Jesse Bushyhead

Jesse Bushyhead was born in September 1804 to a half-blood Cherokee woman named Nancy Foreman in a Cherokee settlement near the present city of Cleveland, Tennessee. His father was also of mixed-race Cherokee ancestry, John Bushyhead Stuart. He was educated at Candy's Creek Mission, and taught at several schools for boys in the Candy's Creek area.Routh, E. C. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v015/v015p449.html "Early Missionaries to the Cherokees."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617174442/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v015/v015p449.html |date=2013-06-17 }} Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 15, No. 4. Retrieved July 20, 2013.

Bushyhead was baptized as a Christian and became an avid member of the Baptist church in 1830. He began converting other Cherokee to Christianity, established a church at Amohee in Tennessee (then his home town), and became a close associate of noted Baptist missionary, Reverend Evan Jones. Jones preached in English, while Bushyhead translated the sermon into Cherokee. One writer claimed that Bushyhead was, "... the best interpreter in the nation."

In 1832, Reverend Jones recommended to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions that Bushyhead be appointed as an assistant missionary. The appointment was made, and Bushyhead served in this role for the next eleven years. He is said to have been the first Cherokee to have been ordained as a Baptist minister. He continued to work closely with Jones, not only preaching to the Cherokees, but translating the Book of Genesis and other religious books into the Cherokee language, using the Cherokee Syllabary. He also served as pastor of the Amohee church.[http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=ind1247&DataType=Indian&WinType=Free Hirschfelder, Arlene, and Paulette Molin. "Bushyhead, Jesse." Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, Updated Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. American Indian History Online. Facts On File, Inc.]

Jesse Bushyhead's home in Cleveland was on Mouse Creek near the present-day Cleveland High School.{{cite book|last=Rozema|first=Vicki|date=1995|title=Footsteps of the Cherokees, 2nd. Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfic5eOnNDwC|location=Winston-Salem, North Carolina|publisher=John F. Blair Publisher|page=94|isbn=0895871335|author-link=Vicki Rozemo}} He married Eliza ({{nee}} Wilkerson; transcribed as Wilkinson by some of her descendants), with whom he had nine children: Jane (m. Drew), Dennis, Daniel, Charlotte (m. Mayes), Edward "Ned", Caroline "Carrie", Eliza Missouri (m. Alberty), Jesse Jr., and Nancy Sarah (m. McNair).{{cite journal |last1=Foreman |first1=Carolyn Thomas |author-link=Carolyn T. Foreman |title=Aunt Eliza of Tahlequah |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2191769/m2/1/high_res_d/1931-v9-n1_a07.pdf |access-date=28 July 2024 |journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=March 1931 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=43-55 |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728195032/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2191769/m2/1/high_res_d/1931-v9-n1_a07.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2024 |issn=0009-6024 |url-status=live}}{{rp|43}}{{cite journal |last1=Routh |first1=E. C. |title=Early Missionaries to the Cherokees |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2192070/m2/1/high_res_d/1937-v15-n4_a05.pdf |access-date=28 July 2024 |journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=Winter 1937 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=449-465 |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728222856/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2192070/m2/1/high_res_d/1937-v15-n4_a05.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2024 |issn=0009-6024 |url-status=live}}{{rp|456-457}}{{cite book |last1=Drennan |first1=John |editor1-last=Hook |editor1-first=Charlene |title=1851 Drennan Roll of the Cherokee Indians |url=https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/224529-1851-drennen-roll-of-the-cherokee-indians |date=c. 1950 |publisher=Indian Nations Press |location=Tulsa, Oklahoma |pages=[https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/224529/?offset=0#page=46&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=charlotte%20mayes 43], [https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/224529/?offset=0#page=62&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Bushyhead 59] |oclc=866066755}}{{subscription required |via=FamilySearch}} {{rp|43}} Jane, his oldest daughter, married Richard Drew, who served in the Cherokee Senate from 1841 to 1843.{{cite news |last1=Chavez |first1=Will |title=Groups Dedicate Site as Part of Trail of Tears |url=https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/culture/groups-dedicate-site-as-part-of-trail-of-tears/article_b04bd0cc-0c4b-51e4-a4aa-74ab0df8c312.html |access-date=29 July 2024 |work=Cherokee Phoenix |date=April 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311081425/https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/culture/groups-dedicate-site-as-part-of-trail-of-tears/article_b04bd0cc-0c4b-51e4-a4aa-74ab0df8c312.html |archive-date=11 March 2021 |location=Tahlequah, Oklahoma |url-status=live}} His oldest son, Dennis, was notable for serving as Principal Chief for two terms, from 1879 to 1887. Ned was a newspaperman, miner, and lawman, who served as sheriff and police chief of San Diego, California.{{cite journal |last1=Foreman |first1=Carolyn Thomas |author-link=Carolyn T. Foreman |title=Edward W. Bushyhead and John Rollin Ridge: Cherokee Editors in California |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2192018/m2/1/high_res_d/1936-v14-n3_a02.pdf |access-date=1 August 2024 |journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=Autumn 1936 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=295-311 |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727224810/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2192018/m2/1/high_res_d/1936-v14-n3_a02.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2024 |issn=0009-6024 |url-status=live}}{{rp|295–299}} Carrie taught in the Cherokee school system for almost forty years, training numerous tribal leaders.{{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Marilyn |editor1-last=Seller |editor1-first=Maxine Schwartz |title=Women Educators in the United States, 1820-1993: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook |date=1994 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Connecticut |chapter=Caroline Elizabeth Bushyhead Quarles |pages=403-411 |chapter-url=http://ereserve.library.utah.edu/Annual/ECS/6616/Thompson/bushyhead.pdf |isbn=978-0-313-27937-9 |access-date=2024-07-31 |archive-date=2024-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728204414/http://ereserve.library.utah.edu/Annual/ECS/6616/Thompson/bushyhead.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}{{rp|406-409}}{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1928}}|author= |title=Necrology: Samuel Houston Mayes |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofokla6219okla/page/229/mode/1up |access-date=30 July 2024 |journal=The Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=June 1928 |volume=VI |issue=2 |pages=228-231 |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |issn=0009-6024}}{{rp|229}}{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Indian Chieftain|1899}}|author= |title=Chief T. M. Buffington: A Sketch of the New Cherokee Executive |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc71606/m1/3/zoom/?q=Carrie%20Bushyhead%20Quarles&resolution=4&lat=7639.132241015458&lon=3878.3610257320183 |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=The Indian Chieftain |issue=50 |volume=17 |date=10 August 1899 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240730190751/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc71606/m1/3/zoom/?q=Carrie%20Bushyhead%20Quarles&resolution=4&lat=7639.132241015458&lon=3878.3610257320183 |archive-date=30 July 2024 |location=Vinita, Indian Territory |page=3 |url-status=live |via=Oklahoma Historical Society}} Eliza Missouri, who was born on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory,{{rp|404}} married Bluford Alberty with whom she ran a noted hotel in Talequah.{{rp|408-409}}

