By Staff
Native American influence widespread
I have really gotten interested in the different names that have intermarried with the American Indians in this area since I did the article on the Natchez Chief Chinnabee. There are many connections and the interesting thing is how they are all related.
I have become increasingly aware of the name of Moniac. One of the reasons was one of my cousins believes she is descended through a Moniac daughter. Another is something that I learned from one of our readers this past week. She gave me some information that I found fascinating. It seems that David Moniac just happened to be the first Indian and the first &#8220native” of Alabama to attend and graduate from West Point.
William Moniac is the first of this line that I have found. He was born in the mid 1700s and married Polly Colbert, who may have been part Indian. They were the parents of at least three children, Elise Moniac who married Alexander McGillivray, Sam Takkes-Hadjo Moniac (1781-1837) who married Elizabeth Weatherford, and Mary Elizabeth Moniac (1783) who married William &#8220Red Eagle” Weatherford.
Elise Moniac and Alexander McGillivray Jr. (1750) were the parents of Alexander McGillivray Jr. (1780) and Margaret McGillivray (1782) who married Sam Isaacs.
Sam Takkes-Hadjo Moniac and Elizabeth Weatherford (1785) were the parents of David Moniac (1798-1836) who married Mary Delphine Powell (1809) who was a cousin of the Seminole Indian Chief Osceola. David is the one who attended the military academy at West Point. He went to the military institution as a result of the treaty that was made in New York in 1791, which called for a limited number of Indian children to be educated at the government's expense.
David went to West Point in 1817 when he was only 15 and apparently he began his education with great expectations. He was almost at the top of his class but as time passed his grades slipped and demerits pulled him down. He graduated 39th in a class of 40 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 6th Infantry Regiment in 1822, but he resigned his commission about six months later, never having served as an officer. He went on to fight against the Seminoles and lost his life in battle in 1836. He and his wife were the parents of Levitia Moniac who married Williams Sizemore, Margaret Moniac (1829) who married William Gibson, and David Alexander Moniac who married Anne Caroline Starke and went on to become the Sheriff of Baldwin County.
You may remember from a previous column that Mary Stiggins, a descendant of Chinnabee, was the wife of Red Eagle and so she was. Red Eagle was married several times and had several children.
He was the son of Charles Weatherford (1752) and Sehoy III who was of Indian descent. He was married to Nancy Fisher and they had one daughter, Nancy Cecile Weatherford (1816). Red Eagle was married to Mary Elizabeth Moniac and their children were Mary Weatherford and Charles Weatherford. He married Sopethlina Kaney Thelotco Moniac and their child was William Weatherford Jr. He married Lila Beasley and they had Stephen W. Weatherford. His last marriage was to Mary Stiggins and their children were George Washington Weather-ford, John Stiggins Weather-ford, Alexander McGillivray Weatherford, Major Weather-ford and Mary Levitia Weatherford. Out of these children come many, many descendants living in south Alabama today.
Let me hear from you if you are a descendant of any of these people. It would be very interesting to know some of those who have descended from the McGillivray, McIntosh, Weatherford, Elliott or Moniac lines. My guess is, there a lot of you out there.