Oo-gum-ah ‘John’ Welch

1753-1810
son of Vannie (Quatsi) Welch

Biography

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/welch/6027/

Notes for John Welch:

He was born 1753 at Ninety Six, South Carolina.His father was JamesWelch (b.c.1720 Ireland) who was a pack-horseman for Indian trader James Beamer in the early 1750’s.He lived at Estatoe Village (in what is now Oconee County) in upper South Carolina.The mother of John Welch was an unnamed Cherokee woman, probably a half breed.

His father supplied horses to Fort Loudon in 1756 and served in the militia.He was arrested by James Francis of Ninety Six in 1759 and was a soldier during the Cherokee War (1760-1761).mHe was alive in 1797, living among the Cherokee (unless this was James Welch Jr.).

John Welch and his brother Thomas Welch were among the Tories captured with Richard Pearis in the Snow Campaign at Ninety Six in December 1775.

John Welch (b.1753) married Betsy, a daughter of John Emory and chose to live among the Cherokee. Many Loyalist families lived with the tribe during the war for mutual protection.

Family

210.ELIZABETH JANE (Betsy)2 HEMBREE or EMORY (JOHN1) was born 1765 inSouth Carolina.She died c. 1820 in Tennesee.

She m(1) JOHN WELCH (b.c.1753 SC d.bef 1810 NC or TN). (He married (2) 1801 a Cherokee woman whom he named Betsy (“Quatsy”) after his first wife.)

She m(2) WILLIAM WELCH (b.c. 1768 NC d.1838 Hardin Co, Tennessee).

Children of Elizabeth Jane Hembree and John Welch are:

• 310 i. JAMES3 WELCHb.1780-86NCd.bef. 1815 TN?
• 311 ii. DAVID WELCHb.1780-86 NCd.bef. 1835 GA
• 312 iii. JACKSON WELCHb.1780-86NC d.aft 1851 NC
• 313 iii. EDWARD (NED) WELCHb.1780-86NC or SCd.aft.1820 Ark
• 314 iv. NANCY WELCHb.c.1788SCd. 19 Sep 1860 Hickman Co, TN m. SPENCER BROWN (b.c.1788-d.1868 TN).
• 315 v. JOHNWELCHb.c.1790 TNd.1857 Cherokee Co, NC m. ELIZABETH BLYTHE(b.1795 d.1885 Cherokee Co, NC)

Child of John Welch and unknown Cherokee woman:

• 316 vi. AIL-SEY (ALSEY)WELCHb.c.1802 NCd.aft 1852 Indian Territory, Oklahoma; m. JOHNSON MURPHY (b.c.1800 NC d.aft. 1851 NC)

Notes for Elizabeth Jane (Betsy) Hembree or Emory:

Her name was Elizabeth Jane or Jane Elizabeth. Her Cherokee roots in the Oconee/Keowee area of South Carolina and the Valley River in the mountains of western North Carolina go back to the 1740’s (and before).Her Cherokee descendants were still living on the Valley River in the 1850’s. She was not a tribal member.(Her husband’s second wife was, and the family was active in tribal affairs.) Her Cherokee names were Quatsy (an affectionate form of Betsy) and Yen Acona (Jane of
Oconee – probably her mother’s name).

In a pre-1800 tax list of Burke County, North Carolina, there is a John Welch (with 37 acres) listed close to an Elijah Moore (140 acres) and several Strouds.But in a different part of the county there is an Elizabeth Welch (100 acres) listed close to a James Jackson(0 acres), John Daugherty (80 acres) and John Blalock (0 acres).The 1800 census listing of a John Welch in Burke County matches this family exactly (even minus Elizabeth).Could this be an indication that they were separated before her death?

Note also around 1800-1808 the younger brothers of Elizabeth (Edward and James) found wives in Burke County.(We haven’t proven that the Burke County Welches are ours, they just seem to fit.)

It’s probable she married(2) a WILLIAM WELCHc.1799 and relocated to Tennessee.

References

• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/14233570/person/28...
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Welch-2396
• “Old John Hembree aka John Emory” (third draft). Larry Petrisky (March 2004). < link >