Monday, August 13, 2012

CATY SAGE INDIAN MAIDEN

     caty sage memorial, elk creek


I was looking at the photograph I took of Caty Sage's grave site in the Turner section of Kansas City, Kansas. I grew up across the river from the cemetery, exactly five miles by road on account of the location of the bridge, and maybe 2 miles by crow. Had I known about the cemetery in the time of childhood, I could have seen it easily from Monkey Mountain the river made a bend around, the highest point for looking at distant landscape, maybe a half mile from the house. About the same distance as the waterfalls I live near now. I'd seen the sign beside the road at Elk Creek, Virginia, the next town after Independence on hwy 21 going north. It's 20 miles from my house to Independence, and Elk Creek is between 5 and 10 miles beyond Independence. In her childhood, Caty was snatched by evidently a trader in children. It happened then as it happens today. Snatching children goes back so far in our development that women probably have a gene for keeping an eye on their children, keeping them close in public, from countless generations of mothers carrying concern over losing a child in such a way. I've an idea Caty's mother never stopped grieving her loss.


Caty's brother eventually found her in Ohio before her tribe, the Wyandotte's, was removed from their land by the white genocidal enemy to the Turner region of Kansas, next to the river. Brother wanted to take her back to mama to ease her grieving heart. But Caty had a life. She'd been sold to the chief of the Wyandotte tribe, goldilocks, white jungle goddess. She was raised as the daughter of the chief. When the old chief died, the warrior who filled in the role of chief married Caty. When he died, some twenty or so years later, the next warrior who became chief married her, too. I think it was during her last marriage that her brother found her. Of course she's not going back. She is the tribe's matriarch. Her role in the tribe was the equal of the chief's. She couldn't be going off on a major journey through forest trails. It would take a caravan to carry her and all the warriors in the tribe to protect her. She may not have had but very few snapshot memories, if any, of life on the farm with her birth parents. Her life was with the tribe that evidently held her way up high. From the start with blond hair, the chief's daughter, other kids wouldn't pick on her so much. They must have been in a kind of awe of her at the very beginning. The chief adopting her was her shield of protection for being different.


You know she must have been scared out of her wits from the moment a strange man put his nasty hand over her mouth and carried her away running through the woods. A highway system of trails ran through the mountains in that time, days and days walking trails. By the time they reached the Wyandotte territory in Ohio, I'd guess she was depending on her captor to feed her and protect her. He was not a church kinda guy, for sure, and more than likely not an outgoing personality. He had to keep her looking pretty to get high dollar for her. That may have protected her somewhat from him. But I'd lay odds he had his way with her at will along the way. Maybe not penetration, but fondling, breathing his rotten breath on her. There came a time she knew she'd never be rescued and never see home, about the time she stopped crying. Along their travels northwest, maybe through Cumberland Gap, up through Kentucky into Ohio. He was surely good to her to keep her healthy for the long walk and to look good at the other end. If an Indian out on a long-distance hunting trip snatched her, her terror might have even been worse than with some white man traveler. There's no telling. Her snatcher might have treated her ethically. No. Somebody who snatches a child to sell it doesn't think ethically.


All we know is she survived the overland journey from Elk Creek, Virginia, to western Ohio. The man she was with surely was a hunter, a man who knew the mountains, knew the trail system well. Possibly, by the time they reached their destination she'd learned something about hunting and preparing the food. It seems like it must have been an Indian possibly of the Wyandotte tribe. Maybe he knew the chief had no heirs of his infertile seed, thought this blond jungle goddess would suit the chief and maybe get the kidnapper a significant reward. Evidently, the chief had no heirs and Caty became his prize babydoll. It may not have been very long before they had her feeling at home, the chief's wife her new mother, the chief and his wife both elated to have such a beautiful child to raise as their own. She probably grew up into a knockout, and evidently the hot thang of choice since the next man to be chief married her. And 20 years later in her late 30s probably, her husband died and the next man to become chief married her. By this time she surely was the tribal matriarch. They must have thought a great deal of her. Shaman may have divined a good story about her being sent from heaven to be the chief's heir, or whatever. I can't see a white man carrying her that far when he could have sold her probably several times along the way.


