Jim Martin
Hayes do you know about these people?
Thu Jul 19 12:09:33 2001


Hayes,

I found this at http://www.cherokeefire.org/heritage.html .

"We also have several sources which indicate that we have additional blood from the Catawba and Creek Nations. Family tradition tells the story of a white man, William Vale, "taken" by the Catawba Indians sometime in the late 1700s. He went on to marry a Catawba woman, Elizabeth, said to be the daughter of Haigler (in some records, Hagler), who bore him twin sons, Jeremiah and John Michael Vail about 1790 (we have no definite explanation for why the spelling of the last name was changed at this point). Shortly after this event William apparently left the Catawba village in somewhat of a hurry for reasons unknown, and was joined later by his wife and sons. One or more daughters were said to have stayed with the Catawba. There was also said to have been a third son named Hiram. This same story has been found in two other branches of Vale/Vail descendants but it is completely undocumented so cannot be considered as certain at this time, particularly the portion of the story which specifically identifies Haigler as the father of Elizabeth."

"Jeremiah Vail (1790 - 1870) eventually married Mary Funderburk (1794 - 1870). They had 7 children, 5 boys and 2 girls. Four of the sons served and died with Company E, Fifth Alabama Infantry Regiment, Army of the Confederacy. They fought in many historic battles including Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Winchester, and Gettysburg."

"Jeremiah's twin brother, John Michael, married Mary's sister Rachel and they had a son named Jeremiah. The second Jeremiah married Mary Bradley (June 10, 1824 - November 12, 1867), a half-breed woman whose mother Annie (died 1841) was said to be Creek. A portion of their tree can be found here. Based on Mary's recorded birthplace of South Carolina, there may be some doubt as to her tribal affiliation. It may be that Mary's blood was also Catawba or Cherokee rather than Creek. One theory is that Annie was, in fact, Annie Vail, daughter of Jeremiah (the twin). If true, this relationship twists the branches of the family tree in some rather strange ways."

"The twins and their families all travelled by wagon train from South Carolina to Pickens County Alabama. Jeremiah and Mary (Bradley), along with the Martin branch described above, eventually settled in Bienville Parish, Louisiana."

"Several generations after Mary passed away in 1867 our Maternal Grandmother Alva Thomas (October 20, 1907 - February 8, 1996) was born from this line. We are only now starting to research these lines in detail, having concentrated primarily on the Frank Martin line for the past several years. Our European blood comes primarily from German and Irish lines and has been fairly well documented by other family members."


As you are THE Pickens County expert, do you know anything about this family and or the service of these men?

Thanks,

"Ol' Indian" Jim