The Cherokee Grants of North America: The “Siol Lewis”

NB: Help needed with this topic: see bottom of page.

[Following the establishment of the facts about Ludovick Grant, the Cherokee trader, Sir James Grant of Grant, Lord Strathspey, the 33^rd Chief of Clan Grant officially recognised all descendants of Ludovick as the “Siol Lewis” appointing Cherokee national Mrs Patsy Edgar as his first Steward.]

The Story So Far

Background

Today about one third of all Cherokees count Ludovick Grant as an ancestor. The truth about his ancestry has only been established in the last 20 years thereby cleaning up and disposing of an entirely false ancestry promulgated by the late Donald Robinson of Texas, the self-styled “Oukah” of the Cherokees. [For more about him and his claims see Appendix below.]

Nowadays a manuscript record has been widely copied across the internet showing Ludovick Grant on a list of Jacobite prisoners taken at the Battle of Preston in 1715 who was due for execution but whose sentences were commuted to penal servitude in the Americas. This document was unearthed by a researcher commissioned (and paid for) by Jerry Maddox of Atlanta Georgia acting on advice I had given him. Jerry’s researches culminated in his book “The Legacy of Ludovic Grant” (Authorhouse, 2007 ISBN: 978-1-4343-0648-7) now out of print. Apart from identifying the correct family background this book is very helpful in reproducing much of Ludovick’s correspondence giving an excellent insight into the conditions and thinking of the times. The court record shows that Ludovick Grant was a “gentleman” and that he came from the parish of Fyvie in Aberdeenshire.

base map: www.google.co.uk/maps

Jerry’s key role in unearthing the truth about Ludovick’s identity without which further research could not have taken place, making a huge contribution to the heritage of the Cherokees should be given the full respect due. [Regrettably there is a substantial section of Jerry’s book about the origins of the Clan Grant. He did not tell me he would do this and did not consult me about it. The result is that this section is reflective of the “well known facts” as they had pertained before the research initiative of the last 25 years. This should all be set aside as entirely unhelpful. It is on this site that you will find the truth!]

Creichie Estate

Base image: Google maps

Ancestry of the Siol Lewis

Once the general location was established it was relatively easy to identify that Ludovick was born in 1689, the eldest son of William Grant of Creichie and his first wife Katherin Gordon. In as yet unpublished MS documents it has been established that the “fortalice” of the estate – where they lived – was at Andrew’s Ford just south of Fyvie. The family had only recently acquired Creichie and the financial arrangements are yet to be detailed. Before that the family had lived at Conglass, close to Inverurie.

Tracing back through various documents it appears that we can recognise several generations of immediate ancestors for Ludovick:

• John
• William
• Walter
• William
• William

The chronology suggests that John was born c1565.

It appears that it was John who “acquired” Conglass in 1624, but there was no Crown Charter, so probably what he “acquired” was a wadset, apparently from the Urquharts of Craigston. This means that he paid for it, but Urquhart retained the right to redeem it (ie buy it back for the same price) at any time.

The Monymusk Text and others claim that the Grants of Creichie were descended from the first Grants of Ballindalloch. Inspecting the family tree of that house as set out in Fraser’s “Chiefs of Grant” the only candidate available to be John’s father is Master William Grant (probably born c1530x35) who appears to have trained for the church immediately before the reformation but, rather like his rather older contemporary John Knox, his career was in law. This makes logical sense both from the point of view of the naming pattern and because, despite not living on clan lands as such, both he and later generations also served the Grant chiefs in legal capacities. There was also a close social relationship between the Grants of Creichie and the much more powerful Leslies of Balquhain (basically next door to both Conglass and Creichie). There were close marital connections between Ballindalloch and Balquhain extending over several generations.

Fraser has left off the first two generations of the Ballindalloch pedigree which actually traces back to Patrick, the younger of twin firstborn sons (born c 1435) of Sir Duncan Grant who is generally referred to as the 1^st of Freuchie (whereafter the chiefly line).

Ludovick’s early life and why he ended up in America

Financial Instability: It looks as if William Grant acquired his charter for Creichie in July 1688 – which is likely to have been the date of his marriage to Katherin Gordon. The family were “gentry” but not wealthy. There are many details which we may hope to unearth once the many manuscript documents identified and copied by Cherokee national Janette Kaiser have been transcribed. But Creichie – the plan to upgrade their status from tacksmen (tenants) or wadsetters to “proper” lairds with a Crown Charter may have been a financial step too far.

