Life History

Notes

• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
  Meshack Green
  Birth 1717 NC
  Spouse Name Creasy
  Marriage State of SC
  
  One or more genealogies have Isaac Green as the father of Meshack W Green.  But the dates for Isaac Green do not match with the Meshack W Green information I have.  The Meshack born in 1720 could not be the son of this Isaac, son of John Green & Mary Sampson, who was born in 1721, as some genealogies have.
  
  There are further several individuals of the name Meshack Green or some similar spelling, with few details to confirm family relationships.  The name Meshack was very popular around that time, along with Shadrack and Abednego.
  
  Uncertainties
  I have not become fully comfortable with the relationships or fully confident about the family of similar Greens our Meshack goes with.  But we have confirmed that both Meshack and his wife Lucretia Franklin were fullblood Cherokee.  There seems to be a connection to the Gardner Green line of Cherokees, but records are hard to come by to substantiate this.  Circumstantial evidence is strong and is affirmed by several who have probed this matter deeply, many of whom I have worked with.
  
  The line from Meshack down seems firm.  Different genealogies, of varying degrees of credibility, have various fathers for this Meshack.  Suggested names for Meshack W Green's father are Isaac, William and Meshack.  There are dating problems and generational time problems in some of these.  Troy Sims proposes, with uncetainty, that the parents of Meshack W Green are John and Nancy (maiden name unknown) Green.
  
  In September 2019 I made some updates to my tree to include what seem to be the most solid relationships, as proposed by our cadre of Meshack and Gardner Green researchers.  Some of these are uncertain, but may serve as a more solid basis for confirming or invalidating research.
  
  There are several Meshack Greens, and there are some indications they are kin in various ways.  Individual details are spotty.  There were some indications that the 1810 census Meshack is a son or nephew of our Meshack and Lucretia.
  
  New work in 2015 on Meshack's children and their descendants indicated that is unlikely.  I have worked with several descendants on the factors of the Meshack Green and related families, and there are many holes we have not yet entirely plugged.
  
  Cherokee
  In December 2007, working with another Green family researcher, I found references to Meshack and his wife Lucretia (Creasy) Franklin.  The research site discusses the claims by both this Green line and the Franklin family to Cherokee heritage.  DNA findings also connect this Green family to the Greens in Madison, Illinois, who at one time presented their research online. (Unfortunately, this website dropped off the Internet at some point, and I have not found it on any alternative domain.)
  
  Various family researchers present indications and testimonies to Meshack and/or Lucretia's Cherokee origins.
  
  "I have my great grandmother's supplemental application.  Her name was Fannie Bryant Bruce.  Her father was Hardy Bryant.  Hardy's mom was Fannie Green, daughter of Daniel Green & Mary Green.  There was the name Mashack in the old Green Bible, said William Bryant, brother of Hardy Bryant.  They were rejected on their Cherokee blood, but I know they were Cherokee.  Fannie Green was born in 1808, had a brother Isaac 1801, John 1804, Thomas 1806, Fannie 1808, Daniel 1810, Elizabeth 1812, Andrew Jackson 1815, Toliver 1817, Enoch 1820, Isona 1823."
  --  Gary Cruce, message on profile for Mary Green, wife of Daniel John Green, on OurFamily genealogy, 10 July 2015, http://www.ourfamtree.org/browse.php?pid=60396
  
  I have not seen any actual pages from the Green Family Bible, to which I have seen references like this one from Gary Cruce.
  
  Some discussion about the Gardner Green lineage is found on Ancestry.com Discussion lists.  I am not sure if these are publicly available to non-subscribers from links I provide below. It seems quite likely that Meshack belongs to this line of Greens.
  
  That source also reports that Meshack Green lived in the Old 96th District of South Carolina, part of which later went into Pendleton District when it was established in 1789, mostly out of former Cherokee lands.  This is consistent with the information on Meshack compiled by Glenda Pool, reporting Meshack born about 1720 in Pendleton District, South Carolina.  96th District was formed in 1769, then partitioned into smaller areas.  The 96th District name was discontinued in 1798.
  
  Gardner Green family information reports vaguely that the Franklins claim their Cherokee descent from Gardner Green.  This is not clear as to whether it means due to Lucretia's marriage to Meshack, or if the Franklins were previously already kin to these Greens.  Details are spotty.
  
  There is considerable information on this Gardner Green Cherokee family in discussion lists on Ancestry.com.
  --  Gardner Cherokee Green, "Gardner Green, Cherokee 1735-1835," http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.green/12.144/mb.ashx
  
  "Records to this point show that we [this Green family line] most likely came from the Isle of Wight in the early 18th century. Our family migrated into Lunenburg/Halifax/Mecklenberg VA and moved to NC around the mid-eighteenth century.  Then on to Kentucky and the Old 96th District by around 1780's.  We know from DNA studies that we are on the right track with Frederick Green of Lunenburg VA and Meshack Green of Old 96th District that married Lucretia (Creasy) Franklin.  Our family's testimony on their Cherokee applications support these DNA findings that we are related to the Franklins; this is also backed up Gardner Green's location to Esom/Isom Franklin in Greenville SC land plats."
  --  Troy Sims, Gardner-Green Family website, no longer online
  
  "Meshack Green is more likely a brother or uncle to Gardiner Green, born 1735 VA.  Our Dream DNA Links Meshach and Gardner Green.  Also the family coming out of Lunenburg, Virginia, Edward Ware, Henry Ware, William Sizemore, Isom Franklin.  Our family is likely Nottoway Indian that merged with the Cherokee Indian tribe when pushed off their lands. Just speculation at this point.  Although I do find a connection to the doublehead family via and my 4th great grandfather Lewis Green. Cheers."
  --  Troy Sims, Comment on this genealogy in RootsWeb, 29 August 2017
  