If it were an Indian, he probably would have treated her ethically, possibly having in mind getting her to the chief and himself becoming a big man for finding her and bringing her back. Her brother who spent his adult life looking for her, following every lead he could find. By the time he finally found her, he surely knew the nature of her kidnapping, who did it and why. That knowledge died with him and everyone else concerned. I can't see a white man who would kidnap a child would carry a child that far, in probably a bee-line over the landscape, and the child survive him. An Indian hunter taking her through the trails with purpose to make her the chief's prized daughter would be good to her, feed her well and more than likely be respectful with her as if she already were the chief's daughter; he's just delivering her. She may have had very little terror except when she began to realize she'd never see home again. Not to say this is how it was, I doubt if anything I'd imagine could be the case. But it's fun letting the mind run and do some investigative thinking from what I've learned of walking in these mountains, and what I've learned living among human beings all my life.


I can't see a white man of the time, a hunter, kidnapping her and delivering her overland so far away, for money, in any kind of good health, certainly not good mental health after what he'd have done with her along the way. She'd have been unfit for a chief's daughter by the time she arrived years later. If it were a Wyandotte Indian hunter who found her by chance and took her with solving the chief's problem in mind, I'd guess he surely carried her on his shoulders or made a device of straps she could ride in on his back. It wouldn't be far along the way that she would be dependent on him, not knowing where she was or how to find the way home. After a certain point, she probably took him for her protector. An Indian could strap her to his back and make some time. I can't see a white man condescending to that, or even thinking to. By the time they reached the tribal settlement, she was probably curious to see what new life she was being carried into, maybe even ready to assimilate, for survival. Caty's first day in the tribal setting, seeing and meeting people inside an Indian village, must have been an eye opener.


I learned about Caty Sage reading Bill Bland's book, Yourowquains: A Wyandot Indian Queen, the story of Caty Sage, that I found in the Alleghany library. I went to amazon and saw they have some there, too. At amazon I saw a book published 2009, The Saga of Caty Sage, by Jerry L Haynes. Both books were rated 5 star and the reader reviews of the Saga of Caty Sage made me want it now. But I'm reading something else at the moment. Can't buy everything I think I want in a gotta-have-it moment. The library probably has a copy. It must be known, then, how Caty was taken from here to there. The Jerry Haynes book looked awfully good. He evidently did a great deal of research and put it all together as a "novel" probably because so many of his sources couldn't be verified. It tells me it is written as a story, which gives it a good chance of being what I'd want it to be. She was buried in an unmarked grave, maybe originally marked with wood, in the Indian part of the big cemetery, the part with very few headstones. She was driven west with the remains of her tribe after white encroachemnt. Not by war. They were told to leave. The survivors of disease evidently took up in Turner, Kansas. This is speculative, so don't be taking notes. Faulty memory sprinkled with imagination. It amuses me since I learned where she was buried that she and I did a reversal. She went to where I grew up and I went from there to where she originated, just 25+ miles from where I am now. We made a circle. 


*

17 comments:

  1. That is amazing how you and Caty Sage criss crossed path's. Caty Sage is my 6th generation aunt, her Father is my 7th generation grandfather. Caty was abducted by a horse thief from white top mountain. He was mad at James Sage and another man from Elk Creek named Delp over horses that this horse thief stole from Sage and Delp. They found there horses and took them back. This angered the horse thief so as revenge he abducted Caty and traded her to the Cherokee Indians in NC for a horse or horses???. The Cherokees traded her to the Wyandot Indians. The Wyandot Tribe was notorious for treating captives like family. She did agree to go home with her brothers to see her Mother as they were leaving for the journey to Elk Creek VA. Caty took ill and died. She was buried under a tree. I was recently told she did have a grave marker.. Caty did remember what happened that frightful day in April 1792. She filled in the blanks for her brother. At the time her brother stumbled upon her during a trip to Kansas she was not married but 3 times widowed. I have a book called Ghost of Virginia volume 2 and there is a story called the Saga of Caty Sage in it. It's about James Sage going to see a clairvoyant name Grandma Moses in NC to find out what happened to Caty. Everything she told him came to pass. She said "Caty is alive but he would never see her again or know of her fate but his wife would find out what happened to her but would never see her. I didn't know there was another book about Caty. I'm going to look for it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for this. Fascinating. Thanks again.

