Sequoyah was the creator of the Cherokee Alphabet. He was born probably in Tennessee or Georgia, then moved with his family to Cherokee lands in Arkansas in the 1790s. By 1829 he had moved into a one-room cabin on a large parcel of land he had purchased in Indian Territory (modern day Sequoyah County Oklahoma).
Sequoyah arrived in Indian Territory a decade before the US Government force-marched the rest of the Cherokees here between 1839-1841 -- The Trail of Tears.
Sequoyah died around 1843 in Mexico. In 1855, Sequoyah's widow sold the 1-room cabin they had lived in and the land on Big Skin Bayou surrounding it to George Blair, a fellow Cherokee and survivor of the Trail of Tears. The price: $20.00
The Blair family lived in the cabin and later platted a small cemetery nearby. George Blair and his wife, the purchasers of Sequoyah's cabin, lived there until they died in the 1890s. They are buried in Blair Cemetery.
Blair Cemetery is very well maintained by the family. They have their reunion every year at the Sequoyah's cabin site.
From the NewsOK website: (
visit link)
"HOME OF HISTORY
Reunion to highlight Sequoyah's Cabin site
by Don Diehl • Published: September 2, 2000
SALLISAW - A family reunion of historic proportions is scheduled to take place Sunday at the historic Sequoyah's Cabin near Sallisaw, and you don't necessarily have to be a family member to attend.
"Just bring a covered dish," said Flossie Woodward Neal, the great-granddaughter of the couple who bought the now-famous cabin from Sequoyah's widow in 1855.
Sequoyah, who devised the Cherokee alphabet, built the cabin in 1829.
Neal, now 87, organized the annual reunion in 1972 to honor her mother, Anna Sutton Woodward, who was still alive at the time. Since then, descendants of George, Sarah and Nancy Blair have held annual homecomings at the cabin.
"They come from nearly every state," Neal said this week. "I'm not sure I'll get to go this year, unless it rains and cools down some."
Neal, retired from teaching at Central High School east of Sallisaw after 39 years, has done a lot of family research. Her grandmother, Betty Blair Sutton, was born in the cabin in 1862.
George and Nancy Blair bought Sequoyah's home for $20 from Sequoyah's widow, Sally.
George Blair's first wife, Sarah Blythe Blair, died on the Trail of Tears, when Cherokees were removed from Southern states to Indian Territory. He then married Sarah's sister, Nancy Blythe Blair. They had nine children, including Thomas Blair, who also was active in Cherokee matters.
Some other early names on the Blair family tree include Lowery, McCuen, Benge, Baldridge, Ross, Bittings, Sutton, Johnson, Garvin, Smith, Kerr, Silversmith, Sanders, Henson, Crow, Timpson, Fields and McLemore.
Stephen Foster, who manages the cabin for the Oklahoma Historical Society, said registration and visitation will begin at 10 a.m. He said Blair homecoming organizers have requested that those who plan to attend bring a covered dish, folding chairs, old photos and other family memorabilia.
Neal, who has three children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, said a Works Progress Administration structure built over the cabin in 1938 has helped preserve it. During one of the early reunions, Neal suggested that a chain-link fence should replace the barbed wire around the property. A donation was taken up and the fence completed. At another reunion, descendants pitched in to have an archway constructed at the entrance. Annual donations are now a tradition and are used to maintain the old family cemetery. The cabin is open regularly to the public.
Two other events are scheduled during the reunion, Foster said. Sophie Stone will exhibit some of the original wood sculptures of her late husband, Willard Stone, and Evelyn Stone Holland will present her Willard Stone jewelry collection.
Sequoyah's Cabin was donated by the Blair family to the Oklahoma Historical Society and became the society's first field site in 1936. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
The cabin is 11 miles northeast of Sallisaw on State Highway 101."