Re: Wickliffe Cherokee heritage
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In reply to:
Wickliffe Cherokee heritage
Charolette Kaster 3/16/12
I have some knowledge of the Kentucky branch of the Wickliffe family that might be relevant for you. My great-grandmother was born on the family plantation in the 1850s, or so I was told as a child.
The KY Wickliffes were planters and slave holders. Their family plantation, Wickland, at Bardstown, KY, was the home of three governors. Other ante-bellum Wickliffes were governors of Louisiana, bankers, lawyers, senators, cabinet members, etc. all across the old South.
'Prominent families' like the antebellum Wickliffes married into other 'prominent families' in those days. It is very unlikely that a 'white' Wickliffe in the antebellum South would have a family connection to the Cherokee Indians.
As a child, though, I recall being told that slaves often carried the names of their 'masters'. If this is true, and also if a white Wickliffe from the antebellum South would have no connection to a so-called 'sub-class' of society like the Cherokee Indians, then a logical conclusion is possible:
It is possible that your Cherokee Wickliffe connection in 1835 came by way of a runaway or freed slave of one of the Wickliffe planters across the old South.
There is probably no way to confirm this, but it is something to consider. I might place a bet, though, that an Oklahoma Wickliffe in the 1800s was not a white Wickliffe. A black Wickliffe in Oklahoma is entirely possible, though, especially if that Wickliffe had roots near New Orleans, given that a Wickliffe was a slave-holding goveror of that State at one tine, which would include a Wickliffe history that dates to your 1835 point of reference.
Just something to consider (and sorry if this speculation is politically incorrect--nevertheless, it is historically possible, or even likely.)
Regards, Ed Wickliffe
More Replies:
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Re: Wickliffe Cherokee heritage
Kathy Roberts 8/03/12
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Re: Wickliffe Cherokee heritage
ed wickliffe 8/04/12
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Re: Wickliffe Cherokee heritage
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Re: Wickliffe Cherokee heritage
Charolette Kaster 8/02/12