Genealogy Data Page 92 (Notes Pages)

For privacy reasons, Date of Birth and Date of Marriage for persons believed to still be living are not shown.

Clifton Edney [Female] b. NOV 1838 Wilson Co., Tennessee, but doubtful - d. 1875 Wilson Co., Tennessee

Change: 17 JAN 2013

Athline Esteb, daugter of Stella Belle Word Allen speaks of her grandmother as a full blooded Indian. Others believe that the Indian blood is perhaps one or two more generations back. She does not n owremember which tribe but they were a peaceful tribe. Others have reported tha t she was from the Crow nation. She said Mom was ashamed of being part Indian. She said one time when she was little, she was looking through adrawer and found in the back a picture of t he family with a lady with dark skin in it. She ask her mother who it was and her mother onl y said"she was the woman that raised me ". She ask her to put it away. LaterAthline found o ut that it was her grandmother and she was anIndian/Native American. She said that she wa s a beautiful woman, shestood tall and proud but her mo ther would not talk about her because during this time being part Indian was not a thing to talk about. Thisfact was held as a fami ly secret for many years. Athline said she wasalways proud of her Indian blood. - record o f conversation with AthlineEsteb and Joe Jamison on April 30, 1997 when she was 87 years old . Shehas since passed away and is Joe's 1st Cousin, once removed, i.e. LucyMadel ine Andrew s Jamison's 1st cousin. A neice of Athline, Susan Smith,also had many pictures that she coul d not identify. One of thesepictures contained a family who she could not identify. Late r whe n acopy of this picture was shown to Lucy Andrews Jamison, grand daughterof John Word , she was able to identify the family as that of Samuel Word,his wife and their children. Th e obvious conclusi on was the mother inthe picture who had Indian facial feature was Edney, o ur roots to thenative Americans in the family.

In another conversation with Athline, she said that she remembers seeingtrunks which her gran dmother used to travel. She said that she had beenliving in Paris France prior to her marria ge to Samuel Word. Theverification of this has not been determined, but Athline said that som eIndians had apparently been take to Europe years earlier for unknownreasons. Some in the fam ily believe that Edney was full blooded Crow,however, the author has no proof. In any case , the area where they livedwas inhabited with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. Mos t all ofthe Cherokee were move out of Georgia, NC and Tennessee in the 1830s. Afew escaped t o the mountains and there established the Eastern tribe.Most of the group were moved to Oklah oma along the Pioneer Trail. Itlater became known as the Trail of Tears because so many die d along theway. The trail runs directly through the farm of William Robert "Bud"Jamison.

Several other branches of the Word family have traditions of Indians inthe background. Whic h tribe or even if this is same tale of Samuel'swife is unknown. These are the families in M ississippi an d Texas whoshare this tradition.

Edney, Ednie or Edna may have been her name. Later John Wesley Word's daughter Della had a daughter who was she named "Ednie Viola Patterson". The baby did not live and is buried in th e same family graveas I. L. Andrews, Della Word Andrews Patterson, I.L.(Jr.), as Ednie V. Patterson, Jan 21, 1925-Jan 22, 1925 on the family farm between Lafayette and Red Boiling Springs, TN. This is located on the old highway. The parentage of Edney in this record is highly suspected asbeing incorrect or that of one of Samuel's other wives after Edney had died. The author is still searching for this t ruth.