Hicks/Tippens -- possible Cherokee family of SC/GA

Question

This one is for our resident Cherokee genealogy specialist. 

Mary Frances (Hicks) Cleveland was born about January 1857 in Franklin co., GA. In her application for enrollment into the Eastern Cherokee, she states that her father was a white man and her mother, Nicey Hicks (Hix) was 3/4ths white, 1/4th Cherokee. Her grandmother (Nicey's mother) was stated as Tiller (Matilda?) Tippens, and Tiller's mother was stated as Jenny Ross (allegedly a fullblooded Cherokee).

Nicey (Nicy) is fairly easily to find in the censuses. She was born about 1832, and appears on the 1850 census of Franklin co. GA in the household of Elizabeth Hix, age 52 (is this her mother?). Also present in the household is 102 year old (!!!) Elizabeth Richer, 38 year old Cynthia Hix, and 2 more teenagers both named Hix: Joseph and Memory.

I do not know if Mary Frances' application was accepted, or if any additional documentation exists for her alleged Cherokee ancestry. Mary Frances' granddaughter was Lady Bird Cleveland, a notable African-American artist, and Lady Bird's own daughter is the famous model Pat Cleveland.

Answer 1

Well, that profile is sure a muddle, it says "Nicy Hicks" was the father of Mary Frances Hicks Cleveland.  The census cited above is for a different person.  According to Mary Frances' Eastern App her mother was Nicy Tippens, her father Jim Hicks, her grandparents Bill and Betsy Hicks and "Cue" and Tiller Tippens.  Her application for a share of the Eastern Cherokee payment was rejected since she showed no connection to the Cherokee.  She said that her mother and grandmother were born in South Carolina, a place the Cherokee left before the Revolutionary War.  The family was apparently living in Georgia in 1851/52 but they are not listed on the Siler/Chapman rolls of Cherokee East of the Mississippi.

Comments

Mary listed some of her siblings on her Eastern App, so here are Nicey with Mary's siblings on the 1870 census: "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC39-DD8 : 28 May 2021), Nicy Hix, 1870.

I cannot find the family in 1860 and I don't know why Mary is not with them in 1870.  She didn't marry until 1873.  "Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPMM-T9PY : 7 February 2020), Pleasant Cleveland or Clevelin Cole and Mary Hicks, 18 Dec 1873; citing Marriage, Franklin, Georgia, United States, Georgia Department of Archives and History, Morrow, FHL microfilm 2,156,328.

Here she is with husband and children in the 1880 census:"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8LB-CCL : 13 January 2022), Frances Cleavlin in household of Plesant Cleavlin, District 212, Franklin, Georgia, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .