Nancy Ward

Becky Hobbs is a fifth great-granddaughter of Nancy Ward:  Beloved

Woman of the Cherokee.  Nancy Ward was born on the Wolf Clan in

approximately 1738 in Chota (one of the "mother towns" of the

Cherokee Nation), which is now in the southeastern Tennessee area.

It is said, on the day she was born, a white wolf roamed the horizon.

When around sixteen years of age, she went to battle

with her husband, Kingfisher, against the Creeks.  Her job was to

chew the bullets, to make them more deadly.  When Kingfisher was

killed and fell to the ground, Nancy arose to take his place and led 

the Cherokee to victory.  She was then given the title Ghigau, or 

"Beloved Woman" of the Nation.  After earning this honor,

she dared to stand where no woman had stood before . . . in the

center of the white man's council meeting, protesting war and promoting peace

between the Cherokee and other tribes, the colonists and the settlers. 

She is credited with having introduced dairy products and beef to the

Cherokee.  With the wave of a swan's wing, she spared the life of

Lydia Bean, a white woman at the stake. She saved countless Cherokee

and white lives when she warned settlers

of impending attacks.  On the day she died in 1822, witnesses saw a

white light rise up from her body.  It took the form of a wolf and

then of a swan.  It fluttered about and flew off in the direction

of her beloved town of Chota.

Becky's grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Parks, was a third

great-granddaughter of Nancy Ward and is listed on the Dawes Roll. 

She was born in Indian Territory, Oklahoma in 1884.  She spoke a little

Cherokee andtold Becky stories about growing up in Indian Territory.

Becky is a card-carrying member of the Cherokee Tribe and has

written the Association of Descendants of Nancy Ward's theme song,

"LET THERE BE PEACE."

Click here to order "Let There Be Peace," on the "Songs From The Road OF Life" CD