Jesse Bushyhead had opposed removal of the Cherokees from their homeland in the Southeast. As the deadline approached when General Winfield Scott and the U.S. Army would escort the people to a new homeland in the Indian Territory, Rev. Bushyhead volunteered to lead one of the groups of emigres. The group who followed him was from a part of the nation where there was no capable leader.

The group led by Bushyhead followed the same northern route taken by the group led by Evan Jones. The route led them north through Tennessee and Kentucky to an Ohio River crossing at Golconda, Illinois, then west to cross the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After that, they turned southwest to Indian Territory. At the start of the trek, the group numbered 950 people. During the journey, the group experienced 38 deaths and 6 births, including that of one of his daughters, Eliza Missouri Bushyhead,{{cite web |last1=Mihesuah |first1=Devon A. |author-link=Devon A. Mihesuah|title=Aunt Eliza - Notable Native |url=https://19thcenturymodern.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/aunt-eliza-notable-native/ |website=wordpress.com |date=July 3, 2015 |access-date=September 8, 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Foreman |first1=Carolyn Thomas |title=Aunt Eliza of Tahlequah |journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=March 1931 |issue=9 |pages=43–55}} the rest arrived safely at their destination on February 23, 1839.

The trek terminated at a place Bushyhead called Pleasant Hill, about {{convert|4|mi|km}} north of the present day town of Westville, Oklahoma, and about {{convert|70|mi|km}} from Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Cherokees called the place "Breadtown" because food rations were distributed there. Later, they named the place "Baptist Mission."

Rev. Jesse Bushyhead died on July 17, 1844, after a brief, but unspecified illness. He was buried at the old Baptist Mission cemetery near Westville.

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Bushyhead, Rev. Jesse, Grave

| nrhp_type =

| image =

| caption =

| nearest_city = Westville, Oklahoma

| coordinates = {{coord|36|2|8|N|94|34|58|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Oklahoma#USA

| built = 1844

| architect =

| architecture =

| added = December 06, 2004

| area = less than one acre

| mpsub = Cherokee Trail of Tears MPS

| refnum = 04001334

{{NRISref|version=2009a}}

}}

His grave at the Baptist Mission Cemetery is marked by a {{convert|15|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} marble monument. His grave is the only surviving property associated with his life, and as such is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Adair County, Oklahoma.

One side of the monument reads: "Sacred to the memory of Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, born in the old Cherokee Nation in East Tennessee, September, 1804; died in the present Cherokee Nation, July 17, 1844. 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'" An inscription in Cherokee is at the bottom.

The other side of the monument bears the following inscription:

"Rev. Jesse Bushyhead was a man noble in person and noble in heart. His choice was to be a true and faithful minister of his Lord and Master rather than any high and worldly position. He loved his country and people, serving them from time to time in many important offices and missions. He united with the Baptist Church in his early manhood and died as he had lived, a devoted Christian."

File:Rev. Jesse Bushyhead Grave.JPG

File:Rev. Jesse Bushyhead Grave, Trail of Tears Plaque.JPG

File:Rev. Jesse Bushyhead Grave, Base Detail.JPG

File:Rev. Jesse Bushyhead Grave, Cherokee inscription on side.JPG

{{reflist}}

• [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v014/v014p349.html Chronicles of Oklahoma, volume 13, p. 351 note 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102102454/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v014/v014p349.html |date=2012-11-02 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100622035843/http://www.ocgi.okstate.edu/shpo/shpopic.asp?id=04001334 Oklahoma State Historical Preservation Office page on Jesse Bushyhead grave]
• Murrow, J. S. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20150402125503/https://www.createspace.com/5333254 The Rev. Jesse Bushyhead: Cherokee Indian and Missionary]" 2015, {{ISBN|978-1508595113}}.
• Wimberly, Dan B. 2017. Cherokee in Controversy: The Life of Jesse Bushyhead. Mercer University Press.

{{NRHP in Adair County}}

{{Authority control}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushyhead, Jesse}}

Category:1804 births

Category:1844 deaths

Category:People from Tennessee

Category:People from Westville, Oklahoma

Category:Cherokee Nation politicians (1794–1907)

Category:Religious figures of the indigenous peoples of North America

Category:Adair County, Oklahoma

Category:Native American tribal government officials in Indian Territory

Category:Native American Christians

Category:19th-century Native American politicians

Category:Trail of Tears survivors

Category:Bushyhead family

Category:Native American people from Tennessee

Category:Native American people from Oklahoma