The Missing Pieces Finally make Sense, I’m Proud!
When we were young, we had Grandparents around us all the time, My Fathers Dad had died about 6 months before I was born, but my Mothers Dad we called him “Poppa Crow” was a favorite of mine even from the age of about 2 I began to pick up on everything and everybody around me but I would never forget Poppa Crow because he would pick me up and carry me around and talk to me about going outside and talk to me about the Trees and Birds and such, he was born about 1879 and i was 2 in 1953 so that made him a few years old. He wasn’t a very tall man, I remember my Father Charles. L.McDowell Jr. was just under 6 ft. but taller than Poppa Crow. I remember he had Black Hair like my Mother, and Momma Crow her Mother and a full head of hair, all of mother’s Family did too as well, & this confused me because my Dad had Dark Red Auburn Hair, Poppa Crow was a Conductor and later a Switchman for the N.C.&St. L. Railroad and the L. & N. Railroad like my Dad and Uncle Jimmy. Momma Crow was about 17 yrs. old when she married Poppa Crow (Walter Napolean Crow, ie: “Poley” Crowe as he was called) she was a mild Mannered and Quiet type of Person but cared for all of us when she was around. We used to love her Cooking, Fried White Corn, Hominy, Squash, White Beans or Pintos, all kinds of Greens and Fried Water Corn Bread, Fluffy Bread she would bake like a Cobbler (later known as Fry Bread with no filling), “everyone came a runnin” to the Dinner Table when Momma Crow cooked! I never heard her Complain about anything at all, not even when she was sick in bed. I went in to see her but was hesitant and she said,” What’s the matter, are you afraid of me Son?’ I didn’t answer and she told me that she didn’t have any Bad Spirits around her, and “not to worry”! Then she smiled and hugged me.
I had started asking Momma Crow after Poppa Crow died if she was an Indian, because I thought she looked like the ones on TV, with Dark hair turning grey, and Olive colored Skin, and the way she looked in the Face, but she would always find a way to avoid telling me, my Sister Charlotte had thought this too and had similar results….after several attempts to get info out of her , I happened to look down at her feet when I was about 8 yrs old and noticed that her shoes were all worn on the sides and heeled-over then it hit me, she was wearing Moccasins and always did around the house. (Mother always got us Moccasins but found out that we would wear them out too quickly} I told Momma Crow (Mollie “Dolly” Hixon Crow) that her Moccasins were all worn-out! She replied that she knew it, and was going to have to “Send up to the Boundry for some New ones”…well I knew then that she was a Cherokee, and asked her was her Father a Cherokee? She said, with a smile, nodded yes, but “Uncle Billy” had more Cherokee in him”! Later I found out who she was talking about, William Luther Hixon, whose Father Timothy G. Hixon was an Arrow Maker for the Tribe… Uncle Billy’s Brother was James Hixon , and his Son was Momma Crow’s Father Willam Hixon (3) so we put the pieces together. It wasn’t until at a Hixon Family Reunion in Hixon Tn. that I met a man that was sitting with his Arms Crossed with a look of disdain, and a Book of Family info with him, I asked if he was ok and he said yes, but he was upset that he couldn’t find anyone to talk with him about Hixon Cherokee Family…I said I will that’s what I need to find out about. The man’s name was Dennis “Dick” Christopher Ellis as it turned out after some DNA tests called Family Finder at Family Tree Dna Dick & I figured out that we were indeed 1st cousin’s 3 times removed. Dick was nice enough to send Charlotte (who had struck up a rapport with him by email & phone) 3 Affadavit’s from his Grandfather’s Application for the Tribe. as it turned out Dick, his sister and His Daughter were Registered Member’s of the Cherokee Nation and this became the emphasis for our Quest to Acknowledge, Honor, and Re-Connect Our GrandMother’s and Grandfather’s Cherokee Family. We want to know our Culture and meet our Relatives, to come Full-Circle with our Heritage from our Mother’s People. We am from the Old One’s, We are Cherokee, My Name is Charles L. “Chuck” McDowell