  "Isom Franklin is living in Greenville SC in the late 1700's. His land is well into Cherokee territory, and is associated with Henry Sizemore, Meschack Green, Gardner Green, Thomas Franklin, and Ephraim Franklin. I believe Isom's daughter to be Lucretia Franklin that married Meshack Green."  (Troy Sims is a genealogical researcher on the Green familiy line among the various Native American tribes of Virginia and the Caroinas, and a descendant of Gardner Green, related tio Meshack W Green and Lucretia Franklin of Pendleton District, South Carolina.)
  --  Troy Sims, Ancestry Discussion Group, 22 September 2011
  
  P J Martin shares helpful family information that reports that her ancestor John Green is thought to be the son of Meshack W Green and Lucretia Franklin.
  
  "I am a descendant of Lucressa and Adam Campbell.  Cressa is what some call her.  Her father was John Green from the Carolina's. She was of Native heritage, but I am not sure how much.  Adam and Lucressa settled in Jasper, Alabama and owned land near Smith Lake. This was before the Civil War.  They had at least two sons who fought for the Union Army.  They both died of sickness during the war.  Adam and Lucressa were common law husband and wife because she was considered a woman of color by law, due to her Native heritage.  I understand that John Green's father was a Meshach, but have no evidence.  Lucressa and Adam are both buried near Smith Lake."
  --  P J Martin, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 12 May  2014
  
  "Fullblood"
  
  Among the various family sources, there are reports of Cherokee descent for either one, or for both Meshack and Lucretia.  Some say "part or full blood."  Due to the confusion in claims in the various sources, it seemed unlikely that either one was full blood Cherokee.  But again, as I say, details are unclear, and reports are spotty and not fully consistent.
  
  This term "fullblood" also is tricky and misleading in usage, or at best ambiguous. What does the speaker/writer actually have in mind and imply by this arcane term?  it is not a scientific term.  Blood itself does not actually indicate ethnic heritage.
  
  We are all mixed with all kinds of human DNA.  Virginia and other Eastern Native Americans bean intermarrying with European immigrants very early on.  It appears often what unsophisticated writers mean by "fullblood" is in the social culture and clan structure of the Cherokee or Pamunkey people.  Social and ethnic identification are not the same thing as DNA origins.  The use of the traditional ancient metaphor "blood" for heritage is also misleading when people nowadays tend to conclude this means in a "pure" stream of ethnic ancestry and DNA strain.
  
  A DNA report of a Green group where at least one of them had reported our Meshack W Green as an ancestor seems to prove definitively that Meshack could not be "fullblood" Cherokee, in the popular aand common sense of that word, since his paternal Y-DNA indicates a European genetic haplogroup.
  
  His mother could have been part or fullblood Cherokee.  As we and other resesarchers have pointed out, from very early in European settlement, Cherokees and Euroepans intermarried.  Many individuals, especially European men marrired to Cherokee women became part of the Cherokee ancestral lineage.
  
  Additionally, Cherokees seem to have genetic connections with some Caribbean Native Americans who also had very early input of European genes that may have entered the Cherokee stream.  So what do they mean by "fullblood" Cherokee?  This may be a simplistic use of this terminology.
  
  "According to family history that I have, Gardner Green and Rachel Foalsom registered with the Cherokee Nation as full blooded in 1835, which may have been on the Henderson Roll in Fannin County, "Rocky Creek," Georgia.  They then moved to Randolf County, Missouri (town of Macon) and had children."
  --  Rellen King, Ancestry Discussion Group, 27 September 2010
  
  --------------------
  There were over 200 applications filed from the Green family that Gardner Green was Native American.  These families lived all over the US and could hardly have had very close ties with each other since generations had gone by and separated even more from migrating west.
  
  My grandmother Lillian Golden Green is descended from Gardner Green and told me that we were Cherokee and Sapponi Indian through the Green family.  It's a very hard thing to trace, but I suspect the Native American possibly goes back to the Nansemond tribes of VA, and then merged with the Cherokee in the late 18th century.  The Vann's fighting under Lieutenant Gardner Green when they took Orangeburg from the rebels where Cherokee.
  
  The Gardner Green on the 1835 MS Rolls may have been this Gardner Green's son.  He married Sally Childress in Cumberland Ky in the late 1700's.
  --  Troy Sims, Ancestry Discussion Group, 22 September 2011
  --------------------
  
  DNA
  Troy Sims reported a connection known to him from his side of the family.  He had extensively researched his Green line and their relationship to the Sizemores and Sullivans.  These are names that show up in the information and records for Meshack W Green.  See related comments below by Barbara Cook on the relationship to these various families.
  
  "Thanks for your notes. Off the top of my head, this Meshack Green line is connected to the Greens of Rutherford NC, and Henry Green that died around 1745 Lunenburg Va.  This is confirmed through DNA testing."
  --  Troy Sims, Comment on this genealogy in RootsWeb, 25 September 2011
  
  Sims reports that some DNA tests have been done, and that these indicate Native American origins for Meshack's descendants.
  
  "I was the first one to do a Green DNA research study on this family line.  Initially we had 0 matches.  Now I lost count, over 40 maybe. ... I spent many hours in the Sutro library in San Francisco digging up whatever I could.  And also many hours online. ... So my final thoughts on the matter were the government did not want them to obtain enrollment but rather be assimilated into white society.  That was the government's job.  Eliminate the Indians and take their resources.  There were some other political reasons amongst the tribes to allow this to happen."
  --  Troy Sims, Comment on this genealogy in RootsWeb, 25 September 2011
  
  Lynne Burgess is another researcher with whom we have had considerable exchange on the identity of Meshack, his line and the indications from DNA.
  
  "I was going back through my results and realized one of closer matches by the name of Sullivan (from Tenn) shares Meshack as a common ancestor. The confidence level is 'very high' for the match."
  --  Lynne F Burgess, Ancestry messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 17 September  2015
  
  Another Green line in my genealogy is related in several ways by marriage to my wife's paternal line of McSwains, and the related Padgetts, Bridges, Hamricks and others in Cleveland and Rutherford Counties in North Carolina and neighboring areas of South Carolina.  This would seem to be the line of Greens that Troy Sims referred to in his earlier comments.
  
  In studying Y-DNA reports, I found that a member of this family group, David Howell Green, is reported in the same Y-DNA group as Meshack W Green.  This is based, it seems. on reported ancestors of individuals who have had their DNA tested.  Thus the strength of any DNA relationship in these DNA comparison reports is no stronger than the validity and credibility of the ancestral claim itself.  I have reconstructed David's ancestor tree back to one Joseph Green (1725-1771).
  
  David Howell Green (1824-1863)  is reported in Family Tree DNA in the same Y-DNA12 marker group as Meshack W Green (1720-1799).  These are listed in the Family Tree Green-Greene DNA Project under R1b1a2a1a1b3c, as relatives of Thomas F and Winifred (Seybourne) Green, St Marys, Maryland.
  --  Green/Greene, Family Tree DNA, https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Green/default.aspx?section=ycolorized
  
  The parents of Joseph Green have not been confirmed.  The parents of Meshack W Green, likewise, have not been fully confirmed.  Thus their connection to Thomas F Green is not certain.  However, Troy Sims' determination for Meshack's father as John Green is what we are presenting now.
  
  Another member of this kinship group, named Thomas Norton Green, born about 1500, shares the R-L2 haplogroup of DNA with Meshack W Green  in this same Y-DNA12 kinship group.  These two are the only ones of this haplogroup who are reported in this list of relatives of Thomas F and Winifred (Seybourne) Green.  David Howell Green has a different haplogroup, R-M269.
  
  One thing this tells us is, if this genetic relationship indeed is correct for Meshack W Green, he could not possibly be fullblood Cherokee.  Mitochondrial DNA analysis could tell us the other side of the picture.  So far that analysis and any connection for Meshack has not been conclusive.
  
  Here is a brief description from FamilyTree DNA of the family group and specific Haplogroup L2 for Meshack.
  
  "R1b is a haplogroup or branch of the human family tree of paternal lineages. It is marked by a mutation of the Y chromosome named M343.  P25 and M269 are part of R1b along with several large younger subclades; L21, U152, DF27, P312, U106 & Z2103."
  --  Family Tree DNA, cited in https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/R1b-YDNA/info
  
  For more detail see:
  R1b-L21 Descendants Tree Chart, https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/r-l21/about/background
  
  Early Records
  A Green enumerated as Masheek Green is reported in Pendleton District, South Carolina, the right location for our Meshack.  Rutherford was the neighboring county in North Carolina.  I have not yet been able, however, to verify Meshack's connection to the Green line most plentiful there, related to Henry and Isaac, based on records.
  
  The Rutherford line of Greens were very prominent in other lines there like the McSwains, Padgetts, Hamricks and other intermarried clans of Rutherford.  These are covered in some detail in this genealogy.  This line is found in North and South Carolina and in points west as they migrated out.  Meshack's descendants moved out, too, to settle in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, the on westward in the 1900s.
  
  1790 South Carolina Census, Pendleton District, page 14
  Masheek Green head of household
  3 Free White Males Under 16
  2 Free White Males 16 and Over
  4 Free White Females
  No Slaves
  
  Records report what appears to be this Meshack Green in connection with others originally from Virginia, in land transactions in Pendleton, South Carolina at this time.  Meshack is connected to Gardner Green and the Sizemore family who moved from Virginia to South Carolina, and were of Cherokee descent.  The report of Cherokee descent is strong in various Green genealogies, some of which are no longer posted.  These genealogies mention the Franklins of Meshack's wife Lucretia.
  
  Green-Horton descendant Sheri Horton, who was registered as a member of the Missouri Cherokee tribe, found some information on Meshack's line in Cherokee Records compiled by Bob Blankenship.  She has a copy from another publication by Jack D Baker.  Sheri found an ancestor in Meshack's family, as a son-in-law mentioned in Meshack's will, named John Horton.
  
  "I found my great grandfather x4 in the 1817 Cherokee emigration rolls.  He is also listed on Meshack's will as his son-in-law, as is Isaac Horton who married Meshack' s daughter Mary. The 1817 emigration roll says that those undersigned agree to give up (loose translation in my words) their land in Cherokee territory for land in the Arkansas territory.  Those records are transcribed in a book titled Cherokee Roots vol 1 by Bob Blankenship."
  --  Sheri Horton, personal Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 26 August 2015
  
  The ancestor she is talking about would be John (Brissell) Horton, who married Meshack's daughter Nancy Anne.  Nancy Ann was born before Meshack married Lucretia Franklin.  No name is know for a previous wife of Meshack.  Nancy Ann was about the same age as Lucretia Franklin.
  
