Young Wolf Cherokee (1809 - 1837)

Born 1809 in Cherokee Nation (East)

Descendants

Died 1837 at about age 28 in Cherokee Nation (East)

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Biography

Young Wolf was a Cherokee, born in 1809 in the Cherokee Nation, the son of a man named Mouse (Mouse and Rat are the same word in Cherokee). He enrolled in the Moravian missionaries' school at Spring Place (now Georgia) in 1819, at the age of ten. ^[1] His parents were unable to afford school clothes for their son, so he left the school in 1822. The Moravians had received an offer from an anonymous donor to pay for a student's education, as long as he would be renamed Gardiner Greene; the donor was believed to be Gardiner Greene, a merchant of Boston. After much discussion the Moravians agreed to accept the gift and offer it to Young Wolf so that he could return to school. ^[2]

Young Wolf learned to read and write in English, but he preferred to speak Cherokee and to follow traditional Cherokee ways. ^[3] He also continued to struggle financially, and left school for good in August of 1826. He married a woman named Aley about 1830. They were the parents of a son, Ooahhusky. The family appears on the 1835 Cherokee census living at "Rocky Creek" (actually Rock Creek) next to "Rat," probably his father, in what is now Georgia. ^[4] Along with many Cherokee families, the Greens were forced from their home by white Georgians in 1835. At that time they were farming four acres of land and had a log home. ^[5] Green died in the fall of 1837, before Removal. His wife and son were Removed to Indian Territory where they filed a claim for their lost property.

Research Notes

In 1907, over 200 people, descendants of a white man in Missouri named Gardner Green born in the early 1700s, filed applications for a share of the Eastern Cherokee payment. They all claimed that the Missouri man was the same person as Young Wolf. All claims were rejected. Guion Miller's analysis and response to the claims is included with application #5145, William Neal. Digitized at Fold3 beginning at Fold3.com (subscription required).

Twila Barnes, in a series of articles at a blog called "Polly's Granddaughter," takes Miller's analysis further. See in particular Young Wolf, son of Mouse (7 Jul 2018). This article includes the will of Young Wolf, which makes references to only heirs Alcy (wife) and Ooahhusky (son).

Young Wolf was also not the same man as Gardner Green (c1743-aft 1800) of Lunenberg, Virginia then South Carolina.

Sources

1. ↑ Feb. 1819, "On the 2nd of this month, a man named Mouse brought us one of his sons whose name is Young Wolf... " Crews, Daniel and Starbuck, Richard, ed. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 4, p. 2296
2. ↑ Crews, Daniel and Starbuck, Richard, ed. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. pp. 3056, 3063, 3084, 3090.
3. ↑ Starbuck, Richard, ed. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 7, pp. 3371
4. ↑ 1835 Cherokee Census. Transcript, Oklahoma Chapter, Trail of Tears Association, Park Hill Oklahoma, 2002. p. 58
5. ↑ Cherokee Emigration Records, 1829-1835, reprint of Senate Document #403, 24th Congress, 1st Session.