Mary Musgrove
She was the daughter of Edward Griffin, an English-born trader from Charles Town in the Province of Carolina, and a Muscogee Creek mother.
She was the daughter of a Creek Native American woman and Edward Griffin,[1] a trader from Charles Town in the Province of Carolina, of English descent.
Coosaponakeesa stated she was born in Coweta and lived with the Creeks until the age of seven when she, "was brought Down by her Father from the Indian Nation to Pomponne in South Carolina; There baptized, Educated and bred up in the principles of Christianity.
"[5] Mary and John Musgrove Jr., in time, married and lived among her Coweta kin, which was the traditional practice of matrilineal cultures such as the Creeks.
In 1732, the couple were asked by the Carolina governor and the Yamacraws, a group of Creeks and Yamasees, to start a trading post near the Savannah River.
James Oglethorpe and a group of trustees had been granted a Royal charter by King George II (r. 1727–1760) to start a settlement colony in Georgia.
Oglethorpe, a pastor, a physician and 114 colonists arrived in Charles Town in January 1733 before embarking south to ascertain a suitable site.
[6] A three-day conference was held which resulted in the Articles of Peace and Commerce allowing Oglethorpe to settle "upon the river Savannah as far as the tide flowed and along the Sea Coast, excepting the three Islands, Sapalo [Sapelo], St. Catherine's and Ossabaw.
"[7] John Musgrove traveled as the interpreter for Tomochichi, his wife, and other Creeks who sailed with Oglethorpe to England to meet King George II in 1734.
During this time the Musgrove's trading partner, Joseph Watson, drank heavily and caused extensive problems in the trading post; bragging that he helped an Indian drink himself to death, slandered Mary as a witch, tried to shoot her, and caused a sequence of events where Musgrove's slave Justice was killed.
For a decade Mary continued to be interpreter, mediator, and advisor to Oglethorpe helping him to secure treaties and land cessions.
The bestowing of Indian lands to Mary in the presence of Oglethorpe implied the endorsement of the colonists by default, and created a series of legal battles that would last for twenty years.
While waiting for a response to their case Mary sent a memorial to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Heron in Georgia requesting compensation for her past contributions to the Georgian colony and his Majesty's subjects.
"[14] While waiting on her replies from London, Mary received from Brims' successor, Malatchi, the three islands of St. Catherine, Sapelo, and Ossabaw.
One white eyewitness scorned her actions: [She] rushed into the Room, in the most violent and outrageous manner, that a Woman spirited up with Liquor, Drunk with passion, and disappointed in her Views could be guilty of ... declared, She was Empress of the Upper and Lower Creeks, Yea, went so far in her imaginary Sovereignty, as to call herself King, and that she should command every Man in these Nations to follow her, and We should soon know it our cost.
Governor Ellis utilized Mary's talents as representative, interpreter and mediator a few last times before she settled quietly on St. Catherines.
Tomochichi's initial encounters with James Oglethorpe were designed to create fictitious lines of kinship to facilitate reciprocity.
"[21] A more sympathetic onlooker was the naturalist William Bartram who noted that "the traders are fully sensible how greatly it is to their advantage to gain their [Creek women's] affections and friendship in matters of trade and commerce.
"[22] White traders married Creek women to gain kinship ties and these mixed marriages produced children that technically spanned two cultures.
"Mixed blood" children bridged two cultures, but because of the matrilineal customs there was no marginal status in Creek society for women like Mary Musgrove and others in the Muskogee world.