  The book by Blankenship is available from several sources, but ranges in price from $10 to $100.  The book is described on GoodReads as "Official United States Government Census of the Cherokee Indian from 1817 through 1924 residing East of the Mississippi River."
  --  GoodReads, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2163608.Cherokee_Roots_Volume_1
  
  --------------------
  Meshack W Greene
  Born about 1716 in Dinwiddie, Virginia
  
  Son of John Green [uncertain] and Elizabeth (Unknown) Green [uncertain]
  Brother of Henry Green, John Green Jr, Mary (Green) Griffin, Shadrack Green and Abednego Green
  
  Husband of Ann (Unknown) Green - married 1736 in VA map
  Husband of Mary (Unknown) Green - married 1746 in Pendleton, SC map
  Husband of Lucretia (Franklin) Green - married about 1749 in SC map
  --  Troy Sims, Email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 18 September 2019
  --------------------
  
  1790: Pendleton District, SC Deeds 1790-1806
  22 Jul. 1790
  Thomas Coker of Abbeville Co., S.C. to John Green of Greenville Co., S.C., for £10
  50 Acres on Hurricane Creek, South side of Saluda River, part of tract granted to Thomas Coker, whereon he now lives.
  Recorded Bk. YYYY, p. 408, 22 Jan. 1789, bd. Crawfish Branch, John Johnston.
  Wit:
  Meshack Green
  Lewis Green
  James Sizemore
  Lewis Green made oath 22 Jul. 1790
  --  originally on the Gardner Green genealogy website, no longer online
  
  Another researcher, Barbara Cook, has shared with me some of her findings, from research on the Franklin side of this lineage.  She has found similar names and relationships.  The James Sizemore mentioned here is likely the same James Sizemore who was a witness in the deed transaction we have just examined.
  
  "You do know Gardner Green owned land next to Isshom [Isham or Issom] Franklin, found on the Internet one time but can't find it now. Did I tell you on my kin's Guion Miller application, she listed my Thomas Franklin born around 1780 as dark complected, coarse black hair.  She is the only one that had seen Thomas Jefferson Franklin.  I believe Ephriam [sic] Franklin and Nancy were his parents.  I have Ephriam Franklin's estate papers, and he names Thomas Bartley Henry and James Sizemore as heirs.  James was married to Patience Franklin."
  --  Barbara Cook, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 4 February 2012
  
  Barbara Cook also contributed the transcription of a deed she had in which Meshack was a witness, which also involved a Sizemore.
  
  "I have a deed from James Johnson to a Thomas Franklin.  I am sure it is not Thomas Jefferson Franklin; it is in 1771.  It has H Sizemore as witness, and Meshack Green.  I have seen the posting many times of Lucretia Franklin marrying Meshack Green, and since Lucretia is also in my line, I figure it is the same bunch, so who is H Sizemore?"
  --  Barbara Cook, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, January 30, 2012
  
  1769/22/Feb. SC Deed Abstracts Vol.IV p.189- Book V3 pp.367-372 L&R
  James JOHNSTON to THOMAS FRANKLIN both of Granville Co., SC.
  (Receipt says paid by Solomon WOOD) 100A on the CHEROKEE PONDS in Granville Co. granted 1 Feb. 1768 to James JOHNSTON surveyed on "warrant of William COCHRAM," bounding on all sides on vacant land.
  Witnesses:
  ISSUM FRANKLIN
  MESHACK GRIM [GREEN JK]
  HENRY SIZEMORE
  Before Lewis POWELL, J.P. on 3 Mar. 1769.  Rec. 14 Aug. 1771
  
  The Sizemore lineage has done a DNA sampling test that went fairly deep into comparison with other lineages showing the same unique Native American marker.  This Indian Y-chromosome gene came from the Caribbean, predating English colonies in Virginia.  They became associated with the Cherokee in the colonies later.  You can read more about the Sizemore Native American genetics here:
  --  Sizemore DNA, http://www.sizemorednaproject.com/history_surname.html
  
  Two different collections of genealogies in Ancestry's Trees have some bits of information, some more helpful than others, as usual in the hodge-podge.  None suggest parents for either Meshack or Lucretia (Creasy or "Creory," probably a misreading of the cursive for Creasy).  The nickname Cready for Lucretia also occurs in other family lines in this historical period.
  --  Lucretia Franklin, http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=26541410
  --  Meshack Greene, http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=41510326
  
  Confusion
  Jess Headley presents the following information and family structure for Meshack and Lucretia.
  
  Meshack GREEN, Birth 1720, Death 1799 in Pendleton Dist, S.C.
  Burial AFT 1850 Gwinnett Co, Ga [51 years after death!]
  Marriage Lucretia FRANKLIN b: ABT 1755 [when he was 35 years old]
  Children:
  Nancy Anne GREEN
  Mary Ann GREEN b: 1767
  Henry GREEN b: ABT 1770 in SC
  Elizabeth GREEN b: 1774
  Thomas GREEN b: 1775
  Daniel GREEN b: 1781
  John GREEN b: 1784
  Francy GREEN b: 1790
  --  Jess Headley, onilne link no longer valid
  
  This burial of Meshack in Gwinnett County, Georgia, seems odd, since his death occurred in Pendleton District, South Carolina.  But look again, this is not only odd, but impossible!  Meshack's family did not wait around 50 years to bury Meshack after 1850, when he died in 1799!  That was 130 years after his birth!  (Don't people ever check their work!?)  So this one entry might call the whole set of information into question.  Fortunately, other sources confirm some details of this family.
  
