Although I didn’t spend as much time with my great grandmother on my grandfather’s side, I remember how warm and comforting she was around me in her arms. I also remember the sound of his voice, so low and full of affection, when he spoke of his people – the Cherokee Indians.
She was just a baby when the Cherokee were forced to move into the southern part of our land. She didn’t even remember her old home, though she thought it was somewhere in Virginia. His father died soon after he started his journey and his mother died a few years after he moved to Oklahoma.
Friends who taken by friends who brought some of the best family history back into it, they really didn’t know. His parents have been delivering him for quite some time in the field. They told him many stories about his journey through what became known as “The Trail of Tears”, as well as the story of the Cherokee rising.
My great grandmother’s family was living with thousands of Native Americans in North Georgia when gold was discovered there. . In 1838 they were driven further west so that the “white man” could take over the territory. Their journey became known as the “Trail of Tears” because so many people endured hardships and died along the way.
At this time the Cherokee people were almost desperate. Many brave soldiers were reduced to slavery by soldiers who guarded them in to earn pittances or supplies. to raise children The women were constantly crying. They cried out for dead fathers, husbands, and dying children. Most of them believed that they would die before they reached the end of the road.
The Cherokee people, like most they lived in proportion to nature, they should always take care of them. But through no fault of their own, that balance had been tipped out of their power. Therefore they lost faith in order to be saved.
The elders of the seven Cherokee families decided to offer some sign of hope that at least their children and their children’s children would continue the Cherokee line. Thus, gathering themselves into one group, they prayed with one voice to Magnum, asking for a small sign of hope to support their people.
At first they thought that the prayers had been neglected, but then they began to observe what would happen on the way. Wherever the mother’s tears fell to the ground, a beautiful plant grew. From a beautiful herb springing White rose.
The elders answered their ecstatic prayers and took the time to thank you very much for their gift. Whether it was he who explained the meaning of the herb to the people, or whether they came with him, is uncertain. But it was explained to me in this way;
The rose was white to signify the purity of the Cherokee’s heart. The gold in the center of the flower represented the greed of the whites for gold, which again displaced the Cherokee from their land. The seven leaves came to represent the seven parts of the Cherokee.
The plant was large and grew rapidly along the “Trail of Tears” to mark the terrible and terrible journey taken by the Cherokee people. he had a cord, lest it should be drawn out by those who wished to destroy it, and all that it signified. But it is not destroyed, like the Cherokee people themselves. It continues to grow on its journey to this day.
More than a quarter of the Cherokee people died on the way to Oklahoma. The journey was without a doubt also responsible for the deaths of my great great grandparents. However, my grandmother grew strong and strong, finally met a husband and married my beloved grandfather to help me.
I wish I could remember more of the stories my grandmother shared about “The Trail of Tears”. I remember speaking reverently about the people who survived the journey and eventually settled in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. It’s a proud heritage and it made me proud to be a part of it.
The white rose was my great grandmother’s favorite flower. He felt to speak with family, pride, strength, courage, hope. It has become one of my favorite flowers because when I see it, I can’t recall reading the Cherokee rose.
