Ludovic Grant  

Who is Ludovic Grant?

He was born in Scotland before 1696 and died before 1762 in Charleston, South

Carolina.  It is likely that he was buried on 5 Oct 1757 or 7 Dec 1761 at Saint Philips’s Parish under the name “John Grant”.  Actually, under the name “Ludv. Grant” which, in cursive, appeared to the indexer as “John Grant”.  The burial in 1757 was at parish expense, which is more likely to be true of Ludovic than of

the John Grant (and I can only find one) of the parish.

There is much speculation about his identity back in Scotland and it’s

hard to tell how reliable the various claims are about him.   His importance in

Cherokee genealogy, however, cannot be overstated.  Emmett Starr began his

genealogy of the tribe using Grant as a cornerstone and now a million people

who think they are Cherokee claim that they are descended from “Mary Grant,

of the Long Hair Clan”.  Tampering with the Mary Grant legend is unpopular

business, but a reconstruction of the evidence is helpful.

From Dobson’s Scots in the Carolinas: 

Ludovic Grant. Jacobite soldier captured after the Seige of Preston,  Lancashire.

Transported from Liverpool to South Carolina on the Susannah, master Thos.

Bromhall, on 7 May 1716.

Ludovic Grant was an Indian trader and agent of South Carolina Governor

James Glen.  Grant’s reports from the Cherokee Nation were held in high

regard.  

Ludovic Grant in Charleston 

There is not much record of him in Charleston.  From Clara A. Langley’s

South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1719 – 1779,  (Easley, SC: Southern

Historical Press, 1983):

            12 December 1718  -- witnessed a deed of gift in Charleston            [II, 76]

            16 April 1720  -- witnessed a deed of sale in Charleston  [I, 107]

            30 June 1736  -- witnessed a bill of sale in Charleston   [I, 258]

He lived among the Cherokee and appears in records regarding Indian affairs.

When he came down to Charleston, it was usually on matters of importance

to the tribe.  

A “widow Grant” showed up in Savannah, Georgia, before 1740 with children

Ludovic, Margaret, James and Daniel.  [Coulter & Saye, Early Settlers of GA, p. 76]

Ludovic Grant into the Cherokee Nation 1726 

According to Grant’s own testimony, and Emmett Starr, Ludovic Grant came to the Cherokee Nation around 1726.  He remained there until 1756.  There is a

shortage of records in the 1730’s but by 1740 letters from Ludovic Grant were

received into the record of the legislature.  Grant first lived at Great Tellico in

what is now Tennessee.  This is where he met and married his wife, a daughter

of a Cherokee headman, usually thought to be Tassel.  In the 1730’s he got his own trading post in the Valley (or Middle) towns, residing at Tomatly. (Probably

following his father-in-law there, as would be appropriate in Cherokee custom.)   

[                              ]

The expedition of Colonel George Chicken into the Cherokee Nation in the

summer of 1725 preceded the “fixed” traders at Great Tellico and at the Middle

Towns.  From him we know Grant was not there:

Colonel George Chicken  -

Friday the 23d day of July 1725

Got away from Nocoochee abt 6 of the Clock in the Morning and abt Six at Night we passed by Tamautley in the Upper Settlements and came to Elejoy being abt two Miles further where we lay all Night having Traviled this day thirty five Miles a road which is almost Impossible to Travile in and were Obliged to walk Several Miles of the way.

Munday the 2nd Day of August 1725

The head men of the following Towns being mett together at Tunisee I had the talk Interpreted to them.

         Tunissee . Terriquo . Tallassee         Towns on this side

         Suittico . Coosaw . . . . . . .                the hills

         Eljoy . Tamantle . . . . . . .                 Towns on the other

         Cheeowee . Conustee . . . . . .            side the hills

    Towns wanting in the Upper Settlements:

                             Iwasee and Little Terriquo

Sir Alexander Cuming 1730  

When Sir Alexander Cuming visited the Cherokee in 1730 to secure their allegiance to the British crown, Ludovic Grant was one of the guides.  Cuming went to Keowee then up the Keowee path to Niquassi (near present-day Franklin, North Carolina) where they were met by a delegation from the Middle towns and the Overhills.   Ludovic Grant was a witness to the document of

fidelity and friendship foisted on the amused Cherokee by the daring Cuming. 