  There are other obvious errors here, as in the first three or four children.  If Lucretia was born in 1755, she did not have Mary Ann Green in 1767, at age 12!  Other sources have Lucretia born in 1750, but Mary Ann's census record in Gwinnett County in 1850 says she was 88, making her born in 1762, when Lucretia was only 12 years old if born in 1750!  And she did not have Nancy Ann even earlier, or even Henry in 1770, at age 15.  We are approaching reality with the birth of daughter Elizabeth in 1774.  Besides this, In 1770, Meshack would have been 50.  It is not likely he married a teenager.  So let's laugh at this and keep on probing.  Probing still continues in 2015.
  
  Let me here encourage everyone to look at the details you are considering from a common-sense perspective to find obvious errors of age and birth dates.
  
  Along those lines, even the scenario I have narrowed it down to for Meshack W Green presents a couple of problems we have not been able to resolve.  The info we have on children shows Meshack and Lucretia having children at the point where Meshack is already about 50 years old.  That is very late to marry for the first time.
  
  It is possible there was a Meshack who had a son named Meshack who married Lucretia.  But probe as we might, so far no further details or clues have popped up in any of the clever researching we have all done.
  
  World Family Tree Pedigree #3163
  gives name as Meshanks and death date of 1799
  --  Henry Greene family, citing will; date is actually probate date of will, so death would have been a few days earlier
  
  The will (see below) gives place of birth for this Meshack as Pendleton District, South Carolina.  This does not match the reports (in most genealogies) that the siblings born after him are reported to be born in Baltimore!  It appears he was just wedged in to make him fit in this family where he did not really belong.  So the Baltimore group is probably a different line or there are generations missing.
  
  Generations
  Because of the difference in birth place, Meshack and Abednego may be misplaced with this family.  Sources are confusing, and the compilers of most genealogies are not careful, and various information is just flung together.  There were impossibly long gaps in the information from earlier sources, and many details that could not fit as the one family represented in those 2 or 3 genealogies.  But there are still uncertainties as I have constructed the families now.
  
  Glenda Pool's database of what she reconstructed as our family line (received through family channels, not published) includes a listing of residence for a Meshack Green in 1810 in Rutherford County, North Carolina.  This, of course, could not be this Meshack.  But maybe it is his son.  Glenda collected a lot of information but had not sorted and analyzed it.
  
  Names varied considerably in spelling in this era.  Meshack's name is spelled in various sources: Meschack, Mischack, Mishach.  The marriage records in the Yates Collection spells the name Meshanks.  His wife there is stated as Creory (perhaps Creasy).  This spelling for the wife's name is also in his will.
  
  Carolina
  Ancestry.com has the following marriage report on Meshack and Creasy (Lucretia).  Note that this also reports his birthplace as North Carolina rather than South Carolina.
  
  U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
  Meshack Green, Gender male
  Birth 17?? NC
  Spouse Name Creasy ???
  Marriage State SC
  
  In May 2014, I got a note from Sheri Horton, a research colleague working on our Green family line.  She reported she had succeeded in finding a reference to Meshack and Lucretia as the ancestors of reference in the line of their daughter Nancy Ann Green Horton in the Missouri Cherokee Nation.
  
  "I just got my card from the Northern Cherokee Nation for proving John Horton, wife Nancy Anne Green daughter of Meshack Green(e).  I found therm on the Emigration rolls of 1817-1835 That Meshack, Creasy, and Nancy Anne were full Cherokee! [The rolls themselves do not state this;  I have not seen documentation to this effect.  And our DNA information above makes this impossible.] ... They are recognised by the state of Missouri and are working on Federal recognition."
  --  Sheri Horton, Ancestry Message to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 10 May 2014
  
  (See my notes earlier on the usage and meaning of "fullblood.")
  
  This information does not mean that Meshack and Nancy Ann's mother were fullblood Cherokee.  Cherokees had been marrying whites since very early in the colonial settlement process.  Cherokees accepted the white settlers and tended to adopt English names.  It seems a high percentage of the Cherokees intermarried.
  
  Some maintained tribal connections while others moved into the general "white" stream, which actually included a lot of intermarriage with most native tribes along the way.  There wasn't the later "racial" dichotomy we see in the rabid anti-Indian policies of Andrew Jackson.
  
  And if the designation of Meshack as an ancestor is correct in the DNA reports analyzed, he had to have a European ancestor, as explained in our analysis above.
  
  Sheri had earlier mentioned the Horton line.
  
  "Regarding Meshack Greene m Creasy (Franklin ?),  Daughter Nancy Anne Greene married Jonathan Horton, son of Abraham and Martha Brissels Horton. Jonathan of Quaker faith was excommunicated from the church for marrying out of the faith, leading me to believe that my gggggrandmother Nancy Anne Greene was of Cherokee descent.  Jonathan and Nancy's son John married Susan Grider and the family moved to Washington Co Mo.  John a soldier in the War of 1812, had a land grant.  The family remains in Washington and surrounding counties."
  --  Sheri Horton, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 19 October 2010
  
  I think the identity of Jonathan Horton with John (Brissell) Horton is uncertain, due to some discrepancies in facts and details.  Genealogies do report the same parents of Jonathan and John.  (There is some uncertainty about the name Brissell.)  And it is not clear these are alternative names for the same individual.  Two persons may be conflated in some of these genealogies.
  
  Several genealogies do report a daughter of Meshack named Nancy Anne, but report her birth around 1758, about the same time as Lucretia Franklin, who later married Meshack.  This is the Nancy Ann Green that would be of an age to have married John (Brissell) Horton.  This is the birth date usually reported for John Brissell Horton's wife Nancy Ann(e) Green(e).  This would require an earlier first wife of Mesahck.  And given the date of his birth, he likely was married long before he would have met and been able to marry Creasy, born about 1775, according to most sources.  No name or details for any earlier wife is found anywhere, nor names of any earlier children, other than this Nancy Ann, born about 1758.
  
