missouri cherokee descendent

I am not enrolled in a federally- or state-recognized tribe or organization and make no claim thereby. I also request that conference organizers, interviewers, and others please remember that I am no more and no less a “Missouri Cherokee descendent.”

I refuse to deny my heritage through my grandmothers, Elizabeth Gibson, and Elizabeth Jane Albina Alexander, both of whom were compelled to suppress who they were in the time in which they lived.


I've never profited or benefited from the Missouri Cherokee connections in my family. If you are curious to know more, they are detailed in the memoir portions of Coyote’s Swing. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions.