MACON COUNTY, NC - COURT - John Welch, a Half-Breed Cherokee & Frenchman
			----¤¤¤¤----

Transcription by Marshall L. Styles


Haywood County, Deed Book B, page 168, 18 February 1822:
"I, John Welch, late a Half-Breed of the Cherokee Tribe of
Indians, for and in consideration of $150.00 paid by Benjamin S.
Brittain of Buncombe County, NC, have sold, conveyed, all my
right, title and interest to 640 acres of land lying in Haywood
County, including the cabin where I, the said John Welch now
live. Which said land I have heretofore claimed under the
provisions made in the Treaty made between the United States and
the Cherokee Tribe of Indians in the year 1819, which land was
run off by Armstrong, the U.S. Surveyor in 1820, including the
cabin aforesaid on Iola Creek in Haywood County. I do promise to
and with the said Benjamin S. Brittain, that I will forever
warrant, defend, the land aforesaid free from the lawful claims
of my heirs or any persons claiming under me. {Signed} John
Welch. Witnesses: D.L. Swain, J.R. Siler"

Haywood County, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 18 February
1823:
A deed record from John Welch, "an Indian", to Benjamin S.
Brittain for 540 acres was proved in open court by Jesse R.
Siler.

This land was in the territory that in 1828 was taken from
Haywood County when Macon County was formed.

Macon County, NC, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1833:
"Romulius M. Sanders appointed by the President of the United
States in behalf of the State of North Carolina of one part, and
John Welch, a Cherokee Indian, of the other part. Witness that
for $1,250 and further considerations, said Commissioners to pay
costs of a suit pending in Lincoln County, NC, Superior Court in
behalf of John Welch against Benjamin S. Brittain for recovery
of 640 acres. Said Welch doeth agree to cede, grant, sell and
release and convey to the State of North Carolina, all his
rights to the Reservation of 640 acres situated on Jolvy Creek
where Benjamin S. Brittain now lives in the County of Macon.
Registered, Macon County, 1833.

*****

Additional materials on this John Welch comes from John Preston
Arthur, "Western North Carolina - A History 1730-1913", pages
573-574. The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, SC:

"YONAGUSKA, THE BLOOD AVENGER. The late Col. Allen T. Davidson
told the writer that John Welch, a half-breed Frenchman [&
Cherokee], killed Leech, a full-blooded Cherokee, near old
Valleytown in Cherokee County, and as Yonaguska was Leech's next
of kin, he was therefore the blood avenger, and not only
entitled to kill Welch, but the custom of the tribe made it his
duty to do so. He, therefore, followed Welch first to the Smoky
Mountains, and then to Paint Rock [on the French Broad River in
Madison County NC]; thence to the New Found range west of
Asheville [Leicester], and to Pickens, SC, where Welch stopped
and rested. Here it was, though that Welch became infatuated
with a white girl named Betty Bly, and told Betty that he feared
that Yonaguska, whom he had seen loitering near, was seeking a
chance to kill him. She then sought out Yonaguska and persuaded
him to let Welch off."

*****

[Although I have as yet no proof, I believe that the above
person is, in fact, the same as John C. Welch who married Sarah
Moody and resided in Haywood County. That John Welch and Sarah
Moody were the parents of a large family, which included Sultana
Elizabeth (married Philip Marion Turner), Martha, William, James
Thacker (married Charity L. Ratcliff), Mary Jane (married
Zachariah Pullman Jones), Felix M., Margaret J., Sarah Melinda
(married Burton Jones), and John H. Welch (married Necie Mahala
Jones -- Marshall Styles]


___________________________________________________________________

	Copyright.  All rights reserved.
	http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

	This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives 
	by:  Marshall Styles <marshallstyles@yahoo.com>
___________________________________________________________________