William was not to know what was coming, but Scotland was soon plunged into financial chaos by the failure of the ill-fated Darien Scheme. This disaster led to the union of the parliaments in 1707 when the Scots went cap-in-hand to Westminster for the bail out so sorely needed. Documents yet to be transcribed show many lawsuits involving creditors of the Grants trying to get their money back – and even Ludovick appeared in one court case to give evidence (in 1713).

Religious Turmoil: Although Master William Grant trained for the church we have no evidence that he ever held clerical office. As a Catholic priest celibacy would have been required, but the Scottish Reformation which had arguably started in 1557 was complete by 1560 – leaving William free to marry. However this bald statement is deceptively simply. Scotland was riven by religious dispute.

1. Resistant Catholics: Many Scots wanted to remain Catholic. Ludovick’s own step-great-great grandmother (Elizabeth Leslie of Balquhain) was excommunicated in 1660 in her very old age for “popery”. Her husband, William, might have suffered the same penalty had he not died two years earlier.

2. Presbyterians: The hard line reformists were Presbyterian: they had no truck with bishops and the like. Eventually to press their case they formed the Covenanters, signing the “Solemn League and Covenant” to resist both bishops and the associated strong influence if not control of the kings.

3. Episcopalians: Caught in the middle were many Christians who wanted the authority of bishops and who did not mind the kings exercising considerable control. North East Scotland was a particular focus for this adherence.

4. Witchcraft: This was also a time when witch hunting was at its height. It was bad enough that innocent people were being accused in this way and then tortured and murdered/ executed on the flimsiest of grounds. But really no-one was safe as many false accusations were made out of spite or to settle old scores.

Like their patrons, the Leslies of Balquhain and the Urquharts of Craigston, the Grants of Creichie were staunchly Episcopalian which left them on the margins of the law. It also meant that when King James VII and II was ousted from power in 1688 their natural allegiance was to the Jacobites seeking his return to the throne. Even when James died in 1701, their allegiance was transferred to his son James – the “Old Pretender”. This led also to further financial discomfiture when Jacobites came about demanding money to support their various risings.

How Ludovick acted: It is clear from the above that Ludovick was well aware of the situation he was facing and that he was far from being the master of his own fate. At this stage we do not know how it came about, but in 1710 he married a young widow, Margaret Redman and went to live with her in the Canongate in Edinburgh. It appears that she had been married to a lawyer named George Bethune; he had died leaving her with an infant daughter named Mary. Margaret Redman was a “merchant” with some very upmarket clients. The marriage was “irregular” – it was conducted in her house by a John Barclay who, because he was an Episcopalian minister was not actually allowed to perform marriages. [The Bethunes too were ardent Episcopalians.]

As we know in 1715 Ludovick abandoned his wife and his step daughter to join the Jacobite army and the rest in history. He was still only 26 years old. Seven years of penal servitude in America means that he should have been able to return before 1725, but we know that he did not.

There are reasons to suppose that there would have been a good enough flow of information back and forth between Ludovick and his family in Aberdeenshire and indeed with his wife in Edinburgh and there is still hope that some details might emerge.

Creichie estate was finally bankrupt in 1722; this is likely to have been precipitated by the death of Katherin whose family may have been bailing them out. William remarried and went to live at Ardfork (presumably as a tacksman) where he died in 1732. This appears to have been courtesy of the Leslies of Balquain.

Margaret Redman filed a lawsuit for “adherence” in 1736. This resulted in a court order requiring Ludovick to return to the marriage and behave like a proper husband – and also to pay her compensation for all the missing years. Of course this was a polite fiction. This legal exercise was a necessary precursor for an official divorce. But we do not know why and we do not know why she waited so long. There are some documents awaiting transcription and others which should exist but are still to be located which may throw more light on the details. Margaret Redman died in 1750.

It is clear that Ludovick regretted how things had come to this pass. The most clear-cut testament to this is that he called his Cherokee daughter Mary.

Afterword

There are over 300 pages of manuscript already photographed which need transcribing and there are other documents which need to be located so that they too can be digitised.

Appendix: The “Oukah”’s claim

Donald Robinson was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma 28^th November 1929 and died May 21^st 2014. His obituary can be seen at

obituaries.muskogeephoenix.com ~ donald-robinson

The claims made by Donald Robinson can (as of January 2025) still be found online at oukah.fortunecity.ws. Here is the text:

Scottish-Cherokee Patriarch: SIR LUDOVIC GRANT, 2nd BARONET OF DALVEY The Scottish trader, who married a fullblood Cherokee woman, has descendants today numbering between 50,000 and 100,000, a fourth to half of the registered Cherokees today. The Oukah grew up thinking that the MacDonald and Ross Scottish families were his finest heritage, and indeed they are Scottish clans beyond compare. But, in doing the research of his g-g-grandmother a few years ago, the Elizabeth Pack Fields who married Dayunita, he came to a great appreciation of the descendants of Ludovic Grant.

