Will the real Hezekiah Whitt please stand up?

I wrote a previous blog entry about the relationship between the orphan Thomas Bailey Christian (TBC) and his adopted father Capt. Thomas Mastin.  Old family stories that TBC was the son of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk appeared in conflict with DNA testing of his descendants.  Well, things get even more confusing when a friend of Thomas Mastin, Hezekiah Whitt, is added to the mix. Hezekiah Whitt served in the American Revolution with the Virginia militia under Capt. Thomas Mastin as described in Hezekiah’s application for a military pension:

“… In the month of March and he thinks in the year 1770, he went as a volunteer under Captain Thomas Mastin upon the expedition against the Cherokee Indians to Tennessee, called the "Chickamaugy Expedition". The point of rendezvous was at Colonel Campbell's in the County of Washington, Virginia. The men were marched to the big Island of Holston, where they were incorporated into the regiment of General Evan Shelby. From thence they marched against the Indian towns, but found upon entering them that they had already been abandoned by the Indians. This declarant was three months in this service having left home in the early part of March and returning after the troops were disbanded sometime in June.”

Thomas Bailey Christian and the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers

As I mentioned in a previous post, Thomas Bailey Christian is known to several Skaggs family researchers.  He is referred to as the husband of Lydia Harmon, the daughter of Mathias Harmon and Lydia Skaggs, in the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers.

DNA Testing: Thomas Bailey Christian, Indian or Not?

It’s a familiar situation for family historians researching Appalachian ancestors; an ancestor was historically described as “Indian” but modern DNA testing shows no indication of native American ancestry.  This happened to descendants of a man some Skaggs researchers may be familiar with, Thomas Bailey Christian.