I wrote my thanks back to him for the nice letter and shared that my Aunt Lillian (Goin) McKinney was a close friend of Eleanor. They both had attended the red brick school when they were students.

I attended the grave service when Eleanor died back in the mid nineties. Eleanor was the granddaughter of Dr. George Key. Dr. Key was the first school teacher and minister at the Methodist Church of Onega.

We are honored to have several ninety-year-old youngsters still in the area. There is Lorraine Stephens, who has just celebrated her ninety-five years. Mrs. Stephens was a Belcher originally. Mrs. Corrine Adcock has also just turned into the nineties. I know there are others in the neighborhood, please let me know. These old young historians help me keep me straight on information locally both then and now.

Since last week, when I discussed Indian graves in the area, I have heard from several people who have observed several strange carvings on old rocks and boulders. There are many large iron rocks in the area that have carvings on them. I am inclined to believe these were markings of the Native Americans that were here before us. The Caddos, Kiowas, Keechies, Ionies, and Tonkawas had dwellings in the Trinity water sheds some time before the Cherokees began arriving in the 1840's and 1850's.

The recent descriptions, make me think that the carvings are Cherokee, because the markings resemble the Cherokee alphabet which was created by Chief Sequoyah. He could have been in these parts; it has been discovered that he had friends all of the way from the Preston Crossing in Grayson County to the Rio Grande River near Piedras Negras. His burial location was a few hours away from Piedras Negras, as the travel is today, but took days back in the 1830's.

Chief Sequoyah was raised in the Cherokee Nation before it was dissolved on orders from the federal government. He grew up in the Smokies near the Old Fort Loudoun. After Sequoyah became popular after creating the Cherokee alphabet, he sat for a portrait in Washington around 1828, where his statue is now located. In a twelve-year period, he came from a Cherokee with no schooling, and with little help from others, developed and wrote a language so simple that many learned to read in a short time.

He used the white man’s idea of writing words, which he called "talking pictures." Sequoyah took Cherokee words and divided them into sounds. He took the Cherokee words and divided them into sounds.

For each word he chose a letter from English or German pages. He found 86 characters in all. Thus, a three-syllable word required only three characters. A small book with 500 words plus an equal number of names and phrases is available at the Cherokee Publications at Cherokee, North Carolina.

Sequoyah built a small home in Oklahoma during 1820's and continued developing his vocabulary before he met opposition from others and decided to leave. He came through this area and made his way down to the river with opposition forces which included the United States Army. He found his way to a small village in Mexico where he had many Cherokee followers after his arrival. He made his final home in and near a Mexican Fort that still has remains as of today.

He died in a cave of rattlesnakes that were in place to protect and keep his remains from vandals. He succeeded in his last venture; the rattlesnakes still stand guard at his tomb.

The photo is of a carving on a large boulder on the Cagle Hill Ranch. This is the Ranch that will be hosting the Cherokee Heritage Festival on April 17. Make plans to drop by for a good day’s entertainment and a group of fine people. Don’t forget to look at the big boulders for some of the markings that are over centuries old. The large boulders are not generally tomb markers; they are too large to move around from one location to another.