Ludovick Grant –

Sir Alexander had resided sometime in Carolina, and intending to return to England, he was desirous first to see the Cherokee country.  I resided then in the town of great Telliguo in that nation,  And my buisness calling me to Charlestown I had got the length of Keowee which is about 150 Miles from where I live and I there met Sir Alexander just arrived from Carolina.  He acquainted me and some of the other Traders who were going down that he had no Errand but to see the Country And that he would continue there but a few days requesting us to return with him, and accompany him which accordingly we aggreed to do.  We dined that day all together at the house of Joseph Baker Trader in Keowee and at dinner some of the Traders mentioned that these Indians were not then in the best Disposition.  At night Wee went to the Town house where all the Indians men & women met every night when They were not out hunting even the Headmen go there to partake of the diversion.  After we had continued some time there Sir Alexander made a speech, to the head men of the Town, Which I remember perfectly well having had occasion to hear him repeat the same Speech in every Town we went through.  Viz. that he was one of the Great King Georges Children but was not sent either by the Great King or any of his Governors – that he was no public person and only came for his own private Satisfaction to see their Country, And that he would Drink the King’s health hopeing  that all persons would pledge him which he accordingly did upon his knee desiring us to follow his Example and Wee Desired the Indians to do so.  Upon which Sir Alexander said it was easy to make them all good Subjects, but I must not omit a Circumstance pretty Extraordinary.  Sir Alexander carried with him into the Town house his Gun, his Cutlass and a pair of pistols, and one of the Traders telling him that the Indians never came there armed, and did not like that any should.  He answered with a Wild look, that his intention was if any of the Indians refused the King's health to take a brand out of the fire that Burns in the middle of the room and set fire to the house.  That he would guard the door himself and put to death every one that endeavoured to make their Escape that they might all have been consumed to ashes.  This strange speech which I and

the other Traders heard him make, did not give some of them who were to have been of the party  a very favorable opinion of him, so they concluded it would be saffer for them to stay and leave him and me to pursue our Journey which accordingly we did the next morning. [i][3]

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Cuming pressed forward into the Cherokee Nation, from the Lower Towns

over “Joree” (Ayoree) then to “Tamauchly” and camping at Tassetchee,

where a they had “a remarkable Night for Thunder, Lightning, Rain, and what

passed bet’ween the Conjurer, head Men, and Sir Alexander.”   The next

two days (March 28-29) were spent going over the mountains to the

Overhill towns, “attended by Ludovick Grant, as well as his Guide William

Cooper.”   They met Moytoy at Great Tellico but Sir Alexander left on March

30^th with Grant to “Tannassy” town to meet the king of that town (he also

encountered Eleazar Wiggan):

 Sir Alexander Cuming –

March 30.   Sir Alexander left William Cooper at great Telliquo to take

Care of his lame Horse, and took only Ludovick Grant along with him to great Tannassy: This Town is pleasantly situated on a Branch of the Mississippie, and is 16 Miles from great Telliquo; the Path was said to be lined with Enemies, but neither Mr. Grant nor Sir Alexander met with any Accident. Here Sir Alexander met with Mr. Wiggan, the complete Linguist, saw fifteen Enemies Scalps brought in by the Tannassy Warriors, made a Friend of the King of Tannassy, made him do Homage to King George II. on his Knee, returned the same Night to great Tellliquo, was particularly distinguished in the Town-House by Moytoy, where the Indians sung Songs, danced, and stroaked his Head and Body over with Eagles Tails; after this, a Consulta­tion was held with Moytoy and Jacob the Conjurer, who determined to present him with the Crown of Tannassy.

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Most Cherokee histories make much of Cuming’s “crowning” Moytoy, which he

never did. [Dictionary of American Biography II 591-592:  “At a great congress of the tribe, at

Nequasse, Motoy of Tellico, an Anglo-phile chief, was crowned ‘emperor’ of the Cherokee.”  In fact

as noted above, they did not meet until Cuming went to Tellico in the Overhills.  Moytoy was suspected in

Charleston of pro-French leanings and, after Cuming took seven chiefs to London, Moytoy ordered attacks

on English settlers on the Savannah River.]

