Elias Plummer Sanders Sr. (abt. 1775 - abt. 1872)

Born about 1 Jan 1775 in North Carolina

Descendants

Died about 1872 at about age 97 in Hart County, Georgia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: James Manscill [send private message], Lisa Young [send private message], and Tammy Sanders [send private message]

DIsputed Origins

Descendants of Elias Sanders applied for the Eastern Cherokee (Guion Miller) payment and were rejected since they could not show any Cherokee connection. No one in the family was on any earlier rolls (Elias was alive at the time of the 1835 census, Siler, and Chapman rolls), the descendants could not list the names of any parents or siblings for Elias. The Eastern Cherokee applications stated that Elias' wife was a white woman." ^{[1] [2]}

There is absolutely no record to suggest that Elias Plummer Sanders had any Native American ancestry. If he was a Cherokee he would have lived in the Cherokee Nation and would not appear on the U.S. Census (Indians weren't U.S. citizens until 1924). He would not have been able to own land in Georgia. Every single record for him shows him as white and no census taker in Georgia would have mistaken a Cherokee Indian for a white man at that time. "^[3]

Biography

Elias was born about 1775 in South Carolina, according to the 1850 U.S. Census. By 1801 he appears on tax records in Franklin, Georgia ^[4] The1840 census lists Elias and a woman, both age 60-70 ^[5], the 1850 census lists Elias and wife Mary, both age seventy-five. ^[6] An unsourced Find-A-Grave memorial gives his death year as 1872, ^[7] but he does not appear in the 1860 or 1870 censuses.

Research Notes

Many records attached to Elias on Internet trees are for his son by the same name.

The following is from the source below. born 1775 in North Carolina, and died 1865 in Hart County Georgia. Elias married MARY CARTER in 1795, daughter of Thomas Carter. Mary was born abt. 1775 and died abt. 1850-1860. Elias and Mary are both buried in Hart County.

Cherokee Claims

Taken from an Ancestry message board: Notes on Elias Plummer SANDERS (Sr)
Background: According to grandchildren Lewis Sanders Jr. and Rhoda (Sanders) Lattay, Elias was a full blooded Cherokee Indian, born in NC (other sources indicate he may have been born in Maryland, and moved to North Carolina before moving to Georgia). His birth name was Elias Plummer. From the known facts it can be assumed that his mother and father were Cherokee. Some researchers have suggested that his mother's name was Mary who married a Plummer in Maryland but this is not proven.

Elias was adopted by a Sanders family, and lived and owned land in Hart Cty, Georgia.

Indian Ancestry: A number of people have published information on the Internet stating Elias was an "Indian from the Plumer or Plummer Indian Tribe". Others have said that it was his wife Mary Carter that was Indian. The source of the lumer/Plummer Indian myth probably originated from the book "The History Of Hart County Georgia" by John William Baker . In this book Baker states that Elias Sanders (Jr.) father was "thought to be British, his mother, an Indian woman from the Plumer Tribe". This error has caused widespread errors and misinformation on Genealogy websites. What is known, Elias Sanders Sr. Indian heritage comes from documentation that was part of a Federal Court case. In 1902 the Cherokee Nation filed suit against the United States Government concerning grievances arising out of treaties. On May 18, 1905, the court decided in favor of the Eastern Cherokees and more than $1 million was appropriated by Congress for use in payment of these claims. Guion Miller was appointed as a Special commissioner of the Court of Claims. The Guion Miller Rolls (1) are the official records of applications by descendants of The Cherokee Indian Tribe claiming compensation. In these papers we find that two of Elias grandchildren made application as follows:

1. Lewis Marion Sanders Jr (son of Lewis Sanders & Prude Miller) (wife's name Lettie). He listed his children as JB, Henry, Andy, Lessie, Margarette, his grandfather as Elias & grandmother as Mary, both born in North Carolina. He says "Elias Sanders a Cherokee Indian was my grandfather on my fathers' side." His statements were attested to by W. R. Pullian and A. J. White.

2. Rhoda (Sanders) Lattay, the daughter of Calvin P. Sanders (son of Elias Sanders Sr). Mrs. Lattay stated "I claim through my grandfather a Cherokee Indian by the name of Elias Plummer who was adopted by the Sanders". The applications for compensation were disallowed because they could not demonstrate that Elias was a party to a treaty nor could they "prove" that he was a member of an Indian tribe.

However, that does not mean that he was not of Indian ancestry. Records from the 1775 time period may no longer exist so 'proof' of birth and other records could have been impossible. Note on the Guion Miller Cherokee Rolls: The Cherokee Nation filed suit in 1902 concerning grievances arising out of treaties with the Federal Government. These suits were: 1. The Cherokee Nation v. The United States, General-Jurisdiction Case No. Z3199; 2. The Eastern and Emigrant Cherokees v. the United States, General- Jurisdiction case No.23212; 3. The Eastern Cherokees v. The United States, General-Jurisdiction Case No. 23214; 3. Land Records In Georgia.

Quote from "History Of Hart County" by John William Baker: "We have in our possession, from the Secretary of the State, a certified copy of a plot of land containing 250 acres, granted to Elias Sanders in 1808, bounded on the north by Lightwood Log Creek, which stream at that time was the line between Elbert and Franklin counties’ east by lands of Henry Sanders; south by vacant lands and west by lands of Johnathon Payne, all of said described tract lying in Elbert (now Hart) County, and on which is located the site of the old home and cemetery of the Sander’s family."

Sources

1. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration Eastern Cherokee Applications of the Court of Claims, Application #38950, Lewis Morsen Sanders, digitized at Fold3, images begin at Lewis
2. ↑ Eastern Cherokee application #19432 Rhoda Lattay, Fold3 images begin at Rhoda
3. ↑ Research of Kathie Forbes as posted to WikiTree's G2G Discussion Forum, 20 Feb 2020
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. Georgia, U.S., Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHBN-7FF : 2 March 2021), Elias Sanders, Franklin, Georgia, United States; citing p. 296, NARA microfilm publication , (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll ; FHL microfilm .
6. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
7. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/84514905/elias-sanders : accessed 15 June 2021), memorial page for Elias Sanders Sr. (1775–1872), Find a Grave Memorial ID 84514905, citing Elias Sanders Family Cemetery, Hart County, Georgia, USA ; Maintained by Bobbie O'Barr (contributor 47643006) .

• History Elias Plummer Sanders [1]

• Pioneers of Hart County Georgia by Harold Travis Parker pg 132
• "Pioneers of Hart County" publication, editor Travis Parker, The Joseph Vickery Family article April 12, April 19 (Elias Vickery Family), and April 26 (The William H. "Skinner" Bill Vickery Family), May 3, May 10 (The John Parker Vickery Family),1979. Prior to the establishment of the Hart County Historical Society.

handwritten family ancestry chart received from Edward Vickery and William Vickery Weldon by Brenda Cockrum Gravitt