Our Somers Family Heritage

Elias Boudinot (1802 – June 22, 1839) Another excellent article on the impact of Christianity in the Cherokee nation by  Simonetta Carr and posted at Place for Truth: Published June 22, 2026 In 1828, Boudinot was elected editor of the bilingual Cherokee Phoenix, the first to be published by a Native American nation. For Boudinot, the newspaper was more than a source of information about important news and recent laws. It was a way to tell the colonists that the Cherokee were not savages, but highly civilized and deserving of running their own nations. Many have heard of an American Founding Father named Elias Boudinot. As a President of the Second Continental Congress, a president and founder of the American Bible Society, and a signatory of the Treaty of Paris (which formally ended the American Revolutionary War), he deserves an article of his own. This article is instead about a Cherokee man named at birth Galagina (The Buck) Oowatie who was so impressed by the founding father’s ...

  Source:  Coatney Elizabeth Cole Tidwell Somers Bonn (1856-1934) - Find a Grave Memorial *Please note that the T's in the obituary have been printed as a "G." But I am confident that this news clipping is otherwise accurate regarding Coatney's family and her death. - Angela Wittman Coatney Elizabeth Cole Tidwell Somers

Editor's Note: I love this story of Missionary Evan Jones because he truly followed Christ and he helped bring the Gospel to our Cherokee ancestors.  This an excerpt of a recent story by Simonetta Carr, posted at Place for Truth :  The Trail of Tears In the spring of 1838, when it was clear that removal was inevitable, Cherokee Chief John Ross divided his people into regiments, placing Jesse Bushyhead at the head of one and making Jones the assistant commander of another. Jones was one of the few white missionaries who accompanied Native Americans during their removals. His letters provide an important account of the Natives’ struggle on the Trail of Tears. After being dragged from their homes with just the clothes they were wearing, the Cherokees were taken to detention camps while awaiting removal. There, about 175 Cherokees asked to be baptized. During the march, Bushyhead and Jones continued to hold worship services and to care for the people’s physical and spiritual need...