  One or more genealogies report a daughter of Lucretia and Meshack named Nancy Anne Green who was born in 1792.  But this would be too late to be the wife of John (Brissell) Horton, who was born in 1748.  The place of death in Missouri matches the reports of Nancy Ann Green Horton, wife of John (Brissell) Horton.  But maybe her husband John Horton was not John Brissell Horton, but his son or another younger member of the same family.
  
  The following genealogy reports no husband for the Nancy Anne reported as the daughter of Meshack and Creasy Green of Georgia.  Two other similar ones likewise have the later birth date but no husband for Nancy Anne.
  
  Nancy Anne Green
  Birth 1792 in Pendleton, Anderson, South Carolina
  Death 1850 in Washington, Missouri
  Parents:
  Meshack W Green 1720 - 1799
  Lucretia Creasy Franklin 1725 - 1800
  --  Johnson Family Tree, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/25805264/person/12451365083
  
  Branches
  The family name is often spelled Greene, and is found that way in some current genealogies.  These spellings are found in free variation back into the meedieval period Branches of the same family are found in both Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and western states.  The specific line I am following flows from South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas, then Oklahoma.  There are individuals in North Carolina also who may be part of this same line.
  
  There are still branches in all these states, and various ones of us are making connections.  I am not attempting to connect all the many branches and individuals, but my priority is the family line that wound up in Oklahoma, and is intertwined with the lines of Mullinax, Mullins and West along the way.
  
  In the earliest information I received, the name of Meshack's father was William, with sources reporting William's father as either William or Thomas.  From this source I had the birth of Meshack in 1720.  This early birth date could not be substantiated or meshed with other facts.  This is the only source that has a person named William.  Other sources for persons named Meshack Green or Greene have the name Thomas for his father, or lack a father.
  
  Possibilities
  I have found a William Green, whose father is William Green, and who was born in 1702, in Trenton, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.  But there are no names like Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego or Thomas associated with this family.  These names appear only as sons of Isaac as I show here.
  
  This William had a son named William, but he was born in 1743, too late to be the father of a Meshack Green born in 1755.  These are only the most basic of the matching problems I have found with these names.
  
  Names
  Sources report three children of Meshack with the name John:  John, Daniel John and John Henry.  Dates vary so wildly that they are not much help, even in the sources that give separate birth dates for each of the three "Johns."  Another suspicious fact, two girls also have the middle name Ann:  Nancy Anne and Mary Ann.
  
  Meshack's will also has the name Joney (or Joncy) of what appears to be a son, but I can find no other information on a person with such a name.  This could be Johnny, but there is also a son named John in the will.  It could be Joany, but the name is in the list of the sons.  Perhaps it was meant to be Jonsy, but that seems unlikely in light of general naming patterns of that era.
  
  On the other hand, we do see many families in the 1600s-1800s that DO give multiple children the same name, sometimes as a primary name with a different middle name, and sometimes with a different first name and the same second name.  The latter pattern is especially true in the he passing on of maternal family names.
  
  Dates
  I have a problem with the dates given in sources.  Meshack is said to be born in 1720.  The first child we know of, Henry Green, has a birth date of 1770.  This is highly unlikely, if not impossible.  This makes his father 50 years old at his birth -- the birth of the first child!
  
  It is reported that Meshack was married twice.  But all the known children, except the first, Nancy Ann, fit the time period after the marriage to Lucretia Franklin, which would be the second marriage This is rather late, even for a second marriage.  His marriage to Lucretia (Creasy) Franklin was in 1770, according to sources.  He would be age 50 at this marriage, then have all his children from then through the next 20 years, 30 years by some dates.
  
  Twenty years, maybe; thirty years, not likely.  There is likely a generation missing somehow, but no data has been found to help clear up this mystery.
  
  It was October 2010 before I got a solid lead on the first wife and links to other Greens in North and South Carolina.  A Shoemaker genealogy reported a John Green married to a Charlotte, which I have in this lineage.  John is a son of Meshack, and I had no maiden name for his wife Charlotte.  The Shoemaker tree reported her as a Green, with parents I had in this database, connected to the McSwain-Moore line of Greens.  They are in this genealogy because of their son Henry, whose son John Elias married Judith Moore McSwain.  This line is unconnected to the Cherokee Greens.
  
  Further, the Shoemaker data had the parents of John, with a second wife of Meshack as his mother.  She was named as Mary Polly Wiseman.  Though this genealogy suffers some of the confusions mentioned above related to Lucretia's children (and apparently did not know that Creasy was Lucretia), there are some credible features.
  
  Uh, Oh
  There is one big problem here, though.  The wife named in Meshack's will in 1800 is Lucretia!  So this marriage to Mary Polly Wiseman, born in 1860, does not seem possible.  There may still be two similar lines mixed here.  This is a forensic process, not a delivered fiat.
  
  It seems to me that there has to be another generation in here.  This would account for the 50-year spread.  It seems likely that Meshack W had a son, perhaps named Meshack also, who is the father of the children we know of, who are reported as born from 1770 on.  Two of the children supposed to be Meshack W's were even born after Meshack W's death, yet the source makes absolutely no comment about this and other obvious anomalies about this family.
  
