In the condemnation proceedings to acquire property for the "Great Smokey Mountains National Park" (which would include Cades Cove), Chief OOWAHOOSKEE (pronounced as it appears) had taken a Cherokee Reservation grant number 198 on 21 July 1819. That grant included the same 5,000 acres later claimed by Wilson Burchfield (Blount County entry number 1783 on 21 November 1884). Later, Wilson's sons Ezekiel and Samuel claimed it as grant number 42061 on 26 February 1887. Still later, in 1925, Nathan (Wilson's brother Samuel 'Long Hair's’ son) claimed title to the same land from a treaty of 1783, wherein Congress ceded title to the Cherokees for five million acres between the Tennessee and Holston Rivers and the crest of the Smokey Mountains, now the state line.
Samuel appeared in the 1860 Monroe County, Tennessee census.
According to the 10 June 1899 edition of the Maryville Times, WILSON’s son, SAM “Long Hair” BURCHFIELD was arrested and charged with murder for the shooting death of George Powell, Jr. in December of 1897. (Powell was the nephew of George W. Powell, Sr. who married a Mary Ann Burchfield born 1834). Sam and son-in-law Hale Hughes had conspired to kill Powell because he had given testimony against parties accused of making moonshine whiskey. Hale Hughes was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Hale had written a letter in 1899 which he admitted he and Sam had conspired to kill Powell. According to him, Sam shot Powell but said that if Powell had come by his position - he would have shot him. It was well known that even closely related people routinely betrayed each other. Illegal distilling was a highly competitive business and illustrates how there was a complete collapse of all law or social order in Chestnut Flats.
A description of SAM “Long Hair” BURCHFIELD in the Maryville Times said: Sam Burchfield is a man of 60 years of age, according to his own story, although he does not look it. He is over 6 feet tall, has long coal black hair and a bushy head and moustache of the same color. He keeps his hair curled and takes as much pride in it as any woman. He has been, we are reliably informed, a well known moonshiner, and has been up before the Federal Court a number of times and found guilty.
Samuel claimed to be from the Cherokee Indian bloodline and his enrollment number was 37421.
The application of TINE (WILLIAMS) PENLAND was ultimately rejected, with the note: “Granddaughter of [application] 36529 claims the same source.” Apparently this was a typographical error. The application number in question was actually 35629; the application of NATHANIEL BURCHFIELD, uncle of her maternal grandfather, NATHAN BURCHFIELD??
Why?? TINE (WILLIAMS) PENLAND filed her MASHBURN Indian bloodline through her maternal grandmother, JULIA MASHBURN, and not her BURCHFIELD Indian bloodline through her maternal grandfather, NATHAN BURCHFIELD, is unknown. Perhaps proving the BURCHFIELD Indian bloodline was much more problematic.
Here’s how the Burchfield story goes...
Wilson 'Wils' Burchfield was in Carter County, Tennessee during the 1850 Census. He and his wife, Elizabeth Baker, arrived in the Cades Cove area shortly before the Civil War (probably about 1860). Wils chose to settle in what was later called Chestnut Flats, an area at the southwest end of Cades Cove. A lover of sports and of the wilds, Wils loved to get as far away from civilization as possible. Among his most prized possessions was a flintlock rifle which he named 'Old Bean' after the manufacturer, Bacter Bean. Wils built his cabin just under Gregory Bald in the heart of the Great Smokies to escape
any contact with the cove people. Hating and avoiding contact with any form of institutional life...churches, schools, etc., he cleared his land and grew crops and hunted wild game to support his large family, in complete isolation from the mainstream of the cove people. In 1873, he purchased the George M. Shields grant in the Chestnuts Flats. (from "The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community" by Durwood Dunn)
Wilson made a land entry for 5,000 acres which was on the north slope of the Smokies, including the Tennessee side of both balds. It was approved (#1779, in Blount, Tennessee, dated the 21 November 1884). He later assigned the grant to his sons, Ezekiel and Samuel. On 26 February 1887, Ezekiel and Samuel were granted the 5,000 acres, by the State of Tennessee. (source: Land Grant, Tennessee State Archives)
In early 1905 Nathan’s brother Ezekial died and his wife remarried. She left their seven children with Nathan to raise. During an enrollment of the Cherokees, Nathan was listed as number 36315 and he listed himself as the Nephew of Nathaniel, an older son of Wilson whose number was 35629 (reference: M1104 - roll 284 microfilm) Servilla, Tennessee. Nathaniel was a Cherokee Indian and his enrollment number was 36315. Nathaniel was a Cherokee Indian and his enrollment number was 37423?????
In NATHAN BURCHFIELD’s petition, submitted 23 November 1925 for he, his wife and nine children, he asked for a pro-rata share of the 1,500,000 acres of land he said had been granted to his great grandfather, OOWAHOOSKEE, an Eastern Band Indian. He claimed that on 21 July 1819 OOWAHOOSKEE had been taken to Cherokee Reservation #195 in Tennessee (in Tillico River) in Monroe County, Tennessee. (This information is found in the Deeds Book 96, pp 489-90. It was filed in Knox County, Tennessee). In addition, he said the full blood Cherokee Indian, Isaac Davis was another great grandfather and Elvina Davis was a paternal grandmother as would be shown in the Roll of 1852 of the Eastern Band of the North Carolina Cherokee Indians. Nathan 'Nate' Burchfield had built a cabin on the crest of the Smokie Mountains, between Parson's and Gregory Balds. His claimed title included 5,000 acres of land on the Tennessee side of the mountain.
The courts held that none of the claims were valid. In the Attorney's papers indicated OOWAHOOSKEE’s claim was indeed valid but the Burchfields holding the property could not show legal ownership (documentary proof) of descent. Therefore, the Thompson grant which was otherwise inferior to OOWAHOOSKEE’s claim was deemed valid. The Lumber Companies eventually won the right to cut the trees for lumber.
http://penlandhsinc.homestead.com/Thestoryofgeorgepenland.html
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