WHITETOP LAUREL BAND OF CHEROKEE

first page only

THE METIS HERITAGE

OF THE SIZEMORES

The Story of the

Whitetop Laurel Band
of Cherokees

Whitetop Mountain, located at tristate VA, NC, TN border.

In the late 1830's, Sizemores are said to have taken in

Cherokees who
escaped the Trail of Tears. This is the point at which many
may have
literally become Cherokee. Mom Feather, Chief Elder of the
Southern Band of
Cherokees informed me that Sizemore is a well-known Cherokee
name and that
the Sizemores and other Indian families in Eastern Kentucky
were known as
the Stick People. This name was given, according to legend
because large
piles of sticks high in the Appalachian ridges were used by
Sizemores to
hide large numbers of Cherokees who escaped the horrible
Trail of Tears in
the 1800's. Evidently they later mixed with these Cherokees,
which may have
been the founding of the Whitetop Laurel Band of Cherokees.

This legend is evidenced by the fact that many of our family

stories and
trees trace back to a 2,000 member "Whitetop Laurel Band of
Cherokees",
which existed for at least a decade. The band was founded
sixty years after
the Trail of Tears, and nine years before the Eastern Band of
Cherokees in
1905. The same number of Sizemores, 2,000, applied en masse
for membership
in the Eastern Band of Cherokees in the early 1900's but were
denied for
various reasons. Those who made the decision to reject the
Sizemore claims
were clear in their statement that Sizemores were Indians,
but since none of
their ancestors had willingly registered in any Cherokee
census, they were
not accepted.

The multi-volume book series, Cherokee By Blood documents

this story which
appears to be the primary source of the "White Top Cherokee"
oral tradition
in our family. Vol 1 page 171 bears the testimony of Whitetop
Chief William
H. Blevins:

"The word 'Chief' in my application, means that I am chief of

the White Top
Band of Cherokee Indians, an organization of the principal
Cherokee Indians
living about White Top, and was perfected about ten years
ago. We organized
so as to demand our rights in a body. We thought we had not
been getting
them before. In 1896, we wanted to go to the Indian
Territory, and organized
for that purpose. When the band was first organized there
were about 2175, I
believe. They were all Sizemore descendants. No one else was
allowed to
become a member if it was known. I have read the Decree of
the Supreme Court
of the United States referred to in my application, and have
it at home. My
father, Armstrong Blevins, I do not think was a party to the
treaty of 1836
and 1846. I am putting my own interpretation on the decree."

(Thanks to our relation Bill Fields, editor of Under One Sky,

the Melungeon
information magazine for contributing this)

This documentation does not however, explain the later

infusion of the word
"Laurel" into our modern Sizemore family trees. But we do
know that the
Whitetop Laurel Creek runs off of Whitetop Mountain, and is a
favorite
recreational spot of fly fishermen and kayakers.

One claim for membership in the Eastern Band of Cherokees

stated that
Sizemores were their own tribe in and of themselves, known as
"Sixemore" -
probably due to the Whitetop membership requirement that one
should be of
Sizemore relation. Another said that "Old Ned" Sizemore came
from the
Catawba Nation, a claim that would not preclude his
descendants from later
becoming Cherokees, as Cherokees took in the remnants of many
defeated bands
and tribes. Another family tradition in one of our lines says
that the
surname was created due to poor translation (or
anglicization)of the
Cherokee word "Esiyah", which means literally "large child".
The name was
given to a Cherokee man who was very good with children, and
is reportedly
found on the Dawes Rolls. The same family line is related to
Sizemores in
South-Central Ohio, near the town of Pedro, that still speak
fluent Cherokee
and take part in the traditional corn dance.

Some family trees indicate Whitetop Cherokee roots as early

as the time of
Cheif Redbird (whom Redbird Creek and the Redbird Mission is
named after),
George "All" Sizemore, Aggy Shepherd, Rhoda Sizemore, and
"Old Ned" Edward
Sizemore, all of who lived in the 1800's in Leslie, Maggofin
and Clay
County, Kentucky. These Sizemores migrated from Tennessee,
Virginia and
North Carolina prior to this time, and many lived in the
Whitetop Mountain
border area of Virginia/North Carolina. But for the most part
the time
period in which they lived does not coincide with the stated
lifespan of the
Whitetop band.

Following is an excerpt from an article on the George All

Sizemore and Aggy
Shepard connection to the Creeks and the Whitetop Laurel Band
of Cherokees.
"The marriage of George "ALL" Sizemore to Aggy Shepard
originated from a
raid of Indiams on the white mans camp where they captured a
white girl. In
retaliation, the white men followed and rescued the girl and
captured an
Indian girl who was later given to a white family to raise
(Aggy). Aggy is
thought to have been a Creek Indian. George lived in both the
white man's
world, and the Whitetop Cherokee tribe throughout his life."

"The Indian Chief for whom Red Bird Creek in Clay County was
named is known
as member of the Whitetop Laurel Band of Cherokees from North
Carolina. He
was a great hunter and allured by the game in this remote
region. He finally
took up residence on the creek that bears his name at the
mouth of Jacks
Creek in this county. He came to his death by the abarice of
the "pale
face". There lived with him a crippled Indian named Willie.
This man dressed
the skins which Red Bird brought to their wigwam and looked
after the
culinary department of their house. Some hunters from North
Carolina, greedy
and unscrupulous, came to the wigwam and murdered Willie.
Then they secreted
themselves and awaited the return of the brave chief who had
long before
buried his tomahawk and for years had been living in peace
with the white
man, and as he approached his crude castle the bullet of an
assasin laid him
in the dust. They threw his body into a hole of water nearby
which is still
called "Willie Hole", and from which John Gilbert and others
took him and
buried him. One tradition is that he was sitting on the bank
of a creek
fishing when he was shot and that he fell into the creek."

(Reprinted in Kentucky Explorer, Volume 11, March 1997.

Recorded in the
1870s.)