HICKS, ID. KT 1L. TUILOHTJtBfflnr. X3888 135 136 HICKS, KD*» BT AL. XH1XRVX2W 13888 HattU Turner, Wagoner, OlclahoaMu April 9t 1938* Interview 4riji Ed Hicks, et al, hl&t Oklahoma* TAHLONTEESKZ 'ft The capital of the western Cherokee Nation for nearly tea years was Tah*lon*tee«»sky, near the south of the Xlll* nols HiTer which was named, for a bead chief of the Western group that preceded the mala body of Cherokeee to the west by a number of years. Host Important of the' chiefs who once liTed at Tahlonteesky waa John Jolly, noted as the friend of General Sain. Houston. When Houston arriTed froa Teonco^ee in 1630 he stayed awhile with Chief Jolly at Tahlonteesky, a piottireeque place atop a high ridge where were the home of Jolly and the^houseejof the Council. la the thirties of the last centirey the Western Nation had three chiefs, desigiated as first, teeond and third chiefs* In case the first chief died or WAS killeA; the second ducoeetfed and in the .event this •ucoeseor was rerorod by death or dlt* abUity the third chief- Uecseme the head i Sose important actet\rere pasted by the Gotmoil at loateesky, one of the most interesting being an act pasted 137 HIOKS, ED., ET AL. INTERVIEW 13888 -H- Oetober 31, 1831, which admitted to Cherokee citizenship Sam Houston, the former governor of Tennessee. In these days there are many persons who erroneously believe that bam Houston was a Cherokee citizen by intermarriage but this noted character was never married to a Cherokee, as has been mistakenly asserted by mny. In the event he had been so married the Act of the Council would not have been necessary, for marriage to a Cherokee would automati- cally have maie Houston a Cherokee, so far as citizenship was concerned. Several months after being adopted by Aot of the Council 3am Houston took his departure (183£) never to Return. The Act of the Council was passed at the r»- queat of Chief Jolly, who had known Jam Houston as a youth in Tennessee. Aa mentioned in biographies of Sam Houston, he once sptnt several years among the Cherokees in their country east of the Mississippi River..