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Silas Jefferson
& the Cow Tom Connection
Silas Jefferson was one of the team of dynamic African
leaders of the Muskogee Nation. He was sometimes known as Tucker or
Ducker, also. On more than one occasion, Silas Jefferson
accompanied the Muskogee delegation to Washington DC. Being fully
bilingual, he served as a an interpreter for the delegation, and he also
worked for the conservative party in the Nation.
Jefferson was often considered to be a dependable
person, because of his language skill and because he could also
speak to people his leaders considered to be "insurgents.
He was included as part of the Creek delegation to negotiate terms
with the rebels during the Green Peach War.
Silas Jefferson is one of the few African
identified in tribal pictures from the nation, although he was one
of several Africans who served their nation with honor and
distinction.
What then is the Silas Jefferson connection to the
Cow Tom Family and his descendants. They were all African Creeks
or part of the Creek or Muskogee Nation.
But there seems to
be a more personal one. From the documents collected by Geraldine
Elliott Robinson. Jefferson was one of the husbands of Maggie Cow Tom,
one of the two daughters of Cow Tom. Maggie Cow Tom had three husbands: Harry
Island, McGilbray (full name not given), and Silas Jefferson.
Maggie Cow Tom seems to have had four children:
Katie Island (Rentie) (1854-1942); Angelina Jefferson (Lewis) (1853);
Boston Thompson (1856-1929);
Ned Thompson (1859-1942). From the list of the children, one notes there are
three surnames used for the children. So it seems that Maggie Cow Tom's
daughters were by two different men. Katie Island may be her daughter by
Harry Island and Angelina Jefferson by Silas Jefferson.
Both of her sons Boston and Ned carry the Thompson
name. In an interview, Ned Thompson list his father's name as "Quash
Gilbra," which seems close to the McGilbray name listed
in the "Cow Tom & Amy" document. Thus, it seems safe to conclude that
Maggie Cow Tom had children by all three of her husbands.
Ned and Boston Thompson
seemed to have been given their surname when they
enrolled in the first Cane Creek School. It seems Cow Tom did not like
their father and would not let them use their paternal family name. So
their white teacher McCann or McCain attached the Thompson name. |