      Delete
    2. Caty is my 7th generation aunt. My maiden name is Sage. My family still lives in the area. I have the Ghost of Virginia volume 2 also. I know you have read the yourowquains: A Wyandot Indian queen the story of Caty Sage by Bill Bland also a descedent. He passed away in 1998 but his wife sells his book to descendent at a discount price. Go to the sage family web site and you'll find it.

      Delete
    3. My Uncle has told me about Caty Sage. I am not sure what generation/relation is exactly to me but do know we are definitely related. what exactly is the sage family website? Id be very interested in checking it out. I love to find out more about my ancestors and my genealogy.

      Delete
    4. Caty Sage is my 5th Gen Aunt related through her sister Hester Sage Cooper. Thanks for the information. It is a fascinating story.

      Delete
  2. Cary Sage is my aunt as well. Grew up with her story 3000 miles away in California. She still fascinates me....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cary Sage is my aunt as well. Grew up with her story 3000 miles away in California. She still fascinates me....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cary Sage is my aunt as well. Grew up with her story 3000 miles away in California. She still fascinates me....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Caty Sage is my aunt also. My father,Billie Sage told me and my brother about her when we were young and took us to her memorial site in Elk Creek,Virginia. I was raised up in Virginia also. My Dads Dad was Cameron Sage. They had a Sage Family Reunion back in 2005 or 2006 and during the reunion we went on a tour that went back in the history of her abduction.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My family heritage dates back to Jamestown and has lived in Elk Creek and the surrounding area since before the revolutionary war. One of my ancestors helped search for Caty the day she was abducted. I live in Raleigh, NC go back every year to visit and the story of Caty Sage has always been very special to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you ever read the march of the sages? I have not. It’s in Kentucky library and I’m in California! I am a descendant of James sage. This story fascinates me as well. The book I mentioned is suppose to have 9 letters from Katy’s brother charles? Anyway, happy thoughts

      Delete
  8. A lot of us related to Caty Sage, it seems. I am one of her grand niece's way down the line. Her sister was a great+ grandmother of mine. Looks as though her long lost relatives still find her story fascinating. I live way out in Oregon, by way of California, but found her through genealogical research.

    Thanks for sharing this story, I'm glad to know more. Caty Sage has a way of crossing paths, I found more out about her through a friend who grew up near Elk Creek, I met him online, and while I was sharing some genealogical research, he was blown away that I was her relative, as his mother had always been fascinated with her story. To add to the circle, my now fiance is from just up the road from where she is buried in Kansas City, Kansas.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi. Just wondering who was you great+grandmother. My great-great grandfather was married to Ann Sage, Caty's sister. His name was William Nelson. Curious if your ancestor may have been Ann Sage-Nelson.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Caty Sage is my 5th great grand aunt . Her parents , James Sage and Lovis Ott are my 6th great grandparents. Laura Ann Sage married Christopher Pennington ( his last name at birth was , Cregger) . Caty Sage oldest sibling is , Samuel Sage and that's my direct bloodline.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Extremely interesting. I live in Whitetop, Virginia (one word, not two in Grayson County). I originally lived in Carroll County, next to Grayson. I grew up hearing about poor little Caty Sage. There is a Bluegrass song about the saga of Caty Sage. A local church did a play about her a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My great grandmother was Melvina Sage. She married William Emmitt Badger and moved to NC. Ashe County. I’m doing my genealogy and this came up. I’m wondering if anyone could help me trace this back.

    ReplyDelete