Cherokee Indian Connection

A 2-2  Cherokee Indian Connection

4/10/2014 Ver. 0

Grandma Ila Schoonover-Green often said there was Cherokee Indian blood in the Schoonover tree.  She appears to be right, but, it isn’t in our branch of the Schoonover tree.

In 1877 in Creek, Oklahoma Territories, Henry Schoonover (1827-1907) married a Cherokee widow named Mary Annie Muskrat (1853-1899) as his second wife.   Henry was a probable cousin to William Schoonover (1839-1921) who was the father of John O Schoonover (1872-1958), who was Ila Schoonover-Green’s father.  Both Henry and William’s families found themselves in the Kansas/Oklahoma territories in 1900 and most likely believed they were related.  It is possible, but remains to be proven.  So… yes there is Cherokee blood in a Schoonover tree but, it is not in the Green-Schoonover branch.

Henry Schoonover had 6 children by his first wife, Amanda McKenny Haymond between 1853 and 1862.  He then had 7 children by his second wife, Mary Annie Muskrat between 1878 and 1892.  Grandma Ila Green was born in 1902 so she may have known some of these older children as Cherokee ‘cousins’.  Ila was born in Garnet, Anderson County, Kansas which is adjacent to Cherokee County, Kansas which was adjacent to the Cherokee Indian territories in Oklahoma.