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Elias Boudinot was born near Rome, Ga. in 1803. His Cherokee Indian name was Killekeenah Oowatie, later shortened to Watie. He received an education at a mission school established in Cornwall, Conn. by the American Board of Foreign Missions. While attending the mission school, he met Harriet Ruggles Gold, the daughter of Col. and Mrs. Benjamin Gold. They were later married. They lived at New Echota which is located northeast of Calhoun. In 1825 it was designated the capital of the Cherokee Nation. Both were involved in missionary work. Elias worked at a mission school, translated the Bible into the Cherokee language, and was the editor of The Cherokee Phoenix from 1828-1832. He was a leader of the Treaty Party. Elias was among those Indians who helped work out the provisions of and signer of the New Echota Treaty which removed the Cherokee Indians to the West. Mrs. Boudinot died August 15, 1836 before the Indians were removed. Elias Boudinot was assassinated June 10, 1839, shortly after reaching the western home of the Cherokee by those who opposed the New Echota Treaty.

Harriet Ruggles Gold Boudinot (1805-1836) was the daughter of Col. and Mrs. Benjamin Gold of Cornwall, Conn. She married Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee leader. They lived at New Echota which is located northeast of Calhoun. In 1825 it was designated the capital of the Cherokee Nation. Mrs. Boudinot died before the Cherokee Indians were removed to the West and is buried at New Echota. She was involved, as was her husband, in missionary work.

Harriet Boudinot's gravesite at New Echota

(click on photos for larger view and tombstone transcription)

Due to the assassinations of Major Ridge, John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, James Starr and others, the families of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota (1835), fled to Mount Tabor Indian Community, south of Kilgore, Rusk County, Texas.

William Penn Boudinot (2/4/1830 - 1896)

married Caroline Matilda Rogers Fields (1832 - ) in 1853 in Park Hill, I.T. (now Oklahoma). He is buried in Tahlequah Cemetery in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Elias Cornelius 'E.C.' Boudinot (8/1/1834(5) - 9/27/1890)

married Clara Corinth Minear (ca. 1859 - 9/10/1911) on 4/16/1885