Some books say that there was a Ludovic Grant of Scotland, a baronet, who was captured in the Jacobite Rebellions (trying to restore the descendants of James VII of Scotland to the British throne). His lands were confiscated and his title revoked. The Oukah's recent research (remember you read it here first!) reveals that our Cherokee ancestor was not descended, from a Scottish baronet, but he WAS HIMSELF that Baronet of Scotland (2nd Baronet of Dalvey). It seems that he and his Scottish troops were captured at the famous battle at Preston, and banished to the "American Plantations".

According to the "Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650-1775", by David Dobson, Genealogical Publishing Co, Baltimore, 1983, it says of Ludovic Grant: Jacobite captured at Preston. Sent from Liverpool to South Carolina on the SUSANNAH, 7 May, 1716.

Some years later we find Ludovic Grant in the Cherokee Nation, where he established a trading post and married a full-blood Cherokee. They had one daughter, Mary. Mary had three daughters by the trader, William Emory, named Mary Emory, Elizabeth Emory, and of all things, SUSANNAH Emory, evidently named for the ship that brought Sir Ludovic Grant to America.

Mary married Ezekiel Buffington and produced many notable Cherokee men, including Principal Chief Thomas Mitchell Buffington, 1899-1903.

Elizabeth married John Rogers "White Trader" and her descendants include Tiana Rogers (wife of Sam Houston), Will Rogers, and William Charles Rogers, Principal Chief 1903-1917.

Susannah Emory married three times. One husband was John Stuart, the British Superintendent of the Southern Territory. Another was Joseph Martin, the only person in history who was the Brigadier General of both Virginia and South Carolina. Another husband was to Richard Fields, a noted trader, from whom many of us today are descended, including the present King and Emperor.

Ludovic Grant, being of good family and well educated, became the agent and correspondent of the Governors of South Carolina. His letters, informing the governors of the happenings and situations within the Cherokee Nation, are published in the Chronicles of that state. He was one of the few traders who were honest and respected, and he deplored the bad others in his letters to South Carolina.

When a strange Scottish baronet named Sir Alexander Cumming visited the Cherokee Nation in 1729-1730, he was met on his second day inside the nation by a fellow Scotsman who was to be his interpreter. The strange happenings of that visit are duly recorded, along with the strange erratic behavior of Sir Alexander Cumming. It was during that visit that Sir Alexander suggested that King Moytoy of the capital city of refuge, Echota, be given the English title of "Emperor", and it was so done and approved by the Echota council.

Sir Alexander later took seven Cherokee men with him to England where the first treaty between the Cherokees and a foreign nation was made in April, 1730. Sir Alexander's American crimes caught up with him, however, and he spent most of his life thereafter in prison in England.

In all this time, and in all these happenings, Ludovic Grant did not reveal that he himself was (or had been) a Baronet of Scotland, himself. Was he actually behind the visit of Sir Alexander Cumming. Did he suggest the "Emperor" title for the Cherokee ruler? Did he at all suspect that some of his Cherokee descendants would end up with that title, and even own and use it today? The questions may never be answered.

Did Ludovic Grant and Sir Alexander Cumming know each other before Cummings strange visit? Were they related? You see, the present Oukah's research has also uncovered the fact that Sir Ludovic Grant's grandmother was Agnes Cumming.

We have created a 11x17 genealogical chart of Sir Ludovic Grant, from whom the present Oukah is descended in several lines. If any of the other descendants would like a copy of this chart, which lists the MAJOR Cherokee descendants of note, they can put a dollar bill into an envelope addressed to TRISKELION PRESS, PO BOX 190313, DALLAS, TX 75219 and we will send them a copy of it.

Lee MacDonald

Fact: Just to allay all doubts, here is what Sir William Fraser notes about the Ludovick Grant to whom Lee MacDonald alludes:

Ludovick Grant of Dalvey. He was infeft as brother-german and nearest heir male to Sir James Grant of Dalvey in the lands of Dalvey on 22^nd August 1695, but did not assume the dignity. He died on 4^th January 1701 s.p,

So for me it was only a matter of looking up the entry in Fraser's “Chiefs of Grant” (as he could have done) to see that Donald Robinson was promulgating nonsense, but when I first came across it I did not know what the truth was.