Rosemary Durham

The New Year is a gift to restart, rethink and rejoice!

January 6, 2022 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Happy New Year! Happy is invariably associated with New Year. No one is looking for the same old thing, the same old problems, the same old circumstances as last year. Each has hope that the New Year will be different, be better, be a good…

What were Christmases like in early Indian Territory?

December 23, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its particular political and religious attitudes.] Christmas! What other Holy Day creates such feelings of joy, happiness, mirth, merriment, and despair? I am naturally of the ‘feel good’ temperament driven by dopamine, but also see the melancholy side of many. To everyone, the year has been fraught with frustration, apprehension, and…

Taking care of a troubled youth in a lifelong relationship

December 16, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] The clan from Hiwassee was some of the first of the Old Settlers into Arkansas on their way to Indian Territory. They originally lived on the 400-acre island at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee River. They were the “Red” Paint (A Ni Wo…

A community of mission leaders helped bring about peace

December 9, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Among the very first Old Settler Cherokees, who migrated from near Chickamauga, Tennessee, was a distinguished clan who influenced the nation to this day. Talontuskee (Disrupter) was the leader of the tribe after 1817 while they lived near Illinois Bayou and Petit Jean Creek along…

The story of Indian Territory is a blending of cultures

December 2, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] As I sit at my computer, looking through the windowpanes across the valley at the next ridge, I am awestruck at the beauty of God’s creation. The fall colors are just past peak, but stunning red oaks, with remnants of golden green on the white…

The mother of a Cherokee clan truly changed the world

November 25, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] The leaders of the Old Settler Cherokee who moved west of the Mississippi were of the same clan, and apparently the same mother. For over 30 years, we have pursued genealogy with history. Deciphering the mothers of the late 1700s is extremely difficult. Why? Until…

The New Madrid earthquake shook up a lot of Indians

November 18, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Road trip, some of our favorite words. Ehh, we have to navigate Memorial Drive to reach the backroads. The first villages of Old Settler Cherokee had moved from Tennessee to the New Madrid area, west of the Mississippi River the year before the great earthquakes,…

Crossing the Mississippi River was a complicated process

November 11, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] The movement of the southeastern woodlands Indians across the Mississippi River occurred over a century in spurts. As a new village chief became frustrated with the state-of-affairs, he would move his clan across the great river to get away from the burgeoning United States and…

Confrontation follows the loss of freedom

November 4, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] In 1803, the Native Cherokee were one Nation since the British coercion to combine under one leader. After 1794, they had ended the American Revolution against the Americans. Many were amalgamating and moving into the American lifestyle and culture. Those who demanded greater freedom of…

The proud Cherokee Nation began as the tribes merged

October 28, 2021 Dr. Marcus O. Durham Rosemary Durham

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] In the colonial period, most Native American clans were simply a village or two. Those who spoke a common language, such as Iroquois by the Cherokee, would live in the same general district and may trade, but most often did not have a centralized government…