by G Gabehart a descendant of Goins/Drake/Mulkey/Thomas/Abshire and many other Redbone related families.
First, members of the Cherokee Nation settled in Texas around Nacogdoches during Spanish occupation prior to 1821. They were promised permanent land if they kept the wild Indians away and acted as a buffer with the Indian Territory and of course pledged allegiance to the Spanish Government.
Second, Spain was kicked out in 1821 and the Cherokees had to start all over again with the Mexican Government with basically the same conditions.
Third, the Mexicans were kicked out in 1836 by the Texicans and again lost their land and had to start all over again with the Texicans, except..... there was one twist, the Cherokee did not totally break relations with the Mexican Government and the Texicans knew it but needed them at the time.
(I think that the Cherokee found themselves caught in between with the possibility of governments coming and going and the very real possibility of the Mexican Government making a come back).
The Goins showed up in Texas documents in the mid 1830's and very near a time when Indians, blacks and Mexican Nationals were not wanted in Texas -- think about it, how do you assimilate. If Williams Goyens was allowed to stay in Texas along with the Ashworth's by Texas decree, and if the Goins were related to William Goyens, why were the Goins never mentioned? Jeremiah lived close to Nacogdoches where William Goyens lived.
Back to the Cherokees.
The Texas President, Mirabeau B. Lamar, declared in his First Address to Texas Citizens that he was for the total extermination and expulsion of all Indians in Texas. About 1839
The short story was that the Texas Government attacked the Cherokee and drove them out of Nacogdoches. Some went North and others were said to have fled South to Mexico. The Texas Indian wars included all other tribes in the area -- bear in mind that these tribes were farmers and dressed just like everyone else of the time -- as you can see, this war was waged more on an ethnic group rather than a naked savage -- surprising how the image changes with the addition of clothing and a straw hat.
The Mexican Government did not stop after 1836 with attacks on Texas, after all, could you blame them? Texas had been their country before the revolution. In 1842, Mexican General Adrian Woll (a Frenchman) invaded Texas and captured San Antonio. With him was Juan Seguin and a contingent of Cherokee Indians. Woll captured a score of Texas lawmakers and after a few days withdrew from San Antonio. Did you know that the French Government invaded Mexico in the 1860's and occupied it for a time with the help of General Woll?
Shortly after the attack on San Antonio, Sequoyah was arrested illegally in Mexico by Texas Forces and taken back across the Rio Grande where he escaped and fled back to Zaragosa. One can only speculate as to just what was going on between Texas and the Cherokees in 1842-1843. Again, intrigue abounds.
In the late 80's I was assigned by the University of Texas Health Center in San Antonio to Eagle Pass Texas, Uvalde, Texas and Del Rio, Texas for the purpose of doing a women's health study and smoking cessation program -- so I got to know the populations pretty well. Prior to that, in the early 80's, I had established and operated an air service there under the name of Alamo Commuter Airlines for a company known as Alamo Flyers and later a company named Sundance Airways. The previous air service had been known as Maverick Airlines and had been operated by a prior Anglo County Judge Dan ? -- I forget his last name.
In the early 80's, I was introduced to the Kickapoo Indians who lived under the bridge between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. These folks lived in dome shaped huts constructed with supple tree branches and covered with cloth, cardboard and anything else that would keep out the weather -- they all drove pickup trucks with Mexican license tags.
The way I got it was that they had been living there for years, had dual citizenship and although their main body lived at Musquiz in Mexico, this seemed to be a way point for them where they could pickup checks from the US Government and send some of their children to Eagle Pass schools. They came and went from these huts with other Indians taking over when they left. I expect some came to shop at the local H.E.Butt grocery store -- they seemed to keep totally to themselves.
Now, there is a Kickapoo group in Oklahoma and they do and did travel back and forth to Texas and Mexico and are connected to the Kickapoo in Eagle Pass and Mexico.
Originally, the Kickapoo originated far to the North and have been moved several times by the Government over the years -- each time they were given new lands and annuities -- that's where their money comes from.
In the mid and late 1800's, they rode on the Mexican side of the border as the Mexican Border Patrol and acted as a buffer against the Apache.
In the early 80's, the City of Eagle Pass and the State of Texas along with the Catholic Archdiocese for the area and the Kickapoo's were battling it out over the Kickapoo staying under the bridge. I was not there for the fight, but when I came back in the late 80's, the Kickapoo's had been given their own land, for a reservation, just on the south outskirts of the town of Eagle Pass and on the highway to El Indio.
Did you know that George Guess, a Cherokee known as Sequoyah, and the father of the Cherokee Alphabet, died in Mexico and is buried at a Mexican Cherokee enclave at Zaragosa, Mexico? These Mexican Cherokees may have been from the 1840 Nacogdoches group and were likely the group that took part in the 1842 invasion of San Antonio with Juan Seguin and the Mexican Army -- intrigue abounds here.
Did you know that John Ross, a third Great Uncle of mine, and brother-in-law of Jonathan Mulkey (Lewis Mulkey's father and was also married to John Ross' sister Mariah or Marie -- Lewis married Adaline Goins) attempted to move the Cherokee Nation from Oklahoma to Mexico but was stopped by the Federal Government?
It would not surprise me that the Goins, Mulkey's and family could have traveled to and from Mexico as some think, but -- if they did, remember that at those times they were likely lying low and not assimilating as Indians but probably Mexican's until the 50's-60's. Being in the closet in Texas during those years likely contributed to their problems in Oklahoma.
Best,
Gabe
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