Sehoy

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Matriarch
Sehoy
DiedCirca 1730
NationalityMuscogee Confederacy
Other namesSehoy I
ChildrenSehoy Marchand, Red Shoes

Sehoy, or Sehoy I (died ca. 1730), was an 18th-century matriarch of the Muscogee Confederacy and a member of the Wind clan.[1][2]

She established a dynasty that became influential in the political and economic history of her nation and its relationship with the United States.[3] Because inheritance and property within the confederacy were controlled matrilineally in early Muscogee society, her daughters and their descendants became influential in shaping tribal membership and relations with people they enslaved.[3][4] In Muscogee culture, tribal affiliation was defined by clan membership and matrilineal descent. If the mother was part of a tribe, her children would also be part of that tribe, regardless of the father's ethnicity or citizenship.[5]

Some of her male descendants shaped policy with the United States through treaty-making[6][7] and through tribal leadership.[8][9]

Biography[edit]

Sehoy was a Muscogee woman of the Wind clan.[10] Amos J. Wright, who analyzed for over two decades the genealogical history of her family,[11] reported that various historical records note her heritage was through the Tuskegee tribal town,[2] but also there are indications that her son was known as the "Talapuche Chief" (also styled Tallapoosa).[12] Linda Langley, a professor at Louisiana State University at Eunice in anthropology and sociology, argued that she was more likely Koasati. Analyzing Native leaders who bore the name Red Shoes, the origin of persons affiliated with Fort Toulouse (typically, either Koasati or Alabama), the linguistic difficulties in communication between Alabama/Koasati-speakers, and Muscogee-speakers, Langley concluded that she was probably Koasati.[13] Gregory A. Waselkov, a professor of anthropology at the University of South Alabama,[14] noted that her town of origin has been given as both Taskigi, (near Taskigi Mound), or Coosada, Alabama. He concluded that as the Taskigi people did not relocate from the Chattahoochee River to the forks of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers until after 1725, she was likely from Coosada, and thus Koasati.[15]

Sehoy grew up in the area near Fort Toulouse, which the French constructed after the Yamasee War (1715-1716) at the request of Alabama leaders.[16] Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand arrived at the fort in 1717 and became its commander in 1720.[17] There was a mutiny at the fort in 1721, and Marchand called on the warriors at Coosada to assist him in capturing deserters.[18]

Some sources indicate that Sehoy married Marchand in 1722,[19] in a ceremony which might have been conducted under Muscogee as opposed to French law.[16][Notes 1] Around that time, the couple had a daughter, Sehoy Marchand (also known as Sehoy II), before severing their relationship.[16] Marchand served as commander of the fort until 1723, and was reappointed in 1727, serving until 1729.[17] He remained with the colonial Troupes de la Marine through 1734.[10]

After the relationship with Marchand ended, Sehoy married Red Shoes, a Koasati leader. They had a son also known as Red Shoes and a daughter. Sehoy died around 1730.[16]

Notable descendants[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Louis LeClerc Milfort, who married Sehoy's granddaughter, Jeanette McGillivray,[20] wrote in his memoirs that his mother-in-law, Sehoy Marchand, was an "illegitimate daughter of a French officer who formerly commanded Fort Toulouse."[10]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Waselkov 2006, pp. 35–36.
  2. ^ a b Wright 2007, pp. 184–85.
  3. ^ a b Waselkov 2006, p. 41.
  4. ^ Wright 2022, pp. 42, 49.
  5. ^ Braund 1991, pp. 615–16.
  6. ^ Bartram 1955, p. 130.
  7. ^ a b Langley 2005, p. 237.
  8. ^ Langley 2005, p. 232.
  9. ^ Meserve 1938, p. 407.
  10. ^ a b c Waselkov 2006, p. 280.
  11. ^ Cashin 2002, pp. 73–74.
  12. ^ Wright 2007, p. 185.
  13. ^ Langley 2005, pp. 234, 236, 238–39.
  14. ^ Mitchell 2002, p. 6.
  15. ^ Waselkov 2006, p. 281.
  16. ^ a b c d Waselkov 2006, p. 36.
  17. ^ a b Wright 2007, p. 187.
  18. ^ Waselkov 2006, pp. 36–37.
  19. ^ Wright 2007, p. 186.
  20. ^ Waselkov 2006, p. 39.
  21. ^ Wright 2022, p. 49.
  22. ^ Waselkov 2006, p. 42.
  23. ^ Frank 2013.
  24. ^ Blackmon 2014, p. 7.
  25. ^ Wright 1967, p. 379.
  26. ^ Langley 2005, p. 232; Frank 2013; Bartram 1955, p. 130; Wright 1967, p. 382.
  27. ^ Pickett 1896, p. 419.
  28. ^ Wells 1998, p. 83.
  29. ^ Waselkov 2006, pp. 39–40.
  30. ^ Saunt 2004, p. 253.
  31. ^ Brown & Owens 1983, p. 96-97.
  32. ^ Braund 2016.
  33. ^ Appleton 2018.
  34. ^ Meserve 1938, pp. 406–07.
  35. ^ The Okmulgee Daily Times 1978, p. B12.

Bibliography[edit]

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