ISAAC CHANDLER 1783

Just as the American Revolution was winding down in 1783, Isaac Chandler was born in North Carolina. Sometime between 1783 and 1790 – the year of the first U.S. Census – Isaac moved with his parents and siblings to Greenville, South Carolina.

Isaac’s father purchased land in the Mountain Creek area of Enoree River (present day Travelers Rest) in Greenville County, South Carolina. Isaac, a descendant of John Chandler who landed at Jamestown in 1610, descends through the Amelia County William Chandlers. He was the grandson of William Chandler, born 1730, and Elizabeth Nelson who was born about 1732. Both William and Elizabeth were born in Virginia; they married about 1751 in Amelia County.

His father was William Chandler, born 1755, who died in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1818. When William Chandler died intestate in 1818, the state appointed Isaac and a brother-in-law, James H. Gilreath, as administrators of William’s estate.

Isaac had four brothers – William, John, Benjamin and Joseph – and six sisters – Nancy, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Mary, Rebecca and another daughter whose name is unknown except that she married James Hooker. The children were all listed in the probate records; the married females were listed using their married name.

Isaac married Martha Pennel before 1809 in Greenville, South Carolina. He and Martha had the following children: Benjamin, Christina, Tyre, John, Joel, Bethia, Pennel, Elizabeth, Vincent, and Minerva. Martha Elizabeth, another daughter listed in his will in 1854, is believed to be his granddaughter and a daughter of his son Benjamin.

The 1820 U.S. Census shows Isaac, his wife and six children in Greenville, South Carolina. It is believed the family moved to Chattooga County, [1] Georgia in the early 1830’s after Isaac and Martha sold two parcels of land totaling 125 acres in November 1832 that was located on the Enoree River in Greenville, South Carolina. This county was laid out from Walker and Floyd, in 1838, and derived its name from its principal river, Chattooga. Summerville, situated in Chattooga Valley, is the county seat and lies one hundred and ninety-five miles from Milledgeville.

The face of the country is uneven, traversed by mountains and ridges running northeast and southwest. Although a small county, it contains much good land, interspersed with rich, delightful valleys and mountains.

Isaac Chandler was among the first settlers of this county, which by 1850 had grown to include 869 families and totaled 5,135 free citizens with 1,680 slaves. Isaac’s family managed to survive the ravages of smallpox, which made its appearance in the valley around the end of the Revolution.

They are listed on the 1840 and 1850 US Census records for Chattooga County. It appears that Isaac had settled his family in Broomtown Valley, which is nestled among the north Georgia Mountains. Some of his married children and a nephew, James H. Gilreath Jr., also settled in the Valley.

Isaac Chandler, a farmer who was one of the very first settlers in Chattooga County, fulfilled his life in 1854 in Broomtown Valley, where he is buried. Ten years after his death, the peaceful valley was disrupted by the Civil War. Many of Isaac’s descendants who remained in Chattooga County experienced the wrath of Sherman’s March to the Sea.

A very large Indian town – called Island Town – was located near Summerville. The principal chief of this town in 17— was Cabin Smith, one of the signers of the treaty concluded at the Cherokee Agency, July 8, 1817, and also at the treaty at Washington, February 27, 1819. Broomtown was situated west of Island Town. It was named after The Broom, chief of Island Town and whose name is affixed to the treaty concluded at Tellico on October 24, 1804.

One of the more interesting stories about Broomtown concerns Sequoia, or George Guess.[2] He invented the Cherokee alphabet, which has been hailed as one of the most remarkable circumstances which has ever occurred in the history of the Indian tribes of America. The American Cadmus was an illiterate Cherokee tribe. They did not speak or understand the English language and alphabet. Instead, the tribal language was perhaps the most copious of any Indian dialect on the continent, composed of various combinations of about sixty monosyllables.

Sequoia labored for two years to ascertain the radical particles of his native tongue. He then invented a representative character for each. He then formed a complete, and perhaps the only syllabic, alphabet in the world. It was truly an astonishing accomplishment by a person of no ordinary mind. As he was working on his alphabet, Sequior would generally sit apart from his companions, apparently deep in thought, while making marks on the ground. With true Indian taciturnity, he declined speaking to anyone about his work until it was finished. He then took one of his brethren aside, and explained to him his new invention, and ended with saying “We can now have speaking papers as well as white men.”

