Sequoyah

Born January 1, 1767, in Tukasee, Tennessee

Sequoyah (circa 1767–1843), known as George Guess, Guest or Gist, was a Cherokee silversmith who invented the Cherokee syllabary. He was born in Tukasee, Tennessee, which is present-day Vonore, Tennessee, Cherokee Nation and would die in Mexico looking for a Cherokee group who removed in the late 1700s.

At some point before 1809, Sequoyah moved to the Willstown of Alabama. There he established his trade as a silversmith. He may have fought in the Creek War between 1813 and 1814 against the Red Sticks. If he in fact was disabled, it is highly unlikely that he would have fought, but his disability could have even been a result of the battle itself.

Around 1809, Sequoyah began work to create a system of writing for the Cherokee language. From 1828 to 1834 the language was used in the Cherokee Phoenix, which represented the Cherokee Nation.

Sequoyah decided to divide each word into syllables and create one character for each syllable. Utilizing the Roman alphabet and quite possibly the Cyrillic alphabet, he created 85 characters to represent the various syllables. This work took Sequoyah 12 years to complete.

By 1823 the syllabary was in full use by the Cherokee Nation. The writing system was made official by the Cherokee Nation in 1825. It is still used today by many Cherokee speakers, more in Oklahoma than in North Carolina. After the acceptance of his syllabary by the nation in 1825, Sequoyah walked to the new Cherokee territory in Arkansas. In 1828, Sequoyah journeyed to Washington, D.C., as part of a delegation to negotiate a treaty for land in Oklahoma.

His trip brought him into contact with representatives of other Native American tribes from around the nation. With these meetings he decided to create a syllabary for universal use among all Native American tribes. With this in mind, Sequoyah began to journey to areas of present-day Arizona and New Mexico seeking tribes there.

In addition, Sequoyah dreamed of seeing the splintered Cherokee Nation reunited. It was on a trip seeking Cherokees who had moved to Mexico that he died between 1843 and 1845. His exact burial location is unknown.