Mary (Riley) Keys (abt. 1793 - 1829)

Born about 1793 in Roane Co. Tennessee

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 8 Mar 1829 at about age 36 in Fabius, Jackson, Alabama

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Biography

Mary was Cherokee.

Mary Riley was born about 1790 in the Cherokee Nation (East). She was the daughger of Samuel Riley, a white man, and Gu-lu-sti-yu, a Cherokee woman believed to be the daughter of Doublehead. Samuel was concurrently married to Gu-lu-sti-yu's sister, Ni-go-de-ga-yu. Mary was one of eleven children of Samuel who were baptized by the Rev. Evan Jones on the 22nd of April, 1805. ^[1] She married Samuel Keys, a white man, about 1809. They were the parents of six children, Anariah, Richard, Eveline, Samuel, James, and Mary. ^[2] Samuel Keyes took a reservation of land under the treaty of 1817 "in right of his wife." ^[3] Mary died in the Cherokee Nation (East), now Alabama, on March 8, 1829. ^[4]

1. ↑ transcript at Jones
2. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 432. Digitized edition at https://archive.org/details/historyofcheroke00lcstar/page/n5.
3. ↑ Hampton, David K. , compiler Cherokee Reservees. Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK. 1979. Images at Fold3. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 75. p. 2
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 July 2020), memorial page for Mary “Polly” Riley Keys (1793–8 Mar 1829), Find A Grave: Memorial #61383659, ; Maintained by DMLeForce (contributor 47131861) Unknown.

• Doublehead Last Chickamauga Cherokee Chief page 49