  I have not yet fully worked that out, so there are inconsistencies and gaps in my data.  A Meshack Green was born on Christmas day in 1755, but he was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  The names of the different Green(e) families are uncannily similar, in very disparate locations!  It would not seem likely that the Meshack born in Baltimore was a son of our Meshack W in South Carolina, whose descendants later moved west.
  
  The Christopher Family Tree reports that this Meshack Green born in 1755 in Baltimore was the son of Isaac Green born 1721 also in Baltimore.  This Isaac is the son of a John Green in the line of Greens going back to England, and his wife Mary Samson.  This Isaac is in my genealogy.  It appears from that gathering evidence that this line of John-Isaac-Meshack is unrelated to the Meshack and his son Daniel John.
  
  Tenuous
  But the line that our Meshack W seems to be from could be related to that line in Baltimore.  As of February 2012 I had not found a definite connection.  The Meshack born in Baltimore in 1755 moved to Tennessee and died in Morgan County on 1 June 1851.  He was married to Susannah Green (also her maiden name).
  
  This Meshack would be a brother to Shadrick reported in other genealogies as the son of Isaac and Rebecca Green of Baltimore.  One complication in many of these genealogies is that many have reported on one child of Isaac and Rebecca or other generations, rather than all the children to give a picture of the full family.  This makes it hard to confirm siblings and lineage information.
  
  In one genealogy, I did find Isaac Greene as father of all three "Hebrew" boys Shadrick, Meshack and Abednego.  The birth date of Isaac in 1721 and Meshack in 1755 in that genealogy eliminated much of the problem of age and generation matching.  There are many unsatisfactory discrepancies remaining here and in all genealogies I have seen as sources!  I am not fully comfortable with the connection of Baltimore with Pendleton District, South Carolina.
  --  Judith Chadwell, Christopher Family Tree, http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?tid=1248604&pid=-1708233696&ftm=1
  
  Disconnections
  In July 2008, I removed Meshack b 1720 SC from the line of the Isaac and Rebecca Green b and d Baltimore, and added Meshack b 1755.  This gave us other lines to pursue in clarifying these Green lineages, because Judith Chadwell provides the names of Susannah Green's parents, Steven Green and Jemima Cook.  Since Susannah was born in South Carolina, it seems likely she is one of the same lineage as Meshack b 1720 in Pendleton District, SC.
  
  I have, unfortunately, found a large number of genealogies that have Isaac's son as Meshack W, with birth in 1720, even though they also correctly report that his father Isaac was not born until a year later in 1721!  How can this happen?  This kind of boondoggle completely discredits such a genealogy.
  
  There are also some suspicious aspects of the information Judith Chadwell provides about Meshack (b 1755) and Susannah.  I discuss these in the Notes for Meshack Green b 1755.  What is the configuration of Meshack and Susannah's family?  What about Susannah's tie to South Carolina?  Why do these people not tell us where they got their information and how they put it together?!
  
  It is true almost every family I have been tracing came through either Pendleton District, SC, or Rutherford County, NC.  But there are too many niggling details about this Green family situation.  There were many Green(e) families migrating from various places in the UK into similar areas, and following the common path southward then westwards.  Meshack W Green and his wife Lucretia (Creasy) Franklin have been definitely associated with the Cherokee Greens, and have a fairly certain connection to the Gardner-Green Cherokee line.
  
  The connection has been somewhat documented by prodigious researcher Troy Sims, a Gardner Green descendant.  He has relentlessly correlated substantial circumstantial evidence and records.
  
  It seems to me, on the other hand, that several genealogies have confused the different lines of Greens, and similarly-named persons, and I have had trouble clarifying the lineages and relationships.  it is an ongoing project.  The fact that every generation of brothers named so many of their children the same names confuses the matter further.  I have not been able to fully sort out the family lines and generations.  I am working with several other Green lineage researchers to unravel this conundrum.
  
  The Will
  Meshack's will listed wife Creasy [as Creory], sons Thomas, John, Henry, Daniel, and son in law John Horton. Isaac Horton and John Caldwell also appear to have been sons in law, Issac Horton moves on to Hall County, Georgia.
  
  Thanks to Keith Henderson of Alabama for finding Meshack's will.  His information was given to me by a cousin, Glenda Pool.  This has the format of a database transcription.  Probably from an early service like Genealogy.com, which was bought by Ancestry.com.
  
  MISHACH GREEN's WILL
  Wife Creasy Green
  Sons Thomas Green, Daniel Green, Henry Green, Joney Green, John Green
  Daughters Nancy Green
  Other Heirs John Caldwell [Cadwell], Elizabeth Smith, Issac Horton
  Location waters of Coxes' Creek
  Executors wife Creasy Green, son Thomas Green
  Witnesses George Anderson, Lemiel Thomason, Moley Anderson
  Will dated 19 Mar 1798, Probate 24 Jan 1799
  Record Book C, p 151, Roll 242
  Recorded 24 Jan 1799, roll 461
  Pendleton District, South Carolina
  
  A A Smith comments on this transcription, stating that she has a copy of the handwritten will, and there the name rendered Caldwell in the transcription is written Cadwell.  This was a known family living in the area, as the comment below explains.
  
