By Karen Middleton
ATHENS — Like so many Americans of the past 30-plus years, since the publication of Alex Haley’s “Roots” sparked a renewed interest in genealogy, Martha Mason Fleming became interested in tracing her ancestors.
She always knew she was descended from a full-blooded Cherokee, but it took the Internet research of a distant cousin in Lauderdale County, Melissa Mason Brown, to get the ball rolling.
Fleming, a widow since 1982 when her husband, John Clellon Fleming, died, retired from a secretarial job with U.S. Missile Defense on Redstone Arsenal in 1996 and now has time to put her thoughts about her heritage into perspective.
Her son, Mark Fleming, 47, lives in Alabaster and her daughter, Zena Wheeler, 44, lives in East Limestone not far from her Bradford Road home. She has three grandchildren.
Born in Rogersville, Martha said as a child she didn’t ask many questions about her family, but now she wishes she had.
“Grandfather died when I was too young to ask him any questions,” she said. “I didn’t pursue it with my Granny because children in those days were seen and not heard.”
However, she has many special memories of when her extended family used to gather at the home of her Rogersville grandparents, Daney and Ada Whitehead Mason.
“We always met at their house every Sunday,” said Martha. “Their table was full of food. When I was little I thought Granny prepared all of that food instead of all the others bringing it.
“The kids always ate last and we rode in a wagon across a field to get to their house.”
Martha has written down some of her thoughts about her Cherokee ancestors:
“Cherokee Indian blood runs through my veins. I am proud of my Indian heritage. My great-great-grandfather, James Lee Mason, was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian and his wife, Louisa Elizabeth Hall, was half Cherokee and half Scotch-Irish.
“He fought in the Civil War, even though some people thought Indians were nothing but savages that needed to be civilized and made to forget about their heritage and culture. My great-great-grandfather became an Indian guide and died of a fever — the result of measles — after the Battle of Shiloh. We were told that he was buried somewhere north of Corinth, Miss.
“All of this information was passed down through the family by my grandfather, Daney Mason, Everett Mason, Kathleen Putman and Ruthie Putman — all grandchildren of James and Elizabeth Mason.
“When the settlers came to this country, the Indians were already here. The Indians shared the country with the settlers, teaching them many things, such as how to grow corn and vegetables. They helped them survive in a country they knew nothing about by sharing what they had and their knowledge about the land.
“The Indians had their own traditions and ways of living and worshipping. They did not ask the white man to change to their ways, but the white man was not satisfied living in a country with others who had traditions different from theirs.
“Preachers came to convert them to Christianity. Can you imagine what it must have been like to hear a preacher tell them they were “heathens”? Some of the Indians became Christians and prosperous traders and farmers and built homes like those of the whites and tried to live among them.”
Trail of Tears
Fleming said the kindness of peaceful Native Americans was rewarded by their forced relocation ordered by President Andrew Jackson to what is present day Oklahoma. What came to be known as The Trail of Tears originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831. Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations, and many died, including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocated Cherokee.
“There are men like Andrew Jackson today who do not have the depth and wisdom to see that when other people’s rights are considered, all people will gain because that is what this country stands for — equal rights.
“We in this country might learn more and be wiser if we would look to our forefathers and their mistakes instead of glorifying them …This country is made up of many nationalities and faiths. Our children should be inquisitive and explore to gain knowledge about different people and their ways of life and they should be given the freedom to be themselves.
“When people feel free, they use their talents and hard work to enrich this country with new ideas that everyone can benefit from.”
