The following is an example of how different sources offer different information about the same person or instance. In the following charts we have listed the resource for each bit of information on top and what they have to say underneath.
What do we know about Sequoyah? He existed. He created the Cherokee syllabary. Surely we have to know more about him than this. But almost every source about Sequoyah introduces new possibilities. What do we know about his birthday?
We see four possibilities: 1760, 1765, 1770, or 1775. Discrepancies abound, but perhaps one might be thinking that those dates are that far apart, considering the grand scale of universal events. So we can say he was born somewhere in this blob of time. So where was he born?
We now see five possibilities: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, or Alabama. Okay, so there is another "blob" of possible birthplaces. In the grand scheme, does the location and date of one's birth really matter? (Yes, they do!) What about his parents? Who were they?
While, yes, some of these can overlap, and the only facts that contradict each other are the blood percentages of Sequoyah's mother, many people take opposing views about his mother and father. Sequoyah's father is usually painted in the stereotypical abandoning, apathetic father, while his mother is seen as the 1700s strong, independent, single mom raising little baby Sequoyah alone; it's hard to tell how believable some of the interpretations are when they get into the personalities of people who have no personal records.
So what about Sequoyah himself, the noble scholar of the Cherokee people? Surely we must know everything about him, right?
So what about Sequoyah himself, the noble scholar of the Cherokee people? Surely we must know everything about him, right?
Sequoyah has been constructed as merely a silversmith, the best silversmith, the only silversmith, or one of 49 silversmiths. His lameness has been reported as starting from birth, developed during his youth, or developed during old age. Maybe it was natural, or maybe it was caused by a sickness called 'white swelling'.
As Mark Wolf notes in his work "Subjunctive Documentary: Computer Imaging and Simulation," all attempts to document history are "subjective and incomplete, reconstructing events to varying degrees through existing objects, documents, and personal recollections" (417). Now that we see how hard it is to gather non-conflicting information about historical events, let's attempt to reconstruct a simple overview of Sequoyah's life:
Sequoyah, Sequoia, Ssiquoya, George Gist, or George Guess was born sometime around the mid-1700s to a Cherokee mother and a white father. He was most likely born in Tennessee. As he grew up, he acquired a serious drinking problem which it seems he was able to overcome. He became a successful silversmith and was married/had relationships with at least 5 women, who also married/had relationships with other men, as polygamy was common among the Cherokee people. He became interested in the "talking leaves" of the white people, and claimed that he could create a writing system for Cherokee as well. Although he was laughed at, misunderstood, and dis-trusted, he managed to create a syllabary for Cherokee by studying the sound system of Cherokee and assigning a syllable for each sound. This opened to door to the Cherokee people to be able to read and write in their own language. What the Cherokee had before reading and writing was an oral tradition. All stories, instructions, and learning was given orally, passed from person to person. Sequoyah gave his people a tool to complement and preserve their rites and traditions.
As Mark Wolf notes in his work "Subjunctive Documentary: Computer Imaging and Simulation," all attempts to document history are "subjective and incomplete, reconstructing events to varying degrees through existing objects, documents, and personal recollections" (417). Now that we see how hard it is to gather non-conflicting information about historical events, let's attempt to reconstruct a simple overview of Sequoyah's life:
Sequoyah, Sequoia, Ssiquoya, George Gist, or George Guess was born sometime around the mid-1700s to a Cherokee mother and a white father. He was most likely born in Tennessee. As he grew up, he acquired a serious drinking problem which it seems he was able to overcome. He became a successful silversmith and was married/had relationships with at least 5 women, who also married/had relationships with other men, as polygamy was common among the Cherokee people. He became interested in the "talking leaves" of the white people, and claimed that he could create a writing system for Cherokee as well. Although he was laughed at, misunderstood, and dis-trusted, he managed to create a syllabary for Cherokee by studying the sound system of Cherokee and assigning a syllable for each sound. This opened to door to the Cherokee people to be able to read and write in their own language. What the Cherokee had before reading and writing was an oral tradition. All stories, instructions, and learning was given orally, passed from person to person. Sequoyah gave his people a tool to complement and preserve their rites and traditions.