Cuming  “proclaimed” Moytoy “emperor” but also a subject of the English

crown.   Cuming insisted on receiving a “crown” from the Cherokee as their king, which he dutifully took off and laid at the feet of King George back in England.

[Dictionary of National Biography  V 295]

Cuming’s account of his meeting with Moytoy and the other chiefs was that he,

Cuming, “was made lawgiver, commander, leader, and chief of the Cherokee

Nation, and witness of the power of God, at a general meeting at Nequisee in the

Cherokee mountains.”

[Dictionary of National Biography V 294]

The Cuming expedition returned the way it came.

Ludovic Grant –

From Telliguo we rode over to Tannassee, and afterwards returned by Neguasae Where several Traders met us and a good many Indians.  Sir Alexander had been informed of all the Ceremonies that were used in making a head beloved man, of which there are a great many in this nation.  They are called Ouka and as we translate that word King, so we call the Cap he wears upon that occasion his Crown, it resembles a wig and is made of Possum’s hair Dyed Red or Yellow, Sir Alexander was very desirous to see one of them, and there being none at that Town One was sent for to some other Town, He Expressed Great Satisfaction at Seeing of it, and he told the Indians that he would carry it to England and give it to the Great King George. . .

[SC History & Genealogy Mag X (1909) p.56-57]

Sir Alexander Cuming –

  Sir Alexander made the Witnesses sign to the Substance of what they saw and heard, in order to preserve the Memory thereof, after Words are forgot. The Witnesses were Sir Alexander Cuming, Eleazar Wiggan, Ludovick Grant, Samuel Brown, William Cooper, Agnus Mackferson, David Dowie, Francis Beaver [James Francis Beamer], Lachlan Mackbain, George Hunter, George Chicken, and Joseph Cooper [halfbreed son of William Cooper], Interpreter, besides the Indians.

April 5.  Sir Alexander went from Nequassee to Nooulfkah, with only William Cooper and George Hunter, leaving George Chicken to follow after.  Here Sir Alexander received Roots of all Kinds, which were ever held among the Indians as the greatest Secrets. From hence he went to Chattoogay, and lay at the house of Joseph Cooper’s Mother.

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Ludovic Grant –

He again repeated what he had said at Keowee and the other Towns.  That he was one of King George’s Children and came to see their Country, that he was soon going over the Great Water and if any of them would go with him to see England he would carry them. . . . I know all the people that went over to England well, I know they had no Commission of authority from the Nation to give away any of their land, and I know they had no power or right in themselves to do it.  I was present when they returned from England and when the presents they brought over with them were distributed and heard them make their report of all that they had seen but I never heard one word about their Surrendering their Country on the Contrary They brought with them a written paper or Parchment which I have seen and read the title of which is Articles proposed or proposals made by the Lords of Trade to the Cherokees, and there is the answer of the Cherokees to these proposals. . . .[ii][9]

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For all his daring and adventure, though, Cuming was a bit of a crackpot and

spent most of the rest of his life in hospital confinement or in jail.  His last plan

to gain an audience was to resettle all the Jews into Cherokee territory to form

an agricultural paradise.   [Dictionary of National Biography V, 295]

Grant moves to the Valley River by 1737

By 1740 the letters of Ludovic Grant are from “Tomalthy”.

[SC Commons Journal of 18 Jul 1740, 17 Dec 1740]

After the death of Moytoy of Great Tellico in 1733 or so, politics and power

struggles must have driven Grant’s father-in-law from that village, perhaps

for his own safety.  He became head man at Tomatly and appears to be just

the second man (after the Raven of Hiwassee) in the Valley towns.   From

Tomatly, Grant and his father-in-law enjoyed 20 years of relative peace,

without scandals or bloodshed.   (This is perhaps why there is no mention of

William Emory in the journals – he was never in trouble.)

