Elizabeth Red Fern Greer Black Hawk: Who Was This Woman?

 




Doing genealogy is hard enough without having to wade through the myths propagated on the internet. This is made clear when trying to prove/disprove Native American ancestry. There seems to be an unwritten rule that all women whose birth names are unknown must be Cherokee or from some other Native American tribe. Here is an interesting case of the same mythical women being claimed by multiple families. 

Elizabeth Red Fern Blackhawk:

#1: This Elizabeth was found on in the comments of the Wikitree profile for Elizabeth

When Elizabeth Greer Naktika Redfern was born in 1723, in Gunpowder, Baltimore, Maryland, British Colonial America, her father, Chief Thunder Black Hawk, was 23 and her mother, Abbee Redfern, was 13. She married Jacob Davis on 6 February 1745, in Saint Johns Parish, Baltimore, Maryland, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 3 daughters. She died in 1781, in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, at the age of 58, and was buried in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. TREE no source] There is an Elizabeth Greer who married Jacob Davice-6 in St. John's Parish. 

There was a woman named Elizabeth Greer who married Jacob Davis, that's about all that is documented fact in the this statement. 

#2 Elizbeth Red Fern Blackhawk:

There is a family tradition that Johann Wendell Mueller or Miller had a common-law marriage with Red Fawn (Fern) Na Me Qua Tikodiddie Hawk Blackhawk, supposed daughter of either a Cherokee or SAC [?] Chief by the name of Thunder Black Hawk and Abee Red Fern. The tradition goes on to claim that Red Fawn and Mueller had children together and that she died of smallpox along with an infant grandson and that they are buried together.

Same name, same parents. Different husbands. 

What do these two profiles have in common? No documented proof. There is no known Cherokee Chief known as Chief Thunder Black Hawk, his wife is equally unknown. There were no Cherokee or other tribe living near Baltimore in 1730. How do you explain the surname Greer? 

Who was Chief Thunder Black Hawk? No one seems to be able to agree on this either. Neither the tribe nor place of birth are known. With this many red flags I find the Red Fern hard to believe. 

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