November 9, 2015
Rowena M Gray,
I am also a descendent of Sally Cleori. She was real. So was Andrew Harris. My father, Andrew LeRoy Brown - AKA Roy Brown, was the son of George Brown and Sarah Harris. I use to hear the family talking about Sally Cleori back in the 1950s and my father did a table of Harris genealogy before his death in 1984.
Let me cover a couple of things in your account that are at odds with all the dinner table talk from the 50s and 60s. Andrew Harris did show up circa 1825 or so. For years it was thought that Andrew Harris came from Ireland. About twenty years ago I was talking with an Irish born Catholic priest who informed me that Harris was not an Irish name. It was a Scottish name. My research indicates that most of the people with that name originated in the Isle of Harris area of Scotland which is an island in the Northwest area of Scotland. I can't verify Andrew's birthday but what you have would make him about 20 plus when he showed up in the area where Sally was located. The story was that Sally was 12 when she met Andrew. She then announced to anybody who would listen that she was going to marry Andrew. Remember that back then there was no such thing as Child Protective Services or anything else that we take for granted today. She marries Andrew and because of the fact that she was married to a white man not have to join any family members who went to Oklahoma on the "Trail of Tears" march. Conventional wisdom says that all the Cherokees were moved out North Carolina and Tennessee, but that is not true. Today, and you probably know this, there exists an "Eastern" Cherokee reservation. There are actually decedents of Sally living there. I talked with the Eastern Reservation office on the telephone about twenty years ago and verified that one of my father's uncles was a resident there before WWII.
Sally went on to have 10 children, the last one of whom was born in 1861. It was a baby girl and her birth name was "Victory." At the end of the Civil War that was changed to LulaBell. She eventually married one of my father's great uncles by the name of Noah Brown. They moved to Northern California and settled in Orangevale California. Noah died in 1916 and LulaBell eventually married someone named Netherland and she also outlived him. I actually met LulaBell when I was about 5 years old in Orangevale where she was in the care of a great, great grandaughter. She died in 1951. I was born in 1946. She is buried in Sylvan Cemetery in Citrus Heights California beside both Noah and Mr. Netherland. I've been to the cemetery.
Three years ago I moved from California (Rancho Murieta) to Texas. At the same time I moved my mother back to her original homestead in Mississippi. She has Alzheimer's and I was able to get her under the care of a niece who was a retired Alzheimer's care giver from Detroit who was also moving back home to Mississippi. During the closing down of my mother's house I came across a large amount of material that belonged to my father. One of the items was a list of Sally Cleori's children. I'm currently remolding the house we bought in San Antonio and when time permits will find that information for you. I'm sure you will recognize several of the names on that document.
If you have an email we can use that method of communications if you desire. I can attach documents and pictures as necessary.
Below is my email address:
Rodney R. Brown
San Antonio, TX
rrbrown@147thhillclimbers.org
Rowena M Gray,
I am also a descendent of Sally Cleori. She was real. So was Andrew Harris. My father, Andrew LeRoy Brown - AKA Roy Brown, was the son of George Brown and Sarah Harris. I use to hear the family talking about Sally Cleori back in the 1950s and my father did a table of Harris genealogy before his death in 1984.
Let me cover a couple of things in your account that are at odds with all the dinner table talk from the 50s and 60s. Andrew Harris did show up circa 1825 or so. For years it was thought that Andrew Harris came from Ireland. About twenty years ago I was talking with an Irish born Catholic priest who informed me that Harris was not an Irish name. It was a Scottish name. My research indicates that most of the people with that name originated in the Isle of Harris area of Scotland which is an island in the Northwest area of Scotland. I can't verify Andrew's birthday but what you have would make him about 20 plus when he showed up in the area where Sally was located. The story was that Sally was 12 when she met Andrew. She then announced to anybody who would listen that she was going to marry Andrew. Remember that back then there was no such thing as Child Protective Services or anything else that we take for granted today. She marries Andrew and because of the fact that she was married to a white man not have to join any family members who went to Oklahoma on the "Trail of Tears" march. Conventional wisdom says that all the Cherokees were moved out North Carolina and Tennessee, but that is not true. Today, and you probably know this, there exists an "Eastern" Cherokee reservation. There are actually decedents of Sally living there. I talked with the Eastern Reservation office on the telephone about twenty years ago and verified that one of my father's uncles was a resident there before WWII.
Sally went on to have 10 children, the last one of whom was born in 1861. It was a baby girl and her birth name was "Victory." At the end of the Civil War that was changed to LulaBell. She eventually married one of my father's great uncles by the name of Noah Brown. They moved to Northern California and settled in Orangevale California. Noah died in 1916 and LulaBell eventually married someone named Netherland and she also outlived him. I actually met LulaBell when I was about 5 years old in Orangevale where she was in the care of a great, great grandaughter. She died in 1951. I was born in 1946. She is buried in Sylvan Cemetery in Citrus Heights California beside both Noah and Mr. Netherland. I've been to the cemetery.
Three years ago I moved from California (Rancho Murieta) to Texas. At the same time I moved my mother back to her original homestead in Mississippi. She has Alzheimer's and I was able to get her under the care of a niece who was a retired Alzheimer's care giver from Detroit who was also moving back home to Mississippi. During the closing down of my mother's house I came across a large amount of material that belonged to my father. One of the items was a list of Sally Cleori's children. I'm currently remolding the house we bought in San Antonio and when time permits will find that information for you. I'm sure you will recognize several of the names on that document.
If you have an email we can use that method of communications if you desire. I can attach documents and pictures as necessary.
Below is my email address:
Rodney R. Brown
San Antonio, TX
rrbrown@147thhillclimbers.org