Most of Grant’s letters thereafter came from the village of Tamah’li, or Tomatly.  When he met with other senior traders, such as James Beamer, or when he was traveling to Charleston, his letters were  marked from different locations but his “home” was in Tomatly, which is located on the Valley River in western North Carolina, nestled in a part of the Smokies called the Snowbird Mountains (actually between the mountains).  There is a little town called Tomatola in the approximate location of the original village.  (insert description)

In the 1740’s Grant was asked to take some men to Great Tellico to arrest

Christian Priber, who was setting up an independent state among the Cherokee

with himself as governor.  (When it was reported to the authorities in South

Carolina, it was made to appear that Priber was setting up a kingdom and had

declared himself king and the Cherokee his subjects.  This was a slight stretch.

Grant could not take Priber into custody because the Cherokee would not let

him.  Grant did, however, tell the Cherokee he would throw Priber into the fire

if he did not shut up.    

Ludovick Grant -

One Pryber who Called himself a German but was certainly an Agent for the

French.  He went up from Amelia Township to the Cherokee Nation, and lived in the Town of Telliquo, and being a great Scholar he soon made himself master of their Tongue, and by his insinuating manner Indeavoured to gain their hearts, he trimmed

his hair in the Indian manner & painted as they did, going generally, almost naked,

except a shirt & Flap, he told these people that they had been strangely deluded, that

they had been tricked out of a great part of their Land by the English,  That for the

future they should make no concessions to them of any kind but should profess an

equal regard for bothe the French and the English, and should trade with both upon the same footing, which would be their greatest security for they would then be courted & carressed & receive presents from both.  

I sometime after went up into the Townhouse with a Resolution to try what could be done, but I found that he was well apprized of my design and laughed at me, desiring

me to try it, in so insolent a manner that I could hardly bear with it, and I told him although I knew the Indians would not permit me to Carry him down to be hanged, Yet they would not find fault I hoped if I should throw him into the Fire, which I certainly would do if he gave me any further Provocation.  [SC Commons Journal                     ]

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John P. Brown, the great historian of the Cherokee, in his Old Frontiers (p.53)

gives the impression that Grant lived at Chota in Tennessee in 1754.  If Grant

was there, however, it was to report on the supposed trading  by Virginians.

Grant’s letters in 1754 and 1755 show his “address” was still Tomatly:

            30 April 1752               from “Tomatly”

            8   February 1754               from “Timotly”

            22 July 1754               from “Tomatly Town”

            23 March 1755            from “Tomatly Town”

            24 March 1755            from “Tomatly”

            27 March 1755            from “Tomatly”

            29 April 1755                  from “Kewohee”  (on his way to Charleston)

            20 August 1755            from “Estertoe”  (on his way back from Charleston)  

              1 January 1756            from “Tomatly”

            12 February 1756   from “Keowhee”  (on his way to Charleston)

When trouble broke out in Keowee in April 1751, James Maxwell rode into

North Carolina to see if the trouble was spreading.  He rode to Ioree (Ayoree),

then to Little Hiwassee.  “The twenty fifth I came to Tomahtly to Mr. Grants and staid there all Night.”     [SC Commons Journal  of  13 May 1751.] 

In the August 1751 act which reorganized the Indian trade,  Cornelius

Daugherty and Ludovic Grant were recognized as the traders of record for the

Valley Towns.  “Cotocanahut, Nayowee, Tomattly, Cheewohee”  were next to

Grant’s name.     (Note that Chilhowee was Abraham’s town and played a

later role in Emory family history.)

This is all to re-establish the evidence that Ludovic Grant’s daughters were

were born at Great Tellico (Tennessee) but the children of his daughters were born at Tomatly (in what is now North Carolina). 

Grant again made an enforcement trip with Cornelius Daugherty and their men

to Tellico in 1756 to arrest L’Antignac and French John there and bring them to justice, but the French agents got away (with the help of Cherokee friends).

[GA Upper House, XVI, January 1757, 147-150;  Sc Ind Docs (3) 1754-1765]  

(One of the friends was Old Hop, chief at Chota (Tennessee) who defied

Governor Glen’s demand to deliver French John (or his scalp) to the governor.)

