer with the Continental Army associated with George Washington.[9] Mooney and others suggested that he was possibly a fur trader, who would have been a man of some social status and financial backing.[10] Josiah C. Nott claimed he was the "son of a Scotchman".[11] An article in the Cherokee Phoenix, published in 1828, stated that Sequoyah's father was a half-blood and his grandfather a white man.[6][12]
The New Georgia Encyclopedia presents another version of Sequoyah's origins, from the 1971 book, Tell Them They Lie: The Sequoyah Myth, by Traveller Bird, who claims to be a Sequoyah descendant. 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. The encyclopedia noted that Bird presented no documentary evidence, but has gained some credibility in academic circles.[13]
In any case the father was absent before Sequoyah was born. Various explanations have been proposed, but the reason is unknown. Wuteh did not remarry afterward (assuming she married her son's father in the first place). There were no siblings, and Sequoyah was raised by his mother alone.[6] According to Davis, Sequoyah never went to school and never learned English. He and Wuteh spoke only Cherokee.[14] As a youth, he spent much of his time tending cattle and working in their garden, while his mother ran a trading post.[6]
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