Talahina (Tiana) Rogers was
born around 1796. Her father, John Rogers (Hell-Fire Jack; Old Headman Rogers)
was one of the most conspicuous white men in the Cherokee Nation. A Scotsman, a trader, he was educated, and
wealthy. According to missionary records,
he was famous for his Christmas parties!
Her mother,Jennie Due, was
sister to a Cherokee chief, Oo-loo-te-ka, called "Chief Jolly" by the
white community. Their Cherokee village
was large by most standards and set up on Hiwassee Island in Tennessee. Later the Cherokee were forcibly moved to the
Indian Territory.
Diana was married to David
Gentry before the Cherokee were removed from Tennessee. Gentry, a wealthy, powerful white man, moved
with the Cherokee in 1817 to Dardanelle Arkansas. He was killed in one of the
battles between the Cherokee and the Osage.
Whites called her
"Diana." Amos Williams, in a magazine article of the era,
commented: "a half-breed of great
personal beauty, and as tall and stately for her sex as Houston himself."
In late May 1830, Sam Houston and Tiana Rogers were married according to
Cherokee law.
Several years after
settling at Houston's trading post, Wigwam Neosho, in the Indian Territory,
Houston grew restless and moved on to Texas; Tiana did not leave her home.
Later, she married Sam
McGrady. In 1838 Talahina (Tiana) (Diana) Rogers Houston
McGrady died of pneumonia. Shortly after her death, thru the help of one of her
father's sons, Judge William Rogers, her father, seized all of Sam McGrady’s
property in payment for a debt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SAM HOUSTON AND TALAHINA
ROGERS
Tiana was 10 years old when
Sam Houston came to their village reportedly carrying a copy of The Iliad in
one hand, and a rifle in the other. He
became friends with her half-brothers, John and James Rogers.
Houston went to live with
John Jolly’s band of Cherokee and Chief Jolly adopted Houston as his own son,
and gave him the name Colonneh, “Raven”.
While in the village, he taught
school and volunteered in the War of 1812, distinguishing himself at the Battle
of Horseshoe Bend against the Creek (Muscogee) Indians.
From 1817 to 1818, Houston
served as an Indian subagent to the Cherokee and helped several bands resettle
in Arkansas and present-day Oklahoma,prior to the mandated forced relocation to
come later. He spent several years among
the Indians before moving back into white society.
Houston's first marriage
failed in 1829. A few days later, he
left Tennessee for “the wigwam of his adopted father, the chief of the
Cherokees." Houston arrived in
Little Rock on May 8, 1829 and took passage upriver and landed at Tahlontuskee,
near Webbers Falls, Indian Territory, where he was allegedly told by Jolly, “My
wigwam is yours—my home is yours—my people are yours—rest with us.” (Jolly’s
“wigwam” was a plantation house. He moved west to
Arkansas Territory in 1818 and was Principal
Chief of the Old Settlers,designation given to the first of the indians to
be moved. He was a wealthy merchant and planter, spoke no English, and
dressed in buckskin with a hunting shirt, leggings and moccasins. He was a brother of Old
Settler Chief Tahlonteeskee, and both were uncles of Cherokee Chief John
Rogers. He was also the uncle of Tiana Rogers, Sam Houston’s Cherokee wife and
of Chief John Rogers, Jr.)
During June and July,
Houston visited in the region and served as
Jolly’s representative at a conclave where he was not successful in preventing a declaration of war between the
Cherokee and the Pawnee and Comanche. He wrote Jackson and others in the government on behalf of
several of the tribes.
October 1829, Houston received his
citizenship in the Cherokee Nation. Houston’s attempt to use his Cherokee
citizenship to avoid licensing as a trader, however, was rejected by the U.S.
government.
In the summer of 1830, the
Raven married Talahina Rogers by Cherokee law.
He built a log house,
“Wigwam Neosho, near the Neosho River, a
little above Cantonment Gibson, and thirty miles from the lodge of
Oo-loo-te-ka." Here Houston engaged in trading, entertaining friends, and
planting his apple orchard.
Between June 22 and December
8, using the pen names “Tah-Lohn-Tus-Ky” and “Standing Bear.” Houston wrote a
series of articles for the Arkansas Gazette dealing with the status of the tribes that
had been removed and attacking the
activities of the Indian agents. These are believed to be the first articles,
written by a westerner, in defense of rights of the
Indians and the exposure of government
corruption.
In 1832 Houston, being a restless soul, took
off to liberate Texas. He asked Tiana to go with him, but she refused to leave
The Wigwam.
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