  "In the will of Meshack Green he mentions John Cadwell, not Caldwell.  I am researching John Cadwell whose older children were born in NC but his younger children born after 1796 were born in SC..  John Cadwell and his wife Mary moved to Christian Co. KY in 1806 from Pend. Dist. SC.  They are listed in tax records in KY as early as 1806.  They had a daughter, Nancy Cadwell, b. 1802 in SC who married John Kesterson in 1819 in Christian Co. KY.  Nancy and John Kesterson had a son Harvey who was living in the Cherokee Nation.  We believe they had Indian blood on both sides.  The Kestersons were originally from Northumberland Co. VA to Fauquier Co. VA to Green Co. TN to Christian Co. KY.  I always wondered why Meshack Green gave land to John Cadwell.  I have a copy of the will and it says Cadwell not Caldwell.  John and Mary Cadwell had a son, John G. Cadwell, b. 1800 SC."
  --  A A Smith, Comment on Ancestry.com, 03 Jul 2014
  
  Pendleton District was later divided into smaller counties, and previous Pendleton Records were housed in Anderson County, South Carolina.
  
  Some sources report a Meshack Green dying in Morgan County, Tennessee, on 1 June 1851.  This would be a different Meshack Green, since we know from the will that our Meshack died in 1799.  The Tennessee Meshack Green appears to be from a Baltimore, Maryland line.  It is not clear if the Tennessee Meshack is part of this same family line or a different one.  It appears that this Meshack Green from Baltimore was the son of Isaac and Rebecca.
  
  Some genealogies place our Meshack W Green (b 1720) in the place of Isaac and Rebecca's son Meshack Green (b 1755).  But they can't be the same person.  There is no record of Meshack W Green ever living in Morgan County, Tennessee.
  
  There is a Meshack Green in the 1810 Federal Census, Rutherford County, North Carolina, census.  This census report is cited by Glenda Pool, who otherwise has the earlier dates for Meshack W Green.  This has to be a DIFFERENT, younger Meshack, since the first one died in 1799.  The date of probating of the will is 24 January 1799, meaning that Meshack likely died in January 1799.  Since this is AFTER the death date, the 1810 Meshack is likely a son or nephew.
  
  Shadrack
  No Shadrack has been confirmed as a son of Meshack W Green, whose own father is also uncertain.  There are three Shadracks in the line of Greens related to Isaac and connected to the McSwains and others of Cleveland County, North Carolina.  This lineage is does not appear to be related to the line of Meshack W Green and Lucretia Franklin.
  
  Shadrack who was born in 1800 has been confused with the Shadrack who was Meshack W's brother, born sometime in the 1770s.  We know the Shadrack born in 1800 had a son also named Shadrack, born about 1824.
  
  It seems likely that Meshack's son Shadrack has been confused with Shadrack's son, also named Shadrack, the one born in 1800.  This would mean there are likely three Shadracks in the line from Meshack W and his brother Shadrack's generation.
  
  We continue to probe for clarification on this family and the early generation of Greens in South Carolina, Georgia and points west from there.
  
  I suspect a similar generational confusion with persons named Daniel.
  
  Affirmations
  ---------------
  Finally the real story of Meshack W. Green.  Found Mishack Green's will on the South Carolina Archives that you talked about in one of your articles online about Meshack Green, Lucretia Franklin.  I have seen a lot of information and it's confusing.
  
  Thank you so much for your research and work on these Greens, helping us Green descendants to understand what is not/what is true.
  
  I am a direct descendant of Louallen/Lewallen Green and Jane Maria Cook, SC/GA.  Also in this family, Jeremiah Green/Eliza Nalley, South Carolina.
  --  Sharon Marshall, comment on this genealogy on Ancestry, 3 August 2016
  ---------------
  
  From the research of Orville Boyd Jenkins, boydorvillegmail.com
  
  These notes last reviewed and updated 23 September 2019

Sources

• 1. 1790 Federal Census, Pendleton County, South Carolina
• 2. Glenda Pool, William Green Genealogy
  • Name: private, received through Green-Bearden family channels;
• 3. Ancestry Trees
• 4. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
• 5. South Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1670-1980
• 6. World Family Tree Vol. 13
  • Pedigree #3163
• 7. Ancestry Trees
  • Jess Headley, http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2716375&id=I26818
• 8. Email Sources
• 9. OurFamily Genealogy
• 10. Lynne Burgess
• 11. South Carolina, Deeds
• 12. Ancestry Trees
  • Jess Headley, http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2716375&id=I11030
• 13. 1820 Federal Census, Pendleton District, South Carolina
  • 7 August 1820 7 (no date on page), p 37
• 14. 1850 Federal Census, Anderson District, South Carolina
  • 12 October, Western Division, p 161, Hse #1197, Fam #1201
• 15. World Family Tree Vol. 4
  • Pedigree #1286
• 16. 1840 Federal Census, Hall County, Georgia
  • District #507, page 65
• 17. 1830 Federal Census, Hall County, Georgia
  • page 125
• 18. Ancestry Trees
  • Shaking the Tree, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/4808256/person/-1513526782
• 19. Ancestry Trees
  • Richard Bates, http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rbbates1302004&id=I02824
• 20. 1850 Federal Census, Hall County, Georgia
  • 21 August, page 707 (scan page 353), Hse/Fam #84
• 21. Ancestry Trees
  • Rosenbaum/Driscoll, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/26471681/person/1969545353?ssrc=&ftm=1
• 22. Ancestry Trees
  • Jess Headley, http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2716375&id=I26870
• 23. 1820 Federal Census, Pendleton District, South Carolina
  • Enumeration Date 7 August 1820 7 (no date on page), p 37
• 24. Ancestry Trees
  • http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm-cgi?op=GET&db=*v133t0575&id=I1176&ftm=1
• 25. RootsWeb Trees
• 26. 1850 Federal Census, Gwinnett County, Georgia
  • 25 September, Sugar Hill District, page 388, Hse/Fam #935
• 27. Find a Grave Memorial Registry