The extreme simplicity of the plan was such that anyone, after fixing in his memory the names and forms of the letters, immediately possessed the art of reading and writing. Even more important, the whole could be acquired in one day. After only two or three years since the alphabet was finalized, reading and writing became o general among the Cherokees that they began corresponding by letter between the different parts of their territory. They also took receipts and gave promissory notes in their affairs of trade.

While Sequoia adopted a few of our manuscript letters, probably the only ones he knew of, nearly all his characters are of his own invention.

Another interesting article about Sequoia and his invention comes from the Missionary Herald for October 1828. It reads as follows:

“Mr. Guess is, in appearance and habit, a full Cherokee, though his grandfather on his father’s side was a white man. He has no knowledge of any language of the Cherokee; consequently, in his invention of the alphabet, he had to depend on his own native resources. He was led to think on the subject of writing the Cherokee language by a conversation which took place one evening at Sauta. Some young men were making remarks on the superior talents of the white people; one said that white men could put a talk on paper and send it to any distance and it would be understood by those who received it. They all agreed that this was very strange, admitting they could not see how it could be done. Mr. Guess, after silently listening to their conversation for awhile, raised himself and putting on an air of importance, said: “You are all fools; why, the thing is very easy; I can do it myself” and picking up a flat stone, he commenced scratching on it with a pin. After a few minutes, he read to them a sentence which he had written by making a mark for each word. This produced a laugh, and the conversation on that subject ended.

But the inventive powers of Guess’ mind were now roused to action, and nothing short of being able to write the Cherokee language would satisfy him. He went home, purchased materials, and set down to paint the Cherokee language on paper. He at first thought of no way but to make a character for each word. He pursued this plan for about a year, in which time he had made several thousand characters. He was then convinced that the object was not obtainable in that way; but he was not discouraged. He firmly believed that there was some way in which the Cherokee language could be expressed on paper, as well as the English. After trying several other methods, he at length conceived the idea of dividing the words into parts. He had not proceeded far on this plan before he found, to his great satisfaction, that the same characters would apply in different words and the number of characters would be comparatively few.

After putting down and learning all the syllables that he could think of, he would listen to speeches and the conversation of strangers. Whenever a word occurred which had a part or syllable in it which he had not before thought of, he would bear it on his mind until he had made a character for it. In this way, he soon discovered all the syllables in the language. In forming his characters, he made some use of the English letters, as he found them in a spelling book which he had in his possession. After commencing upon the last mentioned plan, it is believed he completed his system in about a month.

During the time he was occupied in inventing the alphabet, he was strenuously opposed by all his friends and neighbors. He was frequently told that he was throwing away his time and labour, and that none but a delirious person, or an idiot, would do as he did. But this did not discourage him. He would listen to the expostulations of his friends and then deliberately light his pipe, pull his spectacles over his eyes, and sit down to work without attempting to vindicate his conduct. After completing his system, he found much difficulty in persuading the people to learn it; nor could he succeed, until he went to the Arkansas and taught a few persons there, one of whom wrote a letter to some friends in this nation, and sent by Mr. Guess, who read it to the people. This letter excited much curiosity. Here was a talk in the Cherokee language which had come all the way from the Arkansas sealed up in a paper, yet it was very plain. This convinced many that Mr. Guess’ mode of writing would be of some use. Several persons immediately determined to try to learn. They succeeded in a few days, and from this it quickly spread all over the nation. The Cherokees (who, as a people, had always been illiterate) were, in the course of a few months, without school or expense of time or money, able to read and write in their own language. “

[1] Historical Collections of Georgia – Chattooga County, downloaded January 2011 from Ancestry.com

[2] This information came from an article in the miscellaneous department of a Northern paper, but there was no acknowledgement of the source whence it was derived. It was reprinted in The Sparta Republican, and has been adapted from that newspaper article.

Submitted by Jon Chandler [coyote1jon2@att.net]