[SC Indian Docs (3) 411, 412].    Old Hop is not Standing Turkey  (Kana-ga-toga) and is confused by later writers with Oconostota.   (Standing Turkey was Old Hop’s son.) 

[SC Indian Docs (3) 141, 142 – both Old Hop and Standing Turkey are referred to as different men, though Old Hop’s name in his youth was Standing Turkey.  SC Indian Docs (2) 1750-1754            ].

Ludovic Grant and the Fort Prince George Treaty at Keowee  

On 24 November 1753  Ludovic Grant was a witness to a land cession (treaty)

by the Cherokee Nation to the king of England.  Chief Old Hop was asked about but he declined to attend, out of respect for Skiagusta (the Old Warrior of Keowee who recently had died).  Old Hop was not a Lower Cherokee, though Oconosta (Oconee-Estota) ( = Kanastoga)  was before relocating to the Overhills.  

The signers of the treaty and the witnesses (there were many present) are

helpful in determining Grant’s connections.  Only headmen of Keowee and

Toxowa (a town a few miles north of Keowee on the path to Tellico) were there

to sign, as the land for the fort was historically theirs.  

                Corane the Raven of Toxowa                 Co-ra-ne = Raven in lower dialect

                                                                                                Col la neh = Raven in upper dialect

                Canacaugh the Great Conjuror of Keowee     Oconee-Ka-Ta  (grandfather of Warhatchy?)

                                                                                                Ka ni ga ta = Standing Turkey                    

                Sinnawa the Hawk’s Head  – warrior of Toxowa   unknown

                Nelle Wagalche of Toxowa                  unknown

                Yohoma of Keowee                                             unknown

                Canasaita of Keowee                                          Oconee-Sa-Ya-di  (Oconostota?)

                Yorhalche of Toxowa                                        Warhatchy or Wauhatchee from Keowee

                Owasta  the head beloved man of Toxowa                 Outtacitee = head man, father of Warhatchy

                Raymond Demere                British captain

                James McKay                   British or militia captain

                White Outerbridge                British or militia captain, of Charleston (Saint Philip’s)

                James Glen                       Thomas Glen?  James Glen = Governor of South Carolina

                Thomas  ----                           Thomas Glen?

                James Francis                  a militia captain at Ninety Six, not well liked but had

                                                                business with Thomas Nightingale

                Ludwick Grant                     a friend of Gov James Glen and James Beamer  

                James Beamer                  a leading trader of the Lower Towns, a friend of Thomas

                                                                Nightingale, Gov. James Glen  and Ludovic Grant

                John Elliot                      a trader in the Lower Towns, not liked by Little Carpenter

                                                                or by Ludovic Grant.  Was killed by Cherokee Feb 1760.

Who was Ludovic Grant’s wife?   

Emmett Starr and contemporary Cherokee genealogists are not certain of her

precise name but a Cherokee name of Eughioote and an English name of Elizabeth Coo-tey have been suggested for her.  Because the “Coody” name is 

popular among the western tribe her name is rendered Coody.  I am of the

opinion that the Coody name is mostly an adaptation of Gouedy.  Because

Cherokee have trouble with the “G” as the beginning of a name, “Eu-ghi” is the

“inhale-exhale” start of  “Goot-tey”, or Gouedy.  Thus I think “Eughioote” is

Gouedy (Gowdey).  And “Coo-tey”  (Coody) (exhale-exhale) is the easier form of

Gouedy.  Not that the Cherokee were reading the name Gouedy, but Robert Gouedy  lived among them for 40 or 50 years and surely had many children but no Cherokee “Gouedy” families are known.

Was Elizabeth Coody (Eughioote) a relative of Robert Gouedy?  In an earlier

paper on the Vanns I suggested that she might be a daughter or ex-wife of

Gouedy but this now seems impossible.  She was at best a sister-in-law.

The Old People in Indian Territory may have remembered her through her

sister, wife of Eughioote (Gouedy).   Gouedy was an associate of Thomas

Nightingale and did work in the Overhill Towns after William Elder retired.  He

then retired to the Ninety Six and Abbeville Districts, putting him close to the

Emorys there.  Gouedy and Cornelius Daugherty did not like each other, but

that is no barrier to Gouedy being the brother-in-law of Ludovic Grant.

