Sophia E. Witt's Deposition

Court of Claims, Eastern Cherokee Indians

Cherokee County Courthouse, Murphy, NC, July 15, 1908

Witness relative, App. No. 222

App. No. 1518
Sophia E. Witt, being first duly sworn, deposes and says:

I am 57 years of age. I live in Cherokee County, NC. I was born here and have lived here all my life. I claim my Indian blood through my father, Willis Parker. Willis Parker was the son of Jonathan and Leona Parker. My father got his Indian blood through his mother Leona Parker, who was Leona Blythe before marriage. Leona Parker was the daughter of Nancy and Jonathan Blythe.

My father died in the spring of 1905. He was born in 1819. I knew my grandmother, Leona Parker . She died sometime after 1880. I do not know where she was born. She was nearly 90 when she died.

I think my father was born in Macon County, NC. I can't remember where my grandmother was born. I never heard where Nancy Blythe was born. I don't think I ever heard who Nancy Blythe's parents were. I have heard my grandmother say that she was part Cherokee and that her mother was half Cherokee.

My father was living in Cherokee County, NC. in 1851. He lived on Valley River. He was a man who was well known in this community. I never heard that he was enrolled or received any money as an Indian in 1851. I think if he had been enrolled or received any money I would have heard about it. I never heard that I had been enrolled or received any money in 1851 or 1852.

I first made a claim to Cherokee money about six years ago. I never made claim to land in Indian Territory. It is generally known in the community that I am white, but it has always been claimed that I had Indian blood.

Sophia E. Witt (signature)

Subscribed and sworn to before me this fifteenth day of July, 1908.
Special Commissioner

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