Few records exist of the life of women in 19th century America, which makes this rare work by Elizabeth Lowrey Morgan – only recently discovered by her ancestors – an incredible find. She wrote poems and stories in almost every decade of her life, and others wrote about her as well. She wore her heart on her sleeve.
The book is divided into two parts to lift her voice out of the usual historical narrative and focus on her words and her life, with footnotes for context and definitions of words no longer used. Her Morgan family, originally from Wales, and soldiers in the Revolutionary War, eventually became leaders of Eastern Cherokees. Cherokees believed to survive, they needed to be educated and wealthy.
Cherokee culture is a matriarchy. Elizabeth and her sister Cherokee America Morgan were strong-willed, educated in Knoxville’s finest schools for women, lived a rich life with their partners and families, and made a name for themselves and their people. For the first time, here is an introduction to the life of an American as well as Cherokee woman who lived in the South, was caught up in the Civil War in Tennessee, and like other women, experienced the joys and sorrow, wealth and poverty, and drama of their time.
Born in Tennessee the daughter and granddaughter of famous Morgan military, Elizabeth Lowrey Morgan was also the granddaughter of a Cherokee woman who married the son of the first governor of Tennessee Joseph Sevier, a celebrated Indian fighter. Elizabeth herself remained very much connected to the Cherokee nation and culture, one which realized early on their survival depended upon being highly educated and wealthy. She was also a member of the Presbyterian Church in Eastern Tennessee. After losing a child and the death of her first husband, she eventually moved with her yours/mine/ours family to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where Eastern Cherokees were resettled--if they survived the long trek of the Trail of Tears.