On the other hand, the wife of Capt John Rogers Jr.(d.1848) married Elizabeth

Coody, a daughter of Arthur Coody (the half-breed translator), who may be a son of Robert Gouedy (since he is from South Carolina whereas the later Cody family in 1780 was from Virginia).  It could be that descendants remembered her in one generation and in another generation  -- and this casts doubt on the name of Grant’s wife.  

The father of Elizabeth was Kahyun Techea [Starr] or commony, Tassel, or Corn Silk, a name used by three generations before the removal and is still in use today (Corn Tassel).  “Kahyun Techea”  presents a problem. Old Hop used a

form of the name in 1752:  Caneecatee, and there was a Conotatche of

Tugaloo.   [SC Indian Docs  II,76]    Kahyun could be dialectic for Bullfrog and with

the second word (dialectic for green?)  mean  Springfrog?   Or it could be a

variant of Long (Hair?).

Unfortunately, it is a family name not used by Grant’s father-in-law in Grant’s

correspondence or otherwise.  He is simply known as the Warrior of Tomatley

and later as the Old Warrior of Tomatley.  He died before 1763.

[SC Indian Docs (2), 119, 237, 304-306; (3) 244-5, 260, 305, 351].

His son was probably Outossite (Mankiller) of Tomatley, aka Corn Tassel,

aka Old Tassel who was killed in 1788.  So the Old Tassel (d.1788) that we

refer to as Elizabeth’s father is her brother.  Elizabeth would be born c. 1711,

making her father’s date of birth sometime before 1695.  Other siblings of

Elizabeth could  be Abraham, a sister who married Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter)  (he had various wives), and a sister who married Robert Gouedy.  The “Chief of Watauga” (b.c. 1715) who may also be known as Willenawau, is perhaps  another brother, given later associations with her family.  (This may be her brother Tassel, aka Old Tassel, who d.1788.)

Children of Ludovic Grant       

Emmett Starr gives only one child known for Ludovic Grant and Eughioote: a

daughter named Mary.  Using known and suspected Emory connections, however,  there have to be two daughters born to Ludovic Grant.  An older daughter, Susannah Catherine, is assumed.

            i.            Susannah Catherine Grant  b.c. 1727 Great Tellico,

Cherokee Nation (Tennessee)    d.bef. 1770

                        m. 1743 Robert Emory (d.1790).

                        Her daughter Susannah (b.1744) was the mother of Bushyhead

                        (b.1758/9 TN).

ii.         Mary Grant  b.c. 1729 Great Tellico, Cherokee Nation (Tennessee)  d.bef. 1766

                        m. 1743 William Emory (d.1770)

                        Her daughter Susannah (b.1750) was the mother of Richard

Fields. Her oldest child was Will Emory (b.1744 d.1788).

Starr does not show Will Emory (b.1744) or Robert Emory and he only shows one Susannah.  But he shows the mother of Bushyhead (Susannah) to be the

third daughter of William Emory (d.1770).  Given that Ludovic Grant entered

the Cherokee Nation in 1726 and the Emorys entered in 1743, Will Emory (b.1744) is listed as a warrior in 1761, and Bushyhead was born no later than 1760, Starr’s construction becomes an impossibility.  The order of the three daughters of William Emory (d.1770) is accepted as:  Mary, Elizabeth, Susannah.  (Starr   even says this order is reliable.  Birth dates of their children support this order as well.)

Catherine is a better guess than Susannah as the name for the first daughter

because several researchers feel  Ludovic Grant’s parents were named John and Katherine.  Ka-Ti  appears among Bushyhead descendants.  And there is an unidentified Catherine Emory buried  22 October 1769 at Saint Philip’s close to Thomas Nightingale (buried 4 November 1769, followed two weeks later by a Mary Emory who was John Emory’s second wife.

The “Susannah Catherine” construction is interesting because that was the name

of Major Ridge’s mother, and she was b.c.1740-1755.

[Encyclopedia of Native American Biography, 321]

For further discussion, see John Stuart, Bushyhead and the others referred to above.