[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S4506]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SEARCHING FOR SEQUOYAH

 Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, today I would like to recognize a 
family that has dedicated much time and energy into preserving its 
Cherokee heritage. Dr. Charles Rogers of Brownsville, TX, his wife 
Sheron, his son, George Charles Sherson, and his mother, Mary Layton 
Rogers, have traveled to Mexico in search of the grave of the famous 
Cherokee, Sequoyah.
  Sequoyah is credited with inventing a writing system for the 
Cherokees by making symbols which form words. As a result of this 
syllabary, thousands of Cherokees became literate. In recognition of 
his monumental contribution, the Cherokee Nation awarded him a silver 
medal, along with a lifetime literary pension.
  Sequoyah was born in Tennessee, in 1776, to Nathaniel Gist, a 
Virginia fur trader, and Wut-teh, the daughter of a Cherokee Chief. He 
also lived in Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas before moving to Oklahoma, 
where he lived until 1842. He then set out to find the Chickamauga 
Cherokees, who had moved to Mexico. He died the following year in 
Mexico, but the exact location of his grave has remained unknown.
  Dr. Rogers and his family, who come from a long line of Cherokees 
themselves, have searched extensively for Sequoyah's grave. Their 
efforts may have paid-off as they believe they have found the burial 
site in a rock-covered cave near the ``lost-village'' of Sequoyah. Epic 
and Gloria Rodriguez of Mexico, whose ancestors helped Sequoyah and 
other Cherokees, directed the Rogers to the location. The Rogers' 
intent is not to return the remains of Sequoyah to Oklahoma, but to 
recognize his grave in order to preserve the richness of the Cherokee 
heritage.
  I hope you will join me today in honoring Sequoyah, for his 
contribution to the Cherokee people, as well as the Rogers family, for 
their work to preserve the legacy of this Cherokee hero.

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