Goforth Surname – Access Genealogy

Slave Narrative of Robert Falls

Interviewer: Della Yoe Person Interviewed: Robert Falls Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Claiborne County, North Carolina Date of Birth: December 14, 1840 Place of Residence: 608 South Broadway, Knoxville, Tennessee Robert Falls was born on December 14, 1840, in the rambling one-story shack that accomodated the fifteen slaves of his Old Marster, [HW: Harry] Beattie Goforth, on a farm in Claiborne County, North Carolina. His tall frame is slightly stooped, but he is not subjected to the customary infirmities of the aged, other than poor vision and hearing. Fairly comfortable, he is spending his declining years in contentment, for … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Albert P. Goforth

(See Foreman) Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew and Jennie (Bigby) Taylor was born in the Cherokee Nation, east of the Mississippi. She married William Covington Ghormley, born March 25, 1817. He died September 10, 1896. Their daughter Isabel Jane Ghormley married Felix Nelson Witt. Rachel Matilda, daughter of Felix Nelson and Isabel Jane Witt was born in Going Snake District September 24, 1874 and educated in that District. She married on July 24, 1890 Albert Perry, son of Jefferson and Catherine Goforth, born February 14, 1864 in Georgia. They are the parents of: Eulelma Pearl, born January 5, 1892, married Philander … Read more

Biographies of the Cherokee Indians

1830 Map of Cherokee Territory in Georgia

Whatever may be their origins in antiquity, the Cherokees are generally thought to be a Southeastern tribe, with roots in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, among other states, though many Cherokees are identified today with Oklahoma, to which they had been forcibly removed by treaty in the 1830s, or with the lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokees in western North Carolina. The largest of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes, which also included Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, the Cherokees were the first tribe to have a written language, and by 1820 they had even adopted a form of government … Read more

Canton Asylum, 1910, List of Patients

The Indian Asylum in Canton, South Dakota in 1905

In 1898, Congress passed a bill creating the only ‘Institution for Insane Indians’ in the United States. The Canton Indian Insane Asylum, South Dakota (sometimes called Hiawatha Insane Asylum) opened for the reception of patients in January, 1903. Many of the inmates were not mentally ill. Native Americans risked being confined in the asylum for alcoholism, opposing government or business interests, or for being culturally misunderstood. A 1927 investigation conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that a large number of patients showed no signs of mental illness. The asylum was closed in 1934. While open, more than 350 … Read more

Sevier County 1830 Tennessee Census

Published in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1956 and distributed by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland, Sevier County, Tennessee: Population Schedule of the United States Census of 1830 (Fifth Census) provides a transcription of the often difficult to read, 1830 Sevier County Tennessee census. Authored by Blanche C. McMahon and Pollyanna Creekmore, this meticulous reproduction of the original census record sheds light on the people of Sevier County in 1830.