MERIAH
ELKINS was born in 1760 in Maryland.
Parents:
UNKNOWN
Married to
MARIAM LEDFORD WILLIAM
daughter of SALLY LEDFORD
Children:
WILLIAM ELKINS (1790-1855)
NOTES:
-AKA “CHIEF
RUNNING ELK"
-FULL
BLOODED APALACHIAN CHEROKEE
- Chief
Running Elk was the chief of a Cherokee Indian tribe located in the state of
Maryland. There was a massacre, all were killed except nine. Chief Running Elk
and eight others made their flight to the river and escaped in a canoe. Record
says they either settled in North Carolina or Tennessee.
It was said that Sallie Ledford and daughter Mariam
(who was given the name Williams) was at the Creek washing and Indians took
Mariam (a blue-eyed, blonde-haired little girl).. After Chief Running Elk's escape
from the Massacre, he married Mariam Williams and decided to make his name
Meriah Elkins.
-The Battle
of Hightower (also called Battle of Etowah) in 1793 was part of the Chickamauga
wars, in which the Cherokee sought to defend their territory from illegal
immigration by white settlers. This particular battle took place at the
Cherokee village of Etowah Town (Itawayi), overlooking Downtown Rome, GA in the
modern Floyd County, Georgia, resulting in the defeat of the Cherokee by a
force led by John Sevier, future Governor of Tennessee.
